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Jimmy Kimmel’s Hysterical Take On The Republican Debate [Video] | This video pretty much sums up the Republican Debate last week. The best part comes at the end with a special moment from Republican Candidate Donald Trump. | 1real |
‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6 Finale: Setting Up the Endgame - The New York Times | Over 10 weeks in the sixth season of “Game of Thrones,” it has become a cliché to note that the powerful women have come to the fore. But there was one character whose trajectory seemed to be the exception to the feminist revolution remaking this story. That would be Cersei, who since the Season 4 assassination of her son King Joffrey has been on a long slide marked by loss (her father and daughter) humiliation (her walk of shame) and most crucially, an apparent dulling of her once formidable sense of how to work the angles of power. Outflanked by first Margaery and then the High Sparrow, two master manipulators with crocodile smiles, Cersei, with her forthright, shameless spite, seemed antiquated by comparison. All that remained, it seemed, was for one last miscalculation to undo her at her trial, perhaps fatally — for the wildfire explosion to claim its architect as a victim, or at least provoke a hubbub that allowed someone like her former fiancé Loras, at some ’s behest, to slide a blade between her ribs. But Cersei had other ideas, wiping out any such notions, along with her primary nemeses, with a Wildfire Plot that suggested shameless spite is still very much in fashion in King’s Landing. Any remaining doubters can ask Margaery, or the High Septon, or the luckless Septa Unella, or even King Tommen, for whom it all was finally just too much to bear, the poor thing. Or ask Jaime, who arrived in King’s Landing just in time to see Cersei claim the Iron Throne in her sinister leather power frock, looking like a cross between Maleficent and Thin White David Bowie. Did he look happy that his beloved sister had finally achieved her dream of absolute power? He did not. Instead the Kingslayer, who has seemed torn this season between his twisted devotion to her and nobler impulses, seemed to be wondering if he might one day be called upon to be a Queenslayer. After all, Cersei just did a version of what Jaime reportedly killed the Mad King Aerys in order to prevent. (It was his wildfire she used.) At the very least, he seems liable to lend an ear to a certain persuasive brother currently heading his way from the east. [ Interview: Niklolaj on Cersie’s Rise and Jaime’s Evolution ] Whoops, I buried the lead: We’ve left Meereen! We’ve left Meereen! Well all of us except Daario, who’s sticking around to keep the peace in the city as well as the rebranded Bay of Dragons. Forget Meereen, he said (in a way) speaking for all of us. Dany’s long, departure, backed by a growing list of powerful allies, was but one of a host of major events on Sunday, which packed an enormous amount of plot movement into its 69 minutes as it set up the homestretch of “Game of Thrones. ” Winter officially arrived, according to the weather ravens. Arguably the most popular fan theory about the show — that Jon Snow’s parents are really Lyanna Stark, Ned’s sister, and Rhaegar Targaryen, Daenerys’s older brother — was seemingly confirmed. Littlefinger announced his desires on the Iron Throne to Sansa. Arya embraced her destiny as a assassin. Oh, and pretty much every annoying person in King’s Landing met an end or, in Septa Unella’s case, is headed there eventually. Cersei’s death roster included Margaery, Loras, Mace Tyrell and the High Sparrow, who kept on mansplaining up to the moment he realized he’d been outwitted and was turned to ash. Also: Pycelle, Uncle Kevan, Lancel the twit and finally the tragically ineffectual Tommen, who in his poignant final moments finally embraced the reality we first understood when we saw him cavorting with Ser Pounce in Season 4. The boy wasn’t cut out for the politics of King’s Landing. His mother, however, most assuredly is. Lena Headey has always been one of the strongest performers on the show and it was a thrill to see her again with a full head of steam, culminating in Cersei’s paean to hedonism with Unella: “Even confessing feels good under the right circumstances,” she said. (“Shame! Shame!” she added later, in perhaps the highlight of the episode, after turning the septa over to a chillingly helmetless Mountainstein.) Ms. Headey’s performance was but one element in a sequence that, technically, ranks among the show’s best. Miguel Sapochnik, who directed last week’s episode, brought a different kind of precision and urgency to Sunday’s installment. Cersei’s scheme unspooled amid insistent strings and a series of shots — those vicious little birds taking out Pycelle, Lancel and the dwindling Margaery’s growing concern and rising tension in the Sept — that built inexorably to the High Sparrow’s realization that he wasn’t as smart as he thought. Cornered, Cersei had resorted to her credo about the “Game of Thrones” — you win or you die — and accepted her own dire fate, as prophesied by the witch years ago. Compared to her grief at the loss of Joffrey and Myrcella, she treated Tommen’s death as the price of doing business. Tired of trying to shape events as the person behind the person — be it a husband or son — she finally took the power she craved by force and dared anyone to stop her. Long may she reign. [ Looking for something to watch now that “Game of Thrones” is done for the year? Subscribe to the New York Times’s TV and movie recommendation newsletter. ] Count me among those who bought all the misdirection this year, the loss and abandonment, the failure of multiple schemes — I thought Cersei was a goner. But while her survival was genuinely surprising, the mechanics of this latest amazingly effective pyrotechnic overthrow (see also: Dany’s big blaze) were less so, thanks to Tyrion reminding us all last week about the stashes of wildfire beneath parts of the capital city. Indeed, whether because 1) “Game of Thrones” has surpassed George R. R. Martin’s intricate plotting, 2) the story has become too big and obsessively covered, or 3) we’ve become wiser to the ways of the writers, the big moves this season seemed broader and more clearly telegraphed. Examples include Jon Snow’s return, certainly, but also the Hound’s return, Arya’s dispatching of the Waif, Ramsay’s death and the Knights of the Vale’s attack in last week’s Battle of the Bastards. (Only the death and definition of Hodor brought the nuclear OMG factor that became the show’s signature with things like Ned Stark’s execution and the Red Wedding.) The Sept sequence was so artfully handled that I didn’t really mind but it does make me consider how the sense of mystery will likely begin to dissipate from “Game of Thrones,” as longtime theories are confirmed and we pivot toward the final clashes. It’s unavoidable as the story begins to contract toward its conclusion. But I’m already feeling a little melancholy about the show becoming more about big battles and resolution and less about uncovering new pieces of this captivating world. By the end of Sunday’s episode, the major contenders were lined up and ready for action. In addition to Cersei we had Jon Snow and Dany, finally positioned as the clear champions of their respective constituencies, with no one besides us and perhaps Bran aware of how deeply the two of them might be connected. The North is finally rallying around Jon, led by the excellent Lady Mormont. “The blood of Ned Stark runs through his veins,” Lady Mormont said. Yeah … about that … You’ll recall that according to legend, Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna, who had been promised to Robert Baratheon, kicking off the wars and rivalries that essentially created the story of “Game of Thrones. ” Doubt has been thrown on the details by various characters — was it an abduction? Or two lovers running away together? — but the net result is that Jon is not who we’ve been led to believe. Ned lied about his provenance in order to protect him, presumably from the future King Robert. This theory has been hard to avoid online, so part of the joy of having it confirmed comes from finally being able to accept it and move on. But within the story, questions include what will this powerful blood cocktail mean for Jon, going forward? The Starks and Targaryens have a number of special skills — warging, — that could come in useful against a zombie army. I think Jon could also have a potential claim on the throne, if Rhaegar and Lyanna were married. (Legitimacy is always Jon’s issue.) Of course the biggest question: How will he find out? And will it happen before or after he pairs off with his own aunt? (This might not happen, of course. But Dany did throw over Daario in favor of a strategic marriage to come later.) Speaking of the Dragon Queen, her departure from the pyramid comes with more support than she had even a few weeks ago — after years of isolated plotting and machinations by the various groups in this story, the alliances are coming together at a dizzying rate. Last week the Greyjoy siblings made their pact with the Dragon Queen, pledging ships and an end to their pirating. This week, it seems House Tyrell and maybe even the Dorne gals came aboard, unified in their Lannister loathing. “Cersei stole the future from me,” Lady Olenna told Ellaria Sand, who offered vengeance and justice in return. Enter Varys, who seemed to broker a deal and who apparently discovered a wormhole that allows him to jaunt all over the Known World at his leisure. The fleet is perhaps destined to meet up with Euron Greyjoy at some point and for one week, at least, it seemed like a force to be reckoned with. But Dany isn’t so sure — it was a less bellicose Dragon Queen we saw this week. “Are you afraid? Good,” Tyrion, the new hand of the queen said. “You’re in the great game now, and the great game is terrifying. The only men not afraid are mad men like your father. ” And, he might have added, mad queens like my sister. Winter may finally be here, but if we learned anything on Sunday, it’s that Dany’s not the only one in this tale who knows how to play with fire. • Arya Stark made a fun reappearance, killing the wretched Walder Frey. In the process she confirmed a few things. She is back on the beat, which could mean trouble for a certain freshly minted queen. Also, though she ditched the Faceless Men, she apparently retained the tricks (not sure where she’s keeping the faces). Finally, the skills she picked up at the House of Black and White translate nicely to the kitchen. • Sansa apologized for but didn’t really explain why she didn’t tell Jon about Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale’s possible role in last week’s big battle — Jon seemed to chalk it up to vague trust issues. Littlefinger finally admitted to Sansa that he wants to be king and he wants her with him, but he’s already misjudging his competition. Counter to his predictions, Jon’s bastardhood didn’t keep the other houses from pledging their allegiance. (Never underestimate the persuasiveness of Lady Mormont.) What did you make of those looks Littlefinger and Sansa exchanged during the meeting? • Davos confronted Melisandre over her immolation of Shireen, and asked Jon Snow if he could kill her. Beat it and don’t come back, Jon told her. She’ll be back. • The Wall has magic in it that keeps the dead from crossing it, Uncle Benjen told Bran. That seems important. Will Mr. Sapochnik be directing an enormous scene in the coming seasons? • There was a macabre symmetry in Tommen plummeting out of that window, considering everything that has resulted from his father shoving Bran out of a window in the pilot. • It was nice to see Sam, an object of derision at home and at Castle Black, finally attain a career goal. The Citadel, with its Maesterdome of a library holding untold White secrets, was quite something to behold, even if its policy is exceedingly out of step with recent developments. Also, how much credibility does an institution of learning really deserve, if its front desk still thinks Mormont and Maester Aemon are running things at Castle Black? Related: I know “Game of Thrones” can’t show us every conversation but at some point, when Sam next sees his old buddy Jon and asks, “So what did I miss?” I hope we get to see him explain it. • Missing in Action: Jorah, presumably stonier these days unless he managed to crack the greyscale code the Hound, perhaps still hashing out his spiritual future with the Brotherhood and Brienne, whose meaningful final wave apparently was for us as much as Jaime. Row on, giant warrior maiden. Let us know if you bump into Gendry. • So what did you think? Are you excited for the reign of Cersei I? How do you think Jon will learn about his origins? How would you grade Season 6 as a whole? As always, please weigh in, in the comments. | 0fake |
Las imágenes libres de derechos más destacadas de la semana | Las imágenes libres de derechos más destacadas de la semana LAS REACCIONES A LA VICTORIA DE TRUMP Y LA SUPERLUNA DEL DÍA 14 DE NOVIEMBRE Por Tomás Fuentes
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El absentismo laboral se sitúa en niveles anteriores a la crisis, como se observa en esta fábrica de Inditex.
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El director de un centro comercial se prepara para el Black Friday.
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Michael Moore, desolado al conocer los resultados electorales.
4. Tras su exitosa carrera como jugador, Guti triunfa ahora como entrenador de los juveniles del Real Madrid.
5. Messi valora cambiar de equipo en 2016
6. Simulación de la NASA que muestra cómo se verá la Súper Luna esta noche. 7. Robert de Niro, Miley Cyrus, Susan Sarandon, Cher, George Clooney, Amy Schumery Lena Dunham, algunos de los famosos que prometieron abandonar EEUU si ganaba Trump, a punto de tragarse sus propias palabras.
8. Tras la victoria de Trump, algunos mexicanos residentes en EEUU deciden volver a su país de origen.
9. Trump aparece ante los medios a pronunciar su discurso, después de que Clinton le llamara reconociendo su derrota.
10. Impresionante video de National Geographic, en el que una iguana huye de unas serpientes. Etiquetas | 1real |
Donald Trump as Role Model? G.O.P. Senator ‘Absolutely’ Has Second Thoughts - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — When you are a United States senator running for who has to apologize for saying your nominee for president is a role model for children, things may be going subpar for you. And you also may have created trouble for fellow imperiled incumbents who will now also likely be asked whether they think Donald J. Trump sets a nice example. Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, found herself in that thicket Tuesday as she continued to try to walk back the word she uttered in a debate when asked if she saw Mr. Trump as an exemplar for youth: “absolutely. ” Ms. Ayotte and her Democratic opponent, Gov. Maggie Hassan, are locked in one of the nation’s closest Senate races, a contest that could determine whether Republicans retain control of Capitol Hill. Like Ms. Ayotte, many Republican senators have struggled to reconcile their fortunes with those of Mr. Trump. “Welcome to the 2016 election, where most party loyalists on both sides feel they need to say publicly that their candidate is a good role model but privately don’t really believe it themselves,” said Brian Walsh, a Republican strategist. “What we see in New Hampshire this week is the same tortured Kabuki dance many Americans are undergoing this election season, just on a stage. ” Almost instantly after the debate Monday night, Ms. Ayotte’s campaign released an unusual statement saying: “I misspoke tonight. While I would hope all of our children would aspire to be president, neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton have set a good example and I wouldn’t hold up either of them as role models for my kids. ” Ms. Ayotte reiterated her comments while campaigning Tuesday morning. But in the world of digital advertising, the leavings made for good political breakfast. Ms. Hassan’s campaign quickly delivered a digital ad that captured the “absolutely” comment while trimming the portion of Ms. Ayotte’s response that emphasized Mr. Trump was among many people who could be considered role models. (It also removed Ms. Ayotte’s several “ums” as Ms. Hassan looked on with barely concealed amusement.) Ms. Ayotte has ample company in trying to fashion a response about how to regard Mr. Trump. One colleague, Senator Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, has gone the route, openly scorning Mr. Trump. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina has gone a different way, backing Mr. Trump in theory but expressing surprise at some of Mr. Trump’s remarks and requesting that he say them no more. Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has been the target of remarks by Mr. Trump, represents the grit teeth and glare caucus, more or less refusing to answer questions about Mr. Trump’s statements. He would likely pass on the role model thing, too. Ms. Ayotte has tried hard to avoid criticizing Mr. Trump — and by proxy his voters — saying several times that she “supports” him, but won’t go as far as to endorse him. In an election cycle with at least half a dozen close races, both sides are trying to pounce on any perceived mistakes in the waning weeks of the campaign. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee rushed Tuesday to do its own digital ad, as did Americans for Responsible Solutions, a gun safety advocacy group, which made a spot highlighting the senator’s comments and juxtaposing them with footage of Mr. Trump’s most incendiary comments on guns. “Republican senators and candidates will continue to get asked uncomfortable questions about Donald Trump for a very simple reason,” said Sadie Weiner, a spokeswoman for the committee. “They continue to support him even when he is pulling his most sexist, racist, unconscionable stunts, and their loyalty to party over common sense is quickly becoming a judgment question that is taking center stage in their races. ” Bob Salera, a spokesman for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, gets an A for effort on table turning. “To be honest, we ruled out asking House Democrats if Hillary Clinton is honest because the answer seemed too obvious,” he said in a statement, referring to Ms. Hassan’s flub this spring when she was asked if Mrs. Clinton was honest and declined to answer the question directly. “But Maggie Hassan has proved that there is no question too simple for congressional Democrats and Democrat challengers desperately trying to walk the line between Hillary Clinton supporters and the voters who are repelled by her. ” Some prominent supporters of Mrs. Clinton got in on the game. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, who generally does not answer questions from reporters, conveyed her thoughts via Twitter: “Think about it: @realDonaldTrump calls Latinos rapists, African Americans thugs, women fat pigs, Kelly Ayotte thinks he’s a role model. ” Whether the role model remark adds up to more than two days of Twitter twaddle for Ms. Ayotte is a matter of mystery. “She’s done as good a job as one could separating herself from Trump for over a year,” said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. “She’s never appeared with him, not even during the primary season. She has condemned his most extreme remarks many times. “I don’t think voters are under any misimpression that she supports him or is glad he is the nominee. She didn’t answer the question artfully,” he added, “and the Democrats are trying to make it into a big deal, but I doubt it will stick. ” | 0fake |
LISTEN: Clinton ‘Crime Family’ EXPOSED By Veteran FBI Assistant Director | LISTEN: Clinton ‘Crime Family’ EXPOSED By Veteran FBI Assistant Director Posted on October 30, 2016 by Shae Weatherall in Politics Share This
On the heels of the FBI announcing its renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, Veteran FBI Assistant Director and wiretap expert James Kallstrom is speaking out. In his statements, Kallstrom exposes the Clintons as being a “crime family,” adding credence to the long list of allegations against them for unethical and illegal activities throughout the last several decades. Hillary and Bill Clinton sharing a secret, Former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom (inset).
During an interview with radio host John Catsimatidis, former FBI Assistant Director in Charge, New York Division, James Kallstrom, came forward with some serious statements about the Clinton family. According to Kallstrom, the FBI’s original investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails was impeded by the Department of Justice and other top officials in our government. However, now that the case has been reopened, he is apparently seeing it as an opportunity to add his expert opinion and his own insider knowledge of the situation.
The Hill has provided a partial transcript of Kallstrom’s remarks:
“ The Clintons, that’s a crime family, basically ,” Kallstrom said. “ It’s like organized crime. I mean the Clinton Foundation is a cesspool .”
“ The problem here is this investigation was never a real investigation ,” he said. “ That’s the problem. They never had a grand jury empanelled, and the reason they never had a grand jury empanelled, I’m sure, is Loretta Lynch would not go along with that .”
“ The agents are furious with what’s going on, I know that for a fact ,” he said.
Listen as former FBI Asst. Director Kallstrom speaks about why he supports Donald Trump as president and explains how he knows that Hillary Clinton would be a devastating choice to lead America.
Among the many statements he made during the full ten-minute interview , perhaps this one was the most profound:
“ It’s just outrageous how Hillary Clinton sold her office for money. And she’s a pathological liar, and she’s always been a liar. And God forbid if we put someone like that in the White House. ”
Given her extensive and tainted legal and political history, it is truly outrageous that Hillary Clinton was ever allowed to become the Democrat nominee for president to begin with. Now, she’s under a second federal investigation for wrongdoing while she was serving as our Secretary of State, and shockingly, there are still those who support her.
She is obviously corrupt to the core, but hopefully, over the next few days, as more information comes out, people will open their eyes and realize that Hillary’s “campaign” for votes is no different than any other self-serving racket she and her family have been involved in. | 1real |
Why Hillary Clinton Will Appoint Old World Nationalists to Cabinet Positions | Posted on November 5, 2016 by WashingtonsBlog
By George Eliason, an American journalist living in Ukraine.
Whether you are for Hillary Clinton or against her, the problem with Hillary Clinton isn’t her lack of experience. Almost the entire political establishment is behind her. Throughout all the bumps and scandal in this whole election cycle, Republicans and former presidents are coming out of the woodwork supporting her. According to the LA Times she may well be one of the most experienced candidates in US history, while even accounting for severe conflicts of interest inside the Clinton Foundation. Neither friend or foe doubt Hillary Clinton’s experience after 30 years in politics.
The problem is even Hillary Clinton’s friends say she has a history of acting without thinking, of making bad decisions. According to Neera Tanden : “Almost no one knows better than me that her instincts can be terrible.”
Does Hillary Clinton show bad instincts and terrible decision-making skills, and if she does, how will this affect the USA?
According to journalist Robert Parry “the people that will be taking senior positions and especially in foreign policy believe “This consensus is driven by a broad-based backlash against a president who has repeatedly stressed the dangers of overreach and the need for restraint, especially in the Middle East… Taken together, the studies and reports call for more aggressive American action to constrain Iran, rein in the chaos in the Middle East and check Russia in Europe.”One of the lead organizations revving up these military adventures and also counting on a big boost in military spending under President Clinton-45 is the Atlantic Council, a think tank associated with NATO that has been pushing for a major confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.”
The Atlantic Council is the think tank for the CEEC which is associated with NATO. The CEEC (Central and Eastern European Coalition) has only one goal. At the beginning of the presidential campaign they put out a small list of questions for the candidates to decide who they would support for the president.
The first question was essentially “Are you willing to go to war with Russia?” Hillary Clinton has answered that question and received their unqualified support throughout the campaign. Who is the CEEC?
The Central and Eastern European Coalition represent the various Central and Eastern European countries to the US government. What makes them special in an election is that they control a 20 million person strong bloc vote in key states across the country and sway elections by themselves. The price of a Clinton win is war with Russia.
If that seems a little too much to be believable, reconsider the Iraq war. All it took was for the Iraqi diaspora to develop strong ties with like-minded people from “The Project for the New American Century” that wanted regime change in Iraq. Many of the people associated with the PNAC crossed over into the Bush administration . They pushed the invasion together.
“ Walt Vanderbush’s essay, “The Iraqi Diaspora and the US Invasion of Iraq” (chapter 9), traces the collaboration between leaders of the Iraqi diaspora and neoconservative Americans, many of them linked to the Iraqi National Congress (INC) and the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), to convince the US government to wage war and bring about “regime change” in Iraq… The INC claimed credit for placing 108 articles in the news media, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Times (of London), during a nine-month period before the war.”
It wasn’t terror, Osama, or even oil that the Iraq war was fought for. It was a guy named Ahmed Chalabi who was the only victor of the Iraq war.
American-emigre groups use their strategically settled populations in key battleground states, deep pockets, and unbridled political ambition to gain control over their home “old” countries. Even more insidious is the influence they exert over the United States to destroy old enemies.
Do we want senior cabinet and policy positions filled by people that think starting WWIII is a good goal? Let’s take a look at the make-up and politics of some of these.
Starting at the top let’s look at the Ukrainian emigres which lead the CEEC and the Atlantic Council. One thing anyone represented by the UCCA (Ukrainian Congressional Committee of America) or the UWC (Ukrainian World Congress) has in common is Axis-political heritage and beliefs. The OUN is the political grouping of Ukrainian nationalists and it would vote for Adolf Hitler if he was running in a heartbeat.
Unless real Nazi political views (not neo-nazi) found a way to survive all these years with this group of people, the statement is just insulting. Anyone reading should be insulted because that level of offensiveness in a politically charged environment is wrong.
Nazism or Axis-Nazism are political beliefs and principles that structure your government the same as Republican or Democratic control would. The only difference is the “ism.” The “ism” means everything you do in your life revolves around your politic so it’s not just political or social guides or guidelines. It’s your lifestyle and everything wraps around it. Anything or anyone that goes against it is an enemy of the state, and it is personal.
From their own words in the Ukrainian Weekly, real, active political Nazi’s are alive, kickin’ and ready for a Clinton win! It is the sheer number of groups self-identifying as practicing real Nazi beliefs in the US gaining policy and cabinet positions under a Clinton win that is incredible.
The Ukrainian World Congress with its affiliates in over 40 countries and others work tirelessly in trying to keep Ukraine and the Ukrainian spirit front and center.
“We have had a minister of finance, Natalka Jaresko, in the Cabinet. We now have Ulana Suprun as acting minister of health. We have many from the diaspora assisting with strategizing, reforming and supporting the overall cause. We have a highly successful program in Patriot Defence. We are out to change the way business is done.
Unity to act when required has been the diaspora’s mantra – this cannot be disputed.
As time moves on, we see that things take a natural course. We see that two wings of the OUN – (OUNb)Banderivtsi and (OUNm)Melnykivtsi – are working actively on the international level, working in partnership and currently are in strong negotiations about becoming a single entity again.”
With all you’ve heard about Stepan Bandera’s OUN since the Maidan coup in Ukraine, I’ll bet you didn’t know they call New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia home.
The UCCA and the UWC still celebrate their Nazi SS because they are still Axis-nazis. The OUN were the vile Holocaust murderers during and after WWII and their politics live on in their children today. This is no different from the children of other Waffen-SS leaders or if Hitler had surviving children that stood up and ran other countries based in Hitler’s policy. These American kids are sent to Ukraine to learn how to copy and act like Stepan Bandera before they come back to America and get involved in policy making.
“ OUNb leader Ivan Kobasa also took responsibility of making sure the Ukrainian-Americans received the proper secondary education at Ukrainian nationalist schools(MAUP) in Ukraine. From the mid-2000’s enrollment in this educational system has skyrocketed. Today almost all members of the current Ukrainian government are graduates of this ideological system that was taught to them by moderates like David Duke who is also a graduate of the MAUP system.”
While American media criticizes David Duke’s support for Donald Trump, they say nothing about Hillary’s strongest supporters hiring David Duke as a professor to teach their children college level history. Is Hillary Clinton too far right for David Duke? After all, he has no plans to conquer Russia.
When you look at her campaign coffers and the most active political activists supporting Hillary Clinton, many are groups whose politics are not republican or democrat, but old-world nationalist. They are spread across America and still idolize their Waffen SS heroes, literally. They have statues and holidays and children’s groups across America in cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago celebrating some of the vilest mass murderers in history. And they teach their children to idolize them and grow up using them as role models. They also bring up their children in the same political mold of ultra-nationalism.
Now they want an America that will do the same. Over the last 30 years, the old world nationalists have moved into media and policy positions to make this happen. If that wasn’t enough they control a 20 million person bloc vote in key states and swing states in important cities across America.
I am not using the word nazi as an insult, this isn’t neo-nazi or even a nazi revival. These groups have been the most extreme political activists in the USA over the last 50 years and are a continuation of what their parents were in the 1930’s. In their own words, they never assimilated into American culture. They assimilated the culture to them. In the words of the CIA, they are political animals. Today, their wagons are circled around a Hillary Clinton presidency.
The OUN were the guards at the Holocaust prison camps, Waffen SS, and volunteer brigades that were famous for torture and murder. In Ukraine, they killed over 3 million people and conducted the first act of Holocaust at Babi Yar.
The funny part if there was one is that with every fiber of your being, you want to argue against these facts. The OUN on the other hand featured at least one of my articles on their rise in American politics even though I called them devils. The fact they find me credible shouldn’t get lost on you.
When these good friends of Hillary Clinton from the CEEC start getting tapped for advisory posts, and cabinet positions through the Atlantic Council or Project for a new American Century, will they automatically become Democrats or Republicans?
Does America want a war with Russia so the losers of WWII can settle old scores?
For the first time, under a Clinton presidency, America will have unbridled Axis-nazis/old world nationalists/ nazis in most of the cabinet and policy positions. They are getting the positions because they are delivering donations, bloc votes, political propaganda, and hard activism in battleground states.
The results for the Clinton campaign in emigre dominated states is the same as it was when they first got together. Clinton is up by 11 points in important emigre bloc voting districts.
…In last month’s heavily publicized Pennsylvania Senate race. Ukrainian and Baltic groups, protesting the administration’s attempts to prevent the break-up of the USSR, supported the Democratic candidate, Harris Wofford. This position contributed to the defeat of Dick Thornburgh, a former attorney general in the Bush administration….”The Ukrainian Weekly, December 8, 1991, No. 49, Vol. LIX
In a Ukraine Weekly interview with candidate Bill Clinton-“For the last 40 years, many Ukrainians have been supporters of the Republican Party. However, Mr. Bush severely damaged his relations with Ukrainians with his “Chicken Kiev” speech, and by his unwillingness to see Ukraine’s point of view in disputes with Russia. How will your party seek to secure the goodwill of voters concerned by this issue?” …
Clinton’s answer…“The Bush administration has had a spotty record abroad…including the president’s insulting warning against “suicidal nationalism” made before proindependence forces in Kiev in the summer of 1991 — and a failed economic record at home. We hope Ukrainian Americans will join our effort to put people first.” – Interview with Candidate Bill Clinton-Ukrainian Weekly Issue 43, 1992
In what has become the ultimate pay to play scheme, the Clinton’s gave over Ukraine to OUNb nationalists to run as they saw fit. This was payment for political support and bloc votes that won the 1992 elections for Bill Clinton. American citizens were given a country to run and represent in any manner they chose to do it.
According to Ukrainian nationalist scholar Taras Kuzio , the Axis- nazi political beliefs started to be taught to children in Ukraine after the OUNb took the reins. This was the preparation for what would become a nationalist coup in 2014 Ukraine.
This pattern follows the Clinton-NATO expansion and every CEE (Central and Eastern European) country freed by the Clintons followed suit. In Croatia, Croatian-Americans have more parliamentary seats and representation than any group from Croatia.
Other than American-emigre groups gaining rule and representing the “home country” in the US, there is only one other universal factor each of them revived. Axis- nazi politics and political views became normal in their home countries. In Croatia, they even revived the Waffen SS Battalions.
The people at the CEEC are behind the Atlantic Council and PNAC will be making the domestic and foreign policy decisions in a Clinton administration. While I would not call Hillary Clinton a Nazi, the people she surrounds herself with actively are. There is very little doubt that Victoria Nuland, a Ukrainian-American brought up in these beliefs will be Secretary of State under a Clinton Administration.
To get an understanding of what that means, the same people that are deciding Ukrainian domestic and foreign policy will be sending their people to those cabinet positions.
The one thing for sure is even publications that support her candidacy wonder about Hillary Clinton’s lack of judgment and surrounding herself with nationalist war-hawks that want war with Russia.
According to the WEEK “At first, Obama went over the top of public opinion to avenge American honor against ISIS. Slowly, America’s mission has crept to include some form of regime change with the ouster of Assad. Now Clinton is selling the American people on greater military interventions so that the U.S. can challenge Putin. Clinton seems unable to distinguish between what is of vital interest to the Russians and peripheral interest to America. She combines this with her bias toward always taking action — of any sort, for good or ill. The combination is dangerous.”
The article ends in the hope that Clinton is once again lying. Both current president Obama and Hillary Clinton are trying to sell America on the idea that there are moderates fighting a civil war in Syria. We are arming and training them. Are there moderates in Syria worth supporting? Do we have any business there to begin with? The article goes as far as stating the US is determined to overthrow every country that is friendly to Russia.
Right now Clinton wants to establish a no-fly-zone to protect her moderates. Who are they? US Special Forces on the ground are adamant that Clinton wants to give US military support to ISIS even if it means starting an open war with Russia.
“ Nobody believes in it. You’re like, ‘Fuck this,’” a former Green Beret says of America’s covert and clandestine programs to train and arm Syrian militias. “Everyone on the ground knows they are jihadis. No one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort, and they know they are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, ‘Fuck it, who cares?’” “I don’t want to be responsible for Nusra guys saying they were trained by Americans,” the Green Beret added.
Since 2014, Ukraine has fully supported al Nusra and at the beginning of the civil war pulled 200 ISIS fighters to the Ukrainian front lines. These fighters are jihadis from Crimea. They have also set up an ISIS training camp near Mariupol. Like all other volunteers, they don’t receive government support and rob to make a living.
Before this, the Kosovo example looms large. Does inviting indicted mass murderers and people preparing for illegal organ trade (crimes against humanity) trials to your national party convention as special guests qualify as good judgment? Does it showcase Hillary Clinton’s good instincts to be president?
Welcome to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Hillary Clinton’s special guest from Kosovo took time-out from preparing for his crimes against humanity case to give support and wish her well.
“Invited as a guest to the 2016 Democratic National Convention is none other than Kadri Veseli, the Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly. Veseli is a former Kosovar Albanian leader of the KLA and its spy organization SHIK. He’s being indicted along with the current president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci for small things like organ trafficking and crimes against humanity .’
The main witness against Clinton friends, Veseli and Thaci, is a man that was ordered to cut the heart out of another man that was begging for mercy. In a 1998 interview with the BBC , US special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard had this to say about Veseli and Thaci; “I know a terrorist when I see one and these men are terrorists.”
Clinton’s relationship with the Albanian and Kosovo killers stretches back to the first Clinton election in 1992. During the campaign season the Clinton duo found out quickly how powerful the emigre national vote was in America. In one fell swoop, the Albanians and the KLA after them went from what the USA definitely recognized as Islamic terrorists to victims we were going to war for.
The Clinton humanitarian bombing in the Balkans drove victims into the waiting clutches of the KLA, and the spread of Islamic terrorism worldwide.
In what became her first executive decision, first lady, Hillary Clinton brow-beat the unwilling president Clinton into bombing the Balkans and creating a humanitarian catastrophe. Today, as a result of this, ISIS is setting up training camps in what is widely referred to as Clinton country.
“On the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, the local police detained three militants of so-called “Islamic State” (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), is going to organize a series of terrorist attacks in Serbia.” Terrorists LIH (IGIL/ISIS) break through the Balkans to Western Europe March 2016
Clinton’s jihadi bloc vote in America remains central to her winning this election along with the rest of the CEEC. Does America want people advising the president that openly support genocide like the Kosovars, Albanians, or Ukrainians?
Hillary Clinton is not an Islamist. Hillary Clinton is not a Nazi. But the question remains. Why is she surrounded by and listening to people that are? Is that her best judgment? | 1real |
EP #7: Patrick Henningsen LIVE with guest Shawn Helton – ‘Top Conspiracies of 2016’ | Join Patrick every Wednesday at Independent Talk 1100 KFNX and Alternate Current Radio for the very best in news, views and analysis on all top stories domestically and abroad THIS WEEK: Episode 7 Top Conspiracies of 2016 Another year and another slew of incredible stories globally. The Orlando Nightclub Mass Shooting, the Dallas Cop Shooting, the Turkish Coup, the White Helmets, the Podesta Emails and the fake news crisis, and so many more. Which ones will be remembered as the biggest conspiracies of 2016?All this and more, as host Patrick Henningsen in joined by special guest Shawn Helton, investigative journalist and Associate Editor at 21stCenturyWire.com. Listen END 1158 Download Link Download this podcast END 1364 Download Link This program broadcasts LIVE every Wednesday night from 8pm to 9pm MST, right after the Savage Nation, on Independent Talk 1100 KFNX over the terrestrial AM band across the greater Phoenix and central Arizona region, and live over global satellite and online via www.1100kfnx.com.LISTEN TO MORE INTERVIEWS AT PATRICK HENNINGSEN LIVE SHOW ARCHIVESREAD MORE CONSPIRACY NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Conspiracy FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
South Africa considering best time for nuclear power expansion: Zuma | CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday his government was considering the best time to launch a major expansion of its nuclear power fleet, after the finance minister said the country could not afford it. Zuma was responding to a question in parliament by opposition leader Mmusi Maimane who asked why finance minister Malusi Gigaba had said the expansion would be delayed while energy minister David Mahlobo said the opposite. We have a policy of mixed energy and that includes nuclear, Zuma said. We are not saying we have changed policy ... Its a question of timing, when do we do it. We have been discussing that issue all the time in the government. | 0fake |
Hillary Lambasted Trump’s Hateful Rhetoric By Mocking His Ridiculous Tweets, And It’s Hilarious | When it comes to political campaign strategies, Donald Trump clearly believes he can hate and insult his way into the Oval Office. So far, it s working in the Republican primary, because let s face it, the GOP has become a party of hateful rhetoric and building up fear of anyone other than those who look and act exactly as they do (predominantly white, heterosexual, Christian, etc.). However, that strategy, most likely, will not work in the general election, because the rest of America sees Trump as the ridiculous mudslinger that he actually is.Pointing this out in a pretty hilarious way was none other than Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. She, or her campaign staff with her approval, took to Twitter to put Trump on blast about his hateful tone and rhetoric. After all, Trump is already pivoting to the general and referring to Clinton as Crooked Hillary. It s a technique he s been using in the primaries against his Republican opposition, so he figures he should try it out for the general as well.What did Hillary tweet out? A Washington Post article highlighting pretty much every hateful and disparaging thing Trump has said throughout his campaign, with every paragraph beginning, Remember when Yet, she introduced the article on Twitter by hilariously mocking the way Trump tweets. All too often you ll see Trump tweet something out, and it will be followed with a one word sentence Sad! Well, Hillary did just that right back at him.Does Trump think he can fool us into forgetting his hateful rhetoric? Sad! https://t.co/0Vvw0m36ZX Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 23, 2016If Trump wants to pretend he s a politician and enter into the biggest political race in the entire world with no experience whatsoever, he s in for a boat-load of f*ck you from the Clinton campaign if they face off in the general election. Trump may be able to get away with going after his Republican opponents, because let s face it, they re weak and inexperienced themselves, but the Clintons?? Haaaa! Good luck with that. If you dish it, Hillary will take it, puree it, and serve it back to you with a cherry on top.We re in for a bumpy and very amusing ride throughout the coming months.Featured Photos by Justin Sullivan/Scott Olson/Getty Images Twitter | 1real |
Bernie Sanders Gets Brutally Honest On ‘Conan’ About Trump’s Tweets (VIDEO) | Bernie Sanders appeared with Conan O Brien on Tuesday night. The segment of the show was hardly funny, but it didn t matter. It was about the frightening fact that the President Elect of the United States has the self-control of a toddler with an intellectual sophistication to match, and an apparent desire to totally destroy our democracy.The first tweet Conan and Bernie talked about was this one:In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016Sanders correctly pointed out that the argument is ridiculous, and beyond that, dangerous. First of all, it s delusional. It s totally insane, Sanders said. But what s even scarier in his view is that Trump is sending a signal to Republicans all over this country, urging them to suppress the votes of poor people, people of color, immigrants and others who might vote against them. My own view is we have got to work overtime to bring more people into the political process, not make it harder for people to participate. Source: The Daily BeastThen, there was this tweet:Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag if they do, there must be consequences perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016Bernie acknowledged, after saying that there were far more important issues than flag burning, that that too is a hidden message, and that is be careful if you are prepared to dissent. We re watching you, is the message, even though the Supreme Court ruled that flag burning is free speech. I worry about the future of this country, Sanders said, especially given the fact that the cornerstone of the president-elect s campaign was bigotry against Mexican-Americans, Muslims, and other groups.Here s the video:We hear you, Bernie. Everyone with a modicum of intelligence is worried for the future of this country, and frankly of the planet, under a Trump presidency. While Bernie is right that Trump s tweets hint at his dictatorial leanings, we shouldn t let his tweets distract from Trump s actual dictatorial moves and the fact that the swamp Trump claimed to want to drain is being filled with the dirtiest water in the country.Featured image via video screen capture. | 1real |
Factbox: Bannon exit is latest Trump administration shake-up | (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday fired chief strategist Stephen Bannon in the latest White House shake-up, removing the far-right architect of his 2016 election victory and a driving force behind his anti-globalization and pro-nationalist agenda. Following is a partial list of officials who have been fired or have left the administration since Trump took office on Jan. 20, as well as people who were nominated by Trump for a position but did not take the job. * Philip Bilden - a private equity executive and former military intelligence officer picked by Trump for secretary of the Navy, withdrew from consideration in February because of government conflict-of-interest rules. * James Comey - the Federal Bureau of Investigation director leading a probe into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to influence the election outcome, was fired by Trump in May. * James Donovan - a Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker who was nominated by Trump as deputy Treasury secretary, withdrew his name in May. * Michael Dubke - founder of Crossroads Media, resigned as White House communications director in May. * Michael Flynn - resigned in February as Trump’s national security adviser after disclosures that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. * Mark Green - Trump’s nominee for Army secretary, who had served in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, withdrew his name from consideration in May. * Gerrit Lansing - White House chief digital officer, stepped down in February after failing to pass an FBI background check, according to Politico. * Jason Miller - communications director for Trump’s transition team who was named by the president-elect in December as White House communications director, said days later that he would not take the job. * Reince Priebus - the former chairman of the Republican National Committee was replaced by John Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff on Friday. A confidant of the president said Trump had lost confidence in Priebus after major legislative items failed to pass the U.S. Congress. * Todd Ricketts - a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Trump’s choice for deputy secretary of commerce, withdrew from consideration in April. * Anthony Scaramucci - the White House communications director was fired by Trump in July after just 10 days on the job after profanity-laced comments to The New Yorker magazine were published. * Walter Shaub - the head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, who clashed with Trump and his administration, stepped down in July before his five-year term was to end. * Michael Short - senior White House assistant press secretary, resigned in July. * Sean Spicer - resigned as White House press secretary in July, ending a turbulent tenure after Trump named Scaramucci as White House communications director. * Robin Townley - an aide to national security adviser Flynn, was rejected in February after he was denied security clearance to serve on the U.S. National Security Council, according to Politico. * Vincent Viola - an Army veteran and a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, nominated by Trump to be secretary of the Army, withdrew his name from consideration in February. * Katie Walsh - deputy White House chief of staff, was transferred to the outside pro-Trump group America First Policies in March, according to Politico. * Caroline Wiles - Trump’s director of scheduling, resigned in February after failing a background check, according to Politico. * Sally Yates - acting U.S. attorney general, was fired by Trump in January after she ordered Justice Department lawyers not to enforce Trump’s immigration ban. | 0fake |
Trump’s impending nomination means it’s time for a third party | It’s over. Donald Trump, a man utterly unfit for the position by temperament, values and policy preferences, will be the Republican nominee for president. He will run against Hillary Clinton, who is easily the lesser evil but is trailed by clouds of scandal and misconduct and whose party’s left wing poses its own threats to liberties of speech, religion, enterprise and association.
It is time for a third candidate, and probably for a third party.
Some people will dismiss this notion as absurd. However, only those prescient enough to have forecast Trump’s success have the standing to certify impossibilities. If the Trump candidacy has blown up every other aspect of political conventional wisdom, why not this one?
Even if a third candidacy still yielded a Clinton victory, it would be worthwhile. It would, first, deny the Clinton campaign the illusion of a mandate from American voters who would have, en masse, turned out to reject Trump. If nothing else, a strong third-candidate vote would send her a message to govern from the center, rather than in deference to her party’s increasingly powerful left wing.
A third candidate could lay the groundwork for a new political party. The Republican Party may right itself after this moral disaster, led by men and women of the caliber of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.). But the sad truth is that although the speaker has the qualities of a statesman, two of his Republican predecessors have indicated that they would vote for Trump without qualms, while a third is too preoccupied with his upcoming jail term to say much of anything.
