title stringlengths 1 456 ⌀ | text stringlengths 1 143k ⌀ | label class label 2
classes |
|---|---|---|
Congress should give Puerto Rico debt restructuring authority: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress should give Puerto Rico the authority to restructure its debt, the White House said on Friday. Refusal by Congress to give the island’s government authority to deal with its financial challenges makes a future bailout more likely, a White House spokesman told a regular news briefing. | 0fake |
Merkel tells voters: 'don't experiment' with the left | BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel warned German voters on Wednesday not to risk allowing an untested left-wing alliance to take power after this month s national election, urging them to stick with her in turbulent times . Less than three weeks before the Sept. 24 vote, politicians and media in Germany are turning their attention to the possible coalitions that could form after the election, from which no single party is expected to emerge with a clear majority. Merkel, 63, leads a grand coalition of her conservatives and the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD) - a tie-up neither wants to repeat after the vote. Seeking a fourth term, Merkel is stressing her credentials as a global stateswoman. Our country can t afford experiments - especially in these turbulent times, she told a rally in Torgau, some 70 miles (120 km) south of Berlin in the state of Saxony. Merkel spoke above a cacophony of jeers and whistles from some protesters - a feature at many of her rallies as resentment persists at her decision in 2015 to open Germany s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. That decision helped the rise of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which punished her conservatives in regional votes last year. She has since bounced back, but the national election is likely to return a more fractured parliament due to the rise of the AfD - set to enter the Bundestag for the first time - and the expected return of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). This could make coalitions harder to form. Merkel wants to avoid being outflanked by a coalition of the SPD, the far-left Linke and the environmentalist Greens, who have held exploratory talks about the possibility of joining forces in a so-called Red-Red-Green , or R2G , coalition. I say Red-Red-Green would be bad for our country, she told the rally. In the future too, we will need stability and security. In a televised debate with SPD leader Martin Schulz on Sunday, Merkel challenged him to rule out a coalition with the Linke party, which he refused to do. A Red-Red-Green combination is untested at federal level, though the three parties have teamed up to take control of Berlin s city government. An opinion poll released on Wednesday put support for Merkel s conservatives at 38.5 percent, ahead of the SPD on 24 percent. The Greens were on 7.5 percent, the Free Democrats on 10 percent and the Linke and the AfD each on 8 percent. Resentment at Merkel s open-door policy runs particularly high in eastern Germany, but she has also been booed at rallies in the west - such as in Ludwigshafen, 45 miles (70 km) south of Frankfurt, last week. We are Germans. She needs to be taking care of us, Vincent Raap, an 18-year-old starting an apprenticeship as a machine operator, said at the Ludwigshafen rally. Three times, an apprenticeship for which I had applied was given to foreigners instead, he said, holding a sign saying Merkel must go . | 0fake |
No More American Thanksgivings | Thanksgiving by Glen Ford
“The core ideological content of the holiday serves to validate all that has since occurred on these shores – a national consecration of the unspeakable, a balm and benediction for the victors, a blessing of the fruits of murder and kidnapping, and an implicit obligation to continue the seamless historical project in the present day.” No More American Thanksgivings by Glen Ford
This article originally appeared in the November 27, 2003 , issue of The Black Commentator, which Glen Ford co-founded and edited.
Nobody but Americans celebrates Thanksgiving. It is reserved by history and the intent of “the founders” as the supremely white American holiday, the most ghoulish event on the national calendar. No Halloween of the imagination can rival the exterminationist reality that was the genesis, and remains the legacy, of the American Thanksgiving. It is the most loathsome, humanity-insulting day of the year – a pure glorification of racist barbarity.
We at are thankful that the day grows nearer when the almost four centuries-old abomination will be deprived of its reason for being: white supremacy. Then we may all eat and drink in peace and gratitude for the blessings of humanity’s deliverance from the rule of evil men.
Thanksgiving is much more than a lie – if it were that simple, an historical correction of the record of events in 1600s Massachusetts would suffice to purge the “flaw” in the national mythology. But Thanksgiving is not just a twisted fable, and the mythology it nurtures is itself inherently evil. The real-life events – subsequently revised – were perfectly understood at the time as the first, definitive triumphs of the genocidal European project in New England. The near-erasure of Native Americans in Massachusetts and, soon thereafter, from most of the remainder of the northern English colonial seaboard was the true mission of the Pilgrim enterprise – Act One of the American Dream. African Slavery commenced contemporaneously – an overlapping and ultimately inseparable Act Two.
The last Act in the American drama must be the “root and branch” eradication of all vestiges of Act One and Two – America’s seminal crimes and formative projects. Thanksgiving as presently celebrated – that is, as a national political event – is an affront to civilization.
Celebrating the unspeakable
White America embraced Thanksgiving because a majority of that population glories in the fruits, if not the unpleasant details, of genocide and slavery and feels, on the whole, good about their heritage: a cornucopia of privilege and national power. Children are taught to identify with the good fortune of the Pilgrims. It does not much matter that the Native American and African holocausts that flowed from the feast at Plymouth are hidden from the children’s version of the story – kids learn soon enough that Indians were made scarce and Africans became enslaved. But they will also never forget the core message of the holiday: that the Pilgrims were good people, who could not have purposely set such evil in motion. Just as the first Thanksgivings marked the consolidation of the English toehold in what became the United States, the core ideological content of the holiday serves to validate all that has since occurred on these shores – a national consecration of the unspeakable, a balm and benediction for the victors, a blessing of the fruits of murder and kidnapping, and an implicit obligation to continue the seamless historical project in the present day.
The Thanksgiving story is an absolution of the Pilgrims, whose brutal quest for absolute power in the New World is made to seem both religiously motivated and eminently human. Most importantly, the Pilgrims are depicted as victims – of harsh weather and their own naïve yet wholesome visions of a new beginning. In light of this carefully nurtured fable, whatever happened to the Indians, from Plymouth to California and beyond, in the aftermath of the 1621 dinner must be considered a mistake, the result of misunderstandings – at worst, a series of lamentable tragedies. The story provides the essential first frame of the American saga. It is unalloyed racist propaganda, a tale that endures because it served the purposes of a succession of the Pilgrims’ political heirs, in much the same way that Nazi-enhanced mythology of a glorious Aryan/German past advanced another murderous, expansionist mission.
Thanksgiving is quite dangerous – as were the Pilgrims.
Rejoicing in a cemetery
The English settlers, their ostensibly religious venture backed by a trading company, were glad to discover that they had landed in a virtual cemetery in 1620. Corn still sprouted in the abandoned fields of the Wampanoags , but only a remnant of the local population remained around the fabled Rock. In a letter to England, Massachusetts Bay colony founder John Winthrop wrote, "But for the natives in these parts, God hath so pursued them, as for 300 miles space the greatest part of them are swept away by smallpox which still continues among them. So as God hath thereby cleared our title to this place, those who remain in these parts, being in all not 50, have put themselves under our protection."
Ever diligent to claim their own advantages as God’s will, the Pilgrims thanked their deity for having “pursued” the Indians to mass death. However, it was not divine intervention that wiped out most of the natives around the village of Patuxet but, most likely, smallpox-embedded blankets planted during an English visit or slave raid. Six years before the Pilgrim landing, a ship sailed into Patuxet’s harbor, captained by none other than the famous seaman and mercenary soldier John Smith , former leader of the first successful English colony in the New World, at Jamestown, Virginia. Epidemic and slavery followed in his wake, as Debra Glidden described in IMDiversity.com :
In 1614 the Plymouth Company of England, a joint stock company, hired Captain John Smith to explore land in its behalf. Along what is now the coast of Massachusetts in the territory of the Wampanoag, Smith visited the town of Patuxet according to "The Colonial Horizon," a 1969 book edited by William Goetzinan. Smith renamed the town Plymouth in honor of his employers, but the Wampanoag who inhabited the town continued to call it Patuxet.
The following year Captain Hunt, an English slave trader, arrived at Patuxet. It was common practice for explorers to capture Indians, take them to Europe and sell them into slavery for 220 shillings apiece. That practice was described in a 1622 account of happenings entitled "A Declaration of the State of the Colony and Affairs in Virginia," written by Edward Waterhouse. True to the explorer tradition, Hunt kidnapped a number of Wampanoags to sell into slavery.
Another common practice among European explorers was to give "smallpox blankets" to the Indians. Since smallpox was unknown on this continent prior to the arrival of the Europeans, Native Americans did not have any natural immunity to the disease so smallpox would effectively wipe out entire villages with very little effort required by the Europeans. William Fenton describes how Europeans decimated Native American villages in his 1957 work "American Indian and White relations to 1830." From 1615 to 1619 smallpox ran rampant among the Wampanoags and their neighbors to the north. The Wampanoag lost 70 percent of their population to the epidemic and the Massachusetts lost 90 percent.
Most of the Wampanoag had died from the smallpox epidemic so when the Pilgrims arrived they found well-cleared fields which they claimed for their own. A Puritan colonist, quoted by Harvard University's Perry Miller, praised the plague that had wiped out the Indians for it was "the wonderful preparation of the Lord Jesus Christ, by his providence for his people's abode in the Western world."
Historians have since speculated endlessly on why the woods in the region resembled a park to the disembarking Pilgrims in 1620. The reason should have been obvious: hundreds, if not thousands, of people had lived there just five years before.
In less than three generations the settlers would turn all of New England into a charnel house for Native Americans, and fire the economic engines of slavery throughout English-speaking America. Plymouth Rock is the place where the nightmare truly began.
The uninvited?
It is not at all clear what happened at the first – and only – “integrated” Thanksgiving feast. Only two written accounts of the three-day event exist, and one of them, by Governor William Bradford, was written 20 years after the fact. Was Chief Massasoit invited to bring 90 Indians with him to dine with 52 colonists, most of them women and children? This seems unlikely. A good harvest had provided the settlers with plenty of food, according to their accounts, so the whites didn’t really need the Wampanoag’s offering of five deer. What we do know is that there had been lots of tension between the two groups that fall. John Two-Hawks, who runs the Native Circle web site, gives a sketch of the facts:
“Thanksgiving' did not begin as a great loving relationship between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag, Pequot and Narragansett people. In fact, in October of 1621 when the pilgrim survivors of their first winter in Turtle Island sat down to share the first unofficial 'Thanksgiving' meal, the Indians who were there were not even invited! There was no turkey, squash, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie. A few days before this alleged feast took place, a company of 'pilgrims' led by Miles Standish actively sought the head of a local Indian chief, and an 11 foot high wall was erected around the entire Plymouth settlement for the very purpose of keeping Indians out!”
It is much more likely that Chief Massasoit either crashed the party, or brought enough men to ensure that he was not kidnapped or harmed by the Pilgrims. Dr. Tingba Apidta, in his “ Black Folks’ Guide to Understanding Thanksgiving ,” surmises that the settlers “brandished their weaponry” early and got drunk soon thereafter. He notes that “each Pilgrim drank at least a half gallon of beer a day, which they preferred even to water. This daily inebriation led their governor, William Bradford, to comment on his people's ‘notorious sin,’ which included their ‘drunkenness and uncleanliness’ and rampant ‘sodomy.’”
Soon after the feast the brutish Miles Standish “got his bloody prize,” Dr. Apidta writes:
“He went to the Indians, pretended to be a trader, then beheaded an Indian man named Wituwamat. He brought the head to Plymouth, where it was displayed on a wooden spike for many years, according to Gary B. Nash, ‘as a symbol of white power.’ Standish had the Indian man's young brother hanged from the rafters for good measure. From that time on, the whites were known to the Indians of Massachusetts by the name ‘Wotowquenange,’ which in their tongue meant cutthroats and stabbers.”
What is certain is that the first feast was not called a “Thanksgiving” at the time; no further integrated dining occasions were scheduled; and the first, official all-Pilgrim “Thanksgiving” had to wait until 1637, when the whites of New England celebrated the massacre of the Wampanoag’s southern neighbors, the Pequots.
The real Thanksgiving Day Massacre
The Pequots today own the Foxwood Casino and Hotel , in Ledyard, Connecticut, with gross gaming revenues of over $9 billion in 2000. This is truly a (very belated) miracle, since the real first Pilgrim Thanksgiving was intended as the Pequot’s epitaph. Sixteen years after the problematical Plymouth feast, the English tried mightily to erase the Pequots from the face of the Earth, and thanked God for the blessing.
Having subdued, intimidated or made mercenaries of most of the tribes of Massachusetts, the English turned their growing force southward, toward the rich Connecticut valley, the Pequot’s sphere of influence. At the point where the Mystic River meets the sea, the combined force of English and allied Indians bypassed the Pequot fort to attack and set ablaze a town full of women, children and old people.
William Bradford, the former Governor of Plymouth and one of the chroniclers of the 1621 feast, was also on hand for the great massacre of 1637:
"Those that escaped the fire were slain with the sword; some hewed to pieces, others run through with their rapiers, so that they were quickly dispatched and very few escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire...horrible was the stink and scent thereof, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy."
The rest of the white folks thought so, too. “This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots," read Governor John Winthrop’s proclamation. The authentic Thanksgiving Day was born.
Most historians believe about 700 Pequots were slaughtered at Mystic. Many prisoners were executed, and surviving women and children sold into slavery in the West Indies. Pequot prisoners that escaped execution were parceled out to Indian tribes allied with the English. The Pequot were thought to have been extinguished as a people. According to IndyMedia , “The Pequot tribe numbered 8,000 when the Pilgrims arrived, but disease had brought their numbers down to 1,500 by 1637. The Pequot ‘War’ killed all but a handful of remaining members of the tribe.”
But there were still too many Indians around to suit the whites of New England, who bided their time while their own numbers increased to critical, murderous mass.
Guest’s head on a pole
By the 1670s the colonists, with 8,000 men under arms, felt strong enough to demand that the Pilgrims’ former dinner guests the Wampanoags disarm and submit to the authority of the Crown. After a series of settler provocations in 1675, the Wampanoag struck back, under the leadership of Chief Metacomet, son of Massasoit, called King Philip by the English. Metacomet/Philip, whose wife and son were captured and sold into West Indian slavery, wiped out 13 settlements and killed 600 adult white men before the tide of battle turned. A 1996 issue of the Revolutionary Worker provides an excellent narrative.
In their victory, the settlers launched an all-out genocide against the remaining Native people. The Massachusetts government offered 20 shillings bounty for every Indian scalp, and 40 shillings for every prisoner who could be sold into slavery. Soldiers were allowed to enslave any Indian woman or child under 14 they could capture. The "Praying Indians" who had converted to Christianity and fought on the side of the European troops were accused of shooting into the treetops during battles with "hostiles." They were enslaved or killed. Other "peaceful" Indians of Dartmouth and Dover were invited to negotiate or seek refuge at trading posts – and were sold onto slave ships.
It is not known how many Indians were sold into slavery, but in this campaign, 500 enslaved Indians were shipped from Plymouth alone. Of the 12,000 Indians in the surrounding tribes, probably about half died from battle, massacre and starvation.
After King Philip's War, there were almost no Indians left free in the northern British colonies. A colonist wrote from Manhattan's New York colony: "There is now but few Indians upon the island and those few no ways hurtful. It is to be admired how strangely they have decreased by the hand of God, since the English first settled in these parts." In Massachusetts, the colonists declared a "day of public thanksgiving" in 1676, saying, "there now scarce remains a name or family of them [the Indians] but are either slain, captivated or fled."
Fifty-five years after the original Thanksgiving Day, the Puritans had destroyed the generous Wampanoag and all other neighboring tribes. The Wampanoag chief King Philip was beheaded. His head was stuck on a pole in Plymouth, where the skull still hung on display 24 years later.
This is not thought to be a fit Thanksgiving tale for the children of today, but it’s the real story, well-known to the settler children of New England at the time – the white kids who saw the Wampanoag head on the pole year after year and knew for certain that God loved them best of all, and that every atrocity they might ever commit against a heathen, non-white was blessed.
There’s a good term for the process thus set in motion: nation-building.
Roots of the slave trade
The British North American colonists’ practice of enslaving Indians for labor or direct sale to the West Indies preceded the appearance of the first chained Africans at the dock in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. The Jamestown colonists’ human transaction with the Dutch vessel was an unscheduled occurrence. However, once the African slave trade became commercially established, the fates of Indians and Africans in the colonies became inextricably entwined. New England, born of up-close-and-personal, burn-them-in-the-fires-of-hell genocide, led the political and commercial development of the English colonies. The region also led the nascent nation’s descent into a slavery-based society and economy.
Ironically, an apologist for Virginian slavery made one of the best, early cases for the indictment of New England as the engine of the American slave trade. Unreconstructed secessionist Lewis Dabney’s 1867 book “ A Defense of Virginia ” traced the slave trade’s origins all the way back to Plymouth Rock:
The planting of the commercial States of North America began with the colony of Puritan Independents at Plymouth, in 1620, which was subsequently enlarged into the State of Massachusetts. The other trading colonies, Rhode Island and Connecticut, as well as New Hampshire (which never had an extensive shipping interest), were offshoots of Massachusetts. They partook of the same characteristics and pursuits; and hence, the example of the parent colony is taken here as a fair representation of them.
The first ship from America, which embarked in the African slave trade, was the Desire , Captain Pierce, of Salem; and this was among the first vessels ever built in the colony. The promptitude with which the "Puritan Fathers" embarked in this business may be comprehended, when it is stated that the Desire sailed upon her voyage in June, 1637. [Note: the year they massacred the Pequots.] The first feeble and dubious foothold was gained by the white man at Plymouth less than seventeen years before; and as is well known, many years were expended by the struggle of the handful of settlers for existence. So that it may be correctly said, that the commerce of New England was born of the slave trade; as its subsequent prosperity was largely founded upon it. The Desire , proceeding to the Bahamas, with a cargo of "dry fish and strong liquors, the only commodities for those parts," obtained the negroes from two British men-of-war, which had captured them from a Spanish slaver.
Thus, the trade of which the good ship Desire , of Salem, was the harbinger, grew into grand proportions; and for nearly two centuries poured a flood of wealth into New England, as well as no inconsiderable number of slaves. Meanwhile, the other maritime colonies of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and Connecticut, followed the example of their elder sister emulously; and their commercial history is but a repetition of that of Massachusetts. The towns of Providence, Newport, and New Haven became famous slave trading ports. The magnificent harbor of the second, especially, was the favorite starting-place of the slave ships; and its commerce rivaled, or even exceeded, that of the present commercial metropolis, New York. All the four original States, of course, became slaveholding.
The Revolution that exploded in 1770s New England was undertaken by men thoroughly imbued with the worldview of the Indian-killer and slave-holder. How could they not be? The “country” they claimed as their own was fathered by genocide and mothered by slavery – its true distinction among the commercial nations of the world. And these men were not ashamed, but proud, with vast ambition to spread their exceptional characteristics West and South and wherever their so-far successful project in nation-building might take them – and by the same bloody, savage methods that had served them so well in the past.
At the moment of deepest national crisis following the battle of Gettysburg in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln invoked the national fable that is far more central to the white American personality than Lincoln’s battlefield “Address.” Lincoln seized upon the 1621 feast as the historic “Thanksgiving” – bypassing the official and authentic 1637 precedent – and assigned the dateless, murky event the fourth Thursday in November.
Lincoln surveyed a broken nation, and attempted nation-rebuilding, based on the purest white myth. The same year that he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, he renewed the national commitment to a white manifest destiny that began at Plymouth Rock. Lincoln sought to rekindle a shared national mission that former Confederates and Unionists and white immigrants from Europe could collectively embrace. It was and remains a barbaric and racist national unifier, by definition. Only the most fantastic lies can sanitize the history of the Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts.
”Like a rock”
The Thanksgiving holiday fable is at once a window on the way that many, if not most, white Americans view the world and their place in it, and a pollutant that leaches barbarism into the modern era. The fable attempts to glorify the indefensible, to enshrine an era and mission that represent the nation’s lowest moral denominators . Thanksgiving as framed in the mythology is, consequently, a drag on that which is potentially civilizing in the national character, a crippling, atavistic deformity. Defenders of the holiday will claim that the politically-corrected children’s version promotes brotherhood, but that is an impossibility – a bald excuse to prolong the worship of colonial “forefathers” and to erase the crimes they committed. Those bastards burned the Pequot women and children, and ushered in the multinational business of slavery. These are facts. The myth is an insidious diversion – and worse.
Humanity cannot tolerate a 21st Century superpower, much of whose population perceives the world through the eyes of 17th Century land and flesh bandits. Yet that is the trick that fate has played on the globe. We described the roots of the planetary dilemma in our March 13 commentary, “ Racism & War, Perfect Together. ”
The English arrived with criminal intent - and brought wives and children to form new societies predicated on successful plunder. To justify the murderous enterprise, Indians who had initially cooperated with the squatters were transmogrified into "savages" deserving displacement and death. The relentlessly refreshed lie of Indian savagery became a truth in the minds of white Americans, a fact to be acted upon by every succeeding generation of whites. The settlers became a singular people confronting the great "frontier" - a euphemism for centuries of genocidal campaigns against a darker, "savage" people marked for extinction.
The necessity of genocide was the operative, working assumption of the expanding American nation. "Manifest Destiny" was born at Plymouth Rock and Jamestown, later to fall (to paraphrase Malcolm) like a rock on Mexico, the Philippines, Haiti, Nicaragua, etc. Little children were taught that the American project was inherently good, Godly, and that those who got in the way were "evil-doers" or just plain subhuman, to be gloriously eliminated. The lie is central to white American identity, embraced by waves of European settlers who never saw a red person.
Only a century ago, American soldiers caused the deaths of possibly a million Filipinos whom they had been sent to “liberate” from Spanish rule. They didn’t even know who they were killing, and so rationalized their behavior by substituting the usual American victims. Colonel Funston , of the Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, explained what got him motivated in the Philippines:
"Our fighting blood was up and we all wanted to kill 'niggers.' This shooting human beings is a 'hot game,' and beats rabbit hunting all to pieces." Another wrote that "the boys go for the enemy as if they were chasing jack-rabbits .... I, for one, hope that Uncle Sam will apply the chastening rod, good, hard, and plenty, and lay it on until they come into the reservation and promise to be good 'Injuns.'"
Last week in northern Iraq another American colonel, Joe Anderson of the 101st Airborne (Assault) Division, revealed that he is incapable of perceiving Arabs as human beings. Colonel Anderson, who doubles as a commander and host of a radio call-in program and a TV show designed to win the hearts and minds of the people of Mosul, had learned that someone was out to assassinate him. In the wild mood swing common to racists, Anderson decided that Iraqis are all alike – and of a different breed. He said as much to the Los Angeles Times .
"They don't understand being nice," said Anderson, who helps oversee the military zone that includes Mosul and environs. He doesn't hide his irritation after months dedicated to restoring the city: "We spent so long here working with kid gloves, but the average Iraqi guy will tell you, 'The only thing people respect here is violence…. They only understand being shot at, being killed. That's the culture.' … Nice guys do finish last here."
Col. Anderson personifies the unfitness of Americans to play a major role in the world, much less rule it. "We poured a lot of our heart and soul into trying to help the people,” he bitched, as if Americans were God’s gift to the planet. "But it can be frustrating when you hear stupid people still saying, 'You're occupiers. You want our oil. You're turning our country over to Israel.'” He cannot fathom that other people – non-whites – aspire to run their own affairs, and will kill and die to achieve that basic right.
What does this have to do with the Mayflower? Everything. Although possibly against their wishes, the Pilgrims hosted the Wampanoag for three no doubt anxious days. The same men killed and enslaved Wampanoags immediately before and after the feast. They, their newly arrived English comrades and their children roasted hundreds of neighboring Indians alive just 16 years later, and two generations afterwards cleared nearly the whole of New England of its indigenous “savages,” while enthusiastically enriching themselves through the invention of transoceanic, sophisticated means of enslaving millions. The Mayflower’s cultural heirs are programmed to find glory in their own depravity, and savagery in their most helpless victims, who can only redeem themselves by accepting the inherent goodness of white Americans.
Thanksgiving encourages these cognitive cripples in their madness, just as it is designed to do. | 1real |
Trump to Seek $54 Billion Increase in Military Spending - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — President Trump put both political parties on notice Monday that he intends to slash spending on many of the federal government’s most politically sensitive programs — relating to education, the environment, science and poverty — to protect the economic security of retirees and to shift billions more to the armed forces. The proposal to increase military spending by $54 billion and cut nonmilitary programs by the same amount was unveiled by White House officials as they prepared the president’s plans for next year’s federal budget. Aides to the president said final decisions about Medicare and Social Security would not be made until later in the year, when he announces his full budget. But Sean Spicer, his spokesman, cited Mr. Trump’s campaign commitments about protecting those programs and vowed that “he’s going to keep his word to the American people. ” In effect, Mr. Trump appears determined to take sides in a generational struggle between older, sicker Americans who depend on the entitlement programs, and their younger, poorer counterparts whose livelihoods are shaped by the domestic programs likely to see steep cuts. He also set up a battle for control of Republican Party ideology with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who for years has staked his reputation on the argument that taming the budget deficit without tax increases would require that Congress change, and cut, the programs that swallow the bulk of the government’s spending — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. “I don’t know how you take $54 billion out without wholesale taking out entire departments,” said Bill Hoagland, a longtime Republican budget aide in the Senate and now a senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “You need to control it in the area of the entitlement programs, which he’s taken off the table. It is a proposal, I dare say, that will be dead on arrival even with a Republican Congress. ” Speaking to governors at the White House, Mr. Trump said his spending demands would be at the core of the speech he gives Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress. “This budget follows through on my promise to keep Americans safe,” he said, calling it a “public safety and national security” budget that will send a “message to the world in these dangerous times of American strength, security and resolve. ” In the first part of the speech, Mr. Trump will recount “promises made and promises kept,” said the aides, who requested anonymity during a briefing with reporters. The rest of the speech will focus on how he will help people with their problems and how he intends to protect the nation. The president’s budget proposals — which were short on detail but are said to exempt not just Medicare and Social Security but also veterans’ benefits and law enforcement efforts — would lead to deep reductions in federal programs that touch millions of lives. The White House signaled that it would begin with agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service and social programs. A budget with no entitlement cuts and one that does not balance most likely has no chance of passing the House, and could be rejected by Senate Republicans as well. Mr. Trump’s proposals are too far to the right in terms of domestic cuts and too far to the left in terms of balance. Their failure could have practical implications for the White House. If Congress fails to pass a budget blueprint for the fiscal year that begins in October, Mr. Trump’s promise to drastically rewrite the tax code could also die, since the president was counting on that budget resolution to include special parliamentary language that would shield his tax cuts from a Democratic filibuster. Without it, any tax legislation would have to be bipartisan enough to clear the Senate with 60 votes. But beyond legislative considerations, the fate of Mr. Trump’s proposal will go a long way toward determining how significantly his brand of economic populism has changed Republican orthodoxy. Mr. Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that Republican promises to transform Medicare and slash entitlement spending were the reason the party lost the White House in 2012, helpfully Mr. Ryan, who sat at the bottom of the ticket that year, in his analysis. Social Security, health care and net interest now comprise nearly 60 percent of all federal spending, and that figure is expected to soar to 82 percent over the next 10 years. “Paul Ryan’s budget plans with cuts to Social Security and Medicare are not that popular with most voters, and what helped elect Donald Trump was the promise not to cut benefits and programs,” said Douglas Elmendorf, the recently departed director of the Congressional Budget Office and current dean of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “That is an unresolved tension. ” White House officials said the broad outlines of a spending plan represented the logical culmination of Mr. Trump’s efforts to make good on his campaign pledges to prune what he considers wasteful government spending even as he expands what he considers an underfunded military. “It will show the president is keeping his promises and doing exactly what he said he was going to do,” said Mick Mulvaney, the president’s budget director. “We are taking his words and turning them into policies and dollars. ” Mr. Trump’s advisers said aid to foreign governments, which makes up a tiny fraction of federal spending, was one such target. The budget for the I. R. S. which was the target of Republican criticism during Barack Obama’s administration, would be slashed by 14 percent, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which provides grants for community banks and local development, would be all but eliminated. The White House blueprint calls for a 24 percent cut to the E. P. A. ’s budget, according to a person who had seen the document but was not authorized to speak on the record. That would amount to a reduction of about $2 billion from the agency’s annual budget of about $8. 1 billion, reducing its spending to levels not seen since Ronald Reagan’s presidency. But it is far from clear whether Congress will approve such steep cuts in popular programs. While congressional Republicans have long targeted the E. P. A. ’s regulatory authority, they are also aware that about half the agency’s annual budget is passed through to popular programs, like converting abandoned industrial sites into sports stadiums and other public facilities, which lawmakers of both parties are loath to cut. And most of the agency’s federal office spending goes toward funding programs that are required by existing laws. Last year, even as congressional Republicans railed against the Obama administration’s E. P. A. regulations, they proposed cutting only $291 million from the agency’s budget. Environmental advocates denounced the proposed cuts, saying they would devastate environmental protection and public health programs while doing little to increase national security. “The assault on human health begins now with President Trump’s plan to slash the E. P. A. ’s resources, which are vital to protecting Americans’ drinking water and air from pollution,” said Scott Faber, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. But the information to emerge about the budget raises more questions than it answers. Democrats, of course, will be no friend, either. “Democrats will make crystal clear the misplaced priorities of the administration and the Republican majority,” said Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York, the Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, “and we will fight tooth and nail to protect services and investments that are critical to American families and communities across the country. ” But the budget may be the most striking example in Mr. Trump’s young presidency of the ways in which he is challenging the orthodoxy of his own party. Since the start of his insurgent campaign, Mr. Trump has opposed the Republican Party’s positions on a range of policies, including free trade, how to deal with Russia and the future of government entitlement programs. Republicans in Congress had hoped that the influence of the two former Republican House members in Mr. Trump’s cabinet — Tom Price, head of health and human services, and Mr. Mulvaney — would have led to new conclusions about the need to address entitlement programs that are swelling drastically with baby boomers’ retirement. Instead, Mr. Trump appears intent on extracting the savings he needs for military spending from the one part of the budget already most squeezed, domestic discretionary spending. | 0fake |
ALABAMA: MIDDLE CLASS WHITE WOMAN Rejected For Jobs In City Filled ILLEGAL Immigrants…”I can’t find a job because I don’t speak Spanish” | Democrats don t care if this legal immigrant has a job. Making America work again is not something they have very much interest in addressing. What s most important to them is how the illegal immigrants they have welcomed into our country with open arms will vote There s one question Sandra Langlois is sick of hearing in job interviews. Do you speak Spanish? Langlois doesn t and doesn t think she should have to.At 42, she already speaks two languages. Born in Germany, she moved to Pennsylvania as a child and learned to speak English fluently. She thought that would be enough to get a job in the United States.Now, as she waits for an interview at the Albertville unemployment office, she s not sure it will be.Hispanic immigrants, she says, have transformed the state she s called home for decades. And the ones who came to the United States illegally, she says, make a tough job market even tougher.Langlois needs to find work, and fast: Her family is living in a motel after the power company turned out the lights in their trailer. She s sharing a car and cell phone with her father-in-law.The Spanish question, she says, has abruptly ended more than one interview. She hopes it won t throw her out of the running this time, too. It s kind of, really, discrimination, she says. If you re not here legally, then you need to go ahead and go back home. They need to come over here the right way. Don t sneak over. Don t stay here. It s a sentiment that runs deep through some circles of this largely white, working-class town, which made headlines as the epicenter of Alabama s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. Five years later, people in Albertville are still split over the changes they ve seen and what they think should happen next.So is the country.A CNN/Kaiser Family Foundation poll (PDF) released this week reveals deep divides across the United States on immigration.Working-class whites a group some analysts say could play a decisive role in the presidential election are far more likely than others to say immigrants who arrived illegally should be deported. More than half (55%) say that s something the government should attempt, compared with 27% of white college grads.Those statistics don t surprise Glenda Barnes. The 70-year-old Albertville resident says she moved out of her neighborhood when immigrants started moving in. Her street started to go downhill, she says, as people crammed cars onto lawns and stopped taking care of homes. If you lived here, you d understand, she says. Our town was so neat, a nice little town. Now it s like we don t care, and everything s falling in. Rachel Zavaleta isn t surprised by the numbers either. The 29-year-old still remembers what people shouted at her on the playground when she came to Albertville with her family nearly 20 years ago: Go back to Mexico.A changing landscapeDebates about deporting immigrants who came here illegally aren t just political talking points in Albertville; they re personal.This is a city where officials tried hard to force them out, in a state where lawmakers passed the toughest law in the country aimed at doing the same thing.Five years later, even people who don t see eye to eye on immigration can agree on one thing: It didn t work.Albertville proudly bills itself as the Fire Hydrant Capital of the World, for the Mueller factory that s manufactured millions there. But across the state, it s better known for another industry: poultry processing plants, which employ thousands of workers many of them immigrants.More than a quarter of the town s roughly 22,000 residents are Hispanic. And Alabama s 2011 immigration law scared many people who d found jobs in the area.Terrified they d be rounded up and deported, they abandoned homes, pulled their kids out of school and moved to other states. Neighborhoods were left nearly empty. Shopping districts became ghost towns.But in 2012, a federal appeals court gutted much of the law, ruling that parts of it were unconstitutional, including a requirement that public schools determine the immigration status of students and parents.Now, Albertville s Latino immigrant population is thriving once again. A growing number of Haitian refugees, recruited by chicken plants in recent years, have moved to the city, too.The large Catholic church where thousands pray in Spanish every Sunday just paid off its new $1.2 million building, thanks to donations from the congregation.Eateries serving tacos and tamales are easier to find in some parts of the city than restaurants offering grits or fried catfish.The relationships between residents and the approaches local leaders take have changed.But it doesn t take long to see that tensions are still simmering.Stop by the basketball court where Mexican workers are shooting hoops, and you ll hear how afraid they are that Donald Trump might be president, and what it was like a few years back when people couldn t get water or electricity in their homes unless they could prove they were here legally.Sit for a moment in the Little League stands nearby, and a woman flipping through a coupon book as she leans back in a lawn chair will tell you how immigrants should stop speaking Spanish and sucking benefits from the system.Step into a shopping mall off the busy four-lane highway through town, and you ll see immigrants searching for the right words in an English class as they talk with their teacher about what foods to eat on American holidays and how fast the cashiers speak at Walmart.Cross the parking lot to visit the unemployment office, and you ll hear some people say the influx of immigrants gave the region s economy a boost, while others grumble it cost them their jobs. There s plenty of jobs Langlois runs her fingers through her hair as she scans the bulletin board at the unemployment office, looking for a lead.Could she be a dishwasher or a welder? Will she go back to working at a chicken plant? Is there any other choice?As an immigrant herself, Langlois says she s had to follow strict rules and make sure her documents are in order when she applies for jobs. And she resents immigrants who came to the United States illegally for finding ways to skirt the system. It s just not fair, she says. It s like they re getting special treatment. The CNN/KFF poll found that working-class whites were significantly more likely than other groups to say illegal immigration had directly affected them.More than a quarter (27%) say their family has been negatively affected by undocumented immigrants taking jobs in their community, and among this group, 8 in 10 want the government to deport all undocumented immigrants.The trend is even stronger in the South. Via: KITV | 1real |
