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Never Forget: Donald Trump Bragged About Having The Tallest Building In Manhattan After 9/11 | I ll bet if you go to your kitchen and look at the calendar by your fridge, in tiny letters at the bottom of today s date it says Patriot Day. If not, don t worry the official title for today s remembrance only began in 2002, the year after the terrorist attack that changed almost everything about the way our nation conducts itself. The word patriot means different things to different people, and we won t pretend to speak for them all here. But we know it when we see it, and we know the opposite of it, as well.Patriotism is what we see when we watched Americans coming together in grief and solidarity, helping each other in the aftermath of the attack. The opposite of it is what we saw when former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani politically invoked the attacks so much that Vice President Joe Biden once remarked that all Giuliani needed to make a sentence is a noun, a verb, and 9/11. Patriotism was on the face of our last President, holding a soup ladle in a national day of service in 2011. The opposite is what you call it when Rush Limbaugh attacked him and said he was visiting the beneficiaries of his policies. Patriotism, in the words of Clarence Darrow, hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else. What it does not do is tout itself as superior. We see nothing but that from Donald Trump. When Trump lied on national television one of more than a thousand times he s done so since his election and said that he heard Muslims cheering the fall of the towers, perhaps what he was actually doing was projecting a little bit of his own guilt onto adherents of a religion he doesn t and has no desire to understand.Maybe, just maybe, Donald Trump felt a tiny bit bad for saying the worst thing anyone in America said on that fateful day in 2001: 40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest-and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it s the tallest. What s at 40 Wall Street? The 71-story Trump Building.Listen here, if you can.Featured image via John Moore/Getty Images | 1real |
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLANS ‘BLACKS ONLY’ FIELD TRIP TO COLLEGE FOR THIRD GRADERS | Because there wouldn t be any outrage over a white kids only field trip to a local college would there?Parents criticized Indiana school officials Thursday for a trip planned to local colleges that was only offered to black third-graders, ABC 57 reported.School officials defended the trip, saying the outing sends a positive message to black students who may believe the prospect of college is out of reach. We take them to a college campus, have them meet African-American students, modeling the idea that as a black person, college is a great place, Dr. G. David Moss, the head of the African-American services at the South Bend Community Schools Corporation, told the station.The initiative has been criticized by parents in the community, not because of its ambitions, but because it excludes students with other backgrounds.One parent whose son is going on the trip told the station that she believes all kids should be going. Moss told the station that he did not mean to offend anyone with the trips, but said he was hired to look at the issues facing African-American kids in the community.Via: FOX News | 1real |
Exclusive: U.S. asks Israel to restrain response to Jerusalem move - document | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is asking Israel to temper its response to the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as its capital because Washington expects a backlash and is weighing the potential threat to U.S. facilities and people, according to a State Department document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. While I recognize that you will publicly welcome this news, I ask that you restrain your official response, the document dated Dec. 6 said in talking points for diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to convey to Israeli officials. We expect there to be resistance to this news in the Middle East and around the world. We are still judging the impact this decision will have on U.S. facilities and personnel overseas, the document said. A second State Department document seen by Reuters, which was also dated Dec. 6, said the agency had formed an internal task force to track worldwide developments following the U.S. decision on Jerusalem. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was standard to set up a task force any time there is a concern about the safety and security of U.S. government personnel or U.S. citizens. The State Department had no immediate comment on either document. Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, imperiling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting U.S. friends and adversaries alike. The first document also laid out talking points for officials at the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, the U.S. Embassies in London, Paris, Berlin and Rome and the U.S. mission to the European Union in Brussels. In its message for the European capitals, the document asked European officials to argue that Trump s decision did not prejudge so-called final status issues that Israel and the Palestinians need to hammer out in any peace agreement. You are in a key position to influence international reaction to this announcement and we are asking you to amplify the reality that Jerusalem is still a final status issue between Israelis and Palestinians and that the parties must resolve the dimensions of Israel s sovereignty in Jerusalem during their negotiations, it said. You know that this is a unique Administration. It makes bold moves. But it is bold moves that are going to be needed if peace efforts are finally going to be successful, it said. The status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions, is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent state of their own to be in the city s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally. | 0fake |
Trump, Putin discuss support for U.N. peace process in Syria: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two leaders stressed the importance of the U.N.-led peace process in resolving the Syrian civil war, the White House said in a statement. In the more than hour-long phone call, Trump and Putin also agreed to explore ways to cooperate in the fight against militant groups such as Islamic State, the statement said. In addition, the two leaders discussed how to achieve peace in Ukraine and the need to keep pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear program, it said. | 0fake |
Ivanka Trump Legally BARRED From Participating In Any Trump Businesses | The Office of Government Ethics has said that Ivanka Trump must file financial disclosure forms, and that she s barred from participating in anything related to the Trump family s businesses because she s an adviser to her father in the White House. The ethics office was never contacted about her role, revealing yet another area in which the White House is either sorely ignorant or sorely corrupt (most likely both).Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tom Carper asked the ethics office about the rules that Ivanka is supposed to follow. At the time they asked, Ivanka was in the process of getting her government-issued devices and a security clearance, and her lawyer had already said she would stick to the same ethics rules applied to every other government employee.This is what the ethics office told Warren and Carper about the ethics rules applying to her: [T]he primary criminal conflict of interest statue prohibits senior White House appointees and other executive branch employees from participating personally and substantially in particular matters directly and predictably affecting their financial interests. Among other things, this prohibition extends to the financial interests of companies in which they have ownership interests the primary criminal conflict of interest statute prohibits Ms. Trump from participating in particular matters affecting her financial interests, including the financial interests of Trump family businesses and other companies in which she has an ownership interest. That conflict of interest statute also covers her spouse s financial interests, which are imputed to her. So even if her husband, Jared Kushner, didn t have his own White House office, he still couldn t participate in the Trump Organization either.Ivanka s company was granted trademarks in China the same day she had dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The company said that the new trademarks are normal for the business that they do, and she did place her company in a trust and resigned from her position in the Trump Organization to accept her White House role. The Trump Organization, however, has likewise received a number of trademarks in China since Trump took office.She maintains financial control of her own company, though, as well as an interest in Washington s Trump International Hotel, according to The New York Times. These ethics rules apply to financial interests, even for employees and executives who ve formally resigned from their positions in their businesses. And those Chinese trademarks, granted after she took her post in the White House, could violate the ethics rules to which she s bound. Her ability to approve or deny certain deals through her trust may violate those rules as well.Unfortunately, ethics compliance is under the purview of the White House, and the White House is pretty loyal to Donald Trump and has shown zero interest in ensuring ethical compliance. The ethics office doesn t have enforcement power they just issue guidance. Congressional Democrats now have a powerful case against Ivanka should it come to light that she s violating these rules, though.There s word for this if she doesn t bring herself into full compliance: Corruption.Featured image by Sean Gallup via Getty Images | 1real |
DEMOCRATS EAT THEIR OWN: Secret Service Protect Angry Bernie As Leftist Protesters Rush Stage [VIDEO] | It s really quite ironic that the guy who has paid and non-paid protesters inciting violence and riots at virtually every Trump rally across America is being attacked by leftists on him home turf. Seriously though Bernie Sanders is as far left as a politician can go without becoming a declared Communist. What bone could a leftist protester possibly have to pick with Bernie? The guy is like Santa Claus, but with other people s money. He s promising to punish every rich person in American while rewarding the lazy. What more do these freaks want? At least four people at a Bernie Sanders rally in Oakland rushed the stage Monday evening, spurring Secret Service agents to jump onto the raised platform and protect him.The Democratic presidential candidate was uninjured and continued speaking, but not before several agents hugged him and pushed him away from the microphone. The identities of the individuals, who yelled as they approached the stage, were not immediately known. They were apprehended and led away by Secret Service from the podium at the Frank Ogawa Plaza, where the rally was being held. After the events of Monday night in Northern California, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said, It was handled professionally by the Secret Service. Watch here:The Vermont senator began receiving Secret Service protection in early February during the early part of the presidential primary season, in his challenge to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Via: CNN | 1real |
VIDEO: Proof Hillary’s Frail Health is Becoming an Issue | Pinterest
Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is clearly not in good health, and for a couple of campaign events she actually managed to do, we have more video of her failing health which the liberal mainstream media tries to sweep under the rug .
On Thursday, Clinton struggled to climb the steps of her campaign plane on her way to a rally in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
The rainy day had Clinton holding an umbrella as she labored her way up the stairs. Live Satellite News posted the video and noted that Clinton appeared to be “mumbling to herself.”
Clinton almost missed a stair, and as The American Mirror pointed out, from the time she left her motorcade all the way up the plane stairs, Clinton seemed “wobbly and unsteady.”
Watch the video below yourself where Clinton appeared to be pained as she climbed the campaign plane stairs:
The American Mirror posted another video, this time from The Last Stand, in which Clinton couldn’t tackle an approximately 18-inch step without assistance. The title of the video referenced Clinton’s “Stronger Together” campaign slogan — one that she apparently has taken literally thanks to her clearly failing health.
As you can see in the second video, the man who assisted Clinton didn’t just happen to be there and thought it would be nice to extend a hand to the elderly woman. No, he bounded over to Clinton when she neared the step. He stood nearby in what looked like an effort to be ready to help her descend the single step or steady her on the platform.
Now, some who haven’t followed the campaign closely may think that this is nit-picky, but it isn’t. It’s a little odd on its own, but when you add it to the mountain of evidence over the years of Clinton’s failing health, it says a great deal.
Can you imagine the media uproar if Donald Trump exhibited a tenth of the issues Clinton has on the campaign trail? You don’t have to — just this week Trump took 90 minutes “off” of the campaign trail to open his new Washington hotel, Washington Trump International, and CNN’s Dana Bash managed to ask a question that served as a dig.
“For people who say you’re taking time out of swing states to go do this,” Bash asked. Trump, with his hectic schedule that more than puts Clinton to shame, wasn’t having it: “For you to ask me that question is actually very insulting, because Hillary Clinton does one stop and then goes home and sleeps. Yet you’ll ask me that question.”
He’s right. There have been numerous examples of Clinton’s failing health that have barely gained media attention aside from her collapse at a Sept. 11 memorial this year that forced the biased media to reluctantly cover it.
The media is in the bag for Clinton, there’s no doubt about it . They may not note her clear health issues that she refuses to disclose the public, but we will. | 1real |
EU awards human rights prize to Venezuelan opposition | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Venezuela s democratic opposition was awarded the European Union s human rights award on Thursday and the European Parliament called for a peaceful transition to democracy in the troubled country. The prize, named after Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was awarded to Venezuela s opposition-led National Assembly legislature, which the government has stripped of powers, and all political prisoners, the EU parliament said. Venezuela is suffering from a harsh economic crisis and President Nicolas Maduro s government has clamped down on the opposition, jailing or otherwise barring from office many dissenting leaders and activists. Today we are supporting a nation s freedom struggle, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said. We also want to launch an appeal for a peaceful transition towards democracy and an opening of a humanitarian corridor to ease the suffering, he added. Julio Borges, head of Venezuela s National Assembly, tweeted that it was an honor to receive the award on behalf of the whole of Venezuela, adding: The international community recognizes our people. The European Parliament s left-wing group GUE/NGL, which includes parties such as Germany s Die Linke, Ireland s Sinn Fein and Greece s ruling Syriza, said it would boycott the award ceremony, saying the decision was politically charged. Previous winners of the prize, first awarded in 1988, include Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai and South African President Nelson Mandela. | 0fake |
Turks safe in Germany, Merkel says, dismissing Ankara's warning | DELBRUECK, Germany (Reuters) - Turks can safely come to Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday, dismissing a warning from Ankara that its citizens should take care when traveling there due to what it said was an increase in anti-Turkish sentiment. Tensions between Berlin and Ankara have been bubbling for months and Turkey s warning on Saturday came after Germany s foreign ministry said on Tuesday Germans traveling to Turkey risked arbitrary detention even in tourist areas. I want to say very clearly that all Turkish citizens can travel here, Merkel said in the northwestern German town of Delbrueck during a campaign event ahead of a Sept. 24 election. No journalists get arrested here and no journalists get put in custody. Freedom of opinion and the rule of law prevail here and we re proud of that, Merkel said. She pointed to German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel, who has been detained in Turkey for more than 200 days. He is one of 12 German citizens now in Turkish detention on political charges, four of them holding dual citizenship. We think there s no justification at all for him being in prison and the same applies to at least 11 other Germans, Merkel said. Merkel, who infuriated the Turkish government last weekend by saying she would seek an end to Turkey s membership talks with the European Union, is expected to win a fourth term in the upcoming election. Polls give her conservatives a double-digit percentage lead over their rival Social Democrats (SPD). | 0fake |
New Yorkers fight to overturn ballot selfie ban | New Yorkers fight to overturn ballot selfie ban New Yorkers fight to overturn ballot selfie ban By 0 119
New York voters are suing the state, arguing it is unconstitutional to ban them from showing their completed ballots to others via social media. The ballot selfie ban is becoming a hot topic this election, affecting even celebrities like Justin Timberlake.