The Republican presidential defeat that likely impends will reflect an entirely appropriate national revulsion at the GOP candidate, whose personal record of chicanery and wild rhetoric of bigotry, misogyny and misplaced belligerence are without parallel in the modern history of either major party. It is entirely conceivable that the damage done will be permanent.
And in any case, the party of Lincoln is sick. The influence on it of ranting reality-television players, talk-show hucksters and monomaniacs of various stripes may not recede. The temper that led a supposedly responsible party of governance to repeatedly attempt to shut down the government may, in turn, shut it out of executive power for a long time.
A new, center-right party may be necessary — we cannot yet tell. If it is, the outlines of its platform are easy to anticipate: reverence for the Constitution; serious grappling with the domestic problems associated with economic opportunity for all, education and affordable health care; and commitment to the internationalist tradition of the post-World War II consensus. It would advocate a federal government that can energetically do the things it should, but would limit the role of unaccountable regulators and bureaucrats and push to states and local governments every function that is not clearly a duty of the federal government. Above all, it would be committed to liberty in every sphere of personal and public life.
A third candidate — and if it comes to that, a third party — must be led by a politician. The Great Republic does not require a man on horseback to rescue it, despite the arguments that some have made for drafting a retired general. Senior military officers usually make dreadful politicians, and besides, politics is an art — a respectable art, despite what too many Americans think — with unique skills and aptitudes. People with such skills exist, including Mitt Romney. The question is whether one of them will step forward.
One of them should, for this final reason: to keep conservative consciences clean. To vote for Clinton is to sacrifice standards and endorse policies and conduct no conservative should; not to vote at all is an escape, not a civic deed.
Admittedly, this may be a losing cause. But a losing cause is not necessarily a futile one. John Quincy Adams fighting slavery in the 1830s and 1840s and Wendell Willkie running on an internationalist platform in 1940 proved that. A Trump candidacy is a disgrace and has indeed already damaged us at home and abroad, but the longer-term question is larger than one demagogue, dangerous though he is. It is whether the cause of free, limited and constitutional government will have someone to speak for it and to represent it now and for decades to come.
The hour is late, the task is urgent, and the cause is great. Let us hope that some politicians will summon the courage that their country requires, and act. | 0fake |
DEMOCRAT LEGAL EXPERT Shocks The Left With His Take On Statues [Video] | Legal expert and Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley makes a case for why we need to ADD to statues and not take them down. He says we can learn more from keeping them up in direct opposition to what Democrats are saying:TURLEY RECENTLY ARGUED AGAINST THE REMOVAL OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON STATUE: George Washington may have survived the winter at Valley Forge, but he may not see the end of the summer of Charlottesville. Bishop James Dukes of Chicago s Liberation Christian Center and others are calling for the removal of his and Andrew Jackson s statues and and stripping of their names from parks. Dukes insists that these monuments are a slap in the face and it s a disgrace for African Americans given their history as slave owning presidents.The bishop s call for the removal of our first president s statue is the latest effort to strip away the names of historical figures over ties to slavery or segregation. There is a movement to remove the name of Woodrow Wilson (who helped establish Princeton as a world academic institution) from buildings and schools, due to his support for segregation. The University of Virginia was founded by Thomas Jefferson, but last year, University President Teresa Sullivan was denounced by students and faculty for merely quoting our third president in a public message because he was a slave owner.The call to remove Washington s statue came less than a day after President Trump asked whether Washington would be next in the movement to remove statues like the Robert E. Lee monument in Charlottesville. The statement drew the ire of CNN s Jim Acosta who described the notion as absurd and said it was taken as a sign that the president perhaps needs a refresher course and needs to go back to History 101. History is precisely where this controversy should begin and end. Washington is rightfully condemned for his ownership of slaves. There were contemporaries like John Adams, John Jay, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton who were outspoken critics of slavery. Franklin called slavery an atrocious debasement of human nature, while Adams referred to it as a foul contagion in the human character. These visionaries not only saw a great evil but answered the call of history to stand steadfastly against it.However, before Mayor Rahm Emanuel sends in the bulldozers into Washington Park, it is worth considering a few facts about our first president s history with slavery. Washington inherited a number of slaves at age 11 and received more slaves in his marriage to Martha Custis. However, he gradually came to oppose slavery. On the interim, Washington tried to assuage his guilt by refusing to sell slaves that would break up families, telling an associate that it was against my inclination to hurt the feelings of those unhappy people by a separation of man and wife, or of families. After the war, Washington continued to discuss ways to convert his plantation from slaves to tenants at the suggestion of his close aide (and outspoken opponent of slavery) Marquis de Lafayette. By 1786, Washington wrote his friend Robert Morris, I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of [slavery]. In the end, Washington was the only one of nine slaveholding presidents (and the only slaveholding founder) who freed his slaves upon his death. Washington freed as many of his 317 slaves as possible. Some 123 slaves were his to emancipate while neither he nor Martha could free the so-called Custis Dower slaves (who remained property of the heirs to the estate of Daniel Parke Custis, Martha Washington s first husband). He further ordered that all of the elderly or sick slaves would be supported by his estate for the rest of their lives.So where does this leave us? With a complex and flawed figure who practiced a great evil while belatedly coming to reject it. He finished his life allied with his more enlightened colleagues but this is no reason to forgive his prior history. However, that is the point of history. It is never some neat narrative divided cleanly between demons and angels. Washington was a great leader who held a nation together through sheer leadership and stands as one of the few leaders in history to refuse to become a monarch himself.Curiously, Dukes does offer a concession. Washington Park and Jackson Park could be formally named after former Mayor Harold Washington and civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson or singer Michael Jackson. It is unlikely to convince those who view these statutes as not simply reminders of past leaders but past struggles in an evolving society. The same cannot be said for Michael Jackson. Thriller may be the best selling album in history, but the Battle of New Orleans still has more of a hold on history.The fact is that we often learn as much from the failures as we do the triumphs of historical figures. Washington ultimately proved to be an early transitional figure in our ugly history of slavery. Washington himself described his desire at Mount Vernon to lay a foundation for a rising generation with a new destiny other than slavery.For my part, I am proud to teach at the George Washington University, whose charter was paid for by Washington himself as part of that same final testament. Of course, that does not mean we could not make other improvements. Another school in Washington is named after a British king, George II, who kept our nation under colonial oppression. After all, the moonwalk and robot dance steps did have a transformative impact on my generation and Jacksontown University has a nice ring to it.Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanTurley.READ MORE: THE HILL | 1real |
End of the Line for Penn Station’s Departure Board - The New York Times | The departure board at Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan has departed this life, but unlike Elvis, it has not left the building. Amtrak disconnected the board on Monday, stretching tarpaulins over one side of the familiar, sign that told commuters whether the 5:54 to Metuchen, N. J. would be a touch late — and, when the time finally came, which track they could find it on. The other side of the board was left uncovered, a big, black, blank rectangle. Amtrak had said the departure board’s demise would begin around 10 p. m. on Monday, after the evening rush. For once, Amtrak was early. By the time commuters arrived at 6 p. m. the board was off, compounding the aggravation of a bad night caused by heavy winds and rain. Some commuters wondered if the board was related to the delays on New Jersey Transit, which shares Penn Station with Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road. An Amtrak spokeswoman, Kimberly Woods, said it was not. She said the board was turned off for testing and restarted before the final shutdown after 10. As early as 3:37 p. m. New Jersey Transit had warned on Twitter that there would be “major delays” because a storm had knocked down power lines in Linden, N. J. Trains from Trenton to Metropark, a major station, were suspended for about 30 minutes during the evening rush, but the delays continued even after service resumed. The old board was replaced by video monitors that have been functioning for several months. There are large monitors at both ends of the main waiting area on the west side of the station and smaller ones above the gates. Another large monitor is in the rotundalike space on the east side of the station, where there is also an arrivals monitor. Ms. Woods said Amtrak made the change in “our ongoing effort to improve and upgrade the passenger experience. ” “It’s like anything else — modern times, and everything’s digital,” said H. Edward Wilkin III, an accountant who was on the way to Secaucus, N. J. on Tuesday morning. But the trains were no more modern. Mr. Wilkin had a noon appointment. The new departure screen reported that his 11:06 train would be delayed. For how long, it did not say. Some commuters said the change made no difference, because the old board had little to do with the reality of when trains actually pulled away from the station, and they doubted the new screens would be any more accurate. Amtrak said the old board would be dismantled over the next few nights, when crowds in the station were thinnest. “I’ve been taking these trains since I was 18, going to college,” said Joe Castaldo, 63, who grew up in Oceanport, N. J. and now runs a firm in Manhattan. “I’m sad the board is gone. It’s nostalgic, I know. ” He said the new screens were better, but the change was jarring for his mother, whom he had just put on a train. “She was like, ‘What am I going to do now? ’” Mr. Castaldo said. The old board was a centerpiece, the thing that brought a community together — a community of strangers about to be on a train. The board on the west side of the station was the heart of the waiting area — the town square, such as it was. A town square with linoleum underfoot, not grass, and fluorescent lighting above, not a Norman Rockwell sky. Like something from the days when newspapers hung bulletins outside their offices, the board told stories — and like Twitter, it told them in a minimum of characters, with few full sentences. Explanations were not always provided for “Delayed” or “Standby. ” The departure board that was disconnected on Monday was not the one many thought it was. It was not the one made by the Italian company Solari that whirred and clicked like the boards on television game shows in the 1960s. That sign was replaced about 15 years ago by the device that went dark on Monday, which had become too difficult to keep going, Amtrak said last summer. “That one can only do letters and numbers and columns,” said Kevin Farley, a digital experience strategist who was on his way to Philadelphia on Tuesday. “It was a classic design. ” Then, nodding toward one of the new electronic screens, he added: “This is still a little . We’d like to know: Is the wind going to affect us? They could do little messages like that. ” At the other end of the waiting area, Ritu Narula, a lawyer heading to Washington, complained about legibility. “You can’t see the track number as easily” on the new screens, she said. “But we’ll get used to it. ” Did the new screens make the wait more pleasant or the lines shorter? Some remembered the architect Vincent J. Scully Jr. ’s famous line about the old Penn Station, demolished in the 1960s, as compared with the present one: “One entered the city like a god one scuttles in now like a rat. ” “I always feel like a rodent in there, getting from Point A to Point B,” Lorraine B. Diehl, the author of “The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station,” said from her apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. As for the departure screens, she said, “I can’t pretend it’s something I care about. ” “To me, the bigger picture has to be addressed,” she said. “We need a new station. ” | 0fake |
A Fifth Clinton Presidency? Hill, No! | 1real | |
Putin critic Navalny, freed from jail, resumes presidential campaign | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny held a political rally on Sunday, hours after being released from jail and pledged to continue his presidential campaign despite the authorities saying he is ineligible to stand. Navalny, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, was detained by police in late September and sentenced to 20 days in jail on charges of repeatedly violating laws by organizing public meeting and rallies. It was the third time he had been jailed this year, part of what he says is a pattern of Kremlin harassment designed to thwart his political ambitions. Russia s central election commission has declared him ineligible to run for president next year due to a suspended prison sentence, which he says was politically-motivated. Shrugging off that ban, the 41-year-old lawyer held a campaign rally in the provincial town of Astrakhan in southern Russia on Sunday evening, hours after walking free from jail. He said after the rally he would continue to campaign and had the right to take part in next year s election. We have more right to take part in the elections than all the other candidates combined, Navalny wrote on his website. Putin, 65, has for months declined to say whether he will run for what would be his fourth stint in the Kremlin, but is widely expected to do so. Opinion polls suggest he would comfortably win. One candidate who has declared her hand is TV personality Ksenia Sobchak who said last week she planned to run, offering liberal voters unhappy with Putin s rule someone to back, though she has little prospect of winning. Some opposition activists fret she is a Kremlin project designed to split the opposition, something she denies. Last month, commenting on rumors that Sobchak would run, Navalny complained she was being used by the Kremlin as a safe lightning conductor for voters dissatisfaction. But he struck a more conciliatory note on Sunday with TV Rain citing him as saying that everyone, including Sobchak, had the right to take part in the March election. | 0fake |
Wealthy White House staffers' finances detailed in new disclosures | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday released details of the personal finances of his staffers late on Friday, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka, confirming that he has surrounded himself with some very affluent advisers. White House ethics officials said the legally required disclosure documents provided a snapshot of assets and positions held by personnel when they first entered their new jobs at the White House, and before they started selling stocks and other assets that could pose conflicts of interest. The White House disclosed Gary Cohn, former Goldman Sachs president and now head of the White House National Economic Council, had assets worth at least $230 million, but possibly much more. Little information was given on several of his assets and only indicated they were worth more than $1 million. Cohn had income ranging from $48 million to nearly $77 million in the year preceding his engagement in the White House, though it could be much higher. Jared Kushner’s 54-page report – which included most of the assets and income of his wife Ivanka Trump - included scores of assets worth six- and seven-figures. The New York Times reported that the couple’s real estate and investment empire was worth as much as $741 million. Kushner held executive positions with 266 LLCs, corporations, groups and non-profits, which he has resigned from since January. Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern about potential conflicts of interest for Kushner, who like Trump is a New York real estate developer. Trump this week officially added his daughter Ivanka to his staff. She had a fashion business and was involved in her father’s global real estate development business, but stepped aside from managing the businesses when her father entered the White House. Senior adviser Steve Bannon’s pre-White House bank accounts, real estate and other holdings were valued at between $3.3 million and $12.6 million. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had assets of between $604,000 and $1.16 million and income of $1.42 million. About $566,000 of his income came from the Republican National Committee and the rest from his partnership in a Milwaukee law firm. Neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence’s assets were included in the documents. Trump has faced questions about conflicts of interest with his hotel and golf course businesses since his election in November. He has handed off control to his two oldest sons, but ethics watchdogs have complained that the arrangements do not go far enough to avoid conflicts, and have urged Trump to divest fully or set up a blind trust for his assets. Trump, a real estate magnate and television celebrity with no political experience before he was elected president, has brought in some high-net-worth people to advise him. For example, Reed Cordish, a Baltimore real estate developer before he become Trump’s technology adviser, disclosed pre-White House assets of between $92 million and $798 million. He had income of between $48 million and $55 million. “These are incredibly successful individuals, very high-net worth, very sophisticated complex asset structures, numerous sub LLCs, trusts and other items, all of which have to be worked through,” a senior White House ethics official told reporters before the data was released. Wealthy senior White House staff have to enter into ethics agreements where they agree to resign from positions and divest from assets. Copies of those agreements were not available. The White House said the independent Office of Government Ethics, which reviews financial disclosures to help executive branch officials avoid conflicts of interest, has classified about 25 percent of Trump White House staffers as having “extremely complex” reports, meaning the filers are very wealthy. In contrast, only a sliver of the staffers in former Democrat President Barack Obama’s White House fell into the “extremely complex” category, according to pie charts released by the White House. No numbers accompanied the charts. Almost three-quarters of the Obama White House filers had disclosure statements that were rated “simple” or “moderate” while only a third of the Trump filers were in those categories. Not all of Trump’s advisers were gold-plated before joining the government. Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, earned a relatively modest $240,000 from University of California-Irvine, with less than $1,000 in royalties from the book “Death by China” in the past year, and speaking fees from the Casket and Funeral Supply Association and other groups. Omarosa Manigault, who rose to fame on Trump’s reality show the Apprentice and now is a White House adviser, had a modest income under $100,000. The disclosures showed she is a beneficiary of a trust established by her late fiance, actor Michael Clarke Duncan, worth between $1 million and $5 million. Manigault is currently engaged to a Florida pastor. Forms show she received a wedding dress, veil and accessories worth $25,000 for an appearance on the reality show “Say Yes to the Dress.” (Corrects grammar in paragraph 9.) | 0fake |
Incredible Discovery: This Fruit Extract Killed Cancer in 48 Hours! | A study conducted at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Queensland, Australia has recently shed new light on what could become the next big cancer treatment: the blushwood berry.
Via AlternativeNews
This naturally occurring fruit contains compounds that began killing off cancer cells almost immediately when studied in the laboratory. The Guardian Reports Scientists have managed to destroy cancerous tumors by using an experimental drug derived from the seeds of a fruit found in north Queensland rainforests.
The drug, called EBC-46, was produced by extracting a compound from the berry of the blushwood tree, a plant only found in specific areas of the Atherton Tablelands. A single injection of the drug directly into melanoma models in the laboratory, as well as into cancers of the head, neck and colon in animals, destroyed the tumours long-term in more than 70% of cases, the study’s lead author, Dr Glen Boyle, said.
“In preclinical trials we injected it into our models and within five minutes, you see a purpling of the area that looks like a bruise,” Boyle, from the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute said.
“About 24 hours later, the tumour area goes black, a couple of days later you see a scab, and at around the 1.5 week mark, the scab falls off, leaving clean skin with no tumour there. The speed certainly surprised me.”
Researchers believe the drug triggers a cellular response which cuts off the blood supply to the tumor by opening it up. That’s why we see a bruise-like situation forming in the tumour,” Boyle said. “This seems to lead to an activation of the body’s own immune system which then comes in and cleans up the mess.”
It has been used by veterinarians in about 300 cases of cancer in companion animals including dogs, cats and horses. There was no evidence EBC-46 would be effective to treat cancers that had spread to other parts of the body, known as metastatic cancers, Boyle said.
The drug is being developed as a human and veterinary pharmaceutical through QBiotics, a subsidiary of the company which discovered the drug, called EcoBiotics. The company is also examining the potential for a blushwood plantation. Ethical approval was recently granted for phase 1 human clinical trials, but even if those proved successful, it was unlikely the drug would replace conventional chemotherapy treatment, Boyle said.
“Chemotherapy is still used because it is very effective for a lot of people,” he said. “But EBC-46 could perhaps be used in people who, for some reason, chemotherapy doesn’t work [for], or for elderly patients whose body can’t sustain another round of chemotherapy treatment.” The preclinical trial was funded by QIMR Berghofer and the National Health and Medical Research Council and the results were published in the journal PLOS One.
Healthy & Natural World Reports :
Blushwood Berries – Where they Come From Blushwood berries are the fruit of the blushwood tree, which is known to grow in only one region of the world: the rainforests of Far North Queensland, Australia. These tropical trees are not found anywhere else on the globe, but grow in abundance near Australia’s northeastern tip.
These particular trees need very niche conditions to thrive—conditions which can only be found in specific portions of Far North Queensland, Australia. Considering their usefulness as proven by the latest cancer research published in PLOS One , some are wondering if they could be grown in a greenhouse environment, so that people all over the world could benefit from their cancer-killing properties.
Blushwood Berries – What kind of Cancer they Eradicate The researchers at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, headed by Dr. Glen Boyle, used an experimental drug produced from the seeds of blushwood berries called EBC-46. They used this drug to treat spots of melanoma (the most deadly form of skin cancer) on dogs, cats and horses.
The subjects were diagnosed by veterinarians and given a poor prognosis, most being considered candidates for euthanasia prior to participating in the study. Amazingly, these animals that had been on death’s door prior to the study had their melanoma tumors disappear after treatment in the lab by Dr. Boyle and his team of scientists.
Tumors were Gone within 48 Hours When the EBC-46 was injected into the cancerous cells on the subjects, the tumors reacted by turning a dark color, then falling off. The derivative from the blushwood berry is thought to cut off oxygen supply to the cancer cells, allowing for the removal of tumors without the need for surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
The researchers reported that most of the subjects’ tumors—previously considered a lost cause by veterinarians—were gone within 48 hours of being injected with EBC-46. Under the microscope, the individual cancer cells began shriveling up and dying within mere moments of coming into contact with the EBC-46.
| 1real |
Bernie Sanders Meets President Obama and Pledges to Work to Defeat Donald Trump - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Senator Bernie Sanders met with President Obama on Thursday and said afterward that he would do everything within his power to stop Donald J. Trump from becoming president — and would work closely with Hillary Clinton to make that happen. After the meeting with Mr. Obama, which lasted more than an hour, Mr. Sanders gave no indication that he was ready to leave the race just yet, insisting that he would compete in next week’s primary contest here in Washington. However, he made clear that party unity was on his mind. “I will work as hard as I can, to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States,” Mr. Sanders told reporters, saying the Manhattan businessman “makes bigotry and discrimination the cornerstone of his campaign” and would be a “disaster” as commander in chief. He said he would continue fighting for the issues that animated his campaign, including enhancing Social Security benefits, college affordability and restoring the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. “These are the issues that we will take to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July,” Mr. Sanders said, declining to answer reporters’ shouted questions about whether he would leave the race. Shortly after their meeting, Mr. Obama endorsed Mrs. Clinton in a video. He also praised the campaign that Mr. Sanders ran. The visit came a day after the senator huddled with his team at his headquarters in Vermont to discuss the fate of his candidacy. Mr. Sanders, who requested the meeting with the president, pulled into the White House grounds at 10:56 a. m. after stopping at a nearby Peet’s Coffee for a scone. Mr. Obama and Mr. Sanders strolled down the colonnade next to the Rose Garden on their way into the Oval Office, chatting inaudibly and grinning broadly. Nearby, a thick line of cameras and cluster of microphones were assembled in the driveway outside the West Wing, where journalists peppered the Vermont senator with questions. Mr. Obama was trying to negotiate, however gently, with him to exit the Democratic race without inflicting damage on efforts to unite the party. “My hope is, is that over the next couple of weeks, we’re able to pull things together,” Mr. Obama said during a taping of an appearance on the “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Wednesday in New York. “There’s a natural process of everybody recognizing that this is not about any individual. ” Briefly posing for photographers before his meeting in the Capitol with Senator Harry Reid, the minority leader, Mr. Sanders ignored three questions about Mr. Obama’s endorsement of Mrs. Clinton. His face flushed, Mr. Sanders did not speak at all. But Mr. Reid gently scolded the assembled journalists for asking questions at what was supposed to be just a photo opportunity. After his meeting with Reid, Mr. Sanders made a quick exit through a back hall on his way to meet with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. He was also scheduled to meet with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. After Mrs. Clinton won Tuesday’s California primary, Mr. Sanders refused to quit the race, despite Mrs. Clinton’s wide margin of victory and the fact that she had the support of enough delegates for the nomination. But some of his supporters have started to walk away, prompting growing calls that it is time to bring the party together to defeat Mr. Trump. On Wednesday, Mr. Sanders sent out a email asking for contributions of $2. 70, and at 7 p. m. he will hold a rally outside of R. F. K. Stadium in Washington, where he will discuss his plans for getting big money out of politics and making public universities tuition free. | 0fake |
Brazil's Temer to leave hospital, return to Brasilia | BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Michel Temer was cleared to leave hospital in Sao Paulo on Friday and will return to Brasilia in the afternoon, his office said. Temer, 77, underwent minor surgery on Wednesday for a narrowing of his urethra. [L1N1OD2AC] | 0fake |
Warnings Issued After NRA Fans Plan To Open Carry Guns Near President Obama | Once again pro-gun forces in America are trying to intimidate anyone trying to reduce gun violence even the President himself.Ahead of President Obama s town hall about his executive action to reduce gun violence, warnings were issued about the likelihood of gun fans parading around outside the event brandishing their weapons.President Obama s town hall event on gun violence at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. on Thursday night is likely to provoke strong emotions. And the school s police chief is warning students and faculty that protesters could be carrying weapons on campus legally. Please be advised that it is lawful to carry firearms in Virginia, and this includes at public outdoor spaces on our campus, Thomas Longo, GMU s interim chief of police said in an email to the school s internal listserv. Though students are on winter break, the chief wrote that the University Police will have officers present to ensure that all protesters remain law-abiding. Over the last few years the so-called open carry movement has paraded around with weapons in public as a way for gun extremists to show off to everyone how supposedly macho they are.In some cases, these protesters have taken their weapons into restaurants, supermarkets, and major chain stores like Target. Understandably, most parents don t want to have guns swinging around while they re trying to buy their weekly groceries and some stores have begun to ban the open carry crowd.The NRA who chickened out when CNN invited them to this town hall has pushed the president as the gun confiscator-in-chief, when in reality at best Obama has pushed for expanded background checks and limits on gun magazines. Now those who have been teed off by this organization who pays its executives handsomely from their annual dues have been driven to brandish guns outside an event under heavy secret service protection.It isn t smart, it s dangerous, and at best it will continue to make the pro-gun side of the debate come across as unhinged extremists.Featured image via Wikimedia | 1real |
’Dems Own the Failed ObamaCare Disaster,’ Donald Trump Tweets - Breitbart | Donald Trump is using Twitter to criticize the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, on the same day President Obama is heading to Capitol Hill to huddle with Democrats about how to defend his signature legislation. [Republicans must be careful in that the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster, with its poor coverage and massive premium increases … … — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017, like the 116% hike in Arizona. Also, deductibles are so high that it is practically useless. Don’t let the Schumer clowns out of this web … — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017, massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess. It will fall of its own weight — be careful! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017, Trump’s tweeting comes after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Republicans for planning to repeal and replace the healthcare law. “It’s chaos rather than affordable care. Because once you repeal and don’t replace it with anything, lots of things happen. Costs go up. All the insurance companies and everybody else in charge are going to charge a lot more because they are not sure what’s going to happen,” Schumer stated during an interview with Politico. “You’re going to lose a lot of benefits, unless the Republicans put tens of billions of dollars down on the table. … They are like the dog who caught the bus. … Because you cannot repeal a plan and put nothing in its place. It doesn’t matter if you say the repeal won’t take place for a year or two years. ” Vice Mike Pence, like Obama, is also heading to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet with Republican lawmakers to discuss repealing and replacing the law. | 0fake |
Mistrust of Clinton on trade shadows her at Democratic convention | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When it comes to trade policy, Hillary Clinton is taking heat from all sides. At the Democratic National Convention this week, where Clinton will formally accept her party’s presidential nomination, opposition to trade deals was plastered on buttons, scrawled on signs and chanted by delegates. Many are worried by her past support of 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is still awaiting congressional approval. Things are unlikely to get any easier for her. Clinton has said her stance on trade has evolved, that she now opposes TPP because it does not do enough to protect jobs and that she wants changes in NAFTA, the trade deal her husband, Bill Clinton, signed during his presidency. But that allows her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, to question her credibility, painting Clinton’s evolving position as a desperate attempt to catch up with his tough stance. Trump has vowed to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate NAFTA, labeling it a job killer. The real estate developer has also said he would pull the United States out of the 12-nation TPP. Even among the Democrats there are doubts about Clinton’s resolve, particularly among supporters of her former Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, the U.S. Senator from Vermont whose opposition to trade deals featured prominently in his speeches during the Democratic primary season. The concern about trade was on display at the convention during a speech delivered on Wednesday night by Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia who once supported TPP. Delegates waved anti-TPP placards as Kaine spoke, even though he changed his position after joining Clinton’s ticket. Larry Cohen, a senior adviser to Sanders, said trade was “absolutely” a danger for Clinton in the race against Trump, saying she had to show her commitment to opposing it and not just “make pronouncements.” “The Trump campaign is smart enough that they will exploit this issue,” Cohen said. Sanders supporters have said they intend to keep fighting TPP through the November election via a new group called “Our Revolution” that is dedicated to championing issues that Sanders pushed on the campaign trail. The frustration that a post-recession recovery has failed to translate into better wages and opportunities for million of working Americans has become one of the leading themes of the 2016 presidential campaign. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken in March showed that 65 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans believed that trade cost some U.S. jobs even though many also agreed that trade helps to keep the costs of goods low. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, told Reuters that Clinton has told all of the major unions that endorsed her that she wanted to re-work NAFTA, echoing similar comments by Dennis Williams, president of the United Auto Workers union. Trumka said Clinton’s campaign has told him that she would take “a whole new approach” on trade and he said he was convinced that he could trust her on the issue. “She’s not giving lip service to it. She’s committed to it,” he said. Consulted about Clinton’s talks with unions regard NAFTA, a senior Mexican government official said the TPP already provided the United States with a platform to strengthen the rights of workers compared to NAFTA, although U.S. union activists say the new pact weakens rather than strengthens workers’ protection. “They have the solution in their hands, if they back it,” the official said, noting Congress had yet to ratify the TPP. The official added that it would be in Mexico’s interests to strengthen the rules of origin in TPP that determine which country a product comes from, but sometimes allow foreign components in it. He cautioned, however, that re-opening trade deals was a highly complex undertaking. Morris Fiorina, a political science professor at Stanford University, said Clinton should try to address workers’ concerns but avoid a wholesale dismissal of free trade. “Were I advising her I’d suggest she try to thread the needle - explain that free trade has great benefits for the country as a whole, but past and pending agreements do not adequately recognize and compensate the losers. She will remedy that failure,” Fiorina said. However, such nuanced approach may prove self-defeating in the light of Trump’s challenge and internal dissent. Robin Biro, a field director for the Democratic Party in Atlanta and a Clinton supporter, said TPP was a make or break issue for Clinton to attract Democrats who voted for Sanders in the primary. “She’s only going to get the support of the Bernie people if she comes out strongly on that issue,” Biro said. | 0fake |
How To Build A Cute Bee Hotel To Help Out Their Population » The Event Chronicle | It’s easier and even more fun than it seems.
By Brianna Acuesta
While most people know and talk about honeybees , which live in a self-made hive together, few people seem to be concerned about the species of bees that are actually native to North America and easier to help out. There are many other species, such as the mason bees and leafcutter bees, that are critical to pollination and are suffering from habitat loss.
Since these bees are solitary creatures, their presence wouldn’t be overwhelming and these hotels can be created in your backyard without posing a risk of attracting hundreds at a time. The native bees require a lot less to be comfortable, as Becky Griffin, community and school garden coordinator at the Center for Urban Agriculture and University of Georgia Extension for the Northwest District of Georgia, said,
“Native bees nest in hollow logs, dead trees and in the ground, and when the forest is clean cut, the native bees have fewer and fewer places to nest.”
As spaces to build their homes dwindle, so does the population of bees needed to keep the continent’s plants pollinated and healthy. By building a nesting site, you can contribute to the health of the population, and, according to Griffin, it’s very rewarding as well.
“Once you start noticing native bees, attracting them and learning about them, you’ll just want to sit on your bench in your garden and watch them work,” enthused Griffin. “They are amazing creatures!”
Below is a guide to building the hotel , with advice from Griffin and answers to frequently asked questions. Basic Hotel Design
The essential part of building the hotel is to have the right design down. You can decorate it any way you want, but there are a few guidelines to keep in mind. Some people use just one 4×4 block of wood with wholes drilled into it and mount it on a high enough post, while others use bamboo pieces with closed off ends of the tube. Others, as you’ll see below, have put together much bigger structures that aren’t necessary for your first hotel but definitely much appreciated by the bees. Here are the basic rules to follow: Use only untreated wood. Make sure the house has a roof to keep rain and other weather elements out of the holes. The house should be a minimum of three feet off the ground. To attract as many species of bees as possible, drill holes of varying sizes. Be sure not to drill all the way through the block as the holes must have a stopping point. Drill bits ranging from 2 mm to 10 mm in diameter are ideal. Beginners who might want to keep things really simple and who might have a limited amount of tools could simply use a 5/16 drill bit for all the holes in their first hotel. For a first hotel, 12-18 holes would be ideal. There are no hard-and-fast rules on how deep the holes should be — with the caveat that if you use a large piece of wood or create a “grand” framed hotel and the holes are too long, the bee may not enter it. Keeping entry holes no deeper than the length of a standard drill bit is a good rule of thumb. Remove splinters from the holes. When you drill the holes, take a piece of sandpaper and smooth out the holes. Small splinters may not seem like much to you, but rough edges in the entry holes could be a big deal and even fatal to a native bee, some of which are very tiny. Rough edges can even deter bees from using the hole. Whatever style of wood you’re using for your bee hotel will need to be replaced every two years or so because the bees want new tunnels in which they can lay their eggs. Resist the urge to paint the hotel. Natural wood is more attractive to the bees. You can have multiple bee hotels. Just be sure to space them out in your yard and garden so they aren’t clustered together. Frequently Asked Questions What kind of bees will visit the hotel?
Solitary bees, most commonly mason bees, will visit the hotel because they enjoy making their nests in hollow reeds or holes in wood. Different types of bees will use different materials to close up their holes once they have laid eggs, and they typically leave soon afterwards because they don’t rely on a social structure to rear their young. Fortunately, solitary bees are unlikely to ever sting you unless you accidentally step on one and get the stinger caught in your foot.
No honeybees will be visiting, as they live in hives with a complex social structure in a bee-made home. No honey will be produced in the hotel, and huge clusters of bees won’t be invading the area. Can I build it?
Considering the ease with which most people can use a hammer, nails, and drill, the answer is typically “Yes, you can build it.” If you want to make it easier on yourself when you’re starting out, you can use bamboo for the holes. When and where the place the hotel:
Since native bees nest in the spring, the bee hotel should be up and ready in February. If you live in a harsher region, you can wait until you’re able to dig a post hole into the ground when spring rolls around.
The bees prefer sunny locations, with the holes faced towards the sun and away from high traffic areas. The sun keeps the developing bees warm and it’s dangerous for bees to cross sidewalks or garden paths once they emerge. What to watch for:
Keep an eye out for the arrival of the bees, as females will flock to the hotel in the spring or early summer and enter the holes. You can watch them put their nest together and tell what kind of bee it is based on the materials they use. Mason bees use mud to seal their holes and leafcutter bees use leaves.
Though it will all happen behind closed doors (or closed mud/leaves, more accurately), the eggs the females have laid will hatch and eat the food that the female has left behind. They will then spin a cocoon and the fully-formed bee will emerge and chew its way through the mud or leaves to enter the real world. This takes about a year, so you’ll see them emerge the next spring. If there is no pollen or nectar plants nearby, they will likely move away to an area rich with the food they need. If you want to keep the bees in your yard, you can work with extension agents in your area to plant the right things to encourage bees to stay.
By checking with your local garden center, you can also find plants that are native to your area and likely to thrive and attract bees. Keep track of the types of bees you see in your garden to find patterns in their movements and preferences. How to measure success:
If you see sealed holes in your bee hotel, you know you’ve been successful. If you notice that holes of a particular size are used most often, you can add more holes of that size to future bee hotels or even renovate your current one. If you have the right nectar or pollen in your garden, you’ll see bees flock to them.
If you notice that during the summer one year after the holes were sealed that they are still sealed, then you have a problem that needs to be addressed. If there are tiny holes in the seal, then a parasite may have entered and eaten the larvae or bees. If there are no holes, a fungus could have killed the dwellers. The bees may have also been too cold if they are not faced towards the sun. Work with an extension agent to figure out what could have gone wrong.
For more in-depth instructions on ways to build a hotel, visit The Pollinator Garden.
Would you consider building a bee hotel? Please share, like, and comment on this article!
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Trump legal team delays filing leak complaint against Comey | (Reuters) - Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump are not likely to file their planned complaint this week against former FBI Director James Comey over disclosing details about conversations with the president, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said on Tuesday. A person close to the legal team said on Friday Trump’s chief personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, expected to file a complaint against Comey early this week to the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office. “I think it’s going to take a little longer,” Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the legal team, said on Tuesday. “It may well slip to next week.” Corallo also said the complaint may be filed to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility rather than its Office of Inspector General. Trump’s lawyers are sifting through additional information and preparing at least one submission, and a meeting scheduled for Wednesday may clarify the proper avenue for the complaint, he said. The president has responded to Comey’s testimony on Thursday to the Senate Intelligence Committee by denying that he tried to interfere with an FBI investigation, and calling the former FBI chief a leaker. In his testimony, Comey said that after Trump fired him last month he gave a memo he wrote about a meeting with the president to a friend in order to have its contents disclosed to the media. In a statement following the testimony, Kasowitz accused Comey of leaking “privileged” information. Some legal experts have said the information disclosed was not privileged because Trump himself had already publicly discussed their conversations. A former high-ranking Justice Department official familiar with how the inspector general handles complaints said any filing by Kasowitz would most likely be treated as part of an existing investigation into Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. “This could end up as a footnote in a longer report,” the former official said. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, said he believes the Comey disclosure violated FBI regulations but said the Office of Professional Responsibility may be reluctant to look into an disciplinary allegation against a former rather than current employee. “The challenge for the Trump team is to find an office that will get to the merits,” said Turley. John Lavinsky, a spokesman for the Inspector General, declined to comment. | 0fake |
Grasping At Straws (The Illusion of Choice) | Art by Dan Lacey via Etsy (See his work here)Zen GardnerIt s pitiful to watch the US election gyrations in the midst of this calculated societal breakdown. Americans have historically had such guts and strength, while albeit pitiful little is left, as they direct their vestigial frustration in such futile directions in the throes of their certain demise.So many have attached their grievances and hence hopes for change to this new set of puppet false promises it s absolutely not just alarming, but seriously disturbing. The very nature of looking to others to change their circumstances, never mind via such obvious psychopathic, self-serving, self-appointed dupes and character actors, is just overwhelming.The fundamental full-frontal reality that they seem hypnotically destined to participate in such an obviously manipulated environment truly boggles the mind.The same can be said for the sleeping and compliant European population, but I don t think it s quite as vast as the American phenomenon we re witnessing but it s getting closer. Either example, it s clearly a pathetic display of uninformed ignorance and subservient compliance on a massive, disheartening scale.When will people wake up to the obvious truth of what s transpiring around them and realize their innate power of personal manifestation and all it would entail?All 0f this is an ongoing and ever present challenge, but apparently part of the learning process we re undergoing here. It s No Easy TransitionGranted, such a complex interactive world seems to have no simple solution, but I contend it essentially does. When individuals wake up to their true power everything takes on new dimensions of reality. Not only does our active role become manifest, but the futility of reacting to the paradigm that s been laid out to be our assumed playing ground inherently reveals itself.And begins to lose its power and thus crumbles.Not an easy transition to make for the system-ingrained mindset. But it s happening. Why? Because the system itself is breaking down and showing its illusory nature, day by day, staged event by falsely reported announcement and propaganda piece. The so-called news is nothing but one shallow, misleading and disempowering non sequitur news story at a time.It s not an easy process to go through, waking up to the fact that we ve been literally bullshitted to death for so long. People understandably don t react well most of the time to this news. Some take it on and see the deep significance and sit back and learn to digest it and draw conscious conclusions. However, most try to bury this reality, or just get mad and even psychotic to some degree which leads to the mass hysteria we re witnessing today.In a way I can t blame them yet I can. The voice of conscience is there for all. It appears continually. Whether we listen to and pursue its beckoning call is a choice, one heart signal at a time. It s not once and forever gone it continually appears, giving opportunities right, left and center despite the misinformation and the dystopic psycho-chemical-electromagnetic and even nuclear storm we live in.The results are before our eyes of what people have currently chosen on the macro scale. Quite sad to behold in a mass spectrum knowing these are individuals making bad decisions, but then look at the shining examples of those who have taken up the torch for truth and consciousness!Therein lies the difference.Don t Circle the Drain with the Rest of ThemIt does no good, intrinsic or otherwise, to ride the mass wave of further willful ignorance and eventual destruction as if participating in some act of resonant compassion.As real as that subconscious impulse is it s crap, and full on programmed co-dependent fear-of-arising-as-an-authentic-self form of self disempowered thinking!Snap out of it. We are each majestic manifestations of Universe in co-creative action. This subject is way deep with extremely empowering and revelatory notions but one thing is certain. We are not who they say we are. We are not destined to be tooled about by others and forced to petition these entities for changes they have no intention of implementing while giving us the illusion we can make any kind of difference in their paradigm.It s time for truly revolutionary change based on radically transcendent thinking and resultant realizations.And to have the guts to venture into the realms where we can manifest this true revolution for the sake of our planet and co-inhabitants.Are you up to it? Get there and be there.It s sure time.Take up the call.Love, ZenZenGardner.comFor more articles and interviews by Zen go to his Timeline.READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files | 1real |
SHOCKING VIDEO! SWARM OF OVER 20,000 AFRICAN FREELOADERS Flooding Mexico To Get Into The US…#OpenBordersHillary | HOLY SMOKES! WE ARE EUROPE! TAKE A LOOK AT THE DEMANDS MADE BY THE AFRICAN ECONOMIC MIGRANTS WHO DEMAND MORE MONEY AND JOBS FROM THEIR HOSTS IN BERLIN THESE ARE NOT REFUGEES BUT FREELOADERS! Mexico s National Migration Institute has extended 12,500 permits to these African migrants that allow them to travel freely. Excelsior reports the amount of Africans entering Mexico is set to exceed the usual 800,000 Guatemalans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans who enter the country seeking to reach America s border.Mexico is not only being inundated with African migrants but also with Haitians. In the border town of Tijuana, 300 Haitians arrived on Sunday alone.There have been almost 10,000 foreigners in the border town of Tijuana in the past five months, and activists project this could reach 16,000. There has been violence due to this influx in foreigners and police have had to intervene. Maria del Rosario Lozada Romero, director of migrant care in the area, told Excelsior, They themselves cause this disorder, they don t cooperate, and they hit women. More than 4,300 Haitians have entered the San Diego border crossing of San Ysidro between October 2015 and August 31, 2016, the San Diego Union Tribune reports. The Haitians along with the African migrants typically originate from Brazil where they were working or just took a boat to with the purpose of reaching the US. South American countries have liberal immigration policies allowing the migrants to reach Central America with ease.These immigrants either seek asylum in the United States or cross over illegally. Immigrants from Haiti along with Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan can live free of risk of deportation in the United States due to Obama administration policies.Read more: Daily Caller | 1real |
Several wounded after blast hits bus in Turkey's Izmir | ANKARA (Reuters) - Seven people were wounded when an explosion hit a shuttle bus carrying prison guards in the Turkish coastal province of Izmir on Thursday, and authorities were investigating a possible terrorist attack, the local mayor said. The bus was hit as it passed a garbage container at around 7:40 a.m. (0440 GMT), Levent Piristina, the mayor of Izmir s Buca district, said on Twitter. Photographs he posted on social media showed its windows blown out and its windscreen shattered. The force of the blast appeared to have blown out some of the bus s panels, and the nearby street was littered with debris. We are getting information from police sources and they are focusing on the possibility of a terrorist attack, he said, adding that all seven wounded were in good condition. Both state-run TRT Haber and private broadcaster Dogan news agency said the explosion was caused by a bomb placed in the garbage container that exploded when the shuttle bus passed. No one immediately claimed responsibility. Both Kurdish militants and jihadist Islamic State militants have carried out suicide and bomb attacks in major Turkish cities in recent years. Kurdish militants have previously targeted buses carrying security personnel. In December, a bomb killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded more than 50 when it ripped through a bus carrying off-duty military personnel in the central city of Kayseri, an attack the government blamed on Kurdish militants. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union, has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. The outlawed PKK wants autonomy for Turkey s largely Kurdish southeast. | 0fake |
Despite derision, Britain's PM May might well be able to carry on... for now | LONDON (Reuters) - It was meant to silence her critics, but by pledging to lead the Conservative Party into the next election, British Prime Minister Theresa May instead unleashed a wave of derision from her foes. Still, with no challenger in sight and a party wary of a leadership fight, the 60-year-old prime minister is probably safe for now. The London Evening Standard, now edited by George Osborne, the Conservative sacked by May as finance minister when she became prime minister last year, described her pledge to run again as Like the Living Dead in a second-rate horror film . The premiership of Theresa May staggers on oblivious. This was not supposed to be in the script. Others chimed in. Party grandee Michael Heseltine, who was also sacked as a government adviser by May for rebelling over Britain s planned exit from the European Union, deadpanned: I don t think she s got a long term. And another critic, Nicky Morgan, who lost her position as education minister when May entered power after the Brexit referendum last year, said it would be difficult for May to lead the Conservatives into the next election due in 2022. We have got to think about how we renew our franchise, she told the BBC. But many Conservatives kept silent. After being bruised this year when May called an early election only to see her party lose its parliamentary majority, several said keeping the party in power was the main priority. And with no one willing to challenge May, it made more sense to keep her as leader to guide Britain through what could become a messy Brexit. There are people who are fed up and hurt after the election, and there s muttering, but not a lot of them are muttering publicly. The loudest ones are those who have no chance of getting big jobs, a veteran party member said. But no one is putting their hand up to take over. There s no appetite from any of the big players ... Her future is all about Brexit. Asked during a visit to Japan whether she wanted to lead the Conservative Party into the next election, May said: Yes ... I m here for the long term and it s crucial, what me and my government are about is not just delivering on Brexit, we are delivering a brighter future for the United Kingdom. I m not a quitter, she said. She hoped to silence weeks of media reports that she could leave office as early as the annual party conference in October, an event where political careers have been made or broken in the past. But instead of increasing her authority, damaged by the June election, she attracted derision from critics in her own party as well as the opposition. The Labour Party was quick to accuse May of deluding herself . Theresa May leads a zombie government, said Jon Trickett, a senior member of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn s team. The sooner the public has the chance to vote out her and her government the better for our country s future. But it is the threat from Labour, which has seen its standing in the polls increase since the election, that in part might keep May in her position for longer than some think. Few Conservatives dare risk doing anything that might trigger an early parliamentary election and hand a chance of victory to Corbyn. Also, despite several leading Conservatives thought to be eyeing her job, none appears willing to step in now when Britain is engaged in difficult talks to leave the European Union, which officials say are making little or no progress. The veteran party member, who discussed May s prospects on condition of anonymity, said he thought May was sincere in pledging to stay on until the next election, despite the chorus of calls from foes within the party for her to step aside. She told the truth. She s up for staying on. But it all depends on Brexit, the party member said. If she comes out of it with jobs up, and is seen to have told the EU to get off and prospects are good ... well you can go hero to zero and vice versa. | 0fake |
Hateful Pastor: Kill Girl Scout Leaders Because They Are ‘Promoting Homosexuality’ | Gay-hating, Ted Cruz-loving Pastor Kevin Swanson is back, and he is calling for more executions. First, he used the bible as a reason to suggest the execution of LGBT people, and now, he s using that same book and reasoning to say that Girl Scout leaders have to be killed for you guessed it promoting homosexuality. Swanson took aim at the popular Harry Potter series of books as well as the Girl Scouts, saying that they should be banned because of Jesus s teachings, that we must be against movies that promote homosexuality or organizations that promote homosexuality. These comments came during Swanson s hateful radio program, and he rounded them out with: You ve got to take what He (Jesus) says and you have to apply it. This isn t the first time Kevin Swanson has suggested that death is the solution to homosexuality. During his National Religious Liberties Conference, where he shared the stage with none other than GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, Swanson said: There are instances in which both the Old and New Testament speak to the matter with unbelievable clarity. There s not to be any debate about it. You know what that sin is it s the sin of homosexuality.In fact in Romans 1 Paul affirms that this particular sin is worthy of death. The Old and New Testament, I believe both speak with authority and we outta receive it. You can watch video of that particular rant, below:This guy is literally calling for genocide of an entire subset of the American population. He is also aligned with a serious contender for the presidency of the United States. That should frighten any sane, reasonable person, regardless of political affiliation.You can listen to the audio of these vile remarks below, via Right Wing Watch:[soundcloud url= https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/251830295 params= color=ff5500 width= 100% height= 166 iframe= true /]Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Bernie Sanders digs in | Washington (CNN) The stakes of Bernie Sanders' take-it-to-the-convention strategy are rapidly rising as fresh polls underscore Hillary Clinton's vulnerabilities and predict a tight race between her and Donald Trump in the fall.