U.S. senators reach bipartisan deal on Obamacare, Trump indicates support | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators on Tuesday reached a bipartisan agreement to shore up Obamacare for two years by reviving federal subsidies for health insurers that President Donald Trump planned to scrap, and the president indicated his support for the plan. The deal worked out by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander and Democratic Senator Patty Murray would meet some Democratic objectives, including reviving the subsidies for Obamacare and restoring $106 million in funding for a federal program that helps people enroll in insurance plans. In exchange, Republicans would get more flexibility for states to offer a wider variety of health insurance plans while maintaining the requirement that sick and healthy people be charged the same rates for coverage. The Trump administration said last week it would stop paying billions of dollars to insurers to help lower-income Americans pay medical expenses, part of the Republican president’s effort to dismantle Obamacare, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. The subsidies to private insurers cost the government an estimated $7 billion this year and were forecast at $10 billion for 2018. Trump’s move to scuttle them had raised concerns about chaos in insurance markets. Trump hoped to make good on his campaign promise to dismantle the law when he took office in January, with Republicans, who pledged for seven years to scrap it, controlling Congress. But he has been frustrated with their failure to pass legislation to repeal and replace it. Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, extended health insurance coverage to 20 million Americans. Republicans say it is ineffective and a massive government intrusion in a key sector of the economy. The Alexander-Murray plan could keep Obamacare in place at least until the 2020 presidential campaign starts heating up. “This takes care of the next two years. After that, we can have a full-fledged debate on where we go long-term on healthcare,” Alexander said of the deal. It is unclear whether the agreement can make it through Congress. Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said it had “broad support” among senators in his party, but it was harder to gauge possible support among Republicans. Moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins, who helped sink earlier Obamacare repeal legislation, voiced backing for the new plan, but conservative Republicans may be less welcoming. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, threw his weight behind the effort. In an interview with Reuters, Sanders said Alexander was a “well-respected figure” known for bipartisanship and that the Tennessee senator’s reputation would help propel the legislation through the Senate. The willingness of Sanders, a liberal champion, to offer his support of a deal with Republicans that could allow states to change some Obamacare requirements provided a boost to the Alexander-Murray effort. “We are going to overturn what Trump is trying to do,” Sanders said. Schumer urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring the plan to a vote on the Senate floor and urged the House of Representatives to take it up then as quickly as possible so Trump can sign it. TRUMP STILL SEEKS LONG-TERM SOLUTION Trump, during comments at the White House, suggested he could get behind the Alexander-Murray plan as a short-term solution. In remarks later at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, Trump commended the work by Alexander and Murray, but said: “I continue to believe Congress must find a solution to the Obamacare mess instead of providing bailouts to insurance companies.” Trump said earlier he wanted lawmakers, once they completed a major tax reform effort, to again take up broader legislation that failed in the Senate last month that would divvy up federal healthcare money as block grants to states. Murray is the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Alexander is its chairman. She said the two were able to find common ground on the steps aimed at stabilizing the insurance markets created under Obamacare and to “help protect families from premium spikes as a result of the sabotage we have seen from this administration.” According to a document seen by Reuters, the plan would make it easier for states to get waivers approved that would allow them to offer cheaper healthcare plans, including catastrophic health plans, which cover a limited set of benefits and are currently only available to those under 30. Shares of U.S. hospital operators, including Tenet Healthcare Corp and HCA Healthcare Inc, moved higher after news of the deal. Tenet shares closed 5.3 percent higher, while HCA rose 2.2 percent. Shares of some U.S. health insurers also extended their gains on the day, with Anthem Inc finishing up 1.9 percent and Centene Corp gaining 3.2 percent. Analyst Brian Tanquilut of global investment banking firm Jefferies, who focuses on hospital companies, said that if the deal is passed in Congress, it should stabilize the Obamacare insurance exchanges and improve their viability. “Hospitals will avoid a potential spike in bad debt and charity care next year,” Tanquilut said. “This is obviously a good step. It’s bipartisan and guaranteed for two years.” | 0fake |
White House welcomes strong jobs data in potentially rule-violating tweets | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A series of tweets by White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Friday commenting on strong February job creation figures may have run afoul of federal guidance barring most officials from commenting on key economic data within an hour of its release. The rule, Statistical Policy Directive Number 3, is meant to “preserve the distinction between the policy-neutral release of data by statistical agencies and their interpretation by policy officials,” the White House budget office explained when it published the most recent version in September 1985. Jason Furman, who led President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, noted on Twitter that the rule had been in place for decades: “Everyone has followed it. Until now.” Asked about the tweets at a White House news briefing, Spicer said the posts simply repeated public information and did not provide any analysis that could have disrupted markets. “We’re excited to see so many Americans back to work,” he said. “So, I apologize if we were a little excited.” Erica Groshen, who led the Labor Department’s statistical arm for four years under Obama, in her own comment on Twitter called the directive a “best practice” separating non-partisan number crunchers from officials with a more-political bent. In its monthly report on U.S. employment, released at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT), the Labor Department said non-farm employers added 235,000 workers to their payrolls, with the unemployment rate dropping a tenth of a percentage point to 4.7 percent. The monthly jobs data sets the tone for financial markets worldwide, and the robust pace of employment growth in February was seen as giving the Federal Reserve a green light to raise interest rates next week. Twenty-four minutes after the data was released, Spicer tweeted, "Great news for American workers: economy added 235,000 new jobs, unemployment rate drops to 4.7% in first report for @POTUS Trump." Minutes later, he offered a fresh post: "Not a bad way to start day 50 of this Administration." Spicer was not alone. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, in his own tweet at 9:02 a.m. (1402 GMT), appeared to hand the credit for the job growth to President Donald Trump: "@POTUS Trump delivers in first #JobsReport. 235,000 new jobs and unemployment rate down to 4.7%. Great news for American workers!" Vice President Mike Pence also got into the act. Trump, who is not shy when it comes to using Twitter, had paved the way, retweeting a post from the Drudge Report that said simply, “GREAT AGAIN: +235,000.” | 0fake |
BREAKING: Benghazi Report Shows State Department Withheld Weapons To Agents Because They Were Not “Aesthetically Pleasing” | Newsflash Hillary WAR is not aesthetically pleasing! Is this the kind of President America would like to have making decisions that impact our national security? If she took away the ability for these 4 brave men to defend themselves, how does anyone honestly believe she is capable of acting as our Commander In Chief?House Republicans released their final report on the Benghazi terrorist attacks Tuesday morning. The report concludes what we already knew. that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton DID NOTHING to save US lives in Benghazi on September 11, 2012.FOX News reported on Tuesday the State Department withheld the requested weapons from agents on the ground because they were not aesthetically pleasing. Adam Housley: When we talk about those with reactions I spoke with including one special agent who was on the ground that night who says to me in Benghazi, quote, the report continues to show how ridiculous the STate Department makes it to give support to a special agent on the ground when he says he needs support. There were about 10 of us who continually asked for more weapons and more security in Benghazi and were routinely denied. And we reported on that because the State Department told him it wasn t aesthetically pleasing to have a belt-fed machine gun, for example.WATCH:Via: Gateway Pundit | 1real |
Texas Teacher Admits to Three-Way Sex With High Schoolers, Say Police | A Texas teacher accused of having sexual relations with multiple high school students, admitted to these lascivious improprieties, even divulging she had sex with two teenagers, according to an arrest warrant released on Monday. [Officers took into custody Heather Lee Robertson, 38, a kindergarten teacher in the Hudson Independent School District, on Saturday, April 22. According to police documents, she stands accused of having sex with a total of four high school male students. Police charged her with four counts of improper relationship between educator and student, The Lufkin Daily News reported. If convicted, Robertson faces up to 20 years in prison. The details of this case unraveled when, on April 20, a Hudson ISD police officer received a tip allegedly linking Robertson sexually to two high school students. Their identities and ages remain unknown. According to the Lufkin newspaper, the officer opened an investigation and interviewed the teens. One said his relationship with Robertson began as “chatting and sexting” over Snapchat shortly after spring break, which led to Robertson inviting him to her apartment for sexual intercourse. He told her he had a friend with him and asked if it was “okay” that the friend tagged along. The student told the officer, Robertson approved both boys coming to her home. They arrived to find her on the couch “vaping,” according to the warrant. This teen said they all for a few minutes after which Robertson instructed them to follow her into the bedroom where she took off her clothes and had sex with the two teens. These youths then told the officer about two other male high school students possibly involved with Robertson. Officers spoke to these other boys, who said they had sex with her at the apartment several times. Reportedly, the teens snuck out of their homes, and Robertson picked them up to bring them to her residence. One of these boys said his improper relationship with the teacher started over the same social media app. In a subsequent police interview, Robertson admitted to all of the allegations and even told officers the first sexual encounter took place in late 2016 and the last happened on April 14, according to the arrest warrant. Robertson added that recently she became a heavy drinker and did not always remember the details of these sexual encounters, KTRE reported. On Thursday morning, Hudson ISD Superintendent Mary Ann Whiteker learned about this situation. That afternoon, Robertson resigned. No doubt, teachers crossing the line sexually with students continue to plague Texas classrooms. DeEtta Culbertson, Texas Education Agency (TEA) spokeswoman, told Breitbart Texas the agency opened 159 of these cases between September 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017. By comparison, the TEA opened 123 cases during the entire academic year. These numbers rose steadily over the years: 141 cases 152 156 163 and 179. In the TEA accounted for a disconcerting 188 instances, which lead Senate Education Committee members to meet and seek policy solutions plus assess the role of social media in fostering this troubling educator behavior. The school year, though, marked an high of 222 cases, Breitbart Texas reported. So startling the numbers, the TEA asked state lawmakers to fund nearly $400, 000 in their academic budget for hiring two investigators and one administrator to better tackle the problem. This legislative session, state Senator Paul Bettencourt ( ) authored Senate Bill 7 to crack down on this schoolhouse epidemic. In March, the upper house voted unanimously for this bill, which since moved onto the House Education Committee. On April 12, they voted with 4 absent for advancing SB 7 through the legislature’s lower chamber. Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter. | 0fake |
Biden calls for Russia sanctions to stay as Trump moots deal | KIEV (Reuters) - Outgoing U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Monday for sanctions on Russia to stay, urging the world to stand up to its “coercion and aggression” after President-elect Donald Trump mooted ending the measures under a possible deal with Moscow. Speaking on a swan song visit to Kiev, Biden said the G7 nations and European Union should lift the sanctions only after Russia had fully implemented a peace deal on ending a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine and returned control of Crimea. Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday, raised the prospect that he would propose offering to end the sanctions imposed over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its role in the rebellion in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal. Without mentioning Trump, Biden appeared to take issue with the President-elect’s comments made in an interview published in Monday’s edition of the Times of London. “The international community must continue to stand as one against Russian coercion and aggression,” he told reporters, standing alongside Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Biden stressed the 2015 deal on ending the rebellion by pro-Russian insurgents which is still continuing, with Washington accusing Moscow of failing to keep its side of the bargain. “Together with our EU and G7 partners, we made it clear that sanctions should remain in place until Russia fully, emphasize fully, implements its commitments under the Minsk agreement,” he said, adding that Crimea-related sanctions must also stay “until Russia returns full control to the people of Ukraine”. U.S. support for Ukraine has contributed to a deterioration in relations with Russia to their worst since the Cold War. Under President Barack Obama, Washington has invested heavily in helping Kiev make a success of a 2013-2014 uprising which forced a Kremlin-backed leader to flee and installed the pro-Western opposition in power. Trump’s open admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and stated desire to improve bilateral ties have stoked fears in Kiev that U.S. resolve to hold Russia to account could waver. Biden has mixed support with some tough talking about Ukraine’s patchy efforts in tackling graft, and has previously warned that international help is conditional on Kiev making good on promises to tackle endemic bribe-taking. “You’re fighting ... the cancer of corruption,” Biden, who leaves office on Jan. 20 along with Obama, said on Monday. Poroshenko said Ukraine believed in good cooperation with the new U.S. administration and urged sanctions to stay, without mentioning Trump’s remarks on a deal with Russia. A Kremlin spokesman said it was too early to comment. Biden has been the front man for U.S. policy towards Ukraine, visiting Kiev five times since the change in power and maintaining such regular telephone contact with Ukrainian officials that he has joked he talks to them more than his wife. As Biden left the room, a journalist asked if he thought the Trump administration would give Ukraine the same priority as he had. Biden gave a thumbs up and said: “Hope springs eternal.” Continued Western support is vital for Ukraine. The economy, which has been badly hit by the war in the east, is slowly emerging from two years of recession but remains dependent on external financial help. The United States has so far provided over $3 billion and said it could offer more, provided reform efforts continue. Andy Hunder, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, said Kiev would have to put much time and resources into dealing with the new U.S. administration. “On Jan. 20 Ukraine will be waking up to a new reality,” he told Reuters. “There is a concern in Kiev about how the new relationship will develop. It will require building new bridges to the influencers, the gatekeepers and decision-makers.” Kiev has already taken steps to win the good favor of the those calling the shots in the Trump administration. Days after his election in November, Poroshenko’s office started planning an official visit to Washington in early 2017. The Ukrainian government has hired former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour and his lobbying firm BGR Group to lobby U.S. politicians and arrange meetings between U.S. and Ukrainian officials. This is not to say that Ukraine lacks senior political advocates in the United States. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including John McCain and Marco Rubio, said last week they wanted to slap a wide range of sanctions on Russia over its cyber activities and actions in Ukraine and Syria. A sanctions bill with similar provisions is being written in the House of Representatives. “Our job is to make sure this attention on Ukraine does not wane,” Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaliy said on Wednesday. | 0fake |
Long Live the Establishment! | Written by Michael S. Rozeff Saturday November 12, 2016 What happens next in Washington? Trump fills out his administration. At the same time, Washington insiders attempt to capture Trump and influence his positions, policies and decisions. The presidency is an institution, not a man, not a president. The presidency is a network of enormous power with Trump now at its center. Washington insiders who live and breathe politics are now in a race for positions of power and influence. They hanker and vie for appointments. Trump must make appointments. He cannot operate alone. He must delegate power to make decisions. He cannot monitor all information pertinent to every issue in which the government has a hand. The presidency is not 100 percent centralized. Decision-making power is allocated to levels below the president himself and to levels surrounding him. It also lies outside the presidency in Congress. Trump has his ideas and desires for actions, but their realization depends on the people he appoints. He loses control and locks himself in with every appointment that he makes. People around him want his power and want to influence him. They have a heavy influence on what he hears, whom he sees, the options presented to him, and the evaluations of competing personnel. Trump will likely form a very small team of offshoots of himself, people whom he trusts implicitly, in order to extend his capacity to choose people who will adhere to and execute his agenda.Power in Washington is not simply the apparatus of administering the presidency that will take up headlines for the next few months. After the U.S. Treasury robs the tax-paying Americans, new robbers (the Lobby) appear to rob the Treasury using every device they can get away with. There is a second contingent, the power-seekers. Those who covet the exercise of power unceasingly work toward their own narrow aims. As long as Washington remains the place that concentrates unbelievably large amounts of money and powers, it will remain the swamp that Trump has promised to drain but won’t. He cannot drain it, not without destroying Washington’s power and he cannot accomplish that, nor does he even hint that he wants to accomplish that. His stated aims are the redirection of money and powers, not their elimination for the sake of a greater justice, a greater right, and a truly greater people and country.The presidency is an establishment and Washington is another. By being elected, Trump struck a blow at the members of the establishment who will be packing their bags while weeping over their losses (see here and here .) But elections do not strike the roots of the presidency, the establishment or Washington. Neither will demonstrations against Trump. The Obama establishment is dead. The Democratic establishment is dead, at least for 4 years. There was a time, a very brief time under the Articles of Confederation, when Americans recognized the evils of the establishment and avoided instituting one. This gave way almost immediately (in 1787) to the constitutional seed that planted the enormous tree that now cuts out the sun of justice from American lives. A domestic war failed to uproot that tree. Long live the establishment, the Union, the American state, and may they be possessed of immense powers over our lives — these became the social and political reality. Trump isn’t going to change it. He’s a president administering a presidency. He’s at the top of the heap. His credo is still “Long Live the Establishment!” Reprinted with permission from LewRockwell.com . Related | 1real |
Protesters at UC Berkeley block white students from getting to class | Print
UC Berkeley students wanted to make a point about the importance of safe spaces on campus. And what could make the campus of any university safer than converting it into a hostile environment for white students by blocking their access?
Actually, if you read the full report at the Washington Times , you discover that the protest was never meant to include white students. Which is not to say the event wasn’t inclusive, to borrow one the popular battle cries of social justice warriors. Except in this case, the only groups included were transgender and nonwhite students.
From the Times:
The demonstrators were caught on video [forming a human chain] blocking Berkeley’s Sather Gate, holding large banners advocating the creation of physical spaces segregated by race and gender identity, including one that read “Fight 4 Spaces of Color.”
Protesters can be heard shouting “Go around!” to white students who attempt to go through the blockade, while students of color are greeted with calls of “Let him through!”
The aforementioned video appears below and is well worth watching if for no other reason that to count the number of white faces among the protesters. To me it appears that most of them are white, and presumably self-hating.
Who else but Berkeley progressives could find a way to demonstrate in favor of segregation on campus. Martin Luther King Jr. has to be rolling in his grave. | 1real |
Texas Elector Expects Massive Corruption Related to the Electoral College Vote | Previous Texas Elector Expects Massive Corruption Related to the Electoral College Vote
I recently interviewed Ken Clark, a Texas elector for the Republican Party in the Electoral College. Ken detailed the intense pressure he received from the Gore people to change his vote to Gore in the Gore v. Bush election.
Mr. Clark expects the Democrats to pull out all the stops in the upcoming election and he expects to see corruption on a massive scale.
Here is the interview. | 1real |
Highlights: The Trump presidency on April 21 at 6:12 p.m. EDT/2212 GMT | (Reuters) - Highlights for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday: Trump promises a big announcement about tax reform next week and orders an administration review of Obama-era tax rules written to discourage U.S. companies from relocating overseas to cut their tax bills. Trump tells the Treasury Department to examine two powers given to regulators to police large financial companies following the 2008 financial crisis. South Korea says it is on heightened alert ahead of another important anniversary in North Korea, with a large concentration of military hardware amassed on both sides of the border amid concerns about a new nuclear test by Pyongyang. Trump, striving to make good on a top campaign promise, is pushing fellow Republicans who control Congress to pass revamped healthcare legislation but the same intraparty squabbling that torpedoed it last month could do it again. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says Syria has dispersed its warplanes in recent days and that it retains chemical weapons, an issue he says will have to be taken up diplomatically. The Department of Justice threatens to cut off funding to California as well as eight cities and counties across the United States, escalating a Trump administration crackdown on so-called “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The United States will not make an exception for American companies, including oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, seeking to drill in areas prohibited by U.S. sanctions on Russia, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says. Trump and his fellow Republicans who control Congress face their first major budget test next week, with the threat of a government shutdown potentially hinging on his proposed Mexican border wall as well as Obamacare funding. The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee says it has invited FBI, National Security Agency and Obama administration officials to testify as it restarts its investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meets with Trump at the White House for the first time since both took office earlier this year and amid a U.S. push to cut funding to the world body and its agencies. The United States has offered to help fund Mexico’s efforts to eradicate opium poppies, a U.S. official says, as Mexican heroin output increased again last year. | 0fake |
Occupy Wall Street Is Getting The Band Back Together To Rally Behind A New Leader | It s been five years since Occupy Wall Street was torn apart by order of New York Mayor Bloomberg. After the arrest of 240 members and their official eviction from Zuccotti Park, the original occupiers went their separate ways, many to form other grassroots political movements all across America. The Occupy name has since been used for protests not just across the country but all over the globe, making the movement one of the most influential in recent history.Those original organizers, who seemed so disorganized and impromptu, have decided to come back together to carry the banner of their new leader, Bernie Sanders, a man who gives their movement more meaning and a new ray of hope. Sanders, whose favorite talking points include breaking up Wall Street and the big banks, talks of the one percent with the same contempt as Occupy, making them a perfect fit for one another.Where there was little but banners and protests there is now an impressive organization forming that will work closely with the senator s campaign to help get out the vote for the New York primary next week. They plan to engage in a massive canvassing campaign that will ultimately turn into a banner waving, occupy-inspired march through Manhattan this weekend. Organizer Winny Wong, one of the original campers in Zuccotti Park said: This is the place where the message of income inequality resonated across the country and across the world it s where it really began. He s bringing it back home. Wong is the creator of the people for Bernie movement that sparked the flames of hope for so many and inspired the Feel The Bern hashtag. Together with other now-famed activists like Charles Lenchner and Beka Economopoulos, the occupy movement has a new home in their favorite city, a new leader and a boatload of hope. Lenchner told CNN: Occupy was a reaction to the financial collapse, to what happened because of Wall Street s power to destroy the economy, and Bernie s campaign is the one that has been consistently focused on the role of the 1 Percent, large corporations and financial institutions. It s a very natural connection. So it is. The Sanders campaign has raised oodles of money from small, private donors giving what most candidates see as pocket change, with none coming from massive super PACs that have been raising money since the dawn os time. Sanders has proven time and time again that he s a man of the people and he has the voting record to prove it. Had it not been for the senator from Vermont, the occupiers might have been a group of soul discorporated from their body of beliefs forever,Featured image by Mario Tama/Getty Images | 1real |
Trump's EPA budget proposal targets climate, lead cleanup programs | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is proposing to slash a quarter of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, targeting climate-change programs and those designed to prevent air and water pollution like lead contamination, a source with direct knowledge of the proposal said on Thursday. President Donald Trump has long signaled his intention to reverse former Democratic President Barack Obama’s climate-change initiatives. But the Republican president has vowed his planned overhaul of green regulation would not jeopardize America’s water and air quality. The 23-page 2018 budget proposal, which aims to slice the environmental regulator’s overall budget by 25 percent to $6.1 billion and staffing by 20 percent to 12,400 as part of a broader effort to fund increased military spending, would cut deeply into programs like climate protection, environmental justice and enforcement. Politico and other news outlets reported the staff and overall budget cuts earlier, but the source disclosed new details on the impact the cuts would have on programs and grants to states. Environmentalists slammed the proposed cuts, which must be approved by the Republican-led Congress. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the budget proposal or its counter proposal. The White House said it had no comment. Under the proposal, which was sent to the EPA this week, grants to states for lead cleanup would be cut 30 percent to $9.8 million, according to the source, who read the document to Reuters. Grants to help Native American tribes combat pollution would be cut 30 percent to $45.8 million. An EPA climate protection program on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases like methane that contribute to global warming would be cut 70 percent to $29 million. The proposal would cut funding for the brownfields industrial site cleanup program by 42 percent to $14.7 million. It would also reduce funding for enforcing pollution laws by 11 percent to $153 million. The budget did not cut state revolving funds for programs, that Congress tapped last year to provide aid to Flint, Michigan, for its lead pollution crisis. All staff at a research program, called Global Change Research, as well as 37 other programs would be cut under the plan. Some of the cuts are unlikely to pass the Republican-led Congress as they are popular with both Democrats and Republicans. Congress would be unlikely to approve a proposal to cut all staff in a diesel emissions program, for example. Scott Pruitt, the new head of the EPA, told U.S. mayors on Thursday he would make a priority of cleanups of industrial and hazardous waste sites and improving water infrastructure, even as the White House proposed severe proposed cuts to those programs. “In this budget discussion that is ongoing with Congress that is just starting, there are some concerns about some of these grant programs that EPA has been a part of historically,” Pruitt said. “I want you to know that with the White House and also with Congress, I am communicating a message that the brownfields program, the Superfund program and the water infrastructure grants and state revolving funds are essential to protect,” he said. Greenpeace spokesman Travis Nichols said: “As a candidate, Trump made a big deal out of EPA’s failure in Flint, but now he’s cutting 30 percent out of lead cleanup in his proposed budget. This is an example of his empty promises to do right by the American people.” Officers of the Environmental Council of the States, composed of local regulators, raised concerns to the White House and EPA about the budget process, which they said lacked input by directly affected states. ECOS officers will meet with the environment team of the Office and Management and Budget, a White House office, on Friday and have slated a teleconference with Pruitt in March. ECOS head Alexandra Dapolito Dunn said states had been hopeful after Pruitt’s confirmation hearing that they would get resources to do their work. “Now they are feeling very vulnerable,” she said. | 0fake |
9 Comic Book Heroes Who Could Come Out on the Big Screen - The New York Times | The best news about the revelation that one (only one?) of the Power Rangers may be gay has been the lack of calls to boycott the film. In the brief but scene, the colorful teammates of the Yellow Ranger realize that she may be having girlfriend — not boyfriend — problems. It is a quiet moment and a small step forward for the representation of diverse sexuality in superhero movies. What stands out even more is that moviegoers didn’t bat an eye, propelling the film to a surprisingly strong $40. 5 million opening weekend. For comic book fans, the current age of heroes is a dream come true. The slate of coming films through 2020 even includes “ and the Wasp” from Marvel Studios and “Aquaman” from DC Entertainment, starring characters who in the past would be hard to imagine having their own movies. But where are the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender superheroes, who have been protecting the innocent for more than two decades? For anyone craving their stories on the big screen, as I do, there are no clear signs ahead. Some characters with relationships in their back stories have made it to the movies, but those details have not yet made it out of the closet. “Iceman, Mystique and Catwoman are L. G. B. T. in the comic books, but appear straight onscreen. ” So begins a trailer for an imaginary film about a man who becomes a hero while also beginning a relationship with another man. The trailer, created by the young director Mike Buonaiuto, has its flaws, but there is something magical about its handling of the lead characters. It is hard to picture a major superhero having a gay relationship in a film designed to be a blockbuster, to set up sequels and to sell ancillary merchandise. But it is comforting to know that some actors would be open to it. Andrew Garfield, who played Peter Parker and in 2012 and 2014, raised the subject in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “Why can’t we discover that Peter is exploring his sexuality?” he wondered. “Why can’t he be gay?” While it would be a risky and unlikely move for a franchise star like (who is getting a reboot starring Tom Holland this summer) comic book publishers have a deep catalog of characters waiting for their big break onscreen, and heroes that have made the leap are ready to come out. Here are some suggestions, Hollywood. Gay heroes, assemble! YELLOW RANGER Comic book fans are notoriously impatient, and one scene in the new movie “Saban’s Power Rangers” won’t be enough for many. A review on the website Comics Alliance noted the awkwardness of the scene and said it was “hardly a declaration of Hollywood’s first gay superhero. ” But the producers of “Saban’s Power Rangers” optimistically envision five more movies. That leaves time for the Yellow Ranger to mightily morph into a confident young lesbian. CATWOMAN This feline fatale, who at various times is an ally, love interest or enemy of Batman, has been played on film by Lee Meriwether (1966) Michelle Pfeiffer (1992) Halle Berry (2004) and Anne Hathaway (2012). Then confirmation came in 2015 in the comics that Catwoman is bisexual. All it took was her hijacking Gotham City’s mob and consummating it with a kiss with the mob heiress Eiko Hasigawa. ICEMAN The tribulations of the outcast mutant have often been used as allegories for the struggles of the oppressed. In “X2,” from 2003, Iceman (portrayed by Shawn Ashmore) comes out, but only about his superpowers. The scene resonated with gay viewers. “Have you ever tried not being a mutant?” his mother wondered. Twelve years later, the comic book character came out about his sexuality. And thanks to time travel, there are two versions of him (both gay) in the Marvel Universe. The conversation between his younger self pushing his older self to come out is worth a screen adaptation in itself. MYSTIQUE Comic books can be like soap operas, and the Mystique (who has been portrayed by Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence) has been through a lot: She led a mutant terrorist group, served as an operative of a government agency and suffered a mental breakdown. She is also the mother of Nightcrawler and was in a longtime relationship with Destiny, a female mutant who can see the future and who helped her raise Rogue, another . Mystique is literally so there’s a lot of potential for future stories. WONDER WOMAN It took nearly 75 years after her creation to arrive at this point, but the version of Wonder Woman is bisexual. Two retellings of her origin last year made it clear that Diana of Themyscira, as she is known out of costume, had relationships before she left her island home. The screen version of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) was the big winner in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” last year, and hopes are high for her solo outing in June. I’m still rooting for Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) but acknowledging a less than 100 percent straight past for the most renowned heroine in comics would be seismic. NORTHSTAR “I am gay. ” With those words from 25 years ago, the mutant Northstar sparked a revolution in the depiction of gay heroes in comic books. An editorial in The New York Times welcomed the revelation. Northstar’s back story is rich: He is French Canadian, a ski champion and has a twin sister, with a bipolar disorder and similar powers of flight and speed. In 2012, he married his boyfriend. AQUALAD Wonder Woman stole “Batman v Superman,” and history may repeat itself with Aquaman, thanks to his thrilling moments in the recently released trailer for “Justice League,” due in November. A solo film is scheduled for next year, and with a potential franchise in mind, producers will have to examine his supporting cast. Look no further than the recently reintroduced new Aqualad, the gay black son of one of Aquaman’s greatest villains. He’ll soon join some of his other fellow sidekicks in the comic Teen Titans. BATWOMAN After her debut in 1956, Kathy Kane eventually was part of a parade of characters (including and an imp, ) sharing a famous mantle. Batwoman fell into obscurity and was murdered in 1979, but she returned in 2006 as a lesbian who had been discharged from the military. In 2013, the acclaimed creative team behind a Batwoman series left the title because of an editorial decision that prevented her from marrying her girlfriend. Her new series began in February, and she’s like a female James Bond, with the adventures and perhaps the dalliances to match. KEVIN KELLER He does not have special abilities, but Kevin Keller is still a hero to many fans. Archie Comics should be applauded for how this openly gay character has been depicted since his debut in 2010. He revealed himself as a matter of course and quickly became part of Archie’s gang. Today, Kevin has his own digital series, set a few years after college, which chronicles his efforts to find his path, professionally and romantically. The character is also part of the television series “Riverdale,” in which he is so accepted that even his father, the town’s sheriff, encourages him to find an equally nice guy to date. | 0fake |
Despite strains, Vietnam and China forge closer economic ties | HANOI (Reuters) - Tensions are high on the South China Sea as Vietnam faces off against China over their overlapping maritime claims. But for the boatmen on the junks cruising the calm expanse of Vietnam s Ha Long Bay, another growing Chinese presence in the region is very welcome indeed. More than half our tourists are Chinese now, said Nguyen Van Phu, 33, who has spent six years working on the boats that chug between the bay s spectacular stone towers. If they stopped coming it would be a big problem, if not a disaster. The number of Chinese tourists in Vietnam has surged this year, just one sign of the growing economic ties between two long-time enemies. Chinese investment in Vietnam is also increasing rapidly, as is trade between the two countries. But while tourists, trade and investment are being welcomed, they also present a challenge for a fiercely independent country like Vietnam, which has been wary of China s growing influence in the region. The rising economic dependence on China makes it more difficult for Vietnam to decide how far to confront China on the South China Sea, said Nguyen Khac Giang, a researcher at the Vietnam Economics and Policy Research Institution. Vietnam would suffer far more than China economically in the event of political instability given its smaller size, he said. China exports more goods to Vietnam than any other country in Southeast Asia, sending textiles to be made into shirts and sneakers, and electronic components for mobile phones and large flat-panel displays. Those completed products are exported around the world, as well as back to China. Vietnam also makes electronics components for factories in China, and exports computers for Chinese consumers. Manufacturers see Vietnam as an attractive base, with wages as little as a third of those in coastal regions of China, according to employment consultants. And while proximity has historically been a source of friction between the two countries - they fought a border war as recently as 1979 and armed clashes flared for years afterwards - for manufacturers it s a boon. We strategically invested in Vietnam because of its geographical advantage closer to China and hence lower cost on materials, transportation and relatively shorter production lead time, said Bosco Law, chief executive of the Hong Kong-based Lawsgroup. The company makes clothes for brands such as Gap, whose global operations include scores of outlets in China. Businesses contacted by Reuters declined to talk openly about the risks for them of tension between Vietnam and China. Chinese trade and investment has surged across Southeast Asia in recent years as companies search out new bases for manufacturing and consumers for their goods. China has also invested in infrastructure and plans to pour development funds into Southeast Asia as part of its sprawling Belt and Road initiative. That has already had a political effect. Big recipients of Chinese investment such as Cambodia and Laos are promoting China s line on the South China Sea at regional meetings. President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, meanwhile, has cited Chinese investment pledges as he softens his country s stance on its maritime disputes with China. Tensions between Beijing and Hanoi have been high since mid-June, when Chinese pressure forced Vietnam to suspend oil drilling on a block that overlaps the line China says marks its claim to almost all the South China Sea. As Vietnam has emerged as the most vocal regional opponent of China s maritime claims in Southeast Asia, it has drawn Beijing s ire. Its growing defense links to the United States, Japan and India also make China suspicious. The Vietnamese government has also had to contend with public pressure at home. A row over Chinese oil drilling in disputed waters in the South China Sea in 2014 sparked anti-China riots in Vietnam in which foreign factories thought to be Chinese were set on fire, before the rig was removed. Tourism dipped in the aftermath, but quickly bounced back. Trade has also risen steadily since then. Exports to China jumped nearly 43 percent to $13 billion in the first half of 2017 from a year earlier, according to customs data. Imports rose more slowly, climbing 16 percent. Chinese tourist arrivals, meanwhile, soared 60 percent to nearly 1.9 million in the first half of 2017 to account for around one third of all foreign visitors. For the most part, the government has welcomed the boost from Chinese tourism, as it strives to meet a 6.7 percent target for annual economic growth. Vietnam is also welcoming Chinese investments, if cautiously. We should be careful but at the same time we should take advantage, said Nguyen Mai, the president of Vietnam s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises. The biggest foreign direct investors in Vietnam have long been from South Korea and Japan, particularly in the electronics sector. More than 100,000 Vietnamese work for Samsung alone in Vietnam. However, Chinese investment is growing quickly, nearly doubling last year to almost 8 percent of total foreign direct investment. Investment went into solar panel and plastics factories, among other areas. Direct U.S. investment accounts for about 2 percent of the total so far this year; the United States is also Vietnam s second-largest trade partner. For a graphic on Vietnam-China trade, click: tmsnrt.rs/2fIhfYc | 0fake |
Sister of NY attack suspect says he may have been brainwashed; appeals to Trump | ALMATY (Reuters) - The sister of the Uzbek immigrant accused of killing eight people in New York said her brother might have been brainwashed and appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday to ensure he gets a fair trial. Sayfullo Saipov, 29, was charged in a federal court on Wednesday with driving a rented pickup truck down a riverside bike trail, crushing pedestrians and cyclists, in support of Islamic State. A dozen more people were injured in the city’s bloodiest single attack since Sept. 11, 2001. Trump called for Saipov to receive the death penalty. Speaking from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, Saipov’s sister, Umida Saipova, said she hoped Trump would help ensure her brother was given “more time” and “a fair trial”. She told Reuters by telephone that she and her family had been shocked to see Saipov grow a long beard after he got married in 2013. Umida Saipova told Radio Free Europe (RFE) that her family believed that her brother may have been brainwashed. “We don’t know who has brainwashed him,” Saipova said. “Perhaps he’s become part of some organized group. I don’t know, honestly, how long it will take for his head to get rid of that poison, but I’m sure he will come to his senses, God willing.” She said she had spoken to her brother the day before the attack. “He was in a good mood. It was a usual, good conversation,” she told RFE. Saipov’s mother, Mukaddas, told Reuters she last saw her son in August when she visited the United States. The attack was a “total shock” to the family, she said. “I was shocked by the news and I have been in hospital (since then) until this afternoon,” she said. Mukaddas said Sayfullo told her in August he missed Tashkent. She wanted to bring him home, but could not do that because his youngest child was only 20 days old, she said. Sayfullo never complained about his life in the United States and was able to support his family and help his parents at the same time, she said. “He was kind with all of his friends,” Mukaddas said. “No, he was not religious and never visited mosques because he was always busy with studying and then working.” Trump has tweeted of Saipov: “should move fast. DEATH PENALTY!” Umida Saipova told RFE she and her family hoped her brother would not be sentenced to death in some rushed show trial. Amid unconfirmed reports that the Uzbek authorities are questioning her family, she added that she did not know where her father and uncle were. | 0fake |
Daesh executing civilians as Iraqi forces advance | Iraq Federal police forces launch a rocket during clashes with Daesh militants south of Mosul on October 26, 2016. (Photos by Reuters)
Daesh executes over 230 civilians in Mosul as the battle to liberate the Iraqi city from the Takfiris gains momentum.