The three New Yorkers – Eve Silber, Rebecca White, and Michael Emperor – filed the federal lawsuit in on Wednesday, seeking a judge to declare the election law banning “ballot selfies” unconstitutional, according to the attorney representing the group.
“Taking a photograph of a filled out ballot is a powerful political statement that demonstrates the importance of voting. Without the photograph, the message loses its power,” says the lawsuit, filed by lawyer Leo Glickman in Manhattan Federal Court, according to the New York Daily News.
Under the current state law, showing a marked ballot to another voter is considered a misdemeanor which can result in prison time and a hefty $1,000 fine, according to court papers.
Glickman is seeking a court injunction to stop officials from enforcing the law before the November 8 election.
Similar laws against “ballot selfies” have been struck down in Michigan, Indiana and New Hamsphire as a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of the freedom of speech.
Selfies are being allowed at the polls in Connecticut, but officials will be watching for whether the practice becomes disruptive for voters.
In New Jersey, Assemblyman Raj Mukherji is pushing for a bill that would protect voters’ right to take selfies at the ballot box, CBS radio reported.
Singer-actor Justin Timberlake got into some trouble this week after posting a photo of himself voting in Tennessee on his Instagram page. The picture prompted a reminder of the law from state officials that such photography is against the law.
Timberlake addressed the controversy during an appearance on ‘The Tonight Show’ Wednesday, telling host Jimmy Fallon he thought he was inspiring people with the picture and “had no idea” it was illegal.
Taking photos inside a voting booth is illegal in Tennessee under a 2015 state law, as it is in 17 other states, according to a review of laws banning ballot selfies conducted by the Associated Press.
Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license. | 1real |
Trump Has Forever Changed American Politics | Trump Has Forever Changed American Politics > November 7, 2016, 9:46 pm A+ | a- Warning
“If I don’t win, this will be the greatest waste of time, money and energy in my lifetime,” says Donald Trump.
Herewith, a dissent. Whatever happens Tuesday, Trump has made history and has forever changed American politics.
Though a novice in politics, he captured the Party of Lincoln with the largest turnout of primary voters ever, and he has inflicted wounds on the nation’s ruling class from which it may not soon recover.
Bush I and II, Mitt Romney , the neocons and the GOP commentariat all denounced Trump as morally and temperamentally unfit. Yet, seven of eight Republicans are voting for Trump, and he drew the largest and most enthusiastic crowds of any GOP nominee.
Not only did he rout the Republican elites, he ash-canned their agenda and repudiated the wars into which they plunged the country.
Trump did not create the forces that propelled his candidacy. But he recognized them, tapped into them, and unleashed a gusher of nationalism and populism that will not soon dissipate.
Whatever happens Tuesday, there is no going back now.
How could the Republican establishment advance anew the trade and immigration policies that their base has so thunderously rejected?
How can the GOP establishment credibly claim to speak for a party that spent the last year cheering a candidate who repudiated the last two Republican presidents and the last two Republican nominees?
Do mainstream Republicans think that should Trump lose a Bush Restoration lies ahead? The dynasty is as dead as the Romanovs .
The media, whose reputation has sunk to Congressional depths, has also suffered a blow to its credibility.
Its hatred of Trump has been almost manic, and WikiLeaks revelations of the collusion between major media and Clintonites have convinced skeptics that the system is rigged and the referees of democracy are in the tank.
But it is the national establishment that has suffered most.
The Trump candidacy exposed what seems an unbridgeable gulf between this political class and the nation in whose name it purports to speak.
Consider the litany of horrors it has charged Trump with.
He said John McCain was no hero, that some Mexican illegals are “ rapists .” He mocked a handicapped reporter. He called some women “pigs.” He wants a temporary ban to Muslim immigration. He fought with a Gold Star mother and father. He once engaged in “ fat-shaming ” a Miss Universe, calling her “Miss Piggy, ” and telling her to stay out of Burger King. He allegedly made crude advances on a dozen women and starred in the “Access Hollywood” tape with Billy Bush.
While such “gaffes” are normally fatal for candidates, Trump’s followers stood by him through them all.
Why? asks an alarmed establishment. Why, in spite of all this, did Trump’s support endure? Why did the American people not react as they once would have? Why do these accusations not have the bite they once did?
Answer. We are another country now, an us-or-them country.
Middle America believes the establishment is not looking out for the nation but for retention of its power. And in attacking Trump it is not upholding some objective moral standard but seeking to destroy a leader who represents a grave threat to that power.
Trump’s followers see an American Spring as crucial, and they are not going to let past boorish behavior cause them to abandon the last best chance to preserve the country they grew up in.
These are the Middle American Radicals, the MARs of whom my late friend Sam Francis wrote.
They recoil from the future the elites have mapped out for them and, realizing the stakes, will overlook the faults and failings of a candidate who holds out the real promise of avoiding that future.
They believe Trump alone will secure the borders and rid us of a trade regime that has led to the loss of 70,000 factories and 5 million manufacturing jobs since NAFTA. They believe Trump is the best hope for keeping us out of the wars the Beltway think tanks are already planning for the sons of the “deplorables” to fight.
Moreover, they see the establishment as the quintessence of hypocrisy. Trump is instructed to stop using such toxic phrases as “America First” and “Make America Great Again” by elites who think 55 million abortions since Roe is a milestone of moral progress.
And what do they have in common with a woman who thinks partial-birth abortion, which her predecessor in the Senate, Pat Moynihan, called “ infanticide ,” is among the cherished “reproductive rights” of women?
While a Trump victory would create the possibility of a coalition of conservatives, populists, patriots and nationalists governing America, should he lose, America’s future appears disunited and grim.
But, would the followers of Donald Trump, whom Hillary Clinton has called “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic … bigots,” to the cheers of her media retainers, unite behind her should she win?
No. Win or lose, as Sen. Edward Kennedy said at the Democratic Convention of 1980, “The work goes on, the cause endures.” | 1real |
DO YOU WANT TO SAVE AMERICA FROM HILLARY? Share This VIDEO With Everyone You Know… | WATCH: Even her friends on the Left appear to be fed up with Hillary s lies. Is it possible the media has finally grown tired of covering for Hillary? | 1real |
TWITTER User Suggests “Climate Deniers” Should Be Shot | The Left is all about gun control unless of course, they re talking about shooting someone who disagrees with phony man-made climate change Thought: in wartime, people deliberately spreading lies and misinformation get shot. Why not do the same with climate change deniers? Daniel Rendall (@danielrendall) October 30, 2015h/t Weasel ZippersJust in case they remove this Tweet, we ve taken a screen shot here: | 1real |
GOP Power Rankings: Kasich gets a boost | The Republican presidential race continues to be all about Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich may have put himself in position to make a mark when New Hampshire votes next month.
In our weekly poll of 30 political experts — we ask who is strongest in the GOP field each week — Kasich notched sixth place this week, his highest standing in the 21 weeks we have been running the survey.
Now, it's not first place — that's still Trump. But Kasich's upward movement reflects some thought that he could score second place in the Granite State's first-in-the-nation primary. That would plant him firmly in the national headlines and give his campaign fresh life.
"This week Kasich feels like a 'positive alternative' possibility in NH, amid all the negativity between (Jeb) Bush, (Chris) Christie, and (Marco) Rubio," said University of New Hampshire professor Dante Scala. Polls in the state have consistently shown Kasich among a cluster of candidates vying for second place behind Trump, and over the weekend he picked up endorsements from three newspapers in the state.
Kasich also benefits from other candidates — namely Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson — dropping out of the top tier over the past several weeks.
"The conventional wisdom is that it's either Trump or Cruz. However, surprises occur when actual people start to vote," warned former Democratic congressman Dan Maffei.
Pollster Peter Fenn added, "The knives are out between Trump and Cruz. The question is: does this give a Rubio, Christie, Kasich or Bush a chance to come up the side and emerge as an alternative?"
Former Republican party official Frank Donatelli agreed, "Trump, Cruz and Rubio have most potential for the long run," Donatelli said. "There may be one more ticket available if Bush, Christie or Kasich can finish first or second in New Hampshire. Iowa is most important for Cruz as he is lagging in New Hampshire."
On other odd item worth noting this week: Rand Paul held his spot in eighth place despite being relegated to the happy hour debate that he refused to attend. Paul turned his relegation into a positive by launching a social media storm during the debate that garnered a lot of attention. He was among the top five candidates in growth of Twitter followers during the debate for the first time despite not being on stage.