After months of talk about the potential of a contested Republican convention, Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, is quickly consolidating his party's support -- something Clinton is unable to do with Sanders still in the race.
With only a few major nominating contests left, including California and New Jersey on June 7, Sanders lacks a credible mathematical path to overhauling Clinton's wide lead in pledged delegates. And with polls showing Clinton's general election advantage over Trump evaporating, a lingering fracture in the Democratic party could be perilous for its chances to keep the White House.
Still, Sanders is not heeding calls from some Democrats to get out of the race -- or at least cool his rhetoric during the final weeks of the primary season. Instead, he kept up his blistering criticism of Clinton over the weekend and deepened his feud with the party establishment, including endorsing the primary challenger to Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
"The last I heard is that we are a democratic country, and that elections are about vigorous debates over the issues. Secretary Clinton and I disagree," Sanders told Jake Tapper Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "What the Democratic leadership has got to understand is that not all of my supporters go to these fancy fundraising dinners. They're working people who are hurting now, who want real change in the economy."
He added: "I hope the Democratic leadership understands they have to open up the process, bring those people in."
Sanders acknowledged in the interview that he has a "very, very uphill fight" in his quest to overtake Clinton, given that he has won 46% of pledged delegates so far and she has won 54%. But he rebuked Democratic superdelegates -- party office holders and lawmakers who can vote however they choose at the convention -- for overwhelmingly coming out for Clinton early on in what he said was an "anointment" by the establishment and big money interests.
Clinton's failure to finally put away the Sanders campaign is grating on the former secretary of state.
"I will be the nominee for my party,'' Clinton told CNN's Chris Cuomo in an interview last week. "That is already done, in effect. There is no way I won't be.''
On Sunday, she said there will be an "obvious need of us to unify the party" once she becomes the presumptive nominee.
"I will certainly do my part, reaching out to Sen. Sanders, reaching out to his supporters," she said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "And I expect him to do his."
The internal conflict comes at a time when polls show that Trump is getting a dividend from closing out the Republican primary race, and setting up what could be a close election against Clinton in November.
A Fox News poll last week showed Trump leading Clinton 45% to 42%, findings that were within the survey's margin of error. Meanwhile, a New York Times/CBS News national survey released Thursday had Clinton up by six points.
Quinnipiac University polls in swing states Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania this month also had the rivals effectively neck-and-neck.
Polls this far out from a general election cannot offer a reliable picture of what will happen in November. But they can shape the political environment in which the early stages of the race evolves and, if they continue to show Trump gaining in strength, are likely to increase pressure on Sanders to bring the Democratic Party together.
But Sanders does not see such polls as an argument that he should get out of the race or dial back attacks on Clinton. In fact, he sees them as proof that he would be a superior general election candidate to the former first lady -- most polls show him leading Trump.
In the NBC interview, Clinton suggested Sanders simply hasn't been subjected to the rough and tumble of politics the way she has.
It's "fair to say that I have been vetted and tested, and I think that that puts me in a very strong position," she said.
Referring to Sanders, she said, "let me say that I don't think he's had a single negative ad ever run against him."
Sanders disputed the notion that he is only doing better than Clinton because he has not had to endure the years of partisan warfare that have shredded her approval ratings.
"Any objective assessment of our campaign versus Clinton's campaign, I think, will conclude we have the energy, we have the excitement, we have the young people, we have the working people, we can drive a large voter turnout, so that we not only win the White House, but we retain, regain control of the Senate, do well in the House and in governor's chairs up and down the line," Sanders told Tapper.
Latest polls clearly show that the lingering Democratic Party divisions are a challenge for Clinton.
The Washington Post/ABC poll released Sunday showed that in a match-up equation with Trump, Clinton currently gets 86% of Democratic voters, meaning that a slice of the party coalition that is not yet sold on her as nominee.
Making a decision to leave a primary race or to tone down attacks on a rival who appears headed for victory is the toughest choices any candidate faces. It is a particularly acute dilemma for Sanders, given that he has won millions of votes, ignited a populist uprising in the Democratic Party that no one saw coming and is basking in an unprecedented reception to his democratic socialist ideas that left him in the political wilderness for years in the Senate.
He and his campaign team have dismissed the idea that he could wreak lasting damage on Clinton if she becomes the nominee, saying he will do whatever it takes to ensure that Trump does not win the presidency. But if his arguments about the process of the Democratic primary race leave the impression that he has been unfairly treated and that Clinton is somehow not the legitimate nominee, the task of uniting the party becomes far more difficult.
That's where Sanders' clash with Wasserman Schultz is particularly concerning to some Democrats. The Vermont senator's campaign has consistently accused the DNC chairwoman of tilting the race in favor of Clinton and criticized the scheduling of debates on Saturday nights when television audiences are lower, and the closed primaries that bar independents in big states like New York.
Sanders is now backing Wasserman Schultz's primary opponent in her Florida district, Tim Canova, and left no doubt about the strengths of his feelings about her on Sunday.
"Well, clearly, I favor her opponent," Sanders told Tapper. "His views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman Schultz's." "In all due respect to the current chairperson. If (I was) elected president, she would not be reappointed to be chair of the DNC."
Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver also sent out a fundraising email to supporters Sunday seeking contributions for Canova.
For all the sudden handwringing in Democratic circles, it's still likely that Clinton will enjoy her own boost in the polls once she finally becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee similar to the one Trump is enjoying now.
For now, veteran Democrats appear to be ready to give Sanders some room. But the clock is ticking.
"After (Clinton) has actually won, after she actually has enough delegates to win the nomination, I think Bernie needs to think about his legacy," said Mark Alderman, a top Democratic Party donor who was part of President Barack Obama's transition team. "Bernie is in the middle of the tsunami -- he doesn't have any perspective yet. It will take a little time. Unfortunately, he only has a little time. He has got to get it together by July." | 0fake |
Trump FREAKING OUT Over The Port-A-Potties At Inauguration For The DUMBEST Reason (IMAGE) | We already know Donald Trump is conceited, but now he might be bringing his fragile ego and worrisome habits to a whole new level.With the Inauguration only days away, many people are working diligently to prepare the nation s Capitol for the event. This includes, but is not limited to, getting all the port-a-potties in their designated locations.Well, one passerby caught something on camera and posted it to Twitter. The image was of a worker taking blue painter s tape and putting it over the name of the port-a-potty company. The name of the company? Don s Johns. A Washington DC staple if you ve been to any event there, and was even at President Obama s inaugurations.Here s an image of the name of the company being covered:All the port-a-johns at the Capitol are having the "Don" in Don's Johns taped over. I guess to avoid confusion. pic.twitter.com/FD5Jqjw9HO Tim Krepp (@timkrepp) January 13, 2017According to The Associated Press: Workers preparing for the inauguration Jan. 20 have taped over the name of the company Don s Johns that has long supplied portable restrooms for major outdoor events in the nation s capital.Virginia-based Don s Johns calls itself the Washington area s top provider of portable toilet rentals. But the name apparently strikes too close to home for organizers of the inauguration of Donald John Trump.Workers have placed blue tape over the company name on dozens of portable restrooms installed near the Capitol for the inauguration. That s right, it looks as though, but hasn t been confirmed, that Trump is covering up the name of the port-a-potty because it bears a striking resemblance to his name. And heaven forbid a port-a-potty on Inauguration Day bear the name of the new POTUS.The funniest part of all this? It s kind of obvious and now more attention has been brought to the company name. No one was likely to notice, and now everyone will. Well done, Trump.Featured Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
Armed Dakota Access Contractor Accused Of Trying To Infiltrate Water Protectors | An armed Dakota Access security contractor confronted indigenous water protectors fighting the construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota. He had an assault rifle, which he pointed at the water protectors, and he wore a bandana over his face. He was arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs police and later released without charge.
In video aired by “Democracy Now!”, as host Amy Goodman described, the man carrying the rifle, who has been identified as Kyle Thompson, points a rifle “at the protectors as he attempts to flee into the water.”
“A Standing Rock Sioux tribal member says he saw the man driving down Highway 1806 toward the main resistance camp with an AR-15 rifle on the passenger side of his truck,” Goodman reported. “Protectors chased down his truck and then pursued him on foot in efforts to disarm him.”
“Protectors said inside the man’s truck they found a DAPL security ID card and insurance papers listing his vehicle as insured by DAPL. That’s the Dakota Access pipeline,” according to Goodman.
Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, witnessed the encounter between the armed contractor and water protectors. He said on “Democracy Now!”:
It was a very terrifying moment for a lot of us watching, I mean, to see this man pulling an assault rifle at our water protectors. And I think that—many blessings and gratitude to some of the military veterans within our security, from within our Oceti Sakowin camp, who stepped up to negotiate and to de-escalate this man, to really talk to him to make sure that he did not hurt anybody, until the Bureau of Indian Affairs police officers could show up.
Thompson appeared on the scene about the same time that hundreds of police with militarized equipment surrounded a newly formed camp called the 1851 Treaty Camp, which was setup by water protectors to reclaim “unceded Dakota territory affirmed as part of the Standing Rock Reservation in the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1851.”
Sacred Stone Camp, which has led indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline, reported that police cleared blockades, attacked water protectors with pepper spray and concussion grenades, and used shotguns to fire rubber bullets. A sound cannon was also deployed against water protectors as well, as the police brutally tore down the encampment.
Dakota Access denies Thompson was working for the company, however, Thompson posted on Facebook and claimed he was “doing his job to photograph burning company equipment when he was confronted by demonstrators,” according to APTN National News .
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe apparently claims Thompson fired off shots while Thompson vehemently denies that any shots were ever fired. He maintains FBI agents, who took him into custody, could back up his story.
However, Thompson’s story becomes incredibly suspicious, as he insists the water protectors “had knives and were dead set on using those knives.” He says a water protector fired a flare.
The video of Thompson’s confrontation in the water definitely does not show any knife-wielding water protectors trying to attack him.
What is troubling is the fact that he was not dressed in a manner that would clearly indicate he was a security contractor for DAPL. He looked like an infiltrator. One wonders what would have happened if he made it to the 1851 Treaty Camp and engaged in disruptive behavior that the police could then use to justify the brute force used against water protectors.
It is unknown what company Thompson worked for, but he was previously deployed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Separately, another suspicious act against the indigenous water protectors occurred overnight on October 29, when a fire spread near the Oceti Sakowin camp.
“There was some mysterious incident of a vehicle that came out of nowhere, that was almost acting as a distraction, was spinning doughnuts in the middle of the road, and then it sped off to the south,” Goldtooth shared on “Democracy Now!”. “And immediately after that, flames were seen on top of the hill to the west. There’s documented footage [of] what appears to be a drip line, which is from what I understand, is a technique used in firefighting. I mean, it was very, very clear that that brush fire that happened was an act of arson by unknown individuals.”
“Given the recent events with the Dakota Access worker, given the escalation of law enforcement, that, you know, a lot of fingers are pointing towards Dakota Access as being a culprit behind this late fire. And thank god that the wind was pushing away from the camp. The fire spread pretty large.”
The post Armed Dakota Access Contractor Accused Of Trying To Infiltrate Water Protectors appeared first on Shadowproof .
| 1real |
MEDIA IGNORES POST ON FACEBOOK From Man Who Threatened To Blow Up CA Mosque: “Hillary Would Make A Great President” | Of course in their blind rage for the conservative Right, the media did everything in their power to blame this sick person s actions on who else the GOP frontrunner and one of the Tea Party favorites, Donald J. Trump The mainstream media are reporting that a Bay Area plumber who allegedly planned to bomb a California mosque was a Donald Trump supporter though he explicitly supported Hillary Clinton.On Sunday, police arrested 55-year-old William Celli on suspicion of possessing an explosive device and making criminal threats, CBS San Francisco reported. A bomb squad detonated a device at his house. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) cheered the arrest.CBS elaborated further: On Facebook, Celli repeatedly praised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose plan to bar any Muslims from entering the United States has drawn criticism even as he continues to rise in the polls. The Huffington Post and other left-wing sites played up Celli s support of Trump, implying that Trump was responsible for propelling bigotry and white domestic terrorism into the mainstream of political debate.What the media left out, however, is that Celli also praised Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton.In one post, Celli wrote: Hillary Would make a great president. If she would commit to what she is hiding. But she has to crucify the president. Then her run for the White house is over. Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
More Migrants Pitch Tents on Paris Streets as Calais Camp Shuts | More Migrants Pitch Tents on Paris Streets as Calais Camp Shuts Ingrid Melander, Reuters, October 28, 2016
The number of migrants sleeping rough on the streets of Paris has risen by at least a third since the start of the week when the “Jungle” shanty town in Calais was evacuated, officials said on Friday.
Along the bustling boulevards and a canal in a northeastern corner of Paris, hundreds of tents have been pitched by migrants–mostly Africans who say they are from Sudan–with cardboard on the ground to try and insulate them from the autumn chill.
While the presence of migrants there is not new, it has grown substantially this week, Colombe Brossel, Paris deputy mayor in charge of security issues, told Reuters.
“We have seen a big increase since the start of the week. Last night, our teams counted 40 to 50 new tents there in two days,” Brossel said, adding there was now a total of 700 to 750.
This means there are some 2,000-2,500 sleeping in the area, up from around 1,500 a few days before, she said.
{snip}
After years as serving as an illegal base camp for migrants trying to get to Britain, the “Jungle” at Calais was finally bulldozed this week and the more than 6,000 residents of the ramshackle camp near the English channel were relocated to shelters around France.
{snip}
Ama, a 24-year-old Sudanese who is six months pregnant, said she had come to Paris from Calais, but that was months ago.
“I was in Calais before but I did not find the route (to Britain),” she said. “I couldn’t stay over there being pregnant, it was too hard.”
Deputy Mayor Brossel said it was up to the central government, and not city authorities, to act.
“These people must be sheltered,” she said.
{snip} | 1real |
Lebanon president seeks diplomatic help on PM resignation: Al-Manar TV | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun is seeking help from diplomats to uncover the mystery surrounding ex-Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri s resignation, al-Manar TV reported on Thursday. Meetings with ambassadors aim to ask for help in clarifying the circumstances that led to the resignation of Hariri, who has yet to return to Lebanon, an official source told Reuters. | 0fake |
Comment on Links 11/6/16 by susan the other | by Yves Smith
Dear patient readers,
Lambert and I recognize that the caliber of reporting from both the MSM and independent news outlets has in many cases moved in a crazypants direction as Election Day nears. Unfortunately, the commentariat has taken far too much of this up, as in has featured links to dodgy stories and theories and has treated them with far more dignity than they warrant.
We have shut down comments entirely when the quality has decayed too far or they have become too fractious. We hope not to have to do that, but in the last week alone, we’ve had to rip out two entire comment threads, something we are extremely loath to do. That sort of thing should happen at most once a year, not with anything approaching this frequency.
This site has policy impact. We have spent far too many years building that to put it at risk. We lose credibility with some of the discussions that have been taking place recently. Please use better discernment as to whether the topic you’d like to chew over really belongs here, as opposed to Facebook or Zero Hedge.
At Last, a Black History Museum New York Review of Books (Kevin C)
Playboy model charged over locker room ‘body-shaming’ image BBC. Don’t go to a gym if you are so precious that you can’t look at the bodies of normal people. | 1real |
SO TALENTED! HILLARY CLINTON TALKS TO THE DEAD (VIDEO) | I forgot about the claim from Hillary Clinton that she had actually talked to Eleanor Roosevelt. Crazy! Nobody tells stories like this better than Rush Limbaugh Transcript from Rush Limbaugh: It appears in Page Six of the New York Post, and the headline is: If Hillary Makes it to the White House, So Will Huma Abedin. Richard Johnson has the story. You know what it s about? It s about the fact that they ve already planned the bedroom in the White House Huma is going to use.She s going to live there with Hillary! She s going to live in the White House in the same bedroom on the second floor residence Let me just read it to you. This is OrbMagazine, by the way, Richard Johnson gets the details from. Richard Turley is the writer in OrbMagazine. After 20 years as Hillary s gatekeeper, no one else could screen the calls and decide who gets access as ably as she does. Orb predicts Clinton, in emulation of her hero Eleanor Roosevelt, will install Huma in the second-floor bedroom occupied during the FDR administration by Lorena Hickok Do you know who Lorena Hickok was? (interruption) You ever heard of Lorena Hickok? (interruption) You have? (interruption) You tell me. You ve heard of Lorena ? (interruption) All right, here you go. Snerdley s on the case. Huma will sleep in the second-floor bedroom occupied during the FDR administration by Lorena Hickok, the journalist who was Mrs. Roosevelt s soul mate and intimate companion.' Yes, indeed. So Hillary s got a hero, heroine. It s Eleanor Roosevelt.Remember, you people that were Maybe you Millennials, you may not know this. I doubt that you have been told this in your education, and I doubt you ve run across this at Yahoo! News or Yahoo Parenting. But do you know that back in 1992/1993, Hillary Clinton actually (late at night, early in the morning) walked the halls of the White House and said she spoke with Eleanor Roosevelt s ghost, and that Eleanor Roosevelt guided her, gave her advice, mentored her?Eleanor Roosevelt s ghost! While Hillary prowled the empty halls of the White House. (interruption) Some people think I m kidding? You know, they might. You re right, Snerdley. I m not kidding. For those of you Millennials everything I said dead on. Hillary admitted to this. We only know this because Hillary told us, and she told us this proudly. And, by the way, the Drive-By Media back then thought it was wonderful.Nobody said, What! You re running around talking to Eleanor Roosevelt s ghost? Nobody said that. Everybody said, Wow, that s cool! Holy smokes! What did she tell you? And Hillary had an answer. What Eleanor say? She told me to hang in there. She told me It s incredible. You re right; there s probably some Millennials listening who think I m just totally making this up. I m not. It happened.Anyway, they ve already got Huma in the same bedroom that Eleanor Roosevelt s intimate companion slept in. (interruption) Well, apparently, just like FDR got left out in the cold! What is this soul mate and intimate companion Lorena Hickok ? What about FDR? (interruption) Well, I know he had his own soul mate and intimate companion and Weiner has a phone. He has his own soul mate and intimate companion. It will work!Via: live leak | 1real |
Top Intelligence Committee Member: ‘No Evidence’ To Back Up Trump’s Bogus Wiretap Claims | FBI Director James Comey met with the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday to discuss Donald Trump s claim that former President Obama had his wires tapped at Trump Tower during the election. A day later, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee said that he hasn t seen one shred of evidence to back up Trump s bogus claim.Rep. Adam Schiff is a member of what is known as the Gang of Eight, which is the group of House members who are privy to the most classified information out there. Schiff said that Thursday s meeting with Comey didn t provide the committee with any evidence whatsoever that Trump s phones had been tapped by Obama or anyone else. I think when Sean Spicer isn t even willing to talk about it, you know there s a real problem, Schiff told CNN.Rep. Devin Nunes, who is the Republican heading up the intelligence committee, said earlier this week that he hadn t seen any evidence to support Trump s wiretapping claims either. After meeting with Comey, he said that nothing had changed.Comey has said previously that Trump is full of it when it comes to the allegations of his phones being tapped. Schiff thinks Comey will answer questions regarding this fiasco during a committee hearing scheduled for later this month. He certainly is prepared for the question, Schiff told CNN. I don t see any reason why he wouldn t answer it. He might even welcome the opportunity. Trump decided last weekend that he would get on Twitter and accuse Obama of tapping the phones at Trump Tower, even if he had no evidence to back up this allegation.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1real |
Oops! Trump’s Top Surrogate Can’t Even Vote For Him – Because He’s a Democrat (VIDEO) | Donald Trump has had a hell of a week having to accept that his closest friends and loved ones are abandoning him in his mission to single-handedly destroy America.Earlier this week, Trump s own kids Ivanka and Don broke the news that they won t be voting for their father in the primary. Today, another harsh blow was delivered to Trump his top surrogate, Michael Cohen, has just revealed that he won t be voting for the business mogul either because he s actually registered as a Democrat!Cohen made this confession on Thursday night to CNN hosts John Berman and Kate Bolduan, who were absolutely shocked by this news. In speaking about RNC chair Reince Priebus and the nominating process, Cohen let it slip that he wasn t really on Trump s side after all. Cohen, who is actually the executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, complained about the so-called rigged delegate rules and said: I think Reince Priebus has an obligation not just to the RNC but really to the American people. . He s supposed to keep the Republican Party unified. That s what his job really is. And he s not doing that, and he s doing a terrible job at it. Do I personally, as a voter, as a supporter of Mr. Trump, believe that the process is rigged? I do. I think that the establishment does not want Mr. Trump to be the nominee. Me, personally, I m actually a registered Democrat. So I don t really care about Reince Priebus. Berman and Bolduan hardly expected this response and freaked out. Berman cried, Wait! You can t vote?! and Bolduan did a double take, asking, You re not voting for Donald Trump?! Cohen pretty much dismissed their questions and simply replied, Not in the primary. Amused, Berman recalled how strange it was that Trump s biggest so-called supporters wouldn t actually be supporting him at all. Berman said, So his kids can t vote, and you can t vote in the primary. Cohen tried to cover up how baffling the entire situation was by launching into a bizarre conversation about how he wished Trump could be his father. Cohen said: Well, I d like to be one of his children. I d like to be one of them, but no, I m not voting in the primary. I m a registered Democrat. Berman still couldn t get over how the candidate s own family and supporters wouldn t be voting for him. Berman shook his head and said: Man, he s losing votes from his family and the people who work for him. Then, in a rant ignorant enough to be mistaken for something Trump himself might say, Cohen dismissed Berman s concerns and claimed that Trump didn t need those votes anyway. Cohen, who previously supported Obama in 2008, bragged: You don t have to worry about Mr. Trump. He s polling at 50 plus percent. This is his hometown. You can watch this ridiculous interview below: Featured image via Gage Skidmore | 1real |
Gangs Involved In Huge Biker Brawl Have “toned down their threats” After Warning Police Of Retaliation And Threat To kill “anyone in uniform” | We would encourage biker groups to stand down. There s been enough bloodshed. Waco Police Sergeant W. Patrick SwantonPolice in Texas are on alert after two biker gangs involved in a deadly shootout in Waco over the weekend allegedly issued orders to shoot and kill uniformed law enforcement officers.State and federal authorities distributed memos to local police warning that the Cossacks and Bandidos motorcycle gangs had been told to arm themselves and head to North Texas in the wake of last weekend s bloody shootout. Nine people were killed and 18 injured in the gun fight, which erupted at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on Sunday.Police made more than 170 arrests and confiscated guns and other weapons after the fight, which is believed to have involved up to five different biker gangs.https://youtu.be/4VV7gdwoJk8Sunday s bloody chaos consumed the Twin Peaks restaurant and spilled into its parking lot where bikers turned their weapons on police. Police returned fire, killing four bikers, CNN reported.The Bandidos are one of the largest motorcycle gangs in the world. Only the Hells Angels are bigger These outlaws ride Harley s, traffic drugs, carry weapons and run prostitution rings. 2,500 strong, the Bandidos rule the roads in the US and stretch across the globe from Europe to Asia and Australia. San Antonio, TX is the hub of the gangs activity:Law enforcement officers across Texas received memos Monday warning of possible retaliation. A bulletin posted by the Del Rio Sector Border Patrol said members of the Cossacks and Bandidos biker gangs had been instructed to shoot and kill law uniformed law enforcement officers, according to a CBS affiliate that covers the Dallas-Fort Worth area.Other law enforcement memos obtained by the station warned of escalating violence and said that members of the rival gangs, both of which originated in Texas in the 1960s, had been ordered to arm themselves and head to North Texas.A warning distributed by the Texas Department of Public Safety said the bikers were told to ignore orders from police they encountered on the way.Waco police told CNN that they had known the Twin Peaks restaurant was a hotspot for bikers, and that uniformed officers regularly patrolled the area closely in the months leading up to the deadly melee. But police presence wasn t enough to dissuade the bikers from violence. We wanted our presence to be known, Waco Police Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton told CNN Wednesday. They knew we were seconds away and going to respond. That mattered not to them We would encourage biker groups to stand down. There s been enough bloodshed. In a news briefing Tuesday, Swanton noted that gangs toned down their threats for reprisal, although they remain a worry for law enforcement, according to Reuters.According to The New York Times, the biker meet-up over the weekend was originally intended to discuss bikers rights and how to work on issues of mutual concern, but instead collapsed into violence, with a long-standing feud between the Bandidos and the Cossacks as the backdrop.If convicted, the gang members accused in the shooting could face the death penalty. Via: The Huffington PostHere is an ariel view of the police investigation following the gangs shooting spree:https://youtu.be/rDIDr8MJTbc | 1real |
What Is At Stake In the Election | Here Are The Presstitutes Who Control American’s Minds: http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2016/10/26/1010359-65-us-journalists-at-a-private-dinner-with-hillary-clintons-team-and-john-podesta/
I just heard an NPR presstitute delare that Texas, a traditional sure thing for Republicans was up for grabs in the presidential election. Little wonder if this report on Zero Hedge is correct. Apparently, the voting machines are already at work stealing the election for Killary. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-25/texas-rigged-first-reports-voting-machines-switching-votes-hillary-texas
From my long experience in journalism, I know the American public is not very sharp. Nevertheless, it is difficult for me to believe that Americans, whose jobs, careers, and the same for their children and grandchildren, have been sold out by the elites who Hillary represents would actually vote for her. It makes no sense. If this were the case, how did Trump get the Republican nomination despite the vicious presstitute campaign against him?
It seems obvious that the majority of Americans who have been suffering terribly at the hands of the One Percent who own Hillary lock, stock, and barrel, will not vote for the people who have ruined their lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren.
Furthermore, if Trump’s election is as impossible as the presstitutes tell us—Hillary’s win is 93% certain according to the latest presstitute pronouncement—the vicious 24/7 attacks on Trump would be pointless. Wouldn’t they? Why the constant, frenetic, vicious attacks on a person who has no chance?
There are reports that a company associated with Hillary backer George Soros is supplying the voting machines to 16 states, including states that determine election outcomes. I do not know that these reports are correct. However, I do know for a fact that the oligarchic interests that rule America are opposed to Trump being elected President for the simple reason that they are unsure that they would be able to control him.
It is hard to believe that dispossessed Americans will vote for Hillary, the representative of those who have dispossessed them, when Trump says he will re-empower the dispossessed. Hillary has denigrated ordinary Americans who, she says, she is so removed from by her wealth that she doesn’t even know who they are. Clearly, Hillary, paid $675,000 by Goldman Sachs for three 20-minute speeches, is not a representative of the people. She represents the One Percent whose policies have flushed the prospects of ordinary Americans down the toilet.
What is really disturbing is the pretense by the presstitute scum that Trump’s lewd admiration for female charms is deemed more important than the prospect of nuclear war. At no time during the presidential primaries or during the current presidential campaign has it been mentioned that Russia is being assaulted daily by propaganda, threatened by military buildups, and being convinced that the United States and its European vassals are planning an attack.
A threatened Russia, made insecure by inexplicable hostility and Western propaganda, is a danger manufactured by the neoconservative supporters of Hillary Clinton.
If the American people are really so unbelievably stupid that they think lewd remarks about women are more important than avoiding nuclear war, the American people are too stupid to exist. They will deserve the mushroom clouds that will wipe them and everyone else off the face of the earth.
Donald Trump is the only candidate in the primaries and the general election who has said that he sees no point in conflict with Russia when Putin has shown nothing but desire to work things out to mutual advantage.
In contrast, Hillary has declared the thrice-elected president of Russia to be “the new Hitler” and has threatened Russia with military action. Hillary talks openly about regime change in Russia.
Surely, in a free media at least one person in the print and TV media would raise this most important of all points. But where have you seen it?
Only in my columns and a few others in the alternative media.
In other words, we are about to have an election in which the important issue has played no role. And yet allegedly we are the exceptional, indispensable people, a people’s democracy protected by a free press.
In truth, this mythical description of America is merely a cloak for the rule of the Oligarchs. And the Oligarchs are risking life on earth for their continual supremacy. (Reprinted from PaulCraigRoberts.org by permission of author or representative) | 1real |
Obama Celebrates Iran Deal As Senior Iranian Officials Say They Will NOT Uphold Their End Of Deal…Ayatollah: “Negotiation with America is Forbidden,” | Ever feel like a headline you re reading is too unbelievable to be true? I wish we could tell you that was the case. Read on Senior Iranian officials continue to lash out against the recent nuclear deal even as the Obama administration begins to implement it, according to a series of statements by the Islamic Republic s leaders.The aggressive rhetoric comes as the Obama administration celebrated on Sunday the implementation of the deal, hailing it as a milestone in U.S. diplomatic history. However, Iran has balked.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to his Twitter and Facebook pages to post an announcement titled, Negotiation with America is Forbidden, according to translations of the documents provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.Other Iranian officials have demanded that the U.S. completely terminate economic sanctions, rather than suspend them, per the nuclear deal.Some Iranian leaders have stated that President Obama will announce this week the full termination of sanctions, a move that would likely spark anger on Capitol Hill.The White House said on Sunday that it would move forward with sanctions relief, even as Tehran insists it will not uphold its own end of the accord. Today marks an important milestone toward preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful going forward, Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. I have directed that the heads of all relevant executive departments and agencies of the United States begin preparations to implement the U.S. commitments in the JCPOA, in accordance with U.S. law, including providing relief from nuclear-related sanctions as detailed in the text of the JCPOA once the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified that Iran has completed all of its nuclear steps, Obama said.Critics of the deal maintain that Iran s continued threats of violence against America and Israel could derail the agreement. Iran also has, in recent days, tested ballistic missiles, which is prohibited under United Nations resolutions and potentially a violation of the accord. For America negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran means penetration. This is their definition of negotiation and they want to open the way for imposition, Khameniei declared on October 16, just two days before the deal went into effect. Negotiation with America is forbidden, because of its countless detriments and because of alleged advantages of which it has none whatsoever. The institute, among others, has warned that these statements could mean that Iran will not honor the deal, even as the United States waives sanctions and releases more than $150 billion to Iran.It is unclear whether Iran will officially announce its adoption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the institute said in an analysis of Khamenei s remarks. It is also not clear whether the U.S. will announce its suspension of sanctions and the E.U. will announce its termination of sanctions, as per the agreement, the institute said.Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a senior Iranian cleric who is secretary general of Iran s Guardian Council, said that declarations by the U.S. administration do not mean Iran is ready to begin upholding the agreement. There are those who think that approval by the [Iranian Parliament] means approval of the execution of the agreement in Iran. This is not so, Jannati said on Friday in Tehran. Approval regarding the nuclear agreement is not [approval of] its execution. The nuclear agreement was discussed in the Supreme National Security Council and council members expressed their opinion about it and gave their approval regarding its execution, he continued. But Leader [Khamenei] still has not signed it. Iran continues to insist that sanctions be fully terminated and not reimposed in any manner going forward. The termination of the sanctions must be taken seriously. If they are terminated, it is a sign that the nuclear talks and agreement have yielded results, Jannati said. But if the other side breaks its promises and instead of terminating the sanctions [merely] freezes or suspends them, this shows that the nuclear agreement was useless. Nejatollah Ebrahimian, a spokesman for the Guardian Council, said on Saturday that the joint plan remains a political document, not a legal one because Iran has not officially approved it.Jannati and other leaders have expressed concern that the U.S. will try to force Iran to end its support to terror groups such as Hezbollah. If we do not stand fast against the other side, then the next day they will say that we must officially recognize Israel, give equal rights to men and women, cancel executions, sever relations with Hizbullah, and so on, he said.Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, also said in recent days that Iran has not approved the accord. We have not approved the [joint plan] in the way that the other side has said, Larijani was quoted as saying by the institute. We also have not said that it should be executed as is, but rather that the [plan] should be placed in the framework of the steps taken by the Supreme National Security Council. Ultimately, this council s approvals are sent for the approval of the Leader. Via: WFB | 1real |
GOP Lawmaker Deactivates Twitter Account After Highly Offensive Retweet About Women’s March | A Nebraska State Senator was busted previously for having cybersex on a work computer and now he s in hot water again for a retweet suggesting that protestors at a women s march weren t attractive enough to be sexually assaulted. Sen. Bill Kintner (R) deactivated his account but because the Internet is forever, here s an image of the retweet:That retweet was unleashed on Sunday and by Monday morning, his office telephone was ringing off the hook, according to Omaha.com, and his voicemail was full. On Twitter, a #BillKintner hashtag was created.#BillKintner used a government issued laptop for cyber sex and now endorses a tasteless tweet. Please call his office: (402) 471-2613 pic.twitter.com/aLQqxIgbvt Caleb George (@CalebGeorgeous) January 23, 2017Kintner should have learned from the Women s Marches across America that it s not a good idea to piss of millions of women.What rape culture? What war on women?FUCK YOU, #BillKintner. https://t.co/9XlGUvxZwJ Stephanie Evans (@StephEvz43) January 23, 2017Nebraska senator #BillKintner deleted Twitter account but can reach him through his published office info. https://t.co/R88iU5MgDi pic.twitter.com/8YX5BWnwP8 Denise Sakaki (@JauntyMagpie) January 23, 2017? Repub men are going apoplectic right now in rxn to the #WomensMarch e.g. #BillKintner They re like FUCK MY CAREER. MUST RETALIATE. NebraskaFeminists (@NebFeminists) January 23, 2017YOU MAY HAVE DELETED YOUR ACCOUNT, @BillKintner, BUT I GOT YOUR DIGITSThey re 4024712613 if anyone is curious pic.twitter.com/ueKU6Z73zU Rebekah Strotman (@strotwoman) January 23, 2017Kintner ran from the Internet but he released a statement saying his message was misconstrued. A statement from Sen. @BillKintner. #neleg pic.twitter.com/AuA5B3qWhx Zach Pluhacek (@zachami) January 23, 2017But before he released the statement, when questioned by reporters, he told them to go do research. We re not sure what could possibly be misconstrued here. He retweeted a meme along with the words, Ladies, I think you re safe by talk show host Larry Elder. The three women in the photo were holding signs reading Not this pussy and Not mine either in reference to the leaked tape of Trump in which he admits to sexual assaulting women.We didn t realize the protest was a beauty pageant. Something about Kintner s message makes me think of glass houses. He s not exactly hot.Omaha.com reports:Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha said Monday it s time for the Legislature to address whether to censure, expel or impeach Kintner for the cybersex incident so that the body can move on to debating bills. There s a time to be a statesman and there s time to do the state s business, no matter what it takes, he said.After the Legislature adjourned for the day, Krist said he will likely propose a sanction against his colleague, perhaps as early as this week.Krist is a Republican.And yet, somehow the man who bragged about grabbing women by their genitals was elected president.Image via Facebook. | 1real |
AFL-CIO political committee recommends Clinton endorsement | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The AFL-CIO political committee on Friday recommended the federation endorse Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, Politico reported. The site reports the general board is “certain” to approve the endorsement at their June 16 meeting. | 0fake |
https://youtu.be/BFpFCy_b2SM | July 24, 2016 Latest Radio Show | 1real |
Two Trump Tweets Debunk Russian Connection Conspiracy | 21st Century Wire says Partisan liberal hypocrisy strikes again.Yesterday, Trump debunked the Russian connection conspiracy by exposing two photographs, via his Twitter, which show two key Democratic conspiracy theorists, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, meeting with Russia s Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin respectively.In the following video report, Stuart J. Hooper shows the extent of how truly ridiculous the Russian connection conspiracy really is after the outing of these new photos:Watch the video here: READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Trump U.N. pick echoes his criticism but breaks from him on issues | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s pick for U.N. ambassador echoed his condemnation of the world body and pledged to push for reforms at her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, but broke from the president-elect on some other policy issues, including Russia and NATO. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley seconded criticism of the United Nations by Trump and many of their fellow Republicans before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, especially for what she termed its “bias” against Israel. Some Republicans want to stop U.S. funding for the United Nations over a Security Council resolution last month demanding an end to settlement building that the United States declined to veto, instead of abstaining. Haley pledged that she would not abstain on U.N. votes. But she did not back “slashing” U.N. funding. The United States provides 22 percent of the U.N. budget. Trump took to Twitter in the wake of the Israel vote to criticize the 193-member world body as “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” He warned “things will be different” after he takes office, without offering details. Haley said Washington should always back Israel. “If we always stand with them, more countries will want to be our allies,” she said. Haley said she “absolutely” backs moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. That shift, which would up-end decades of U.S. policy, is supported by Trump and congressional Republicans but seen by the Palestinians and many Arab states as an impediment to Middle East peace. Although some Democrats questioned Haley’s lack of diplomatic experience, she is expected to be approved. At the end of the mostly non-contentious hearing, Senator Bob Corker, the committee’s Republican chairman, said he expected she would be confirmed “overwhelmingly.” Haley, a rising star in the Republican party who turns 45 on Friday when Trump takes office, has only held office in South Carolina. She has been governor since 2011. Haley praised U.N. food programs, efforts to alleviate AIDS, its weapons monitoring and some peacekeeping missions, a departure from Trump’s criticisms. Haley also broke from Trump’s praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin. She agreed that Russian actions in Syria such as bombing hospitals are “war crimes,” condemned Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and said she would oppose easing sanctions until Moscow changes. “I think that Russia has to have positive actions before we lift any sanctions on Russia,” she said. Haley said she had not had detailed conversations with Trump about Russia or China. The United States and its frequent rivals Russia and China all hold permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council, along with U.S. allies Britain and France. Haley did not advocate backing out of the international nuclear agreement with Iran, which is supported by the United Nations, although she said it should be closely reviewed. She also praised the NATO alliance. Some other Trump nominees, including his choice for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and his Pentagon nominee, retired Marine General James Mattis, have also veered from Trump’s national security positions during their hearings. Several senators, including Republicans, have said they hope some appointees will rein in his more controversial positions. “I would far rather have a strong-willed, capable, elected leader with experience at the state level who says those things than someone who has been a diplomat for 30 years and says: ‘Oh, I’ll do whatever Donald Trump says’,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons told reporters. Some questioned whether the president-elect would change. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said the Tillerson and Haley hearings were in “an alternate universe,” given two years of Trump statements backing torture or suggesting NATO is obsolete. “That’s all going to change after Friday?” Murphy asked. Haley said she expected Trump’s Cabinet would try to influence him. “I do anticipate that he will listen to all of us, and that hopefully we will get him to see it the way we see it,” she said. Haley did not endorse Trump during last year’s primaries and has warned that some of his most inflammatory statements promoted dangerous hate. She initially backed the presidential bid of Senator Marco Rubio and later Senator Ted Cruz. She acknowledged her lack of diplomatic experience but said her time as governor would stand her in good stead. “I would suggest there is nothing more important to a governor’s success than her ability to unite those with different backgrounds, viewpoints and objectives behind a common purpose,” she said. Senator Ben Cardin, the committee’s top Democrat, praised Haley for being willing to disagree with Trump. Haley, the daughter of immigrants from India, rose to national prominent last year after she led a push to remove a Confederate flag from South Carolina’s capitol grounds after a white supremacist killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston. She already has fans at U.N. headquarters. “She’s a very respected politician and a highly regarded and results-driven professional,” France’s ambassador, Francois Delattre, told reporters on Tuesday. Delattre met Haley in his previous role as French ambassador to the United States. | 0fake |
How Trump vs. Clinton could reshape the electoral map | A prospective general election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton could significantly alter which states are in play this fall and heighten more than in any recent election the racial, class and gender divisions within the national electorate.