"Daesh militants continued to commit atrocities in the province of Nineveh, they executed 190 people in the area of Hammam al-Alil after taking them hostage in different areas of Mosul," saidthe chairman of the Iraqi parliamentary human rights committee, Abdel Rakhim Shamri, on Wednesday.
He added that another 42 people were taken from the village of Arij and executed after they refused to cooperate with the terrorists. Federal police forces take part in an operation against Daesh militants south of Mosul on October 26, 2016.
Shamri also called on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to facilitate the airlifting of civilians from Daesh-held areas in Mosul as the terrorists are using them as human shields.
On Tuesday, the UN human rights office said it had preliminary reports about scores of mass killings by Daesh around Mosul in the past week. Federal police forces take part in an operation against Daesh militants south of Mosul on October 26, 2016.
UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a regular UN briefing in Geneva that the bodies of 70 civilians with bullet wounds had been discovered by Iraqi security forces in Tuloul Naser village on October 20, and 50 police officers being held outside the city had also reportedly been killed.
Daesh employing scorched earth policy
On Wednesday, the commander of the Mosul operations, Major General Najm al Jabouri, announced that government forces had liberated the villages of Saf al Tuth and Nana after engaging enemy snipers stationed close to the villages.
Locals report that Daesh militants are employing a scorched earth policy destroying buildings, farms, detonating explosives, torching industrial plants and kidnapping and killing civilians as they are forced to retreat.
"My brother was killed by Daesh, because he wanted to join the security forces. Anyone who wanted to join the security forces would be killed. They took a lot of people, they carried them in pickup trucks, and I have no idea what their fate will be," said a resident of Nana village.
Regional officials have confirmed the terrorists are kidnapping and executing people as they are forced to retreat by advancing Iraqi forces.
A member of the Nineveh provincial council, Abdul Rahman al-Wagga, noted that the executions were carried out "to terrorize the others, those who are in Mosul in particular."
"Daesh was taking families from each village it left," he added. Iraq army forces drive a military vehicle during the operation against Daesh militants in Qayyarah, south of Mosul, on October 26, 2016.
Earlier, military sources announced that Peshmerga fighters had established control over Dirik village near the town of Bashiqa, which lies 12 kilometers northeast of Mosul.
Iraq’s Joint Operations Command also announced that Iraqi counter-terrorism units were only two kilometers away from Mosul.
Since the beginning of the operations, the Iraqi army, backed by volunteer forces, has been engaged in a large military offensive to cleanse Mosul of Daesh terrorists. The city fell in 2014 when the terror group started ravaging the country, naming Mosul as its so-called headquarters in Iraq. Loading ... | 1real |
7th international aerospace exhibition opens in Tehran | 7th international aerospace exhibition opens in Tehran Thu Oct 27, 2016 11:36PM 7th international aerospace exhibition, Tehran. © Press TV
Hamid JavaniPress TV, Tehran
The 7th edition of Iran’s aviation and aerospace exhibition is underway near the iconic Milad tower in the capital Tehran. Iranian and Foreign companies active in the aerospace industry have attended the 4-day event to showcase their products. As our correspondent Hamid Javani says, Iran has made eye-catching progress in civil air services in recent years. Loading ... | 1real |
Trump Saved Jobs at Carrier, but More Midwest Jobs Are in Jeopardy - The New York Times | In tiny Sellersburg, Ind. just across the border from Kentucky, Manitowoc Foodservice is in the final stages of closing a factory that makes beverage dispensers and ice machines and is laying off 84 workers. The company is moving production to Mexico. Just 100 miles away, Donald J. Trump will appear on Thursday with workers at Carrier’s Indianapolis plant to boast of his success in saving at least 1, 000 jobs from moving to Mexico. The truth across the Rust Belt is that there are more Manitowoc Foodservices than Carriers. The layoffs and closing in Sellersburg follow similar shutdowns by Manitowoc in Ohio and Wisconsin. “I’ll give Trump his due, but I hope he and the American people and Congress don’t forget about all these other jobs going to Mexico,” said Chuck Jones, the president of Local 1999 of the United Steelworkers in Indianapolis, which represents Carrier. “Down the pike, a lot more are going to be moving out. ” Indeed, Rexnord, the ball bearing factory in Indianapolis where Mr. Jones went to work straight out of high school nearly 40 years ago, said in October it would be moving to Mexico. It is just a mile from the Carrier plant. The mayor of Indianapolis, Joe Hogsett, and Senator Joe Donnelly, both Democrats, tried to exert Trumplike pressure to force Rexnord to rethink its plans, but so far the company has not shown any sign it will change course. “On a personal level at Carrier, it is huge,” said Jerry N. Conover, director of the Indiana Business Research Center at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. “But by itself, the disappearance or retention of 1, 000 jobs is a small slice of the total economy in Indiana. ” “I think there will be continued downward pressure on employment in factories because of trends toward automation especially and moving to areas for production,” he added. Carrier, in its official statement on the deal on Wednesday, said that it thought the agreement it negotiated with Mr. Trump and Vice Mike Pence “benefits our workers, the state of Indiana and our company. ” But it said that incentives provided by Indiana, where Mr. Pence is governor, “were an important consideration. ” It added that “the forces of globalization will continue to require solutions for the competitiveness of the U. S. and American workers. ” Those 1, 000 Carrier jobs saved represent just 0. 2 percent of total manufacturing employment in the state. And despite a rebound since the aftermath of the Great Recession, at just over half a million positions, factory employment in Indiana this year is still down by more than 20 percent since 2000. The good news is that Indiana has been doing well economically, with an unemployment rate below the national average and steady gains in employment like food service, retail and logistics. But those service jobs pay well below the $20 to $25 an hour that veteran Carrier employees — with only a high school diploma — can earn building furnaces and fan coils in Indianapolis. The typical manufacturing worker in the state earns $59, 000 a year, about $20, 000 a year more than the typical service job. And for less credentialed workers, that margin is the difference between having a shot at a life, including owning a home and sending children to college, and having to struggle to make ends meet. “These are truly irreplaceable jobs,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an advocacy group, and a native of Rensselaer, Ind. “A manufacturing job is one of the only ladders to fulfilling the American dream for a worker without a college degree. ” “A manufacturing worker who loses their job at Carrier will be resigned to facing a lower standard of living and leaner retirement years,” Mr. Paul added. “Carrier is special because it happened at the right time and the right place and it gained a high profile. But obviously, Donald Trump and Mike Pence can’t intervene every time a plant closes. ” The economic fortunes for this group have been shrinking for years, which is a major reason the story of Mr. Trump and Carrier has resonated so deeply. In Indiana, in particular, as in other Rust Belt states, there are a lot of people who are less educated: Just 16. 5 percent of the state’s residents ages 25 to 64 have a bachelor’s degree, half the rate for the country over all. And while about 30 percent have an associate degree or some college, the bulk of Indiana residents, 44 percent, have only a high school diploma — or less. Nor has manufacturing remained the sole domain of whites. It provides a crucial source of jobs for minorities. In the popular imagination, the Indianapolis factory where 1, 400 Carrier workers build furnaces and fan coils looks like a scene out of “The Deer Hunter” or “Norma Rae. ” guys walking through the plant gate, lunch pail in hand, or white women barely getting by after years on the line. But the reality at the Carrier plant that Mr. Trump will visit on Thursday is very different. About half the workers are making it a much more diverse workplace than many settings. Women account for a substantial portion of the work force as well, but the wages are anything but subsistence: over $20 an hour plus benefits for workers with just a high school diploma. That is an almost level of pay for Indiana workers with that level of education in other sectors like food service and retail or even many health care jobs. Carol Bigbee, 59, who has worked at Carrier for over 13 years, earns $22 an hour. Her daughter has a bachelor’s degree and works in a medical lab, but earns less. “You have to be really blessed to find a job that pays that kind of money,” she said. In southern Indiana, where the Manitowoc Foodservice factory will close next year, jobs are just as rare. But Rich Sheffer, vice president for investor relations and treasurer at the company, said it had little choice but to relocate to Mexico. “This company has 20 percent excess manufacturing capacity,” he said. A few of the jobs are being transferred to Covington, Tenn. he said, but the Sellersburg plant “would have required a massive investment in automation. And we have to deal with profit margins that are trailing the industry. ” Mr. Sheffer said his company’s situation was different from that of Carrier, which has profitable operations in Indiana but could make more money in Mexico. “Our motivation is completely different, but,” he added, “we haven’t been contacted by anybody in the Trump administration. ” | 0fake |
International Red Cross to "drastically" cut Afghan operations after attacks | KABUL (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross will drastically cut back its operations in Afghanistan following attacks that have killed seven of its staff this year, the aid group said on Monday. The announcement underlines the deteriorating security for aid groups in Afghanistan, where the ICRC has been operating for more than 30 years and has been running its fourth biggest humanitarian program. Exposure to risk has become our greatest challenge and concern, Monica Zanarelli, head of the ICRC in Afghanistan, told a news conference in the capital, Kabul. We have no choice but to drastically reduce our presence in Afghanistan, she said, adding that the decision would particularly affect operations in the north, where facilities in Kunduz, Faryab, and Balkh provinces would be closed or downsized. Red Cross officials said the assessments are ongoing and could not say how many of its 1,800 staff would be affected. The Red Cross had already warned of the threat to its operations following a series of attacks over the past year. In February, the organization put all of its operations on hold after six of its staff were killed in an attack on an aid convoy in the far north. Operations gradually resumed over the summer, but last month, a Spanish Red Cross physiotherapist working in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was shot dead by one of her patients. In addition, four of its staff have been abducted over the past year. The spreading conflict has combined with an increase in criminality, making for more blurred lines between the various armed groups which complicate efforts to safely provide aid, Zanarelli said. I would say there are more gray areas than there were in the past, and this is certainly what is affecting our capacity to assess our security, she said. According to U.S. military estimates, the government controls no more than 60 percent of the country, with the rest either controlled or contested by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. | 0fake |
Andrew Cyrille’s Late-Career Renaissance - The New York Times | Andrew Cyrille opens one of his two new albums, “The Declaration of Musical Independence,” with a syncopated figure on a snare drum, as taut and riveting as a military cadence. Then he adds cymbals and kick drum, giving the phrase a sinuous curve just as the rest of the band enters. What they’re playing is “Coltrane Time,” an obscure piece by John Coltrane, and Mr. Cyrille shows the way forward with a regal, flowing . He has been working this way more or less since the 1960s, reshaping jazz’s rhythmic syntax while engaging with its lineage. A tireless workhorse in the Mr. Cyrille, 76, deserves substantial credit for helping to unlock a freer pulse and purpose in the music, slipping away from a metronomic framework while preserving a rigorous attention to form. “I used to spend time with older jazz drummers like Philly Joe Jones and Max Roach,” Mr. Cyrille said in a recent interview from his home in Montclair, N. J. “They would always say, ‘You’ve got to make your contribution.’ So that was always in my head. When you find yourself, you have to find your path. ” Mr. Cyrille’s entire body of work suggests a fulfillment of that conviction, carried out with little concern for outside approval. He still hasn’t been named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, the lifetime achievement honor bestowed on some of his former collaborators, like the pianists Cecil Taylor and Muhal Richard Abrams and the multireedist Anthony Braxton. But Mr. Cyrille has managed something just as meaningful, bringing his ideas into increasingly mainstream circulation without a hint of dilution. His work on fine recent albums by the pianist David Virelles and the bassist Eric Revis, and with the collective Trio 3, begin to make the case for a renaissance. (Trio 3, with Oliver Lake on alto saxophone and Reggie Workman on bass, will be at Dizzy’s Club on Oct. 27.) Both “The Declaration of Musical Independence” and “Proximity,” a duo recording with the saxophonist Bill McHenry, bolster that impression, if not close the case entirely. A pair of albums with divergent sonic features but a similar ethos of discovery, they highlight Mr. Cyrille’s insight, ingenuity and subtle mastery of touch. “There’s so much clarity in his playing,” said the guitarist Bill Frisell, who appears on “The Declaration of Musical Independence” alongside Richard Teitelbaum on synthesizers and piano and Ben Street on bass. “It doesn’t swallow you up. And he strikes this perfect balance between instigating something and also responding to what’s going on around him. That’s the most amazing feeling in music, and Andrew’s got that really strong. ” Mr. Cyrille is a gregarious conversationalist, quick to illustrate any point. Born in Brooklyn to Haitian immigrants, he recalls being a small child and accompanying his mother to community meetings, where the great hand drummer Alphonse Cimber would often be playing. He honed his skills in almost every conceivable setting, from high school orchestra to Brooklyn jazz bars. He studied at Juilliard even while holding a gig with the Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji. By the when he started working with Cecil Taylor, he had a wealth of experience to draw from. “I had been playing dances and parties, bar mitzvahs and polkas,” he said. “I had been in the drum and bugle corps. ” Mr. Cyrille had also provided musical accompaniment for classes associated with the June Taylor Dancers, improvising rhythmic cues for kinetic movement. “That’s, in a sense, how I learned to solo,” he said. “So when I got with Cecil, I was able to do all of that stuff. One time he asked me, ‘How do you hear rhythm?’ I said, ‘I hear it in relationship to dance. ’” During a more than tenure with Mr. Taylor, who set a high bar for free improvisation, Mr. Cyrille refined new rhythmic strategies. His freedom of expression on the job was absolute, so it was up to him to establish a style that, in his words, “was concrete, and in acknowledgment of people like Kenny Clarke, Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey and Max Roach. ” Mr. Cyrille also prioritized a kinship with his fellow drummers. He learned “Coltrane Time” from Rashied Ali, Coltrane’s last drummer, who passed it along like a family heirloom. In 1974, Mr. Cyrille released the album “Dialogue of the Drums,” a collaboration with Milford Graves. “Pieces of Time,” released a decade later, features Mr. Cyrille and Mr. Graves alongside Mr. Clarke, a bebop progenitor, and Famoudou Don Moye, of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. One track from “Pieces of Time” — the jaunty “Drum Song for Leadbelly,” inspired by one of that bluesman’s old recordings — resurfaces on Mr. Cyrille’s new album with Mr. McHenry. “Proximity” otherwise features a balance of simmering idylls and sparring sessions, with drums and saxophone always mutually engaged. The album is lean and dry but hardly austere: It feels dynamic and fully realized, a product of intense exchange. “The Declaration of Musical Independence” has a more ethereal footprint, partly because of the instrumentation: Mr. Frisell is a guitarist who can evoke the flicker of sunlight and shadow, and Mr. Teitelbaum favors the abstraction of sculptural sound. At Mr. Cyrille’s behest, every musician on the album contributed a new tune, and they created a few others on the spot. “Begin,” by Mr. Frisell, is a brief dose of swinging mischief “Say,” by Mr. Street, is a gorgeous, watery ballad. The composition that Mr. Cyrille brought in was “Dazzling (Perchordially Yours),” a process piece in which each musician elaborated on an assigned set of chords, finding common purpose through trial and error. Playing the tune with brushes, Mr. Cyrille sketches a tempo with clear forward motion but no strict cadence. “One can define time as ‘the duration of that which changes,’” he said, briefly letting the phrase sink in. “We think of time as something like or a clock that goes ‘ticktock, ticktock.’ But people who lived before clocks, they would look at the sun or the moon, see when the rooster started crowing. That meant ‘time’ for them. So it would change. ” He went on, “How you deal with it, from one moment to the next, depends on the culture that you come from. ” Then he laughed, but in a way that made it clear he was serious. Cecil Taylor, ‘Unit Structures’ (Blue Note, 1966) This album, deservedly a landmark, presents Mr. Cyrille as the ideal improvisational partner, meeting every swarm and surge in Mr. Taylor’s pianism with his own rumbling poise. Leroy Jenkins, “Space Minds, New Worlds, Survival of America” (Tomato, 1978) The violinist Leroy Jenkins made this album in a contemporary classical vein, with Mr. Teitelbaum on synthesizer, George Lewis on electronics and Mr. Cyrille in alert and supple form. Andrew Cyrille Maono, “Metamusicians’ Stomp” (Black Saint, 1978) Mr. Cyrille featured several of his compositions on this earthy and exploratory album, featuring a captivating young tenor saxophonist, David S. Ware, alongside the slashing trumpeter Ted Daniel. Milford Graves, Andrew Cyrille, Kenny Clarke, Famoudou Don Moye, “Pieces of Time” (Soul Note, 1984) An intergenerational drummer’s summit featuring compositions by all four members (Mr. Cyrille has two) and a spirit of selfless camaraderie. Trio 3 + Vijay Iyer, “Wiring” (Intakt, 2014) The powerfully insightful collective Trio 3 — Oliver Lake on alto saxophone, Mr. Workman on bass, Mr. Cyrille on drums — has made several fine recent albums with guest pianists. This one, featuring Mr. Iyer, is a knockout. | 0fake |
Ousted Catalan leader calls for united front for independence | MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont called on Saturday for a united political front in the Dec. 21 election to continue the drive for independence from Spain and to protest against the imprisonment of former members of the regional government. Puigdemont, who went to Belgium after his government was fired following a unilateral declaration of independence, said on Friday he was considering standing in the election from Brussels. In Spain s gravest political crisis since the return of democracy in the late 1970s, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called the snap election after taking control of Catalonia a week ago. Political parties that wish to run on a common platform have until Tuesday to register any potential coalition and until Nov. 18 to put forward their candidates. It is time for all democrats to join together. For Catalonia, for the freedom of political prisoners and for the republic, Puigdemont said in a tweet that included the hashtag llistaunitaria.cat, a site calling for parties to unite against the Spanish government at the ballot box. Signatures on the website rose to over 40,000 from just 2,000 within a few hours of Puigdemont s tweet. In a poll published on Tuesday, the pro-independence coalition Junts pel Si (Together for Yes) was seen winning with 35.2 percent if the vote was held immediately. That would return a parliamentary majority to independence supporters if the group stuck with its current pact with far-left party CUP. The wealthy northeastern region continues to be evenly split between those that support leaving Spain and those that wish to remain part of the country, according to polls taken since the declaration of independence. If pro-independence parties run on different tickets, it may be difficult for them to win a parliamentary majority, though the imprisonment of former government members may help unite an electorate already wary of Madrid s tactics, seen by many as heavy-handed. Pro-Spain candidates including Rajoy s People s Party (PP), the Socialists and market-friendly Ciudadanos were out canvassing on Saturday with modest rallies in the region calling for the so-called silent majority to vote en masse in December. Ines Arrimadas, the head of regional opposition Ciudadanos, called for anti-independence parties to join together on Tuesday. She singled out the Socialists and Podemos-associated Catalunya Si Que Es Pot to clarify if they would run with the independence party ERC in the election. The ERC general secretary Marta Rovira said on Saturday the party may shun the elections if the politicians jailed pending trial over the independence bid were not freed before the vote. It is up to the state to show it s democratic. Let the prisoners go free so they can take part in the elections normally, she said. On Thursday, nine members of Puigdemont s sacked cabinet were ordered by Spain s High Court to be held on remand pending an investigation and potential trial. One member of the dismissed cabinet, Santi Vila, was released after paying bail of 50,000 euros ($58,000) on Friday. The other eight could remain in custody for up to four years. On Friday, Spain issued an arrest warrant for Puigdemont and four associates to answer charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust relating to their secessionist campaign. Catalan civic groups Asamblea Nacional Catalana and Omnium Cultural - whose leaders were imprisoned last month on sedition charges - have called for a general strike on Nov. 8 and a mass demonstration on Nov. 11 to protest against the detentions. Puigdemont has said he would not return to Spain until he has been given unspecified guarantees by the Spanish government. Following the warrant, any extradition process could take 45 days, though this could be extended up to 90 days. Puigdemont reiterated on Saturday in a tweet that he would fully cooperate with Belgian justice following the warrant. Asked if he would detain Puigdemont on Saturday, Belgian prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said it was unlikely. Tomorrow, or it could be possible on Monday, he said. We are not in a hurry. He said he would collaborate. We don t have any reason to believe he will flee. We are going to do this thoroughly. While anti-independence parties urged Catalans to go out and vote in the December election, the arrests helped fuel the antagonism felt by many in the region toward the central government in Madrid. To pick someone up and arrest them is not politics. Politics is talking, discussing. To arrest some, it seems to me a little bit like a fascist government, Barcelona resident Cristiano Gonzalez, 34, said. ($1 = 0.8615 euros) | 0fake |
BREAKING UDATE: IRAN CONFIRMS $1.7 BILLION Was RANSOM Payment For Prisoners And NOT Part Of “Nuclear Deal” ORIGINAL STORY: OBAMA AND KERRY Agree To Give Iran $1.7 BILLION U.S. Taxpayer Dollars As “Settlement” | Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!The United States sent Iran $400 million in debt plus $1.3 billion in interest, and the money was disbursed as a ransom payment for four American hostages of the Islamic regime, a top Iranian commander said Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, the U.S. paid the Iranian regime $425 million dollars per American hostage, according to the commander. The annulment of sanctions against Iran s Bank Sepah and reclaiming of $1.7mln of Iran s frozen assets after 36 years showed that the US doesn t understand anything but the language of force, said Iranian Basij Commander Brig Gen Mohammed Reza Naqdi, addressing his forces in Tehran. This money was returned for the freedom of the US spy and it was not related to the (nuclear) negotiations, he claimed, according to state-controlled Fars News Agency.Four Americans who were held hostage by the Islamic Republic Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, Pastor Saeed Abedini, and Nosratollah Khosrawi Roudsari (who decided to stay in Iran) were part of the deal that included the ransom payment, along with the release of seven Iranians who were sitting in American jails on charges of thwarting international sanctions, and the delisting of 14 Iranian nationals from Interpol s Red List, which seeks international criminals for extradition.A fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, who was imprisoned by Tehran, was also released, but under the terms of a separate deal, according to reports.The U.S. State Department tells Breitbart News that the payment to Iran was separate but simultaneous, and not a ransom. We did not pay ransom to secure the return of these Americans. The funds that were transferred to Iran were part of a separate but simultaneous arrangement we agreed to with Iran related to the U.S.-Iran Claims Tribunal at the Hague, a State Department spokesperson told Breitbart News late Wednesday.State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters earlier on Wednesday in Washington that no ransom was paid, rejecting the remarks of the Iranian commander. There was no bribe, there was no ransom, there was nothing paid to secure the return of these Americans who were, by the way, not spies. We ve spoken to this in the days after their release on Sunday morning in great detail about how this process worked. There was this consular channel that was opened up to secure their release, Toner said. Via: Breitbart NewsHere is the question we posed after discovering the interesting timing of this $1.7 BILLION payment to Iran while 4 American prisoners were being simultaneously released:Was this transfer of funds to a terrorist state (via the American taxpayer), the REAL reason the prisoners (hostages) Iran was holding were suddenly released? Did the incompetent Obama-Kerry duo use this settlement as a bargaining chip to make it appear as though freeing these hostages was part of the Iran nuclear deal all along? This is absolutely sickening The United States and Iran on Sunday settled a longstanding claim at the Hague, releasing to Tehran $400 million in funds frozen since 1981 plus $1.3 billion in interest, the State Department said.The funds were part of a trust fund once used by Iran to purchase military equipment from the United States but which was tied up for decades in litigation at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.The settlement announcement was made after Tehran released five American detainees in a prisoner swap as a nuclear deal was implemented. Via: Business Insider | 1real |
WATCH: Fox Sports Reporter Taken Off Air After Questioning Intelligence Of Mexicans | Fox is not only number one with racists, the network is apparently number one at hiring racists as well.After a video of a school valedictorian went viral because Mayte Lara Ibarra told the audience that she is an undocumented immigrant during her speech, a Fox Sports reporter simply could not accept that a Latino is smart enough to be at the top of the class.During a Barstool Rundown associated with Republican nominee Donald Trump and his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Fox reporter Emily Austen openly questions the intelligence of Mexicans and made racist comments about Asians and Jews. I didn t even know Mexicans were that smart, Austen said. She also derided Jews as stingy and claimed the Chinese guy is always the smartest guy in math class. Here s the video via Vimeo. Austen s remarks begin at the 24 minute mark.Well, while racist Trump supporters probably appreciated Austen s comments, they didn t go down well with her bosses at Fox Sports, who promptly removed her from the air for the time being.Fox Sports General Manager Steve Tello condemned Austen s comments and quickly made it clear that Fox Sports had nothing to do with them. We were made aware that Emily Austen appeared in a social media video unaffiliated with Fox Sports in which she made insensitive and derogatory comments. She was not speaking on behalf of Fox Sports, nor do we condone any of the statements she made in the video. Emily has been advised that her comments were unacceptable, and she is not scheduled to appear on any upcoming Fox Sports Florida or Fox Sports Sun broadcasts. These kinds of stereotypical precepts have no place in our society, but this is the kind of America that Donald Trump is hoping to create. As a public media figure, Austen should have known better. It would like someone saying that all blondes are dumb. However, that stereotype appears to be true in Austen s case.Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
Planned Parenthood sees brief reprieve after healthcare bill yanked | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood, the national health organization that would have lost federal funding under sweeping healthcare overhaul legislation, views the withdrawal of the bill on Friday as a temporary reprieve, not the end of a threat to its existence. Officials of the organization - long a target of those who oppose its abortion services - anticipate further attempts by Republicans to curb its participation in federally funded public health programs, a major source of its funding. In a major setback for Republican President Donald Trump, U.S. House of Representatives leaders pulled the healthcare bill after a rebellion by Republican moderates and the party’s most conservative lawmakers left them short of votes. Democrats were unified against it. Planned Parenthood leaders will meet in Washington next week to plan their strategy for coming rounds in what they see as a protracted fight. “It’s one good night’s sleep, and then we have to see what they are going to cook up,” Chris Charbonneau, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, said in a phone interview. “They’re trying to find some vehicle that they could hook some Planned Parenthood defund(ing) to.” Many Republicans oppose the organization, some on religious grounds, because its healthcare services include abortions, although it receives no federal funding or reimbursement for abortions, as stipulated by federal law. The federal funding it receives is primarily through reimbursement via Medicaid and the Title X Family Planning grant program for its care for low-income patients. Abortion opponents said Republican leaders had promised for years to end federal reimbursement for Planned Parenthood, and that voters would continue to hold them to this. Before winning the presidential election in November, Trump had also promised to defund Planned Parenthood, and fought to get the healthcare bill passed. “I’m confident the Republicans in Congress and the president will move ahead and defund Planned Parenthood,” said Joe Pojman, executive director of the anti-abortion Texas Alliance for Life. The issue “is so dear to the electorate who put the Republicans and president in office,” he said after the bill was pulled. On the other side of the issue, Georges Benjamin, the American Public Health Association’s executive director, welcomed the withdrawal of the legislation, and said the renewed public attention on Planned Parenthood may make future efforts to limit its funding more difficult. “I think in many ways it’s going to be harder for them to go after Planned Parenthood, not that they won’t,” he said in a telephone interview. “I hope people recognize that Planned Parenthood did more than abortions, that they recognize it has a broader portfolio,” he said, referring to services such as cancer screenings provided by the organization. The proposed American Health Care Act (AHCA) would have repealed many parts of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, which Democratic President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010. Charbonneau and other Planned Parenthood officials pointed to a widespread outpouring of public opposition to AHCA as one of the reasons that its moderate Republican backers could not reach a compromise with members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, who demanded a complete evisceration of Obamacare. “The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!” Trump wrote in a message on Twitter on Friday morning.Public opinion polls found the AHCA bill was unpopular among Americans, including Republican voters, and that there was broad public support for funding some of Planned Parenthood’s work. In a Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted last month, almost half of 5,459 American adults surveyed said Planned Parenthood should receive federal funding; about a third said they should not. Even so, about 70 percent of those people said Planned Parenthood should get the money when they were asked about specific services such as free cancer screenings, contraception and prenatal care. Women were significantly more likely than men to think the organization deserved funding. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America had described the Republicans’ proposed law as containing a “long list of anti-women’s health provisions” in a statement earlier this week. The federation’s president, Cecile Richards, cheered its withdrawal on Friday. The organization said that 2.5 million men, women and children rely on Planned Parenthood for cancer screenings, medical testing, contraception, abortions and other healthcare services each year at around 700 health centers around the country. The warnings were echoed by two dozen national public health organizations, including the American Public Health Association, the American Nurses Association and the American College of Nurse-Midwives, in a letter to U.S. lawmakers in February. They argued that in some parts of the country, particularly rural areas, Planned Parenthood was the only nearby provider of health services. | 0fake |
Boom: Hillary’s private email address ‘whitelisted’ on Obama’s Blackberry | Print
[Ed. – Which means the Oval Office IT squad knew Hillary was using a private email address for State Department business, and knew what the address was. No IT professional looking at the metadata on her emails could fail to recognize a private, freelance server. When do these repeated bombshells become so repetitive we don’t even hear them anymore?]
If this wasn’t enough, the way Obama’s BlackBerry is set up offers even more proof the White House knew about Clinton’s email.
President Obama’s high-security BlackBerry used a special process known as “whitelisting” that only allowed it to take calls and messages from pre-approved contacts, two former senior intelligence officials with knowledge of the set-up told Fox News – pointing to the detail as further proof the White House knew Hillary Clinton’s private account was used for government business. …
[T]he “whitelisting” safeguard means Clinton and other contacts would have had to be approved as secure for data transmission – covering everything from emails to texts to phone calls. The Obama BlackBerry would have also been configured to accept the communications.
“Whitelisting happens by design. The IT professionals who whitelist devices at places like the White House only add the email addresses authorized by management. To do otherwise would be to violate policy in ways that could introduce threats to the system,” Bob Gourley, former chief technology officer for the DIA, told Fox News. | 1real |
Stabbing Injures Seven People in Newark Home · Guardian Liberty Voice | According to ABC Eye Witness News, on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016, in Newark, New Jersey, seven people were stabbed. The stabbing occurred shortly before 4:00 p.m. ET.
It has been reported some the victims have life-threatening injuries. So far the police have reported there is no clear motive for the stabbing, and there are no suspects in custody.
Updates on this story will be provided as they come available.
Another Stabbing Earlier This Year According to ABC Eye Witness News, on July 29, 2016, there was another stabbing. This victim was in critical condition was stabbed by her husband. Which lead to a standoff.
The 59-year-old victim was stabbed multiple times by the 64-year-old suspect. At the time of the stabbing, their nine-year-old grandson was in the home. He was not injured, and he was able to get help.
Neighbors came in and pulled the woman onto the grass until paramedics arrived. The suspect sat behind the front door of the home talking to police since about 11:20 a.m., and the standoff ended at about 3:40 p.m. with the man taken into custody.
During the standoff, the suspect threatened to commit suicide. Residents of the area were told to stay in their homes while officials negotiated with the suspect.