Participants in USA TODAY's GOP Power Rankings:
Kristen Soltis Anderson, Republican pollster and author of The Selfie Vote
Henry Barbour, Republican strategist, Mississippi
Paul Brathwaite, principal, Podesta Group
Dianne Bystrom, director, Center for Women and Politics, Iowa State University
Herman Cain, talk show host and former GOP presidential candidate
Maria Cardona, Democratic strategist and CNN Commentator, The Dewey Square Group
Frank Donatelli, former RNC deputy chairman and Reagan advisor
Sara Fagen, partner, DDC Advocacy
Peter Fenn, Democratic political strategist, Fenn Communications
Denise Feriozzi, deputy executive director, EMILY’s List
Karen Floyd, CEO, The Palladian Group and former South Carolina GOP chair
Aaron Ghitelman, communications manager, HeadCount
Andra Gillespie, polling analyst and political science professor, Emory University
Nathan L. Gonzales, editor, The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report
Lilly J. Goren, political science and global studies professor, Carroll University
Doug Gross, Iowa attorney and previous Republican gubernatorial nominee
O. Kay Henderson, news director, Radio Iowa
Ken Khachigian, senior partner, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Carl Leubsdorf, Washington columnist, The Dallas Morning News
Deb Lucia, Topeka 912 – the Capital City Tea Party
Matt Mackowiak, Republican consultant and president, Potomac Strategy Group, LLC
Dan Maffei, former Democratic congressman, New York
Phil Musser, chairman, IMGE digital media agency
Margie Omero, Democratic pollster, Purple Insights
Jon Ralston, host, "Ralston Live" on PBS affiliates in Nevada
Craig Robinson, founder and editor, TheIowaRepublican.com
Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D., Sr. VP of digital strategy, turner4D
Dante Scala, political science professor, University of New Hampshire
Adam Sharp, head of news, government and elections, Twitter
Alex Smith, national chairman, College Republicans
Todd Spangler, Washington correspondent, Detroit Free Press
Kathy Sullivan, DNC committeewoman and former Democratic Party chair, New Hampshire
Special thanks to the Palladian Group for building our survey platform. | 0fake |
Ivanka Trump’s Presence at Meeting With Japan’s Leader Raises Questions - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — The potential for conflicts of interest between Donald J. Trump and his family’s business ventures emerged again Thursday evening, when a photograph was distributed that showed his daughter Ivanka at a meeting between Mr. Trump and the prime minister of Japan. News reporters were not allowed to attend the session, Mr. Trump’s first with a foreign head of government, and no summary was provided about what was discussed. A separate photograph was distributed — press photographers were not allowed to cover the event — showing that Jared Kushner, Ms. Trump’s husband, was present for at least part of the gathering. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said after the meeting that he had a “very candid discussion” with Mr. Trump. He did not discuss who else attended the gathering or elaborate on the topics discussed. Ms. Trump will be among the members of the ’s family who will be placed in charge of Mr. Trump’s business enterprises, which include an international chain of hotels with operations in Latin America, Europe and North America. She serves as vice president for development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization, and the company’s website says one of her “primary focuses has been to bring the Trump Hotel brand to global markets. ” She also owns a jewelry business, Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, with the Trump Organization describing her as “one of the most recognized and influential young businesswomen today. ” After Mr. Trump’s transition office was asked by The New York Times about allowing Ms. Trump to attend the meeting with the Japanese prime minister, an individual close to the family, who said she did not have authorization to provide her name, hinted that Ms. Trump would not be attending meetings like this in the future. “Mr. Trump has always encouraged Ivanka and his children to attend meetings with him,” the person close to the family said. “This meeting in question was very informal. However, they obviously need to adjust to the new realities at hand, which they will. ” This week, Ms. Trump’s jewelry company sent out a notice to reporters with a photograph of her wearing a $10, 800 gold bangle bracelet that she had worn during an interview her family did with “60 Minutes,” trying to use the appearance as an opportunity to sell more items. “Please find attached a style alert of Ivanka wearing her favorite bangle from the Metropolis Collection over the weekend on 60 Minutes,” Monica Marder, the vice president for sales at Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, said in the email. Abigail Klem, the president of Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, apologized for the promotion of Ms. Trump’s bracelet after the “60 Minutes” interview, attributing it to “a marketing employee. ” Ms. Klem added, “We are proactively discussing new policies and procedures with all of our partners going forward. ” Ms. Trump’s presence also disturbed some current and former State Department officials, including Moira Whelan, who left the department in July after serving as a deputy assistant secretary of state for public affairs. Anyone present for such a conversation between two heads of state should, at a minimum, have security clearance, Ms. Whelan said, and should also be an expert in Japanese affairs. “Meeting of two heads of state is never an informal occurrence,” Ms. Whelan said. “Even a casual mention or a nod of agreement or an assertion left unchallenged can be interpreted in different ways. ” Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight said that regardless of what was discussed at the meeting, it was inappropriate for Ms. Trump to be present at a private meeting among such a small group of people given that she is an executive at a corporation involved in international business development. These early episodes demonstrate, Ms. Brian said, why Mr. Trump must put his assets into a blind trust, in which an independent party manages them, instead of turning them over to his children to manage, as Mr. Trump has proposed. “You can’t have people with financial conflicts of interest mixing with White House business,” Ms. Brian said. The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial on Friday, went so far as to urge Mr. Trump to sell off all his hotels, golf courses and other assets, and then take that cash and turn it over to a blind trust, as that would be the only way to avoid all possible conflicts. | 0fake |
Hogan rejects Democratic request for ban on state-funded travel to Indiana | Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Wednesday rejected a request by an openly gay state lawmaker to ban state-funded travel to Indiana until that state repeals its newly enacted Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Critics say the law — which has triggered a firestorm of reaction across the country — could allow businesses to discriminate against gay people and others in the name of religious freedom.
“My family could be denied service in Indiana because of my marriage to another man,” Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery) wrote in a letter to Hogan on Tuesday. “Many of our colleagues could also be denied service because of an Indiana business owner’s objection to a Marylander’s marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, appearance, or a myriad of other excuses.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) issued an executive order Tuesday banning city-funded travel to Indiana until the law is repealed. The Democratic governors of Connecticut, New York and Washington state have taken similar action.
Doug Mayer, a spokesman for the governor, said Hogan does not plan to institute a ban. “Governor Hogan is opposed to discrimination in all forms,” Mayer said. “History has repeatedly proven that the best way to effect positive change is through an engagement of ideas, not disengaging from those we disagree with. Political stunts like this are precisely what Maryland voters rejected in last year’s election.”
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) submitted a letter to the Indianapolis Star on Monday that urged Indiana businesses displeased with the law signed last week by Gov. Mike Pence (R) to relocate to “open and welcoming” Virginia.
The commonwealth passed a religious liberties law of its own in 2007. But its focus is on government intrusion into the free exercise of religion, rather than on religious clashes between individuals and businesses.
McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor is not planning any ban on state-funded travel to Indiana. “No, he’s working on convincing Indiana businesses who are concerned about this recent development to travel to Virginia and bring jobs with them,” Coy said. “In fact, he’s hoping to travel there himself and recruit businesses.”
A Maryland lawmaker borrowed McAuliffe’s idea Wednesday, circulating “an open letter to Indiana businesses” that encouraged them to move to Maryland. “With their profoundly divisive action, your state policymakers made it harder for you to attract world-class talent,” wrote Del. Luke H. Clippinger (Baltimore), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “Governor Pence and his cronies put you at an extraordinary competitive disadvantage.”
Pence strongly defended the law at a news conference Tuesday, focusing on the legal grounds granted to individuals and businesses to defend themselves against claims of discrimination. But he said that the intent of the law was never to allow discrimination and that the state will “fix” that to make clear that businesses cannot deny services to anyone.
Madaleno wrote in his letter that Maryland has been a leader in providing legal recognition and protections for all state residents.
“When other states pass these prejudicial laws,” he wrote, “Maryland needs to stand up for our values.” The Democrat said Indiana’s law would allow businesses to discriminate against people on the basis of their marital status, sketching a scenario in which first lady Yumi Hogan could be refused service because her first marriage ended in divorce.
Mayer said that when Hogan reached that part of Madaleno’s letter, he stopped reading.
The letter drew a rebuke Wednesday from Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), who cautioned lawmakers against mentioning relatives of fellow elected leaders in written correspondence.
“We had a letter going out the other day that mentioned someone’s spouse,” he said. “We’re not going to get into details, but we’re all big here, men and women. And we’re partners in this, but we don’t mention other people’s spouses in any type of correspondence — their spouses or children.”
Madaleno said he was “trying to make the point about how sweeping this type of law is and how it puts many families in Indiana and in Maryland at risk for a variety of reasons.”
He said he was “very sad” to hear that Hogan considers bans and strong stances against the Indiana law to be political stunts. Referring to the racing group that issued a statement Tuesday opposing the legislation, Madaleno added, “He’s not even standing with NASCAR.”
“We all have aspects about our lives that probably someone else would find offensive or objectionable from their own religious stance — but they shouldn’t be able to deny us service or discriminate against us because of it,” Madaleno said. “And that’s the point I was trying to make.”
Madaleno acknowledged that it’s “always difficult” when family members become part of political discussions, but he added: “My family has been part of the political debate in this state for quite a while.”
Laura Vozzella in Richmond contributed to this report. | 0fake |
SWEDISH CITIZENS Get DISTURBING News About Likely Punishment For ASYLUM SEEKERS Who Live-Streamed RAPE Of Swedish Girl On Facebook | When will government officials who allowed this nightmare to grow like a cancer in Sweden be held accountable? Breitbart Two asylum seekers who are on trial for raping a Swedish girl and streaming the ordeal live on Facebook will not face deportation back to their home countries.The asylum seekers directly involved in the rape, aged 18 and 21, will not face deportation after the prosecution withdrew their previous claim.From 24 Uppsala: On Tuesday, ending the trial of the three men suspected of involvement in the rape that has been broadcast live in a closed group on Facebook.A 25-year old man is on suspicion of failure to disclose rape, and two men, a 21-year-old and a 18 year old, on probable cause suspected of rape.The three accused men sat sunken in their chairs, and the hearing began with a number of charges against two men, one admitted all seven points including the possession and consumption of drugs and driving without a license and DUI.The most remarkable thing was that the prosecutor Magnus Berggren denied his and prosecutors Pontus Melanders earlier demands for the expulsion of two of the men (18 year old and 21 year old) who were not born in Sweden. Only yesterday, he told me that nothing has changed regarding the claim.Mr. Wallin, who represents the 21-year-old Afghan national, said he and his 18-year-old co-defendant arrived in Sweden when they were under the age of 15. The third defendant in the case, a 25-year-old Iranian immigrant with Swedish citizenship, is also being tried as he is accused of filming the incident and not reporting it to the police. He also faces a charge of defamation as he broadcast the rape on Facebook. However, due to him holding Swedish citizenship, he cannot be deported. Prosecutor Pontus Melander said he was confident he would achieve a guilty verdict. We have an incredibly good evidence in the form of film material, but it is always up to the district court, he said.Melander said the likely punishment for the two involved in the attack would be three years in prison, while the 25-year-old who filmed it could receive a one-year sentence. The prosecution argued the sentence for slander should be at least one year due to the fact the video was spread widely on social media and the victim would have to live with it for the rest of her life. | 1real |
Britain to submit 'Brexit bill' proposal before December EU meeting | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will submit proposals on how to settle its divorce bill with the European Union before an EU summit next month and is expected to negotiate hard, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday. The EU told Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday that there was more work to be done to unlock the Brexit talks, repeating its early December deadline for her to flesh out Britain s opening offer on the financial settlement. We will make our proposals to the European Union in time for the Council, Hammond told the BBC, referring to the Dec. 14-15 meeting of EU heads of government. He was speaking three days before he sets out Britain s budget plan, where he will have to find room within tight fiscal constraints to help May convince voters that the Conservative government is tackling Britain s domestic problems at the same time as negotiating its exit from the EU. Last week, May met fellow EU leaders to try to break a deadlock over how much Britain will pay on leaving the bloc, an issue threatening to derail British hopes for a negotiated exit and an agreement on a new trading relationship by March 2019. May has signalled she would increase an initial offer that is estimated at some 20 billion euros ($24 billion) - about a third of what Brussels wants. But Hammond, who has been criticised by supporters of Brexit for being too conciliatory towards Brussels and lobbying for a softer exit, said Britain would take a tough stance about how much it owes. There are some things that we re very clear we do owe under the treaties, other things where we dispute the amounts or even whether something should be included, Hammond said in a separate interview with ITV television. Of course we ll negotiate hard to get the very best deal for the British taxpayer. Asked about the prospect of Brexit without a trade deal, Hammond said he was increasingly confident that an agreement could be reached because it was in the interests of both parties. Despite scepticism in Brussels over the tight timetable, May and her chief negotiator David Davis have been clear they want to have a full post-Brexit free trade deal sealed by the time Britain leaves. However, Hammond set out a softer stance on the timing of the trade deal. We hope that it will be agreed, certainly in principle, that the big elements of it will be agreed before March 2019 so that everybody knows where we are going, he told ITV. | 0fake |
Britain Reduces Terror Level One Notch to ‘Severe’ After Terror Cell Arrests | The government terror threat level of ‘critical’ which was set after the Manchester terror attack on Monday was reduced to severe Saturday lunchtime, as British police announced another series of terror arrests. [‘Critical’ which means the government and security services believes an attack is imminent, was put in place this week and saw the deployment of 1, 000 troops of the British army to assist police in their duties, with an option to expand the deployment to 5, 000. After a number of arrests across the country including locations in Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the terror threat has fallen to the second highest level, where it was before the Manchester attack. Returned to critical, the government now assess the likelihood of a terror attack to be “highly likely” as opposed to imminent. The reduction is likely to have stemmed from the flurry of arrests in recent days, with 11 individuals now in police custody. British boss Mark Rowley said a “large part” of the terror network that had been connected to bomber Salman Abedi had been dismantled by the arrests, But he said there were still “gaps in our understanding” of the plot, as investigators probed Abedi’s potential links to jihadis in Britain, Europe, Libya and the Middle East. Despite that there were still “gaps in our understanding” of the conspiracy to kill, he said. The Prime Minister said “a significant amount of police activity” and the fresh arrests had contributed to an improved overall security picture, meaning the terror threat level could be knocked down a notch. Despite the slight relaxation she urged the public to remain vigilant. While the presence of 1, 000 armed soldiers would continue over the bank holiday weekend to assist police and provide from the public, Operation Temperer is to be wound down at the start of next week. Despite the change in security level, the situation remains tense in Manchester — the announcement came as evacuations took place in the Moss Side area, with bomb disposal troops deployed. Latest update pic. twitter. — G M Police (@gmpolice) May 27, 2017, | 0fake |
BRAVO! LAURA INGRAHAM DESTROYS JUAN WILLIAMS On Calling Trump’s Picks “Team Of Radicals” [Video] | Vid: @IngrahamAngle decimates @TheJuanWilliams for team of radicals charge. Why people despise DC. #FNS #TTT16 pic.twitter.com/WK0QLbSgxu Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) November 20, 2016 | 1real |
McCain: Trump Should Release His Tax Returns - Breitbart | Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. John McCain ( ) said President Donald Trump should release his tax returns. Host Jake Tapper asked, “Given that President Trump is proposing changes that could benefit him personally by tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars, do you think that the American people have a right to see his tax returns so that they can know how this plan would affect his bottom line?” McCain answered, “I think I’ve said all along I thought every candidate for president should disclose their tax returns. I haven’t changed. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
lolwut: Russia Kicked-Off UN Human Rights Council, Saudi Arabia Re-Elected | RT :
For the first time since its inception in 2006, Russia has lost an election to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) after being narrowly beaten by Croatia in a vote. Saudi Arabia was successfully re-elected, despite criticism from human rights organizations.