After successive campaigns in which President Obama expanded the Democrats’ electoral map options by focusing on fast-growing and increasingly diverse states, a 2016 race between Clinton and Trump could devolve principally into a pitched battle for the Rust Belt.
With a focus on trade issues and by tapping anti-establishment anger, Trump would seek to energize white working-class Americans, who Republicans believe have been on the sidelines in recent elections in substantial numbers. Trump would also attempt to peel away voters who have backed Democrats, a potentially harder task.
At the same time, Clinton could find Trump a powerful energizing force on her behalf among African Americans and Latinos, which could help to offset the absence of Obama on the ticket after two elections that drew huge minority turnout. That could put off-limits to Trump some states with large Hispanic populations where Republicans have competed intensely in recent elections.
Although polls give Clinton a solid advantage over Trump in a general election, many Democrats remain wary because of what one party strategist called “the unpredictability of Trump.” As one former member of Obama’s campaign team put it, “I feel like in some ways my brain has to think differently than it ever has.”
Democrats will assess the landscape in several ways: which states are likely to be in play, which of those are different from past elections, and which voting groups present particular problems. They expect to update their analyses constantly, given how quickly Trump can have an impact on events.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll from earlier this month showed stark divides among those backing Trump and Clinton.
Overall, the former secretary of state led 50 to 41 percent among registered voters. Trump led 49 to 40 percent among white voters, while Clinton led 73 to 19 among non-whites. Trump led by five points among men, and Clinton was up by 21 among women. Trump led by 24 points among whites without college degrees, while Clinton led by 15 among whites with degrees.
Many Republicans fear that numbers like those could doom the party to defeat in the fall, and they remain hopeful that they can stop Trump in the primaries or at a contested convention. But some Democrats worry that polling data about Trump could provide a false sense of security because voters might be reluctant to acknowledge that they intend to back him.
Party strategists and independent analysts have just begun to explore in-depth the contours of a Trump vs. Clinton election, examining in particular how the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate might affect the preferences of specific voter blocs. More difficult to assess, but no less important, is how a Trump-Clinton contest would affect turnout among those groups.
The main conclusion to date is that a Trump nomination would test theories among some Republicans about the potential strength and power of the white vote to change the electorate and give the GOP the White House. Given what is known, Trump would appear to have no choice but to center his energies on states in the industrial and upper Midwest.
The eventual conclusions of party strategists about Trump’s possible route to victory will affect critical choices for both campaigns as they decide where to invest tens of millions of dollars in resources for television ads, where to deploy their most extensive voter mobilization and get-out-the vote operations, and where the nominees will concentrate their campaign travel in the fall.
Ruy Teixeira, a senior fellow at the progressive Center for American Progress, said Trump’s only path to victory lies in “a spike of white working-class support. . . . It’s trying to break apart the heartland part of the ‘blue wall,’ with less emphasis on the rest of the country.”
The “blue wall” is a term coined by journalist Ronald Brownstein of Atlantic Media and refers to the 18 states plus the District of Columbia that Democrats have won in the past six elections. Those states add up to 242 electoral votes, giving Democrats a foundation and therefore several combinations of other states to get to 270.
Among the 18 states that have been in Democratic hands since the 1992 election are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Along with Ohio and Iowa, those heartland states are likely to be the most intensely contested battlegrounds in the country if a Trump-Clinton race materializes.
All those states have higher concentrations of white voters, including larger percentages of older, white working-class voters, than many of the states in faster-growing areas that Obama looked to in his two campaigns.
“If he drives big turnout increases with white voters, especially with white male voters, that has the potential to change the map,” said a veteran of Obama’s campaigns, who spoke anonymously in order to share current analysis of the fall campaign.
Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist and veteran of past presidential campaigns, said Trump’s overall general election strength is unpredictable at this point, in part because Trump could campaign as a different candidate from the one on display throughout the primaries. But he said that what Trump has shown to date is an ability to surprise his opponents and offer crosscutting messages to draw support.
“To be successful as a Republican candidate you have to be the equivalent of a neutron bomb,” Schmidt said. “He’s a neutron bomb. Donald Trump has been disruptive in the way Uber has been disruptive in the taxi industry.”
No one expects a totally different electoral map in a Trump-Clinton campaign, given the hardening of red-blue divisions. Analysts say that nearly all the same states that have been fought over in recent elections will remain potential targets, especially at the start of the general election. Ohio, Florida and likely Virginia in particular will be fought over until the very end of the election.
On the other hand, states such as Nevada, New Mexico and possibly Colorado could see less competition unless Trump can overcome his extraordinarily high negative ratings within the Hispanic community.
The two pairs of presidential campaigns since the beginning of the 21st century proved to be remarkably static in terms of the number of battleground states and whether they voted Republican or Democratic.
Those campaigns collectively also highlight the shrinking number of truly contested states. In 2000, there were 12 such states decided by fewer than five points. By 2012, there were just four.
The 2000 and 2004 campaigns produced close finishes in the electoral college, with Republicans winning both with fewer than 290 electoral votes. The 2004 campaign was a virtual rerun of 2000, with just three states shifting to the other party: Iowa and New Mexico in the direction of the Republicans and New Hampshire to the Democrats.
Obama’s 2008 campaign changed the map, with nine states that had supported then-president George W. Bush in 2004 backing the Democratic nominee. The 2012 campaign, like 2004, reinforced the status quo. By the end of the campaign, there were only a handful of real battlegrounds and just two states shifted from 2008: Indiana and North Carolina. Both moved in the direction of the Republicans.
William Frey, a demographer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that if Trump were to carry Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and either New Hampshire or Minnesota, he would not need some of the traditional Southern battlegrounds. Frey hastened to add that such a sweep of the Midwest appears highly unlikely. Nonetheless, he said that path through the Midwest would hold the keys to victory for Republicans if the New York businessman is their nominee.
What makes the coming campaign so intriguing is that Trump’s and Clinton’s demographic strengths are near-mirror opposites. He has drawn significant support among white working-class voters during his march toward the Republican nomination, especially white men. Clinton has drawn sizable support among minority voters, particularly African Americans, in her contest against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Trump’s strength among men is offset by his weakness among women. Clinton has at times struggled to attract younger women in her battle with Sanders, but few doubt she would have a significant advantage in a general election campaign against Trump.
Similarly, Trump’s support among white voters without college degrees could be offset by the prospect of similarly strong support among whites with college degrees — a growing force in the Democratic coalition.
The focus on white working-class voters will not negate the key role minority voters could play in the outcome next November. “I think that energy underneath the wings of the minority community could be as strong as it was for Barack Obama, only this time against Donald Trump,” Frey said.
One Democratic strategist said that on the basis of preliminary analysis of poll data, Trump’s vote share among Hispanics could be lower than Mitt Romney’s 27 percent share in 2012 and that his margin among African Americans could be nearly as low as Romney’s.
A recent Washington Post-Univision poll of Hispanic voters showed Trump currently doing worse than Romney, trailing Clinton in a hypothetical general election by 73 to 16 percent.
Republican Schmidt, however, warned Democrats that Trump could prove more appealing to minority voters, especially African Americans, than they assume. “He’s an asymmetric threat,” Schmidt said. “He fits into none of the conventions. He has a completely unorthodox style.” | 0fake |
Trump Seeks Path for Mexico Barrier. But Will It Be a ‘Big, Beautiful Wall’? - The New York Times | Donald J. Trump’s transition team has asked federal border protection officials for guidance on where a new wall separating the United States from Mexico — a signature promise of Mr. Trump’s campaign — can be erected, according to a Democratic congressman from Texas who opposes the idea. But the officials exploring possible paths for such a barrier also appear to be considering fencing and other options short of the “big, beautiful wall” that Mr. Trump regularly vowed to erect, at Mexico’s expense, along a border of more than 1, 900 miles. The discussions with federal border officials, along with separate talks with city officials in Laredo, Tex. one of the busiest crossings, come as aides to Mr. Trump maintain that construction of a border wall will be a top priority of his administration. In an interview, Representative Henry Cuellar, whose district includes a stretch of border and reaches 150 miles north, to San Antonio, said that the chief patrol agents from two border sectors in the state had contacted him last week. They said they were doing so at the request of the incoming administration, Mr. Cuellar said, and solicited his ideas for where such a wall, or a fence, should be built. “I’m one of the few congressmen who doesn’t have a fence in his area,” Mr. Cuellar said. “They asked us to put some locations down, so we talked about areas they’d proposed and some infrastructure, whether it’s a wall or fencing. ” The chief patrol agents, whom an aide to Mr. Cuellar identified as Mario Martinez of the Laredo sector and Manuel Padilla Jr. of the Rio Grande Valley sector, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, Carlos Diaz. According to Mr. Cuellar, the agents said they had argued against the transition team’s request, and shared his view that it would be impossible to wall or fence off Laredo, a city of 255, 000 and the busiest inland port on the American side of the border. They said the transition team had insisted. “The Trump headquarters came back and said no,” Mr. Cuellar said he was told. “The Trump people wanted to see suggestions as to where a fence or wall could be put. ” A spokesman for the transition, Jason Miller, declined to comment. Mr. Cuellar was not the only Texas elected official approached by border officials about where to place a new barrier. The mayor of Laredo, Pete Saenz, said in an interview that officials from the Border Patrol’s Laredo sector had approached the city manager last week with plans for removing vegetation and installing additional fencing, lighting, roads, surveillance equipment and other security measures along portions of the border. The plan did not mention a wall, said Mr. Saenz, a Democrat, which he said was “frankly, a big relief. ” But he said it included details about fencing that would be placed for short distances along key parts of the city on the border, including a water plant. Though it could gratify Mr. Trump’s political supporters, erecting a new barrier would carry great significance in Laredo, which is across the Rio Grande from Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas, Mexico. It has developed close ties with its sister city and grown into a trade hub. Walling off Laredo, Mr. Cuellar said, would damage the flow of commerce, among other things. “It’s a solution to a problem,” he said. But both he and Mr. Saenz sounded less than adamantly opposed to additional border fences. Some fencing already stands in vast portions of the border between Texas and Mexico, Mr. Saenz noted. “I would have no problem with it if it’s strategically placed and it’s well designed,” Mr. Saenz said. “In other words, if it doesn’t look too prisonlike. I think if we had a road, possibly a fence, and then lighting, I think that would help. I don’t think the folks here would be too, too upset. “But the nature of a huge wall, concrete and that sort of thing, is upsetting,” he continued. “We have a very close relationship with Mexico, especially the commerce that comes to our city, and a huge wall would obviously be offensive to Mexico and to the people that do business with Mexico here. ” Mr. Saenz recalled that the Border Patrol years ago installed steel fencing along the perimeter of a community college on the border, which he said had deterred illegal border crossers from coming onto campus. “To be honest with you, I think we were happy with it,” he said. “I think it took care of the problem. ” In the weeks since he won the presidency, Mr. Trump has dropped his vow to pursue criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, while boasting that it had been an effective campaign tactic, and he has softened his posture on whether to deport the more than 700, 000 people in the country illegally who entered the United States as children. But no promise by Mr. Trump came to symbolize his campaign more than his call for a wall with Mexico to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants, and his top aides, including Reince Priebus, who is to serve as his chief of staff, say it remains a priority — though they have offered no further information on how a wall would be financed. At the same time, border migration is shifting: Mexicans, whom Mr. Trump demonized during his campaign, are leaving the United States in greater numbers than they are arriving, according to the Pew Research Center. But Central Americans fleeing violence in their home countries are pouring across the border, often welcoming arrest by the Border Patrol as a first step toward seeking asylum. “We have the lowest northbound apprehensions in modern history,” despite spending a record $19. 5 billion on border enforcement, said Representative Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat from El Paso. “Additional walls or fences, physical or virtual, are not a good use of taxpayer resources,” he said. “And they also pose the risk of taking our eyes off threats where they are known to exist or likely to be, and that happens not to be at the border with Mexico. ” | 0fake |
Irma seen costing more than 1 billion euros in Saint Martin, Saint Barth | PARIS (Reuters) - The cost of Hurricane Irma, described as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, is seen costing at least 1.2 billion euros ($1.44 billion) in Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy, a French public reinsurance body said on Saturday. Irma walloped Cuba s northern coast on Saturday as a Category 5 storm and was expected to hit Florida on Sunday morning, threatening massive damage from wind and flooding to the fourth-largest U.S. state by population. France s Caisse Centrale de Reassurance, a state-owned reinsurance group, said Irma would go down as one of the most damaging disasters in decades on French territory. Saint Barthelemy lies about 35 km southeast of Saint Martin, whose territory is divided between France and the Netherlands. The French interior ministry said on Saturday that 10 people had been reported dead on the two islands. | 0fake |
WATCH: Rand Paul Accidentally Admits We Need Nationalized Healthcare | Republican Senator Rand Paul spoke with CNN s Erin Burnett on Tuesday and accidentally spilled the beans about the kind of healthcare American really needs. While explaining his position on the latest healthcare plan drummed up by the GOP, he talked himself into a corner by describing a system of healthcare that sounds a lot like single payer.Paul was exchanging healthcare views with Erin Burnett when she realized that he accidentally made the point for nationalized healthcare, so she pressed him hard using his own words against him. We should try to give them options, he explained while making the case for individual markets. He used the example of a how a plumber could link up with additional plumbers and create one large group market that covers all cases, including things like pregnancy. You could get a way out of that individual conundrum and you could get group policies, and most of the group policies actually have things like pregnancy, Paul continued. If you work for General Motors, my guess is pregnancy is automatically in your insurance because you are a big group and you have the leverage to demand it. Burnett took the argument for a collective large group insurance and ran with it. So why not go for the biggest group of all and just have insurance for everybody? She retorted. Well, socialism s not a good idea, said Paul, using the Venezuelan health crisis as a model for socialism s failures.Burnet slammed back, But you did make a great argument for nationalized healthcare. You said the bigger the group the lower the cost, so I m taking your argument to its logical conclusion. Paul then tried to take back what he said. I was talking about voluntary groups, not the gulag. Too late, Paul. You brought up the real solution to the healthcare crisis without even realizing what you were saying. The cat is out of the bag.Watch the whole hilarious conversation via CNN here:Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
ACTOR JAMES WOODS DESTROYS Leftist TIME For Article Suggesting U.S. LIED About N. Korea Torturing Otto Warmbier Who Died After Returning In A Coma | Yesterday, the parents of the now deceased American student from a Cincinnati, OH, suburb, Otto Warmbier, spoke out for the first time about the brutal condition of their son s body, who was returned from North Korea to the US in a coma. Otto was on a group tour of North Korea when he was accused of trying to steal a propaganda poster. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. After negotiations with the US State Department, Warmbier was returned from North Korea and died less than one week later.Fred and Cindy Warmbier told Fox and Friends about the harrowing moment they saw their 22-year-old son Otto on the plane after his return from 17 months in captivity. When we got halfway up the steps, we heard this howling, Fred Warmbier said. We looked in and Otto was on the stretcher across in the plane and he was jerking violently, making these inhuman sounds. Otto s father Fred Warmbier painted a horrific picture of the condition in which they found their son upon his return to the U.S.: Otto had a shaved head. He had a feeding tube coming out of his mouth. He was blind, he was deaf. As we looked at him and tried to comfort him, it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth. Today, the leftist Time magazine joined other liberal publications who appear to be working to soften the image of the evil of Kim Jong Un by suggesting the horrific torture committed against American Otto Warmbier may never have happened. Time s headline on Twitter read: We may never know whether North Korea tortured Otto Warmbier, coroner says We may never know whether North Korea tortured Otto Warmbier, coroner says https://t.co/SspIbxH55c TIME (@TIME) September 28, 2017Actor James Woods was quick to respond to the disgusting article published by the Trump-hating publication, Time. Woods response was brutal, yet dripping with sarcasm. After Time suggested Warmbier may not have been tortured by North Korea, Woods replied: Yeah, I m sure he rearranged his own teeth with pliers out of boredom. #NumbskullsYeah, I'm sure he rearranged his own teeth with pliers out of boredom. #Numbskulls https://t.co/4AjUzAPqNR James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 28, 2017 | 1real |
Are We on the Eve of Total Life Extinction? | A 23 kiloton tower shot called BADGER, fired on April 18, 1953 at the Nevada Test Site, as part of the Operation Upshot-Knothole nuclear test series. | 1real |
Obama On Loretta Lynch: 'You Don't Hold Attorney General Nominees Hostage' | "You don't hold attorney general nominees hostage for other issues," Obama told The Huffington Post's Sam Stein in a sit-down interview. "This is our top law enforcement office. Nobody denies that she's well-qualified. We need to go ahead and get her done."
Lynch's nomination has been languishing for more than 130 days. This week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) threw up another roadblock, warning that she wouldn't get a vote until his chamber passes human trafficking legislation. Democrats object to anti-abortion language in the bill.
On Wednesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) went after his GOP colleagues for the delay in voting on Lynch, suggesting that they were treating her differently because of her race.
"Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar," said Durbin. "That is unfair. It's unjust. It is beneath the decorum and dignity of the U.S. Senate."
"I don't know about that," the president said on Friday, referring to the role that race may have played in delaying Lynch's confirmation. Instead, he pointed to "Senate dysfunction" and "stubbornness on the part of Republicans to move nominees, period."
"What I do know is that she is eminently qualified. Nobody denies it," Obama said. "Even the Republicans acknowledge she's been a great prosecutor. She has prosecuted terrorists in New York, she has gone after organized crime, she's gone after public corruption. Her integrity is unimpeachable. By all accounts, she's a great manager, and the fact that she has now been lingering in this limbo for longer than the five previous attorney general nominees combined makes no sense. We need to go ahead and get this done."
"My guess is that there is probably not a huge racial component to this, that this is really just D.C. politics, Washington at its worst," he said. "A battle about something that is not connected to this nominee, holding up this nominee. I think that's the main driver here."
Lynch, currently the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, received a bipartisan boost Friday, when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) called on Republicans to stop stalling her confirmation.
The president confirmed Friday that Holder, who has long been the target of GOP lawmakers' ire, has agreed to stay on as attorney general until his replacement is set.
"The irony is, of course, that the Republicans really dislike Mr. Holder," said Obama. "If they really want to get rid of him, the best way to do it is to go ahead and get Loretta Lynch confirmed."
The Huffington Post’s full interview with President Obama will be published on Saturday. To be the first to see the whole interview, sign up for HuffPost breaking news alerts here. | 0fake |
You Won’t Believe What This Congressman is Planning To Do If Trump Loses (VIDEO) | By: The Voice of Reason | We are less than two weeks away from the moment of truth, when the results of the 2016 Presidential election will more than likely be tallied, and we’ll have a new President-elect, at least in name anyway, if nothing else. I’ll preface this post by saying it’s not too late for people to still take as many precautions as possible in hopes of ensuring their families safety not if, but when all hell breaks lose upon the announcement of the election’s winner. The media has done their best to conceal it for whatever reason, but there have been ample warnings that there is the potential for massive amounts of violence regardless of who wins. The second video below runs through a laundry list of crimes committed by Hillary Clinton, which has a lot to do with why four in 10 Trump supporters say they won’t recognize the legitimacy of Clinton as president, if she prevails, because they say she wouldn’t have won fair and square. The second video cites specifics, and when you hear them, it’s no wonder why former Congressman Joe Walsh called for armed revolution Wednesday if Donald Trump is not elected president. Walsh, a former tea party congressman from Illinois who is now a conservative talk radio host, tweeted, “On November 8th, I’m voting for Trump . On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. You in?” The former Congressman is hardly alone. A 51% majority of likely voters express at least some concern about the possibility of violence on Election Day; and one in five are likely voters are “VERY concerned,” and they should be. One 69-year old gentleman from Michigan said as the polls began shifting towards Hillary, he slowly began buying more ammunition. If Hillary Clinton and the Democrats win on November 8th, things will not go well for Hillary Clinton’s political enemies. Recall that over 70 of them are dead, five of which died in just six weeks under mysterious circumstances during the primaries that Hillary stole from Bernie Sanders. In the first video below, I review warnings issued by both sides of what will happen if the other party’s candidate wins. So far, if Hillary wins we have one former Congressman going for his gun, and if Trump wins, we have Black Lives Matter members saying saying back in March: “Dear white people if Trump wins young niggas such as myself are fully hell bent on inciting riots everywhere we go. Just so you know.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg… The question posed, “What would you do,” is primarily directed at Trump supporters if Hillary wins, because the only way she’s winning anything, is by fraudulently stealing it, and doing so with Obama’s help! How can we make that assertion without any doubt? Starting off light, we know not just from Project Veritas videos released this week , but also from Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, that an activist was caught on camera bragging about having helped start violent disruptions at Donald Trump campaign rallies, and brags that was paid by the Clinton campaign directly right before she stirred up trouble. The Project Veritas videos this week merely confirmed the initial account. We also know that despite Julian Assange saying he did not get information from the Russians, when Trump was beginning to pull away from Hillary in the polls, and Hillary needed a distraction, her and Barack Obama had no problem peddling a baseless accusation against Russia, eventually angering Putin to the point where Russia deployed nuclear missiles into Kaliningrad , along the border with Poland, and aimed them directly at our allies in Berlin. Nukes pointed at our allies? Who cares right? In her mind, “the ends justify the means.” so long as Hillary wins… Then of course, let’s not forget the email that was leaked by Wikileaks that proved that Hillary was not only aware of the transaction, but she allowed weapons to be sold to ISIS during a time of war , weapons that were presumably used against either U.S. troops or American allies at the very least. That act has a name: Treason, and it’s punishable by death. Still, the list goes on, including her use of psychological weapons against voters as detailed in one of her internal campaign documents leaked as part of the Podesta emails. In the second video, Alex Jones makes his point very clearly, that there is NO level the Democrats won’t stoop to for control of the White House. None. Zero. Furthermore, If by some chance all their fraud isn’t enough, and Hillary doesn’t win, they plan to burn American cities to the ground. Have you heard of any plans put in place by Obama to stop that? Of course not. Trump supporters: If Hillary is willing to do all those things, and so many more I don’t have the time to go into but have all been well documented, just so she can gain entry into Oval Office, what do you think she’ll act like once she takes possession of the Office of the President? We know what the Soros funded far-left has planned if Trump wins because they’ve told us countless times, what about the Trump supporters if Hillary wins? In the video below, Alex Jones asks the question, “Is there anything, anything at all that Hillary and the Democrats won’t do?” The answer to that seems clear. The question then is really whether people think that if Hillary is announced as the winner, is it likely that the American voters will put up with that criminal behavior and just roll over, or is it more likely we’re going to see some violence break out? You tell me? THE VOICE OF REASON is the pen name of Michael DePinto, a graduate of Capital University Law School, and an attorney in Florida. Having worked in the World Trade Center, along with other family and friends, Michael was baptized by fire into the world of politics on September 11, 2001. Michael’s political journey began with tuning in religiously to whatever the talking heads on television had to say, then Michael became a “Tea-Bagging” activist as his liberal friends on the Left would say, volunteering within the Jacksonville local Tea Party, and most recently Michael was sworn in as an attorney. Today, Michael is a major contributor to www.BeforeItsNews.com , he owns and operates www.thelastgreatstand.com , where Michael provides what is often very ‘colorful’ political commentary, ripe with sarcasm, no doubt the result of Michael’s frustration as he feels we are witnessing the end of the American Empire. The topics Michael most often weighs in on are: Martial Law, FEMA Camps, Jade Helm, Economic Issues, Government Corruption, and Government Conspiracy. Submit your review | 1real |
Foreign Leaders To Team Trump: Quit Begging Us For Money For Your ‘Repugnant’ Campaign (TWEETS) | Just when you didn t think the Trump campaign could sink any lower, it does. Twitter lit up on Wednesday evening, because it appears that lawmakers from numerous countries have been being spammed with emails from the Trump camp begging for campaign donations. None of them are too happy about this. First, British MP s tweeted out their frustrations and outrage regarding this, and many referenced the horrifying nature of Donald Trump s campaign trail rhetoric. Australian Parlimentarian Tim Watts tweeted the fact that it was MP s from bunches of countries that were on the receiving end of the Trump fundraising email assault to TPM s Josh Marshall:@joshtpm @PatrickRuffini from what I can see, every Australian MP too. Even the left wing ones #ImWithHer Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) June 29, 2016Can you give us just roughest sense of how many youve received? 5? 10? 25? 50? https://t.co/qZoK0VV0aQ Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 29, 2016After that, Joanne Ryan, also of the Australian Parliament, tweeted the following and indicated she would be deleting:@TimWattsMP maybe it's a Westy thing. Me too. Just what I need popping up in the inbox. #swiplefttodelete Joanne Ryan MP (@JoanneRyanLalor) June 24, 2016It s not just British and Australian MP s either. Parliament members from Iceland, Denmark and Finland report the same.@jensschott @joshtpm yes pic.twitter.com/2CJ6MO8hMx Ida Auken (@IdaAuken) June 29, 2016.@joshtpm @TPM Spam mail also received by MP:s in Finland. Anders Adlercreutz (@adleande) June 29, 2016They are also angering our Canadian friends with this begging spam as well, and former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell tweeted:Rec'd a fundraising email from Trump campaign! Says it is their first. Aside from fact I am Cdn, clearly they don't follow me on Twitter!1/2 Kim Campbell (@AKimCampbell) June 21, 2016Trump fundraising letter said it wd match funds if I donated w/in 48 hours- (and wd give me a big discount on the Brooklyn Bridge! )2/2 Kim Campbell (@AKimCampbell) June 21, 2016It seems that team Trump did not heed the week s earlier warnings from UK officials to cease and desist with the email spam. Several lawmakers in the United Kingdom tweeted their aggravation. The best, though was from Natalie McGarry, who actually took the time to respond to Donald Trump, Jr., who it seems sent the email. She was kind enough to tweet images of both the email and her absolutely awesome response:May be Donald Trump bought lists bizarre for grassroots campaign but how does he opt out of foreign donations? pic.twitter.com/jVwfdFnI6U Natalie McGarry MP (@NatalieMcgarry) June 27, 2016McGarry said, in part, to Trump: Quite why you think it appropriate to write emails to UK parliamentarians with a begging bowl for your father s repugnant campaign is completely beyond me. Given his rhetoric on migrants, refugees and immigration, it seems quite extraordinary that he would be asking for money; especially people who view his dangerous divisiveness with horror. BOOM! The fact that this was the response that Mini Trump received when he dared to beg for money from foreign leaders should have been a cue to cease and desist. Instead, they expanded the effort to multiple other countries. It also bears noting that it is illegal for other foreign lawmakers and other political types to donate to U.S. elections. Further, it is also a violation of the law to solicit such donations as well. Trump has already been issued with a Federal Elections Commissions complaint over this activity.Trump s campaign is pathetic, but this is a new low. Do the world a favor and leave this race, Mr. Trump. You re an embarrassment to Americans on the world stage.Featured image via Ralph Freso/Getty Images | 1real |
MEXICANS, Liberal Tourists NOT HAPPY! American Spring Breakers Chant “Build That Wall!” In Cancun, Mexico | In the past, high school kids have had to worry about getting into the college of their choice, if pictures of them overindulging in adult beverages while on spring break were posted to social media. Today, college students may have to worry about the treatment they ll receive if their college or college professors see pictures or videos of them showing their support for President Trump while on spring break.https://twitter.com/Lexi1095/status/843094566207131649What would be a dream night for Suly and Anaximandro Amable, a newly married couple who went to Cancun for their honeymoon, became a bitter experience on Monday March 13.During a family show on the high seas, young American spring breakers began to sing the controversial Build That Wall chant, which shocked Mexican national tourists and workers.This is just one of the many blameworthy behaviors that young spring breakers have shown recently in Cancun and that are described as acts of xenophobia and discrimination against Mexicans within their own country, which is (or should be) totally unacceptable.Anaximandro, from Per , made the following statement on social networks: Today I was with Suly, my wife (who is a native of Mexico), watching an entertainment show off the coast of Cancun aboard a boat, and at the end of the show, a flock of Americans (maybe under the influence of alcohol, or maybe not), began to sing the infamous Build that wall chant louder and louder .The Pirate Ship sails out from Puerto Juarez, and the show takes place in the middle of the ocean, where attendees can witness the clashing of swords and the explosion of cannons along with a constant flow of drinks.For entire story: The Yucatan Times | 1real |
FBI Believes 5 Foreign Intel Agencies Got Into Hillary's Server | FBI Believes 5 Foreign Intel Agencies Got Into Hillary's Server November 3, 2016 Daniel Greenfield
Just one of those "honest mistakes" leading to a massive violation of national security by anyone who felt like it. These are still reports from various insider sources, but if true, this would be a major factor in how much damage Hillary's cover up did .
Authorities now believe there is about a 99 percent chance that up to five foreign intelligence agencies may have accessed and taken emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server, two separate sources with intimate knowledge of the FBI investigations told Fox News.
The revelation led House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul to describe Clinton’s handling of her email system during her tenure as secretary of state as “treason.”
“She exposed [information] to our enemies,” McCaul said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning. “Our adversaries have this very sensitive information. … In my opinion, quite frankly, it’s treason.”
McCaul, R-Texas, said that FBI Director James Comey told him previously that foreign adversaries likely had gotten into her server. When Comey publicly discussed the Clinton email case back in July, he also said that while there was no evidence hostile actors breached the server, it was “possible” they had gained access.
If true, this is much more than possible, and it would explain the level of outrage within the FBI at the pass that Hillary Clinton has received. | 1real |
South Korea's Moon, China's Xi to talk North Korea, trade in Beijing summit | SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - Curbing North Korea s nuclear ambitions will top South Korean President Moon Jae-in s agenda in Beijing during a visit this week aimed at breaking the ice after a furious row over Seoul s deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system. While both South Korea and China share the goal of getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and stop testing increasingly sophisticated long-range missiles, the two have not seen eye-to-eye on how to achieve this. China has been particularly angered at the deployment of U.S.-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea, saying its powerful radar can see far into China and will do nothing to ease tension with North Korea. At his third meeting this year with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in Beijing, Moon is expected to reaffirm South Korea s agreement with China in late October that they would normalise exchanges and move past the dispute over THAAD, which froze trade and business exchanges between the two. The THAAD disagreement had dented South Korea s economic growth, especially its tourism industry, as group tours from China came to a halt while charter flights from South Korea were cancelled. While China still objects to THAAD, it has said it understands South Korea s decision to deploy it. In an interview with Chinese state television shown late on Monday, Moon said THAAD s presence was inevitable due to the looming North Korean threat but assured it would not be used against China. South Korea will be extremely careful from here on out that the THAAD system is not invasive of China s security. South Korea has received promises from the United States multiple times regarding this, Moon said. Joint efforts by China and South Korea could have good results if they work together to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, he added. North Korea has shown little sign it wants to engage in formal talks, with its state media citing leader Kim Jong Un as saying on Tuesday North Korea should develop and manufacture more diverse weapons to completely overpower the enemy . Kim was addressing a rare munitions conference on Monday to laud the North s latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). North Korea last month test-launched what it called its most advanced ICBM in defiance of international sanctions and condemnation as it presses on with its mission to create a nuclear-tipped missile that can hit the United States. Speaking over the weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Moon had chosen to have friendly cooperation with China, and China was willing to work with South Korea to bring peace and stability to the Korean peninsula. During his first visit to China since taking office in May this year, Moon is expected to get bilateral economic exchanges back on track. According to South Korean media, Moon will be accompanied by the biggest business entourage ever with more than 220 businesses taking part in the four-day visit. | 0fake |
Mired in third, Marco Rubio prepares for a long, drawn-out Republican race | At a Capitol Hill social club earlier this month, Marco Rubio’s top advisers huddled with supportive House members to deliver a sober update about the Florida senator’s chances.
The aides, led by campaign manager Terry Sullivan, told the group that they were not expecting to win Iowa or New Hampshire, the first two states to vote. They said they were hopeful that things would turn their way by the next two — South Carolina and Nevada — but, realistically, Rubio’s path to victory would be a months-long grind.
One attendee, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting, said the message was that “this is not going to be over in February or March as much as we would all like it to be.”
The strategy outlined that day was notable because Rubio’s campaign has sought for months to temper expectations so that the senator from Florida could peak right before voting was set to begin. Now, his team is bracing supporters for a drawn-out Republican race that it says will ultimately reward Rubio’s versatility.
With just more than a week until the Iowa caucuses, Rubio has stalled out, neither rising nor falling much from where he has been in the polls for months, either nationally or in any of the first four states. Even in his home state of Florida, which votes in mid-March, Rubio is mired in third place, well behind front-runner Donald Trump and a few points behind Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.).
Rubio’s position reflects a race that has been dominated by Trump and Cruz, two outsider candidates who largely speak to different sets of aggrieved voters. Rubio had sought to present himself as a counterweight — a sunny optimist whose age, 44, and Cuban American background represented the future of the Republican party. More recently, Rubio has shifted somewhat to try to match the mood, offering more dire warnings about terrorism and more blistering attacks against President Obama and Hillary Clinton.
In recent weeks, Rubio has also been attacked from several sides as various rivals see him as a threat, running more than $22 million in negative ads against him. Right to Rise, a super PAC backing former Florida governor Jeb Bush, has been relentless in hitting Rubio. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has demeaned Rubio’s toughness and experience on the trail. And Cruz has cast him as weak on immigration.
Despite his standing, Rubio’s donors remain confident that he will win, even if he may have to do it in a way different from what they initially expected.
“I think Marco is doing fine,” said Anthony Gioia, a major GOP fundraiser in Buffalo. “He is a very good campaigner. I’m not troubled by the little short-term dips. He’s still the best candidate against the Democrats, and I think at the end of the day, that’s going to prevail.”
Rubio’s fundraising team is gearing up for an expensive next phase of battle. Lobbyist and fundraiser Wayne Berman is organizing a National Finance Leadership Call Day in Washington on Friday. Meanwhile, billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer is promising donors who raise $10,800 in new primary money five VIP tickets to an Iowa rally and private reception with Rubio on Tuesday.
Supporters who have heard directly from the Rubio campaign say their most immediate priority is to finish ahead of mainstream rivals Christie, Bush and John Kasich in Iowa and New Hampshire. That would position him for a final grouping with Trump and Cruz in which Rubio could be seen as the more electable choice.
Even as Rubio fights off Christie and others, though, he and his allies are also going hard after Cruz. A pro-Rubio super PAC unleashed a tough attack ad campaign against Cruz this week casting him as a flip-flopper and calling attention to his birth in Canada.
The early January meeting at the Capitol Hill Club, designed to be an update on strategy and expectations, also veered into a gripe session about Cruz, according to people in attendance.
Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), for instance, explained how she felt betrayed by Cruz on a trade bill he persuaded her to back but later abandoned, those people said. Sullivan, struck by her story, told her she clearly did not need any talking points when it came to Cruz; she should just retell that one. Love did not respond to requests for comment.
Rubio is also trying to play defense against Cruz, Bush and Christie. He is now talking about immigration — his most obvious weakness among conservatives — in a new way, as more of a national-security matter than a debate over the merits of legalizing undocumented immigrants.
“We cannot ignore the fact that ISIS has proven to have a significant understanding of the immigration policies of other countries,” Rubio said at a moderated discussion here Thursday, using an acronym for the Islamic State. Rubio is taking heat from Cruz over his membership in the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” that pushed comprehensive immigration reform in 2013.
Here in New Hampshire, Rubio has railed against Christie, taking aim at his past support for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. A pro-Rubio super PAC recently aired anti-Christie ads on TV.
On the campaign trail, Rubio is trying to reach voters with different priorities as part of his strategy to compete everywhere. He speaks at length about his hawkish national security view. Lately, he has been underscoring his Christian conservative values more. He tries to personalize the topics he raises by drawing from his experience.
“I am passionate about many of the issues we face in America because I faced them in my own life,” he said at a town-hall meeting in Plymouth, N.H., this week.
On the trail, Rubio has also taken to framing the competition as a long slog.
“It’s an unusual and fun election cycle for you to cover,” he told reporters here Thursday. “But we’re going to continue to focus on winning votes, and in the end I’m very confident that when the votes are counted, I’ll have more delegates than anyone else and I’ll be our nominee.”
One label Rubio resists is the one many have applied to him disparagingly: the choice of the establishment.
“Every time I’ve ever run for office, whether it’s to the Senate or now as president, I’ve had to take on the Republican establishment. And we’re doing it again now,” Rubio said.
Even so, many backers privately say that their confidence in Rubio is rooted at least in part in the recent history of the GOP slowly weeding out renegade contenders and nominating more orthodox candidates.
Some supporters say that they just do not understand the appeal of someone like Trump, even though he has attracted large crowds, strong polls numbers and seemingly endless media attention, and has shown no signs of slowing down.
Frank VanderSloot, a billionaire head of an Idaho nutritional-supplement company, said it took him a couple of months of asking around before he could find a Trump supporter, highlighting the disconnect between many in the donor class and those in the grass roots.
“The two front-runners aren’t anywhere near the top of my list [or] on the top of any list of anyone I’ve talked to,” VanderSloot said.