By Brady Combs
Edited by Cathy Milne
Sources:
ABC EyeWitness News: 7 People Stabbed inside Newark home; police searching for suspect
ABC EyeWitness News: Woman Stabbed by her husband in a Newark Home, police say
Image courtesy of ER24 EMS’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License stabbing | 1real |
UAW chief says union to endorse either Clinton or Sanders 'soon' | DETROIT (Reuters) - United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said on Thursday the union will endorse either Democrat Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders for U.S. president “soon,” and called for unity among Democrats behind the eventual nominee. Williams, head of the richest U.S. union, vowed that the labor group will be “all in” to support the eventual Democratic nominee. The UAW has more than 1 million current and retired members. In a news conference at UAW headquarters, Williams did not say whether the UAW would endorse a candidate before the June 7 Democratic primary in California, but said he and top union leaders could decide quickly over the phone when the time comes to announce a decision. In early polling of UAW members, 28 percent preferred Donald Trump, who is now the presumptive Republican nominee. Williams said the poll was conducted at a time when Trump talked about bringing jobs back to the United States and before the union distributed comments Trump made last August in a Detroit News interview when he said U.S. automakers should shift production from Michigan to states where wages could be lowered. Williams would not reveal how Clinton or Sanders fared in the early polling among UAW members when Trump received about 28 percent of the support. Williams said he did not know the current level of support among UAW members for Trump, but he indicated that he is confident most of the onetime Trump supporters would side with a Democratic candidate. Williams said the Republican Party is for “free trade” and not “fair trade” and that the result of a Republican presidency would be lower wages for U.S. workers. “I don’t want a president that has a good line,” said the UAW chief. “I want to know what the detail is.” Williams said, “It’s not a game show.” Separately, he said he may seek a meeting with Tesla Motors Inc’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk when he calls on other corporate leaders. Williams said he met twice with Musk five years ago, before he became UAW president in mid-2014. Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, which is nonunion, has increased production and the number of employees greatly since then. Williams said the UAW continues to work to organize the Tesla plant but he would not give any details on how intense that effort is. “It’s still a priority,” he said. | 0fake |
Max Ritvo, Poet Who Chronicled His Cancer Fight, Dies at 25 - The New York Times | Max Ritvo, an accomplished poet who spent much of his life under the cloud of cancer while gaining wide attention writing and speaking about it, died of the disease on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 25. His mother, Dr. Ariella confirmed his death. Mr. Ritvo talked about his work and illness in interviews on radio programs including “Only Human” on WNYC and “The New Yorker Radio Hour. ” His poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine and The New Yorker, and his first published volume of poetry, “Four Reincarnations,” will appear in the fall. The poet Louise Glück, who taught Mr. Ritvo at Yale, called the book “one of the most original and ambitious first books in my experience,” adding that his work is “marked by intellectual bravado and verbal extravagance. ” Mr. Ritvo was 16 when he learned he had Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare pediatric cancer. He had gone to doctors after feeling pain in his side. At first they suspected pneumonia, but fearing something worse they took a tissue sample while he was under sedation. He woke up in a cancer ward. “I remember thinking, ‘This is so terrible! ’” he told Mary Harris of WNYC. “‘I’m just a young, acrobatic, wiry, handsome bloke of 16, and it’s so sad for all these old people, because they must have run out of beds and I just have pneumonia. ’” A year of aggressive treatment brought about remission, and over the next four and a half years he finished high school and attended Yale. The cancer returned in Mr. Ritvo’s senior year. He nevertheless completed his degree in 2013 and this year earned a master of fine arts from Columbia University, where he became a teaching fellow. He also served as poetry editor at Parnassus: Poetry in Review. Throughout his illness, he rejected the clichés of being an “inspiring victim of cancer,” his mother said. He counseled other families going through treatment for Ewing’s sarcoma, and spoke out often about the disease and the importance of research. His poetry, said a writer for Boston Review, is composed “of candor, of splendor and of abandon. ” It could veer from despair to humor in lines like these, from “Radiation in New Jersey, Convalescence in New York”: I come from a place where the water is so barren that when you drink it the fish of the throat die, causing malignant thirst. What’s a dazzler like you doing in a dump like my bed? Last August Mr. Ritvo married Victoria now a doctoral student in psychology at Princeton. They had met during a summer academic program at Cambridge University in 2005. After she moved from England to the United States, they began dating in 2013. Dr. a research scientist, recalled that her son, thinking about marriage but knowing his prospects for survival were questionable, had asked her, “Is it fair of me to propose?” Max Joseph Ritvo was born Dec. 19, 1990, in Los Angeles. A literary prodigy, he was writing at 3, his mother said. At Yale, he joined an experimental comedy group called His Majesty, the Baby. He entertained its other members with outlandish and often profane riffs, said Andrew Kahn, the group’s producer and manager. His sketches could be challenging for audiences: in one, he used the medical port in his chest as a kind of ventriloquist’s dummy, putting googly eyes on the protrusion and jiggling it with his hand while chatting with it about cancer treatments. Mr. Ritvo’s body bore three tattoos depicting birds that he had acquired after enduring each new wound or scar. “He wanted to juxtapose it,” Ms. Ritvo explained, referring to his cancer, “with something beautiful. ” In “Poem to My Litter,” which The New Yorker published in June, Mr. Ritvo wrote of an experiment in which cells cloned from his tumors were placed in mice in the hope of finding more promising treatments. He names each of the mice Max. He wrote: My doctors split my tumors up and scattered them into the bones of twelve mice. We give the mice poisons I might, in the future, want for myself. We watch each mouse like a crystal ball. The therapies did not emerge. He wrote: And since I do absolutely nothing (my pride, like my fur, all gone) nothing happens to me. And if a whole lot of nothing happens to you, Maxes, that’s peace. Which is what we want. Trust me. Along with his wife and mother, Mr. Ritvo is survived by his father, Edward Ritvo his sisters, Victoria Ritvo Black and Skylre Oryx and a stepbrother, David Slifka. His stepfather, Alan B. Slifka, a New York investor and philanthropist who was the founding chairman of the Big Apple Circus, died in 2011. Dr. leads a foundation that bears Mr. Slifka’s name and which, among other missions, supports research into sarcoma. In Max Ritvo’s final weeks, he remained cleareyed. In a podcast interview on Aug. 14 with the media personality Dr. Drew Pinsky, he said, his voice weak, “This is stuff. ” Over time, he said, his work had shifted “away from sort of ebullient death poetry and fighting poetry and poetry of, sort of, the bloods and the squirmies and the guts, and more toward trying to figure out what death is, and what my place in the world is. ” His poetry sustained him, his family said. “He said the day he stopped writing, that would be the end of it,” his wife said in an interview. She added: “He was writing three days before he died. ” On Monday, Dr. said, her son was too weak to write poetry. “That’s it,” she said quoting him. “I can’t write any more. ” The family called in the hospice nurses, who gave him sedatives. He died the next morning. | 0fake |
Congo opposition rejects new timetable for polls to replace Kabila | KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo s main opposition parties have rejected a new date for elections announced at the weekend to replace President Joseph Kabila, saying it violates the law and a political deal agreed with the government. Originally scheduled for late 2016, the polls have been repeatedly delayed. Following several rounds of deadly protests, Kabila s camp and his opponents signed an accord last December agreeing to hold the election before the end of this year. On Sunday, Congo s CENI elections commission announced that the election, which term limits currently bar Kabila from taking part in, will be held on Dec. 23, 2018 with the winner to be sworn in on Jan. 13, 2019. The calendar presented by the CENI violates the Constitution, the Dec. 31, 2016 accord and electoral law, read a statement from opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi s Rassemblement coalition. The document was also agreed to by the MLC and UNC opposition parties. Dozens died in protests against Kabila s refusal to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate last December. Unrest sparked by the uncertainty surrounding the polls has raised fears Congo could witness a repeat of the kind of violence that killed millions around the turn of the last century, mostly from hunger and disease. After the CENI said last month that the vote could only take place in April 2019 at the earliest, the opposition warned that the population would take matters into its own hands . The opposition leaders call upon all the Congolese people to be vigilant and mobilized in the aim of freeing up the electoral process by Dec. 31, 2017, Tuesday s Rassemblement statement said. It nonetheless went on to state that the coalition believed it was possible to hold the vote by June 30 next year at the latest. The CENI and government officials blame poll delays on problems registering millions of voters across the vast Central African nation. The opposition accuses Kabila of manipulating the process to cling to power. | 0fake |
Miss Russia | Russia & India Report | Miss Russia AFP/East News
Miss Russia Alisa Manenok shows off her souvenir of a stuffed cat while boarding a boat at the Lake Ashinoko in Hakone town, Kanagawa prefecture. Seventy women will compete for the 2016 Miss International crown in Tokyo on October 27. Facebook | 1real |
Trump aide Greenblatt heading to Jordan for talks after Israel visit | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, is heading to Jordan for talks about the Mideast peace process after meetings in Israel, a senior administration official said on Monday. “Jason Greenblatt arrived in Israel Monday afternoon. Following meetings with Ambassador David Friedman and Prime Minister Netanyahu, Mr. Greenblatt is travelling to Amman, Jordan for additional discussions,” the official said. | 0fake |
Trump Whines About ‘Illegal Leaks’ About His Administration’s Wrongdoings And Gets CREAMED (TWEETS) | Following Michael Flynn s resignation after he was busted lying about the nature of his conversations with the Russians, Donald Trump came clean with America: he admitted that Flynn had discussed sanctions during those conversations and pledged to launch an investigation into the full extent of his dealings with a hostile foreign power in some alternate reality. In this one, he threw a tantrum on Twitter because he s a child. The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc? Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2017That s right the fact that we, the American people, found out that Flynn had been colluding with the same government that hacked our election on Trump s behalf and ran an aggressive propaganda campaign to discredit Hillary Clinton, is the issue. Not that it was happening in the first place. Not that Trump fired the acting Attorney General shortly after she warned him that Flynn had lied. To Trump, the real issue is that we are finding out what is going on.Ironically, he seems to be unaware that one of his guests at the Mar-a-Lago snapped photos of the guy carrying the nuclear football and named him on social media or, of course, that all of his guests had a full view of secure documents as Trump perused them over dinner by the lights of his minions cell phone flashlights.Bannon & Flynn used phone flashlights for Trump read most secure N Korea docs w/waiters serving. Maybe Rs can scream more about HRC emails https://t.co/e7Dj8CaH8M Gene Sperling (@genebsperling) February 13, 2017The Verge recently published a video demonstrating how easy it is to hack a cell phone camera: The concern is a hot mic attack, in which a hacker uses the compromised phone to record private conversations. But as our demo showed, it s just as easy to compromise the camera, allowing the attacker to see whatever is in front of the phone, the publication s Russell Brandom writes in an article on the North Korea dinner debacle. That s usually not as useful, provided the target doesn t physically hold up the phone and point it at sensitive intelligence documents, but here we are. In other words, the only problems are Trump and his team, and the only concern of compromised intelligence lies with him and the people he selected to run our country into the ground.Naturally, Americans reminded him who is the boss:@realDonaldTrumpYour administration got caught breaking the law then lying about it.Flynn didn t lie to Pence.You lied to us. Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) February 14, 2017.@realDonaldTrump no the story is why we're you covering for Flynn? Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) February 14, 2017@realDonaldTrump You can't praise leaks the entire election and then complain now. pic.twitter.com/qT21yZhqE9 Mark Pygas (@MarkPygas) February 14, 2017@realDonaldTrump And these "illegal leaks" are keeping our democracy intact. Ben Berkon (@BenBerkon) February 14, 2017@chrissyteigen @realDonaldTrump It's also what happens when you review sensitive info in crowded dining room w/ guests & staffers around Brian Leibforth (@bleibforth) February 14, 2017@realDonaldTrump and to answer your question: yes. As long as you continue to try to treat America like the Titanic, the leaks will continue Alex Zalben (@azalben) February 14, 2017@realDonaldTrump YOU DEALT WITH NORTH KOREA IN PLAIN SIGHT OF ALL THE OTHER RICH KIDS AT MAR A LOOGEY YOU CHODE Sara Schaefer (@saraschaefer1) February 14, 2017You mean leaks like this @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/FSTl0XTO5K Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) February 14, 2017@realDonaldTrump hey if youre concerned about N Korea leaks maybe don't deal with international crises in the middle of a fucking restaurant i have died (@ChrisCaesar) February 14, 2017@realDonaldTrump You mean the leaks that are coming from your own staff? Are you complaining to us about the staff you put together? Gordon S. Murray (@A1designguy) February 14, 2017@realDonaldTrump Because the crooks you hired are snitching on you. Shut the fuck up and resign and move to Russia you corrupt prick. Megarock Radio (@megarockradio) February 14, 2017@realDonaldTrump So you're saying Flynn would still be there, but for the leaks? No, Twitler, your tweet just became the real story. Skeller85 (@skeller85) February 14, 2017The Intercept notes that Trump makes the lives of foreign spies so easy that they must be bored :Tommy Vietor, a former National Security Council spokesperson for President Obama, pointed to another vulnerability exposed by the scene at Mar-a-Lago: the possibility that waiters at the club, who continued dinner service during the discussion of North Korea s missile test, could be recruited by foreign intelligence services.For a clue as to just how easy that might be, consider that the Palm Beach Post reported in December that Mar-a-Lago hires dozens of temporary foreign workers each year, using the federal government s H-2B visa program.It was not immediately clear where the foreign workers at Mar-a-Lago come from, but another club in the area told members that workers hired under the same visa program come from Romania, Ireland, and South Africa.Donald Trump represents perhaps the greatest danger our nation has ever faced and it is up to each and every one of us to oppose him in every way possible.#Resist.Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
CNN Host STUNS Sean Spicer With An ONSLAUGHT Of Facts About Obamacare Repeal (VIDEO) | CNN s Jim Acosta has been a thorn in the Trump administration s side ever since Donald Trump insulted him during a press conference and called him and the news network fake news . Needless to say, every time Acosta asks a question, Trump s team gets nervous and this was apparent yesterday when White House Press Secretary found himself cornered by Acosta on the GOP s new healthcare plan at a White House briefing.When Acosta brought up the fact that the Republicans new plan would result in millions of Americans losing their insurance a fact that was confirmed by the Congressional Budget Office Spicer almost blew up trying to defend the GOP s plan. Acosta asked: Would you concede that there will be some coverage losses, perhaps in the millions? There will be millions of people who will not have health insurance because of what you re doing. Spicer tried to argue against Obamacare s individual mandate, stating that many Americans already chose not to purchase Obamacare, instead opting to pay penalties but Acosta wasn t having any of it. Acosta replied: The mandate forces people to buy insurance so you don t have the free rider problem. You have free riders and those folks end up in car accidents and end up at the emergency room. And then health care is much more expensive. Spicer tried to hit back and say that Obamacare forced people to buy plans that they did not like that were mandated by the government, but Acosta continued to lay into him with fact after fact. Acosta was quick to point out that the CBO stated that over 20 million fewer Americans would have coverage by 2020, and argued that government-run health care like Obamacare was not the problem. Acosta said: Medicare is government-run health care. I don t see citizens screaming that they want you to get rid of their Medicare. Acosta and Spicer went back and forth over the GOP s new healthcare plan for several minutes, and it was clear that Spicer was unraveling and about to lose it. You can watch Acosta rail against Spicer below:Featured image via Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images | 1real |
FAKE NEWS WEEK: How Mainstream Media ‘Fake News’ Led to the U.S. Invasion of Iraq | In response to the establishment media s contrived fake news crisis designed to marginalise independent and alternative media sources of news and analysis, 21WIRE is running its own #FakeNewsWeek awareness campaign, where each day our editorial team at 21st Century Wire will feature media critiques and analysis of mainstream corporate media coverage of current events exposing the government and the mainstream media as the real purveyors of fake news throughout modern history MSM LIES: Judith Miller of the New York Times was a key media operative used to sell the Iraq War to the public. By Timothy Alexander GuzmanThe mainstream media (MSM) has declared war on alternative media websites labeling them Fake News ever since Hillary Clinton lost the election to Donald Trump. The New York Times editorial board expressed their frustration in an article calling for the censorship of alternative and social media Facebook and the Digital Virus Called Fake News, which claimed both social media platforms (Facebook and Google) has not been aggressive enough in blocking fake news sites: Most of the fake news stories are produced by scammers looking to make a quick buck. The vast majority of them take far-right positions. But a big part of the responsibility for this scourge rests with internet companies like Facebook and Google, which have made it possible for fake news to be shared nearly instantly with millions of users and have been slow to block it from their sites. Some of the websites named in a fake news list by Melissa Mish Zimdars, an assistant professor of communication at Merrimack College in Massachusetts including 21st Century Wire, Activist Post, Global Research.ca, Lew Rockwell.com, Natural News.com and ProjectVeritas (who released undercover videos of the DNC attempting to rig the elections) and others have exposed the lies by MSM [mainstream media] propaganda.The MSM has lost its credibility and at the same time lost viewers at unprecedented levels. on April 17, 2016, the Associated Press reported on how the U.S. population viewed the MSM Poll: Getting facts right key to Americans trust in media said that, Just 6 percent of people say they have a lot of confidence in the media, putting the news industry about equal to Congress and well below the public s view of other institutions. Now they want to stop the alternative media from becoming a credible source for news. The New York Times is calling for the censorship of the alternative and social media by blocking misinformation :Blocking misinformation will help protect the company s brand and credibility. Some platforms have suffered when they have failed to address users concerns. Twitter users, for instance, have backed away from that platform because of abusive trolling, threatening posts and hate speech, which the company hasn t been able to control.Mr. Zuckerberg himself has spoken at length about how social media can help improve society. In a 2012 letter to investors, he said it could bring a more honest and transparent dialogue around government that could lead to more direct empowerment of people, more accountability for officials and better solutions to some of the biggest problems of our time. None of that will happen if he continues to let liars and con artists hijack his platform.Just to be clear, there are a number of websites that do spread misinformation including those in the alternative media, but it is fair to say that they never have caused the deaths of millions of people like The New York Times when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. A recent example is the U.S. led war against Iraq in 2003. After the September 11th attacks, the George W. Bush administration made a false accusation that the Iraq government had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) which led to a U.S. invasion eventually toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The U.S. led war turned out to be a calculated plan by The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neo-conservative think-tank who wrote the secretive blueprint called, Rebuilding America s Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century to remove Saddam Hussein and the Ba ath party from power. The blueprint was originally written for the neocon lunatics who served under then-President George W. Bush including Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to establish an international Security order dominated by the United States. According to the document: In broad terms, we saw the project as building upon the defense strategy outlined by the Cheney Defense Department in the waning days of the Bush Administration. The Defense Policy Guidance (DPG) drafted in the early months of 1992 provided a blueprint for maintaining U.S. preeminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests. PNAC was founded by neoconservatives William Kristol, a political analyst, media commentator (FOX News, ABC News) and the founder and editor of The Weekly Standard and Robert Kagan, an author, columnist, and foreign-policy commentator who is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) and a fellow at the Brookings Institution. Kagan is also the husband of Victoria Nuland, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs appointed by President Obama who helped orchestrate a coup against the Ukrainian government of the democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych. The blueprint for regime change in Iraq was planned way before George W. Bush became President in 2001: Indeed, the United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein. However, Judith Miller (who is currently an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute) and The New York Times played a crucial role for the Bush Administration. Miller wrote one of the main articles on Iraq s WMDs that justified the Bush Administration s agenda to topple Saddam Hussein and the Ba ath party. The article was not just fake news telling a lie that deceived the public, it destroyed a sovereign nation. The U.S. war against Iraq killed more than 1.4 million Iraqis (according to www.justforeignpolicy.org estimates) and more than 4,400 U.S. troops and tens of thousands permanently injured. The Iraq War also displaced millions of Iraqis thus creating a refugee crisis in neighboring countries including Syria. The destabilization of Iraq has also created a terrorist recruiting base that has spread throughout the Middle East including Syria.The New York Times published Miller s article on April 21st, 2003 AFTER EFFECTS: PROHIBITED WEAPONS; Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, An Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert which claimed that an Iraqi scientist confirmed that the Iraqi government had WMDs:They said the scientist led Americans to a supply of material that proved to be the building blocks of illegal weapons, which he claimed to have buried as evidence of Iraq s illicit weapons programs. The scientist also told American weapons experts that Iraq had secretly sent unconventional weapons and technology to Syria, starting in the mid-1990 s, and that more recently Iraq was cooperating with Al Qaeda, the military officials said.The Americans said the scientist told them that President Saddam Hussein s government had destroyed some stockpiles of deadly agents as early as the mid-1990 s, transferred others to Syria, and had recently focused its efforts instead on research and development projects that are virtually impervious to detection by international inspectors, and even American forces on the ground combing through Iraq s giant weapons plantsOn April, 22, 2003, Miller appeared on the PBS News Hour and spoke about her evidence on what she described as a Silver Bullet from an Iraqi scientist who allegedly worked on Saddam s weapons program:RAY SUAREZ: The task of finding that definitive proof falls in part to specialized teams within the U.S. Military. New York Times correspondent Judith Miller is reporting on the search conducted by units of the 75th exploitation task force. And she joins us now by phone south of Baghdad. Judith Miller, welcome back to the program. Has the unit you ve been traveling with found any proof of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?JUDITH MILLER: Well, I think they found something more than a smoking gun. What they ve found is what is being called here by the members of MET Alpha that s Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha what they found is a silver bullet in the form of a person, an Iraqi individual, a scientist, as we ve called him, who really worked on the programs, who knows them firsthand, and who has led MET Team Alpha people to some pretty startling conclusions that have kind of challenged the American intelligence community s under previous understanding of, you know, what we thought the Iraqis were doing.RAY SUAREZ: Does this confirm in a way the insistence coming from the U.S. government that after the war, various Iraqi tongues would loosen, and there might be people who would be willing to help?JUDITH MILLER: Yes, it clearly does. I mean, it s become pretty clear to those of us on the ground that the international inspectors, without actually controlling the territory and changing the political environment, would never have been able to get these people to step forward. I mean, you can only do that when you know there is not going to be a secret policeman at your door the next day, and that your family isn t going to suffer because you re talking. And that s what the Bush administration has finally done. They have changed the political environment, and they ve enabled people like the scientists that MET Alpha has found to come forth. Now, what initially the weapons hunters thought they were going to find were stockpiles of kind of chemical and biological agents. That s what they anticipated finding. We now know from the scientist that, in fact, that probably isn t what we re going to find. What they will find, and what they have found so far, are kind of precursors; that is, building blocks of what you would need to put together a chemical or a biological weapon.But those stockpiles that we ve heard about, well, those have either been destroyed by Saddam Hussein, according to the scientists, or they have been shipped to Syria for safekeeping. And what I think the interpretation of the MET Alpha people is, is why he did this. They believe that Saddam Hussein wanted to destroy the evidence of his unconventional weapons programs, and that s what he has done not only since 1995, but also in the weeks and months that led up to the war itself. There was mass destruction. And the scientist who has been cooperating with MET Alpha has actually said that he participated in he kind of watched, you know, a warehouse being burned that contained potentially incriminating biological equipment. So clearly what Saddam Hussein wanted to do was cover his weapons of mass destruction tracks. And that means that the whole shape of the hunt here on the ground for unconventional weapons is changing.The problem with Miller s assertion that Iraq had WMDs is that it relied on an Iraqi exile named Ahmed Chalabi who wanted regime change against Saddam Hussein s government. James Moore of The Guardian wrote, How Chalabi and the White House held the front page how The New York Times has burned its reputation on a pyre of lies about Iraq described Chalabi as a convicted criminal who embezzled millions from his Petra Bank in Amman, Jordan. Moore said the following: Judith Miller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and authority on the Middle East for the NYT, appears to have been the most reliant on Chalabi. In an email exchange with the NYT s Baghdad bureau chief John Burns, Miller said Chalabi had provided most of the front page exclusives for our paper . She later said that this was an exaggeration, but in an earlier interview with me, Miller did not discount the value of Chalabi s insight. Of course, I talked with Chalabi, she said. But he was just one of many sources I used. Miller refused to say who those other sources were but, at Chalabi s behest, she interviewed various defectors from Saddam Hussein s regime, who claimed without substantiation that there was still a clandestine WMD programme operating inside Iraq. US investigators now believe that Chalabi sent these same Iraqi expatriates to at least eight Western spy agencies as part of a scheme to convince them to overthrow Saddam. Mr. Moore mentioned Miller s article which was co-written with Michael R. Gordon and published by The New York Times on September 8th, 2002 titled, THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE IRAQIS; U.S. SAYS HUSSEIN INTENSIFIES QUEST FOR A-BOMB PARTS claiming that Saddam was building a uranium gas separator to develop nuclear material :If spies wanted a trophy to show what happens when their craft is perfectly executed, it would be a story written by Judith Miller on the front page of the New York Times on a Sunday morning in September 2002. She wrote that an intercepted shipment of aluminum tubes, to be used for centrifuges, was evidence that Saddam was building a uranium gas separator to develop nuclear material.The story had an enormous impact, one amplified when national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state Colin Powell and vice-president Dick Cheney all did appearances on the Sunday-morning talk shows, citing the first-rate journalism of the liberal NYT. No single story did more to advance the neoconservative cause.Here is the original excerpt from Miller s original September 8th 2002 New York Times article: More than a decade after Saddam Hussein agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction, Iraq has stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb, Bush administration officials said today.In the last 14 months, Iraq has sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes, which American officials believe were intended as components of centrifuges to enrich uranium. American officials said several efforts to arrange the shipment of the aluminum tubes were blocked or intercepted but declined to say, citing the sensitivity of the intelligence, where they came from or how they were stopped. According to Moore (and many other journalists, researchers and alternative media outlets), Judith Miller s story was completely false and that the the aluminum tubes were covered with an anodised coating, which rendered them useless for a centrifuge, according to a number of scientists who spoke publicly after Miller s story. Moore continued the tubes, in fact, were almost certainly intended for use as rocket bodies. Lastly, Moore quoted what Miller had told him about her sources which lead to the WMD hoax: I had no reason to believe what I reported was inaccurate, Miller told me. I believed the intelligence I had. We tried really hard to get more information and we vetted information very, very carefully. A few months after the aluminum tubes story, a former CIA analyst explained to me how simple it had been to manipulate the correspondent and her newspaper. The White House had a perfect deal with Miller, he said. Chalabi is providing the Bush people with the information they need to support their political objectives, and he is supplying the same material to Judy Miller. Chalabi tips her on something and then she goes to the White House, which has already heard the same thing from Chalabi, and she gets it corroborated. She also got the Pentagon to confirm things for her, which made sense, since they were working so closely with Chalabi. Too bad Judy didn t spend a little more time talking to those of us who had information that contradicted almost everything Chalabi said. The New York Times was clearly embarrassed by Miller s articles after the fact that Miller was wrong all along about the WMDs that led up to the invasion of Iraq. Nothing was ever found. On May 26th, 2004, the editorial board admitted their wrongdoing. The article, FROM THE EDITORS; The Times and Iraq, stated that, We have examined the failings of American and allied intelligence, especially on the issue of Iraq s weapons and possible Iraqi connections to international terrorists which blames U.S. and other intelligence agencies (which do share the blame to an extent).The editorial piece continued We have studied the allegations of official gullibility and hype. It is past time we turned the same light on ourselves. Well, they do turn the light on themselves, sort of: But we have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged or failed to emerge.The problematic articles varied in authorship and subject matter, but many shared a common feature. They depended at least in part on information from a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles bent on regime change in Iraq, people whose credibility has come under increasing public debate in recent weeks. (The most prominent of the anti-Saddam campaigners, Ahmad Chalabi, has been named as an occasional source in Times articles since at least 1991, and has introduced reporters to other exiles. He became a favorite of hard-liners within the Bush administration and a paid broker of information from Iraqi exiles, until his payments were cut off last week). Complicating matters for journalists, the accounts of these exiles were often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq. Administration officials now acknowledge that they sometimes fell for misinformation from these exile sources. So did many news organizations in particular, this one The New York Times admittance that their journalistic principals had failed was too little and too late. The MSM in particular The New York Times relied on fake evidence from Ahmad Chalabi for years (since 1991 to be exact). The MSM failed the Iraqi people who suffered enormously under a pack of lies that destroyed their country. When Washington uses propaganda or fake news reports against a sovereign nation, the outcome is always regime change that sometimes leads to an all-out war. The MSM has time and time again been guilty of perpetrating fake news stories to assist in Washington s Imperial agenda.The Iraq War was the biggest lie of the 21st century. What other fake news stories will appear on the MSM websites and newspapers in the future regarding Syria, Russia, China, Iran, the Palestinians, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and even the U.S. President-elect, Donald Trump?To answer that, we just don t know, but it is up to the alternative media to decipher the fake stories and bring out the truth. It is just a matter of time that the MSM will falsify another story; let s just hope it won t lead to another war in the process.*** Author Timothy Alexander Guzman is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on political, economic, media and historical spheres. He has been published in Global Research, The Progressive Mind, European Union Examiner, News Beacon Ireland, WhatReallyHappened.com, EIN News and a number of other alternative news sites. Areas of specialization include political issues, economic issues, media and history. This article was originally published at Silent Crow News.READ MORE ABOUT MSM FAKE NEWS AT: FAKE NEWS WEEKSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
TOP DEMOCRAT ACTIVIST WHO LAUNCHED ONLINE CAMPAIGN TO THREATEN AND BULLY 12 YR OLD CONSERVATIVE Is Facing Charges [Video] | CJ Pearson, the 12 year old conservative social media sensation who was bullied and threatened by grown-ups on the left, has more class in his little finger than the entire Democrat party combined. Here is a video message to President Barack Obama by CJ Pearson regarding his hatred for America that has over 1 million hits:The woman who launched an online campaign of bullying and veiled threats against Internet sensation CJ Pearson, frightening the young conservative s family enough to drive the boy briefly out of politics late last week, has been identified as a top Democratic activist from Baltimore.And the Pearson family is planning to press charges.According to a Facebook posting Sunday by Ali A. Akbar of Vice and Victory, a consulting firm that works with CJ, the woman behind the Twitter account Mona Hussein Obama is actually named Mona Brown. What she did was against the law, Akbar said on the video, vowing to expose a troll, a bully, a grown adult and top Democrat activist in Maryland for bullying a 12-year-old. Late last week, Brown began her Twitter campaign of harassment against Pearson in retaliation for Internet videos harshly critical of Obama that have made the boy an Internet sensation. Her tweets ranged from insults your fam has been bowing down to white ppl to hints of violence Wish we could switch Trayvon s life for yours. On Facebook Friday, the 12-year-old announced he had had enough. After much thought and consideration, I ve decided to take a break from politics and political commentary, he wrote. I had a horribly rough night on Twitter after a woman not only threatened to sue me for expressing my opinions but threatened my family. The boy handed over his social media accounts to Vice and Victory, which quickly set up a support fund and hashtag #StandWithCJ.CJ s Facebook page now includes an apology Brown sent after her true identity became known. I apologize and am deeply ashamed of the horrible statements I made to @cjpearson, she wrote.She then goes on to complain about how the right wing is attacking her family apparently missing the irony that she earlier attacked the Pearson family and wished for their death.Pearson plans to get back into politics and says that the incident has only made his resolve stronger. After much thought and consideration, I have decided to press forward and continue to fight for what I believe in, he wrote on Facebook. Mona s hate has only strengthened my resolve and has encouraged me to continue to do what I love and what I do best. Via: Biz Pac Review | 1real |
TRUNEWS 11/02/16 Jim Rickards | Spook D’etat: Deep State Civil War | TRUNEWS 11/02/16 Jim Rickards | Spook D’etat: Deep State Civil War November 02, 2016 Is there a George Washington style civil war currently raging within the Deep State? Today on TRUNEWS, Rick Wiles unravels the surreal claims of veteran intelligence asset Steve Pieczenik, as headlines of Clinton-Epstein pedophilia, America under the control of an elite shadow, and a counter-coup led through internet activism, plaster the feeds of believers. Rick also speaks with economic insider Jim Rickards regarding the looming financial Armageddon as global banks face the death of derivatives.