The 47 places on the council are distributed on a regional basis, with staggered ballots seeing a third of the body re-elected each year. Russia had finished its three-year term and was running against Hungary and Croatia for the two available seats from Eastern Europe.
With Hungary far ahead, Croatia received the votes of 114 of the 193 member countries, and Russia was selected on 112 ballots.
“We’ve been in the UNHRC for several years, and I am sure next time we will stand and get back in,” said Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin. Russia is eligible to run next year, against a new set of countries.
Saudi Arabia sailed through the Asian ballot with 152 votes, and will represent the region on the UNHRC alongside China, Japan and Iraq for the next three years.
South Africa, Rwanda, Egypt and Tunisia were chosen from the African group, Cuba and Brazil from Latin America and the Caribbean, and the US and the UK will represent the Western bloc, which comprises Western Europe and North America.
Russia is a normal Western country.
Saudi Arabia tortures and stones people to death for minor crimes.
Saudi Arabia has floggings for bloggings.
They are allowed to marry little girls and have sex with them when they’re nine.
They have public beheadings with swords.
They have a special machine to mutilate the hands of people caught reading the Bible.
They have a special machine for hanging homosexuals.
Okay, that one I basically agree with, but I don’t agree with brutally torturing them first, which they also do.
To have a “human rights council” and include Saudi Arabia is like some kind of sick joke.
And okay, I get that Russia wasn’t running directly against Saudi Arabia. But the whole thing is totally politicized in the first place. This is all manipulated based on favorite-picking.
And Saudi Arabia was running against a whole bunch of other countries which don’t do what they do – they are included in Asia .
There are a whole bunch of other countries which don’t do what Saudi Arabia does that could have been included on this list. In fact, no other country in the world does what Saudi Arabia does, including other Moslem countries, besides the Emeritae (also on the council) and Qatar.
This could have been to Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan – or any yellow Asian country.
The UN is a friggin joke. | 1real |
WATCH: Republican Lies About Immigrant Vetting Process, Gets SCHOOLED By Immigrant CNN Host | This House Republican didn t see this humiliation coming.During an interview on CNN with Brianna Keilar, GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn embarrassed herself, her home state of Tennessee, and the United States by making a false claim about the immigration vetting process and demonstrating her complete lack of knowledge about how our immigration system works.Keilar, who made a name for herself during the 2016 Election by repeatedly standing up to and humiliating Trump supporters, asked Blackburn for her response to the terrorist attacks in Berlin. Blackburn immediately began vilifying Muslim immigrants in this country by claiming that they haven t been properly vetted and that our immigration system is flawed. Her source? Just random people she hears things from. One of the things that I m hearing from women, especially, is their deep concern over public safety and making certain we are dealing with the terrorist cells that are located in the United States. Blackburn said. They re concerned about what is happening with the refugees and the realization by many people that our governors and our mayors do not know when refugee populations are coming into the communities Many of these individuals are not vetted. Keilar, who immigrated to America from Australia, knows what the vetting process is like. So she was able to put Blackburn in her place with firsthand knowledge that every immigrant, even from Australia, are thoroughly vetted. Can I stop you on that, really quick? Keilar asked. Because you said many refugees are not vetted, and I know certainly there are concerns. The vast majority of refugees are peaceful, there are many people arguing there are risks when you open yourself up to people coming into the country. But you say they re not vetted and yet, I ve gone through the process and it s pretty extensive. Keilar also informed Blackburn that several government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security are involved in the process.Mic. Dropped.And, of course, Blackburn responded by insisting that all these government agencies aren t doing their jobs and proceeded to treat Keilar like a child who doesn t know anything.Keilar once again countered Blackburn by pointing out that CNN has looked into these claims and what they found proves that Blackburn is only trying to spread fear to advance the GOP s anti-immigration agenda. When there is someone and they don t know who they are or where they re coming from, they don t let them in, Keilar said. There s a process to make sure. Do you know of specific instances where people are completely bypassing what is actually a quite labyrinth process to get into this county? But rather than answer the question, Blackburn demonstrated that she s full of shit by evading it completely, insisting that Keilar visit an immigration reception center and question the case workers.Keilar reminded Blackburn that immigrants are vetted by the DHS and the FBI along with several other government agencies. That s when Blackburn threw them under the bus by accusing them of not doing their jobs properly. She also repeatedly danced around Keilar s question, proving that Blackburn can t point to any specific examples of a Syrian immigrant being poorly vetted.Here s the video via YouTube.The fact is that immigrants face a two-year wait as they are vetted thoroughly to gain entrance into this country. They are then settled into this country after the long and grueling process and are often the targets of harassment and abuse even though they went through hell to get to the land of freedom and opportunity.If and when a Muslim refugee commits an act of terror, it s not that they came here with that intent. It s most likely that they were radicalized many years after they arrived here, and that s because they ve had to deal with the constant discrimination and hate from people like Blackburn who demonize Muslims and blame them for every problem. Stuff like that pushes people over the edge.Plus, immigrants are less likely to commit a crime than a citizen who was born here. But you don t hear Blackburn or her Republican colleagues calling for years of extensive vetting for every baby born on American soil. They certainly haven t called for vetting white supremacists after they commit acts of terrorism. That s because Republicans are hypocrites and are just using Muslims as a scapegoat for political gain.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
Democratic Leadership BLASTS Trump And Republicans For Targeting Medicare | Republicans are already touting their intention to dismantle Medicare and Donald Trump is poised to be the rubber stamp. But Democrats are prepared to do whatever it takes to stop them.House Speaker Paul Ryan has been waiting for a puppet president to come along for a long time now so that he can get his plan to kill Medicare signed into law.Now he has one, and has made little effort to hide his intention to target Medicare on the first day Trump takes office.Ryan s plan would privatize Medicare, which basically means he would give it to Wall Street and turn it into a voucher system. Medicare itself would whither of the vine and die and anyone who is on Medicare or looked forward to it would be shit out of luck because they would get less care at higher prices.On Tuesday, Kellyanne Conway even signaled that Trump will consider Ryan s proposal to gut Medicare. He will, I m sure, take a look at Speaker Ryan s proposal and other proposals, Conway said. In this case, he will go ahead and look at alternatives. Well, if Republicans thought they would be able to just jam through whatever laws they want, they are gravely mistaken.Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer fired a warning shot at the GOP on Friday making it clear that Democrats will fight tooth and nail to block any Republican bill that dismantles the popular healthcare program that has been working perfectly since 1966 when it was enacted. The Republicans ideological and visceral hatred of government could deny millions of senior citizens across the country the care they need and deserve, Schumer said. To our Republican colleagues considering this path, Democrats say, Make our day. Your effort will fail, and this attack on our seniors will not stand. Nancy Pelosi chimed in with a warning of her own. It s ideological with the speaker to take away the guarantee of Medicare, she said. But [the program] is a fundamental pillar of health and economic security. And we will not go down that path. In short, Democrats in the House and Senate are prepared to to obstruct Republicans in the same way they obstructed President Obama over the last eight years. And that s exactly what Democrats need to do. They need to more vicious and uncooperative than Republicans ever were. It s time to give them a taste of their own medicine for America s sake. Anything less should be punished harshly when the midterm elections roll around in 2018. So Democrats better hold the line and fiercely defend America s social contract or they can expect primary challenges. There is absolutely no excuse for Democrats to treat Trump better than Republicans treated President Obama. In fact, there is every reason to treat him worse. The future of our country depends on it.Featured Image: Zach Gibson/Getty Images | 1real |
Marseille attacker probably radicalized by brother: police | ROME (Reuters) - The brother of the man who killed two women with a knife outside Marseille train station last week was probably a foreign fighter in Syria and Iraq, Italian investigators said on Monday. Italian police arrested 25-year-old Tunisian Anis Hannachi in Northern Italy on Saturday evening. He had been in Italy since Oct. 4 or earlier, police said. His older brother, the 29-year-old Ahmed, was shot dead by a French soldier after killing the two women on Oct. 1. Ahmed lived south of Rome with his Italian wife from 2008 to 2014, and was known to police only for petty crimes , Italy s chief anti-terrorism prosecutor Franco Roberti told reporters. Ahmed never showed any signs of radicalization in Italy, Roberti said. The investigative hypothesis we re working on is that the younger brother radicalized the older one. The militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Marseille attack, but did not name Ahmed as the assailant. Anis has refused to talk to Italian investigators, Roberti said. He was arrested on an international arrest warrant issued by the French, who are investigating the Marseille attack as a probable terrorist action. It is likely that Anis will be extradited to France in a matter of days, Roberti added. Anis was flagged as a dangerous individual who probably had been a foreign fighter in Iraq and Syria, Claudio Galzerano, director of an Italian anti-terrorism police squad, told reporters. Anis was arrested on suspicion of complicity in his brother s attack and membership of a terrorist group. He had been fingerprinted and photographed by police in 2014, when he reached Italy by boat and was immediately sent back home. However, that previous identification meant police were sure they had arrested the right man when they tracked him down on Saturday evening riding a bicycle in the center of Ferrara, in Northern Italy. He had no identification on him, gave police a false name, and told them he was Algerian, Galzerano said. Police are now investigating Anis s possible contacts in Italy. The Marseille attacker s estranged wife told Italy s Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday that she did not believe Ahmed had become a radical Islamist. He didn t care about religion, Ramona Cargnelutti told Corriere in an interview. I ve never seen him enter a Mosque. While admitting she had not seen him for more than two years, she said the murder of the two women was more likely a robbery gone wrong because he was a drug user and always in need of cash. Roberti said Italian prosecutors will be talking to Cargnelutti in the coming days as part of their investigation. | 0fake |
BREAKING SCARE: DONALD TRUMP RUSHED OFFSTAGE After Protester Tackled To The Ground [Video] | Secret Service agents rushed Donald trump offstage on Saturday evening during a rally in Reno, Nevada after they determined a protester in the audience posed a threat to the Republican presidential candidate. Go! Go! agents shouted as they whisked him away and a combination of local police and private security wrestled the suspect to the ground. Thousands of people scattered like a sea of bodies, screams rang out and authorities dragged the man away as he kicked and strained after someone shouted gun in the audience, causing the ensuing chaos. Read more: Daily Mail | 1real |