Matea Gold in Washington contributed to this report. | 0fake |
Watch Women’s March Activist: ‘Missing Black Girls” Connected to Trump Tax Returns | Unbelievable! Women s March Activist went off on a crazy rant claiming that somehow President Trump s tax returns are linked to missing black girls in the U.S.:Transcript: to lock arms with one another. We demand that we see Trump s taxes while we also demand that all of our rights are protected. We demand that we see Trump s taxes while we also demand that women s rights be treated as human rights. We must speak with one voice and one accord and we must draw a direct line between Trump s taxes and missing girls, missing black girls all across this country.We must say that while we resist one, we resist all or else our fight is inauthentic. We must say Trump s taxes and equal education. We must say Trump s taxes no more police brutality. We must say that Trump s taxes is where we start today but we will not end there. That all our rights must be protected and who the hell do you think you are to hide anything and treat us as though we are less than human?Via: GP | 1real |
Can the Old Masters Be Relevant Again? - The New York Times | Old masters, new world. At Christie’s over the last few weeks, two experts in old master paintings and drawings quietly left the auction house. Their departures followed a year of spotty sales, in which the values of works by old masters — a pantheon of European painters working before around 1800 — fell by 33 percent, according to the 2016 Tefaf Art Market Report. At a time when contemporary art is all the rage among collectors, viewers and donors, many experts are questioning whether old master artwork — once the most coveted — can stay relevant at auction houses, galleries and museums. Having struggled with shrinking inventory and elusive profits, auction houses appear to be devoting most of their attention and resources to contemporary art, the most popular area of their business. “They want to be associated with the new and the now,” said Edward Dolman, chairman and chief executive of Phillips auction house, who spent much of his career at Christie’s chasing works by old masters but now focuses on contemporary art. “We have no intention of selling old masters pictures or pictures, because these markets are now so small and dwindling,” he added. “The new client base at the auction houses — and the collecting tastes of those clients — have moved away from this veneration of the past. ” A shortage of old master treasures, fewer old master specialists and public attention on the pictures (which are in the contemporary market) are partly responsible for the shift in emphasis. The London dealer Guy Sainty, who has long specialized in old masters, said that he is mystified and frustrated. “I’ve been an art dealer for nearly 40 years, and I just don’t get it — I don’t understand where the collectors have gone, the people with knowledge,” he said. ”There’s a sense somewhere that the American collector has simply lost interest in European culture. ” The old masters category generally denotes the period after the Renaissance and mostly describes European artists — including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Goya and El Greco — who were known for their highly detailed, realistic paintings and drawings, along with the floral still lifes of Flemishmasters like Jan Brueghel the Elder. To be sure, there is still a public appetite for viewing old masters. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s show “Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France,” for example, drew more than 165, 000 visitors. The Getty and the Frick Collection, which focus on historic works, say attendance remains strong. When prime masterworks do come up for auction, they perform well, as evidenced by the $58 million paid in July for Peter Paul Rubens’s “Lot and His Daughters” at Christie’s London’s old masters sale, the expensive work ever sold at auction by the artist. But masterpieces surface only rarely private owners tend to hold onto them, as do museums. “It’s a real supply problem,” Mr. Dolman said. An appreciation for old masters, experts say, also requires a deeper history of collecting and an educated eye. Christie’s, for example, trains its old master specialists for six to seven years, whereas its contemporary experts get three to four years. And new collectors tend to find contemporary art more accessible. “People who buy into the old master field have more connoisseurship — maybe more passion,” said Christophe Van de Weghe, a Madison Avenue dealer specializing in work by modern masters from Matisse to Basquiat. Some attribute the increasing interest in contemporary art to the rising popularity of contemporary architecture. “People who come into the contemporary field like colors that go well with their couches,” Mr. Van de Weghe said. “All these new buildings — with high ceilings, big windows,” he added, “they scream for contemporary art. ” Old master curators are also increasingly hard to come by. In university art history programs in the United States, contemporary art is “by far, the most popular,” reports Richard Meyer, an art history professor at Stanford University, in his book “What Was Contemporary Art?” (MIT Press, 2013). “We’re losing a sense of the value of the past, including the value of past art,” Mr. Meyer said in an interview, “not just the aesthetic value, but the ways in which it can teach us about the cultures and the people who came before us. ” To fill curatorial positions, museums are having to look to Europe. The Getty, for example, recently hired Davide Gasparotto — the former director of the Galleria Estense in Modena, Italy — as its senior curator of paintings. “You can’t find curators with the right training and knowledge of European art in American art graduate programs anymore,” Mr. Sainty said. “They want to do contemporary art. ” While acknowledging that the old masters market can be “very spiky,” Alexander Bell, the worldwide of Sotheby’s old master paintings department, said: “We still very much believe in old masters,” adding that “we’ve all got to evolve in the way we present our material and engage with our clients. ” The art world is making adjustments, juxtaposing old masters alongside contemporary artists in exhibitions, galleries, art fairs and auction sales. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is planning a $600 million wing for contemporary and modern art in March, it filled its temporary satellite, the Met Breuer, with unfinished works from the 15th century to the present, presenting Renaissance masters like Titian and Rembrandt alongside contemporary artists like Brice Marden and Kerry James Marshall. Last year, the museum started an online series called “The Artist Project,” in which contemporary artists talk about historical works at the Met that inspired them — like John Currin on Ludovico Carracci’s 1582 oil on canvas, “The Lamentation. ” “When you hear contemporary artists talking with passion about the genius of old masters — that, we assume, will help open up the historical fields to new audiences,” Thomas P. Campbell, the director and chief executive of the Met, said, “to understand that all art was once contemporary. ” Similarly, the Art Institute of Chicago’s recent show of old master portrait prints explored how artists like van Dyck influenced contemporary artists like Chuck Close. “We brought printmaking into the present,” said James Rondeau, the museum’s president and director. This mixing of genres has been prominently tested at Christie’s themed sales, which include works from many different time periods. “Perhaps they would rather put their resources into other, potentially more profitable departments,” said Nicholas Hall, the former of old master paintings at Christie’s, who left in July, along with Benjamin Peronnet, Christie’s head of old master and drawings. While the Frick is eager to reach today’s audience, the museum is also wary of straying from its mission of showing classic European art and sculpture. “A lot of museums are focused on a false dichotomy — if they get young people in through contemporary exhibitions they’ll stay and get interested in old masters,” said Ian Wardropper, the Frick’s director. “I just don’t believe it. The point is to try to reach them in an intelligent way on their own terms and make it interesting — and that’s not easy we’re all struggling with that. ” In light of these developments, old masters have become a collecting opportunity. Printings and engravings can go for $4, 000 to $5, 000. While Orazio Gentileschi’s “Danae” sold at Sotheby’s in January for $30. 5 million, “that is less than a Christopher Wool and half the price of a Warhol,” Mr. Sainty said. “You can buy a really good Rembrandt for $40 to $50 million. That’s not a lot of money when you think about how many Rembrandts there are — and how many Jeff Koons. ” Even as the collecting world continues to obsess over contemporary art, there are bargains to be had in the category of old masters, both at auction and in galleries, particularly if you’d be happy with a print or engraving. A few examples follow of old master works, currently — or coming up — for sale. Sotheby’s Prints Multiples Sale in London, Sept. 27 Pieter van der Heyden, “Nemo Non: Everyman Looks for His Own Profit,” Engraving, circa 1558, £ £6, 000 ($5, 000 to $8, 000) Jacopo de’ Barbari, “Victory Reclining Amid Trophies,” Engraving, circa 1498, £ £4, 000 ($ $5, 200) Desprez, “La Chimère de Monsieur Desprez,” Etching, circa £ £30, 000 ($26, 000 to $39, 000) Nicoletto da Modena, “Ornament Panel With Bound Slaves and a Birdcage,” Engraving, late 15th century to early 16th century, £ £4, 000 ($3, 900 to $5, 200) Jusepe de Ribera, “The Poet,” Etching, circa £ £8, 000 ($7, 800 to $10, 500) George Stubbs, “A Sleeping Cheetah,” Mezzotint, 1788, £ £5, 000 ($3, 900 to $6, 500) Sotheby’s Exhibition, “Glazed: A Legacy of The Della Robbia,” New York, Oct. 21 — Nov. 12, $100, 000 to $3 million Marco (Fra Mattia) della Robbia, “Coat of Arms of the Bonsi della Ruota Family” Giovanni della Robbia, Decorative amphora vase with dolphin handles, circa Andrea della Robbia, “The Annunciate Virgin,” circa Andrea della Robbiam “Two Sleeping Soldiers From a Lunette Representing the Resurrection,” circa An artist known as the Master of the David and Saint John Statuettes and Giovanni della Robbia, “Saint Michael the Archangel,” circa Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings, Jan. 2017 Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, “The Holy Family With the Annunciation to the Shepherds Beyond, Italian Renaissance” oil on panel, circa 1500, $ $120, 000 Christie’s Old Master Paintings sale, Oct. 26 in New York Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hans Rottenhammer I, “Winter Landscape,” oil on copper, $ $250, 000 Pater, “Soldiers and Vivandières Around a Campfire,” oil on canvas, $ $150, 000 Ippolito Caffi, “The Grand Canal, Venice,” oil on canvas, $ $90, 000 Stair Sainty Gallery in London Elizabeth Louise Vigée Lebrun, “Portrait of Countess Yekaterina Skavronskaia,” oil on canvas, 1790, $660, 000 Jean Baptiste Greuze, “L’Attention,” oil on canvas, 1780, $80, 000 Pierre Subleyras, “The Duke of Saint Aignan Investing Girolamo Vaini, Prince of Cantalupe and Duke of Selci, With the Insignia of a Knight of the Holy Spirit,” oil on canvas, 1737, $350, 000 Pierre two landscape paintings, each titled “View of Corsica,” $15, 000 and $20, 000 Pierre “Salomé,” four paintings, three on canvas, one on wood, priced individually, $45, 000, $55, 000, $65, 000 and $85, 000. Albert “Barges on the Seine,” oil on canvas, $48, 000 Simon Dickinson Gallery in London Jakob Marrel, “Roses, Tulips, Iris,” oil on panel, 1644, $500, 000 Pier Leone Ghezzi, “Susannah and the Elders,” oil on canvas, late 1730s, £330, 000 ($434, 500) Jan Brueghel the Elder, “Landscape,” oil on copper, 1606, $591, 000 Francesco Zuccarelli, “View of the River Thames From Richmond Hill,” oil on canvas, 1752, $525, 000 | 0fake |
Dear Liberal, Why I’m So Hostile…And How “Your political beliefs are a threat to liberty – not just for me, but for my three boys” | WOW! This is a powerful, must read letter that should be shared with every American Lately, I must admit that my hostility towards your political ilk has ramped up, pretty dramatically. No, it s not because we, at this point in my life, have a half-black president in the White House, and I m some closet racist who is becoming increasingly frustrated at the prospects of the White Man s power slipping through my fingers. I know that you ve accused our side of such nonsense, and the thought keeps you warm at night, but I can assure you that it is a comfortable fiction of which you should probably divest yourself.Now before I waste too much of your time, let s establish who I m talking to. If you believe that we live in an evil, imperialist nation from its founding, and you believe that it should be fundamentally transformed , lend me your ears. If you believe that the free market is the source of the vast majority of society s ills and wish to have more government intervention into it, I m talking to you. If you believe that health care is a basic human right and that government should provide it to everyone, you re the guy I m screaming at. If you think minorities cannot possibly survive in this inherently racist country without handouts and government mandated diversity quotas, you re my guy. If you believe that rich people are that way because they ve exploited their workers and acquired wealth on the backs of the poor, keep reading. Pretty much, if you trust government more than your fellow American, this post is for you.First of all, let me say that we probably agree on more things than you think. Even between Tea Party Patriots and Occupy Wall-Streeters, I ve observed a common hatred of the insidious alliance between big business and big government. As Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) so correctly noted, government should never be in the business of picking winners and losers in corporate America, and no person, organization, union, or corporation should have their own key to the back door of our government.Second, contrary to popular belief, conservatives really are concerned with the plight of the poor in this nation. You accuse us of being uncompassionate, hateful, racist, and greedy, but studies have shown that when it comes to charitable giving, conservatives are at least (if not more, depending on the study you read) as generous as liberals in caring for the poor. The difference between us is not in our attitude towards the problem it s our attitude towards the solution. We believe that the government does practically nothing well (since without competition or a profit motive there is no incentive to do well) and has made the plight of the poor far worse than it would have ever been had government never gotten involved. For a stark example of this, look no farther than the condition of the black family in America since the War on Poverty began. You believe that more government is the answer, and that if we only throw more money at the problem, the problem will go away. We believe, as Reagan so aptly stated,Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.Third, as people who might actually have to avail ourselves of a doctor s services at some point in our lives, we are just as concerned with the condition of America s healthcare system as you are. While we believe that America has the world s most capable physicians, has the world s most innovative pharmaceutical industry, and is on the cutting edge of medical technology, we also understand that the delivery system is far from perfect. However, unlike you, we see a grave danger in turning the administration of that delivery system over to the same entity that is responsible for giving us the United States Postal Service. There are private sector solutions that should certainly be explored before we kill the system, altogether, by giving it to the government to run.Now that we ve touched on a couple of points of common ground, allow me to explain my aggressiveness towards your efforts to implement your progressive agenda. First, let s talk about the word progressive , since you now seem to prefer that word to liberal . In order to label something as progressive or regressive, one must have some idea as to what constitutes progress. What is the ideal towards which you are striving? An idea is considered progressive if it moves us closer to the ideal and regressive if it moves us further away. So, what is your ideal society?Though I can t begin to discern the thoughts of every liberal who may read this, nor can I assume that every liberal has the same notion of an ideal society, in my arguments with liberals over the years, I couldn t help but notice the influence that FDR s Second Bill of Rights has had in shaping the beliefs of the modern liberal with regards to domestic policy. The rights that FDR cited are: The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation; The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living; The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; The right of every family to a decent home; The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment; The right to a good education.At this point, you re probably screaming, Right on!! , and who can blame you? What sane person in the world doesn t want everyone to be gainfully employed, adequately fed, smartly clothed, appropriately sheltered, and properly educated? These are the goals of every moral society on the planet, however we cannot ignore the fundamental question of, At what cost? I m not sure whether FDR was a shallow thinker or simply a shrewd, Machiavellian politician, but the fact that he framed each of these ideals as a human right should be troubling to every freedom-loving person in America. After all, what does it mean for something to be a human right? Doesn t it mean that it s something to which you are entitled simply by virtue of your being human? Let s think about some of the basic rights that the real Bill of Rights delineates: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to petition the government, freedom to bear arms, freedom from illegal search and seizure, etc.If you re moderately intelligent and intellectually honest, you ll quickly see what separates the rights laid out in the real Bill of Rights from those laid out in FDR s misguided list none of the rights listed above require the time, treasure, or talents of another human being.Your right to speak requires nothing from anyone else. Your right to practice your religion requires nothing from any of your fellow citizens. Your right to bear arms means that you are allowed to possess weapons to defend yourself and your family, but it makes no demand that a weapon be provided to you by anyone. A true human right is one that you possess, even if you re the only person on the entire planet and it is unconditional.FDR s list is no Bill of Rights . It s a list of demands. If I have a right to a job, doesn t that mean that one must be provided to me? If I have a right to adequate food, clothing, and recreation, doesn t that mean that I am entitled to those things, and someone should provide them to me? If I have an inherent right to a decent home, once again, doesn t that mean it should be provided to me, regardless of my ability to afford one or build one for myself?You might protest that FDR only meant that we have the right to pursue those things, but that s not what he said, and why would he? If we live in a free society, our right to pursue those things is self-evident, is it not? Besides, if he only believed in our right to pursue those things, he would not have felt the need to implement the New Deal.You may be getting anxious, now, wondering what FDR s Second Bill of Rights has to do with my antipathy towards your political philosophy. It s quite simple your political beliefs are a threat to liberty not just for me, but for my three boys and their children as well. I care much less about the America that I m living in at this very moment than I do about the one that I m leaving Nathaniel, Charlie, and Jackson.How does your political bent threaten my and my sons personal liberty, you ask? In your irrational attempt to classify things such as clothing, shelter, health care, employment, and income as basic human rights, you are placing a demand upon my time, my treasure, and my talents. If you believe that you have a right to health care, and you are successful in persuading enough shallow thinkers to think as you do, then it will place a demand upon me to provide it to you. If you believe that you have a right to a job, and more than half of America agrees with you, as a business owner, I am obligated to provide one to you, even if it means making my business less profitable.The fact is, you can rail against my conservatism all you wish. You can make fun of my Tea Party gatherings, and you can ridicule patriots in tri-corner hats until you wet yourself from mirth, but one thing is for certain: my political philosophy will NEVER be a threat to your freedom. If you feel a burning responsibility to the poor, conservatism will never prevent you from working 80 hours per week and donating all of your income to charity. If you feel a strong sense of pity for a family who cannot afford health insurance, my political philosophy will never prevent you from purchasing health insurance for this family or raising money to do so, if you cannot afford it, personally. If you are moved with compassion for a family who is homeless, a conservative will never use the police power of government to prevent you from taking that family in to your own home or mobilizing your community to build one for them.However, you cannot say the same for liberalism. If I choose not to give to the poor for whatever reason, you won t simply try to persuade me on the merits of the idea you will seek to use the government as an instrument of plunder to force me to give to the poor. If we are walking down the street together and we spot a homeless person, using this logic, you would not simply be content with giving him $20 from your own pocket you would hold a gun to my head and force me to give him $20, as well.Everything that modern liberalism accomplishes is accomplished at the barrel of a government rifle. You do not trust in the generosity of the American people to provide, through private charity, things such as clothing, food, shelter, and health care, so you empower the government to take from them and spend the money on wasteful, inefficient, and inadequate government entitlement programs. You do not trust in the personal responsibility of the average American to wield firearms in defense of themselves and their families, so you seek to empower the government to criminalize the use and possession of firearms by private citizens. Everytime you empower the government, you lose more of your personal liberty it s an axiomatic truth.What angers me the most about you is the eagerness with which you allow the incremental enslavement to occur. You are the cliched and proverbial frog in the pot who has actually convinced himself that he s discovered a big, silver jacuzzi. Somehow, you re naive enough to believe that one more degree of heat won t really matter that much.I have the utmost respect for a slave who is continuously seeking a path to freedom. What I cannot stomach is a free man who is continuous seeking a path to servitude by willingly trading his freedom for the false sense of security that government will provide.I am reminded of Samuel Adams impassioned speech where he stated: If ye love wealth (or security) better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen! Servitude can exist in a free society, but freedom cannot exist in a slave nation. In a free country, you have the liberty to join with others of your political ilk and realize whatever collectivist ideals you can dream up. You can start your own little commune where the sign at the front gate says, From each according to his ability; to each according to his need , and everyone can work for the mutual benefit of everyone else. In my society, you have the freedom to do that.In your society, I don t have the same freedom. If your collectivism offends me, I am not free to start my own free society within its borders. In order for collectivism to work, everyone must be on board, even those who oppose it why do you think there was a Berlin Wall?In conclusion, just know that the harder you push to enact your agenda, the more hostile I will become the harder I will fight you. It s nothing personal, necessarily. If you want to become a slave to an all-powerful central government, be my guest. But if you are planning to take me and my family down with you, as we say down here in the South, I will stomp a mud-hole in your chest and walk it dry.Bring it.Jeremy N. Choateh/t Zero Hedge | 1real |
BLACK REPUBLICAN AND BRILLIANT NEUROSURGEON ANNOUNCES RUN FOR PREZ: Huffington Post Places Story Next To Story About Dog Living In Tree Trunk | 1real | |
California Today: Granddaughter of Cesar Chavez Comes Home - The New York Times | Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the .) A couple of months ago, then Kamala Harris appointed Julie Chavez Rodriguez to be her state director, overseeing operations in California. Ms. Rodriguez, 38, would “give voice to our vulnerable communities,” Ms. Harris said at the time. Ms. Rodriguez had experience. Her most recent job was in the White House serving as senior deputy director of public engagement and special assistant to President Barack Obama. But she also brought a personal connection to politics — she is the granddaughter of Cesar Chavez, the great labor leader for farmworkers. Raised in the Central Valley, Ms. Rodriguez was surrounded by activism. Once, at age 9, she was arrested during a protest outside a supermarket while distributing fliers about pesticide risks. Ever since, those battles have shaped her path, she said. We caught up with Ms. Rodriguez by phone. Some excerpts from the conversation: • Tell me about your gig. What have you been up to? • What are you hearing from unauthorized immigrants in the state? And what are you telling them? • What do you think your grandfather would make of all this? • You were in Washington for more than seven years. How is it coming back to California? (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) • After President Trump’s immigration ban, employees (not executives) pushed Silicon Valley to go political. [The New York Times] • Democrats went after Mr. Trump for calling California “out of control. ” They noted the state’s massive economy. [The Associated Press] • Tensions have flared between Mr. Trump and Mexico’s leader. But the mayors of San Diego and Tijuana are reaffirming ties. [San Diego ] • The Ninth Circuit in San Francisco is set to rule on Mr. Trump’s travel ban. [The New York Times] • A U. C. Berkeley evolutionary biologist declared his intention to run for the Senate. His slogan: “Liberty, Equality, Reality. ” [The New York Times] • California Republicans are asking the Trump administration to block funding for the bullet train. [Los Angeles Times] • Remember the BART janitor who earned $270, 000 a year? A television crew caught him spending hours inside a closet. [KTVU] • Kyle Shanahan was hired as the 49ers coach. His mission: restore a franchise that’s won five Super Bowls. [San Francisco Chronicle] • The Hollywood Reporter’s top editor, Janice Min, is leaving, which may foreshadow its sale. [The New York Times] • David Axelrod, a Los Angeles composer whose work was sampled in some of ’s biggest hits, has died. He was 83. [Los Angeles Times] • Video: A colony of 15, 000 Monarch butterflies returned to Pismo Beach. [San Luis Tribune] Mayor Ed Lee announced Monday that San Francisco’s main community college would be tuition free for city residents. “When our city works together we can accomplish great things,” he said during a news conference. To pay the cost to City College of San Francisco, the city will draw from the increase of a real estate transfer tax that voters approved in November. Lately, California has seen a spike in programs offering support to community college students, propelled in part by a nationwide push to improve access to higher education. In November, a coalition of education leaders in the San Joaquin Valley introduced an initiative that would provide a free semester of community college to students who meet certain academic goals. City College of San Francisco, founded in 1935, serves about 60, 000 students. Until now, course costs for city residents have run $46 a unit, or roughly $1, 100 a year. Even with that expense waived, students will still have to figure out their living costs. In San Francisco, that’s no small order. California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley. | 0fake |
Zimbabwe's Mugabe flies to Singapore, first trip since ouster | HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s former president Robert Mugabe has left the country for medical checks in Singapore, his first foreign travel since the army forced him from office last month, a state security official said on Tuesday. The 93-year-old, who ruled the southern African nation for 37 years, resigned after the army and his ruling ZANU-PF party turned against him when it became clear that his 52-year-old wife, Grace, was being groomed as his successor. Until recently the world s oldest head of state, Mugabe had a reputation for extensive and expensive international travel, including regular medical trips to Singapore - a source of public anger among his impoverished citizens. He left Harare with Grace and aides on Monday evening, the official said. He is expected to make a stop-over in Malaysia, where his daughter, Bona, is expecting a second child. He has gone for a routine medical trip to Singapore, said the official, who has organized Mugabe s security protection but who is not authorized to speak to the media. He was due for a check-up but events of the last few weeks made it impossible for him to travel. The trip means Mugabe will not be in Zimbabwe when ZANU-PF endorses President Emmerson Mnangagwa as its leader and presidential candidate for next year s elections during a one-day special congress on Friday. The security official would not say how Mugabe was traveling although the privately owned NewsDay newspaper said he was on a state-owned Air Zimbabwe plane. Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution and assured of his safety under his resignation deal, a source of frustration to many Zimbabweans who accused him of looting state coffers and destroying the economy during his time in power. Another government official told Reuters last month Mugabe had been due to travel to Singapore on Nov. 16 but was unable to leave because the military had confined him to his private home the previous day. George Charamba, a senior information ministry official, declined to comment. Under Zimbabwe s Presidential Pension and Retirement Benefits Act, a former head of state is entitled to perks including limited foreign travel and medical insurance. These are very standard features of a retired president, another government official said, trying to head off any controversy. You are making a storm out of nothing. | 0fake |
Soldiers kill six in Cameroon amid secessionist protests: mayor | BAMENDA, Cameroon (Reuters) - Cameroonian soldiers killed six people and wounded six others on Sunday in the town of Kumbo during protests by activists calling for independence for English-speaking regions of the central African nation, the town s mayor said. Donatus Njong Fonyuy told Reuters that the dead included five prisoners who were shot after a fire broke out at the town s jail. A demonstrator was later killed by the soldiers when he tried to hoist the flag of the Ambazonia separatist movement over the chief s palace. | 0fake |
Donald Trump Makes Pathetic, Racist Swipe At President Obama For Visiting A Mosque (VIDEO) | President Obama s speech from a mosque in Baltimore, Maryland this week was welcomed by most as an important and timely gesture to bring together Americans of all faiths and none. But for Donald Trump, is was a chance to sow the seeds of division with a truly pathetic, racist reaction.Obama s visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore was the first time in U.S. history that a President has delivered a speech from an American mosque. Given the rise of hate crimes against Muslim American and their places of worship, and unprecedented attacks on the faith from conservative lawmakers and media, this visit was much-needed.The center says on its website that it aspires to be the anchor of a growing Muslim community with diverse backgrounds, democratically governed, relating to one another with inclusiveness and tolerance, and interacting with neighbors in an Islamic exemplary manner. Obama endorsed this message and made an impassioned call for moderates on all sides of the political and faith spectrum to come together around their common humanity. He explicitly rejected the inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim-Americans made by the likes of Donald Trump, and other Republican presidential candidates.He replaced their rhetoric with a powerful and unambiguous message of hope and community: Let me say as clearly as I can as president of the United States: you fit right here, You re right where you belong. You re part of America too. You re not Muslim or American. You re Muslim and American. What was Donald Trump s detailed, profound political response to this groundbreaking effort? Speaking on Fox News, in an interview with Greta Van Susteren, Trump responded: I don t know if maybe he feels comfortable there. Because he is a Kenyan Muslim Socialist? I mean, come on Trump. And how do we know it s just a case of Obama putting his Muslim brothers above natural born Americans? We have a lot of problems in this country, Trump explained. We have a lot of places he can go and he chose a mosque. The reason Trump sinks to playing the race card with his reaction, is because it s actually the only card he has to play. He has no platform, no ideas, no vision for America. He only has a direct line to the prejudices of Republican voters and Fox viewers. It ll get him coverage alright, but it sure as hell won t get him to the White House.Featured Image via Screengrab/Screengrab | 1real |
Trump Just Proved He Has The Foreign Diplomacy Skills Of A Whiny Child | Donald Trump has so many feuds going on at the moment it can be hard to keep track of them all. One of the most potentially damaging feuds, though, is with the United Kingdom s Prime Minister David Cameron. Now, that feud continues with Trump s latest comments directed towards Cameron.Cameron has made his opinion of the guaranteed Republican presidential nomination very clear. Back in December, Cameron publicly stated that he thinks Trump s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States is stupid, divisive and wrong. Cameron s statement couldn t be more accurate, as Trump s proposal goes against the very basic principles of the United States and would be logistically impossible to enforce.During an interview with Piers Morgan, Trump spoke out against Cameron s comments, offering a sad attempt at an olive branch towards Cameron, where he insisted that he is not stupid and is a unifier. It looks like we re not going to have a very good relationship. Who knows! I hope to have a good relationship with him but it sounds like he s not willing to address the problem either, Trump said in the interview, according to the Jerusalem Post. Well, number one I m not stupid, Okay. I can tell you that, right now just the opposite. Number two, in terms of divisive: I don t think I m a divisive person. I m a unifier, unlike our president now, I m a unifier, he Trump concluded.As bizarre as it is to hear a grown man insist to another that he is in fact not stupid, Cameron never actually called Trump himself stupid. He called his policy stupid because it is. It s also nothing more than an incredibly xenophobic, racist, and ridiculous bit of fear mongering. It s one of the first policy proposals that Trump introduced. It sounded the alarm bells that Trump is more than just a buffoon looking for attention, it showed the world that he could actually be a very dangerous threat to the United States and the world if given the opportunity to seize actual political power.Featured image from (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images) | 1real |
Trump names assistant Treasury secretary as acting IRS chief: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will name David Kautter as acting commissioner of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the White House said in a statement on Thursday. Kautter, who is assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax policy, would become the acting head of the federal government’s revenue collection service effective Nov. 13, the White House said. | 0fake |
Trump Defies Courts, Refuses To Release Guiliani Memo Proving Intent To Ban Muslims | Donald Trump has repeatedly shown that he has zero respect for the independent judiciary. Every time a judge rules in a way he dislikes, he attacks the judge, the court system, and claims that he is the victim of some kind of political witch hunt. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that he has flat-out refused to hand over a key memo, drawn up by mega Trump fan and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.We all remember how Giuliani went on Fox News and admitted that Trump had asked him to find a way to keep the oft-touted campaign promise of banning Muslims but, of course, to make sure whatever order they came up with to do that passed Constitutional muster. Given these damning words, it s no surprise that Trump doesn t want a judge to see the memo that Giuliani drew up for him. The American Civil Liberties Union is taking Trump s lawlessness on, though. Miriam Aukerman, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, says of the situation: If, as the administration claims, the Executive Order is not a Muslim Ban, then why is the administration refusing to turn over the Giuliani memo? What is in that document that the government doesn t want the court to see? The ACLU, along with several state Attorneys General and other civil rights organizations have sued Trump and his government over the obvious discrimination, and it is pretty clear that they are not done fighting.Trump was supposed to have that memo to a judge in Detroit by May 19, and it has yet to materialize. We all know why Trump s Executive Order is most definitely a Muslim ban, and that memo will show it. Hell, I don t know who they think they are fooling here. Giuliani himself admitted that this is what Trump had asked him to do. We also, of course, have Trump s own words to prove exactly what the intent is here as well.Trump is quickly learning that no one is above the law in this nation not even the so-called president. Featured image via Michael Reynolds/Getty Images | 1real |
Trump tries to reset with economic speech — but faces new resistance in GOP | Seeking to put the most difficult stretch of his campaign behind him, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump used a major economic speech Monday to reach out to two voting blocs that remain critical to his faltering chances of winning in November: traditional fiscal conservatives and disaffected blue-collar workers.
But Trump faced a new round of resistance from within his party that threatened to stall his effort to move beyond the uproar he caused last week. In an opinion column published by The Washington Post late Monday, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) became the latest sitting Republican senator to declare that she will not support Trump. In addition, dozens of national security officials who served in GOP administrations signed a letter saying that he is “not qualified” to be president.
Reading from a teleprompter at the Detroit Economic Club and pausing calmly when protesters interrupted him, Trump assailed Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and cast himself as the only change candidate on economic issues. He did so in part with tax-cutting, regulation-curbing plans that are squarely mainstream in his party and in part with his now-familiar attacks on the forces of globalization that have unnerved many workers. He took swipes at free-trade deals championed by GOP leaders and attacked immigrants and refugees.
The Republican nominee shared few new policy details and continued to offer no specifics for how he would pay for tax cuts or spending increases large enough to balloon the federal budget deficit. He promised more clarity in coming weeks.
Trump proposed a new set of individual income tax rates higher than he previously suggested, but he also promised to bring rates lower than they were even during the George W. Bush administration. He was vague in other areas, including a promise for major federal infrastructure spending and another, the only new policy proposal in the speech, that would allow working families to deduct child care-costs from their federal income taxes.
Throughout his address, Trump took sharp aim at Clinton. He held up Detroit, which has been devastated by manufacturing job losses, as “the living, breathing example” of her “failed economic agenda.”
“I want to jump-start America. It can be done. And it won’t even be that hard,” he said.
At a rally in St. Petersburg, Fla., Clinton assailed Trump’s plan as an outdated replica of previous Republican pitches, saying it would “give super-big tax breaks to large corporations and the really wealthy” and “basically just repackage trickle-down economics.”
She added: “You know that old saying, ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ ”
“Just imagine Donald Trump in the Oval Office, facing a real crisis,” she said. “What happens when somebody gets under his skin? I don’t know if the United States can afford that kind of risk.”
On income taxes, the business mogul said he would work with House Republicans to implement the three brackets they have proposed: 12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent. The move puts Trump in line with Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), with whom Trump has had a tense alliance.
Previously, Trump proposed tax brackets of 0 percent, 10 percent, 20 percent and 25 percent. He continued to call for a 15 percent corporate income tax rate for all businesses, which is lower than Ryan’s proposed 20 percent corporate rate.
Trump also promised to end some “special interest” tax breaks but named only one, the “carried interest” provision that many investment fund managers use to reduce their tax liability. Experts cautioned, though, that Trump’s plan would still deliver a windfall to such investors, because it would reduce income and corporate rates.
Lacking more details from the campaign, it is difficult to say how much Trump’s revisions to his tax rates would alter the cost of his economic plan, which analysts had previously estimated could reduce federal revenue by $10 trillion over the next decade. Equally difficult to measure are the benefits the plan would deliver to taxpayers across income levels.
“It seems very likely that this version of the plan will lose less revenue than the last version” because it will contain relatively smaller tax cuts for individuals, Scott Greenberg, an analyst at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, said in an interview. A key question, he added, is the level at which various marginal tax rates begin to take effect: “A tax plan where the 33 percent [rate] kicks in at $250,000 and one where it kicks in at $750,000 are two very different tax plans.”
Trump’s economic focus followed a week in which he stoked tensions with party leaders by initially declining to endorse Ryan and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in their primaries this month. Trump also drew widespread ire for criticizing the Muslim parents of a U.S. Army captain who was killed in Iraq, and he fell dramatically behind Clinton in public polls.
The measured, pre-written remarks in Detroit on Monday were intended to steady a listing campaign, and conservatives received the calls for tax and regulation cuts positively. But most reaction to the speech, even among conservatives, was mixed. In the end, Monday served as a reminder that many Republicans remain highly skeptical of Trump.
Lanhee Chen, who was the policy director for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, called the speech a “mixed bag.” He praised the details on taxes as a nod to more orthodox Republican views, but he said Trump’s main challenge now is to prove to voters that he is as serious about policy-making as he is about picking fights with critics.
“One speech is not going to change a narrative,” Chen said.
Also Monday, a group of 50 former national security officials who served under Republican presidents signed a letter warning that Trump “would be the most reckless President in American history.”
The letter was signed by Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge, former secretaries of homeland security; Michael V. Hayden, a former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency; and John D. Negroponte, a former director of national intelligence and deputy secretary of state, among others.
[Former GOP national security officials: Trump would be ‘most reckless’ American president in history]
Separately, Wadi Gaitan, the chief spokesman for the Florida Republican Party, announced that, as a result of differences with Trump, he is leaving his job to join a conservative organization.
“I’m thankful for my almost two years with the Florida GOP, however, moving on gives me a great, new opportunity to continue promoting free market solutions while avoiding efforts that support Donald Trump,” Gaitan, who is Hispanic, said in a statement.
In Detroit, protesters sidetracked Trump’s speech repeatedly. Unlike in large rallies where Trump often calls for demonstrators to be removed, riling up the crowd, he waited patiently as they were escorted out Monday. At one point he remarked calmly, “This is all very well-planned out.”
His speech outlined a plan designed to accelerate economic growth, largely in classic conservative fashion: by reducing taxes and regulations on businesses and by opening vast new swaths of federal land and water to drilling. He said that as president, he would sign an executive order creating a temporary regulatory moratorium on new agency regulations.
“I am going to cut regulations massively,” he said. “Massively.”
Freezing all pending federal regulations would include many Wall Street regulations created by the Dodd-Frank legislation passed in the wake of the financial crisis. Trump’s energy agenda would open new sections of American coastal waters to offshore oil drilling and sweep away the Obama administration’s efforts to fight climate change. Both moves have frequently found widespread support among Republican lawmakers and in conservative policy circles.
In other areas, he skirted or defied Republican orthodoxy. Trump made no attempt to propose spending cuts or other measures to offset his proposed tax-rate cuts or begin to reduce the national debt, as he has promised to do in the past. His child-care expense plan could increase the debt even further, unless it were offset by spending cuts or a rapid increase in economic growth. So could an infrastructure spending plan that he has said could cost more than $500 billion.
[Ivanka Trump champions working moms — except the ones who design her clothes]
The plan also promises to increase growth by reducing the United States’ trade deficit with China and other trading partners, in part by levying tariffs on imported goods from those countries. Some economists, including Trump adviser Peter Navarro, say that reducing the trade deficit would boost growth. Others, including Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics, warn that a tariff war could push the United States and much of the world into recession.
Trump has adopted hard-line opposition to sweeping trade agreements, arguing that they have hurt American workers. He reiterated his commitment to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He singled out President Bill Clinton for signing NAFTA and accused the accord of moving U.S. jobs abroad. He said a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for TPP.
“The one common feature of every Hillary Clinton idea is that it punishes you for working and doing business in the United States,” Trump said.
As secretary of state, Clinton praised TPP. But in the Democratic primary, she abandoned her support for the agreement. Most congressional Republicans support the multi-nation pact.
Anne Gearan in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Carole Morello and Ed O’Keefe in Washington contributed to this report. | 0fake |
Schaeuble warns against divisions in Europe after Brexit 'nonsense' | BERLIN (Reuters) - Describing Brexit as nonsense , German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned on Monday against allowing Europe to divide further along east-west lines, saying this would be a catastrophe . Speaking at his 75th birthday party in the southwestern town of Offenburg, Schaeuble paused after mentioning Britain in the context of Europe. Laughter broke out among the guests and, in an aside, he said Britons were probably unhappy now with their vote last year to leave the EU. If we were now to get new divisions between east and west after the British it was nonsense to take such a decision and they are probably no longer happy with it that would be a catastrophe, he said. We must be clear: we will only have a good future, history shows this, if we hold Europe together, and that means all of Europe, he added. Schaeuble appeared to be referring to a deepening divide between eastern countries like Poland and Hungary and their EU partners to the west over democratic values, acceptance of refugees and further European integration. French President Emmanuel Macron has been especially critical of governments in Warsaw and Budapest, which the EU says are distancing themselves from core European values like free speech and rule of law. Germany, in part because of its history with Poland, has been less openly critical of its eastern neighbors, but it has tacitly supported Macron and steps by the EU to ratchet up pressure on governments in the east. Many Poles, especially rightwing supporters of the ruling Law and Justice party, are animated by a hatred of Germans dating to World War Two, though relations have warmed up since the end of communism when Germany backed Polish EU membership. Last week, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker stressed his wish to heal divisions between eastern and western states. Juncker also attended Schaeuble s party on Monday and praised him for working to unify the EU. Schaeuble said those EU states that want to press ahead with closer integration must do so. But we must also be careful that not only the big states decide. I learned that from Kohl, he said with reference to late Chancellor Helmut Kohl, with whom he worked on the reunification of Germany. | 0fake |
Trump accuses Cruz of stealing Iowa caucuses through 'fraud' | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday accused rival Ted Cruz of stealing a victory in the Iowa caucuses and called for another vote or nullification of Cruz’s win. Trump, who finished second behind Cruz, lit up Twitter on Wednesday with a series of posts saying the outcome was tainted because the Cruz campaign had deliberately spread misinformation about Trump’s stand on Obamacare and an erroneous report that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race. Trump had gone into Monday’s caucus voting ahead of the Texas senator by five percentage points in a key poll but Cruz ended up winning, four points ahead of the New York billionaire. “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it,” Trump (@realDonaldTrump) tweeted. “That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” Several social media users tweeted screengrabs of an alleged deleted tweet from Trump’s official account, in which he said Cruz “illegally” stolen the vote. “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified,” Trump wrote. In another tweet, Trump said Cruz had lied about his opinion of President Barack Obama’s healthcare program. “And finally, Cruz strongly told thousands of caucusgoers (voters) that Trump was strongly in favor of ObamaCare and ‘choice’ - a total lie!” he said. Cruz had apologized to Carson on Tuesday because of an email from his campaign before the caucuses, which are the crucial first vote in the U.S. presidential nominating process. “The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week,” the Cruz email read, according to CNN. “Please inform any Carson caucusgoers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz.” “Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud,” Trump tweeted. Wednesday afternoon, Cruz responded to Trump’s Twitter rant. “Yet another #Trumpertantrum,” Cruz (@tedcruz) wrote in a retweet of one of Trump’s posts. “@realDonaldTrump very angry w/the people of Iowa. They actually looked at his record.” Carson had tweeted his feelings about the Iowa vote on Tuesday. “Shameless tactics & dirty political plays defined yesterdays #iacaucus,” he said, using a popular hashtag to refer to the voting. “There is no place for this kind of behavior.” (Reporting By Amy Tennery; Additional reporting by Melissa Fares; Editing by Bill Trott) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage. | 0fake |
A Voice of Christmas Past Returns, Asking for a Hippopotamus - The New York Times | This year’s holiday advertising campaign for the United States Postal Service featured a little girl’s stunningly infectious musical plea: “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. ” (And, as she explains, “Only a hippopotamus will do. ”) The ditty was, perhaps, unfamiliar to many listeners, but it penetrated the mind space of the unwary at warp speed — and stayed there. Resistance was futile. Unexpectedly, the song has also upended the quiet retirement of Gayla Peevey, 73, a former child star who recorded the novelty hit in 1953. At the time, the song landed her on the Ed Sullivan show “Toast of the Town. ” Since November, television viewers have been able to enjoy (and enjoy) that same recording in the omnipresent post office commercial. “The song could drive you crazy,” Ms. Peevey conceded. But it doesn’t drive her crazy — not at all. “I love hearing it, and I can’t hear it too much,” she said recently by telephone. Before all the recent hippo hoopla, Ms. Peevey, the former owner of a boutique advertising agency in El Cajon, Calif. had spent her days immersed in good works: for nonprofits and serving on the board of one of them singing in her church choir leading a Bible study group for women. She and her husband of 53 years, Cliff Henderson, a retired elementary school teacher, frequently drive to Los Angeles from their home in La Mesa to visit their daughter, and three grandchildren. There are trips to Hawaii with three other couples, weekly taco nights with those travel companions and “date day” every Friday with Cliff. A full and active life, yes. But a few years ago, Ms. Peevey — generally a sunny soul — was starting to feel a little down. “I saw other people retiring from these big careers, and I started to wonder, ‘What have I really accomplished in life? ’” she said. “I really prayed about it. And I think God decided to throw some blessings on me. ” Ms. Peevey was aware, of course, that the Lord works in mysterious ways, so she’s not at all certain how her childhood recording was rediscovered. Satellite radio, she speculated, or perhaps the internet. But here’s what she knows for sure: “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” — which peaked 63 years ago at No. 24 on the Billboard chart — has become a viral sensation. (A video of Ms. Peevey’s “Toast of the Town” appearance — she’s in a party frock and hair ribbon and halts a game of jacks with her playmates to belt out her singular wish — has had more than four million views on YouTube recent comments include, “This song is stuck in my head. ”) But the people at the Postal Service were not the first to harness the power of the song. In 2008, Hallmark came out with a tree ornament that plays the earworm of a tune, written by the songwriter John Rox. (His other hit was “It’s a Big, Wide Wonderful World,” recorded in 1949 by Buddy Clark.) Hallmark has brought the ornament back four more times, including during the 2016 holiday season. Look for it again next year. Gretchen Wilson, a country music singer, recorded the song on a Christmas album that was released in 2009. LeAnn Rimes, another country singer, followed suit in 2014, but said she could never hope to equal Ms. Peevey’s inimitable sound. Thanks to the resurgence in the song’s popularity, Ms. Peevey — who goes by the surname Henderson except for matters — has been deluged with calls and emails from newspapers, television stations and fans all over the world. Royalty checks in amounts ranging from a few hundred dollars to $1, 000 have been rolling in — more about this in a minute. “It’s like a whole new world,” she said. Actually, it’s something of a return to the world Ms. Peevey inhabited as a cute, blond from Oklahoma City. After her record took off, going out in public became an impossibility. “It was crazy,” she remembered. “People were looking and pointing. I got mobbed everywhere I went. ” Ms. Peevey said she started singing “practically out of the womb. ” “I can’t remember when I didn’t sing,” she continued. “I really can’t. ” From an early age, she was a mainstay of the church choir in Ponca City, Okla. where her family moved in 1948. There she put on backyard shows for the neighbors and sang at community events. Her robust voice with its country sheen was a force of nature. An uncle who played fiddle on a radio show broadcast from Oklahoma City arranged a guest spot for Gayla when she was 8 it led first to a gig on (now KFOR) the local NBC affiliate, then to a regular spot on “Saturday Night Revue,” an NBC variety show that was a summer replacement for “Your Show of Shows. ” Hoagy Carmichael was the host. “I sang duets with him,” Ms. Peevey recalled. “There was one of his songs, ‘Two Sleepy People,’ and I sang harmony — it was very fun. ” Guest stars included Jimmy Durante and Dean Martin, with whom Ms. Peevey performed during her first appearance on the program. And every week the show booked a different big orchestra, “so I got to sing with Les Brown and Jerry Fielding and David Rose,” she said. “Plucked out of local television — it was a big jump. But they were so nice to me because I was a kid. ” Then came the contract from Columbia Records. The very first song that Mitch Miller, then a Columbia executive, brought to Ms. Peevey was “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. ” She recorded it in New York with Mr. Miller playing the oboe and leading the orchestra. “I didn’t have to sing it that many times,” she recalled. “I would say the third time was the take. ” She introduced the song on “Toast of the Town,” though not without considerable drama beforehand: Her manager canceled an exclusive contract with NBC so that she could appear on the rival network CBS, home of Mr. Sullivan’s show — “and I didn’t get another NBC contract after that,” Ms. Peevey said. “I don’t know if the manager made the best decision, but everybody watched Ed Sullivan,” she said. “The record took off and was a big hit. ” In a media event at the end of 1953, a real, live hippopotamus from the Central Park Zoo was shipped to Oklahoma City as a Christmas present for young Gayla she donated it to her local zoo. At the time, Ms. Peevey said, “there was talk that my career was going to be huge. ” But things didn’t turn out that way, and the producers at Columbia Records may have been part of the problem. “After the hippo song, they thought, ‘Well, that was a big hit,’ so every song they gave me after that was an animal song and they were not good songs, let me tell you,” Ms. Peevey said. She was occasionally teamed with a fellow child star, Jimmy Boyd, singer of the “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. ” “My parents didn’t know that they could speak up and say, ‘Is this really the best song? ’” she continued. “In Oklahoma, I was used to singing ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ and ‘Walkin’ My Baby Back Home’ and all of those adult songs that I could really sink my teeth into. ” Ms. Peevey’s father, Lewin, a tax collector, and her mother, Irene, a homemaker, were the antithesis of stage parents, not particularly keen on show business and uncertain about how to deal with Gayla’s sudden fame. “They decided that they wanted to take me out of show business so I could have a normal life,” she said. “They pulled the plug, and I was a kid so I didn’t have any say. ” But Ms. Peevey said she was “kind of happy” to get away from all the hubbub. Part of pulling the plug involved a move to Southern California, where she was just another student at the local junior high school. “What a shock it was,” Ms. Peevey remembered. “Nobody knew who I was, and I realized I was lacking some basic social skills that I hadn’t had to develop. ” “I was so used to everybody clamoring for me and coming to me,” she explained. “I didn’t have a lot of experience in reaching out and being a friend. I had a big learning curve in that regard. ” But that was not the only adjustment. To retire as a child star packs a particularly unpleasant wallop. “You have this sort of feeling that you’re a at 12,” Ms. Peevey said. “That was the thing I had to deal with — that I had already peaked. ” She had a bit of a comeback at 16 when “My Little Marine,” a song she wrote and recorded under the name Jamie Horton, made it into the top 100 on Billboard. Another tune, “Robot Man,” “did pretty well, but nothing took off as it did when I was a child,” Ms. Peevey said. “I can see where child stars get into trouble as far as not being able to negotiate the transition to adult performer, and it can be very devastating if you’re not grounded. ” After getting a degree in elementary education, she briefly taught school in San Diego. “But it wasn’t for me,” Ms. Peevey said. Instead, she opened a small advertising business while raising her daughter, Sydney, who inherited Mom’s musical chops. It was Sydney who did a little research three years ago and learned that Ms. Peevey had an account at Sony Music, now the parent company of Columbia. “They were holding funds of just under a hundred grand that had been adding up since 2008,” Ms. Peevey said. “I couldn’t believe it. It’s pretty fun. ” She also has royalties coming in from sales of “I Want a Hippopotamus” on iTunes. “I thought my life as a was going to be all about playing with my grandchildren,” Ms. Peevey said. “But for people to have all this interest in me has opened things up for me — I’ve retired, but my song hasn’t. ” | 0fake |
Reality Check: First Clinton v Trump presidential debate | The first televised presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was a bonanza for fact checkers. Here are some of the candidates' statements and how they compare with the facts.