Today’s Audio Streamcast. Click the audio bar to listen: <span itemprop="name" content="TRUNEWS 11/02/16 Jim Rickards | Spook D'etat: Deep State Civil War"></span> <span itemprop="description" content="Is there a George Washington style civil war currently raging within the Deep State? Today on TRUNEWS, Rick Wiles unravels the surreal claims of veteran intelligence asset Steve Pieczenik, as headlines of Clinton-Epstein pedophilia, America under the control of an elite shadow, and a counter-coup led through internet activism, plaster the feeds of believers. Rick also speaks with economic insider Jim Rickards regarding the looming financial Armageddon as global banks face the death of derivatives."></span> <span itemprop="duration" content="5707"></span> <span itemprop="thumbnail" content="http://static.panda-os.com/p/1305/sp/130500/thumbnail/entry_id/0_a840ri7s/version/1 /acv/62"></span> <span itemprop="width" content="350"></span> <span itemprop="height" content="25"></span> <a href="http://corp.kaltura.com/products/video-platform-features">Video Platform</a> <a href="http://corp.kaltura.com/Products/Features/Video-Management">Video Management</a> <a href="http://corp.kaltura.com/Video-Solutions">Video Solutions</a> <a href="http://corp.kaltura.com/Products/Features/Video-Player">Video Player</a>
Right-click to download today’s show to your local device in mp3 format: Streamcast MP3
Email: | Twitter: @EdwardSzall | Facebook: Ed Szall DOWNLOAD THE TRUNEWS MOBILE APP on Apple and Google Play ! Donate Today! Support TRUNEWS to help build a global news network that provides a credible source for world news
We believe Christians need and deserve their own global news network to keep the worldwide Church informed, and to offer Christians a positive alternative to the anti-Christian bigotry of the mainstream news media How To Listen To TRUNEWS
Here on our show pages, there are two ways to listen to TRUNEWS. The first is to use the embedded player on the page. It is the black bar that you see above. Just click the arrow on the player for today’s broadcast. If you prefer to save the program to listen to it later on your PC or mobile device, just click the ‘DOWNLOAD MP3’ link above to archive that particular streamcast. Streamcast Archives | 1real |
Maxine Waters: American Public ’Getting Weary’ That Trump Not Impeached Yet - Breitbart | Sunday on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” Rep. Maxine Waters ( ) said the public was “getting weary” that Democrats have not done enough to begin the process of impeaching President Donald Trump. Partial transcript as follows: REID: Congresswoman, on the subject of being more aggressive, you have openly talked about the fact that this president has put himself in a position where impeachment is on the table but your party, the Democratic party is very reluctant, The New York Times has an article out last week about how hesitant Democratic leadership, in particular, are to call for Donald Trump’s impeachment. In closing, why do you suppose that is? WATERS: I don’t know what the reticent is but I know this, that the American public is getting weary of all of these actions without enough being done by the elected officials who they elected to represent them. I believe that this man has done enough for us to determine that we can connect the dots, that we can get the facts that will lead to impeachment. I believe there was collusion. I think we have enough information about the meetings, the about the lying about those meetings to help us to understand that something was going on. There was an interaction there. And certainly I believe it was collusion, but if they just do their work and do their job, they will find out it was collusion. And I believe this president should be impeached. I don’t care what others say about ‘it’s too soon, we don’t know, we think.’ I think that they’re letting the American public down by not delving deeper into what is going on with Jared Kushner and this back channeling, about the lies and his failure to disclose he had had these meetings, the same thing with sessions, failure to disclose about the meetings. What more do we need? Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
BOOM! HARRIS FAULKNER Blows Up The Russia Collusion Theory With One Smart Question [Video] | Fox News Harris Faulkner BLOWS UP the WHOLE Russia Collusion Theory with ONE SMART QUESTION that we re sure the media will ignore!On Sunday, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner asked the best question to those who believe both, that there was collusion and that Jared Kushner had or reached out for a secret back channel with Russia after the election: If it s true, wouldn t that signify that there was not collusion? Why would you need a back channel with the Kremlin if, in fact, you already had several established? Faulkner s comments are approx. at the 24:45 point:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip2AV70piWcThe media is so busy trying to point the finger at Trump or his administration that they can t see logic. It s like a feeding frenzy when those feeding end up eating themselves. This won t end well for Democrats because Americans see the truth. The truth is that Obama spied on Americans and the FBI is culpable.As we listen 24/7 to the fake news and fake outrage about Russia spying and stealing our election, the news clip below gets to the REAL scandal that no one is reporting on:JAMES ROSEN: Pelosi confessed ignorance of this week s disclosure that the National Security Agency for at least five years under the Obama administration systematically violated Americans Fourth Amendment rights Civil liberties groups said the disclosures should factor into lawmakers decision at year s end about whether to reauthorize the NSA collection program that witnessed the abuses The sheer scale of the 4th Amendment violations is staggering, as was the sternness of the rebuke of the Obama administration by the FISA court, which ordinarily approves 99.9% of the government s request.As of a few minutes ago, this story had not been covered by the Washington Post, the New York Times or any of the three broadcast networks.Comey s FBI broke its own rules | 1real |
PITTSBURGH POLICE OFFICERS Boycotting Race Baiting Diva Beyoncé’s Concert May Be FORCED To Work | The worst thing is the number of white people and people with ties to law enforcement officers will pay to see one of the most influential, openly anti-white, anti-cop entertainers in America There are reportedly several Pittsburgh police officers refusing to work security for Beyonc s May 31 concert at Heinz Field, due to what they call the singer s anti-police lyrics in her latest Black Lives Matter-themed album, Lemonade. But city officials may force those officers to provide security for the show. There are police officers that have expressed that they do not want to support an artist that they don t like what she has to say, said Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of the Police Lodge No. 1. It s up to them what they want to do with their off-duty time. Concert venues, like Heinz Field, usually ask city officials to provide off-duty police officers to work security or direct traffic at an event. The choice to work these events is usually each police officer s to make.However, a memorandum to officers from the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police says the city may appoint between 29 to 35 officers to work at the concert if they don t recruit enough volunteers.Click HERE for Beyonc s racist, cop-hating video.Swartzwelder said the city s plan would be in direct breach of the contract agreement between the city of Pittsburgh and the police department. Such a move would force the Fraternal Order of the Police to file an unfair labor practice complaint on behalf of its member officers.Last February, the Miami Fraternal Order of Police announced a boycott of Beyonc s concert where her Formation world tour would be kicking off. Similar calls to boycott Beyonc were lodged from Tampa, Florida to Texas.Earlier this month, members from several police organizations, including the Pasadena Police Department and the Coalition for Police and Sheriffs, held a protest near Beyonc s concert in Houston, Texas.Already aware of the criticisms of her music, Beyonc upped the ante last month and decided to sell Boycott Beyonc merchandise, including T-shirts, cellphone cases, and hats.Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
Trump and Pence Keeping Pro-Life Promises in First 100 Days | President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have steered a course during the administration’s first 100 days that activists have been dreaming about for decades. [“I think if you looked ten years ago, and you asked the question, ‘Will Planned Parenthood be defunded in the next decade?’ everyone would have said, ‘No,’” Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) President Marjorie Dannenfelser tells Breitbart News. “But the presidency of Donald Trump and the vice presidency of Mike Pence have changed all that. ” The base of the Republican Party saw the beginnings of change from the start of Trump’s presidency. Within days of his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order that reinstated the Mexico City Policy, a rule that bans organizations (NGOs) receiving U. S. funds — including International Planned Parenthood — from providing or promoting abortions overseas. The administration, however, not only reinstated the policy — which other Republican presidents have done — but also updated it by directing the secretary of state to expand it across all global health assistance funding, a move that ensures taxpayer funds will not support organizations that promote or participate in the management of a coercive abortion program. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for example, is one such organization, with its long history of supporting China’s population control program, an agenda that has included forced abortions. Later in January, Trump tweeted his personal support for the March for Life — the world’s largest demonstration — which convenes in Washington, DC, each year on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision: The #MarchForLife is so important. To all of you marching — you have my full support! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2017, activists, however, had even more reason to rejoice when Pence, a champion of the movement, became the first vice president to address the March for Life. The vice president will also serve as the keynote speaker of SBA List’s 10th annual gala on May 3. It was Dannenfelser who led the coalition that met with Trump and Pence during the campaign to outline a agenda for a Trump administration, which included four policy commitments in a letter to leaders: Trump has already started on the path to fulfilling his promise to nominate justices to the Supreme Court. National leaders hailed the newly confirmed Justice Neil Gorsuch as “reminiscent” of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who regularly applied an originalist approach to the Constitution. The nomination led some leaders to praise Trump as a “man of his word. ” Dannenfelser explains that much has changed in the movement within the past decade because the “horrendous underbelly” of Planned Parenthood has been exposed. “And it wasn’t exposed for decades,” she says. “They were the Teflon organization no one could touch them. President George H. W. Bush was part of the reason for the original funding of Planned Parenthood. ” The national leader says Planned Parenthood — the nation’s largest abortion provider — had for decades been likened to “the Red Cross” or a “nurses’ organization administering to suffering people. ” “Nobody wanted to touch that,” she explains. “So, clearly, there has been a turn in the understanding of what this organization is about. It took a lot of brave people who were willing to be slandered to question that. ” Recently, for example, California prosecutors charged the Center for Medical Progress video makers — who recorded Planned Parenthood officials allegedly selling the harvested body parts of aborted babies for a profit — with 15 felonies. The charges continue a long string of attacks by the abortion giant and its political and media allies against activists exposing its operations. The Trump administration reportedly unofficially informed Planned Parenthood it would have to cease performing abortions to keep its taxpayer funding. House Republican leaders — with support from the Trump administration — put forward the American Health Care Act (AHCA) legislation that contained a provision to defund Planned Parenthood for a period. Though conservatives were successful in thwarting the bill because it failed to fully repeal Obamacare, Trump would likely have signed it if Congress had passed it, ending Planned Parenthood’s funding for a year. leaders now hope Congress will put forward a single reconciliation bill to defund Planned Parenthood. Two weeks ago, Trump also signed a resolution that overturns former President Barack Obama’s rule that forced states to provide family planning grants under Title X to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. The measure passed the House but required Pence as vice president to break the tie vote in the Senate due to the votes against it by Sens. Susan Collins ( ) and Lisa Murkowski ( ). Trump, formerly acknowledges he has adopted the view. Some concerns have arisen, however, about the influence his daughter Ivanka — an apparent supporter of Planned Parenthood — would have on the president’s agenda. Several weeks ago, a report surfaced that Ivanka held an “ ” meeting with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards to discuss possible “common ground” on the abortion issue. Asked whether she views Ivanka’s perhaps more conciliatory tone toward Planned Parenthood as a threat to the future of the agenda, Dannenfelser quickly dismisses the idea. “I really do think this president understands what it is about — his commitments, his promises. And he’s got a vice president who knows how to lead the way legislatively,” she says. “I’m not concerned. ” | 0fake |
About Time! CNN Fires Donna Brazile for Rigging Debates, Giving Hillary Questions in Advance | Email
CNN made it official Monday, firing commentator Donna Brazile (shown) for giving Hillary Clinton questions in advance of debates with Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primaries. The avidly pro-Clinton network was virtually forced to sever ties with Brazile by the new revelations from the latest WikiLeaks dump of John Podesta’s hacked e-mails. Podesta, the longtime adviser/crony/fixer for Bill and Hillary Clinton, and currently chairman of Hillary’s election campaign, has now seen over 39,000 of his e-mails released by the WikiLeaks hacktivists, and they have been very revealing indeed, exposing the corruption, dirty tricks, and criminality of the Clinton political machine .
Brazile, a veteran Democratic Party hack, has been serving as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) since July, when then-DNC chair Rep. Deborah Wasserman Schultz, was forced to resign in an e-mail scandal that exposed Wasserman Schultz and other DNC officials blatantly taking sides with Clinton and sabotaging Sanders, in violation of DNC rules to maintain neutrality in primary campaigns.
As the Podesta e-mails reveal, Brazile was involved in those same ethics violations, extending to violating the rules for the televised debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which sponsored the debates, states on its website : “All debates will be moderated by a single individual and will run from 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time without commercial breaks. As always, the moderators alone will select the questions to be asked, which are not known to the CPD or to the candidates.”
However, that obviously was not the case, as Brazile was providing Team Clinton with a heads-up of debate questions in advance. The first Brazile e-mail to leak out concerned the televised CNN-TV One Town Hall event on March 13 of this year. The day before, Brazile sent an e-mail to Clinton’s director of communications, Jennifer Palmieri, saying she’s worried about “HRC” (Hillary Rodham Clinton) facing a question on the death penalty. The subject heading of her e-mail was: “Re: From time to time I get the questions in advance.”
Here is the e-mail, as provided by WikiLeaks: On Mar 12, 2016, at 4:39 PM, Donna Brazile < >; wrote: Here's one that worries me about HRC. DEATH PENALTY 19 states and the District of Columbia have banned the death penalty. 31 states, including Ohio, still have the death penalty. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, since 1973, 156 people have been on death row and later set free. Since 1976, 1,414 people have been executed in the U.S. That’s 11% of Americans who were sentenced to die, but later exonerated and freed. Should Ohio and the 30 other states join the current list and abolish the death penalty? Sent from Donna's I Pad. Follow me on twitter @donnabrazile
The following day, on the CNN-TV One Town Hall, co-moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and TV One’s Roland Martin, Hillary Rodham Clinton was indeed asked a question about the death penalty, by audience member Ricky Jackson — and HRC had a scripted answer ready and waiting. We, the public, did not find out that the game had been rigged until months later, when WikiLeaks released the incriminating e-mail on October 11. Nevertheless, even after the WikiLeaks release, most of the establishment media ignored the Brazile-Podesta-Palmieri skullduggery in favor of bashing Donald Trump over unsubstantiated, sensationalistic charges of sexual harassment. For nearly two weeks, Donna Brazile was allowed to wave off the e-mail evidence with diversionary tactics and charges that the e-mails are fabrications by WikiLeaks and Russian intelligence.
However, on October 20 Brazile was skewered on Fox News by a relentless Megyn Kelly, who refused to let her weasel her way through another interview. Not that the DNC chair didn’t try; Brazile kept going to script, using every diversion she could muster to avoid answering the direct, careful questions put to her by the Fox anchor.
She tried the Christian/persecution diversion: “As a Christian woman I understand persecution, but I will not sit here and be persecuted,” Brazile told Megyn Kelly.
She tried the “poisoned fruit” diversion: “Podesta’s emails were stolen. You’re so interested in talking about stolen material, you’re like a thief that wanna bring into the night the things that are in the gutter.”
She tried the motor-mouth/repetition diversion, the total innocence diversion, and much more.
It was still more of the same patently absurd denial and rehearsed propaganda by Brazile when Kelly confronted her with the undercover video stings of top Democratic dirty tricks operatives Scott Foval and Bob Creamer, who were caught red-handed boasting of rigging elections and admitting to inciting violence at Trump rallies .
Incredibly, Brazile insisted to Megyn Kelly that “I always play ‘straight up’ and I’m going to be ‘straight up’ with you.” However, it was painfully clear by the end of the Fox “interview” that “straight up” Donna Brazile is as weasely and deceitful as “Crooked Hillary.”
It is noteworthy that during her Fox News interview, when Megyn Kelly repeatedly asked her where she got the advance debate questions, Brazile fatuously insisted that she had “never” received any questions from CNN. She continued repeating the same lines even when Kelly asked her directly if the questions had come not from CNN itself but from Roland Martin, the former CNN commentator who now works for TV One and co-moderated the Town Hall event.
In the same e-mail thread of March 12 cited above, Brazile responded to a reply from Jennifer Palmieri. Brazile told Palmieri: “I'll send a few more [debate questions]. Though some questions Roland submitted.” That would seem to be a very solid “clue” that Roland Martin was the source and Brazile was the conduit to Podesta and the Clinton Campaign.
Politico reporter Hadas Gold reported on October 12 that Politico had obtained an e-mail of March 12 from Roland Martin to CNN debate producers with the identical death penalty question that appeared in Brazile’s March 12 e-mail to Palmieri. What’s more, it was Roland Martin who introduced Ricky Jackson, the pre-selected, pre-scripted “audience” member who asked the rigged question about the death penalty.
As Gold reports, Martin initially denied that he had shared his questions “with anybody.” However, after being confronted with the fact that Politico possessed e-mail evidence to the contrary, he began walking the denial back to more ambiguous ground.
Media “Uncomfortable” but not Outraged — Deceit, Propaganda Continue
In an October 13 interview, Jake Tapper said he has “tremendous regard” for Brazile, but said the WikiLeaks revelation was “very, very troubling.” “It’s horrifying,” the CNN anchor said. “Journalistically it’s horrifying, and I’m sure it will have an impact on [CNN] partnering with this organization [TV One] in the future.”
The following day, on October 14, CNN spokeswoman Lauren Pratapas stated that CNN hadn’t given Brazile the debate questions in advance and announced Brazile had resigned from the network. “CNN never gave Brazile access to any questions, prep material, attendee list, background information or meetings in advance of a town hall or debate,” Pratapas said in a written statement. “We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor.”
The October 30 WikiLeaks release contains another Brazile-DNC-Podesta debate revelation, concerning the March 6 debate in Flint, Michigan, where Democrat Party operatives and their media allies have transformed lead poisoning into a false national issue with which to clobber Republicans. The Clinton-Sanders Democratic primary debate was hosted by CNN and moderated by Anderson Cooper. (See the full debate here .)
The event was held in Flint at Clinton’s request, as she herself pointed out during the course of the debate. A Brazile e-mail from March 5 of this year to Podesta and Palmieri, is entitled: “One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash.”
“Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint” Brazile’s e-mail goes on to alert Hillary’s debate coaches. Sure enough, the lead poisoning question came up on cue, and HRC slammed in another easy homerun answer.
Yes, many in the pro-Clinton media industry are “uncomfortable” with the WikiLeaks revelations, but, judging from their continued overwhelmingly slanted coverage, the discomfort comes from being exposed, not from being disgusted with the serial cheating and lying of the Clinton camp and their media allies. There has been precious little outrage expressed by the pro-Clinton mainstream media elites of the kind and volume that would have gushed forth if the same rigging had been perpetrated by the Trump Campaign. There have been no media-orchestrated calls for TV One to fire Roland Martin, nor for the DNC to fire Donna Brazile, nor for Hillary Clinton to fire John Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri.
The Brazile-Podesta-Palmieri debate e-mails are damning, but, arguably, not as serious as the many other revelations concerning the Clinton family’s rampant criminality on national security matters such as Uranium One, and the “pay-to-play” wheeling-dealing at the HRC State Department and the Clinton Foundation. However, the WikiLeaks e-mails released thus far have shown an alarming willingness and ability of Hillary Rodham Clinton and her DNC-Big Media allies to rig the election debates. And the ones we’ve seen may be only the tip of the iceberg. If this is the case in the primaries, are Donald Trump’s charges about rigging the November 8 election really all that outlandish, as the pro-Clinton media choir would have us believe?
Related articles : | 1real |
TRIGGERED! FORMER CIA AGENT: ‘Trey Gowdy Ought to Have His A** Kicked’ [Video] | Former CIA Agent Phil Mudd is a jackwagon! He threatened Congressman Trey Gowdy after hearing video of questioning from Gowdy to Ex-CIA Director John Brennan. Mudd made the threat that Gowdy should have his a** kicked . Who says something like that on National TV?https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=qLw5q_d1PxUNotice how the anchors on CNN say nothing back to Mudd to knock it off. They probably loved the threat.In case you missed it: Trey Gowdy asked a pointed question of former CIA Director Brennan: Did you have evidence of a connection between the Trump campaign and Russian state actors? Brennan replied: As I said, Mr. Gowdy, I don t do evidence. BOOM! ANOTHER EPIC FAIL FOR THE DEEP STATE AS TREY GOWDY MAKES A COMPLETE FOOL OF JOHN BRENNAN:ANOTHER EPIC FAIL For the Resistance as Trey Gowdy makes a complete fool of John BrennanAGAIN, ZERO EVIDENCE Trump Colluded w/ Russia pic.twitter.com/iCzNaEMT9C STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) May 23, 2017 BRENNAN WAS ASKED BY ADAM SCHIFF AND REPLIED THAT TRUMP NEVER PRESSURED TO HAVE THE FLYNN INVESTIGATION DROPPED: EX-CIA Chief John Brennan testified today before the House today and dropped a bomb of truth that President Trump didn t pressure the intelligence community to drop the Flynn investigation: Adam Schiff: With respect to the allegations made recently that the President or his aides may have sought to enlist the member of the IC or Director Comey himself to drop the Flynn investigation, uh have any members of the IC shared with you their concerns that the President was attempting to enlist the help of the people in the intelligence community to drop the Flynn investigation? Brennan: No, sir. Adam Schiff: Are you aware of any efforts the President has made who enlist the support of the intelligence community personnel to push back on a narrative involving the collusion issue that Mr. Rooney was asking about? Brennan: I am unaware of it. NOT A GOOD DAY FOR POLITICAL HACK JOHN BRENNAN! | 1real |
Vatican should bring money-laundering cases to trial, watchdog agency says | VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican needs to bring cases of suspected money laundering to trial, a European finance watchdog urged on Friday, saying the good progress made by its financial regulators needed to be matched by judicial muscle. Moneyval, the monitoring body of the Council of Europe, said the Vatican s prosecutor also should be more proactive in other financial crimes, such as corruption, embezzlement or abuse of office, and actively consider appealing sentences which he considers unduly lenient . On the law enforcement side, after five years of development of (anti-money laundering legislation) it is somewhat surprising that no prosecution or indictment has so far been brought before the (Vatican) tribunal which involves a count of money laundering, the report said. It said the success rate of the prosecutor before the Tribunal is so far not encouraging . In a statement, the Vatican acknowledged there are still areas for further improvement, in particular as regards law enforcement and the judicial side . Pope Francis has made cleaning up Vatican finances a priority since his election in 2013, and Holy See staff worked with the Moneyval evaluators. But his efforts appear to have hit obstacles in recent months. The Vatican s finance minister, Cardinal George Pell, has taken an indefinite leave of absence to face accusations of historical sexual offences in his native Australia. He denies them. In June, the Vatican s first auditor general resigned, and last week, the Vatican bank s deputy director general was fired under circumstances that the Vatican has not made clear. The 200-page report generally praised the work of the Vatican s financial intelligence authority, known by its Italian acronym AIF and headed by Swiss lawyer Rene Bruelhart. It said the number and quality of suspicious activity reports sent to the AIF by Vatican departments or individuals had increased significantly, meaning the bureaucratic reporting procedures have steadily improved . The AIF passes on reports it deems worthy of further investigation to the prosecutor s office. But the report lamented the lack of prosecution in cases of suspected money laundering. In 2015, for example, an investigation was opened after an internal report said a department of the Holy See that oversees real estate and investments was used in the past for possible money laundering by Italian bankers, insider trading and market manipulation. The case still has not gone to trial. In April, Italy put the Vatican on its white list of states with cooperative financial institutions, ending years of mistrust. Hundreds of suspicious or dormant accounts at the Vatican bank, which was the officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) have been closed in recent years. The Moneyval report said the AIF s supervision of the IOR is now firmly established . | 0fake |
'It's time to talk': EU again urges dialogue in Spain | STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The EU executive called again on Wednesday for the Spanish government and Catalan authorities to open dialogue to defuse the sometimes violent confrontation over Catalonia s push for independence. It s time to talk, the European Commission s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, told the European Parliament during an emergency debate on the crisis in Spain. Reflecting the cautiously balanced tone of a Commission statement on Monday after images of violent police action against an unauthorized independence referendum, Timmermans endorsed the legal position of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy but also renewed an appeal for dialogue. And despite saddening images of Spanish police beating participants in what the Commission says was an illegal vote, Brussels has no plan to accede to calls from the separatist government in Barcelona for direct EU mediation - Spain s democratic systems are quite adequate for that, EU leaders say. You can work to change the law, but you cannot ignore the law, Timmermans said in remarks aimed at Catalan leaders, who appear set on a unilateral declaration of independence in defiance of constitutional court rulings that forbid secession. Respect for the rule of law is not optional, added First Vice President Timmermans, who also leads a Commission effort to prevent Poland s right-wing government from changing judiciary regulations that the EU says is a move toward authoritarianism. An EU lawmaker from Poland s ruling party accused the EU of double standards for pressuring Warsaw but not Madrid - and several other eurosceptic and nationalist members also said the EU had not criticized Spanish police action firmly enough. But Timmermans insisted it was not for Brussels to intervene: The Commission has called on all relevant actors to now move quickly from confrontation to dialogue ... It s time to talk. To find a way out of the impasse, working within the constitutional order of Spain. Earlier on Wednesday, Spanish members of the EU parliament traded accusations over whether leaders in Barcelona or Madrid were responsible for the crisis. At one point, one Spanish liberal lawmaker held up a copy of the post-dictatorship constitution, brandishing it at Catalan separatists and saying Catalans voted for it in 1978. In the afternoon debate, leaders of the main parties in the Strasbourg chamber broadly echoed Timmermans arguments. Few of Europe s leaders want to see the disruption of splitting a major member state nor to encourage separatism in other countries. The center-right leader, the Bavarian Manfred Weber, and the liberal leader, the Flemish Guy Verhofstadt, both referred to their own origins to argue that strong regional identity and autonomy did not mean breaking up existing nation states. The irresponsible Catalan government is splitting the country, said Weber, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and of Rajoy. He said the EU had neither the will nor the means to intercede. Some lawmakers, however, said Brussels could to more to help. Greens leader Ska Keller, whose group includes pro-independence Catalans, said the Commission could act as honest broker to promote compromise. It is wrong if the Commission shies away and continues to turn a blind eye. Verhofstadt, a Liberal former prime minister of Belgium where constitutional gymnastics and extreme devolution have prevented his fellow Flemings breaking with their French-speaking neighbors, chided Spaniards for failing to go beyond legal arguments to find genuine dialogue and compromise. He called any declaration of independence totally irresponsible and said: It s not a shame to make compromises. | 0fake |
PRICELESS! UNHINGED FEMINIST Goes Ballistic On Trump Spokesperson [Video] | A feminist supporter of Hillary Clinton was on CNN to give her commentary on the Orlando terrorist s father being in the crowd at a Clinton rally. She goes ballistic when called out by a Trump spokesperson it s pretty crazyAND priceless! | 1real |
Stolen Valor: GOP Senator Disgracefully Lies, Makes Up Military Service | Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) has been caught red-handed lying about the details of his military service, and it isn t the first time he has done it. From The Huffington Post:CNN reported Wednesday that Kirk s campaign website erroneously stated that he is a veteran of the Iraq War. In reality, the senator stayed in the United States during the war as he served in the Navy Reserve.His campaign chalked it up to a staff error, saying that particular page on Kirk s website was not meant to be public and that staff members were making edits to it. Staff moved the page behind a password-protected firewall after CNN investigated.Kirk, who is up for re-election this year, has previously been caught in the middle of lies about his military career.He claimed in 2010 that he had been named Intelligence Officer of the Year, when the award was for work his entire unit had done. He also promoted a story alleging that his reconnaissance plane had come under fire, but there was no record of that. Kirk claimed that he had served in combat in Kosovo, but he didn t. He claimed he had been deployed to Afghanistan, but he had been sent there for training, not for combat service. He also previously falsely claimed to have been deployed to combat in Operation Desert Storm.Kirk s lies about his service would be a major issue at any time, but they are even more notable because he is facing a strong challenge from Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). Duckworth is an actual combat veteran who served in the Iraq War. In that conflict, Duckworth received a Purple Heart after her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. She is a double amputee after her severe injuries forced the removal of her right leg near the hip and her left leg below the knee.In polling averages, Duckworth is currently 7% ahead of Kirk.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
UK's May signals foreign minister Johnson could be sacked | LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May has signaled that she could sack Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a Sunday newspaper said, as she tries to reassert her authority after a series of political disasters. The Sunday Times said it asked May about her plans for Johnson, who has professed loyalty but is accused by some of the prime minister s allies of undermining her by putting forward his own vision for Britain s exit from the European Union. It has never been my style to hide from a challenge and I m not going to start now, it quoted May as replying, in what it called a signal that she was prepared to bring in new ministers to her cabinet and axe those who had caused her problems. I m the PM, and part of my job is to make sure I always have the best people in my cabinet, to make the most of the wealth of talent available to me in the party. May has seen her authority over her Conservative Party erode since she called a snap election in June in which she lost her majority in parliament. Johnson, seen as a potential successor to May, said that Conservative lawmakers pushing to unseat her were nutters , adding that a change would lead to demands for another election that could bring a resurgent Labour party back to power. Are we really going to be stampeded myopically over the edge of the gorge, with an election that no one wants? he said in the Sunday Telegraph. Johnson wrote a newspaper article last month outlining his vision of Brexit just days before May made a major speech on the subject. While professing loyalty, his interventions have been seen as undermining May and causing unnecessary unrest ahead of the party s conference last week that culminated in a disastrous speech by the prime minister, marred by a coughing fit and letters falling off the slogan on the set behind her. Johnson made a plea for loyalty with a typical rhetorical flourish on Sunday. Quo quo scelesti ruitis? , as Horace put it at the beginning of a fresh bout of Rome s ghastly civil wars, and which roughly translates as: What do you think you are doing you nutters? On Friday, former Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said he had garnered the support of 30 lawmakers who wanted to remove May from the party leadership, short of the number needed to launch a formal challenge. Former Prime Minister John Major said he was increasingly dismayed by the plotting in the party by those driven by their own personal agenda. The country has had enough of the self-absorbed and, frankly, disloyal behavior we have witnessed over recent weeks, he said in the Mail on Sunday. The speculation about May s position comes ahead of crucial Brexit talks between Britain and the EU, and the political uncertainty has led to growing concern that no deal would be agreed by March 2019 when Britain leaves the bloc. Britain s Sunday newspapers were brimming with briefings from unnamed Conservative figures suggesting May s days in Downing Street were numbered. The Sunday Times said three cabinet ministers had discussed the need to replace May. It s a when question now, one of the unnamed ministers told the paper. It feels to me that this is over before Christmas. A fourth minister was quoted as saying there needed to be an orderly transition to a new leader and there was no prospect of May being in charge for the next election due in 2022. The Observer newspaper said unnamed senior Conservative figures said while May had no long-term future they were pressing her to shake up her team, hoping new blood would re-energise the party as well as frustrate Johnson s ambitions. | 0fake |
FBI Director Wray defends bureau in wake of Republican criticism | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation defended his employees on Thursday against a growing chorus of accusations by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, that its agents were allowing political bias to seep into their investigations. In testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Christopher Wray said he believed the reputation of the FBI was not, as Trump recently wrote on Twitter, “in tatters.” “The agents, analysts and staff of the FBI are big boys and girls. We understand we will take criticism from all corners,” Wray said. “My experience has been that our reputation is quite good.” Republicans had in recent weeks stepped up criticism of the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether Trump campaign aides had colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The move is widely seen as a tactic to undermine Mueller’s investigation, which has so far led to criminal charges against four people from Trump’s inner circle. It comes as Republicans prepare to head into a potentially challenging midterm 2018 congressional election cycle. Republicans have sought to re-litigate questions relating to the FBI’s handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and questioned whether Justice Department officials gave her preferential treatment in their decision not to charge her with a crime. They have criticized former FBI Director James Comey for publicly announcing a decision not to refer Clinton for prosecution and asked whether the decision-making was politically tainted. Wray took over the helm of the FBI after Trump abruptly fired Comey earlier this year. Most recently, Republicans got fresh ammunition against Mueller and the FBI, after media reports said FBI agent Peter Strzok was removed from the Russia probe because he had exchanged private text messages that disparaged Trump and supported Clinton. Strzok was involved in both the Clinton email and Russia investigations. Wray acknowledged Thursday that Strzok was removed from Mueller’s investigation, but said he was reassigned, not disciplined. “We cannot afford for the FBI - which has traditionally been dubbed the premier law enforcement agency in the world - to become tainted by politicization or the perception of a lack of even-handedness,” Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said. Wray repeatedly refused to weigh in on how his predecessor handled the Clinton matter, and deferred to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who is conducting a wide-ranging review into the topic. Horowitz recently told lawmakers he expects his review to be complete by late winter or early spring. “When those findings come to me, I will take appropriate action if necessary,” Wray said. Democrats, meanwhile, urged Wray to stand up against bullying by the president. “Your job requires you to have the courage to stand up to the president, Mr. Director,” said the committee’s Ranking Democrat Jerrold Nadler. “There are real consequences for allowing the President to continue unchecked in this manner.” | 0fake |
Waco biker gang shootout kills 9 outside Twin Peaks | Waco, Texas (CNN) A memo has gone out to law enforcement in the wake of Sunday's shooting, warning officers that members of the Bandidos and Cossacks motorcycle gangs reportedly had been instructed to arm themselves and travel to north Texas.
"Obviously it's something we're concerned about. We would encourage biker groups to stand down. There's been enough bloodshed. There's been enough death here," Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" on Monday night.
By the time the Sunday melee was over, at least nine people were dead, 18 were hospitalized and at least 170 were arrested and charged.
The biker gang members who began beating, stabbing and shooting each other in a Texas Twin Peaks restaurant knew the police were outside; they just didn't care, Swanton said.
For two months, police concerned with the bikers' presence at Twin Peaks, which hosted special events for its leather-clad clientele, had patrolled outside -- and not in plain clothes and unmarked cars, either.
"We wanted our presence to be known," Swanton told reporters. "They knew we were seconds away and going to respond. That mattered not to them."
The United Clubs of Waco billed Sunday's event as the Texas Region 1 Confederation of Clubs and Independents meeting. Before the restaurant and surrounding parking lots became a bloody battleground, the Waco Police Department had 18 officers on the scene, including an assistant chief and tactical officers, along with four officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Swanton said.
An altercation in the bathroom seems to have sparked the violence. Shots were fired inside the eatery and a brawl spilled onto the patio area, before scores of men flooded the parking lot in broad daylight. Some bikers were beaten with brass knuckles, clubs and chains, while others were stabbed or shot, Swanton said.
When police responded -- within 30 to 45 seconds because of their proximity -- the bikers turned their weapons on law enforcement, he said.
"Our officers took fire and responded appropriately, returning fire," the sergeant said.
As police rounded up suspects and paramedics tended to the injured, investigators found eight bodies -- three in the parking lot behind Twin Peaks, four near the front of the restaurant and one that had been dragged behind a nearby establishment, Swanton said. More than 100 weapons were confiscated as well, he said.
Another victim died at a hospital, where doctors treated patients for gunshots, stab wounds, blunt-force trauma or some combination of the three.
According to a law enforcement source, preliminary information indicates that four of the bikers killed were killed by police gunfire. The investigation continues and the ballistics will be analyzed to determine for certain who was responsible for each shooting.
Swanton called it "the most violent and gruesome scene that I have dealt with" in three and a half decades of law enforcement.
The scores of suspects, who hail from five different biker gangs, remained locked up in the McLennan County Jail on Monday facing charges of engaging in organized crime, Swanton said.
Prosecutors and investigators could level other charges -- and capital murder charges are expected to be among them, given the body count -- but the organized crime charge is "pretty serious," he said.
"It doesn't get much more significant than that," he said.
McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said that bond was being set at $1 million for each of the 170 people in custody.
Swanton would not release the names of the gangs involved. Photos from the scene showed bikers wearing the insignias of the Cossacks, Bandidos, Scimitars and Vaqueros, but it was not clear if the photographed gang members were involved in the fighting.
As Swanton briefed reporters at the crime scene Monday afternoon, 24 hours after the brawl, he said tactical units remained on the scene to protect journalists and investigators. Police hoped to finish processing the scene by sundown, he said.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission shut down the Twin Peaks location, known for "bike nights" and its risque dress code for servers, for the next week. It wasn't a punitive measure, Swanton said; rather, it was closed because there's "enough of a reason to believe that more violence would occur there, had they been allowed to remain open for the next seven-day period," he said.
Later Monday morning, the commission said it was suspending the restaurant's liquor license for those seven days while its agents investigate what happened. The investigation could yield anything from a fine to the permanent revocation of Twin Peaks' liquor license, commission spokesman Chris Porter said.
There have been no previous complaints or actions taken against the eatery, he added.
"We are in the people business and the safety of the employees and guests in our restaurants is priority one," the restaurant chain's statement read. "Unfortunately the management team of the franchised restaurant in Waco chose to ignore the warnings and advice from both the police and our company, and did not uphold the high security standards we have in place to ensure everyone is safe at our restaurants."
It further said the corporate office would be "revoking their franchise agreement immediately. Our sympathies continue to be with the families of those who died and are very thankful no employees, guests, police officers or bystanders were hurt or injured."
The Waco restaurant's Facebook account, which had been a landing page for harsh criticism of the franchise, was deleted shortly thereafter.
Swanton slammed Twin Peaks after the bloodshed Sunday, saying the franchise failed to help avoid trouble and ignored the police department's advice to try to keep biker gangs away from the restaurant.
"Are we frustrated? Sure, because we feel like there may have been more that could have been done by a business to prevent this," Swanton said.
He said Twin Peaks has a right to deny entry to known biker gangs.