Look Who’s Smiley Now: MoMA Acquires Original Emoji - The New York Times | Your phone has just become home to a tiny little collection of modern art. On Wednesday, the Museum of Modern Art announced that it had acquired the original set of 176 emoji for its permanent collection. These glyphs, designed for pagers made by the Japanese mobile provider NTT DoCoMo and released in 1999, were the first pictographs to make their way into mobile communication. It would take another decade for emoji to explode into an American phenomenon, when Apple integrated its first emoji set for the iPhone in 2011. There are now nearly 2, 000 standardized emoji. The emoji we recognize now as the slick, round yellow smiley face was just a rudimentary line drawing back then, with a little rectangular box for a mouth and two carets for eyes. Looking back at old emoji feels a bit like trying to read pictographs from an ancient civilization. But look close enough, and you’ll find tantalizing hints about the assumptions embedded in modern online communication. The original emoji, designed by Shigetaka Kurita, are each made within a grid that is just 12 pixels wide and 12 pixels long. First rendered in black and white, within a few years each emoji was painted one of six colors — black, red, orange, lilac, grass green and royal blue. Many of these symbols are illegible, their mysteries only revealed with the help of a translator. The red circle with three lines stands for “hot spring” the amorphous purple blob, perhaps fittingly, translates to “art. ” Others are stultifying in their literalness — simple digital translations of existing symbols. There are the 12 astrological signs, the four playing card suits, a “no smoking” symbol, a bathroom sign. But there are glimmers, too, of the whimsical, figurative, emotive glyphs that have come to dominate online culture. There are lots of hearts, a closed fist, a cat and a dog. One of the most compelling modern emoji — a pair of googly eyes that’s used to convey a range of meanings, from shock to conspiratorial speculation — has its roots here. And some of the simplest symbols have taken on a whole new life in a modern context: The original emoji meant to evoke a smoking sign has been retooled into a colorful, realistic rendering that resembles a real cigarette smoldering between a person’s fingers. Some early emoji take cues from manga, the Japanese graphic novel genre — a light bulb signifying an “aha” moment and a bomb with a lit fuse. But the dominant inspiration on display is corporate synergy. Many of these emoji were created not for people eager to connect but for companies hoping to reach potential customers. DoCoMo used emoji to deliver weather reports to pager users (hence the sun, lightning bolt, umbrella and snowman emoji) and direct them to local businesses the hamburger symbolized a joint, the martini stood for a bar, and the high heel indicated a clothing shop. DoCoMo also partnered on its first emoji set with the Japanese ticket seller Pia and the restaurant review company Zagat, and these old corporate deals remain baked into the DNA of internet culture. Modern smartphone keyboards still offer an emoji for the word “soon” under a right arrow, an old Pia symbol for a show that’s about to begin. MoMA’s acquisition adds the emoji set to a growing collection of digital objects, including the @ symbol and a selection of video games. When MoMA acquired the @ symbol in 2010, Paola Antonelli, the senior curator in the department of architecture and design, called it perhaps “the only truly free” object in MoMA’s collection. The addition of the @ sign “relies on the assumption that physical possession of an object as a requirement for an acquisition is no longer necessary” to the museum, she wrote. It has freed curators to “collect” objects too large to fit within the building (like, say, satellites) and works too ephemeral to hang like a painting (like emoji). This emoji set was acquired through a licensing agreement with DoCoMo that lets the museum display the images in a range of forms. Starting in December, MoMA will show the emoji in the museum lobby, in a display that incorporates both graphics and animations. Ms. Antonelli said that MoMA hopes to obtain more emoji eventually. “In a sense, what we’ve really acquired is a new communication platform,” she said. “But at the same time, the emoji themselves are ideographs, one of the most ancient ways to communicate. I love how the centuries are connected in that way. ” Emoji evoke art forms both ancient and modern, from hieroglyphics to manga. Their novelty is in how they’re deployed. As emoji are traded and spread and remixed by users, they become the medium for an collaborative art project. Emoji may have started at DoCoMo and risen to the MoMA, but they belong to everyone and to no one. | 0fake |
The BBC Asks – What Really Happened With the Clintons in Haiti? | at 11:54 am 4 Comments
When it comes to the Clintons, where there’s smoke, there’s usually a structure fire. I doubt Haiti is any different.
With that in mind, I wanted to flag an article published earlier today at the BBC , What really happened with the Clintons in Haiti?
Here are some excerpts: Donald Trump has said the work of Bill and Hillary Clinton in Haiti was a “disgrace”. What really happened?
“The Clinton family, they are crooks, they are thieves, they are liars,” says Haitian activist Dahoud Andre.
He has been leading protests outside the Clinton Foundation headquarters in Manhattan and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign base in Brooklyn for the last two years.
He said protesters from his small activist group, the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti, will continue to level their allegations – so far all unproven – if the Democratic candidate wins the White House.
Mrs Clinton retorted that she was proud of the foundation’s work, and pointed out her rival’s namesake charity had spent money on a lifesize portrait of himself.
The Clintons’ history with the world’s first black republic dates back to their 1975 honeymoon, when they met a voodoo priest and visited a hotel where Ernest Hemingway once stayed.
Mr Andre is not alone among his compatriots in blaming the once-and-perhaps-future first couple for a litany of ills in Haiti.
Kim Ives, editor of Haiti Liberte newspaper, told the BBC: “A lot of Haitians are not big fans of the Clintons, that’s for sure.”
“The fact the Clintons kind of took over things after the earthquake and did a pretty poor job of it translates to why the Haitians have a pretty dim view of them,” he added.
So what happened?
Mrs Clinton was Secretary of State and Mr Clinton was UN Special Envoy to Haiti when the January 2010 earthquake struck, killing an estimated 220,000 people.
Some $13.3bn (£10.9bn) was pledged by international donors for Haiti’s recovery.
Mr Clinton was appointed co-chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), along with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
But the IHRC found itself under fire as frustrations mounted at the slow pace of recovery.
Its mandate was not renewed by the Haitian parliament in 2011.
How about this graphic…
A US Government Accountability Office report discovered no hint of wrongdoing, but concluded the IHRC’s decisions were “not necessarily aligned with Haitian priorities”.
The GAO must have a peculiar definition of “wrongdoing.”
Mr Clinton’s own office at the UN found 9% of the foreign aid cash went to the Haitian government and 0.6% to local organizations.
The bulk of it went to UN agencies, international aid groups, private contractors and donor countries’ own civilian and military agencies.
For example, the Pentagon billed the State Department hundreds of millions of dollars for sending US troops to hand out bottled water and keep order on the streets of Haiti’s ravaged capital, Port-au-Prince.
Jake Johnston, an analyst with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a nonpartisan group that has studied the quake reconstruction, told the BBC “it’s hard to say it’s been anything other than a failure”.
But he believes the State Department and IHRC simply replicated the mistakes of the whole foreign aid industry by chasing short-term gains instead of building longer-term capacity on the ground.
“They relied too much on outside actors,” Mr Johnston says, “and supplanted the role of the Haitian government and domestic producers.”
After the earthquake, disaster capitalists flocked to the nation of 10 million people, which is about the size of the US state of Massachusetts.
Private contractors were eager to sell services, in what one US envoy described in a Wikileaks-disclosed diplomatic cable as a “gold rush”.
In email exchanges with top Clinton Foundation officials, a senior aide to Mrs Clinton, who was then-secretary of state, kept an eye out for those identified by the abbreviations “FOB” (friends of Bill Clinton) or “WJC VIPs” (William Jefferson Clinton VIPs).
“Need you to flag when people are friends of WJC,” wrote Caitlin Klevorick, a senior State Department official who was vetting incoming offers of assistance coming through the Clinton Foundation.
The emails, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Republican National Committee, have fuelled claims the Clintons were running a pay-to-play operation, though no hard evidence of this has emerged.
House Republicans are already laying the groundwork for a volley of congressional hearings into the Clinton Foundation in the event the Democratic candidate wins the White House in a week’s time.
Possibly the most enduring criticism of the Clinton Foundation’s work in Haiti stems from its signature project, a garment factory known as the Caracol Industrial Park.
The foundation, working with the Clinton State Department, helped arrange a US-subsidised deal with the Haitian government to build the $300m factory complex in 2012.
Several hundred farmers were evicted from their land to make way for the 600-acre manufacturing site, which produces clothes for retailers such as Old Navy, Walmart and Target.
South Korean textile giant Sae-A Trading Co, which is the main employer at the facility, subsequently donated between $50,000 to $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
Mr Clinton declared 100,000 jobs would be created “in short order”.
But the Caracol Industrial Park has created only 8,000 jobs.
In the Little Haiti neighbourhood of Miami that was visited by Mr Trump this September, the head of a local women’s advocacy group has questions for Mrs Clinton.
Marleine Bastien, executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami, believes that Clinton-backed projects have helped global investors more than they have benefited poverty-stricken Haitians.
She told the BBC: “The more Secretary Clinton refrains from responding to the concerns and questions from the people of Haiti, this perception that she’s trying to evade responding will continue.
“Instead of allowing these questions to linger and fester, why not come clean? The questions will not go away, they will continue.”
Come clean? This is the Clintons we’re talking about.
For more on the Clinton Foundation, see: | 1real |
WATCH: Catholic Nun Gives Paul Ryan A Biblical Beatdown | In House Speaker Paul Ryan s Ayn Randish views, the way to fix the economy is by starving the poor to death. It s also totally going to help the poor somehow. Ryan, a Catholic, was challenged by a nun during his first town hall in two years on Monday evening. After angry constituents filled the room, Sister Erica Jordan, a Dominican nun and retired school principal took Ryan s faith and his actions toward the poor to task. I know that you re a Catholic, as am I. And it seems to me that most of the Republicans in the Congress are not willing to stand with the poor and working class, as evidenced in the recent debates about health care and the anticipated tax reform, Sister Jordan said. So I d like to ask how you see yourself upholding the Church s social teaching that has the idea that God is always on the side of the poor and dispossessed, as should we be. In response, Ryan said, Sister, you may this may come as a surprise to you, but I completely agree with you. Where we may disagree is on how to achieve that goal. As you know, we all exercise prudential judgment in practicing our faith. And for me, the preferential option for the poor, which is something that s a key tenet of the Catholic faith, that means upward mobility, that means economic growth, that means equality of opportunity, he continued. That to me means working with this guy over here at Gateway Tech to make sure that we can close the skills gap, to make sure that every person who wants a career and job can get the benefits. Except that Ryan is wrong but at least he s consistent. Republicans do not want to make higher education affordable so the skills gap claim doesn t hold water. The poor are being marginalized and misaligned, in many ways, because a lot of the programs that we have, well-intentioned as they may be, are discouraging and disincentivizing work, he continued. I think we need to change our approach on fighting poverty, he said without one bit of irony. Instead of measuring success on how much money we spend or how many programs we create or how many people on those programs, let s measure success and poverty on outcomes. Watch:The budget produced by Ryan s House Of Representatives would cut education and job training programs by 25 percent.Math still matters, Mr. Ryan.Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
CAR TORCHED AND SPRAYED WITH “F*CK TRUMP” Because Of Pro-Trump Sticker | THE VICTIM SPEAKS OUT THIS IS SHAMEFUL! KPTV FOX 12A car was spray-painted with anti-Donald Trump graffiti and then set on fire in southeast Portland.A reward up to $1,000 is being offered to catch whoever did it.Police and firefighters responded to Southeast 9th Avenue and Ash Street at 12:28 a.m. Friday.They arrived to find a Ford Mustang on fire. After the fire was put out, investigators found FK Trump spray-painted on the side of the car.The car had a small sticker on it in support of the the president-elect, according to police.A Volvo parked in front of the burned Mustang had also been tagged with similar graffiti.A witness told police that he heard a possible explosion and saw a person jumping in place several times next to the Mustang. The person near the car then ran away southbound on 9th Avenue. | 1real |
null | The green fraud has a lot to do with it all as exposed in the emails . http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/miranda-devine-foreignfunded-green-groups-could-take-whole-swathes-of-australia-out-of-the-productive-economy/news-story/016e5d9ff252f2444790d05269f4ed90 | 1real |
Hillary's Hypocrisy On Sexual Assault BRUTALLY Exposed | The Federalist Papers | Pinterest
C.E. Dyer reports that actor James Woods posted a powerful video on Twitter about what happened on Highway 265 in Arkansas over four decades ago that Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton doesn’t want people to know about.