Claim: Donald Trump repeated his insistence that he was against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, claiming Clinton's assertions to the contrary were "mainstream media nonsense put out by her".
Reality Check verdict: Trump did not publicly speak out against the war before it started. On 11 September 2002, radio host Howard Stern asked Trump if he supported a potential invasion of Iraq. He replied: "Yeah, I guess so". During the debate, he tried to explain that away by saying the comment had been made "lightly". He said he had been arguing in private, to Fox News's Sean Hannity, that war would destabilise the Middle East, but we have no evidence to support that so far. He did start to express doubts after the invasion.
Claim: Clinton attacked Trump over his boasts about his business acumen. "You know, Donald was very fortunate in his life and that's all to his benefit," Clinton said. "He started his business with $14m, borrowed from his father."
Reality Check verdict: Trump says he received a $1m loan from his real estate mogul father. He also got loan guarantees and money from his future inheritance and inherited a share of his father's property holdings.
Claim: Trump alleged that Clinton called the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the "gold standard" of trade agreements. Clinton denied this but added: "I did say I hoped it would be a good deal."
Reality Check verdict: We give this one to Trump. Clinton did more than express hope that the deal would turn out well and in a 2012 trip to Australia said it would be the "gold standard": "This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field."
Claim: Clinton said: "People have looked at both of our plans, have concluded that mine would create 10 million jobs and yours would lose us 3.5 million jobs."
Reality Check verdict: Clinton has made this claim before. It is based on an optimistic reading of a report by Moody's Analytics, which says that most of the 10 million new jobs would be created anyway by an expanding economy. If all of Clinton's economic policies became law - which the report says is unlikely - they would account for 3.2 million of the 10 million jobs. The same company analysed Trump's plans and suggested they would tip the US into recession and lead to 3.5 million job losses - something strongly disputed by the Trump campaign.
But the two reports cover different time frames. The author Mark Zandi told CNN Money a more accurate comparison to the 10 million jobs created under Clinton would be 400,000 jobs lost under Trump, not 3.4 million.
Claim: Trump has frequently tried to blame the rise of Islamic State militants on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This is his latest attempt.
Reality Check verdict: Possibly the strangest claim of the night. Clinton is 68 years old. The so-called Islamic State can trace its roots back to 1999, although it did not start referring to itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) until 2013. Read more here.
Claim: Clinton accused Trump of calling calling climate change a hoax invented by the Chinese. He insisted "I did not say that".
Reality Check verdict: This claim relates to a 2012 tweet which Trump later said was a joke. He said: "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive."
Claim: Clinton said race determines how people are treated in the criminal justice system.
Reality Check verdict: This is a tough one to prove as there are no figures on the percentage of crimes that result in arrest. What we do know is that black people are locked up five times more frequently than white people. African-American people make up about 13% of the United States population. White people make up 64%. But black people make up 40% of the prison population, and white people 39%. It does not mean that black people, who tend to live more in urban, heavily policed areas, are five times as likely to commit crime however.
Clinton also claimed that African American men are more likely to be killed by guns than other demographics, something that is largely borne out by the statistics.
Claim: Murders in New York city are up.
Reality Check verdict: As so often with crime statistics it depends how you slice it. The murder rate in New York city is close to record lows but did increase slightly between 2014 and 2015, according to FBI figures. But the very latest figures from the New York Police Department show murder rates are down 4% on 2015.
Murder rates across the US as a whole went up 10.8% in 2015, the biggest single-year percentage jump since 1971, with a big spike in a handful of cities including Chicago, Washington DC and Baltimore.
Trump also claimed that "stop and frisk" tactics "worked very well in New York" and brought crime rates down. This is hotly disputed by researchers and commentators . Violent crime rates have continued to decline in New York, as part of a long term trend, even though the number of "stop and frisk" searches has gone down dramatically in recent years. Research by Jeffrey Fagan of Columbia University found indiscriminate searches had little effect on crime, although his research also found crime was reduced when police stopped and frisked civilians after observing someone acting violently, selling drugs or "casing a joint".
Claim: Trump says he can't release his tax returns because he is in the middle of a tax audit. He also says publishing them would not reveal much.
Clinton suggests he will never publish them as they might reveal he is not as rich as he says he is, does not pay Federal tax and does not give as much to charity as claimed.
Reality Check verdict: Being audited by the Internal Revenue Service does not prohibit the release of tax returns. They would reveal Trump's annual income, how much he pays in tax and how much he gives to charity. Trump claims he has given $102m to charity in the past five years, but a Washington Post investigation could not find any cash donated by Trump's businesses after 2008. Trump's actual wealth has been assessed by Forbes at $4.5bn, compared with the $10bn he claims.
Interestingly, Trump has never provided evidence that he is actually under audit by the tax authorities. According to Associated Press, a letter released by his tax lawyers never used the word, merely describing his tax returns as under continuous review. | 0fake |
The Great A.I. Awakening - The New York Times | Late one Friday night in early November, Jun Rekimoto, a distinguished professor of interaction at the University of Tokyo, was online preparing for a lecture when he began to notice some peculiar posts rolling in on social media. Apparently Google Translate, the company’s popular service, had suddenly and almost immeasurably improved. Rekimoto visited Translate himself and began to experiment with it. He was astonished. He had to go to sleep, but Translate refused to relax its grip on his imagination. Rekimoto wrote up his initial findings in a blog post. First, he compared a few sentences from two published versions of “The Great Gatsby,” Takashi Nozaki’s 1957 translation and Haruki Murakami’s more recent iteration, with what this new Google Translate was able to produce. Murakami’s translation is written “in very polished Japanese,” Rekimoto explained to me later via email, but the prose is distinctively “ . ” By contrast, Google’s translation — despite some “small unnaturalness” — reads to him as “more transparent. ” The second half of Rekimoto’s post examined the service in the other direction, from Japanese to English. He dashed off his own Japanese interpretation of the opening to Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” then ran that passage back through Google into English. He published this version alongside Hemingway’s original, and proceeded to invite his readers to guess which was the work of a machine. NO. 1: NO. 2: Even to a native English speaker, the missing article on the leopard is the only real giveaway that No. 2 was the output of an automaton. Their closeness was a source of wonder to Rekimoto, who was well acquainted with the capabilities of the previous service. Only 24 hours earlier, Google would have translated the same Japanese passage as follows: Rekimoto promoted his discovery to his hundred thousand or so followers on Twitter, and over the next few hours thousands of people broadcast their own experiments with the service. Some were successful, others meant mostly for comic effect. As dawn broke over Tokyo, Google Translate was the No. 1 trend on Japanese Twitter, just above some cult anime series and the new single from a supergroup. Everybody wondered: How had Google Translate become so uncannily artful? Four days later, a couple of hundred journalists, entrepreneurs and advertisers from all over the world gathered in Google’s London engineering office for a special announcement. Guests were greeted with fortune cookies. Their paper slips had a foreign phrase on one side — mine was in Norwegian — and on the other, an invitation to download the Translate app. Tables were set with trays of doughnuts and smoothies, each labeled with a placard that advertised its flavor in German (zitrone) Portuguese (baunilha) or Spanish (manzana). After a while, everyone was ushered into a plush, dark theater. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, stood to make a few opening remarks. A friend, he began, had recently told him he reminded him of Google. “Why, because I know all the answers?” the mayor asked. “No,” the friend replied, “because you’re always trying to finish my sentences. ” The crowd tittered politely. Khan concluded by introducing Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, who took the stage. Pichai was in London in part to inaugurate Google’s new building there, the cornerstone of a new “knowledge quarter” under construction at King’s Cross, and in part to unveil the completion of the initial phase of a company transformation he announced last year. The Google of the future, Pichai had said on several occasions, was going to be “A. I. first. ” What that meant in theory was complicated and had welcomed much speculation. What it meant in practice, with any luck, was that soon the company’s products would no longer represent the fruits of traditional computer programming, exactly, but “machine learning. ” A rarefied department within the company, Google Brain, was founded five years ago on this very principle: that artificial “neural networks” that acquaint themselves with the world via trial and error, as toddlers do, might in turn develop something like human flexibility. This notion is not new — a version of it dates to the earliest stages of modern computing, in the 1940s — but for much of its history most computer scientists saw it as vaguely disreputable, even mystical. Since 2011, though, Google Brain has demonstrated that this approach to artificial intelligence could solve many problems that confounded decades of conventional efforts. Speech recognition didn’t work very well until Brain undertook an effort to revamp it the application of machine learning made its performance on Google’s mobile platform, Android, almost as good as human transcription. The same was true of image recognition. Less than a year ago, Brain for the first time commenced with the gut renovation of an entire consumer product, and its momentous results were being celebrated tonight. Translate made its debut in 2006 and since then has become one of Google’s most reliable and popular assets it serves more than 500 million monthly users in need of 140 billion words per day in a different language. It exists not only as its own app but also as an integrated feature within Gmail, Chrome and many other Google offerings, where we take it as a given — a frictionless, natural part of our digital commerce. It was only with the refugee crisis, Pichai explained from the lectern, that the company came to reckon with Translate’s geopolitical importance: On the screen behind him appeared a graph whose steep curve indicated a recent fivefold increase in translations between Arabic and German. (It was also close to Pichai’s own heart. He grew up in India, a land divided by dozens of languages.) The team had been steadily adding new languages and features, but gains in quality over the last four years had slowed considerably. Until today. As of the previous weekend, Translate had been converted to an A. I. system for much of its traffic, not just in the United States but in Europe and Asia as well: The rollout included translations between English and Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Turkish. The rest of Translate’s languages were to come, with the aim of eight per month, by the end of next year. The new incarnation, to the pleasant surprise of Google’s own engineers, had been completed in only nine months. The A. I. system had demonstrated overnight improvements roughly equal to the total gains the old one had accrued over its entire lifetime. Pichai has an affection for the obscure literary reference he told me a month earlier, in his office in Mountain View, Calif. that Translate in part exists because not everyone can be like the physicist Robert Oppenheimer, who learned Sanskrit to read the Bhagavad Gita in the original. In London, the slide on the monitors behind him flicked to a Borges quote: “Uno no es lo que es por lo que escribe, sino por lo que ha leído. ” Grinning, Pichai read aloud an awkward English version of the sentence that had been rendered by the old Translate system: “One is not what is for what he writes, but for what he has read. ” To the right of that was a new A. I. version: “You are not what you write, but what you have read. ” It was a fitting remark: The new Google Translate was run on the first machines that had, in a sense, ever learned to read anything at all. Google’s decision to reorganize itself around A. I. was the first major manifestation of what has become an industrywide delirium. Over the past four years, six companies in particular — Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and the Chinese firm Baidu — have touched off an arms race for A. I. talent, particularly within universities. Corporate promises of resources and freedom have thinned out top academic departments. It has become widely known in Silicon Valley that Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, personally oversees, with phone calls and blandishments, his company’s overtures to the most desirable graduate students. Starting salaries of seven figures are not . Attendance at the field’s most important academic conference has nearly quadrupled. What is at stake is not just one more piecemeal innovation but control over what very well could represent an entirely new computational platform: pervasive, ambient artificial intelligence. The phrase “artificial intelligence” is invoked as if its meaning were but it has always been a source of confusion and controversy. Imagine if you went back to the 1970s, stopped someone on the street, pulled out a smartphone and showed her Google Maps. Once you managed to convince her you weren’t some oddly dressed wizard, and that what you withdrew from your pocket wasn’t a amulet but merely a tiny computer more powerful than the one that guided Apollo missions, Google Maps would almost certainly seem to her a persuasive example of “artificial intelligence. ” In a very real sense, it is. It can do things any human can manage, like get you from your hotel to the airport — though it can do so much more quickly and reliably. It can also do things that humans simply and obviously cannot: It can evaluate the traffic, plan the best route and reorient itself when you take the wrong exit. Practically nobody today, however, would bestow upon Google Maps the honorific “A. I.,” so sentimental and sparing are we in our use of the word “intelligence. ” Artificial intelligence, we believe, must be something that distinguishes HAL from whatever it is a loom or wheelbarrow can do. The minute we can automate a task, we downgrade the relevant skill involved to one of mere mechanism. Today Google Maps seems, in the pejorative sense of the term, robotic: It simply accepts an explicit demand (the need to get from one place to another) and tries to satisfy that demand as efficiently as possible. The goal posts for “artificial intelligence” are thus constantly receding. When he has an opportunity to make careful distinctions, Pichai differentiates between the current applications of A. I. and the ultimate goal of “artificial general intelligence. ” Artificial general intelligence will not involve dutiful adherence to explicit instructions, but instead will demonstrate a facility with the implicit, the interpretive. It will be a general tool, designed for general purposes in a general context. Pichai believes his company’s future depends on something like this. Imagine if you could tell Google Maps, “I’d like to go to the airport, but I need to stop off on the way to buy a present for my nephew. ” A more generally intelligent version of that service — a ubiquitous assistant, of the sort that Scarlett Johansson memorably disembodied three years ago in the Spike Jonze film “Her” — would know all sorts of things that, say, a close friend or an earnest intern might know: your nephew’s age, and how much you ordinarily like to spend on gifts for children, and where to find an open store. But a truly intelligent Maps could also conceivably know all sorts of things a close friend wouldn’t, like what has only recently come into fashion among preschoolers in your nephew’s school — or more important, what its users actually want. If an intelligent machine were able to discern some intricate if murky regularity in data about what we have done in the past, it might be able to extrapolate about our subsequent desires, even if we don’t entirely know them ourselves. The new wave of A. I. assistants — Apple’s Siri, Facebook’s M, Amazon’s Echo — are all creatures of machine learning, built with similar intentions. The corporate dreams for machine learning, however, aren’t exhausted by the goal of consumer clairvoyance. A subsidiary of Samsung announced this year that its new ultrasound devices could detect breast cancer. Management consultants are falling all over themselves to prep executives for the widening industrial applications of computers that program themselves. DeepMind, a 2014 Google acquisition, defeated the reigning human grandmaster of the ancient board game Go, despite predictions that such an achievement would take another 10 years. In a famous 1950 essay, Alan Turing proposed a test for an artificial general intelligence: a computer that could, over the course of five minutes of text exchange, successfully deceive a real human interlocutor. Once a machine can translate fluently between two natural languages, the foundation has been laid for a machine that might one day “understand” human language well enough to engage in plausible conversation. Google Brain’s members, who pushed and helped oversee the Translate project, believe that such a machine would be on its way to serving as a generally intelligent personal digital assistant. What follows here is the story of how a team of Google researchers and engineers — at first one or two, then three or four, and finally more than a hundred — made considerable progress in that direction. It’s an uncommon story in many ways, not least of all because it defies many of the Silicon Valley stereotypes we’ve grown accustomed to. It does not feature people who think that everything will be unrecognizably different tomorrow or the next day because of some restless tinkerer in his garage. It is neither a story about people who think technology will solve all our problems nor one about people who think technology is ineluctably bound to create apocalyptic new ones. It is not about disruption, at least not in the way that word tends to be used. It is, in fact, three overlapping stories that converge in Google Translate’s successful metamorphosis to A. I. — a technical story, an institutional story and a story about the evolution of ideas. The technical story is about one team on one product at one company, and the process by which they refined, tested and introduced a version of an old product in only about a quarter of the time anyone, themselves included, might reasonably have expected. The institutional story is about the employees of a small but influential group within that company, and the process by which their intuitive faith in some old, unproven and broadly unpalatable notions about computing upended every other company within a large radius. The story of ideas is about the cognitive scientists, psychologists and wayward engineers who long toiled in obscurity, and the process by which their ostensibly irrational convictions ultimately inspired a paradigm shift in our understanding not only of technology but also, in theory, of consciousness itself. The first story, the story of Google Translate, takes place in Mountain View over nine months, and it explains the transformation of machine translation. The second story, the story of Google Brain and its many competitors, takes place in Silicon Valley over five years, and it explains the transformation of that entire community. The third story, the story of deep learning, takes place in a variety of laboratories — in Scotland, Switzerland, Japan and most of all Canada — over seven decades, and it might very well contribute to the revision of our as first and foremost beings who think. All three are stories about artificial intelligence. The story is about what we might conceivably expect or want from it. The story is about what it might do in the near future. The story is about what it can do right this minute. These three stories are themselves just proof of concept. All of this is only the beginning. Jeff Dean, though his title is senior fellow, is the de facto head of Google Brain. Dean is a sinewy, man with a long, narrow face, eyes and an earnest, sort of enthusiasm. The son of a medical anthropologist and a epidemiologist, Dean grew up all over the world — Minnesota, Hawaii, Boston, Arkansas, Geneva, Uganda, Somalia, Atlanta — and, while in high school and college, wrote software used by the World Health Organization. He has been with Google since 1999, as employee 25ish, and has had a hand in the core software systems beneath nearly every significant undertaking since then. A beloved artifact of company culture is Jeff Dean Facts, written in the style of the Chuck Norris Facts meme: “Jeff Dean’s PIN is the last four digits of pi. ” “When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he saw a missed call from Jeff Dean. ” “Jeff Dean got promoted to Level 11 in a system where the maximum level is 10. ” (This last one is, in fact, true.) One day in early 2011, Dean walked into one of the Google campus’s “microkitchens” — the “Googley” word for the shared break spaces on most floors of the Mountain View complex’s buildings — and ran into Andrew Ng, a young Stanford professor who was working for the company as a consultant. Ng told him about Project Marvin, an internal effort (named after the celebrated A. I. pioneer Marvin Minsky) he had recently helped establish to experiment with “neural networks,” pliant digital lattices based loosely on the architecture of the brain. Dean himself had worked on a primitive version of the technology as an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota in 1990, during one of the method’s brief windows of mainstream acceptability. Now, over the previous five years, the number of academics working on neural networks had begun to grow again, from a handful to a few dozen. Ng told Dean that Project Marvin, which was being underwritten by Google’s secretive X lab, had already achieved some promising results. Dean was intrigued enough to lend his “20 percent” — the portion of work hours every Google employee is expected to contribute to programs outside his or her core job — to the project. Pretty soon, he suggested to Ng that they bring in another colleague with a neuroscience background, Greg Corrado. (In graduate school, Corrado was taught briefly about the technology, but strictly as a historical curiosity. “It was good I was paying attention in class that day,” he joked to me.) In late spring they brought in one of Ng’s best graduate students, Quoc Le, as the project’s first intern. By then, a number of the Google engineers had taken to referring to Project Marvin by another name: Google Brain. Since the term “artificial intelligence” was first coined, at a kind of constitutional convention of the mind at Dartmouth in the summer of 1956, a majority of researchers have long thought the best approach to creating A. I. would be to write a very big, comprehensive program that laid out both the rules of logical reasoning and sufficient knowledge of the world. If you wanted to translate from English to Japanese, for example, you would program into the computer all of the grammatical rules of English, and then the entirety of definitions contained in the Oxford English Dictionary, and then all of the grammatical rules of Japanese, as well as all of the words in the Japanese dictionary, and only after all of that feed it a sentence in a source language and ask it to tabulate a corresponding sentence in the target language. You would give the machine a language map that was, as Borges would have had it, the size of the territory. This perspective is usually called “symbolic A. I. ” — because its definition of cognition is based on symbolic logic — or, disparagingly, “good A. I. ” There are two main problems with the approach. The first is that it’s awfully on the human end. The second is that it only really works in domains where rules and definitions are very clear: in mathematics, for example, or chess. Translation, however, is an example of a field where this approach fails horribly, because words cannot be reduced to their dictionary definitions, and because languages tend to have as many exceptions as they have rules. More often than not, a system like this is liable to translate “minister of agriculture” as “priest of farming. ” Still, for math and chess it worked great, and the proponents of symbolic A. I. took it for granted that no activities signaled “general intelligence” better than math and chess. There were, however, limits to what this system could do. In the 1980s, a robotics researcher at Carnegie Mellon pointed out that it was easy to get computers to do adult things but nearly impossible to get them to do things a could do, like hold a ball or identify a cat. By the 1990s, despite punishing advancements in computer chess, we still weren’t remotely close to artificial general intelligence. There has always been another vision for A. I. — a dissenting view — in which the computers would learn from the ground up (from data) rather than from the top down (from rules). This notion dates to the early 1940s, when it occurred to researchers that the best model for flexible automated intelligence was the brain itself. A brain, after all, is just a bunch of widgets, called neurons, that either pass along an electrical charge to their neighbors or don’t. What’s important are less the individual neurons themselves than the manifold connections among them. This structure, in its simplicity, has afforded the brain a wealth of adaptive advantages. The brain can operate in circumstances in which information is poor or missing it can withstand significant damage without total loss of control it can store a huge amount of knowledge in a very efficient way it can isolate distinct patterns but retain the messiness necessary to handle ambiguity. There was no reason you couldn’t try to mimic this structure in electronic form, and in 1943 it was shown that arrangements of simple artificial neurons could carry out basic logical functions. They could also, at least in theory, learn the way we do. With life experience, depending on a particular person’s trials and errors, the synaptic connections among pairs of neurons get stronger or weaker. An artificial neural network could do something similar, by gradually altering, on a guided basis, the numerical relationships among artificial neurons. It wouldn’t need to be preprogrammed with fixed rules. It would, instead, rewire itself to reflect patterns in the data it absorbed. This attitude toward artificial intelligence was evolutionary rather than creationist. If you wanted a flexible mechanism, you wanted one that could adapt to its environment. If you wanted something that could adapt, you didn’t want to begin with the indoctrination of the rules of chess. You wanted to begin with very basic abilities — sensory perception and motor control — in the hope that advanced skills would emerge organically. Humans don’t learn to understand language by memorizing dictionaries and grammar books, so why should we possibly expect our computers to do so? Google Brain was the first major commercial institution to invest in the possibilities embodied by this way of thinking about A. I. Dean, Corrado and Ng began their work as a collaborative experiment, but they made immediate progress. They took architectural inspiration for their models from recent theoretical outlines — as well as ideas that had been on the shelf since the 1980s and 1990s — and drew upon both the company’s peerless reserves of data and its massive computing infrastructure. They instructed the networks on enormous banks of “labeled” data — speech files with correct transcriptions, for example — and the computers improved their responses to better match reality. “The portion of evolution in which animals developed eyes was a big development,” Dean told me one day, with customary understatement. We were sitting, as usual, in a whiteboarded meeting room, on which he had drawn a crowded, snaking timeline of Google Brain and its relation to inflection points in the recent history of neural networks. “Now computers have eyes. We can build them around the capabilities that now exist to understand photos. Robots will be drastically transformed. They’ll be able to operate in an unknown environment, on much different problems. ” These capacities they were building may have seemed primitive, but their implications were profound. In its first year or so of existence, Brain’s experiments in the development of a machine with the talents of a had, as Dean said, worked to great effect. Its team swapped out part of their old system for a neural network and encountered, in pretty much one fell swoop, the best quality improvements anyone had seen in 20 years. Their system’s abilities improved by an order of magnitude. This was not because Brain’s personnel had generated a sheaf of outrageous new ideas in just a year. It was because Google had finally devoted the resources — in computers and, increasingly, personnel — to fill in outlines that had been around for a long time. A great preponderance of these extant and neglected notions had been proposed or refined by a peripatetic English polymath named Geoffrey Hinton. In the second year of Brain’s existence, Hinton was recruited to Brain as Andrew Ng left. (Ng now leads the A. I. team at Baidu.) Hinton wanted to leave his post at the University of Toronto for only three months, so for arcane contractual reasons he had to be hired as an intern. At intern training, the orientation leader would say something like, “Type in your LDAP” — a user login — and he would flag a helper to ask, “What’s an LDAP?” All the smart in attendance, who had only ever known deep learning as the sine qua non of artificial intelligence, snickered: “Who is that old guy? Why doesn’t he get it?” “At lunchtime,” Hinton said, “someone in the queue yelled: ‘Professor Hinton! I took your course! What are you doing here?’ After that, it was all right. ” A few months later, Hinton and two of his students demonstrated truly astonishing gains in a big contest, run by an collective called ImageNet, that asks computers not only to identify a monkey but also to distinguish between spider monkeys and howler monkeys, and among God knows how many different breeds of cat. Google soon approached Hinton and his students with an offer. They accepted. “I thought they were interested in our I. P.,” he said. “Turns out they were interested in us. ” Hinton comes from one of those old British families emblazoned like the Darwins at eccentric angles across the intellectual landscape, where regardless of titular preoccupation a person is expected to make sideline contributions to minor problems in astronomy or fluid dynamics. His was George Boole, whose foundational work in symbolic logic underpins the computer another was a celebrated surgeon, his father a venturesome entomologist, his father’s cousin a Los Alamos researcher the list goes on. He trained at Cambridge and Edinburgh, then taught at Carnegie Mellon before he ended up at Toronto, where he still spends half his time. (His work has long been supported by the largess of the Canadian government.) I visited him in his office at Google there. He has tousled hair combed forward in a mature Noel Gallagher style and wore a baggy striped dress shirt that persisted in coming untucked, and oval eyeglasses that slid down to the tip of a prominent nose. He speaks with a driving if shambolic wit, and says things like, “Computers will understand sarcasm before Americans do. ” Hinton had been working on neural networks since his undergraduate days at Cambridge in the late 1960s, and he is seen as the intellectual primogenitor of the contemporary field. For most of that time, whenever he spoke about machine learning, people looked at him as though he were talking about the Ptolemaic spheres or bloodletting by leeches. Neural networks were taken as a disproven folly, largely on the basis of one overhyped project: the Perceptron, an artificial neural network that Frank Rosenblatt, a Cornell psychologist, developed in the late 1950s. The New York Times reported that the machine’s sponsor, the United States Navy, expected it would “be able to walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself and be conscious of its existence. ” It went on to do approximately none of those things. Marvin Minsky, the dean of artificial intelligence in America, had worked on neural networks for his 1954 Princeton thesis, but he’d since grown tired of the inflated claims that Rosenblatt — who was a contemporary at Bronx Science — made for the neural paradigm. (He was also competing for Defense Department funding.) Along with an M. I. T. colleague, Minsky published a book that proved that there were painfully simple problems the Perceptron could never solve. Minsky’s criticism of the Perceptron extended only to networks of one “layer,” i. e. one layer of artificial neurons between what’s fed to the machine and what you expect from it — and later in life, he expounded ideas very similar to contemporary deep learning. But Hinton already knew at the time that complex tasks could be carried out if you had recourse to multiple layers. The simplest description of a neural network is that it’s a machine that makes classifications or predictions based on its ability to discover patterns in data. With one layer, you could find only simple patterns with more than one, you could look for patterns of patterns. Take the case of image recognition, which tends to rely on a contraption called a “convolutional neural net. ” (These were elaborated in a seminal 1998 paper whose lead author, a Frenchman named Yann LeCun, did his postdoctoral research in Toronto under Hinton and now directs a huge A. I. endeavor at Facebook.) The first layer of the network learns to identify the very basic visual trope of an “edge,” meaning a nothing (an ) followed by a something (an ) or vice versa. Each successive layer of the network looks for a pattern in the previous layer. A pattern of edges might be a circle or a rectangle. A pattern of circles or rectangles might be a face. And so on. This more or less parallels the way information is put together in increasingly abstract ways as it travels from the photoreceptors in the retina back and up through the visual cortex. At each conceptual step, detail that isn’t immediately relevant is thrown away. If several edges and circles come together to make a face, you don’t care exactly where the face is found in the visual field you just care that it’s a face. The issue with multilayered, “deep” neural networks was that the part got extraordinarily complicated. In a single layer, it’s easy. Imagine that you’re playing with a child. You tell the child, “Pick up the green ball and put it into Box A. ” The child picks up a green ball and puts it into Box B. You say, “Try again to put the green ball in Box A. ” The child tries Box A. Bravo. Now imagine you tell the child, “Pick up a green ball, go through the door marked 3 and put the green ball into Box A. ” The child takes a red ball, goes through the door marked 2 and puts the red ball into Box B. How do you begin to correct the child? You cannot just repeat your initial instructions, because the child does not know at which point he went wrong. In real life, you might start by holding up the red ball and the green ball and saying, “Red ball, green ball. ” The whole point of machine learning, however, is to avoid that kind of explicit mentoring. Hinton and a few others went on to invent a solution (or rather, reinvent an older one) to this problem, over the halting course of the late 1970s and 1980s, and interest among computer scientists in neural networks was briefly revived. “People got very excited about it,” he said. “But we oversold it. ” Computer scientists quickly went back to thinking that people like Hinton were weirdos and mystics. These ideas remained popular, however, among philosophers and psychologists, who called it “connectionism” or “parallel distributed processing. ” “This idea,” Hinton told me, “of a few people keeping a torch burning, it’s a nice myth. It was true within artificial intelligence. But within psychology lots of people believed in the approach but just couldn’t do it. ” Neither could Hinton, despite the generosity of the Canadian government. “There just wasn’t enough computer power or enough data. People on our side kept saying, ‘Yeah, but if I had a really big one, it would work. ’’u2009It wasn’t a very persuasive argument. ” When Pichai said that Google would henceforth be “A. I. first,” he was not just making a claim about his company’s business strategy he was throwing in his company’s lot with this idea. Pichai’s allocation of resources ensured that people like Dean could ensure that people like Hinton would have, at long last, enough computers and enough data to make a persuasive argument. An average brain has something on the order of 100 billion neurons. Each neuron is connected to up to 10, 000 other neurons, which means that the number of synapses is between 100 trillion and 1, 000 trillion. For a simple artificial neural network of the sort proposed in the 1940s, the attempt to even try to replicate this was unimaginable. We’re still far from the construction of a network of that size, but Google Brain’s investment allowed for the creation of artificial neural networks comparable to the brains of mice. To understand why scale is so important, however, you have to start to understand some of the more technical details of what, exactly, machine intelligences are doing with the data they consume. A lot of our ambient fears about A. I. rest on the idea that they’re just vacuuming up knowledge like a sociopathic prodigy in a library, and that an artificial intelligence constructed to make paper clips might someday decide to treat humans like ants or lettuce. This just isn’t how they work. All they’re doing is shuffling information around in search of commonalities — basic patterns, at first, and then more complex ones — and for the moment, at least, the greatest danger is that the information we’re feeding them is biased in the first place. If that brief explanation seems sufficiently reassuring, the reassured nontechnical reader is invited to skip forward to the next section, which is about cats. If not, then read on. (This section is also, luckily, about cats.) Imagine you want to program a on the old . I. model. You stay up for days preloading the machine with an exhaustive, explicit definition of “cat. ” You tell it that a cat has four legs and pointy ears and whiskers and a tail, and so on. All this information is stored in a special place in memory called Cat. Now you show it a picture. First, the machine has to separate out the various distinct elements of the image. Then it has to take these elements and apply the rules stored in its memory. If( legs=4) and if( ears=pointy) and if( whiskers=yes) and if( tail=yes) and if( expression=supercilious) then( cat=yes). But what if you showed this a Scottish Fold, a breed with a prized genetic defect that leads to droopy ears? Our symbolic A. I. gets to (ears=pointy) and shakes its head solemnly, “Not cat. ” It is hyperliteral, or “brittle. ” Even the thickest toddler shows much greater inferential acuity. Now imagine that instead of the machine with a set of rules for classification stored in one location of the computer’s memory, you try the same thing on a neural network. There is no special place that can hold the definition of “cat. ” There is just a giant blob of interconnected switches, like forks in a path. On one side of the blob, you present the inputs (the pictures) on the other side, you present the corresponding outputs (the labels). Then you just tell it to work out for itself, via the individual calibration of all of these interconnected switches, whatever path the data should take so that the inputs are mapped to the correct outputs. The training is the process by which a labyrinthine series of elaborate tunnels are excavated through the blob, tunnels that connect any given input to its proper output. The more training data you have, the greater the number and intricacy of the tunnels that can be dug. Once the training is complete, the middle of the blob has enough tunnels that it can make reliable predictions about how to handle data it has never seen before. This is called “supervised learning. ” The reason that the network requires so many neurons and so much data is that it functions, in a way, like a sort of giant machine democracy. Imagine you want to train a computer to differentiate among five different items. Your network is made up of millions and millions of neuronal “voters,” each of whom has been given five different cards: one for cat, one for dog, one for spider monkey, one for spoon and one for defibrillator. You show your electorate a photo and ask, “Is this a cat, a dog, a spider monkey, a spoon or a defibrillator?” All the neurons that voted the same way collect in groups, and the network foreman peers down from above and identifies the majority classification: “A dog?” You say: “No, maestro, it’s a cat. Try again. ” Now the network foreman goes back to identify which voters threw their weight behind “cat” and which didn’t. The ones that got “cat” right get their votes counted double next time — at least when they’re voting for “cat. ” They have to prove independently whether they’re also good at picking out dogs and defibrillators, but one thing that makes a neural network so flexible is that each individual unit can contribute differently to different desired outcomes. What’s important is not the individual vote, exactly, but the pattern of votes. If Joe, Frank and Mary all vote together, it’s a dog but if Joe, Kate and Jessica vote together, it’s a cat and if Kate, Jessica and Frank vote together, it’s a defibrillator. The neural network just needs to register enough of a regularly discernible signal somewhere to say, “Odds are, this particular arrangement of pixels represents something these humans keep calling ‘cats. ’’u2009” The more “voters” you have, and the more times you make them vote, the more keenly the network can register even very weak signals. If you have only Joe, Frank and Mary, you can maybe use them only to differentiate among a cat, a dog and a defibrillator. If you have millions of different voters that can associate in billions of different ways, you can learn to classify data with incredible granularity. Your trained voter assembly will be able to look at an unlabeled picture and identify it more or less accurately. Part of the reason there was so much resistance to these ideas in departments is that because the output is just a prediction based on patterns of patterns, it’s not going to be perfect, and the machine will never be able to define for you what, exactly, a cat is. It just knows them when it sees them. This wooliness, however, is the point. The neuronal “voters” will recognize a happy cat dozing in the sun and an angry cat glaring out from the shadows of an untidy litter box, as long as they have been exposed to millions of diverse cat scenes. You just need lots and lots of the voters — in order to make sure that some part of your network picks up on even very weak regularities, on Scottish Folds with droopy ears, for example — and enough labeled data to make sure your network has seen the widest possible variance in phenomena. It is important to note, however, that the fact that neural networks are probabilistic in nature means that they’re not suitable for all tasks. It’s no great tragedy if they mislabel 1 percent of cats as dogs, or send you to the wrong movie on occasion, but in something like a car we all want greater assurances. This isn’t the only caveat. Supervised learning is a process based on labeled data. The machines might be doing the learning, but there remains a strong human element in the initial categorization of the inputs. If your data had a picture of a man and a woman in suits that someone had labeled “woman with her boss,” that relationship would be encoded into all future pattern recognition. Labeled data is thus fallible the way that human labelers are fallible. If a machine was asked to identify creditworthy candidates for loans, it might use data like felony convictions, but if felony convictions were unfair in the first place — if they were based on, say, discriminatory drug laws — then the loan recommendations would perforce also be fallible. networks like our are only one of many varieties of deep learning, but they are disproportionately invoked as teaching examples because each layer does something at least vaguely recognizable to humans — picking out edges first, then circles, then faces. This means there’s a safeguard against error. For instance, an early oddity in Google’s software meant that it could not always identify a barbell in isolation, even though the team had trained it on an image set that included a lot of exercise categories. A visualization tool showed them the machine had learned not the concept of “dumbbell” but the concept of “dumbbell+arm,” because all the dumbbells in the training set were attached to arms. They threw into the training mix some photos of solo barbells. The problem was solved. Not everything is so easy. Over the course of its first year or two, Brain’s efforts to cultivate in machines the skills of a were auspicious enough that the team was graduated out of the X lab and into the broader research organization. (The head of Google X once noted that Brain had paid for the entirety of X’s costs.) They still had fewer than 10 people and only a vague sense for what might ultimately come of it all. But even then they were thinking ahead to what ought to happen next. First a human mind learns to recognize a ball and rests easily with the accomplishment for a moment, but sooner or later, it wants to ask for the ball. And then it wades into language. The first step in that direction was the cat paper, which made Brain famous. What the cat paper demonstrated was that a neural network with more than a billion “synaptic” connections — a hundred times larger than any publicized neural network to that point, yet still many orders of magnitude smaller than our brains — could observe raw, unlabeled data and pick out for itself a human concept. The Brain researchers had shown the network millions of still frames from YouTube videos, and out of the welter of the pure sensorium the network had isolated a stable pattern any toddler or chipmunk would recognize without a moment’s hesitation as the face of a cat. The machine had not been programmed with the foreknowledge of a cat it reached directly into the world and seized the idea for itself. (The researchers discovered this with the equivalent of something like an M. R. I. which showed them that a ghostly cat face caused the artificial neurons to “vote” with the greatest collective enthusiasm.) Most machine learning to that point had been limited by the quantities of labeled data. The cat paper showed that machines could also deal with raw unlabeled data, perhaps even data of which humans had no established foreknowledge. This seemed like a major advance not only in studies but also in overall artificial intelligence. The lead author on the cat paper was Quoc Le. Le is short and willowy and with a quick, enigmatic smile and shiny black penny loafers. He grew up outside Hue, Vietnam. His parents were rice farmers, and he did not have electricity at home. His mathematical abilities were obvious from an early age, and he was sent to study at a magnet school for science. In the late 1990s, while still in school, he tried to build a chatbot to talk to. He thought, How hard could this be? “But actually,” he told me in a whispery deadpan, “it’s very hard. ” He left the rice paddies on a scholarship to a university in Canberra, Australia, where he worked on A. I. tasks like computer vision. The dominant method of the time, which involved feeding the machine definitions for things like edges, felt to him like cheating. Le didn’t know then, or knew only dimly, that there were at least a few dozen computer scientists elsewhere in the world who couldn’t help imagining, as he did, that machines could learn from scratch. In 2006, Le took a position at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in the medieval German university town of Tübingen. In a reading group there, he encountered two new papers by Geoffrey Hinton. People who entered the discipline during the long diaspora all have conversion stories, and when Le read those papers, he felt the scales fall away from his eyes. “There was a big debate,” he told me. “A very big debate. ” We were in a small interior conference room, a narrow, space outfitted with only a small table and two whiteboards. He looked to the curve he’d drawn on the whiteboard behind him and back again, then softly confided, “I’ve never seen such a big debate. ” He remembers standing up at the reading group and saying, “This is the future. ” It was, he said, an “unpopular decision at the time. ” A former adviser from Australia, with whom he had stayed close, couldn’t quite understand Le’s decision. “Why are you doing this?” he asked Le in an email. “I didn’t have a good answer back then,” Le said. “I was just curious. There was a successful paradigm, but to be honest I was just curious about the new paradigm. In 2006, there was very little activity. ” He went to join Ng at Stanford and began to pursue Hinton’s ideas. “By the end of 2010, I was pretty convinced something was going to happen. ” What happened, soon afterward, was that Le went to Brain as its first intern, where he carried on with his dissertation work — an extension of which ultimately became the cat paper. On a simple level, Le wanted to see if the computer could be trained to identify on its own the information that was absolutely essential to a given image. He fed the neural network a still he had taken from YouTube. He then told the neural network to throw away some of the information contained in the image, though he didn’t specify what it should or shouldn’t throw away. The machine threw away some of the information, initially at random. Then he said: “Just kidding! Now recreate the initial image you were shown based only on the information you retained. ” It was as if he were asking the machine to find a way to “summarize” the image, and then expand back to the original from the summary. If the summary was based on irrelevant data — like the color of the sky rather than the presence of whiskers — the machine couldn’t perform a competent reconstruction. Its reaction would be akin to that of a distant ancestor whose takeaway from his brief exposure to tigers was that they made a restful swooshing sound when they moved. Le’s neural network, unlike that ancestor, got to try again, and again and again and again. Each time it mathematically “chose” to prioritize different pieces of information and performed incrementally better. A neural network, however, was a black box. It divined patterns, but the patterns it identified didn’t always make intuitive sense to a human observer. The same network that hit on our concept of cat also became enthusiastic about a pattern that looked like some sort of compound, like a cross between an ottoman and a goat. Le didn’t see himself in those heady cat years as a language guy, but he felt an urge to connect the dots to his early chatbot. After the cat paper, he realized that if you could ask a network to summarize a photo, you could perhaps also ask it to summarize a sentence. This problem preoccupied Le, along with a Brain colleague named Tomas Mikolov, for the next two years. In that time, the Brain team outgrew several offices around him. For a while they were on a floor they shared with executives. They got an email at one point from the administrator asking that they please stop allowing people to sleep on the couch in front of Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s suite. It unsettled incoming V. I. P. s. They were then allocated part of a research building across the street, where their exchanges in the microkitchen wouldn’t be squandered on polite chitchat with the suits. That interim also saw dedicated attempts on the part of Google’s competitors to catch up. (As Le told me about his close collaboration with Tomas Mikolov, he kept repeating Mikolov’s name over and over, in an incantatory way that sounded poignant. Le had never seemed so solemn. I finally couldn’t help myself and began to ask, “Is he . .. ?” Le nodded. “At Facebook,” he replied.) They spent this period trying to come up with architectures that could accommodate not only simple photo classifications, which were static, but also complex structures that unfolded over time, like language or music. Many of these were first proposed in the 1990s, and Le and his colleagues went back to those contributions to see what they could glean. They knew that once you established a facility with basic linguistic prediction, you could then go on to do all sorts of other intelligent things — like predict a suitable reply to an email, for example, or predict the flow of a sensible conversation. You could sidle up to the sort of prowess that would, from the outside at least, look a lot like thinking. The hundred or so current members of Brain — it often feels less like a department within a colossal corporate hierarchy than it does a club or a scholastic society or an intergalactic cantina — came in the intervening years to count among the freest and most widely admired employees in the entire Google organization. They are now quartered in a tiered eggshell building, with large windows tinted a menacing charcoal gray, on the leafy northwestern fringe of the company’s main Mountain View campus. Their microkitchen has a foosball table I never saw used a Rock Band setup I never saw used and a Go kit I saw used on a few occasions. (I did once see a young Brain research associate introducing his colleagues to ripe jackfruit, carving up the enormous spiky orb like a turkey.) When I began spending time at Brain’s offices, in June, there were some rows of empty desks, but most of them were labeled with notes that said things like “Jesse, . ” Now those are all occupied. When I first visited, parking was not an issue. The closest spaces were those reserved for expectant mothers or Teslas, but there was ample space in the rest of the lot. By October, if I showed up later than 9:30, I had to find a spot across the street. Brain’s growth made Dean slightly nervous about how the company was going to handle the demand. He wanted to avoid what at Google is known as a “success disaster” — a situation in which the company’s capabilities in theory outpaced its ability to implement a product in practice. At a certain point he did some calculations, which he presented to the executives one day in a presentation. “If everyone in the future speaks to their Android phone for three minutes a day,” he told them, “this is how many machines we’ll need. ” They would need to double or triple their global computational footprint. “That,” he observed with a little theatrical gulp and widened eyes, “sounded scary. You’d have to” — he hesitated to imagine the consequences — “build new buildings. ” There was, however, another option: just design, and install in dispersed data centers a new kind of chip to make everything faster. These chips would be called T. P. U. s, or “tensor processing units,” and their value proposition — counterintuitively — is that they are deliberately less precise than normal chips. Rather than compute 12. 