Before word came of the franchise being revoked, Jay Patel, operating partner at the Waco Twin Peaks, said his staff was cooperating with police.
"We are horrified by the criminal, violent acts that occurred outside of our Waco restaurant today," Patel said Sunday night on Facebook. "We share in the community's trauma."
The franchise released a statement Monday, saying it was working hard to learn the facts about the shooting.
"It is important to clarify that, to the best of our knowledge, law enforcement officials did not ask either the Waco restaurant operator (with whom they spoke several times) or the Twin Peaks franchisor to cancel the patio reservation that was made on Sunday.
"Based on the information to date, we also believe that the violence began outside in the area of the parking lot, and not inside our restaurant or on our patio, as has been widely reported," it read.
Even after the chaos subsided, Waco police continued arresting people arriving at the scene with weapons.
Swanton warned other biker gang members against coming to Waco to reignite the violence.
"We have been getting reports throughout the day that bikers from out of state are headed this way," he told KTVT on Sunday. "We would encourage them not to, because we have plenty of space in our county jail to put them there." | 0fake |
Austrian conservatives bring far right into government | VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria is set to become the only western European country with a far-right party in government after the anti-immigration Freedom Party and Sebastian Kurz s conservatives struck a coalition deal to share power almost equally. In an early policy pronouncement, Kurz, the future chancellor, said the new government would not hold a referendum on European Union membership. Kurz, who is just 31, and Freedom Party (FPO) leader Heinz-Christian Strache announced their deal on Friday night, handing the far right a share of power for the third time in the Alpine republic, after more than a decade in opposition. The FPO will take control of much of Austria s security apparatus, in charge of the foreign, interior and defense ministries. The People s Party (OVP) led by Kurz will control the powerful finance ministry as well the justice and agriculture portfolios. No one need be afraid, Austrian news agency APA quoted the incoming interior minister and chairman of the FPO, Herbert Kickl, as saying. Kickl began his career as a speechwriter for the late Joerg Haider, who praised Adolf Hitler s employment policies and led the party to its first mainstream electoral success. Kurz will head the government as chancellor and the OVP will have eight ministries including his office. The FPO will have six, including Strache s office as vice chancellor. Kurz has repeatedly said his government will be pro-European despite including the FPO, which was founded by former Nazis and campaigned against Austria joining the bloc when it was put to a referendum in 1994. The coalition plans to make referendums more widely available. Unlike France s National Front, the FPO has backed away from calling for a referendum on leaving the European Union but Kurz obtained a guarantee that a Brexit-style vote will not be held. There will be no votes on our membership of international organizations, including the European Union, Kurz told a joint news conference with Strache. Kurz s office will also take over some European departments from the FPO-run foreign ministry to give him greater control over EU matters. The 180-page coalition agreement listed plans such as sinking taxes and cutting public spending through streamlined administration though it often did not say how such goals would be achieved. Austria s parliamentary election two months ago was dominated by Europe s migration crisis, in which the affluent country took in a large number of asylum seekers. Kurz s party won with a hard line on immigration that often overlapped with the FPO s, pledging to cut benefits for refugees and never to allow a repeat of 2015 s wave of arrivals. The FPO came third in the election with 26 percent of the vote. Kurz and Strache held their news conference outlining the agreement on the Kahlenberg, a hill on the outskirts of the capital famed as the site of the 1683 Battle of Vienna, which ended a siege of the city by Ottoman Turks. While there was no specific mention of repelling that Muslim invasion, the symbolism is clear for two parties that have warned Muslim parallel societies are emerging in Austria. Kurz, however, told reporters: I did not take the decision on where the press conference should be held.... I would not read too much symbolism into it. Strache and Kurz oppose Turkish membership of the EU, a position that polls regularly show most Austrians support. We both recognize about 75 percent of ourselves in the program, said Strache, who accused Kurz during the campaign of stealing his party s ideas. That might have something to do with the fact that one or the other maybe took on the other s policy points before the election. Anti-establishment parties have been winning over more voters in Europe, capitalizing on dissatisfaction with mainstream politicians handling of the economy, security and immigration. While other far-right parties have gained ground this year, entering parliament in Germany and making France s presidential run-off, the FPO is going further by entering government and securing key ministries. It is excellent news for Europe, Marine Le Pen said of the coalition deal at a Prague meeting of her National Front party s European grouping, which includes the FPO. These successes show that the nation states are the future, that the Europe of tomorrow is a Europe of the people. Both the OVP and FPO believe the EU should focus on fewer tasks, like securing its external borders, and hand more power back to member states. When the FPO last entered government in 2000 other EU countries imposed sanctions on Vienna in protest. There is unlikely to be a similar outcry this time, given the rise of anti-establishment parties across the continent. | 0fake |
Hannity Interview with Julian Assange: Wikileaks Source is NOT The Russian Government | 21st Century Wire says Fox News Sean Hannity has broken away from the majority of Western news reporters and has gone to Wikileaks Julian Assange to ask him directly, Was your source for the DNC leaks of Russian origin? Watch the interview below: How refreshing to see a mainstream media commentator actually look into the unfounded claims of Russian hacker involvement in the DNC leaks and the US Presidential election. Alex Christoforou The DuranHannity interviews Julian Assange, who once again confirms that Russia had no role to play in the Wikileaks email leak.Fox News Sean Hannity is perhaps the first main stream media commentator who has gone deeper on the Russian election hacker fake news story than other MSM journalist.Hannity interviewed Julian Assange, who once again confirmed that Russia and no state actor was the source of the Wikileaks Podesta emails or DNC leaks.Hannity is also the only MSM show to explore the Craig Murray report, that chronicles the genesis of the leaks stating that the former Ambassador had met with the source of the email leaks confirming and corroborating Assange s factual claim that no state actor, including Russia, was involved in any kind of hack or leak.Continue this article at The DuranREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files | 1real |
U.S. spending bill far short of sum sought for Trump NYC security | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican-led panel in the U.S. House of Representatives agreed on Tuesday to add $7 million to a short-term federal spending bill to reimburse New York authorities for President-elect Donald Trump’s security costs, far short of the $35 million requested by the city’s congressional delegation. New York’s U.S. lawmakers were quick to express their unhappiness. “I am extremely disappointed that the Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government does not fully reimburse the people of New York for the unprecedented security costs incurred to keep the President-elect and his family safe between the election and his inauguration,” U.S. Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney said in a statement. The bill, which funds U.S. agencies through April 28, must pass before a Friday deadline to keep government agencies running. At a Capitol Hill news conference earlier on Tuesday, John Miller, the New York Police Department’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counter terrorism, said he was in contact with congressional Democrats and Republicans about the costs of security operations to protect Trump both before and after the Republican takes office on Jan. 20. “This is not about party politics. It’s not about politics at all,” Miller said. He said Trump’s security “footprint” would be even “more complex” once he becomes president. Representative Nita Lowey, a Democrat, said the Republican leadership of the House Appropriations committee had expressed sympathy for the city’s pre-inauguration reimbursement request but had asked for more specifics. Several House Democrats on Tuesday also signed a letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio urging that the state and city “refuse to pay” for Trump’s extra New York security costs once he is sworn in as president. “Should the President-Elect choose to maintain two permanent residences for his family, it is reasonable to request he reimburse the city and the state for all additional security expenses from his own significant personal financial resources,” the letter said. Trump has said his wife, Melania, and son Barron will move from New York to the White House “right after he finishes school.” | 0fake |
China, U.S. in 'close communication' on Xi-Trump meeting | BEIJING (Reuters) - China and the United States are in “close communication” on arranging a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The remarks were reported by China’s official Xinhua news agency on Saturday. | 0fake |
MEGYN KELLY RIPS INTO OBAMA ON HIS SWIPE OF FOX NEWS: “BENEATH THE DIGNITY OF THE OFFICE” | 1real | |
CodeSOD: Dollar Dollar Dollar Dollar Underscore | Ellis Morning Editor
An Anonymous source sends us some Java code with really special variable naming conventions. I can only assume this came from a plucky startup hoping to attract venture capital. import java.util.*; import java.awt.*; import javax.swing.*; import java.awt.event.*; public class Array implements ActionListener, MouseMotionListener, MouseListener { int $$_, _$$, $$$,$_$; JFrame $$$__$$$ = new JFrame(); boolean draw = true; JButton $$1 = new JButton("Line"), $$2 = new JButton("Rectangle"), $$3 = new JButton("Clear"); ArrayList = new ArrayList<>(); JPanel aa$$aa = new JPanel(), _$$_$_ = new JPanel(), $0$0$ = new JPanel() { @Override public void paintComponent(Graphics g) { super.paintComponent(g); for (Shape i : ) { if (i.$s$ == true) { g.setColor(Color.green); g.drawLine(i.$$_,i._$$,i.$$$,i.$_$); } else { g.setColor(Color.red); g.fillPolygon(new int[] {i.$$_,i.$$_,i.$$$,i.$$$}, new int[] {i._$$,i.$_$,i.$_$,i._$$}, 4); } } if (draw) { g.setColor(Color.green); g.drawLine($$_,_$$,$$$,$_$); } else { g.setColor(Color.red); g.fillPolygon(new int[] {$$_,$$_,$$$,$$$}, new int[] {_$$,$_$,$_$,_$$}, 4); } } }; public Array () { aa$$aa.setLayout(new BoxLayout(aa$$aa, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS)); _$$_$_.add($$1); $$1.addActionListener(this); _$$_$_.add($$2); $$2.addActionListener(this); _$$_$_.add($$3); $$3.addActionListener(this); $0$0$.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 200)); aa$$aa.add($0$0$); $0$0$.addMouseListener(this); $0$0$.addMouseMotionListener(this); aa$$aa.add(_$$_$_); $$$__$$$.add(aa$$aa); $$$__$$$.setSize(new Dimension(400, 400)); $$$__$$$.setVisible(true); $$$__$$$.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); } public static void main(String[] args) { new Array(); } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { if (e.getSource() == $$1) { draw = true; } else if (e.getSource() == $$2) { draw = false; } else if (e.getSource() == $$3) { .clear(); } $$_ = 0; _$$ = 0; $$$ = 0; $_$ = 0; $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) { $$_ = e.getX(); _$$ = e.getY(); $0$0$.repaint(); } public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) { $$$ = e.getX(); $_$ = e.getY(); .add(new Shape($$_,_$$,$$$,$_$, draw)); $$_=0; _$$=0; $_$=0; $_$=0; $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e) { $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) { $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) { $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e) { $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent e) { $$$ = e.getX(); $_$ = e.getY(); $$$__$$$.repaint(); } class Shape { int $$_,_$$,$$$,$_$; boolean $s$; Shape(int xx, int yy, int x$, int y$, boolean tp) { $$_ = xx; _$$ = yy; $$$ = x$; $_$ = y$; $s$ = tp; } public String toString() { return ""+$$_+" "+_$$+" "+$$$+" "+$_$; } } } [Advertisement] Infrastructure as Code built from the start with first-class Windows functionality and an intuitive, visual user interface. Download Otter today! | 1real |
Xi says China will let the market play decisive role in resource allocation | BEIJING (Reuters) - China will let the market play a decisive role in resource allocation in the economy, China s President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday at the opening of a key Communist Party congress. Beijing has called for a greater role for market forces in the economy in order to improve efficiency and develop a more sustainable growth model. | 0fake |
Hispanic Official to Leave R.N.C. in Sign of Disaffection With Donald Trump - The New York Times | The head of Hispanic media relations at the Republican National Committee is resigning this month in what appears to be another indication of the lingering discomfort some party officials have about working to elect Donald J. Trump president. Ruth Guerra, who is of Mexican descent and was in charge of carrying the party’s message to Hispanic voters, is joining the American Action Network, a “super PAC,” she confirmed in a brief interview on Wednesday. The American Action Network is expected to spend millions on congressional races, and the new job is in essence a promotion, one said. But Ms. Guerra told colleagues this year that she was uncomfortable working for Mr. Trump, according two R. N. C. aides who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the difficulties surrounding the party’s presumptive . It is relatively rare for party staff members to leave the national committee in the midst of a presidential campaign unless they are going to work directly for the nominee. Ms. Guerra declined to discuss her feelings about Mr. Trump, who is deeply unpopular with Hispanic voters, but said, “I’ve had a great nearly two years at the R. N. C. and I’m excited for the new opportunities that I will have at A. A. N. ” Ms. Guerra, 28, joins a handful of other R. N. C. aides who have left the party or started looking for new work since Mr. Trump became the party’s presumptive nominee. Discontent with Mr. Trump runs deep among Republican strategists and staff members, particularly with younger ones. After suggesting that Mexican migrants were drug dealers and rapists upon entering the race last year, Mr. Trump has made illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign and at times has veered more directly toward racial demagogy. Last week in San Diego, a few miles from the Mexican border, he invoked the ethnic heritage of the federal judge presiding over a lawsuit filed by former Trump University students against the developer. “The judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican,” said Mr. Trump, about Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, who was born in Indiana to parents of Mexican descent. In her R. N. C. job, Ms. Guerra, a Texan who speaks fluent Spanish, was a frequent guest on television networks. In her new job, she “will be expanding her role as a conservative voice into congressional districts across America, on both policy and political issues,” said Mike Shields, president of the American Action Network. In a profile of young Republicans last year, Ms. Guerra said her party had an opening with a community that has increasingly supported Democrats in recent presidential elections. “As a Hispanic, I know that we have an opportunity with — they want to hear from us and want to know that we care,” Ms. Guerra said at the time. | 0fake |
North Korea says Trump begged for a war during his Asia trip | SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump s first trip to Asia showed he was a destroyer and he had begged for war on the Korean peninsula. Trump, during his visit, laid bare his true nature as destroyer of world peace and stability and begged for a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, the foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the state news agency. Trump had warned North Korea on Wednesday not to underestimate the United States as he wrapped up his visit to South Korea. The North Korean spokesman said nothing would deter Pyongyang from pursuing its nuclear weapons programme. | 0fake |
Police truncheon anyone calling for Orgreave inquiry | Police truncheon anyone calling for Orgreave inquiry 01-11-16
PEOPLE contemplating an inquiry into the ‘Battle Of Orgeave’ have been broken up by mounted police.
South Yorkshire Police commander Roy Hobbs said: “Some of those involved were wielding extremely dangerous opinions that we managed to beat out of them with big wooden sticks.
“I can reassure the public that none of our officers were physically hurt as the protestors were mostly old people due to the length of time they’ve been waiting for justice.
“Over 100 officer statements were generated during the operation and will be made public just as soon as I’ve got round to writing them.”
A formal confirmation of the decision will be published next week with a lengthy foreword to explain obscure historical terms such as ‘mining industry’ and ‘unions’.
Share: | 1real |
John Kirby and the US State Department Blatantly Support Terrorists - Henry Kamens | John Kirby and the US State Department Blatantly Support Terrorists
Kirby and the State Department serve as apologists and white-washers for barbarism Originally appeared at New Eastern Outlook
The US government, together with the MSM, blatantly supports terrorists. The nexus between politicians, terrorism and the media is well known to the intelligence community. However these links and cozy connections are usually written off as mere coincidence. We are told that the arms and funding which they illegally receive are but an accidental by-product of supporting “freedom fighters,” and that no one planned for these groups to be transformed into terrorist organisations.
This is but the tip of the iceberg as nowadays Radical Islamists are now just considered as rebels by the main stream media or described as “spoilers” by the US State Department, whose main spokesman, John Kirby just recently referred to Al-Nusra in East Aleppo as a spoiler to the ceasefire in Syria .
The way the US government and the MSM support terrorists is nothing that should come as any surprise. And this is not accidental, because a specific spokesperson has been appointed to run this media spin operation.
Meet John Kirby – the man who will call terrorism by anything other than what it is
Retired Rear Admiral Kirby is the official US State Department Spokesperson. He is a graduate of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, rather than the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and holds degrees in history, international relations, national security and strategic studies. He has worked in information-based roles throughout his armed forces career, though usually speaking to the goverment rather than the public, and the steady, year-on-year increases in US military spending show he has been very effective in this role.
Kirby was once a Pentagon spokesman. He used to be a Pentagon spokesman, well positioned to present sensitive information in non-controversial packages for mass public consumption. The Pentagon is hardly likely to tell us the truth about the things the public should be interested in: rows between generals, unauthorised or illegal actions or what the generals really think about the politicians they serve. But it has a press service regardless, so has to turn all that into something benign and equally interesting, as far as security clearance will allow.
This is why, under Kirby’s direction, radical Islamist groups which commit acts which meet any definition of terrorism, even if you agree with their cause, are now referred to simply as “rebels” by the mainstream media, or “spoilers” by the State Department. Listen to this example: Kirby referring to Al-Nusra as a “spoiler” to the ceasefire in East Aleppo .
He also has a neat trick for minimising terrorism: he refers to Daesh by the silly name Dash, a word Americans are familiar with from athletics, which conjures up images of educated young people in running gear rather than hooded terrorists murdering, beheading and marauding. His statements about Dash are really questionable.
People probably think they are funny, what about those families of the beheaded people and those killed by ISIS, would they find it funny? It is sick. Readers should be disgusted with Kirby.
Perhaps these guys think they have the terrorists controlled and managed. However when you tell the public we are at war with radical Islamists, and Al Nusra and others are on the terrorist watch list, why are these “national security experts” allowed to give them the a pass as if allies? The key is that we have allies that are radical Islamists who have attacked us and lots of others. Those allies are supporting the conflict in Syria .
Western governments are always telling their public that we are at war with radical Islamists, and that Al Nusra and other groups are designated terrorists and will be eliminated (they are on a kill list). All kinds of actions are taken in the name of fighting terrorism, and Western soldiers are sent to die in faraway places doing it.
So why is Kirby, presented as a “national security expert”, allowed to talk about them as if they are cuddly allies, or so insignificant that they are hardly worth the billions being spent fighting them?
Terratwitter army
Wars are by definition controversial, and always attract comment. Everyone has an opinion about a given conflict, and an important point, as they see it, to make. So there is always an endless stream of people who could be called upon to comment in the media. The only way to give any credibility to the contributor chosen is to present them as having some particular qualification, and Kirby’s title unquestionably gives him one.
There will also be those up close to the action who disagree with anything Kirby says, including many of the troops the State Department has sent to fight in these conflicts. However there is more than one way to skin a cat.
If Homeland Security wants to track down some actual terrorists then they should look at the source of Twitter feeds, and you will find all shapes and forms, many are members of the Islamist Front. It is clear that even some very prominent main stream journalists are actually supporting “rebels” by engaging with them in these learned exchanges.
Have you ever noticed how certain articles and statements attract a large number of comments saying the same thing? These are allegedly from members of the public, and therefore by inference “neutral”, the response of the man or woman in the street rather than an interested party. However this “vox pop” system is easy to manipulate, and there is plenty of evidence this is actually happening..
Many of the Twitter feeds and comments about conflicts involving terrorists, allegedly from “the general public”, are actually from members of the Islamic Front, and can be traced back to them. One example is the Twitter account Monther@amirramzi. Yet mainstream journalists do not call these individuals out as such. They engage with them as if they are impartial observers whose observations prove the points made in their articles, which the commenters just happen to have read, amongst the dozens available at any given time, when they have plenty of other things to do with their lives.
A State Department Spokesman has a long reach. You have to have a lot of weapons in place to take on the Pentagon, even in a verbal battle. Are we to believe that all these journalists are working with the Islamic Front independently, without help from above?
Too good for their own good
No one wants to live under a repressive regime. Consequently it is very easy to convey the notion that a “rebel” is simply a decent person fighting against injustice, as every individual likes to think they themselves are. People tend to make this connection without looking any deeper, and it takes a lot more effort than most casual observers are willing to make to go into the details of any conflict, and build a counter-narrative to the one presented by the mainstream media.
The term “rebel” is used to cover all kinds of combatants in Syria. It includes both the “moderate opposition” and self-avowed terrorists. In order to make this fiction stand up, a lot of claims need to be made and a lot of things not reported, as they would counter the picture of a homogenous group of decent people taking a stand which is so obvious it does not need to be explained.
It is rarely reported that the moderate opposition was persuaded to reject a UN plan to kick out Al Nusra, who are as much a threat to the ambitions of the moderate opposition as the Syrian government is. The opposition to Assad is now forcibly led by the terrorists the West claims to be fighting, because the more moderate forces have been subjected to it by the same West. This is why Kirby refers to Daesh as Dash – he is implying that the moderate forces are fully in agreement with it, and this somehow makes it something other than a terrorist group, in the same way Al Qaeda has been partially rehabilitated by saying its name over and over again until it becomes as familiar as breakfast to the reading public.
Similarly the word “Christian” is bandied about for an American audience which is increasingly influenced by the religious right which mushroomed as a backlash to failed liberalism. Kirby and his assistants claim that Christians are being persecuted by Assad the Muslim, without going into exactly who is meant by “Christians”, and what the ramifications of holding that faith are.
Most Syrian Christians describe themselves as Orthodox, but they are split into two very different groups. One is under the Patriarchate of Antioch, based in Damascus, and the other is under either the Jacobite Syrian church or the Nestorian Assyrian church, which have been outside the mainstream Orthodox communion since the 5th century. Politically these are very different animals – the Church of Antioch uses Arabic in its services as part of a deal with the state for protection, whereas the Syrians generally use Syriac and the Nestorians Aramaic. Nor do they receive the same protection, being treated as suspicious minorities by the Syrian state.
It is this which lies behind the kidnapping and ongoing detention of two bishops, the Syrian Church’s Archbishop John Ibrahim and the Church of Antioch’s Metropolitan Paul Yazigi, who have been held by ISIS since 2013. This is intended to convey the idea that all Christians are the same, and all must therefore hate Assad. We are told that the whereabouts of these two bishops are unknown, but we were told the same about Terry Waite, the Church of England peace envoy who was held captive in Beirut for five years by the Islamic Jihad Organisation.
On that occasion, with all the sophisticated weapons targeting systems and intelligence at its disposal, the West couldn’t find one captive in a city its raids demonstrated it knew backwards. Bishop Paul is the Metropolitan of Aleppo, strangely enough.
Too many friends to be true
The radical Islamists presented as cuddly flies in the ointment by Kirby are sponsored by external governments. We are often told that these include those of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. Many questions have been raised in Western countries about having state sponsors of terrorism as allies, and what those states’ real attitude to terrorism therefore is . Minimising the actions of these groups is therefore a domestic political imperative, not merely a foreign relations or security one, for Western governments.
This is why Channel 4 News published the report “Aleppo – Up Close With The Rebels” on October 5th. It was an attempt to promote known war criminals and child murderers and thus cleanse their actions, and those of the governments who support them and supply them with the means of committing them. When people started recognising certain faces in the video, and connecting them to actions which had caused journalists to question the US government’s support for this particular rebel group, Channel 4 removed its own report, most unusually . It has not however changed its editorial policy, and presents other groups with similar records in the same way in spite of this.
There is also a connection with John Kerry’s recent discussions with Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir. It is known that the 28 classified pages of the US government’s official 9\11 report, kept from public view, deal with the role Saudi Arabia played in those attacks. Now Kerry and al-Jubeir are trying to prevent the new Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act from having any effect.
If it is actually enacted, JASTA will restrict sovereign immunity and make it easier for individuals to prosecute the Saudi state over 9\11, on the basis of the official report. It will also make it easier for other countries to pass parallel legislation which will result in the US being prosecuted for its own actions. This may explain why Obama vetoed the bill, and it was only passed over his veto.
Now Kerry is trying to fix it so that the bill never comes into effect . If it was enacted, it could have a significant effect on future conflicts by enabling those who believe the actions of a sovereign nation, such as Syria, are criminal to pursue them through legal rather than military avenues. This is the option most “moderate” groups would doubtless prefer. This gives the US military-industrial complex, the only people to profit from any war, every motive for presenting radical terrorists as reasonable, sensible people doing a sensible thing.
Everyone wins except the future
Most terrorist groups would be equally radical in behaviour but not be able to achieve as much if just let to their own devices, as they would have neither the weaponry nor the intelligence support. The only reason terrorists who are happy to be martyred by the Western infidels accept their support is because it somehow legitimises them, and they can hope for future favours.
Menachem Begin, former Israeli PM and Nobel Prize Winner for Peace, was still wanted in the UK for a Zionist bombing when he attended the Leeds Castle Middle East peace negotiations in 1978, but by then enjoyed the dignity of then being a Prime Minister rather than a terrorist, because the West said so .
John Kirby is still serving the purposes of the Pentagon by presenting terrorists as reasonable, insignificant forces. Not only is he continuing the US sponsorship of terrorism by doing this, he is justifying the billions spent on fighting this apparently insignificant threat. Now the Pentagon can have unlimited funds to spend on anything it can sell to the public.
Isn’t this a wonderful picture once you connect the dots? “US mainstream media — the playground of spooks and hacks. A propaganda arm of the regime indeed — but that’s not nearly all of it ….”
Seems the terrorists have jokes of their own, and they are no laughing matter. Enemies are easy to manufacture, same as “manufacturing consent”, especially when you know your audience. It is also easy to turn them into friends in the same way. All you need to do is co-ordinate the effort like a military campaign.
Who better than John Kirby to tell us what’s what before we have the time to work it out for ourselves? | 1real |
BOOM! FBI DIRECTOR CALLS HILLARY Out After She LIES About Gravity Of Investigation | It s not shocking that Hillary s lying again, but it s probably not such a good idea to start out the investigation by lying to the public about it Hillary Clinton is fond of downplaying the gravity of the FBI s investigation into her private email server by calling it a security review, but that s a term that has no meaning to FBI director James Comey.Talking to reporters during a meeting at FBI headquarters on Wednesday, Comey said that the term security inquiry does not register with him and that agents are conducting an investigation. It s in our name. I m not familiar with the term security inquiry, Comey said, according to Politico s Josh Gerstein.Clinton has refused to use the term investigation to describe the probe, which is looking at whether classified information was mishandled on her private email server. She refers to it in interviews as a security review, as do her campaign team and surrogates. Daily Caller | 1real |
It Looks Like George Soros Is Funding The Trump Protests Just Like He Funded The Ferguson Riots | Paid instigators are making an already bad situation much much worse. As riots and protests rage through the streets of America, the question has to be asked.
Via ActivistPost
Does someone behind the scenes want to see civil war in the United States? The answer is almost certainly yes.
And it isn’t likely to settle down anytime in the next few days. (If you aren’t prepped for this, go here to learn how to stay safe.) Just a little background: this has been going on since the midst of the campaign when actors were hired on Craigslist and trained to disrupt rallies. For example, one Craigslist ad was answered by Paul Horner, who admitted he was paid $3,500 to cause a scene at a Trump event in Fountain Hills, Arizona.
“As for who these people were affiliated with that interviewed me, my guess would be Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” Horner said. “The actual check I received after I was done with the job was from a group called ‘Women Are The Future’. After I was hired, they told me if anyone asked any questions about who I was with or communicated with me in any way, I should start talking about how great Bernie Sanders is.” Horner continued, “It was mostly women in their 60’s at the interview that I went to…” (source)
The same report goes on to say:
When asked about the other protesters at the rally, Horner said he saw most of them during the interview and training for the rally.
“Almost all of the people I was protesting with I had seen at my interview and training class. At the rally, talking with some of them, I learned they only paid Latinos $500, Muslims $600 and African Americans $750. I don’t think they were looking for any Asians. Women and children were paid half of what the men got and illegals received $300 across the board. I think I was paid more than the other protesters because I was white and had taken classes in street fighting and boxing a few years back”
You can also read this article, in which a quote caught on video from Project Veritas shows how the Clinton campaign caused disruptions via “bird-dogging.”
There’s a lot of evidence that someone is funding these protests. An eyewitness in Austin, Texas spotted protesters being transported by chartered coach buses.
Anti-Trump protestors in Austin today are not as organic as they seem. Here are the busses they came in. #fakeprotests #trump2016 #austin pic.twitter.com/VxhP7t6OUI
— erictucker (@erictucker) November 10, 2016
Then there was this Craigslist ad.
There are many more tweets along these lines, but suffice it to say, suspicion is high that these, just like the Clinton campaign, are rigged to manipulate the American people.
Why would anyone want to cause all this trouble? That’s where the web gets tangled. It certainly seems counterproductive to set fire to America. After all, what these people are doing is likely to end up with more tyranny – like martial law, for example.
Exactly. That’s precisely the plan.
Back in August, hackers from a group called DC Leaks got into the private documents of the Open Society, an organization founded by George Soros. Soros, whom DC Leaks referred to as “the architect and sponsor of almost every revolution and coup around the world for the last 25 years” is a pro-globalist billionaire who has been trying to take over the world via shadow government for decades.
Zero Hedge reported on the findings in the Soros leak:
The documents are from multiple departments of Soros’ organizations. Soros’ the Open Society Foundations seems to be the group with the most documents in the leak. Files come from sections representing almost all geographical regions in the world, from the USA, to Europe, Eurasia, Asia, Latin, America, Africa, the World Bank “the President’s Office”, as well as an unknown entity named SOUK. As the Daily Caller notes, there are documents dating from at least 2008 to 2016.
Documents in the leak range from research papers such as “EUROPEAN CRISIS: Key Developments of the Past 48 Hours” focusing on the impact of the refugee crisis, to a document titled “The Ukraine debate in Germany“, to an update specific financials of grants.
They reveal work plans, strategies, priorities and other activities by Soros, and include reports on European elections, migration and asylum in Europe.
An email leaked by WikiLeaks earlier this week showed Soros had advised Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State on how to handle unrest in Albania – advice she acted on. As well, it’s important to note that Soros provided a whopping $33 million to activists in Ferguson, Missouri, escalating a protest to a siege. The Washington Times reported:
…liberal billionaire George Soros, who has built a business empire that dominates across the ocean in Europe while forging a political machine powered by nonprofit foundations that impacts American politics and policy, not unlike what he did with MoveOn.org. Mr. Soros spurred the Ferguson protest movement through years of funding and mobilizing groups across the U.S., according to interviews with key players and financial records reviewed by The Washington Times.
In all, Mr. Soros gave at least $33 million in one year to support already-established groups that emboldened the grass-roots, on-the-ground activists in Ferguson, according to the most recent tax filings of his nonprofit Open Society Foundations… This is business as usual for the OSF (Open Society Foundation), as explained by director Kenneth Zimmerman:
Mr. Zimmerman said OSF has been giving to these types of groups since its inception in the early ’90s, and that, although groups involved in the protests have been recipients of Mr. Soros’ grants, they were in no way directed to protest at the behest of Open Society.
“The incidents, whether in Staten Island, Cleveland or Ferguson, were spontaneous protests — we don’t have the ability to control or dictate what others say or choose to say,” Mr. Zimmerman said. “But these circumstances focused people’s attention — and it became increasingly evident to the social justice groups involved that what a particular incident like Ferguson represents is a lack of accountability and a lack of democratic participation.”
Soros-sponsored organizations helped mobilize protests in Ferguson, building grass-roots coalitions on the ground backed by a nationwide online and social media campaign. Other Soros-funded groups made it their job to remotely monitor and exploit anything related to the incident that they could portray as a conservative misstep, and to develop academic research and editorials to disseminate to the news media to keep the story alive.
The plethora of organizations involved not only shared Mr. Soros‘ funding, but they also fed off each other, using content and buzzwords developed by one organization on another’s website, referencing each other’s news columns and by creating a social media echo chamber of Facebook “likes” and Twitter hashtags that dominated the mainstream media and personal online newsfeeds.
Soros was busted for paying protesters to go into Ferguson and stir things up. This is not theory. It’s FACT. The Daily Mail reported that Soros spent $33 million to bankroll the protests. The Washington Times reported that it was totally cool, though, because humanitarian that he is, Soros just wanted to help the civil rights movement. What a guy. Of course, this seems to be a thing with the kabillionaires. The Ford Foundation and Rockefeller foundation also fund “social activism.” Which is kabillionaire code for “mess stuff up and wreak havoc.”
And guess who footed the bill for the rent-a-thug protesters at Trump rallies in California and New York? (Here’s another source, too.) You guessed it. Everyone’s favorite Hungarian-American troll. Keep in mind that the organization Black Lives Matter was born through the Ferguson riots.
Does this look familiar? If the Modus Operandi in these protests looks familiar, that’s because MoveOn.org is organizing a lot of them, and MoveOn is funded by…you guessed it: George Soros. The organization was originally founded to combat the impeachment of Bill Clinton…are you seeing a link here? Another proud instigator is the Answer Coalition which also – are you sitting down? Has links to Soros.
There are a lot of people who are out there because they genuinely oppose a Trump presidency. The unfortunate thing is, their opposition comes from propaganda that they passionately believe. They are acting based on misinformation and they’re being professionally manipulated. The next step here is martial law, which nobody wants.