The video chronicled the rape of a 12-year-old Arkansas girl, Kathy Shelton, that occurred on May 10, 1975 when two men lured the girl into their car and brutally assaulted her.
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 20, 2016
This video details the horrific attack…and the actions of the attorney who defended one of the rapists: Hillary Clinton.
According to the video, child was raped and beaten so brutally that she spent five days in a coma and was left unable to bear children.
A local paper mill worker, 41-year-old Thomas Alfred Taylor, was charged with the rape. Then Hillary Rodham became his attorney.
Taylor had semen mixed with the 12-year-old victim’s blood in his underwear, proving that he committed the crime. In court, Hillary maligned the rape victim’s character in order to defend her monster of a client.
From the video: “Taylor’s attorney went to extraordinary lengths to discredit the child victim, suppressing all oral, written and physical evidence, forcing the 12-year-old to submit to polygraphs and psychiatric evaluations, even accusing the child (who had been a virgin until the attack) of seeking out older men and ‘fantasizing’ her rape.”
The victim has recently come forward to talk about how Hillary’s lies ruined her life, which after the trial spiraled into a struggle with drugs and prison time.
Shelton, who has already been put through a truly horrific nightmare, had to hear the tapes released in which Hillary laughed about the trial.
Hillary laughed, on tape, about a trial of a man who brutally raped a 12-year old girl and subsequently received less than a year in prison for his horrific crime.
Shelton has decided to speak out about her nightmare at the hands of Hillary Rodham. The video ends with a message from Shelton to Clinton, “You lied about me. You took me through Hell.”
Clinton has claimed that she had an obligation to defend Taylor, but she is wrong; she did not have to do what she did. What she put a 12-year-old rape victim through is beyond the pale.
Liberals regularly talk about victim blaming and rape culture in America, but where is the outrage about what Clinton did to a 12-year-old rape victim as a defense attorney?
What else is there to say really? If you can watch that video and not be utterly and completely disgusted with Clinton, well, God help you. | 1real |
U.S. House committee votes to smooth e-cigarette regulatory path | (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Tuesday approved an amendment to an agricultural funding bill that would make it easier for e-cigarettes to win regulatory clearance than currently proposed by the Food and Drug Administration. Under a proposed FDA rule, almost all e-cigarette and vapor products introduced after Feb. 15, 2007, would be required to meet regulatory standards that the industry considers excessively stringent. The House Appropriations Committee voted 31-19 on Tuesday in favor of easing the process. The amendment was offered by Republican Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Democrat Sanford Bishop of Georgia. A vote by the full House of Representatives on the spending bill has not yet been scheduled. “What happened today is a big boost of momentum for the industry,” said Arnaud Dumas de Rauly, treasurer of the Vapor Technology Association, which represents manufacturers and businesses. “We’re happy to have bipartisan co-sponsors because up until now we only had Republican buy-in. Now we have Democratic buy-in as well.” Public health advocates criticized the amendment, saying it benefits industry at the expense of public health. The 2009 Tobacco Control Act allows a new tobacco product to be authorized for sale if it can be shown to be “substantially equivalent” to a product already on the market before February 15, 2007. If no such product exists, the new product must undergo a much more stringent review under the agency’s “premarket tobacco application” (PMTA) process. The vapor industry says almost all its products would be subject to PMTA review under the FDA’s proposal because only one e-cigarette was on the market in the United States before the grandfather date. Since then, some 100,000 new e-cigarette and vapor products have been introduced. Moving or invalidating that grandfather date would allow some or all of the products to act as “predicates” for future products, something public health advocates say would allow e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to escape a critical first-step review by the FDA. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network said in a statement changing the date would “make it easier for new products to stay on the market before it is determined whether they attract youth or otherwise harm public health.” A premarket tobacco application requires a company to prove, with scientific data, that the new product will not harm the population as a whole. So far only one company, Stockholm-based Swedish Match AB, has cleared that bar. Last year the FDA authorized the sale of eight of its smokeless snus products. The FDA is expected soon to issue a final rule giving it authority for the first time to regulate e-cigarettes and vapor products, which generated $3.3 billion in U.S. sales last year. The agency already has authority to regulate cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and roll-you-own tobacco. The Tobacco Act gave it the option of extending its authority over other tobacco products after issuing a rule. | 0fake |
JIMMY FALLON ASKS TRUMP If He Can Mess Up His Hair…What Happens Next Is Hilarious! [VIDEO] | Trump is such a good sport. It s no wonder he relates to so many people in so many different walks of life. He s not afraid to be the butt of a joke and he always seems to genuinely enjoy having fun in spontaneous situations. It s refreshing to not have to watch a polished politician carefully measuring every action, and wondering if it will affect their support with voters Good for you Donald | 1real |
Togolese to vote on presidential term limits after parliament impasse | LOME (Reuters) - A bill to limit presidents in Togo to two terms of office will be decided by referendum after it failed on Tuesday to win approval from parliament due to a boycott by opposition lawmakers. The boycott was called because the measure appears to exempt incumbent Faure Gnassingbe, who is already in his third term. Gnassingbe s family has ruled the small West African country for 50 years and frustration over the slow pace of reform there has spilled onto the streets several times since August, involving thousands and prompting U.N. calls for action. Under the terms of the bill, he would be eligible for two further five-year terms that could leave him in power until 2030. They voted for a referendum but we don t care. We ll set the streets against their referendum, said Pedro Amuzun, an official at the main ANC opposition party, which announced more protests on Wednesday and Thursday in the capital Lome. All but one of the 63 lawmakers present in parliament backed the bill, but the boycott meant the vote fell short of the four-fifths majority needed to change the constitution. The referendum was announced by parliament head Drama Dramani, who told lawmakers it would take place in coming days. So far the protests have mostly been peaceful, although two people were killed by security forces in August, while hundreds died in demonstrations that followed the election in 2005 that brought the current president to power after the death of his father. Gnassingbe s opponents have been seeking term limits and other constitutional reforms since then, to align the former French colony wedged between Ghana and Benin with most of its West African neighbors. With former veteran leaders such as Gambia s Yahya Jammeh and Burkina Faso s Blaise Compaore now living in exile, analysts say Gnassingbe may be getting isolated. However, nearby states have so far stopped short of publicly criticizing Gnassingbe, who currently chairs the 15-member regional West African bloc ECOWAS. Lome has pretensions toward becoming a miniature Singapore and hosts offices of several multinational companies including Ecobank and airline ASKY. | 0fake |
Why Hillary Clinton's Campaign Is Collapsing | True News | 1real | |
Colorado Radio Station’s Paul Martin Interviews Dave Hodges on Election Fraud and Standing Rock | Colorado Radio Station’s Paul Martin Interviews Dave Hodges on Election Fraud and Standing Rock
I was recently interviewed on “The Lion” radio station in Johnstown, Colorado by guest host, Paul Martin.
Paul and I discussed how rampant the election fraud has become and the elite may still pull the plug on the election if Trump continues to surge. We also discussed the latest in Wikileaks and what it means to the election and the American people.
| 1real |
Crucial Rule Is Delayed a Year for Obama’s Health Law | WASHINGTON — In a significant setback for President Obama’s signature domestic initiative, the administration on Tuesday abruptly announced a one-year delay, until 2015, in his health care law’s mandate that larger employers provide coverage for their workers or pay penalties. The decision postpones the effective date beyond next year’s midterm elections.
Employer groups welcomed the news of the concession, which followed complaints from businesses and was posted late in the day on the White House and Treasury Web sites while the president was flying home from Africa. Republicans’ gleeful reactions made clear that they would not cease to make repeal of Obamacare a campaign issue for the third straight election cycle.
While the postponement technically does not affect other central provisions of the law — in particular those establishing health insurance marketplaces in the states, known as exchanges, where uninsured Americans can shop for policies — it threatens to throw into disarray the administration’s effort to put those provisions into effect by Jan. 1.
“I am utterly astounded,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University and an advocate of the law. “It boggles the mind. This step could significantly reduce the number of uninsured people who will gain coverage in 2014.”
At the White House, Tara McGuinness, a senior adviser on the law, disputed that.
“Nothing in the new guidance regarding employer reporting and responsibility will limit individuals’ eligibility for premium tax credits to buy insurance through the marketplaces that open on Oct. 1,” she said.
Under the law, most Americans will be required to have insurance in January 2014, or they will be subject to tax penalties. The announcement on Tuesday did not say anything about delaying that requirement or those penalties.
Administration officials sought to put the action in a positive light in the online announcements, and they emphasized that the existing insurance coverage of most Americans would not be affected.
“We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Mark J. Mazur, an assistant Treasury secretary, wrote on the department’s Web site. “We recognize that the vast majority of businesses that will need to do this reporting already provide health insurance to their workers, and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so.”
The 2010 Affordable Care Act required employers with more than 50 full-time workers to offer them affordable health insurance starting next year or face fines. Some companies with payrolls just above that threshold said they would cut jobs or switch some full-time workers to part-time employment so that they could avoid providing coverage.
Under the provision to set up state-based marketplaces, subsidies are supposed to be available to many lower- and middle-income people who do not have access to coverage from employers or other sources. It may be difficult, however, for officials running the exchanges to know who is entitled to subsidies if employers do not report information on the coverage they provide to workers.
Enrollment in the exchanges is to begin Oct. 1, with insurance coverage taking effect on Jan. 1. “We are on target to open the health insurance marketplace on Oct. 1 where small businesses and ordinary Americans will be able to go to one place to learn about their coverage options and make side-by-side comparisons of each plan’s price and benefits before they make their decision,” Valerie Jarrett, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser and liaison to the business community, wrote on the White House Web site.
But even some supporters of the law dispute that the establishment of the health insurance exchanges is on schedule, especially since progress varies by state and some Republican-led states are resisting the health care law and withholding resources for putting it into effect.
Much of the administration’s public effort, especially at the Department of Health and Human Services, has been directed toward spreading the word to uninsured Americans, especially younger and healthy individuals whose participation is needed to help keep down premiums for everyone else. About 85 percent of Americans are insured, so most individuals will be unaffected, at least initially.
Behind the scenes, however, the administration has been fielding questions and criticisms from businesses about the reporting requirements — especially the Treasury Department, which has responsibility, given its oversight of the tax reporting system.
Employer groups were quick to applaud the delay. At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has strongly opposed the law, Randy Johnson, senior vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits, said in a statement, “The administration has finally recognized the obvious — employers need more time and clarification of the rules of the road before implementing the employer mandate.”
E. Neil Trautwein, a vice president of the National Retail Federation, said the delay “will provide employers and businesses more time to update their health care coverage without threat of arbitrary punishment.”
Mr. Mazur, the Treasury official, said the delay “will allow us to consider ways to simplify the new reporting requirements consistent with the law.”
“Second,” he added, “it will provide time to adapt health coverage and reporting systems while employers are moving toward making health coverage affordable and accessible for their employees.”
Within the next week, Mr. Mazur said, Treasury will issue official guidance to insurers, self-insuring employers and other parties that provide health coverage. Formal rules will be proposed this summer, he added, but the administration will encourage employers to comply with the law’s reporting provisions in 2014, as originally mandated.
Democrats were all but silent on the news, but a spokesman for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, released a statement late Tuesday. “Both the administration and Senate Democrats have shown — and continue to show — a willingness to be flexible and work with all interested parties to make sure that implementation of the Affordable Care Act is as beneficial as possible to all involved,” the spokesman, Adam Jentleson, said. “It is better to do this right than fast.”