246 times 54. 392, they will give you the perfunctory answer to 12 times 54. On a mathematical level, rather than a metaphorical one, a neural network is just a structured series of hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of matrix multiplications carried out in succession, and it’s much more important that these processes be fast than that they be exact. “Normally,” Dean said, “ hardware is a bad idea. It usually works to speed up one thing. But because of the generality of neural networks, you can leverage this hardware for a lot of other things. ” Just as the process was nearly complete, Le and two colleagues finally demonstrated that neural networks might be configured to handle the structure of language. He drew upon an idea, called “word embeddings,” that had been around for more than 10 years. When you summarize images, you can divine a picture of what each stage of the summary looks like — an edge, a circle, etc. When you summarize language in a similar way, you essentially produce multidimensional maps of the distances, based on common usage, between one word and every single other word in the language. The machine is not “analyzing” the data the way that we might, with linguistic rules that identify some of them as nouns and others as verbs. Instead, it is shifting and twisting and warping the words around in the map. In two dimensions, you cannot make this map useful. You want, for example, “cat” to be in the rough vicinity of “dog,” but you also want “cat” to be near “tail” and near “supercilious” and near “meme,” because you want to try to capture all of the different relationships — both strong and weak — that the word “cat” has to other words. It can be related to all these other words simultaneously only if it is related to each of them in a different dimension. You can’t easily make a map, but it turns out you can represent a language pretty well in a mere thousand or so dimensions — in other words, a universe in which each word is designated by a list of a thousand numbers. Le gave me a hard time for my continual requests for a mental picture of these maps. “Gideon,” he would say, with the blunt regular demurral of Bartleby, “I do not generally like trying to visualize vectors in space. ” Still, certain dimensions in the space, it turned out, did seem to represent legible human categories, like gender or relative size. If you took the thousand numbers that meant “king” and literally just subtracted the thousand numbers that meant “queen,” you got the same numerical result as if you subtracted the numbers for “woman” from the numbers for “man. ” And if you took the entire space of the English language and the entire space of French, you could, at least in theory, train a network to learn how to take a sentence in one space and propose an equivalent in the other. You just had to give it millions and millions of English sentences as inputs on one side and their desired French outputs on the other, and over time it would recognize the relevant patterns in words the way that an image classifier recognized the relevant patterns in pixels. You could then give it a sentence in English and ask it to predict the best French analogue. The major difference between words and pixels, however, is that all of the pixels in an image are there at once, whereas words appear in a progression over time. You needed a way for the network to “hold in mind” the progression of a chronological sequence — the complete pathway from the first word to the last. In a period of about a week, in September 2014, three papers came out — one by Le and two others by academics in Canada and Germany — that at last provided all the theoretical tools necessary to do this sort of thing. That research allowed for projects like Brain’s Magenta, an investigation into how machines might generate art and music. It also cleared the way toward an instrumental task like machine translation. Hinton told me he thought at the time that this work would take at least five more years. Le’s paper showed that neural translation was plausible, but he had used only a relatively small public data set. (Small for Google, that is — it was actually the biggest public data set in the world. A decade of the old Translate had gathered production data that was between a hundred and a thousand times bigger.) More important, Le’s model didn’t work very well for sentences longer than about seven words. Mike Schuster, who then was a staff research scientist at Brain, picked up the baton. He knew that if Google didn’t find a way to scale these theoretical insights up to a production level, someone else would. The project took him the next two years. “You think,” Schuster says, “to translate something, you just get the data, run the experiments and you’re done, but it doesn’t work like that. ” Schuster is a taut, focused, ageless being with a tanned, head, narrow shoulders, long camo cargo shorts tied below the knee and Nike Flyknits. He looks as if he woke up in the lotus position, reached for his small, rimless, elliptical glasses, accepted calories in the form of a modest portion of preserved acorn and completed a relaxed desert decathlon on the way to the office in reality, he told me, it’s only an bike ride each way. Schuster grew up in Duisburg, in the former West Germany’s district, and studied electrical engineering before moving to Kyoto to work on early neural networks. In the 1990s, he ran experiments with a machine as big as a conference room it cost millions of dollars and had to be trained for weeks to do something you could now do on your desktop in less than an hour. He published a paper in 1997 that was barely cited for a decade and a half this year it has been cited around 150 times. He is not humorless, but he does often wear an expression of some asperity, which I took as his signature combination of German restraint and Japanese restraint. The issues Schuster had to deal with were tangled. For one thing, Le’s code was and it wasn’t compatible with the new platform Google was then developing, TensorFlow. Dean directed to Schuster two other engineers, Yonghui Wu and Zhifeng Chen, in the fall of 2015. It took them two months just to replicate Le’s results on the new system. Le was around, but even he couldn’t always make heads or tails of what they had done. As Schuster put it, “Some of the stuff was not done in full consciousness. They didn’t know themselves why they worked. ” This February, Google’s research organization — the loose division of the company, roughly a thousand employees in all, dedicated to the and the unclassifiable — convened their leads at an offsite retreat at the Westin St. Francis, on Union Square, a luxury hotel slightly less splendid than Google’s own San Francisco shop a mile or so to the east. The morning was reserved for rounds of “lightning talks,” quick updates to cover the research waterfront, and the afternoon was idled away in “facilitated discussions. ” The hope was that the retreat might provide an occasion for the unpredictable, oblique, Bell exchanges that kept a mature company prolific. At lunchtime, Corrado and Dean paired up in search of Macduff Hughes, director of Google Translate. Hughes was eating alone, and the two Brain members took positions at either side. As Corrado put it, “We ambushed him. ” “O. K.,” Corrado said to the wary Hughes, holding his breath for effect. “We have something to tell you. ” They told Hughes that 2016 seemed like a good time to consider an overhaul of Google Translate — the code of hundreds of engineers over 10 years — with a neural network. The old system worked the way all machine translation has worked for about 30 years: It sequestered each successive sentence fragment, looked up those words in a large statistically derived vocabulary table, then applied a battery of rules to affix proper endings and rearrange it all to make sense. The approach is called “ statistical machine translation,” because by the time the system gets to the next phrase, it doesn’t know what the last one was. This is why Translate’s output sometimes looked like a shaken bag of fridge magnets. Brain’s replacement would, if it came together, read and render entire sentences at one draft. It would capture context — and something akin to meaning. The stakes may have seemed low: Translate generates minimal revenue, and it probably always will. For most Anglophone users, even a radical upgrade in the service’s performance would hardly be hailed as anything more than an expected incremental bump. But there was a case to be made that machine translation is not only a necessity but also a development very likely, in the long term, to prove transformational. In the immediate future, it’s vital to the company’s business strategy. Google estimates that 50 percent of the internet is in English, which perhaps 20 percent of the world’s population speaks. If Google was going to compete in China — where a majority of market share in traffic belonged to its competitor Baidu — or India, decent machine translation would be an indispensable part of the infrastructure. Baidu itself had published a pathbreaking paper about the possibility of neural machine translation in July 2015. And in the more distant, speculative future, machine translation was perhaps the first step toward a general computational facility with human language. This would represent a major inflection point — perhaps the major inflection point — in the development of something that felt like true artificial intelligence. Most people in Silicon Valley were aware of machine learning as a horizon, so Hughes had seen this ambush coming. He remained skeptical. A modest, sturdily built man of early middle age with mussed auburn hair graying at the temples, Hughes is a classic line engineer, the sort of craftsman who wouldn’t have been out of place at a drafting table at 1970s Boeing. His jeans pockets often look burdened with curious tools of ungainly dimension, as if he were porting around measuring tapes or thermocouples, and unlike many of the younger people who work for him, he has a wardrobe unreliant on company gear. He knew that various people in various places at Google and elsewhere had been trying to make neural translation work — not in a lab but at production scale — for years, to little avail. Hughes listened to their case and, at the end, said cautiously that it sounded to him as if maybe they could pull it off in three years. Dean thought otherwise. “We can do it by the end of the year, if we put our minds to it. ” One reason people liked and admired Dean so much was that he had a long record of successfully putting his mind to it. Another was that he wasn’t at all embarrassed to say sincere things like “if we put our minds to it. ” Hughes was sure the conversion wasn’t going to happen any time soon, but he didn’t personally care to be the reason. “Let’s prepare for 2016,” he went back and told his team. “I’m not going to be the one to say Jeff Dean can’t deliver speed. ” A month later, they were finally able to run a experiment to compare Schuster’s new system with Hughes’s old one. Schuster wanted to run it for but Hughes advised him to try something else. “” he said, “is so good that the improvement won’t be obvious. ” It was a challenge Schuster couldn’t resist. The benchmark metric to evaluate machine translation is called a BLEU score, which compares a machine translation with an average of many reliable human translations. At the time, the best BLEU scores for were in the high 20s. An improvement of one point was considered very good an improvement of two was considered outstanding. The neural system, on the language pair, showed an improvement over the old system of seven points. Hughes told Schuster’s team they hadn’t had even half as strong an improvement in their own system in the last four years. To be sure this wasn’t some fluke in the metric, they also turned to their pool of human contractors to do a comparison. The scores, in which sample sentences were graded from zero to six, showed an average improvement of 0. 4 — roughly equivalent to the aggregate gains of the old system over its entire lifetime of development. In Hughes sent his team an email. All projects on the old system were to be suspended immediately. Until then, the team had been only three people — Schuster, Wu and Chen — but with Hughes’s support, the broader team began to coalesce. They met under Schuster’s command on Wednesdays at 2 p. m. in a corner room of the Brain building called Quartz Lake. The meeting was generally attended by a rotating cast of more than a dozen people. When Hughes or Corrado were there, they were usually the only native English speakers. The engineers spoke Chinese, Vietnamese, Polish, Russian, Arabic, German and Japanese, though they mostly spoke in their own efficient pidgin and in math. It is not always totally clear, at Google, who is running a meeting, but in Schuster’s case there was no ambiguity. The steps they needed to take, even then, were not wholly clear. “This story is a lot about uncertainty — uncertainty throughout the whole process,” Schuster told me at one point. “The software, the data, the hardware, the people. It was like” — he extended his long, gracile arms, slightly bent at the elbows, from his narrow shoulders — “swimming in a big sea of mud, and you can only see this far. ” He held out his hand eight inches in front of his chest. “There’s a goal somewhere, and maybe it’s there. ” Most of Google’s conference rooms have videochat monitors, which when idle display extremely oversaturated public Google+ photos of a sylvan dreamscape or the northern lights or the Reichstag. Schuster gestured toward one of the panels, which showed a crystalline still of the Washington Monument at night. “The view from outside is that everyone has binoculars and can see ahead so far. ” The theoretical work to get them to this point had already been painstaking and but the attempt to turn it into a viable product — the part that academic scientists might dismiss as “mere” engineering — was no less difficult. For one thing, they needed to make sure that they were training on good data. Google’s billions of words of training “reading” were mostly made up of complete sentences of moderate complexity, like the sort of thing you might find in Hemingway. Some of this is in the public domain: The original Rosetta Stone of statistical machine translation was millions of pages of the complete bilingual records of the Canadian Parliament. Much of it, however, was culled from 10 years of collected data, including human translations that were crowdsourced from enthusiastic respondents. The team had in their storehouse about 97 million unique English “words. ” But once they removed the emoticons, and the misspellings, and the redundancies, they had a working vocabulary of only around 160, 000. Then you had to refocus on what users actually wanted to translate, which frequently had very little to do with reasonable language as it is employed. Many people, Google had found, don’t look to the service to translate full, complex sentences they translate weird little shards of language. If you wanted the network to be able to handle the stream of user queries, you had to be sure to orient it in that direction. The network was very sensitive to the data it was trained on. As Hughes put it to me at one point: “The system is learning everything it can. It’s like a toddler. ‘Oh, Daddy says that word when he’s mad! ’’u2009” He laughed. “You have to be careful. ” More than anything, though, they needed to make sure that the whole thing was fast and reliable enough that their users wouldn’t notice. In February, the translation of a sentence took 10 seconds. They could never introduce anything that slow. The Translate team began to conduct latency experiments on a small percentage of users, in the form of faked delays, to identify tolerance. They found that a translation that took twice as long, or even five times as long, wouldn’t be registered. An eightfold slowdown would. They didn’t need to make sure this was true across all languages. In the case of a language, like French or Chinese, they could countenance virtually no slowdown. For something more obscure, they knew that users wouldn’t be so scared off by a slight delay if they were getting better quality. They just wanted to prevent people from giving up and switching over to some competitor’s service. Schuster, for his part, admitted he just didn’t know if they ever could make it fast enough. He remembers a conversation in the microkitchen during which he turned to Chen and said, “There must be something we don’t know to make it fast enough, but I don’t know what it could be. ” He did know, though, that they needed more computers — “G. P. U. s,” graphics processors reconfigured for neural networks — for training. Hughes went to Schuster to ask what he thought. “Should we ask for a thousand G. P. U. s?” Schuster said, “Why not 2, 000?” Ten days later, they had the additional 2, 000 processors. By April, the original lineup of three had become more than 30 people — some of them, like Le, on the Brain side, and many from Translate. In May, Hughes assigned a kind of provisional owner to each language pair, and they all checked their results into a big shared spreadsheet of performance evaluations. At any given time, at least 20 people were running their own independent weeklong experiments and dealing with whatever unexpected problems came up. One day a model, for no apparent reason, started taking all the numbers it came across in a sentence and discarding them. There were months when it was all touch and go. “People were almost yelling,” Schuster said. By late spring, the various pieces were coming together. The team introduced something called a “ model,” a “coverage penalty,” “length normalization. ” Each part improved the results, Schuster says, by maybe a few percentage points, but in aggregate they had significant effects. Once the model was standardized, it would be only a single multilingual model that would improve over time, rather than the 150 different models that Translate currently used. Still, the paradox — that a tool built to further generalize, via learning machines, the process of automation required such an extraordinary amount of concerted human ingenuity and effort — was not lost on them. So much of what they did was just gut. How many neurons per layer did you use? 1, 024 or 512? How many layers? How many sentences did you run through at a time? How long did you train for? “We did hundreds of experiments,” Schuster told me, “until we knew that we could stop the training after one week. You’re always saying: When do we stop? How do I know I’m done? You never know you’re done. The mechanism is never perfect. You need to train, and at some point you have to stop. That’s the very painful nature of this whole system. It’s hard for some people. It’s a little bit an art — where you put your brush to make it nice. It comes from just doing it. Some people are better, some worse. ” By May, the Brain team understood that the only way they were ever going to make the system fast enough to implement as a product was if they could run it on T. P. U. s, the chips that Dean had called for. As Chen put it: “We did not even know if the code would work. But we did know that without T. P. U. s, it definitely wasn’t going to work. ” He remembers going to Dean one on one to plead, “Please reserve something for us. ” Dean had reserved them. The T. P. U. s, however, didn’t work right out of the box. Wu spent two months sitting next to someone from the hardware team in an attempt to figure out why. They weren’t just debugging the model they were debugging the chip. The project would be proof of concept for the whole infrastructural investment. One Wednesday in June, the meeting in Quartz Lake began with murmurs about a Baidu paper that had recently appeared on the discipline’s chief online forum. Schuster brought the room to order. “Yes, Baidu came out with a paper. It feels like someone looking through our shoulder — similar architecture, similar results. ” The company’s BLEU scores were essentially what Google achieved in its internal tests in February and March. Le didn’t seem ruffled his conclusion seemed to be that it was a sign Google was on the right track. “It is very similar to our system,” he said with quiet approval. The Google team knew that they could have published their results earlier and perhaps beaten their competitors, but as Schuster put it: “Launching is more important than publishing. People say, ‘Oh, I did something first,’ but who cares, in the end?” This did, however, make it imperative that they get their own service out first and better. Hughes had a fantasy that they wouldn’t even inform their users of the switch. They would just wait and see if social media lit up with suspicions about the vast improvements. “We don’t want to say it’s a new system yet,” he told me at 5:36 p. m. two days after Labor Day, one minute before they rolled out to 10 percent of their users, without telling anyone. “We want to make sure it works. The ideal is that it’s exploding on Twitter: ‘Have you seen how awesome Google Translate got? ’’u2009” The only two reliable measures of time in the seasonless Silicon Valley are the rotations of seasonal fruit in the microkitchens — from the pluots of midsummer to the Asian pears and Fuyu persimmons of early fall — and the zigzag of technological progress. On an almost uncomfortably warm Monday afternoon in late September, the team’s paper was at last released. It had an almost comical 31 authors. The next day, the members of Brain and Translate gathered to throw themselves a little celebratory reception in the Translate microkitchen. The rooms in the Brain building, perhaps in homage to the long winters of their diaspora, are named after Alaskan locales the Translate building’s theme is Hawaiian. The Hawaiian microkitchen has a slightly grainy beach photograph on one wall, a small service counter with a stuffed parrot at the center and ceiling fixtures fitted to resemble paper lanterns. Two sparse histograms of bamboo poles line the sides, like the posts of an tropical fort. Beyond the bamboo poles, glass walls and doors open onto rows of identical gray desks on either side. That morning had seen the arrival of new hooded sweatshirts to honor 10 years of Translate, and many team members went over to the party from their desks in their new gear. They were in part celebrating the fact that their decade of collective work was, as of that day, en route to retirement. At another institution, these new hoodies might thus have become a costume of bereavement, but the engineers and computer scientists from both teams all seemed pleased. Google’s neural translation was at last working. By the time of the party, the company’s test had already processed 18 million queries. One engineer on the Translate team was running around with his phone out, trying to translate entire sentences from Chinese to English using Baidu’s alternative. He crowed with glee to anybody who would listen. “If you put in more than two characters at once, it times out!” (Baidu says this problem has never been reported by users.) When word began to spread, over the following weeks, that Google had introduced neural translation for Chinese to English, some people speculated that it was because that was the only language pair for which the company had decent results. Everybody at the party knew that the reality of their achievement would be clear in November. By then, however, many of them would be on to other projects. Hughes cleared his throat and stepped in front of the tiki bar. He wore a faded green polo with a rumpled collar, lightly patterned across the midsection with dark bands of drying sweat. There had been problems, and then problems, including a very big measurement error in the paper and a weird bug in the system. But everything was resolved — or at least sufficiently resolved for the moment. The guests quieted. Hughes ran efficient and productive meetings, with a low tolerance for maundering or side conversation, but he was given pause by the gravity of the occasion. He acknowledged that he was, perhaps, stretching a metaphor, but it was important to him to underline the fact, he began, that the neural translation project itself represented a “collaboration between groups that spoke different languages. ” Their project, he continued, represented a “step function forward” — that is, a discontinuous advance, a vertical leap rather than a smooth curve. The relevant translation had been not just between the two teams but from theory into reality. He raised a plastic of Champagne. “To communication,” he said, “and cooperation!” The engineers assembled looked around at one another and gave themselves over to little circumspect whoops and applause. Jeff Dean stood near the center of the microkitchen, his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched slightly inward, with Corrado and Schuster. Dean saw that there was some diffuse preference that he contribute to the observance of the occasion, and he did so in a characteristically understated manner, with a light, rapid, concise addendum. What they had shown, Dean said, was that they could do two major things at once: “Do the research and get it in front of, I dunno, half a billion people. ” Everyone laughed, not because it was an exaggeration but because it wasn’t. Perhaps the most famous historic critique of artificial intelligence, or the claims made on its behalf, implicates the question of translation. The Chinese Room argument was proposed in 1980 by the Berkeley philosopher John Searle. In Searle’s thought experiment, a monolingual English speaker sits alone in a cell. An unseen jailer passes him, through a slot in the door, slips of paper marked with Chinese characters. The prisoner has been given a set of tables and rules in English for the composition of replies. He becomes so adept with these instructions that his answers are soon “absolutely indistinguishable from those of Chinese speakers. ” Should the unlucky prisoner be said to “understand” Chinese? Searle thought the answer was obviously not. This metaphor for a computer, Searle later wrote, exploded the claim that “the appropriately programmed digital computer with the right inputs and outputs would thereby have a mind in exactly the sense that human beings have minds. ” For the Google Brain team, though, or for nearly everyone else who works in machine learning in Silicon Valley, that view is entirely beside the point. This doesn’t mean they’re just ignoring the philosophical question. It means they have a fundamentally different view of the mind. Unlike Searle, they don’t assume that “consciousness” is some special, numinously glowing mental attribute — what the philosopher Gilbert Ryle called the “ghost in the machine. ” They just believe instead that the complex assortment of skills we call “consciousness” has randomly emerged from the coordinated activity of many different simple mechanisms. The implication is that our facility with what we consider the higher registers of thought are no different in kind from what we’re tempted to perceive as the lower registers. Logical reasoning, on this account, is seen as a lucky adaptation so is the ability to throw and catch a ball. Artificial intelligence is not about building a mind it’s about the improvement of tools to solve problems. As Corrado said to me on my very first day at Google, “It’s not about what a machine ‘knows’ or ‘understands’ but what it ‘does,’ and — more importantly — what it doesn’t do yet. ” Where you come down on “knowing” versus “doing” has real cultural and social implications. At the party, Schuster came over to me to express his frustration with the paper’s media reception. “Did you see the first press?” he asked me. He paraphrased a headline from that morning, blocking it word by word with his hand as he recited it: GOOGLE SAYS A. I. TRANSLATION IS INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM HUMANS’. Over the final weeks of the paper’s composition, the team had struggled with this Schuster often repeated that the message of the paper was “It’s much better than it was before, but not as good as humans. ” He had hoped it would be clear that their efforts weren’t about replacing people but helping them. And yet the rise of machine learning makes it more difficult for us to carve out a special place for us. If you believe, with Searle, that there is something special about human “insight,” you can draw a clear line that separates the human from the automated. If you agree with Searle’s antagonists, you can’t. It is understandable why so many people cling fast to the former view. At a 2015 M. I. T. conference about the roots of artificial intelligence, Noam Chomsky was asked what he thought of machine learning. He the whole enterprise as mere statistical prediction, a glorified weather forecast. Even if neural translation attained perfect functionality, it would reveal nothing profound about the underlying nature of language. It could never tell you if a pronoun took the dative or the accusative case. This kind of prediction makes for a good tool to accomplish our ends, but it doesn’t succeed by the standards of furthering our understanding of why things happen the way they do. A machine can already detect tumors in medical scans better than human radiologists, but the machine can’t tell you what’s causing the cancer. Then again, can the radiologist? Medical diagnosis is one field most immediately, and perhaps unpredictably, threatened by machine learning. Radiologists are extensively trained and extremely well paid, and we think of their skill as one of professional insight — the highest register of thought. In the past year alone, researchers have shown not only that neural networks can find tumors in medical images much earlier than their human counterparts but also that machines can even make such diagnoses from the texts of pathology reports. What radiologists do turns out to be something much closer to predictive than logical analysis. They’re not telling you what caused the cancer they’re just telling you it’s there. Once you’ve built a robust apparatus for one purpose, it can be tweaked in the service of others. One Translate engineer took a network he put together to judge artwork and used it to drive an autonomous car. A network built to recognize a cat can be turned around and trained on CT scans — and on infinitely more examples than even the best doctor could ever review. A neural network built to translate could work through millions of pages of documents of legal discovery in the tiniest fraction of the time it would take the most expensively credentialed lawyer. The kinds of jobs taken by automatons will no longer be just repetitive tasks that were once — unfairly, it ought to be emphasized — associated with the supposed lower intelligence of the uneducated classes. We’re not only talking about three and a half million truck drivers who may soon lack careers. We’re talking about inventory managers, economists, financial advisers, real estate agents. What Brain did over nine months is just one example of how quickly a small group at a large company can automate a task nobody ever would have associated with machines. The most important thing happening in Silicon Valley right now is not disruption. Rather, it’s — and the consolidation of power — on a scale and at a pace that are both probably unprecedented in human history. Brain has interns it has residents it has “ninja” classes to train people in other departments. Everywhere there are bins of free bike helmets, and free green umbrellas for the two days a year it rains, and little fruit salads, and nap pods, and shared treadmill desks, and massage chairs, and random cartons of pastries, and places for donations, and climbing walls with scheduled instructors, and reading groups and policy talks and variegated support networks. The recipients of these major investments in human cultivation — for they’re far more than perks for proles in some digital salt mine — have at hand the power of complexly coordinated servers distributed across 13 data centers on four continents, data centers that draw enough electricity to light up large cities. But even enormous institutions like Google will be subject to this wave of automation once machines can learn from human speech, even the comfortable job of the programmer is threatened. As the party in the tiki bar was winding down, a Translate engineer brought over his laptop to show Hughes something. The screen swirled and pulsed with a vivid, kaleidoscopic animation of brightly colored spheres in long looping orbits that periodically collapsed into nebulae before dispersing once more. Hughes recognized what it was right away, but I had to look closely before I saw all the names — of people and files. It was an animation of the history of 10 years of changes to the Translate code base, every single buzzing and blooming contribution by every last team member. Hughes reached over gently to skip forward, from 2006 to 2008 to 2015, stopping every once in a while to pause and remember some distant campaign, some ancient triumph or catastrophe that now hurried by to be absorbed elsewhere or to burst on its own. Hughes pointed out how often Jeff Dean’s name expanded here and there in glowing spheres. Hughes called over Corrado, and they stood transfixed. To break the spell of melancholic nostalgia, Corrado, looking a little wounded, looked up and said, “So when do we get to delete it?” “Don’t worry about it,” Hughes said. “The new code base is going to grow. Everything grows. ” | 0fake |
European courts could decide trade disputes during transition period: PM May | LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was possible that the European Court of Justice could continue to arbitrate trade disputes during a transition period after Britain has formally left the bloc in March 2019. We want to have a smooth and orderly process of withdrawal ... that s why we want that implementation period and we have to negotiate what will operate during that implementation period, and yes that may mean we will start off with the ECJ, May told parliament. The jurisdiction of the European court is a inflammatory issue for some Brexit campaigners within May s Conservative Party. Citing sovereignty as a benefit of Brexit, they argue that leaving the EU should offer supremacy to British courts. Britain also said it will seek to negotiate trade deals with countries outside the EU during a transition period, but it would not bring any such deals into effect if they clashed with the transition terms. In a document setting out its post-Brexit trade plans, the government said it would seek to transition all existing EU trade agreements and other EU preferential arrangements to provide continuity for exporters and investors. | 0fake |
Berlin Attraction Reveals an Uneasy Phenomenon: Hitler Sells - The New York Times | What do you do about the buildings associated with Hitler’s life and death? In Austria, they are hitting the delete key, but in Germany, it’s more like copy and paste. After decades of indecision and delay, the Austrian government is moving to seize and either demolish or drastically remodel the house where Hitler was born, so that it never becomes a shrine for . In Berlin, where the authorities have generally taken a somber approach to the terrible history, the story is different. Most landmarks of Nazi rule in the city were demolished long ago, but a commercial firm has now one of them as a tourist attraction: the bunker where Hitler committed suicide in 1945. The new bunker was built about a mile from the original site by Historiale, which also runs the Berlin Story Museum next door. Wieland Giebel of Berlin Story says the intent is to show tourists more of the city’s past. The company attracted some publicity by inviting dozens of foreign correspondents to an opening tour in the fall, and then began admitting the general public for tours twice a day. Mr. Giebel said each tour has attracted at least 30 visitors at 12 euros ($12. 5) a person. Like the museum — a mishmash of memorabilia — the bunker tour seems to appeal to a public appetite that several experts have recognized. Hitler sells. “Of course it sells, that is clear,” said Stefanie Endlich, a professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin and an expert on Nazi art. “But all these revivals of National Socialist situations are a little unsettling. ” Historians at institutions, like the widely praised Topography of Terror center nearby, are also disturbed by Mr. Giebel’s venture. “We don’t work with sets,” said von Damaros, spokesman for the center. Besides that, he said, Mr. Giebel “demands an entry fee we do not. ” Mr. von Damaros estimated that about 1. 3 million people a year visit the Topography of Terror exhibition, a dense and grim accounting of how the Nazis rose, ruled and destroyed. “This shows the interest in working through the story continues to be high,” he said. “And it also is proof that the quality is right. ” | 0fake |
GRANDSTANDING DEM SENATOR SCOLDED By Intel Chair for Interrupting Deputy AG Rosenstein [Video] | Sen. Richard Burr (R., NC.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, scolded Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) for not allowing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to answer her questions during a committee hearing on Wednesday. Harris repeatedly interrupted the Deputy AG Rude, Rude, Rude!Harris was asking Rosenstein about the authority of former FBI Director Robert Mueller in his current role as special counsel to investigate interference by Russia in the 2016 presidential election. Rosenstein started to answer the question several times before Harris cut him off over and over leading Burr to intervene: Will the senator suspend. The chair is going to exercise it s right to allow the witnesses to answer the question. And the committee is on notice to provide the witnesses the courtesy, which has not been extended all the way across, extend the courtesy for questions to get answered. Political demagogue Harris then blurted out that Rosenstein is known for joking about his ability to filibuster .Prior to Burr s comments, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) asked the chairman to intervene after Harris repeatedly interrupted Rosenstein as he started to answer her questions.We reported on Ms. Harris yesterday she s rude, rude, rude! | 1real |
Trump Weighs Cuts to Coast Guard, T.S.A. and FEMA to Bolster Border Plan - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering deep cuts in the budgets of the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as it looks for money to ratchet up security along the southern border, according to a person familiar with the administration’s draft budget request. The goal is to shift about $5 billion toward hiring scores of additional agents for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as toward infrastructure to support a crackdown on illegal immigration at the border. A significant portion of the money would go toward erecting a wall along the border with Mexico, one of President Trump’s signature campaign promises. To fund those efforts, though, the plan would seek significant reductions in other areas, including a 14 percent cut to the Coast Guard’s $9. 1 billion budget and 11 percent cuts to both the T. S. A. and FEMA. The three agencies have played roles in the Department of Homeland Security’s . 11 security architecture. All told, the plan would increase the department’s budget by 6. 4 percent, to $43. 8 billion, for the 2018 fiscal year, also using savings from other executive branch departments to fund it. News of the proposal, which was first reported by Politico on Tuesday, has befuddled longtime veterans of the Department of Homeland Security. Lawmakers in both parties indicated they would scrutinize, and perhaps even oppose, a slew of potential cuts they argued would not only expose new weaknesses but also undermine Mr. Trump’s own strongly stated goals of curtailing terrorism, narcotics and illegal immigration. “It’s a little bit like putting an extra lock on the front door and none on the back door,” said Michael Chertoff, who led the Homeland Security Department for four years. “You are not really protecting the house. ” Reports of the proposal were confirmed to The New York Times by an official who had seen the documents and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the closely guarded budgeting process. Mr. Trump is expected to present the budget this month, although it already is viewed as a largely aspirational proposal created by the Office of Management and Budget of the White House and individual departments to set priorities for Congress. A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department said he could not comment on the deliberations, and John Czwartacki, a spokesman for the budget office, said it was “premature” to discuss any proposals before an official budget blueprint was released. “The president and his cabinet are working collaboratively as we speak to create a budget that keeps the president’s promises to secure the country and prioritize taxpayer funds,” Mr. Czwartacki said. Still, reports of the cuts prompted considerable pushback on Capitol Hill, where several of the lawmakers who will eventually vote on appropriating money to the department expressed doubts that the proposal would serve Mr. Trump’s stated goals. Of chief concern were the potential cuts to the Coast Guard, the nation’s primary domestic maritime security force, which lawmakers and experts said had already been stretched thin by the wars on drugs, illegal immigration and terrorism. “Given the vital installations they guard and how many drugs and contraband they intercept along our maritime borders, cutting the Coast Guard to pay for a vacuous and expensive vanity project like a border wall would be dangerous and irrational,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic minority leader, said in a statement on Wednesday. Representative Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who is chairman of the subcommittee on the Coast Guard and maritime transportation, was even more acerbic, calling the proposal “an insult” that would put the nation’s security at risk. The proposal also appears to have drawn the ire of Senator Thad Cochran, Republican of Mississippi, who leads the appropriations committee through which any budget must eventually pass. It was Mr. Cochran who in 2015 successfully pushed to build an additional $600 million cutter for the Coast Guard at Ingalls Shipbuilding in his home state — an order the budget plan now recommends be canceled. The proposal would seek other savings to the Coast Guard by cutting the use of Maritime Security Response Teams, patrol and first responder teams with advanced counterterrorism training, and delaying other new purchases. “Chairman Cochran appreciates the Coast Guard’s important role in protecting U. S. national security interests,” Mr. Cochran’s spokesman, Chris Gallegos, said on Wednesday. “Any proposals to reduce support for the Coast Guard will receive careful scrutiny in Congress. ” In addition to monitoring the United States’ waterways for foreign and domestic threats, the Coast Guard plays a significant role in combating problems Mr. Trump wants to address. In the 2016 fiscal year alone, it intercepted more than 6, 000 undocumented immigrants, and 200 metric tons of cocaine and 52, 000 pounds of marijuana worth almost $6 billion, according to its spokeswoman, Lt. Amy Midgett. Should law enforcement officials clamp down on the land crossings into the United States, experts said, the maritime interdiction role would most likely only increase, putting additional pressure on the Coast Guard. “Where do you think drug smugglers and illegal immigrants will go next if you make the land border more impervious?” said David Heyman, who was assistant Homeland Security secretary for policy from 2009 to 2014. “It’s obvious they would next try to sneak in by sea or by air, which is precisely what the administration is trying to cut. ” The proposed cuts at the T. S. A. the agency tasked with protecting air travel in the United States, and FEMA, which is best known for providing disaster relief, are relatively smaller, but they have likewise raised concerns about opening up new vulnerabilities to the nation’s transit hubs and cities. Within the T. S. A. the proposal calls for the elimination of a handful of programs that have played a critical role in airport security and counterterrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They include a program that trains pilots to respond to an attempted armed takeover of the cockpit a grant program that supports local law enforcement patrols at airports and another, the Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response program, that sends both undercover and highly visible officers to conduct security sweeps in airports and train stations. At FEMA, potential cuts would target for reduction an array of grants to state and local governments that have helped fund the development of emergency preparedness and response plans for natural disasters and events. The proposed savings would allow the Homeland Security Department to take significant steps toward addressing Mr. Trump’s priorities along the border between the United States and Mexico. The plan would free up funds to begin paying for the border wall, to construct detention facilities, and to hire an additional 500 Border Patrol agents and 1, 000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who will be responsible for border security and the deportation of immigrants already in the country illegally. Mr. Chertoff said that considering the department’s overall imperatives, it made little sense to so strengthen one portion of the budget at the expense of another, critical area. “If you are going to look at the mission of D. H. S. in which priority No. 1 is security, you have to take an approach to the budget that balances all the elements of security,” he said. | 0fake |
'Die is cast': EU refrains from late appeal to Trump on climate | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union said on Thursday it had made its position on climate change clear and was not engaged in last-minute lobbying of the Trump administration to keep the United States aboard the Paris climate accord. U.S. President Donald Trump is due to announce later on Thursday if he will quit the global climate deal. The Group of Seven summit in Italy on Friday and Saturday revealed a clear split between Trump and the other leaders over honoring the 2015 agreement. “I don’t think there was any need for more contacts since ... world leaders were together for two days at a summit in an idyllic place,” a Commission spokesman said, referring to the venue in Taormina, Sicily. “This debate is well known, the position of Europe is well known too.... So there you have it, the die is cast,” he said. An EU official said Trump had not appeared persuaded of the merits of the Paris accord, deeming it unlikely that he would change course. “But as we all know, he is unpredictable,” the official said. | 0fake |
Mnuchin warns of tax reform delay following healthcare setback: FT | (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Trump administration’s timetable for tax reform is set to falter following setbacks in negotiations with Congress over healthcare, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Mnuchin told the Financial Times in an interview that the target to get tax reforms through Congress and on President Donald Trump’s desk before August was “highly aggressive to not realistic at this point”. "It is fair to say it is probably delayed a bit because of the healthcare," Mnuchin told the newspaper. (on.ft.com/2oPJlTX) Mnuchin also told the Financial Times he agreed with Trump’s view that the dollar’s strength in the short term was hurting exports, but said he saw the currency’s strength over the long term as a positive. “As the world’s currency, the primary reserve currency, I think that over long periods of time the strength of the dollar is a good thing,” the Financial Times quoted Mnuchin as saying. Trump has signaled he wants to streamline the income tax system, cut federal regulations, reduce corporate income tax and add new taxes to prod companies to keep or move production to the United States. Trump and Republicans in Congress are also trying to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. But efforts to pass a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal and replace Obamacare failed last month, dealing a major setback to the administration. | 0fake |