Well, nobody except George Soros and friends. Someone who wants to see America ripped apart is causing this division. Last summer, it was leaked that Soros attempted to destabilize Russia and depose Putin in 2012. Putin responded by banning Soros and all of his organizations from Russia. In 2014, Putin issued an international arrest warrant for Soros. We could certainly improve both international relationships and our current situation by extraditing Soros immediately.
| 1real |
Sore Loser: Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) to Boycott Inauguration | Rep. Jared Huffman ( ) has announced that he will boycott Donald Trump’s inauguration next Friday, becoming the third U. S. representative to do so. [In a Facebook post on Saturday, Huffman announced that he wanted to protest the start of a “dark and dangerous chapter” for America: Ordinarily, on Inauguration Day I would take my place above the west steps of the Capitol and join colleagues and dignitaries in honoring a great and solemn American tradition: the peaceful transfer of power which must always transcend partisan differences. Ordinarily, I would do that without hesitation for any President, regardless of their politics or personality, as a show of respect for the institution and the will of the voters — and as a gesture of goodwill to foster reconciliation and collaboration as we put the election behind us and prepare to work with the new administration. However, there is nothing ordinary about this inauguration or the man that will be as our next President. I do accept the election results and support the peaceful transfer of power, but it is abundantly clear to me that with Donald Trump as our President, the United States is entering a dark and very dangerous political chapter. I will do everything I can to limit the damage and the duration of this chapter, and I believe we can get through it. But I will not sit passively and politely applaud as it begins. Instead of attending the inauguration, Huffman said that he would spend the day in his district “doing positive things. ” Huffman represents the second congressional district of California, a coastal district that includes liberal Humboldt County, the state’s most celebrated marijuana cultivation region. As Breitbart News reported last year, Huffman, a Democratic Party “” defied the views of many of his constituents by supporting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders ( ). Huffman joins Reps. Luis Gutierrez ( ) and Katherine Clark ( ) in boycotting what has traditionally been a bipartisan event, where the country comes together for at least one moment to honor the democratic transition of power. The California Democrat said that he had received support from the district, and that “people are really resonating” with his decision to boycott, although he complained about opposition from “these Republicans from Alabama, Indiana and Oklahoma. ” Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 0fake |
VANITY FAIR LEAVES MELANIA Off “BEST DRESSED” List…But Look Who Did Make The List | Immediately following the election, a few leftist designers announced they wouldn t work with Melania Trump. Their decision to not offer their fashion creations to Melania hasn t seemed to have had much of an effect on her. Melania has brought elegance, class and most of all, style back to the White House that we haven t seen since the Jackie Kennedy era.Apparently, Vanity Fair missed the excitement and enthusiasm so many women (and men) seem to have for seeing photos of the always meticulously dressed First Lady Melania Trump, because somehow, her name was kept off their Best Dressed Women of 2017 list, but several names that appeared on their list have many Americans scratching their heads in disbelief.Melania made her first major fashion statement on the day her husband was inaugurated as our 45th President, where she was seen wearing a stunning two-piece, robin s egg blue, Ralph Lauren suit.Later in the evening, Melania stunned again in a sleek white, off-the-shoulder column dress with a modest slit revealing her toned legs, as she and President Trump danced to Frank Sinatra s My Way. There have been countless photos of Melania carrying herself with grace, class, and elegance as truly one of the most well-dressed First Lady s in history.Melania stunned the world in her luxurious black pants suit on her first overseas trip to Saudi Arabia with President Trump:Again, Melania pulled off another amazing pants suit on her trip to Saudi Arabia, that even made some of us forget about the damage Hillary Clinton had done to the image of pants suits on women.But Vanity Fair s list apparently is less a list of well dressed individuals and couples, and more a list of individuals who lean left. Here are a few of the people who did make Vanity Fair s list:Here are a few of the people who did make Vanity Fair s Best Dressed Women list:Beyonce s sister, (Yes, the same sister who was caught on camera beating and kicking Jay Z in an elevator.) Solange Knowles made the list. Because why?We don t need to go into the whole love-fest between Solange s much more famous sister Beyonce and the Obama s, do we?And the entertainer Rhianna, who usually looks like she just walked out a freak show, and calls women up to the stage while she s performing to grind on them in front of a packed house, was also named as one of Vanity Fair s Best Dressed . Did we mention that she was a huge Obama supporter? When she visited the White House, she told her fans that the best part of the visit was that Obama was black . She probably just forgot that he is also white. Anyhow, it s probably pretty clear why Vanity Fair chose her.Vanity Fair even had a Best Dressed Couples category, and to the surprise of no one, the Obama s and the Macron s made the list that should have been renamed the High Profile People On The Left Who Wear Clothes . Of course, Michelle and Barack made the list. Even funnier, is the fact that Vanity Fair chose this photo to highlight Michelle s great taste in clothing.And then there s the leftist first couple of France, the Macron s. We must concede, that Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron are the only leftists on this list that we believe actually have any business being on a Best Dressed list. Like Melania Trump, France s first lady never disappoints when it comes to fashion. Vanity Fair did however mention Melania and her fashion sense in arecent article, but it was anything but flattering, as they attempted to accuse her of copying (of all people) Michelle Obama, as a way to make her more appealing to Americans. LOL!From the Vanity Fair article:Melania Trump appears to be taking a page out of the Michelle Obama book of fashion. The usually designer-clad Trump flew from Camp David to D.C. over the weekend wearing a surprisingly affordable $75 pink gingham shirt from J.Crew along with a pair of matching J Brand pink pants and Manolo Blahnik flats. According to Yahoo Style Canada, the button-up top is a discontinued piece from the brand s 2012 collection. Perhaps she s been waiting to save the economical top for just the right moment in her First Lady reign.The mall brand is a major departure from the First Lady s typical designer wardrobe, which is occasionally criticized for being over the top and out of touch. Trump s predecessor Michelle Obama was often lauded for wearing J.Crew during her time in the White House, coming across as a more relatable and accessible First Lady than many in the past. It seems entirely possible that Trump is ripping out a page from the Obama handbook in order to drum up some much-needed goodwill from the public. | 1real |
Students Claim Objective ’Truth’ Is a ’White Supremacist’ Myth - Breitbart | Students at the Claremont McKenna Colleges argued that objective truth is a social construct devised by “white supremacists” to “attempt to silence oppressed peoples” in a letter to the Pomona College president. [The letter came in response to Pomona College President David Oxtoby’s affirmation of commitment to free speech and intellectual diversity following the chaos that ensued during a lecture featuring Manhattan Institute scholar Heather MacDonald. Student protesters derailed her lecture on the rise of attitudes by banging on windows and shouting, “F*ck the police,” and “Black Lives Matter. ” Campus security ultimately forced MacDonald to livestream her lecture from a room across campus. “Protest has a legitimate and celebrated place on college campuses,” Oxtoby wrote, offering a condemnation of the conduct of the students who disrupted the event. “What we cannot support is the act of preventing others from engaging with an invited speaker. Our mission is founded upon the discovery of truth, the collaborative development of knowledge and the betterment of society. ” Students at Pomona College, one of the schools in the consortium of Claremont McKenna Colleges, took issue with Oxtoby’s statement and drafted a letter in response that was signed by students at the other colleges as well. “Free speech, a right many freedom movements have fought for, has recently become a tool appropriated by hegemonic institutions. It has not just empowered students from marginalized backgrounds to voice their qualms and criticize aspects of the institution, but it has given those who seek to perpetuate systems of domination a platform to project their bigotry,” the students wrote. “Thus, if ‘our mission is founded upon the discovery of truth,’” the students continued, “how does free speech uphold that value?” Immediately dismissing the possibility that listening to MacDonald’s lecture could widen their perspective, the students went on to explain how objective truth is a concept devised by “white supremacists” in an “attempt to silence oppressed peoples. ” Historically, white supremacy has venerated the idea of objectivity, and wielded a dichotomy of ‘subjectivity vs. objectivity’ as a means of silencing oppressed peoples. The idea that there is a single truth — ’the Truth’ — is a construct of the that is deeply rooted in the Enlightenment, which was a movement that also described Black and Brown people as both subhuman and impervious to pain. This construction is a myth and white supremacy, imperialism, colonization, capitalism, and the United States of America are all of its progeny. The idea that the truth is an entity for which we must search, in matters that endanger our abilities to exist in open spaces, is an attempt to silence oppressed peoples. The students go on to claim that Heather MacDonald is “ignorant of interlocking systems of domination that produce the lethal conditions under which oppressed peoples are forced to live,” which is an explicit reference to the concept of intersectionality, an increasingly popular theory of oppression which conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan recently called a “religion. ” Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart. com | 0fake |
ARMY OF ISIS Scientists Ready To Wage War Against EU: Have Already Smuggled Chemical, Biological And Nuclear Weapons Across Borders | But wait If WMD s have been banned by the international community, how is it possible for ISIS to use them against the West? Is the Left finally waking up to realize bad guys don t follow the rules? ISIS already has smuggled chemical and biological weapons into the EU The terror organisation has also recruited chemists and physicists Western governments warned to alert the public about potential attackISIS has recruited experts with chemistry, physics and computer science degrees to wage war with weapons of mass destruction against the West, a shocking European Parliament report has claimed.The terror organisation, according to the briefing document, may be planning to try to use internationally banned weapons of mass destruction in future attacks .The document, which was compiled in the aftermath of the deadly attacks on Paris claimed that ISIS has already smuggled WMD material into Europe.Experts fear that ISIS will be able to exploit a failure of EU governments to share information on possible terrorists. Already, British police forces have been conducting exercises on how to deal with various types of terrorist attack. But the EU report claims that government should consider publicly addressing the possibility of terrorist attack using chemical, biological, radiological or even nuclear materials .The report, ISIL/Da esh and non-conventional weapons of terror warns: At present, European citizens are not seriously contemplating the possibility that extremist groups might use chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) materials during attacks in Europe. Under these circumstances, the impact of such an attack, should it occur, would be even more destabilising. Rob Wainwright, head of Europol said after the attacks on Paris: We are dealing with a very serious, well-resourced, determined international terrorist organisation that is now active on the streets of Europe. This represents the most serious terrorist threat faced in Europe for 10 years. Mr Wainwright warned that ISIS had serious capabilities in terms of resources and manpower. Intelligence services have also been warned to screen returning Jihadi fighters for specialist CBRN knowledge . Interpol s monthly CBRN intelligence reports show numerous examples of attempts to acquire, smuggle or use CBRN materials. Via: UK Daily Mail | 1real |
AMAZING ENTRANCE! Trump Does “Les Deplorables” [Video] | 1real | |
The Wahabi Vote: Poll Shows 68 percent of Saudis prefer Hillary Clinton | 21st Century Wire says Another key swing state has gone to Hillary. The feudal theocratic dictatorship who is funding and supporting ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists groups groups globally has chosen their candidate According to one WikiLeaks email, Clinton herself discussed how Gulf monarchies Saudi Arabia and Qatar are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL [Islamic State, IS, ISIS] and other radical Sunni groups. While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region, Clinton wrote. This effort will be enhanced by the stepped up commitment in the [Kurdish Regional Government]. The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious U.S. pressure. So the Clinton Foundation has been knowingly accepting millions of dollars in donations from the very same Gulf states that both Secretary Clinton and President Obama knew were funding ISIS, Al Nusra Front (al Qaeda in Syria) and many other known takfiri terrorist fighting organizations currently infesting Syria and Iraq.No wonder Clinton plays so well with Saudi Arabia Al Arabiya An opinion poll by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Washington and that included nine Arab countries revealed that 68 percent of the Saudis prefer that Hillary Clinton wins the presidential elections while 46 percent thought Donald Trump was bad.The nine countries included Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip), Saudi Arabia and Tunisia and an average of 400 people from each country participated in the questionnaire.Asked which of the candidates will positively influence the US policy towards the Arab region, 65 percent of the Saudis said Clinton s victory will positively impact the Arab region.The Arab public opinion prefers Clinton s win by 66 percent while 11 percent prefer Trump s victory. The highest percentage in support of Clinton winning the presidency was in Morocco and Tunisia while the least percentage in favor of Clinton s victory was in Palestine and Iraq. Meanwhile, the highest percentage in favor of Trump winning was in Iraq and Egypt Continue this story at Al ArabiyaREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2o16 FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Clinton’s Policy On Syria Will Lead To WW3 Says Trump | Carol Adl in Middle East , News , World // 0 Comments
Donald Trump has warned that Hillary Clinton’s policy towards Syria would lead to World War III , arguing that the Democratic nominee would drag the US into a confrontation with nuclear armed Russia.
Trump said “You’re going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton” adding that “What we should do is focus on ISIS We should not be focusing on Syria”
The US Republican presidential nominee made the remarks on Tuesday during a Reuters interview in response to Clinton’s proposal for the establishment of a no-fly zone and “safe zones” in Syria.
Press TV reports:
On October 7, the Democratic nominee said a no-fly zone was required inside the war-ravaged country to stabilize fighting, a move that was opposed in Congress due to the risk of entering into conflict with Russia, since a US-enforced no-fly zone would mean the US could shoot down Russian fighter jets should they enter Syrian airspace.
Clinton also described the situation in Syria as “incredibly complex” since the intervention of Russia.
“You’re not fighting Syria anymore; you’re fighting Syria, Russia and Iran, all right? Russia is a nuclear country, but a country where the nukes work as opposed to other countries that talk,” Trump said.
The Republican nominee also referred to the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power as a second-level priority to defeating Daesh.
“Assad is secondary, to me, to ISIL,” Trump said.
Russia might down US planes
Meanwhile, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also warned about the consequences of Clinton’s push for a no-fly zone in Syria that could spark a conflict with Russia.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Clapper said Clinton’s proposal for the establishment of a no-fly zone in Syria could lead to Russia shooting down American planes there.
“I wouldn’t put it past them to shoot down an American aircraft if they — if they felt that was threatening to their forces on the ground,” he said.
“I take stock in the nature of the weaponry that they deploy and why they — why they did that,” Clapper said of Russian weapons recently deployed to Syria. “The system they have there is a very advanced air-defense system. It’s very capable. And I don’t think they’d do it and deploy it unless they had some intent to use it.”
During the third and final presidential debate last week, Clinton reiterated her remarks on a no-fly zone that could save lives and hasten the end of the conflict in Syria.
A foreign-backed militancy has been going on in Syria since March 2011, with a plethora of armed groups — each supported by one foreign country or another — fighting the Assad government.
Since 2014, the United States, along with a number of its allies, has been leading a so-called anti-terror campaign in Syria and neighboring Iraq.
Instead of helping to rein in the Takfiri terrorists, the air raids have killed many civilians, and caused extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure. | 1real |
Government Forces Advancing at Damascus-Aleppo Highway in Eastern Ghouta | #FROMTHEFRONT #MAPS 22.11.2016 - 1,361 views 5 ( 7 votes) Government Forces Advancing at Damascus-Aleppo Highway in Eastern Ghouta 5 out of 5 based on 7 ratings. 7 user reviews. Government Forces Advancing at Damascus-Aleppo Highway in Eastern Ghouta Donate Click to see the full-size map
Syrian government forces are advancing to expand a buffer zone along the Daraa-Damascus-Homs-Aleppo Highway (M5) in the Eastern Ghouta region of Rif Damascus Province.
The Syrian army and the National Defense forces have made a series of attacks on Jaish al-Islam positions north of the Abu Zeid Hill and east of the militant controlled town of Harasta (a shaky ceasefire is ongoing there).
If the army and the NDF are able to secure the M5 Highway in Eastern Ghouta this will positively impact the logistic capabilities of government forces around the Syrian capital.
Donate | 1real |
On This the N.F.L. Agrees: The Cowboys’ Offensive Line Is No. 1 - The New York Times | Much of the credit for the remarkable rise of the Dallas Cowboys from last season to this season has gone to two rookies: quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott. But insiders will tell you that the real secret to the Cowboys’ success is their offensive line, which, by most accounts, is the best in the N. F. L. Whether blocking for Elliott or giving Prescott the time he needs to find an open receiver, Dallas’s dominant line is the constant that has driven the team forward. It is difficult to scientifically assess the merits of an offensive line. Linemen do not compile straightforward statistics, like yardage or touchdowns. But measures that do exist point to the Cowboys’ line as elite. Three of the five starters have been chosen to the Pro Bowl, a total matched only by the Oakland Raiders. It is the fourth consecutive Pro Bowl selection for left tackle Tyron Smith and the third straight for center Travis Frederick and right guard Zack Martin. The line is rounded out by left guard Ronald Leary, subbing for the injured La’el Collins, and the veteran right tackle Doug Free. “I have always felt that the offensive line are the heartbeat for a franchise,” Troy Aikman, the former Cowboys quarterback, said. “If you’ve got tough physical offensive linemen, then your team is going to be tough and physical. That becomes what your identity is. ” Aikman will be calling Dallas’s game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday for Fox. Others around the N. F. L. agree. “The offensive line is unbelievable,” Vikings Coach Mike Zimmer told reporters in November. “They’re by far the best in the league that I’ve seen. Smith is the best lineman in the league by far. But they’ve got a lot of big, physical guys. ” Elliott thought enough of his linemen to give them all John Deere vehicles for Christmas. Focusing on the offensive line has been a conscious decision by Coach Jason Garrett and the Cowboys. “The background that Jason has, his beliefs come from the years we shared together with the Cowboys in the ” Aikman said. “His interest was building the offensive line. They built their offense around the power running game. ” The Cowboys had not used a pick on a blocker since 1981, eight years before Jerry Jones bought the team. But a run of three in four years — Smith in 2011, Frederick in 2013 and Martin in 2014 — laid the foundation for the corps now in place. Using a system that includes statistics like yards before contact on running plays and sacks, hits, and hurries on passing plays, Pro Football Focus ranked the Cowboys’ offensive line the best in the league, ahead of the lines of the Eagles and the Raiders. (The Chargers ranked last.) Although it is hard to quantify exactly how much of the credit goes to the offensive line, the Cowboys ranked fifth in yards per pass and third in yards per run. Dallas and Atlanta were the only teams in the top five in both categories. The news media have also piled on the praise. Sports Illustrated writers picked the Cowboys as the best offensive line, and also suggested that the unit should be considered the league’s collective most valuable player. Bleacher Report went further, naming the line as one of the greatest in history, alongside units like the Redskins Hogs of the early 1980s and the Raiders of the 1970s. One line also named among the greatest was the Cowboys’ line of the early to mid 1990s, which won three Super Bowls blocking for Emmitt Smith. While praising the current unit, Aikman was quick to nod to the men who blocked for him, who came into the league less heralded. “We never had three guys or picks on the offensive line,” he noted. Sunday’s game will be a match of great lines, with the Packers’ offensive line, ranked fifth by Pro Football Focus, anchored by the Pro Bowl right guard T. J. Lang. The Cowboys’ future up front looks strong. Of the three Pro Bowl linemen, Smith is in his sixth year, Frederick in his fourth and Martin in his third. All are signed for next season, as is Free. Leary may leave as a free agent, but at 32, he is a much more replaceable piece. With the rookie Prescott at the helm, the solid line is a security blanket. “I would have loved to have those in place when I came in as a rookie in 1989,” Aikman said. “Whether it’s me, Joe Montana or Terry Bradshaw, there were good players around us. Prescott’s been the beneficiary. ” | 0fake |
Spot On! Lou Dobbs: President Took RINO Paul Ryan to the Woodshed [Video] | Lou Dobbs is spot on with his assessment of what President Trump did in making a debt-ceiling deal with Democrats:Lou Dobbs | President took RINO Paul Ryan to the woodshed by making debt-ceiling deal with Democrats pic.twitter.com/cYlYziOjfG Journalism Is Dead (@TheDailyBail) September 7, 2017President Trump knows he s dealing with a RINO in Paul Ryan and was ready to call him out on it. Trump went around Ryan and McConnell to make a deal to get funds to the hurricane victims in Texas. Ryan tried to grandstand on it but Trump wasn t having any of Ryan s BS so he met with party leaders and made a deal right in from of the RINO leaders of the GOP. The art of the deal in action Trump also pushes the issue on the debt limit to right before the election in 3 months brilliant! SHOCKING PIVOT BY POTUS:He turned on Republican leaders in Congress when he caved to Democrats demands to raise the debt limit and fund the government for three months, setting up a brutal year-end fiscal cliff. The move shocked everyone, as top White House officials and GOP leaders had been gearing up to raise the debt ceiling through the 2018 midterm election, looking to pass legislation as soon as Friday.But even after Mnuchin, Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed back on the Democratic demands in the meeting, Trump agreed to the three-month deal that will also head off the possibility of a government shutdown until mid-December.During the meeting, Ryan sharply criticized the Democratic proposal, a source familiar with the exchange said. But Schumer reminded him that Ryan had supported short-term increases in the past intended to help create bipartisan deals in 2013.So after Democrats rejected GOP proposals to raise the debt ceiling for 18 months, and then six months Trump endorsed Schumer s three-month pitch.The Treasury Department will likely be able to buy more time for Congress on the debt limit into 2018. But the Wednesday deal still means Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling, negotiate a massive trillion-dollar spending bill, and potentially hash out a deal on immigration all at once or in quick succession.Trump s statement on the deal:President Trump: We had a great meeting with Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and the whole Republican leadership group. pic.twitter.com/ArHkodzr92 CSPAN (@cspan) September 6, 2017 | 1real |
It’s A Setup: Dems Claim Russians Will Undermine Elections With Fake Documents Showing Voter Fraud | Tweet Home » Headlines » World News » It’s A Setup: Dems Claim Russians Will Undermine Elections With Fake Documents Showing Voter Fraud
The narrative now is that the Russians are either going to compromise the Presidential election by outright hacking it, or, they will simply pretend that they compromised the elections by posting fake documents proving voter fraud.
From Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan :
If the election fraud narrative, cyberattack and rigged voting machines haven’t yet thoroughly confused the American voting public, maybe the latest report from Reuters will do the job.
According to Reuters, U.S. voting authorities are now warning that while the Russians may not actually hack the Presidential election, they may fake hacking the Presidential election.
What they’re saying without actually saying it is that if Hillary Clinton wins the election and Trump supporters show proof of any fraudulent activity, the “proof” will have been fabricated by… The Russians.
Joe Joseph Explains:
This is the height of desperation for the mainstream media and The-Powers-That-Shouldn’t-Be because they know that they’ve been manipulating elections for a very long time now…
Watch at Youtube
It sounds almost too crazy to believe, but this is now being disseminated to the public via mainstream pipelines:
U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are warning that hackers with ties to Russia’s intelligence services could try to undermine the credibility of the presidential election by posting documents online purporting to show evidence of voter fraud.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said however, that the U.S. election system is so large, diffuse and antiquated that hackers would not be able to change the outcome of the Nov. 8 election.
But hackers could post documents, some of which might be falsified, that are designed to create public perceptions of widespread voter fraud, the officials said.
They said that they did not have specific evidence of such a plan, but state and local election authorities had been warned to be vigilant for hacking attempts.
Source: Reuters
So, according to this latest report, the Russians are either going to compromise the Presidential election by outright hacking it, or, they will simply pretend that they compromised the elections by posting fake documents purporting to show voter fraud.
Either way, it was the Russians.
Trust us. On Sale At SD Bullion… This Week Only… This entry was posted in World News and tagged Donald Trump , Hillary Clinton , Hillary vote fraud , vote fraud . Bookmark the permalink . Post navigation | 1real |
FBI “Insurrection” to Scuttle Director, Rig Election | By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on November 1, 2016 By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor and Ian Greenhalgh, Managing Editor
John F. Kennedy memorably stated that he was going to smash the CIA into ‘a thousand pieces’, he had very good reasons for doing so; half a century later, it can reasonably be assumed that similar phrases are being darkly muttered within the corridors of power about the FBI.
President George W. Bush “lost” 22 million emails, many involving criminal investigations, and the FBI has said nothing, though the emails involved the White House used an illegal private server owned by the Republican Party for official government business.
The FBI is out to get Hillary Clinton, it’s not Director Comey, Obama put him in there to clean up the mess, they’ve been after Obama for 8 years. The ‘birther’ hoax began, no we aren’t kidding, inside the FBI – it was the FBI that originated the wild rumour that Hillary Clinton murdered Vince Foster and that President Obama is not only a Muslim but many in the FBI actually say he’s the anti-christ.
Legal Analyst Paul Callan of CNN just published the following:
Lately, the FBI, while acting without the customary supervision of the Justice Department, appears to be a runaway train on a collision course with the concept of fairness in next week’s presidential election. Democratic Senator Harry Reid and former White House ethics counsel Richard Painter have accused FBI Director James Comey of violating the Hatch Act by illegally using his office to influence the election. While the claim of a Hatch Act violation is a stretch, the appointment of an independent prosecutor and the replacement of Comey are nonetheless urgently required, if not outright overdue. The tangled relationship between the Clintons and Attorney General Loretta Lynch should have prompted appointment of an independent special prosecutor long ago..
Here’s what Callan knew but wasn’t able to write. The same informants that went to Callan also came to us and what they had to say was frightening. Here is how it began; an FBI insurrection and this is the exact term used by sources deep inside the FBI cabal, an FBI insurrection against, Comey, Hillary Clinton and Obama can no longer be safely ignored. This is why Senator Harry Reid has called for a criminal investigation of the FBI for violation of the Hatch Act.
The FBI, and this isn’t Comey, it is the rank and file, the insurrectionist rank and file, a very powerful organisation that includes case managers, deputy directors that run not only counter-terrorism but financial crimes as well have not only targeted what they see to be dangerous liberal and progressive leaders, including of course the American president, but have continually protected criminals from prosecution as well. Those they have protected, possibly including names like Adelson, Trump and Romney, are funding moves against the US government, moves against American foreign policy and may well actually be funding recognised terror organisations as well, we have been specifically told this by sources within the FBI.
This insurrectional group within the FBI, which we are told includes the majority of FBI agents, has little idea what they have gotten into, some are aware they are taking orders from the shadowy Federalist Society, that ‘right-wing conspiracy’ Hillary Clinton referred to so many years ago as trying to bring down her husband’s presidency, but it goes deeper, it gets scarier; it isn’t just ‘birthers’.
The public face of this is blocked court appointments and a government in paralysis, but it’s far deeper and far more threatening, it all became possible when two branches of government fell under the control of organised crime. It took a five/four rigged Supreme Court and a rigged election in 2000, covered up by the FBI, to subvert for all times the independence of America’s legislature. Rigged by Richard Mellon Scaife, funded by Sheldon Adelson, a cabal calling themselves ‘Neocons’, in reality a front for organised crime, reapportioned Congressional districts across the US in clear violation of equal protection provisions of the constitution and backed by five mob-controlled members of the Supreme Court, bolstered by vote flipping software from the CIA, control of the legislative/investigative branch of government was permanently placed in the hands of a minority, destroying any hope of separation of powers and undermining all constitutional protections. Any hope of Americans influencing their own destiny disappeared with a rigged legislature running endless witch hunts and a mob-controlled Supreme Court backing them up.
Making it worse, so much worse, was the creation of a massive security bureaucracy, the Department of Homeland Security, laws authorising torture and illegal surveillance and the destruction of the FBI.
No public scandal can be investigated, no regulation enforced, no-one is left to speak up, no-one is safe from illegal arrest and imprisonment, a nightmare from the pages of Kafka become reality, all this has become clear in the last few days.
When a prominent US senator calls for the prosecution of America’s national police force, is it perhaps time to take note?
There was a reason the constitution prohibited the creation of the national police force, just as the constitution prohibited the creation of a central bank; there is no mechanism capable of controlling a central bank, as the failures of the Federal Reserve board and a cursory study of American history since 1913 will establish.
Similarly, no provision was established within the constitution to regulate or oversee a national police force, it didn’t take long for the FBI to become the Cheka within a short period after it’s creation, J. Edgar Hoover, turned ‘the bureau’ into a monstrosity blackmailing politicians and cosying up to crime figures while Hoover’s FBI chased ‘commies’ both real and imaginary, it protected not only the mafia but powerful international crime cartels as well, becoming the real ‘Murder Inc.’ Taxpayer financed strong-arm thugs supported by a disinformation campaign.
Hoover gained control of the press almost immediately, keeping files on his press enemies, threatening and blackmailing; some of this was to protect his own secrets – mob ties and his notorious penchant for sexual deviance, now long in the public domain, but it went further – it was all about power.
‘Mary’ Hoover liked to dress as a woman and was infamously covertly photographed along with his longtime companion and lover Clyde Tolson in flagrante delicto; those photographs came into the possession of mob kingpin Meyer Lansky, thus ensnaring Hoover, and by extension the entire FBI in a dangerous marriage with the mob. There is no evidence they ever got divorced, though from time to time the relationship may have been somewhat rocky.
Simply put, given these facts, any sense of surprise at FBI misconduct or calls for investigating or even disbanding the FBI, should be no surprise to anyone. Nearly every current television series that features scenarios involving the FBI invariably focuses on FBI corruption, the FBI’s illegal involvement in politics and gross incompetence.