But Republicans immediately reacted with statements claiming vindication for their efforts to repeal the law altogether.
Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, called the administration action “a cynical political ploy to delay the coming train wreck associated with Obamacare until after the 2014 elections.”
And Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, who faces re-election next year in Kentucky, said in a statement, “The fact remains that Obamacare needs to be repealed and replaced with common-sense reforms that actually lower costs for Americans.” | 0fake |
Monsieur Malbrough est Mort | New Eastern Outlook | Region: Europe A recently published article titled with the words of a popular French song “ Marlbrough s’en va-t-en Guerre ” has attracted much attention around the background of Francois Hollande’s “achievements” Now that Donald Trump has been elected as the next President of the United States, a string of European politicians have started voicing their discontent, including the current French President. He has failed to hide such discontent with the decision Americans have made. However, he described Trump’s victory as a “lesson learnt,” the importance of which “goes far beyond the borders of the United States.” Little did he know, French politicians have interpreted this passage in their own reserved way. On November 10, the lower house of the Assemblée nationale has passed the vote to impeach Hollande, passing the bill with 152 votes out of the total of 199, resulting in the president of the Assemblée Nationale, Claude Bartolone, officially submitting a draft resolution for Hollande’s impeachment. The impeachment procedure has only been introduced in 2014 in accordance with Article 68 of the French Constitution. According to the laws of the Fifth Republic, a president can only be impeached if he blatantly ignored his duties. To start this procedure, one would have to obtain 58 votes in the Assemblée Nationale, where the Republicans are now holding a total of 193 seats. The demand for Hollande to leave was signed by a total 152 deputies, including the Republican Spokesperson in the Assembly, Christian Jacob and the former Prime-Minister Fran ç ois Fillon. The Right are convinced that Hollande should be held liable for disclosing state secrets in his book with the telling title “ A President Shouldn’t Say This “ (U n pr é sident ne devrait pas dire ç a …). They are convinced that a president should know better than putting down all the details of French secret service operations aimed at assassinating terrorist leaders abroad. If the draft is to be found valid, it will be handed over to a special judicial committee of the the lower house of the the Assemblée Nationale. Finally, when everything is said and done, the two houses will form the Republican High Court that will decide the fate of the sitting president. But regardless of how the impeachment procedure turns out in the end, this whole affairs has literally ended Hollande’s political career, since he has no chance to get reelected. Therefore, one could use the words of the above mentioned song : « Monsieur Malbrough est mort » ( Malbrough is now dead ). However, this wasn’t much of a surprise for anyone who has been following French politics, since, according to Le Figaro , Hollande’s approval rating has hit an all time low of 11%. No President in French history enjoyed less support from the population, with even the Socialist party reluctant to back up Hollande’s policies, with only 34% supporting him. However, it seems unlikely that Hollande will be the only European leader that will have to face the consequences of his mindless support of US President Obama’s warmongering policies that have, at the end of the day, inflicted serious damage to EU interests. Jean P é rier is an independent researcher and analyst and a renowned expert on the Near and Middle East , exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook” Popular Articles | 1real |
North Korea grants Malaysian prince access to airspace as soccer match back on | KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - North Korea has granted a soccer loving Malaysian prince access to its airspace anytime he wants, his palace said on Tuesday, as Pyongyang prepares finally to host an Asian Cup tie that became a casualty of the assassination in Malaysia of the North Korean leader s estranged half brother in February. Having been delayed twice due to Malaysia s fears for the safety of its players, the match between North Korea and Malaysia is now set to be played on Oct. 5. The game had originally been scheduled for March 28, but the two formerly friendly governments suffered a diplomatic meltdown as North Korea reacted angrily to Malaysian police investigating the role North Korean officials allegedly played in the murder of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The president of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, the crown prince of the southern state of Johor, met with North Korea s senior-most diplomat in Malaysia on Tuesday to discuss the match, according to a statement from the Johor palace. Amongst issues discussed were foreign relations and current affairs as well as the upcoming Group B match of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 qualifying final round, in which both teams will ensure the safety of players and team officials, the statement said. North Korea also granted the prince full access to its airspace anytime he wants to visit North Korea from Malaysia, the palace statement said. It is the highest honor as any other world leader will need to stop by in Beijing beforehand, it said. The trial of two women, an Indonesian and a Vietnamese, charged for the murder of Kim, is set to begin in Kuala Lumpur on Oct.2, but the North Koreans sought by police were believed to have fled Malaysia soon after the murder. The meeting took place on the same day as the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where U.S. President Donald Trump delivered a stern warning to North Korea over its ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests. | 0fake |
U.S. senators announce deal on self-driving car legislation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators said late on Wednesday that they had reached a bipartisan deal on legislation aimed at easing hurdles to getting self-driving cars to drivers. U.S. Senator John Thune, a Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, and Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said they had reached a deal on the legislation that would be voted on by the committee on Oct. 4. They said they planned to release the text on Thursday. General Motors Co, Alphabet Inc, Ford Motor Co and others have lobbied for the legislation to speed deployment of self-driving cars without human controls by allowing federal regulators to approve their use if they deem them safe and barring states from blocking autonomous vehicles. Current law prohibits vehicles without human controls. Two sources briefed on the matter said the bill would not include larger commercial trucks. “We expect adoption of self-driving vehicle technologies will save lives, improve mobility for people with disabilities, and create new jobs,” Thune and Peters said in a joint statement. A similar bill that unanimously passed the U.S. House earlier this month also excluded vehicles above 10,000 pounds. Senate aides have been negotiating for weeks over trucks and language in the bill that could preempt some state court lawsuits over the safety of self-driving vehicles. The House measure, the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market, would allow automakers get approval to sell up to 25,000 vehicles in the first year, rising to 100,000 by year three, as long as they could demonstrate the vehicles are at least as safe as current vehicles with human controls. States could still set rules on registration, licensing, liability, insurance and safety inspections, but not performance standards. Automakers would have to submit safety assessment reports to regulators, but the bill would not require pre-market approval of advanced vehicle technologies. Automakers and some technology companies hope to begin deploying driverless vehicles around 2020. They have been pushing for new federal rules making it easier to deploy self-driving technology, but some consumer groups have sought additional safeguards. States have issued a variety of rules in the absence of clear federal guidance, and automakers have complained that California’s rules are too restrictive. Advocates hope self-driving cars will reduce U.S. road deaths, which rose 7.7 percent in 2015, the highest annual increase since 1966. A 2014 study found U.S. traffic crashes cost society $836 billion annually, with human error behind 94 percent of crashes. | 0fake |
CROOKED HILLARY LIES AGAIN…This Is Becoming An Everyday Occurrence | Hillary Clinton was asked a question about the FBI contacting her or her representatives and gave a flat out lie does she not know Americans read and watch the news? This is nutty behavior! Granny needs to get a grip and come clean!Does Hillary Clinton figure she can say whatever she wants as long as it s not exposed as a lie that same day?On Tuesday, MSNBC s Andrea Mitchell asked her outright: Have you been contacted or your representatives contacted by the FBI to set up an interview over her e-mail mess?Clinton gave a flat no. Two days later, news broke that the FBI has already interviewed Clinton s closest confidant, Huma Abedin, and other top aides. And officials close to the probe say Hillary s to be interviewed in the next few weeks which means she s surely been contacted.READ MORE: NYP | 1real |
WHY PAUL MANAFORT Indictment Is Bad News For Dirty Cop Robert Mueller | This summarization by Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center, of why the indictment of Paul Manafort actually exposes the truth about the dirty dealings of special prosecutor Robert Mueller, is brilliant and is a must-read for anyone who cares to see what s really going on behind the curtain.Daily Caller More than anything else, the indictments of Paul Manafort and his partner Rick Gates demonstrate the fraudulent nature of Special Counsel Robert Mueller s investigation. The probe has little to do with Russian interference in last year s election. Instead, it is calculated to protect Mueller and a cabal within the FBI and Justice Department who covered up crimes by Hillary Clinton because they believed it was likely that she would be elected president.And once Mueller and then his friend and successor James Comey covered for Hillary, they had to keep covering. There was a reason that Mueller was so available when he was so swiftly appointed Special Counsel in May by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The Comey firing threatened to expose all that these same officials had swept under the rug. Yes, Rosenstein bit the bullet and drafted the memo that was the legal basis for firing Comey, but it would be followed by appointing Mueller.In July, Comey preemptively exonerated Hillary despite her maintenance of a private email server and mishandling of classified material. By accusing her of being extremely careless, he purposely distracted attention from the context of the emails. Hillary and Bill Clinton operated an aggressive shakedown operation of domestic and foreign interests, many of which are unsavory and criminal. Concealing the true nature of the operation was at least part of the Clintons motivation for the private server.The outlines of the Uranium One deal were not a secret. Media outlets like the New York Times reported on the U.S. government approval of a partial sale of the Canadian mining company to Rosatom, a Russian firm, while those who benefitted donated to the Clinton Foundation and paid Bill Clinton $500,000 for a single speech in Moscow.Then came more detailed reports about how the FBI cracked the case of a major Russian effort to penetrate the North American uranium industry through a host of illegal activities, but somehow the whole matter was slow-walked and kept from U.S. government officials who had to approve the Uranium One deal. Mueller and Comey ultimately supervised the probe.Meanwhile, the FBI s email investigation was supervised by now-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who has significant connections to the Clintons through his wife Jill McCabe. Hillary headlined a fundraiser for a group supporting Jill McCabe s campaign for the Virginia state senate, as first reported in the Wall Street Journal. The National Legal and Policy Center subsequently exposed more Clintonista support, including from then-Clinton Foundation operative Doug Band who wrote a personal check for $50,000.The plot thickened last week when the bombshell hit that it was Hillary s campaign and the Democratic National Committee that paid for the Fusion GPS dossier. Reporters were chagrined to realize that they had been lied to repeatedly for months and months. Hillary now claims that the first she heard of it was when the dossier memo was printed by BuzzFeed in January, a likely lie. As long as this what did Hillary know and when did Hillary know it question is of no interest to Mueller, his investigation has no credibility whatsoever. But therein lies the dilemma for Mueller. A real probe of Hillary would mean a review of his own actions and those of his colleagues. He s cornered.Mueller s strategy is clear. He has to rescue himself, Comey, McCabe, Rosenstein and others from their complicity in Hillary s dealings with the Russians. Mueller is creating a diversion by going after Manafort, the lowest of low-hanging fruit. Just about any inquiry into Manafort s dealings over the years was sure to yield results.The left and the leftist media are apoplectic over the possibility that they finally have Trump in their crosshairs. The problem is after the media smoke has cleared, the truth is revealed about the Manafort indictment, and the facts point to President Trump having nothing to do with it. Democrats would love nothing more than to see President Trump fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller, as it would prove that he was guilty of the Trump-Russian narrative the Democrats and their allies in the media have been pushing since the night he soundly defeated Hillary Clinton in the election upset of the century. Watch Jay Sekulow explain to rabid CNN host Wolf Blitzer that Trump has nothing to do with either the announcement of the indictments of Paul Manafort or campaign volunteer George Papadopoulos: | 1real |
Factbox - The four men charged in U.S. probe of Trump-Russia ties | (The Dec. 1 story was refiled to correct Gates’ first name to Richard in paragraph 3) (Reuters) - Michael Flynn’s plea of guilty on Friday to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation made him the fourth person known to be charged in a U.S. Justice Department investigation of ties between President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Russia. The other three known to be charged by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe are: ** Former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and Richard Gates. A grand jury in October indicted Manafort, a longtime Republican political consultant, and Gates, a business associate. The two men pleaded not guilty on Oct. 30 to the 12-count indictment, whose charges include conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government. Manafort has agreed to an $11.65 million bail deal that would result in his release from house arrest and electronic monitoring. ** Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos, a Chicago-based international energy lawyer, pleaded guilty on Oct. 30 to lying to FBI agents about contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials. It was the first criminal charge alleging links between the Trump campaign and Russia. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders played down Papadopoulos’ campaign role, saying it was “extremely limited” and “any actions that he took would have been on his own.” | 0fake |