BREAKING: PETER W. SMITH, GOP Operative Who Sought Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails FOUND DEAD In Hotel Room | The plot thickens Republican donor and operative from Chicago s North Shore who said he had tried to obtain Hillary Clinton s missing emails from Russian hackers killed himself in a Minnesota hotel room days after talking to The Wall Street Journal about his efforts, public records show.In a room at a Rochester hotel used almost exclusively by Mayo Clinic patients and relatives, Peter W. Smith, 81, left a carefully prepared file of documents, which includes a statement police called a suicide note in which he said he was in ill health and a life insurance policy was expiring.Days earlier, the financier from suburban Lake Forest gave an interview to the Journal about his quest, and it published stories about his efforts beginning in late June. The Journal also reported it had seen emails written by Smith showing his team considered retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, then a top adviser to Republican Donald Trump s campaign, as an ally. Flynn briefly was President Trump s national security adviser and resigned after it was determined he had failed to disclose contacts with Russia.At the time, the newspaper reported Smith s May 14 death came about 10 days after he granted the interview. Mystery shrouded how and where he had died, but the lead reporter on the stories said on a podcast he had no reason to believe the death was the result of foul play and that Smith likely had died of natural causes.The Journal stories said it was on Labor Day weekend in 2016 that Smith had assembled a team to acquire emails the team theorized might have been stolen from the private server Clinton had used while secretary of state. Smith s focus was the more than 30,000 emails Clinton said she deleted because they related to personal matters. A huge cache of other Clinton emails were made public.Smith told the Journal he believed the missing emails might have had been obtained by Russian hackers. He also said he thought the correspondence related to Clinton s official duties. He told the Journal he worked independently and was not part of the Trump campaign. He also told the Journal he and his team found five groups of hackers two of them Russian groups who claimed to have Clinton s missing emails.Smith had a history of doing opposition research, the formal term for unflattering information that political operatives dig up about rival candidates.For years, Democratic President Bill Clinton was Smith s target. The wealthy businessman had a hand in exposing the Troopergate allegations about Bill Clinton s sex life. And he discussed financing a probe of a 1969 trip Bill Clinton had taken while in college to the Soviet Union, according to Salon magazine.Smith s death occurred at the Aspen Suites in Rochester, records show. They list the cause of death as asphyxiation due to displacement of oxygen in confined space with helium. Rochester Police Chief Roger Peterson on Wednesday called his manner of death unusual, but a funeral home worker said he d seen it before.An employee with Rochester Cremation Services, the funeral home that responded to the hotel, said he helped remove Smith s body from his room and recalled seeing a tank.However, the Chicago Tribune obtained a Minnesota state death record filed in Olmsted County that says Smith committed suicide in a hotel near the Mayo Clinic at 1:17 p.m. on Sunday, May 14. He was found with a bag over his head with a source of helium attached. A medical examiner s report gives the same account, without specifying the time, and a report from Rochester police further details his suicide.In the note recovered by police, Smith apologized to authorities and said that NO FOUL PLAY WHATSOEVER was involved in his death. He wrote that he was taking his own life because of a RECENT BAD TURN IN HEALTH SINCE JANUARY, 2017 and timing related TO LIFE INSURANCE OF $5 MILLION EXPIRING. One of Smith s former employees told the Tribune he thought the elderly man had gone to the famed clinic to be treated for a heart condition. Mayo spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said Thursday she could not confirm Smith had been a patient, citing medical privacy laws.Peter Smith wrote two blog posts dated the day before he was found dead. One challenged U.S. intelligence agency findings that Russia interfered with the 2016 election. Another post predicted: As attention turns to international affairs, as it will shortly, the Russian interference story will die of its own weight. Chicago Tribune h/t Gary Klug @garyinlv01 Peter W. Smith tweeted an interesting article on January 16, 2017. The article says Russian hackers did not hack the DNC emails and that the person who hacked them is a Russian named Dmitri Alperovitch who also worked for Barack Obama.Russian ex-national guards U.S. nuclear codes for Obama https://t.co/j0vz8h1Cmx Peter W. Smith (@PTRSIH) January 16, 2017State of The Nation 2012 Russians did not hack the DNC system, a Russian named Dmitri Alperovitch is the hacker and he works for President Obama. In the last five years the Obama administration has turned exclusively to one Russian to solve every major cyber-attack in America, whether the attack was on the U.S. government or a corporation. Only one super-hero cyber-warrior seems to have the codes to figure out if a system was hacked and by whom. Dmitri s company, CrowdStrike has been called in by Obama to solve mysterious attacks on many high level government agencies and American corporations, including: German Bundestag, Democratic National Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the White House, the State Department, SONY, and many others.CrowdStrike s philosophy is: You don t have a malware problem; you have an adversary problem. CrowdStrike has played a critical role in the development of America s cyber-defense policy. Dmitri Alperovitch and George Kurtz, a former head of the FBI cyberwarfare unit founded CrowdStrike. Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director at the FBI is now CrowdStrike s president of services. The company is crawling with former U.S. intelligence agents.Before Alperovitch founded CrowdStrike in 2011, he was working in Atlanta as the chief threat officer at the antivirus software firm McAfee, owned by Intel (a DARPA company). During that time, he discovered the Chinese had compromised at least seventy-one companies and organizations, including thirteen defense contractors, three electronics firms, and the International Olympic Committee. He was the only person to notice the biggest cyberattack in history! Nothing suspicious about that.Alperovitch and the DNCAfter CrowdStrike was hired as an independent vendor by the DNC to investigate a possible cyberattack on their system, Alperovitch sent the DNC a proprietary software package called Falcon that monitors the networks of its clients in real time. According to Alperovitch, Falcon lit up, within ten seconds of being installed at the DNC. Alperovitch had his proof in TEN SECONDS that Russia was in the network. This alleged evidence of Russian hacking has yet to be shared with anyone.As Donald Trump has pointed out, the FBI, the agency that should have been immediately involved in hacking that effects National Security, has yet to even examine the DNC system to begin an investigation. Instead, the FBI and 16 other U.S. intelligence agencies simply agree with Obama s most trusted cyberwarfare expert Dmitri Alperovitch s TEN SECOND assessment that produced no evidence to support the claim.Also remember that it is only Alperovitch and CrowdStrike that claim to have evidence that it was Russian hackers. In fact, only two hackers were found to have been in the system and were both identified by Alperovitch as Russian FSB (CIA) and the Russian GRU (DoD). It is only Alperovitch who claims that he knows that it is Putin behind these two hackers.Alperovitch failed to mention in his conclusive TEN SECOND assessment that Guccifer 2.0 had already hacked the DNC and made available to the public the documents he hacked before Alperovitch did his ten second assessment. Alperovitch reported that no other hackers were found, ignoring the fact that Guccifer 2.0 had already hacked and released DNC documents to the public. Alperovitch s assessment also goes directly against Julian Assange s repeated statements that the DNC leaks did not come from the Russians.The ridiculously fake cyber-attack assessment done by Alperovitch and CrowdStrike na vely flies in the face of the fact that a DNC insider admitted that he had released the DNC documents. Julian Assange implied in an interview that the murdered Democratic National Committee staffer, Seth Rich, was the source of a trove of damaging emails the website posted just days before the party s convention. Seth was on his way to testify about the DNC leaks to the FBI when he was shot dead in the street.It is also absurd to hear Alperovitch state that the Russian FSB (equivalent to the CIA) had been monitoring the DNC site for over a year and had done nothing. No attack, no theft, and no harm was done to the system by this false-flag cyber-attack on the DNC or at least, Alperovitch reported there was an attack. The second hacker, the supposed Russian military (GRU like the U.S. DoD) hacker, had just entered the system two weeks before and also had done nothing but observe.It is only Alperovitch s word that reports that the Russian FSB was looking for files on Donald Trump. It is only this false claim that spuriously ties Trump to the alleged attack. It is also only Alperovitch who believes that this hack that was supposedly looking for Trump files was an attempt to influence the election. No files were found about Trump by the second hacker, as we know from Wikileaks and Guccifer 2.0 s leaks. To confabulate that Russian s hacked the DNC to influence the elections is the claim of one well-known Russian spy. Then, 17 U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously confirm that Alperovitch is correct even though there is no evidence and no investigation was ever conducted.How does Dmitri Alperovitch have such power? Why did Obama again and again use Alperovitch s company, CrowdStrike, when they have miserably failed to stop further cyber-attacks on the systems they were hired to protect? Why should anyone believe CrowdStrikes false-flag report?After documents from the DNC continued to leak, and Guccifer 2.0 and Wikileaks made CrowdStrike s report look foolish, Alperovitch decided the situation was far worse than he had reported. He single-handedly concluded that the Russians were conducting an influence operation to help win the election for Trump. This false assertion had absolutely no evidence to back it up.On July 22, three days before the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, WikiLeaks dumped a massive cache of emails that had been stolen (not hacked) from the DNC. Reporters soon found emails suggesting that the DNC leadership had favored Hillary Clinton in her primary race against Bernie Sanders, which led Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chair, along with three other officials, to resign.Just days later, it was discovered that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had been hacked. CrowdStrike was called in again and once again, Alperovitch immediately believed that Russia was responsible. A lawyer for the DCCC gave Alperovitch permission to confirm the leak and to name Russia as the suspected author. Two weeks later, files from the DCCC began to appear on Guccifer 2.0 s website. This time Guccifer released information about Democratic congressional candidates who were running close races in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. On August 12, Guccifer went further, publishing a spreadsheet that included the personal email addresses and phone numbers of nearly two hundred Democratic members of Congress.Once again, Guccifer 2.0 proved Alperovitch and CrowdStrike s claims to be grossly incorrect about the hack originating from Russia, with Putin masterminding it all. Nancy Pelosi offered members of Congress Alperovitch s suggestion of installing Falcon, the system that failed to stop cyberattacks at the DNC, on all congressional laptops.Key Point: Once Falcon was installed on the computers of members of the U.S. Congress, CrowdStrike had even further full access into U.S. government accounts.Obama No Friend of AmericaObama is no friend of America in the war against cyber-attacks. The very agencies and departments being defended by Michael Alperovitch s singular and most brilliant ability to write encryption codes have all been successfully attacked and compromised since Michael set up the codes. But we shouldn t worry, because if there is a cyberattack in the Obama administration, Michael s son Dmitri is called in to prove that it isn t the fault of his father s codes. It was the damn Russians , or even Putin himself who attacked American networks.Not one of the 17 U.S. intelligence agencies is capable of figuring out a successful cyberattack against America without Michael and Dmitri s help. Those same 17 U.S. intelligence agencies were not able to effectively launch a successful cyberattack against Russia. It seems like the Russian s have strong codes and America has weak codes. We can thank Michael and Dmitri Alperovitch for that.It is clear that there was no DNC hack beyond Guccifer 2.0. Dmitri Alperovitch is a frontman for his father s encryption espionage mission.Is it any wonder that Trump says that he has his own people to deliver his intelligence to him that is outside of the infiltrated U.S. government intelligence agencies and the Obama administration? Isn t any wonder that citizens have to go anywhere BUT the MSM to find real news or that the new administration has to go to independent news to get good intel?It is hard to say anything more damnable than to again quote Dmitri on these very issues: If someone steals your keys to encrypt the data, it doesn t matter how secure the algorithms are. Dmitri Alperovitch, founder of CrowdStrikeFor entire story: The State of The Nation 2012 | 1real |
Clinton disparages Trump's economic plan, vows to help workers | WARREN, Mich. (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Thursday said rival Donald Trump had no real plans to help middle-class families, arguing that his agenda of tax cuts and tough trade talk would throw the economy into recession. “He’s offered no credible plans to address what working families are up against today,” Clinton said in Warren, Michigan, shortly after touring Futuramic, a hangar-like, high-tech factory that makes parts for the aerospace industry. Clinton said Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, would scrap regulations meant to hold corporations accountable, cut taxes on “millionaires and Wall Street money managers,” and eliminate the estate tax, an inheritance tax that generally hits the wealthy. Clinton offered no new proposals of her own but sought to cast doubt on the image Trump promotes of himself as the voice for working people. The New York businessman is counting on his appeal to blue-collar voters with concerns about global trade to boost his chances in key states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio. Clinton on Thursday ran through many of the policies she has outlined over the last year to contrast herself with Trump, who has given far fewer details about his plans, as the presidential campaign heads toward the Nov. 8 election. Speaking to Fox News later on Thursday, Trump said he would cut business taxes to bring jobs back to the United States, while Clinton would have to double taxes to meet the increased spending on social programs in her plan. Trump delivered an economic speech in Detroit on Monday. He publicly named his economic advisers last week, which Clinton mocked as “six guys named Steve.” On Thursday, he released a list of nine additions to the council, eight of whom were women. New members included roofing billionaire Diane Hendricks, investor Carla Sands and hedge funder Anthony Scaramucci. Workers’ anxiety over trade deals has become a central theme in the 2016 election, and Clinton rejected the portrait Trump has painted that she only pretends not to favor the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal she praised when she was secretary of state from 2009-2013 but has more recently opposed. Clinton also says she would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was signed by former President Bill Clinton, her husband. Trump routinely disparages the agreement as bad for American jobs. “It’s true that too often past trade deals have been sold to the American people with rosy scenarios that didn’t pan out,” Clinton told the crowd of factory workers. “The answer is not to rant and rave, or cut ourselves off from the world. “The answer is to finally make trade work for us, not against us,” she said. “So my message to every worker in Michigan and across America is this: I will stop any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership.” | 0fake |
U.S. urges North Korea to curb actions that raise tensions in northeast Asia | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday condemned an attempted missile launch by North Korea and urged Pyongyang to refrain from actions that create tensions in northeastern Asia. “The United States, and the rest of the international community, calls on North Korea to refrain from actions including this failed missile test that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “The United States strongly condemns North Korea’s missile test,” he told a news briefing. The U.S. military’s Strategic Command assessed that North Korea attempted to launch an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Monday but that the test was a failure. | 0fake |
100 Days of Trump in Asia: Winning over Duterte, Golf with Abe, and a ’Not as Good’ Deal with China - Breitbart | The administration of President Barack Obama made much ado about their “pivot to Asia,” an attempt to prioritize the continent over traditional alliances with Europe. [Partly due to this policy, President Donald Trump entered the White House facing tensions at an high with rogue state North Korea and at a diplomatic disadvantage in regions like the South China Sea. As a candidate, Trump defined his Asia policy much like he did his attitude towards domestic political issues: identifying a clear enemy, vowing loyalty to allies who help contain the threat, and promising the American people that he would only make good deals at the negotiating table. With the exceptions of North Korea and Japan, President Trump has proven somewhat more malleable than the candidate. Trump has demanded an end to tensions on the Korean peninsula and proven he prioritizes that conflict by sending his officials to Seoul and Tokyo to pressure Pyongyang. In Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump has found steady support after choosing him as the first head of government to meet with following his election in November. With China, however, the Trump administration has kept its diplomacy tactful, and Trump himself has offered Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping something his voters would have never expected the candidate Trump to: a “not as good” trade deal in exchange for keeping North Korea from attacking its neighbors or, worse, the United States. Below, an look at how Trump tackled the region’s major alliances, tensions, and unresolved problems during his first 100 days. Japan, Trump made clear from the first day since his election that the bilateral relationship with Japan would be a top priority, meeting with Abe shortly after the election in New York, the first head of government to do so. The meeting followed confusion in Japanese media regarding Trump’s remarks on North Korea — the candidate Trump had suggested that Japan would be a worthy nation to possess nuclear weapons: “At some point we have to say, you know what, we’re better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea. ” Japan, the only nation to be hit with a nuclear attack in history, bristled at the possibility. As recently as this month, however, reports suggested that placing American nuclear assets in the region to curb North Korean belligerence was on the table, but in South Korea, perhaps a nod to how sensitive the issue is in Japan. If the Trump administration’s approach towards the topic changed, it was the product of an extensive effort to make Japan feel closer to Washington. In addition to having Abe meet Trump in New York before the inauguration, the Prime Minister spent a weekend in February at the Trump estate in Florida, playing golf with the President and discussing pivotal international relations topics. The meeting not only aided the bilateral relationship but boosted support for Abe at home: an estimated 70 percent of Japanese people approved of the visit following his return to Tokyo. Trump also made Japan one of the first international stops for his top officials: the first for Secretary of Defense James Mattis and among the first for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Vice President Mike Pence. While Tillerson focused on pressuring China to cooperate in curbing North Korean belligerence during his March visit, both Pence and Mattis reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to protecting Japan from China itself, notably Chinese claims in the East China Sea. China claims the Japanese Senkaku Islands as its own and has imposed an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over them, which it cannot enforce without triggering American military action required by War II treaties. North Korea, President Trump has made clear his intention to end the violent and tragic reign of the Kim family over North Korea during his tenure. Entering his hundredth day in office, Trump has passed North Korea’s first test — the “Day of the Sun,” or founder Kim ’s birthday — so decisively that even CNN wondered aloud whether Trump had stumbled upon a successful North Korean policy. After a week of international speculation regarding the potential for a nuclear weapons test on the Day of the Sun (April 15) Pyongyang opted instead for a new missile test — which ended within seconds when the missile exploded after barely leaving the ground. The test failed shortly after President Trump asserted he was sending “an armada” to North Korea to intimidate dictator Kim . Pivotal to solving the North Korean problem in the eyes of the Trump administration is China’s active participation. China, a fellow communist nation, is North Korea’s greatest trade partner and ally on the international stage (North Korea’s diplomatic alliances are few and far between, with governments as rightfully maligned as Syria, Venezuela, and Iran). As with many other issues, the clearest distillation of Trump policy on North Korea surfaced on Twitter, where the President wrote: “North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U. S. A. ” To North Korea directly, Trump has kept his message simple: “gotta behave. ” North Korea appears not to have heeded this warning, arresting a U. S. citizen, professor Tony Kim, without cause this week. China, The Trump administration’s China policy is perhaps the most evolved since the candidate took office, as the President has gone from considering the abandonment of “One China” and recognition of Taiwan to openly suggesting he is willing to make a “not so good” trade deal with China to control North Korea. Before taking office, the accepted a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai an unprecedented communication that incensed China. By February, however, Trump had told Xi in a phone call that he supported the One China policy, apparently receiving no concessions in return for turning on Taiwan. That phone call was the first communication between the two presidents, one that China “highly commended” both for sticking to Beijing’s policy and embracing the celebration of the Chinese new year. Trump then hosted Xi at an meeting overshadowed in the media by Trump’s decision to conduct an airstrike against Syrian dictator Bashar while Xi was in town. The Chinese foreign ministry notably failed to condemn the airstrike, while Chinese media deemed it provocative but necessary for Trump to prove he was “no businessman president. ” Trump appeared to completely abandon this businessman persona later in the month when refusing to label China a currency manipulator, breaking a campaign promise etched into his Contract with America. Trump spoke to Xi again in April, shortly after Xi’s arrival at as preparations began in Pyongyang for the “Day of the sun. ” According to Trump, he told Xi in that call, “You want to make a great deal? Solve the problem in North Korea. ” “That’s worth having deficits. And that’s worth having not as good a trade deal as I would normally be able to make,” he told reporters. South China Sea Conflict, China has for years demanded control over almost the entire South China Sea, including territory belonging to Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan, and Malaysia. International tribunals have rejected China’s claims China has vowed to ignore such rulings. During the Obama administration, the U. S. Navy regularly conducted “Freedom of Navigation Operations” (FONOPs) in the region, intended to keep China from claiming the region through adverse possession. A Breitbart News report in March found that the Trump administration had yet to conduct any such FONOPs, in part because of the difficulty of staffing the Pentagon. The Navy has attempted to receive permission for multiple such operations but received no answer. The Pentagon remains largely staffed by Obama holdovers and staff. The Navy did send the USS Carl Vinson to the region for “routine” operations, a move the Chinese government condemned. While the United States has not actively challenged China in the region, Trump’s ascent has apparently emboldened at least one party to the dispute: the Philippines. Under President Obama, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte insisted he would not challenge China in the region, claiming any military dispute between China and the Philippines would end in disaster for his country. Since Obama, who Duterte referred to as a “son of a whore” on multiple occasions, left office, Duterte has become more of a hawk, urging the United States to participate in operations in his country and demanding the military build “structures” in the South China Sea to keep China from claiming the territory. Duterte has also requested a more robust military presence generally in the Philippine areas of the South China Sea and sent officials to visit the disputed territory. | 0fake |
Verizon Announces New Name Brand for AOL and Yahoo: Oath - The New York Times | Oath? Oof. That was largely the reaction on Monday to the news, reported by Business Insider, that Verizon plans to house two giants of the early days of the internet, AOL and Yahoo, under the new name Oath. Tim Armstrong, the head of Verizon’s AOL division, confirmed the announcement in a Twitter post on Monday afternoon: “Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017. ” The brand will apply to the digital media division of Verizon after it buys Yahoo’s internet assets for $4. 48 billion, a deal that is expected to close by the end of June. But do not count the legacy brands out just yet: Yahoo, AOL and The Huffington Post will continue to exist and operate with their own names — under the Oath umbrella. Verizon has said that much of Yahoo’s value lies in its deep relationship with its customers, and services like Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports engender deep loyalty among users. Similarly, AOL. com and AOL Mail still have followings. But Oath will be a way for Verizon to present its family of digital content services to advertisers and other partners as a single entity. The company could also develop some new services under the Oath brand. Many greeted the announcement with bewilderment, with some suggesting that Oath sounded like the name of a heavy metal band. Others compared it to Tronc, last year’s largely panned rebrand of Tribune Publishing, the company behind The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and several other major daily newspapers. TechCrunch, the Silicon Valley news site, summed up the general confusion in the headline of a post about the announcement: “Yahoo + AOL = Oath, for some reason,” it read. | 0fake |
Ex-Interpol chief says ready to testify for Argentina's Fernandez | BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina s previous government never asked Interpol to drop arrest warrants against a group of Iranians accused of bombing a Jewish center, the ex-head of the police agency said on Wednesday, as the government proceeded with treason charges against the former president. Former Interpol chief Ronald Noble said in an email on Wednesday that he wants to testify that the government of former President Cristina Fernandez did not ask to have the arrest warrants lifted as part of a memorandum she had with Iran. If a judge allows Noble to testify, the treason case filed this month against Fernandez and 11 other top officials could crumble. She denies wrongdoing and calls the charge politically motivated. The arrest warrants were not affected in their validity by the approval of the memorandum, Noble said in an email to a federal appeals court that was seen by Reuters. The Fernandez administration always expressed its belief that the warrants should remain in effect, the email said. The accusation that the Fernandez government worked behind the scenes to clear the accused bombers of the AMIA Jewish community center in order to improve trade between Argentina and Iran is at the heart of a charge of treason brought against Fernandez. She served as president for eight years before being succeeded by Mauricio Macri in 2015. Others agreed that the treason charge against Fernandez appeared questionable. The indictment by Judge Claudio Bonadio of former President Fernandez, her Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, and 10 others, for treason and concealment points to no evidence that would seem to substantiate those charges, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Tuesday. The allegations against Fernandez drew international attention in January 2015, when the prosecutor who initially made them, Alberto Nisman, was found shot dead in the bathroom of his Buenos Aires apartment. An Argentine appeals court ordered the re-opening of the investigation a year ago. Nisman s death was classified a suicide, though an official investigating the case has said the shooting appeared to be a homicide. Nisman s body was discovered hours before he was to brief Congress on the 1994 bombing of the AMIA center. Nisman said Fernandez worked behind the scenes to clear Iran of any wrongdoing and normalize relations to clinch a grains-for-oil deal with Tehran that was signed in 2013. The memorandum agreement created a joint commission to investigate the AMIA bombing that critics said was really a means to absolve Iran. | 0fake |
Moscow Working on Arranging Israel-Palestine Summit | Your daily reality snack Moscow Working on Arranging Israel-Palestine Summit
Since the United States cannot or will not act as an honest broker in the middle east, Russia is taking over the job Originally appeared at Sputnik
Russia continues to conduct a thorough preparation for the first Israeli-Palestinian summit in Moscow in order to ensure that it does not become "a meeting for the sake of the meeting," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Friday.
"Here you need to strive for it to be done at the appropriate time. It is necessary to conduct a thorough preparation for the meeting so that it would really be productive … not just a meeting for the sake of the meeting," Gatilov said during his visit to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier announced their support for Moscow’s effort to mediate any talks on the resolution of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but laid responsibility on each other for the fact that the meeting had not been agreed yet.
In late September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference following his address to the UN General Assembly that Moscow continued working with both Israel and Palestine to resume negotiations, noting that the parties were not equally eager to consider the initiative. Did you enjoy this article? - Consider helping us! Russia Insider depends on your donations: the more you give, the more we can do. $1 $10 Other amount
If you wish you make a tax-deductible contribution of $1,000 or more, please visit our Support page for instructions Click here for our commenting guidelines On fire | 1real |
Trump to North Korea: ’Gotta Behave’ - Breitbart | Monday at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, President Donald Trump warned North Korea’s leader Kim to “behave. ” When CNN’s Jim Acosta asked the president if he had any message for North Korea and Kim Trump said, “Gotta behave. ” When Acosta asked if the situation in North Korea can be resolved peacefully Trump said, “Probably it can. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
Chart Of The Day: Wealth Of the Top 0.1% Now Equals Bottom 90% | Chart Of The Day: Wealth Of the Top 0.1% Now Equals Bottom 90% | 1real |
Trump Celebrates Easter By Bitching About Protests Demanding His Tax Returns And Gets POUNDED For It | Rather than just wish America a happy Easter and move on, Donald Trump spent Sunday morning whining about the Tax March protesters.Tax season gave Americans across the country the perfect opportunity to target Trump and his refusal to release his tax returns.During the campaign, Trump promised he would release his returns after the election but quickly rescinded that promise because it s clear his tax returns include many things he wants to hide, including his ties to Russia.So protests broke out over the weekend demanding that Trump finally release his taxes.His response was to complain about how he shouldn t have to release his taxes since he won the Electoral College. Of course, you won t hear Trump talk about the popular vote since he lost that by 3 million votes.I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017Trump then accused the protesters of being paid to organize against him.Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017Seriously, Trump will apparently say or do anything to ignore the fact that people really do hate him and want him impeached.His constant response to people protesting him is to brag about the election even though he colluded with the Russians to win.At this point, it s surprising that the American people haven t marched to the White House and dragged Trump kicking and screaming out of office.But instead, they mocked him repeatedly on Twitter.@realDonaldTrump Show them if it s no big deal Mike Denison (@mikd33) April 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump Did you win the popular vote lololol Mike Denison (@mikd33) April 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump If you ve got nothing to hide, release them. What s the problem? Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) April 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump Winning the electoral college is not that difficult for a Republican. Winning the popular vote, on the other hand, is hard. As you well know Simon Hedlin (@simonhedlin) April 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump I don t think the Constitution says that presidents who win in a landslide have the right to be less transparent with the American people. Simon Hedlin (@simonhedlin) April 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump You mocked Romney for not releasing his returns until late 2012. What would Candidate Trump say to President Trump? https://t.co/yWoxqFyUrK Simon Hedlin (@simonhedlin) April 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump If your tax returns aren t a big deal, why are you avoiding protesters? Release your returns. pic.twitter.com/WIdvRUpROD Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) April 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million and barely won the electoral college. Ranking 46th out of 58 elections hardly counts as easily pic.twitter.com/eIu0aAx89l Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) April 16, 2017Donald Trump is a coward and a liar. He refuses to release his taxes because he has something to hide that would surely get him impeached. Frankly, he should be impeached now just for refusing to release them.Featured Image: Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Turkey says U.S. wants use gold trader case to impose sanctions on Ankara | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Monday that the United States wanted to use the trial in New York of a Turkish gold trader to impose sanctions on Ankara. In an interview with broadcaster Kanal24, Bozdag also said that the United States had pressured the trader, Reza Zarrab, to sign off on accusations against Turkey. They may have told Zarrab, Either you will remain in prison until you die, or you will sign under what we tell you, and they threatened him with retributions to sign off on accusations, Bozdag said. | 0fake |
Evacuated Islamic State fighters reach Syria's Deir al-Zor, pro-Damascus commander says | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Buses carrying evacuated Islamic State fighters reached Syria s Deir al-Zor on Wednesday in return for releasing a Hezbollah prisoner, a commander in the pro-Damascus alliance told Reuters. Damascus and Hezbollah allowed nearly 300 lightly armed militants and 300 relatives to leave the Syria-Lebanon border in a surrender deal, after an offensive there last month. The transfer marked the first time Islamic State publicly agreed to such an evacuation from territory it held. A U.S.-led coalition had stopped the 17 buses from reaching Deir al-Zor for weeks and the convoy split in two. It was not immediately clear if all the buses arrived in Islamic State territory in the eastern Syrian province on Wednesday. The deal has been completed, said the commander in the military alliance fighting in support of the Damascus government. The buses took the route between the town of al-Sukhna and Deir al-Zor, a main road that the Syrian army and allied forces captured in recent days, the commander said. Along the route, the combatants swapped the evacuees for a Hezbollah prisoner who had been in Islamic State captivity, the non-Syrian commander added. Under the evacuation deal in August, Islamic State militants left their border foothold after a week-long battle in return for safe passage to Deir al-Zor province in Syria. Iran-backed Hezbollah has played a major role in fighting Sunni militants along the border. Since early in the six-year Syrian conflict, it has sent thousands of fighters to support President Bashar al-Assad s government. Lebanon s Shi ite Hezbollah retrieved the remains of some of its forces killed in Syria as part of the swap, and was meant to get back one of its fighters that Islamic State held captive. The deal included recovering the bodies of nine Lebanese soldiers that Islamic State captured in 2014. The transfer ended any insurgent presence from the Syrian war on the frontier, where the Lebanese army also fought the militants in a separate offensive on its side. But the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State blocked the convoy from entering IS territory in east Syria, near the border with Iraq, by cratering roads and destroying bridges. The convoy split in two, with 11 buses remaining in the open desert and others retreating into government territory. Last week, the U.S. coalition said its surveillance aircraft moved away from the buses in the no-man s land after pro-Syrian government forces advanced past the convoy. Damascus was responsible for the evacuees, it said. The Syrian army and its allies reached Deir al-Zor city, breaking an Islamic State siege of an enclave there that had lasted three years. U.S.-backed Syrian militias have also launched a separate assault in another part of Deir al-Zor province, which has become Islamic State s last major foothold in Syria. | 0fake |
Donald Trump, Chicago Police: Your Friday Evening Briefing - The New York Times | (Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. We’ll be off on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. See you Tuesday. 1. The House joined the Senate in laying the groundwork for speedy action to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Donald J. Trump again attacked Hillary Clinton over her emails on Twitter. We took a look at the first cabinets of the past few presidents, and determined that Mr. Trump’s will be the least diverse since that of President Ronald Reagan. _____ 2. A Justice Department report found the Chicago police systematically violated the civil rights of residents, particularly and Latinos, by using excessive force. The report came in the wake of the city’s highest murder rate in 20 years in 2016. In an effort to fix the problems, federal and city officials reached a preliminary agreement on changes to police practices. _____ 3. Takata pleaded guilty to charges stemming from its handling of defective airbags, and will pay $1 billion in penalties. Three of its executives face criminal charges. The airbags can rupture violently when they deploy. They have been linked to at least 11 deaths, which prompted the largest automotive recall in American history. _____ 4. Chelsea Manning is asking Mr. Obama to commute her sentence before he leaves office next week. Ms. Manning, who was an Army intelligence analyst known as Bradley Manning when she disclosed archives of secret military and diplomatic files to WikiLeaks in 2010, is serving a sentence. She is struggling to transition to life as a woman in a male prison, and attempted suicide twice last year. _____ 5. China has banned child abuse at its infamous digital detox boot camps. There are just a few of the camps, but they’re known for harsh treatment, including beatings and electroshock therapy to get children offline. The law also sets a daily limit on how long minors can play online games at home or in internet cafes. _____ 6. Thousands of members of the New York Police Department attended the funeral of Officer Steven McDonald, who was paralyzed in a 1986 shooting but became a symbol of forgiveness and hope. Officer McDonald had less than two years on the job when he was shot by a in Central Park. He publicly forgave his attacker and eventually traveled the globe, speaking of his Roman Catholic faith and the importance of compassion. He died on Tuesday at 59, several days after a heart attack. _____ 7. The U. S. Mint will release a commemorative gold coin featuring Lady Liberty as a black woman. It’s the first time that she’s been depicted as anything other than white on the nation’s currency. The coin will have a $100 face value and goes on sale April 6 to commemorate the 225th anniversary of the mint’s coin production. _____ 8. What’s the right time to put your home on the market? Whenever you want. A real estate article of faith once had it that to the start of the spring season, was the best time to list a property. But now that everyone looks at listings online, realtors say the rules about timing have gone out the window. _____ 9. If one of your vacation goals is inspiring envy in others, you may want to bookmark these tips on how to take great travel photos. Make a list of key shots, shoot at sunrise and sunset and experiment with angles. And after all that planning, don’t forget to be spontaneous. _____ 10. Finally, we bring you the back story of the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe’s white dress fluttering up as she stands over a subway grate in “The Seven Year Itch. ” What made it into the movie was actually a reshoot of a discarded and more risqué scene filmed on the Upper East Side in the summer of 1954. The discarded version happened to also be captured on film by an amateur filmmaker who lived nearby. Jules Schulback often talked about the footage, but no one saw it for 50 years, until he was 92 and his granddaughter found it. Have a great weekend. _____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 0fake |
Obama delivers emotional eulogy for Beau Biden | Wilmington, Delaware (CNN) President Barack Obama eulogized Beau Biden Saturday as a good man of character, hailing the compassion and public service of his family in a moving funeral oration about the son of grief-stricken Vice President Joe Biden.
Obama said that the former Delaware Attorney General and Iraq War veteran who died a week ago from brain cancer was a fine man full of integrity who had refused to trade on his family name. He did his duty to his country and "did not have a mean bone in his body," Obama told more than a thousand mourners at a Roman Catholic funeral Mass in Wilmington, Delaware.
"Beau Biden brought to his work a mighty heart, he brought to his family a mighty heart," Obama said in his eulogy, during which he appeared on the verge of being emotionally overcome several times as he praised Beau Biden as a model public official, father and son.
He said Beau Biden and the Biden family, with their culture of service and compassion, had endured tragedy in the past but not been defeated by it. They were the kind of people, Obama said, who, since the nation's founding, had ensured that merit, not birth or wealth, were most important.
"Families like the Bidens have made it so. People like Beau have made it so. He did in 46 years what most of us could not do in 146," Obama said. "He left nothing in the tank. He was a man who led a life where the means were as important as the ends."
"Beau Biden was an original. He was a good man, a man of character, a man who loved deeply and was loved in return," Obama added.
When he had concluded his eulogy, Obama stepped down from the pulpit of the St. Anthony of Padua Church, and folded Biden in his arms, placing a kiss on his vice president's cheek.
The President's comments, while memorializing Beau Biden, were also an extraordinary show of love and respect for his vice president from a man who is more known for keeping his emotions contained than revealing them in public.
"Joe, you are my brother, and I am grateful every day you have got such a big heart, and a big soul, and those broad shoulders. I could not admire you more," Obama said, looking directly at the vice president.
Obama said that Beau Biden's quality as a man was evidenced by his refusal to run for the Senate when the path was open for him to follow in his father's footsteps, because he had unfinished work in Delaware, where he made a name for himself by fighting to protect children who were victims of abuse. He was, Obama said, "someone who cared, someone who charmed you and disarmed you and put you at ease."
Earlier, Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit to Beau Biden, hailing him as a member of a brotherhood of soldiers who had "deep moral and ethical roots."
Odierno said he got to know Biden when he served in Iraq and said he had possessed a "natural charisma that few people possess," adding that he fully expected him to serve as president of the United States one day.
"People willingly wanted to follow him, trusted his judgment and believed in him. Frankly, he was selfless to a fault," Odierno told mourners.
Joe Biden did not speak at the funeral, but looked on as his daughter Ashley and son Hunter eulogized their brother and paid tribute to his own role in leading the family. Ashley remembered how she had accompanied Beau Biden to chemotherapy treatments and Hunter told how he had held his brother's hand as he took his last breaths, whispering, "I love you" over and over.
Beau Biden's funeral cortege had arrived at the church heralded by a pipe band. The vice president, wearing dark glasses, and the rest of his family, all looking bereft, formed up behind the hearse. Biden occasionally whispered in the ear of Beau's widow, Hallie, and comforted his son's two children, Natalie and Hunter.
The casket, covered in an American flag, was carried gently into the church with full military honors, reflecting Beau's service as a captain in the Army National Guard in Iraq.
Saturday morning, Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia and his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, all dressed in black, left the White House, where the American flag stood at half-staff to honor Beau Biden.
The first person in line for the service arrived at 4:30 a.m., and by breakfast time, the line of mourners stretched around the block at the church.
Joe Biden's role as a grieving father is not without irony in itself. The vice president has become one of the most sought after eulogists in Washington as his painful personal history -- he lost his first wife and an infant daughter in a car crash in 1972 -- has made him especially compassionate to the tragedies of others.
Musicians performing at the event included Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin, who had heard through a family friend that Beau Biden liked his music and volunteered to attend the ceremony, a White House official said.
Other high profile mourners included Bill and Hillary Clinton, and a long list of high profile Washington figures, reflecting Joe Biden's near half century in politics, including Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Democratic leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi.
Sens. Harry Reid, Patrick Leahy and Joe Manchin were there, along with Delaware Democratic Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper and other senior members of the House and Obama's cabinet, the White House said.
Saturday's funeral followed two days of mourning and memorial events for Beau Biden, which has showcased the deep emotional anguish the vice president and his family are enduring following his death a week ago.
Some people waited five hours just to see the casket on Friday. | 0fake |
Bernie Sanders Refuses to Concede Nomination to Hillary Clinton - The New York Times | Senator Bernie Sanders said on Sunday that he would “take our campaign for transforming the Democratic Party into the convention,” refusing to concede the presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton though not explicitly saying he would challenge her for it. Mrs. Clinton earned enough delegates to clinch the nomination last week, but Mr. Sanders has declined to end his campaign. He has contended that he could persuade enough superdelegates, the party leaders who have overwhelmingly backed Mrs. Clinton, to switch their support to him by arguing that he would be the stronger candidate against Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. That plan became more improbable last week as Democrats supported Mrs. Clinton. President Obama endorsed her on Thursday, calling her the most qualified candidate ever to seek the White House and imploring Democrats to unite behind her. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also endorsed Mrs. Clinton. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the only senator to endorse Mr. Sanders, told CNN on Friday that he now supports Mrs. Clinton. In recent days, Mr. Sanders appeared to acknowledge the odds against him, and began speaking less about beating Mrs. Clinton and more about working to defeat Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. On Sunday, he gathered with about 20 key supporters and advisers at his home in Burlington, Vt. to discuss how to proceed. “We are going to take our campaign to the convention with the full understanding that we are very good at arithmetic and that we know, you know, who has the received the most votes up to now,” Mr. Sanders said after the meeting, standing on his front lawn with his wife, Jane. Among the dozen or so people who attended the gathering were Benjamin T. Jealous, a former president of the N. A. A. C. P. Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator and Bill McKibben, the environmentalist and author. Notably, Mr. Sanders also said he would continue his efforts aimed at “transforming the Democratic Party,” a sign that his main goal may no longer be to become the nominee. Besides defeating Mr. Trump, advisers say his focus is to get his ideas, like universal health care and free public college, reflected in the party platform. Refusing to concede and release his delegates to vote for Mrs. Clinton could be a negotiating tactic for winning concessions on the platform. If his delegates tried to nominate Mr. Sanders from the floor of the convention next month, the scene could damage Mrs. Clinton at a time she is trying to project strength and party unity. In recent days, it had been unclear whether Mr. Sanders intended to stay in the race, and even on Sunday he did not rule out the possibility that he would formally concede the nomination in the coming days. After he met with Mr. Obama on Thursday he said he looked forward to exploring how he could work with Mrs. Clinton “to defeat Donald Trump and to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent. ” Then he held a rally that night in Washington urging voters to cast ballots for him on Tuesday in the nation’s final primary. When asked by Chuck Todd on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” on NBC whether he was an “active candidate,” he responded that he wanted to see Mr. Trump defeated. Mr. Sanders said that he and Mrs. Clinton planned to meet on Tuesday and that he would ask her “whether she will be vigorous in standing up for working families in the middle class, moving aggressively in climate change, health care for all, making public colleges and universities . ” “And after we have that kind of discussion and after we can determine whether or not we are going to have a strong and progressive platform,” he said, “I will be able to make other decisions. ” There have been signs that he was winding down his run. While Mrs. Clinton has been hiring campaign workers, Mr. Sanders started laying off at least half of his campaign staff members last week. He has let go of a number of advance staff members who help with campaign logistics, as well as field workers who have been canvassing for votes. According to a person who attended the meeting at Mr. Sanders’s home Sunday, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private gathering, there was no talk from Mr. Sanders about trying to win the nomination. The group was keenly interested in how the senator’s meeting with Mrs. Clinton on Tuesday will turn out, and whether he would get assurances that she would fight for his ideas, this person said. While he is effectively no longer a threat, Mrs. Clinton and the Democrats are counting on Mr. Sanders to eventually get behind her candidacy. He has a loyal base of more than 10 million voters and an enormous donor list that Mrs. Clinton will want to tap into. Some of his supporters say they will not vote for anyone but Mr. Sanders, so Mrs. Clinton’s success may depend on how vocally the senator supports her. | 0fake |
Henningsen on White House Press Dinner: ‘The Fourth Estate is Nonexistent in America’ | 21st Century Wire says B ACTING: President Obama and former House Speaker John Boehner getting their kicks making Saturday Night Live videos on taxpayer time.Host Patrick Henningsen opens Episode #133 of the SUNDAY WIRE with a skewering rant about last weekend s annual White House Correspondents Dinner and takes a hard look at the decaying state of America s near non-existent Fourth Estate which has devolved into Team America media.This is your brave new world [soundcloud url= https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/262463038 params= auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true width= 100% height= 450 iframe= true /] . LISTEN TO THE SUNDAY WIRE LIVE & VIA THE ARCHIVE HERE | 1real |
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