Sit at a table and have lunch with the FBI, it can go one of two ways – you can have brilliant, dedicated and relentless law enforcement officers who complain about being shackled by a corrupt bureaucracy, or like as not, a pack of delusional nutcases mouthing wild conspiracy theories and ranting about dangerous liberals; neither group, though widely divergent, make a case for the survival of the FBI. Then when you realise the Dept. of Homeland Security is entirely composed of conspiracy nutcases and other agencies are worse, it becomes clear that Harry Reid’s demand to clean up the FBI is far from enough. | 1real |
BILL CLINTON Rips Into Hecklers Again With Bold Statement About Bernie | Bill Clinton must be unaware of the very close race in California between his wife and Bernie Sanders. He gave a finger wag and told hecklers that Bernie doesn t have a chance don t be so sure Slick Willy! If I were them, I d be screaming too because they know they will be toast by election day, Clinton said, according to a Fox News reporter at the event: Bill Clinton was in East Los Angeles on Sunday campaigning ahead of the California primary on Tuesday.This hasn t been an easy week for Bill Clinton. He was campaigning earlier in the week and encountered a woman who yelled obscenities about the 1994 Crime Bill: Hey Clinton, F*ck you! | 1real |
Renée Zellweger Is Back and Standing Up for Herself - The New York Times | It has been six years since Renée Zellweger appeared on a big screen, and twice as long since she has channeled Bridget Jones, the British heroine who made charming sport of cataloging her romantic foibles. The gap was by design: Ms. Zellweger, 47, an Oscar nominee for the first “Bridget” movie and a winner in 2004 for “Cold Mountain,” stepped away from the Hollywood “cycle,” as she called it, to take stock of her life. “I had a lot of promises that I made to myself, years ago, about things that I wanted to learn and try,” she said. She traveled, studied screenwriting — “I feel like I’m more articulate with my pen” — and helped created a TV pilot about female musicians in 1960s and ’70s Los Angeles. No networks have bitten so far, she said, miming a tear. Still, it seems to have her to perform. She returns in the third Bridget installment, “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” out Friday, Sept. 16, with a script written by Helen Fielding, the novelist who created the character, along with the “Borat” Dan Mazer, and Emma Thompson, who also stars. “It was time” to return, Ms. Zellweger said in an interview in Santa Monica, Calif. near her home. And doing another Bridget “was a . I was just so happy to be back in her world. ” But sightings of Ms. Zellweger over the last few years also stirred up intense scrutiny of her appearance, including stunned reactions to her seemingly changed look on a red carpet in 2014. A slew of think pieces, about the undue pressure on women’s beauty standards in Hollywood and beyond, and some less charitable commentary, followed. Ms. Zellweger eventually responded, in an August essay for The Huffington Post. “Not that it’s anyone’s business,” she wrote, “but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes. ” And she insisted that she did not follow the brouhaha over her looks, until she had to. She has no public presence on social media. “I don’t participate in it, and I don’t know what’s being said about me or other people until someone makes me aware of it,” she said. “And usually it’s an email, ‘I’m so sorry about — — ’” In person, Ms. Zellweger was and thoughtful, if reticent about discussing some of the latest turns in her career. But she remains dedicated to the work: She watched hours of birthing videos to prepare to play a pregnant Bridget. The character is now a television news producer, so Ms. Zellweger also trailed a British producer for research. That made her realize “how important it is that the actor is not verbose,” she said, laughing. “I promised myself I would be very concise and quick with my answers from now on. ” These are edited excerpts from the conversation. Did stepping into Bridget’s shoes again feel familiar, or like a challenge because so much time has passed? Both. Familiar because the process is similar, and I feel like I know her pretty well, and a different kind of challenge because I’ve never had to show the ways in which a person evolves in her life and the ways in which she doesn’t. That’s my favorite stuff, by the way — that she just can’t help herself sometimes. She puts her foot in it, right? I love that she hasn’t refined her social graces I love that she still goes for it — even if she’s uncertain what the outcome might be. I love that she’s hopelessly romantic and optimistic. There were interesting conversations with Sharon Maguire, the director, about how [Bridget] might have gotten her life together — she’s a little bit more mature, she’s progressed professionally, moved into property ownership in London and has achieved her ideal weight. And still her life is a relative mess. I like the message in that: that we can tick off the boxes, and yet we still don’t quite have it together. And that’s pretty much the truth of growing up, isn’t it? You had that experience a bit. When did you realize that you wanted out of the Hollywood circuit? I don’t think anybody is born with the faculties to know how to navigate what comes with it. One of the things that I learned is that I didn’t know how to establish a healthy balance. I felt an obligation to say yes, whenever I was asked to do something on behalf of my work. And the years go by, and your family and friends understand that you have responsibilities, but they’re going to have the barbecue anyway, and the wedding anyway, and the baby’s having a birthday anyway. I just missed out on a lot of things. I needed to stop so I could reassess and figure out how to allow for myself in my own life. I needed to grow as a person in ways that didn’t revolve around my work. Were you nervous making that leap, taking a break? I think not doing it was more frightening. One thing that changed in your time away is that there is now a bigger platform for both criticism and support, via social media. A male critic for Variety wrote a review of the trailer for “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” in which he talked about your looks in a way that many people felt was sexist, and they didn’t hesitate to call him out for it. Did that response feel helpful or empowering? I’m grateful for that experience and that he chose to do what he did, because it brought me to a place where it was necessary that I stand up for myself. Which is not me. It’s not in my nature to publicly explain myself. And it was probably time. Were you surprised at the level of scrutiny your appearance received in the last few years? Was that a consideration in coming back? It’s always part of the equation — that’s been going on since 2000 [when she was cast as Bridget, a role for which she famously gained weight]. Too fat, and then I was too skinny and then … But I’m not alone in it it’s just part of the reality of this experience now. I’m not going to make my [career] decisions based on whether or not I’m going to have to tolerate that. Did you find, as many actresses do, that as you got older, the roles got more ? I don’t think that’s specific to aging. There’s always been “the girlfriend,” “the indiscretion” — that’s always been in the mix. Is it something that I saw in the industry before I turned 40? Yeah. It’s rare to read a great story that a woman my age would find relatable anyway. But now it seems that there’s something else going on as well. There’s really an unprecedented reset happening in our business — a little bit of an identity crisis. Another thing that’s changed is a focus on pay equity in the business. Is that something that crossed your radar when working on any of the other Bridgets, versus now, getting paid as much as your male ? I don’t think it occurred to me that that would be an issue — isn’t that sad? But in this instance, I don’t think it was an issue. In your Huffington Post essay, you talked about “doing better. ” What did you mean by that? It’s not about onscreen or famous people, it’s more about the precedent that we set, and I don’t speak about it from the perspective of an actress who has had certain experiences that aren’t necessarily fun, but as an observer, as part of society. You read about bullying and how we can stop kids from this bullying and the catastrophic effects that it has, but we set the example. How can we ask them to make better choices when they’re just emulating what they see coming from us? Now that you’re back on this circuit, are there parts of it you’re going to treat differently, given your past experiences? It’s much easier for me to say no, because I understand that there are no consequences for saying no. “No” is an empowering word. I know that now. | 0fake |
Clinton knocks Trump for cheering housing bubble burst | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton, seeking to dampen Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s growing appeal with working-class voters, on Tuesday accused him of having cheered on the 2008 housing market crash. Clinton’s campaign released an ad with audio that the presumptive Republican nominee recorded in 2006 for his now-defunct Trump University venture. Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, in remarks on a “bubble burst,” said: “I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy” property and “make a lot of money.” Clinton’s campaign and her surrogates used the recording to argue that she would take better care of the U.S. economy. Clinton is seeking to blunt the inroads that Trump has been making with voters in crucial states such as Florida and Ohio. Trump defended his comments on Tuesday evening at a rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, saying buying when the housing market was down showed smart dealmaking skills that he would bring to the White House. “I’m a businessman, that’s what I’m supposed to do,” Trump said. “I feel badly for everybody. What am I going to do? I’m in business.” The New Yorker also impersonated Clinton on the campaign trail, who he said “screams,” and said other big names in business did similar deals as he did before the housing crisis. Trump has never held elected office and often touts his history as a businessman in response to accusations that he is unprepared to assume the presidency. Anti-Trump protestors and police clashed outside the Albuquerque convention center on Tuesday when protestors tried to storm the center, calling for an end to the Trump rally. Albuquerque police said on Twitter that protestors threw rocks and bottles and a door to the facility appeared to have been hit with something. Police said the only arrests so far had been inside the rally, where Trump was interrupted multiple times by protestors. Opinion polls in key states show Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, and Trump in a tight race ahead of the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Nationally, Trump has been rising in polls to pull roughly even with Clinton. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat who is a favorite of financial reformers, bashed Trump in prepared remarks released ahead of a speech in Washington on Tuesday. Trump’s 2006 comments, she said, amounted to rooting for “people to get thrown out on the street.” “The rest of us were horrified by the 2008 financial crisis,” Warren said in the comments. “But Donald Trump was drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown – because it meant he could buy up a bunch more property on the cheap.” Warren also criticized Trump for saying in a Reuters interview last week that the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, enacted in response to the crisis, made it hard for bankers to operate. “Let me find the world’s smallest violin to play a sad, sad song,” Warren said. “Can Donald Trump even name three things that Dodd-Frank does? Seriously, someone ask him.” Trump did not directly respond to Warren’s comments on Tuesday, but he called her a “total failure” as a U.S. senator during the rally. Clinton surrogates from Ohio and Florida held a conference call with reporters about Trump’s housing statements. Her campaign hosted related events in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada, which will all be battlegrounds in November’s general election. “How could Trump possibly champion the collapse of the housing market and our economy?” U.S. Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio said on the call. Clinton is still fighting on two fronts as she seeks to wrap up her primary battle with Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont. Clinton and Sanders both campaigned on Tuesday in California, which is among six states holding Democratic nominating contests on June 7. California, the most populous U.S. state, has more Democratic delegates than any other state, and Sanders has invested heavily there. Clinton needs a solid win in California for a strong finish heading into her party’s national convention in July and to dispel questions about whether she can unite the party after a drawn-out, increasingly bitter primary race. Clinton on Monday turned down an invitation by Fox News to debate Sanders in California despite having agreed previously to a May debate. Her campaign said Clinton’s time would be better spent meeting directly with California voters. Sanders said her refusal was an insult to California voters. Sanders on Tuesday requested that the state of Kentucky review his loss there last week to Clinton by fewer than 2,000 votes. Kentucky’s secretary of state, Alison Grimes, said in a statement that the state will recanvas the results at all 120 county boards of election. | 0fake |
Charles Barkley on Dealing with Racist Fans: ’I Would Put an End to that’ - Breitbart | TMZ Sports asked NBA legend Charles Barkley Wednesday to weigh in on Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones being the target of racism in Boston playing the Red Sox earlier this week. “It should never happen,” Barkley said. “I’m disappointed in the fans who [were] around those people saying those things. ” “If I was in a crowd of people and they were mistreating anybody, I would stand up for the person who was being mistreated. I would never, let’s just say hypothetically if was with a group of black people, which I am black, if they were mistreating a white person, a Jewish person or a Hispanic person, I would put an end to that sh*t,” he continued. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 0fake |
Iran says resignation of Lebanese PM will create tension in region | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday that the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri would create tension in Lebanon and the region. Hariri accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world in his resignation statement earlier on Saturday. The resigning Lebanese prime minister s repetition of the unrealistic and unfounded accusations of the Zionists, Saudis and Americans against Iran is an indication that this resignation is a new scenario for creating tension in Lebanon and the region, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said in a statement published on the ministry website. But we believe that the resistant people of Lebanon will pass this stage easily. Hariri s resignation comes only a day after he met Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Beirut. The sudden resignation of Mr. Hariri and his statement in another country is not only surprising and regrettable but is also an indication of his playing a game designed by those who want ill for the region, and the winner of this game is not Arabic or Muslim countries but the Zionists, Qassemi said. | 0fake |
Judge tentatively rejects bid to toss Trump University lawsuit | SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday tentatively rejected Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit by Trump University students who said they were defrauded through its real-estate seminars. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego told a hearing he would take under consideration arguments on both sides in the case and issue a written ruling in the coming weeks. The 2013 lawsuit, one of three over the defunct Trump University venture, was filed on behalf of students who paid up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors. The plaintiffs have sought class-action status. The cases against Trump University have regularly cropped up during the presidential campaign. Trump was roundly criticized in May when he accused Curiel, who is of Mexican descent, of being biased against him because of the candidate’s pledge to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Curiel, who was born in Indiana, is presiding over two of the cases, with one set for trial in late November. A separate lawsuit by New York’s attorney general is pending in that state. Trump’s lawyers say Curiel should toss the 2013 California lawsuit on the grounds that the New York real estate mogul, though personally involved in developing the concept and curriculum, relied on other executives to manage Trump University by the time the plaintiffs purchased their seminars. “By 2007, his involvement was fairly minimal. He was not the person running this company. He founded it, he established it and he went off and let other people run it. It’s like any other celebrity endorsement,” Trump attorney Daniel Petrocelli said during the hearing. Trump’s lawyers claim references in marketing materials to “secrets,” “hand-picked” instructors or “university” were mere sales “puffery.” According to the defense, there is no evidence Trump intended to defraud students. Lawyers for the students say the wealthy developer conducted the marketing for Trump University more than anyone else, starring in and approving promotional materials. They claim Trump University instructors were high-pressure sales people, not “professors and adjunct professors” as Trump touted, and that New York authorities told Trump back in 2005 to stop calling his unaccredited venture a university. “Somehow, belligerence trumps substance,” plaintiff’s attorney Jason Forge said. “If we say it loud enough, forcefully enough, it becomes true. Well, it doesn’t.” Trump owned 92 percent of Trump University and had control over all major decisions, plaintiffs’ court papers say. | 0fake |
Senate committee issues subpoena for Manafort: statement | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel has issued a subpoena to force Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager to President Donald Trump, to appear at a hearing on Wednesday as part of its probe into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election. The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Charles Grassley, and the top Democrat on the panel, Dianne Feinstein, said the subpoena was issued late on Monday after Manafort did not agree to an interview. “While we were willing to accommodate Mr. Manafort’s request to cooperate with the committee’s investigation without appearing at Wednesday’s hearing, we were unable to reach an agreement for a voluntary transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee,” they said in a statement on Tuesday. They said Manafort was willing to provide only a single transcribed interview to Congress, which would be available to the Judiciary Committee as well as other panels. “As with other witnesses, we may be willing to excuse him from Wednesday’s hearing if he would be willing to agree to production of documents and a transcribed interview,” they said. The panel leaders also said any Manafort interview would not constitute a waiver of his rights and the committee could require that he testify in the future. Earlier, NBC News reported Manafort would speak with Senate investigators within 48 hours, citing a source close to Manafort. It said he was likely to be questioned about a June 2016 meeting in New York with a Russian lawyer. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, has released emails that showed he welcomed the prospect of receiving damaging information at the meeting about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The Senate panel is one of several congressional committees investigating alleged Russian efforts to tilt the election in the Republican candidate’s favor and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign. Moscow has denied such efforts, and Trump has denied his campaign colluded. | 0fake |
Sanders returns to Washington, meets with Obama on next steps | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders returned to Washington for meetings on Thursday with President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid as Democrats pressured him to end his presidential campaign and support Hillary Clinton after a hard-fought primary race. Clinton, a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, secured enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination this week and become the first woman to lead a major U.S. party as its presidential nominee. Despite Clinton’s commanding victories in California and New Jersey in presidential contests on Tuesday, Sanders vowed to carry his populist campaign to the Democratic National Convention in July, when the party’s nominee is formally chosen. Obama, who is expected to endorse Clinton soon, was scheduled to meet with Sanders at the White House on Thursday at 11:15 a.m. (1515 GMT). Sanders will meet with Reid, his Senate colleague, in the afternoon. The Sanders campaign, which waged an unexpectedly strong challenge to a better-known and better-funded Democrat, has decried what it called Clinton’s anointment by the party establishment and the media. In an interview taped on Wednesday for broadcast on the NBC’s “Tonight” show on Thursday, Obama said he hoped that divisions between Democrats would start to heal in coming weeks now that Clinton has clinched the party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election. At a fund-raiser in New York City on Wednesday, Obama said he was not too worried about bruised feelings after the primary and said “it was a healthy thing for the Democratic Party to have a contested primary.” Obama praised Sanders, the democratic socialist senator from Vermont, for bringing new energy and ideas to the party. “He pushed the party and challenged them,” he said. “I thought it made Hillary a better candidate.” Democrats are striking a delicate balance between the need to unite behind Clinton in the looming battle against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and not alienating Sanders and his supporters. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, herself a progressive known as a fiery critic of Wall Street, is preparing to endorse Clinton in the coming weeks after staying neutral in the Democratic primary, people familiar with her thinking told Reuters. | 0fake |
SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS Destroys Room Full Of Fake News Reporters…Encourages Every American To Watch Video Exposing #VeryFakeNews CNN [VIDEO] | White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders was the perfect choice to take on the media today following the release of a bombshell video by Project Veritas showing an undercover reporter capturing CNN s Supervising Producer admitting that most of the news they put out about the Trump-Russia collusion is bullish*t! Early this morning, James O Keefe released the Project Veritas video where reporters went undercover at CNN to investigate the #VeryFakeNews network. O Keefe said their intent in making the video was to determine the motivation behind CNN s Trump-Russia collusion obsession. Since the inauguration, CNN has mentioned Russian story nearly 16,000 times.During her press conference today, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders encouraged the room full of reporters to watch the Project Veritas video that exposes CNN as fake news for ratings. She even took it a step further and noted that while she couldn t confirm the accuracy of the tape, that every American should watch the video. Sanders appeared to be disgusted as she remarked that if the tape is accurate, then it is a disgrace to all of media to all of journalism. And furthermore, If the media can t be trusted to report the news, then that is a danger to all of America. BOOOM Sarah Huckabee Sanders advises ALL to watch Veritas Video where CNN producer admits they realize Trump/Russia is a hoax but dont care! pic.twitter.com/tng5DUmKq3 STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) June 27, 2017Although panicked fake network hosts like MSNBC s Joy Reid were praising reporter Brian Karem for attempting to stand up to Huckabee-Sanders, in reality, he was no match for the sharp-witted Huckabee-Sanders who claimed that media has gone into a dark place. One of the Democrat Party s top cheerleaders Joy Reid is no exception. Here s her tweet:Now following @BrianKarem who was every political reporter today. https://t.co/yJC2IXDKi4 Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) June 27, 2017The video below shows Karem s attempt to defend his fellow journalist s use of unnamed sources and fake news for ratings. Karem argued that Huckabee-Sanders was inflaming the CNN undercover video story, saying: Everybody in this room is only trying to do their job. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders blasted Karem as she shot back: I disagree completely. First of all, I think if anything has been inflamed, it s the dishonesty that often takes place by the news media. And I think it s outrageous for you to accuse me of inflaming a story when I was simply trying to respond to his question. :Here s the exchange between Brian Karem and Sarah Huckabee-Sanders:MUST WATCH: White House reporter @BrianKarem pushing back against Sarah Huckabee Sanders and saying what many people have been thinking. pic.twitter.com/hW49e0tdWY Yashar Ali (@yashar) June 27, 2017 | 1real |
Obama, in shift, says he will keep 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan until 2017 | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, calling Afghanistan’s security situation precarious, said on Wednesday he will keep U.S. troop levels there at 8,400 through the end of his administration rather than reducing them to 5,500 by year’s end as previously planned. Obama, in a statement at the White House, said the role of U.S. forces in Afghanistan will remain unchanged: training and advising Afghan police and troops, and supporting counterterrorism missions against the Taliban and other groups. Obama’s presidency ends in January. Obama’s plan still calls for a reduction in U.S. troop levels from the current roughly 9,800, but not as much as previously planned. Obama, who took office in 2009 pledging to wind down the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he had ended America’s combat mission in Afghanistan. But he acknowledged that security concerns persist. “The security situation in Afghanistan remains precarious,” Obama said. “The Taliban remains a threat. They’ve gained ground in some places.” Taliban forces now hold more territory in Afghanistan than at any time since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, according to recent United Nations estimates. The Islamic State group has also established a small presence in Afghanistan. Obama’s decision, which came after a review submitted last month by the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, drew some criticism inside and outside his administration. Some Pentagon officials said that it does nothing to address the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. “It’s disappointing that the administration thinks that troop numbers are a substitute for a more comprehensive strategy,” said a U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This is neither the reduction that the White House seems to have wanted nor the current numbers that don’t seem to be sufficient to deal with the security problem.” Mac Thornberry, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, criticized what he said was a new cap on U.S. troop levels. “It is time that the president level with the American people about what it will really take to achieve our goals in Afghanistan, and how much it will cost,” Thornberry said in a statement. Obama spoke in advance of a NATO summit on Friday and Saturday in Warsaw, Poland, where alliance members are expected to confirm their support for the Kabul government. In addition to the U.S. forces, there are about 3,000 other international troops in Afghanistan. U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion launched by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, that toppled the Taliban leaders who harbored the al Qaeda organization responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people. It is America’s longest war. During his announcement at the White House, Obama was flanked by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the top U.S. military officer, General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. | 0fake |
TRUMP-HATING, Anti-Gun “COMEDIAN” And Author Of “A Child’s First Book Of Trump” Credits His Kids For Inspiring All of His “BABY RAPE Jokes | Rabid, Trump-hating, anti-gun, comedian, and so-called author , Michael Ian Black took to Twitter to answer a question about how having children has changed his comedy . His answer is not what most American would expect. The comedian, who is consumed with hate for President Trump and his followers responded: They inspired all my baby rape jokes. Here is how Michael Ian Black s tweet read:Here is the actual tweet:Question I keep getting in interviews is whether having kids changed my comedy. Yes. They inspired all my baby rape jokes. Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) October 7, 2011It s not the first time Black made a joke about molesting kids. When Subway s spokesman Jared Fogel was convicted of possessing child pornography and crossing state lines to have sex with children, Black responded to a tweet about Fogel by saying (jokingly?): We used to molest kids together Black also believes the NRA is a terrorist group In light of the House passing today s gun bill, a friendly reminder that the NRA is a terrorist organization. Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) December 6, 2017Black is the author of a disgusting anti-Trump book called A Child s First Book Of Trump . If you want to check out (or review) Michael Ian Black s book, you can find it for purchase on Amazon and the Barnes and Noble website. Here is the Barnes and Noble Overview of Black s book from their website:OverviewA Child s First Book of Trump by Michael Ian Black, Marc Rosenthal A New York Times bestseller!What do you do when you spot a wild Trump in the election season? New York Times bestselling author and comedian Michael Ian Black has some sage advice for children (and all the rest of us who are scratching our heads in disbelief) in this perfectly timely parody picture book intended for adults that would be hysterical if it wasn t so true.The beasty is called an American Trump. Its skin is bright orange, its figure is plump. Its fur so complex you might get enveloped. Its hands though are, sadly, underdeveloped.The Trump is a curious creature, very often spotted in the wild, but confounding to our youngest citizens. A business mogul, reality TV host, and now political candidate? Kids (and let s be honest many adults) might have difficulty discerning just what this thing that s been dominating news coverage this election cycle is. Could he actually be real? Are those words coming out of his mouth? Why are his hands so tiny? And perhaps most importantly, what on earth do you do when you encounter an American Trump?With his signature wit and a classic picture book style, comedian Michael Ian Black introduces those unfamiliar with the Americus Trumpus to his distinguishing features and his mystifying campaign for world domination sorry President of the United States.Michael Ian Black is scheduled to appear in Boston at the Laugh House Nov. 9 11th. You can contact the Laugh House at this number and let them know how you feel about them supporting Black at their venue: (617) 725-2844Black can also be found acting with an entire cast of rabid Trump-hating liberal actors on Netflix movie: Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, and previously in Wet Hot American Summer. | 1real |
Christian Extremists In Oregon Launch Campaign Of Terror Against Family For ‘Race-Mixing’ (VIDEO) | Christian extremists in Oregon are dragging the nation back to the dark days of Jim Crow laws and cross-burning, with a campaign of terror against a bi-racial family for breaching their racist rules on racial purity .According to KPTV, the family in Salem, Oregon have become prey to a group of Christian KKK Klansmen who want an end to so-called race-mixing. The group have been sending the family handwritten notes containing racial slurs and threats of death each of them signed with KKK and a Christian symbol of the cross. The report states that:One note said, you and your family will die by the hands of me, die slow. Another note threatened to kill a family member if the police were called again.Brian Lewallen, a neighbor living in the same street as the family, believes the actions of these Christian extremists betrays their cowardice. If you can t deal with your neighbors in a way that is socially reasonable, then what are you doing aside from stoking fears? he told KPTV.The local police force in Salem are investigating the matter. But as of yet, there are no suspects.The campaign brings to mind some of the darker periods of American history, where segregation laws barred non-whites from schools, universities, libraries and other public spaces. Where black people were forced to sit at the back of the bus. Where African-American men were called boys , and white children had to be addressed as Sir by their black elders.The KKK terrorized the African-American community with almost unimaginable violence, as depicted in gut-wrenching images of lynchings like the one below.Warning: Deeply distressing image.Image via Atlanta Black StarIn total, the Klan murdered 3,446 African-Americans in 86 years. But the terror spread far wider than those killed.Now, in 2016, African-American and bi-racial families in Oregon are in a maddeningly similar situation as they would have been in 1926, 1936, 1946 or 1956. Under threat from Christian extremists, with an openly-racist police chief, and a GOP Party Chair who sold a pro-slavery novel which suggested African-Americans are like retarded children. America, we can and must do better than this.KPTV FOX 12 Featured Image via Flickr Creative Commons | 1real |
WATCH: Nicolle Wallace Says Donald Trump Knows Less About Foreign Policy Than Sarah Palin | As we all know, Sarah Palin is America s village idiot, but at least she would have only been vice-president had Republicans actually won eight years ago.But Donald Trump is aiming to become president, and according to Nicolle Wallace he knows even LESS about foreign policy than Sarah Palin does.And Wallace would know, too, since she was a member of Palin s staff during John McCain s 2008 presidential campaign.During an appearance on Morning Joe on Thursday, Joe Scarborough mentioned the historical fact that when it came to foreign policy the former Alaska Governor was woefully ignorant and asked Wallace to chime in on Donald Trump based on her experience trying to get Palin up to speed. Sarah Palin went to bed with an open highlighter smeared on her face most nights because she was trying to learn, Wallace said. She was up all night studying and she understood that she was on the ticket with a man who was respected around the world I don t know if this is a gender thing, but he s not even trying to learn. Here s the video via YouTube.And there you have it, folks. Donald Trump is way more ignorant than Sarah Palin when it comes to foreign policy and he refuses to learn.It s been obvious from the start, however. Trump has not only insulted Mexico and the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, he has stated that he intends to treat foreign policy like a business negotiation.He has threatened to pull American support from NATO, which would embolden Russia. He has threatened to pull American support from Japan and South Korea, which would leave our two biggest allies in Asia vulnerable. And he has said he wants to give nuclear weapons to both of those countries and Saudi Arabia as well, which would only increase tensions in both Asia and the Middle East while increasing the threat of nuclear war. Trump has also said he won t rule out using nuclear weapons against Europe. And that s just the tip of the iceberg.This is the man Republicans chose to be their nominee. This is the man they hope will be in the White House in 2017. And he doesn t know a damn thing about foreign policy. Republicans went from nominating an idiot for vice-president to doubling down eight years later by nominating an even worse idiot for president. As many times as Donald Trump has claimed that the world is falling apart, he has no interest in learning what the problems are so that he can do something to help solve them. The only thing he wants to do is watch the world burn.It s no wonder that Wallace declared the Republican Party dead after Trump s acceptance speech at the RNC Convention last week. Clearly, Wallace knew from experience just how disastrous Trump is as a candidate and how disastrous he would be to our nation. Worse than Sarah Palin. And that says a lot.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
Low-Cost Wind Turbine to Power an Entire House for a Lifetime Starts Selling in India | By Amando Flavio For some time now, these words “for the cost of an iPhone, you can now buy a wind turbine that can power an entire house for a lifetime” have been trending on some alternative news... | 1real |
A Top Republican Really Just Blamed Obama For The GOP Baseball Shooting (VIDEO) | Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has been in the news constantly, and it hasn t been good. His most recent stunt will certainly raise eyebrows and even make people wonder if he wants to be re-elected at all, because it is absolutely ridiculous and pathetic.While many Republicans were quick to blame the Republican baseball shooting, in which Rep. Steve Scalise and four others were injured, on Democrats and Liberals, King decided to take it a step further. Reviving one of the most tired, played out traditions of the Republican Party, King blamed the shooting on former President Barack Obama.King made these comments in an interview with Simon Conway on WHO Iowa radio, where King actually had the nerve to accuse Obama of dividing the country during his presidency, therefore causing the shooting. King s comments are seriously disgusting, and reflect a GOP that is clearly out of touch with reality and ignoring the fact that it nominated the most divisive presidential candidate to lead the country Donald Trump. King said: I do want to put some of this at the feet of Barack Obama. He contributed mightily to dividing us. He focused on our differences rather than our things that unify us. And this is some of the fruits of that labor. Unfortunately, Conway was more than happy to join in on the Obama-bashing. Conway said: Of course he also spent eight years telling us all how terrible we all are and what a garbage can America was and how unexceptional we all were. I agree. I absolutely agree with what you said. The GOP has been blaming everything on Obama for the past several years, and the fact that we ve had a new president for months now hasn t stopped them. King s comments are repulsive and incorrect, as he clearly cannot see the amount of division Trump has caused in just a few short months in the White House. You can listen to King s interview below:In contrast, at least Republican Congressman Mark Sanford (R-SC) had the brains to recognize that Trump has fueled a toxic political environment, and should carry part of the blame for the baseball shooting.Featured image via Pool / Getty Images | 1real |
First Grader “Investigated” in Principal’s Office for ‘Misgendering’ Trans Student | Can you believe a first grader was investigated for whether she intentionally misgendered a fellow student who decided to identify from a boy to a girl? This is just too much for a young child to process. You really won t believe what this little girl went through. What would you do as a parent of a child who was punished because of misgendering ?APPARENTLY, MISGENDERING IS A THING NOW A Californian first grader was sent to the principal s office this week after allegedly misgendering a transgender student. The incident reportedly took place at California s Rocklin Academy, in the school playground, where the female student called her biologically male classmate by his given name apparently unaware that the boy now identified as a girl, according to Fox News. This innocent little first grader sees a classmate, calls him by the name she knew him last year and the boy reports it to a teacher, claimed Karen England, from the Capitol Resource Institute. The little girl gets in trouble on the playground and then gets called out of class to the principal s office. During her visit to the principal s office, the child was reportedly investigated to determine whether or not she had bullied the transgender child by calling him by his original name. After about an hour it was determined the little girl made an honest mistake and she was not punished or reprimanded. But she was terribly traumatized by the incident, Fox News claimed.After the child returned home upset, her mother wrote a letter to the school. I stressed over and over with the principal that I am all for protecting the rights of [the transgender child], but my children have rights as well, wrote the mother in her letter. It makes me sad that my daughter felt like she was punished for trying to be kind to the kid. In response, the mother was allegedly told that whenever there is a pronoun mishap with this biological boy who now claims to be a girl the school must investigate. Read more: Breitbart | 1real |
Anonymous Donor Gives $2.5 Million To Release DAPL Protesters From Jail | The mass arrest that occurred at the protest site in Standing Rock last Thursday left 141 people sitting in jail for several days before they were released. Though they likely would have been freed... | 1real |
WATCH: Donald Trump Says Constitution Should Not Give Everyone The Right To Due Process | If Donald Trump has his way, the constitutional right to due process will only belong to white racists.In the wake of the bombing in New York City over the weekend, police were able to apprehend a suspect named Ahmad Khan Rahami after a shootout.Rahami was hit and needed to be hospitalized to get his gunshot wound treated. And as an American citizen, he is also guaranteed the right to an attorney even if he cannot afford one.Why? Because the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution say so.But Republican nominee Donald Trump thinks the amendments should be scrapped in Rahami s case. You know, because he s a Muslim.During a rally in Florida on Monday, Trump whined because Rahami is being treated in a hospital for his wound and further complained about him being represented by a competent defense attorney. Now we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room. And he ll probably even have room service, knowing the way our country is. And on top of all of that, he will be represented by an outstanding lawyer. His case will go through the various court systems for years and in the end, people will forget and his punishment will not be what it once would have been. What a sad situation. Trump, who advocates for torture techniques, also demanded a speedy trial resulting in harsh punishment and suggested using whatever lawful methods are available to obtain information from the apprehended suspect to get information before it s no longer timely. Here s the video via YouTube.The Fifth Amendment states:No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.Rahami is innocent until proven guilty. So not letting him get the treatment he needs could lead to him dying from an infection or loss of blood, thus depriving him of life without due process.Furthermore, the Sixth Amendment clearly gives everyone the right to an attorney, even a bombing suspect.In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.The right to have an attorney is one of the most foundational values of the country, most exemplified by Founding Father John Adams, who defended the British soldiers who were arrested after the Boston Massacre in 1770.In short, it doesn t matter who the suspect is or what they did, they have the right to due process and an attorney in this country. But Donald Trump apparently wants to put a white s only sign on the Constitution.Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
GOP Gives Trump The Middle Finger, Prepares To Launch Probe Into Russia | Donald Trump may have decided that Russia is going to be America s new BFF, but the rest of the GOP isn t so sure. Going against the incoming administration, several Republicans are preparing to launch a wide-ranging investigation into Russia, particularly their involvement with hacking and alleged interference in the presidential election.The Washington Post reported:Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (Ariz.) is readying a probe of possible Russian cyber-incursions into U.S. weapons systems, and he said he has been discussing the issue with Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (N.C.), with whom he will be working closely to investigate Russia s suspected interference in the U.S. elections and cyberthreats to the military and other institutions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been apprised of the discussions. Burr did not respond to requests for comment.Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) also said he intends to hold hearings next year into alleged Russian hacking. Corker is on Trump s shortlist for secretary of state, according to the Trump transition team.Two of the most vocal voices on team Probe Putin are McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham.Graham said that Russia will keep doing more here until they pay a price. Next year, he plans to head up legislation and hold investigative hearings on Russia s misadventures throughout the world, which will absolutely include Russian interference in the U.S. election. I m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia. I think they re one of the most destabilizing influences on the world stage. I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want Putin personally to pay the price, Graham told CNN on Wednesday.McCain said his Armed Services Committee is going to be investigating Russia s cyber capabilities and the extent that they could be used against the U.S. military and our weapons systems, because the real threat is cyber. McCain added that this investigation will probably veer off to include looking at the possibility Russia was behind the DNC hacking. Also on the list to be probed is the hacking of state-based election systems, including that of Arizona, McCain s home state. See, the problem with hacking is that if they re able to disrupt elections, then it s a national security issue, obviously, McCain said on Thursday.He noted that the Armed Services Committee was still formulating just exactly how they would go about dealing with the issue, but said there s very little doubt that Russia was meddling in the U.S. election process, which he insists is very worthy of examination. Trump has dismissed the possibility that Russia was responsible for the DNC hacking, despite the fact that he himself called on the country to find Hillary Clinton s missing emails. I don t believe they interfered, Trump said. It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey. I believe that it could have been Russia and it could have been any one of many other people. Sources or even individuals. Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images and Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images. Images merged by Rika Christensen | 1real |
Tunisians march against contested corruption amnesty | TUNIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of Tunisians protested on Saturday in the streets of the capital against a widely contested new law that grants officials from the former regime involved in corruption amnesty from prosecution. Tunisia s parliament on Wednesday approved a law protecting officials accused of graft during the rule of autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, triggering angry protests by the opposition and activists. Waving flags and banners saying No to forgiveness , Resisting against mafia rule , around 1,500 people marched through the capital s central Avenue Habib Bourguiba in the company of opposition leaders. After months of protests, the law was amended from an original draft which would have also granted amnesty to corrupt businessmen. Now they will be liable to prosecution for crimes committed during Ben Ali s 24-year rule. Critics of the so-called Economic Reconciliation law say it is a step back from the spirit of Tunisia s 2011 revolution to oust Ben Ali, who fled after weeks of protests against corruption and inequality. The counterrevolution is being led today by the President of the Republic, Hamma Hammami, leader of Popular Front party, told Reuters. The people returned to the streets again today as before the revolution and will not be silent against the corrupt system. Ruling parties Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes supported the law. The law was proposed by President Beji Caid Essebsi, himself a former Ben Ali official, and sent to parliament in 2015. But debate was postponed after criticism that the original bill benefited business elites tied to the government. Government officials say the law helps to turn the page on the past, improves the climate for investment and gives confidence to the administration and officials. Slim Azzabi, the director of the president s office, said reconciliation would include about 2,000 employees and officials and will contribute to additional economic growth by 1.2 percent because of returned funds. Despite the consensus between secular and Islamist parties that helped the country s transition toward democracy, the bill has divided Tunisians between those who want to draw a line under the past and those who say they must deal with past graft. Since the 2011 uprising, Tunisia has been held up by Western partners as a model of democracy for the region. Economic progress has lagged, though, and corruption remains a major problem in the North African state. | 0fake |
Anti-government chants ring out on anniversary of Ethiopian festival deaths | BISHOFTU, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Hundreds of people chanting anti-government slogans marched in the central Ethiopian town of Bishoftu on Sunday at a religious festival where a stampede triggered by a police move to quell protests killed dozens of people last year. The incident during the annual Irreecha festival in Bishoftu, which lies 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa, marked the bloodiest period in unrest that plagued the Horn of Africa country for months in 2015 and 2016. Authorities at the time said 55 had died in the stampede, while dissidents put the toll at around 150. On Sunday, thousands of people attended the thanksgiving event that marks the end of the rainy season, a majority clad in red, black and white attire - the Oromiya region s flag. Although the lakeside event ended without any violence, anti-government slogans rang out soon after the ceremony began. Down, down EPRDF! dissidents chanted in small groups as they marched towards the town s centre, referring to Ethiopia s ruling party. Earlier in the week, the regional government announced that police presence would be minimal and that those attending would not hold arms to prevent tensions. The violence in 2015 and 2016 forced the government to impose a nine-month state of emergency that was only lifted in August. The unrest was provoked by a development scheme for the capital Addis Ababa and turned into broader anti-government demonstrations over politics and human rights abuses. It included attacks on businesses, many of them foreign-owned, including farms growing flowers for export. In April, a government-sanctioned investigation said 669 people had been killed during one period in the violence and more than 29,000 people arrested. The violence in Oromiya, the largest and most populous region which surrounds Addis Ababa, and to a lesser extent in the Amhara province north of the capital, cast a shadow over Ethiopia, where a rapid industrialisation drive has created one of Africa s fastest growing economies. | 0fake |
Saudi crown prince calls Iran supply of rockets 'military aggression' | DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s crown prince said Iran s supply of rockets to militias in Yemen is an act of direct military aggression that could be an act of war, state media reported on Tuesday. Prince Mohammed bin Salman s comments were published after Saudi air defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile that Saudi Arabia said was fired toward Riyadh on Saturday by the Iran-allied Houthi militia, which controls large parts of neighboring Yemen. Saudi-led forces, which back the internationally-recognized government, have been targeting the Houthis in a war which has killed more than 10,000 people and triggered a humanitarian disaster in one of the region s poorest countries. The supply of rockets to the Houthi movement could constitute an act of war against the kingdom, state news agency SPA on Tuesday quoted Prince Salman as saying in a call with British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson. Iran has denied it was behind the missile launch, rejecting the Saudi and U.S. statements condemning Tehran as destructive and provocative and slanders . In reaction to the missile, the Saudi-led military coalition said on Monday it would close all air, land and sea ports to the Arabian Peninsula country. The United Nations on Tuesday called on the coalition to re-open an aid lifeline into Yemen, saying food and medicine imports were vital for 7 million people facing famine. The situation is catastrophic in Yemen, it is the worst food crisis we are looking at today, Jens Laerke of the U.N. Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told a briefing in Geneva. The missile launch was most likely a war crime Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday but also urged Saudi Arabia against restricting aid access to Yemen, where the United Nations estimates nearly 900,000 people are infected with cholera. This unlawful attack is no justification for Saudi Arabia to exacerbate Yemen s humanitarian catastrophe by further restricting aid and access to the country, it said. The coalition said aid workers and humanitarian supplies would continue to be able to access and exit Yemen despite the temporary closure of ports but the United Nations said it was not given approval for two scheduled humanitarian flights on Monday. The United Nations and international aid organizations have repeatedly criticized the coalition for blocking aid access, especially to northern Yemen, which is held by the Houthis. The Saudi-led coalition has been targeting the Houthis since they seized parts of Yemen in 2015, including the capital Sanaa, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee and seek help from neighboring Saudi Arabia. In an interview with CNN television on Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused the armed Lebanese Hezbollah group of firing the missile at Riyadh from Houthi-held territory. With regards to the missile...that was launched on Saudi territory, it was an Iranian missile launched by Hezbollah from territory occupied by the Houthis in Yemen. He said the missile was similar to one launched in July at Yanbu in Saudi Arabia and was manufactured in Iran, disassembled and smuggled into Yemen, then reassembled by the operatives of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, then it was launched into Saudi Arabia. | 0fake |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.