Hungary rejects 'dead end street' of ceding powers to EU | BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary will not relinquish any of its national sovereignty to the European Union and will keep fighting against the EU s quota system for taking in asylum-seekers, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Reuters. As the EU plunges into an intense debate over deeper integration after Britain departs in 2019, Szijjarto said giving up more national powers was not the way to go. His comments highlighted the resistance that proponents of a closer and deeper EU - notably French President Emmanuel Macron - are likely to face from one of the bloc s most prickly and nationalist-minded members. I definitely do not share the approach ... that (the) less sovereignty on the level of the member states, the stronger the EU will be. I think it is a dead end street, Szijjarto said in an interview. The right-wing government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, which currently chairs the four-nation Visegrad group of Central European states, has been the most vocal opponent of EU migration policy and what it sees as attempts by Brussels to erode member states sovereignty. Szijjarto said one area where Hungary supported a common approach was defense, as having a European army would strengthen member states to the benefit of the entire bloc. But taxation policy, for example, should remain with member states as that was a matter of competitiveness. Hungary has one of the EU s lowest personal income tax rates at 15 percent, and a corporate tax rate of just 9 percent. When asked in the interview late on Tuesday if Hungary could accept a common finance minister and budget for the EU, Szijjarto said: I understand if this is a scenario then first it only can be a scenario for the euro zone, and since we are not members of the euro zone, this question will be decided without asking our opinion. On Wednesday, however, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivered an annual address in which he set out an economic vision including a finance minister for the whole EU. Hungary has no target date to join the euro. Szijjarto dismissed the idea that Hungary or Poland, which also has a eurosceptic government, were becoming isolated in the EU, or that Slovakia and the Czech Republic were drifting away from them within the Visegrad group known as the V4. There are many attempts to break the V4 unity but they are going to remain unsuccessful, he said, adding that the Visegrad states were firm in their position to reject migrant quotas after foreign ministers met in Estonia last week. Everybody reassured the others that we are going to fight and we are not going to give up our positions regarding illegal migration and regarding the quotas. More than 1.5 million migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe since 2015, many fleeing war in the Middle East. The EU s highest court ruled last week that member states must take in a share of refugees, dismissing a challenge by Slovakia and Hungary. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Hungary to quickly implement the court ruling, but Szijjarto called it a very dangerous political decision. This decision does not oblige Hungary to anything because this decision was not about whether Hungary has to receive migrants from tomorrow onwards, he said. We will always fight against obligatory quotas, we will never hide our opinion that illegal migration poses a huge threat on Europe, and this position of ours remains our position, regardless of any kind of pressure that has been put on us. | 0fake |
Two Florida Lawmakers Just Voted Against Hurricane Relief As Irma Strikes Their State | Two Florida Republican lawmakers voted against a $15 billion hurricane relief bill just as Irma churned toward the state. Congressmen Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Ted Yoho (R-FL) claim they have concerns about other provisions of the measure. Irma is now a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph but forecasters expect the storm to strengthen. Presently, the Florida Keys is facing a potentially catastrophic force that could threaten to drown entire islands.But, it s obviously more important for Gaetz and Yoho to exercise their conservative bonafides.The relief package sailed through the Senate and the House and was signed by Donald Trump on Friday. The package boosts funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a necessary move at this time following the destruction left by Hurricane Harvey and much more expected after Florida feels Irma s force and fury. Also, FEMA is running out of money so the funds are needed.The package will also raise the debt ceiling for three months and includes a short-term budget that would keep the government running until December. The deal struck between Trump and Democratic leaders Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) sent Republicans into a panic while disregarding that lives are at stake after the deadly storm obliterated Houston, Texas.The Washington Post reports:That latter was a problem for GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz and Ted Yoho, who stuck to their principles of fiscal conservatism despite calls from fellow Florida lawmakers to support the bill. The two, who are among the 90 House Republicans who voted against the bill, do not represent parts of the state that are likely to feel Irma s immediate impact as the massive storm makes landfall on mainland United States this weekend. Snaking in a debt-ceiling increase with funding for victims and communities affected is immoral and reflective of broken leadership in Washington, Yoho said after the vote Friday. I do not think it wise to extend our borrowing limit without mandatory spending reforms . . . If this was a clean measure that focused on those affected by Hurricane Harvey, I would have proudly voted for it. Gaetz, whose district includes coastal areas along the Gulf of Mexico, said the debt limit should be raised only if it includes cuts in entitlement programs, which is really heartless since many victims of the Hurricanes will need a hand up after losing everything they owned in the world. I have a pretty strident view that I will only vote to raise the debt limit if that vote is accompanied by reductions in entitlement spending, Gaetz said. If conservatives don t start voting no against debt-limit increases, all the FEMA in the world won t save us from our most unfortunate destiny. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was against federal aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy, then a natural disaster struck his state with deadly force. Suddenly, he s cool with aid being provided to his state. Funny how that works. But the other two Republicans just don t want to help anyone, even their own constituents.Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images. | 1real |
Kremlin says reports Trump disclosed intelligence are 'nonsense' | MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin described as “complete nonsense” on Tuesday media reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had disclosed classified intelligence during a meeting with Russian officials. “It’s not a subject for us, it’s the latest piece of nonsense. We don’t want to have anything do to with this nonsense. It’s complete nonsense, not a subject to be denied or confirmed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with reporters. Two U.S. officials said on Monday that Trump had disclosed highly classified information to Russia’s foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation, plunging the White House into another controversy just months into Trump’s short tenure in office. | 0fake |
21WIRE.TV Members Newsletter – Feb 18, 2017 | In this newsletter we ll include key updates on 21WIRE.TV premium content, as well as our GLOBAL:SITREP situation report, with exclusive commentary and analysis not covered yet at 21WIRE SEE MEMBERS NEWSLETTER HERESUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
No U.S.-Russia cyber unit without Trump notifying Congress, bill says | (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump would be required to notify U.S. lawmakers before creating a joint U.S.-Russia cyber security unit - an idea that has drawn criticism across the political spectrum - under legislation advancing in Congress. The proposal, if it became law, would be the latest in a series of maneuvers by Congress that either limit the president’s authority on Russia matters or rebuke his desire to warm relations with Moscow. A provision contained within the annual Intelligence Authorization Act and passed by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee 14-1 would require the Trump administration to provide Congress with a report describing what intelligence would be shared with Russia, any counterintelligence concerns and how those concerns would be addressed. The bill, which grants congressional approval for clandestine operations carried out by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies, passed the Senate Intelligence Committee in July, but its text was only recently made public because it involves sensitive intelligence operations. Trump last month said on Twitter that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed establishing “an impenetrable Cyber Security unit” to address issues like the risk of cyber meddling in elections. Trump quickly backpedaled on the idea, which was criticized by Democrats, senior Republicans and the National Security Agency director. The White House and Senator Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the intelligence panel, were not immediately available for comment on the bill. Trump wants to improve relations with Russia, a desire that has been hamstrung by the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Republican Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton. U.S. congressional panels and a special counsel are investigating the interference and possible collusion between Russia and members of Trump’s campaign. Moscow has denied any meddling and Trump has denied any collusion. Previously, Congress tied the president’s hands on Russia by passing a bill that Trump cannot ease the sanctions against Russia unless he seeks congressional approval. In August, the Senate blocked Trump from being able to make recess appointments while lawmakers were on break, fearing the president would fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions over his handling of the Russian probe. Lawmakers have also introduced legislation to stop Trump from having the ability to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed to determine whether there was collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Moscow. The annual Intelligence Authorization Act requires approval by the full Senate and House and the president’s signature before it can become law. No vote has been scheduled and the last act was passed by Congress in March. The legislation’s provision requiring notification of any U.S.-Russia cybersecurity unit was pushed by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, his office said on Tuesday. Wyden also helped secure provisions in the bill that call for an intelligence report assessing the threat posed to the United States by Russian money laundering and another report examining whether cyber vulnerabilities in U.S. cell networks, including a known bug in the global mobile network Signaling System No. 7, or SS7, are being exploited by foreign governments to conduct surveillance on Americans. Wyden was the lone committee vote against the bill, however. He said in a statement on Tuesday that he objected to language that identified the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service” because doing so could have implications for journalists. (This version of the story was refiled to correct “conclusion” to “collusion” in paragraph 9) | 0fake |
Re: Something lighter: ‘Shiny’ legs optical illusion goes viral | Something lighter: ‘Shiny’ legs optical illusion goes viral Posted at 2:22 pm on October 26, 2016 by Greg P.
If you need a quick break from the election madness, check this out.
A new optical illusion has gone viral via Twitter [email protected] These look like shiny legs, right? Once you see it you can't unsee it pic.twitter.com/5mREeJUhYV
OK … now look again, but this time look for white streaks of paint…. This just pissed me off like cmon https://t.co/KVDerfPk6b
— Mathew Fiorante (@Royal2) October 26, 2016 mindblowing – do you see shiny legs or painted legs? WHOA. I saw shiny and then painted and I can't unsee it! https://t.co/rVN3LDdYAc
— Carla Marie (@theCarlaMarie) October 26, 2016 Where have the shiny legs gone?? https://t.co/SLPKynGnjE
— Jane Bradley (@jane__bradley) October 26, 2016
Although the image went viral thanks to @msbreeezyyy, it looks like this might be the original: A photo posted by hunter 🧀 (i post a lot) (@leonardhoespams) on Oct 23, 2016 at 9:01am PDT
That image was posted a month ago as well with the caption, “i like the feeling of paint on my skin.” A photo posted by hunter 🧀 (i post a lot) (@leonardhoespams) on Sep 15, 2016 at 1:55pm PDT
*** | 1real |
Iraqi forces, civilians flee as ISIS gains control of Ramadi, US official says | Fear of a possible Islamic State bloodbath sent tens of thousands of Iraqis fleeing Ramadi on Monday after government forces abandoned the city -- just 80 miles from Baghdad -- in what one U.S. military official conceded was a fight "pretty much over."
Some 25,000 people have fled the embattled streets of Ramadi as thousands of ISIS fighters seized the key Iraqi city, killing some 500, and reportedly going door-to-door looking for Iraqi government troops and police to run out of town.
“There have been executions in the streets of Ramadi," Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for the Anbar provincial government, told NBC News Monday. ISIS extremists used vehicles, bulldozers rigged with explosives and suicide bombers to overrun the city after weeks of battles in the street.
"The situation in the city is absolutely terrible," Haimour said. "The city is in very bad shape."
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called ISIS' gains "a serious setback" for both the city's inhabitants and the Iraqi Security Forces.
"Much effort will now be required to reclaim the city," Dempsey said.
The fight for Ramadi is “pretty much over for now,” a U.S. military official told Fox News, after ISIS overran the beleaguered Iraqi Army to take control of the city Sunday.
Iraqi security forces abandoned their Anbar Operations Center in Ramadi overnight, leaving the city almost completely in ISIS control, according to the U.S. official, who has seen the latest intelligence reports from Ramadi.
Although there were a large number of Iraqi security forces occupying Ramadi, most troops fled after ISIS fighters began their assault on the city center Sunday, leaving behind Humvees and armored vehicles supplied by the U.S. military, a separate senior U.S. military official told Fox News.
"The Iraqi security forces were pushed out by a much smaller [ISIS] force," the official said.
The takeover followed a three-day siege that began with a wave of ISIS car bombs and which dealt a devastating blow to the Baghdad government and the U.S. forces providing logistical support. On Monday, Shia militias converged on the city, some 70 miles west of the capital, in a bid to retake it.
Ramadi's streets were deserted Monday, with few people venturing out of their homes to look for food, according to two residents reached by telephone.
The militants, meanwhile, were storming the homes of policemen and pro-government tribesmen, particularly those from the large Al Bu Alwan tribe, of whom they detained about 30, the residents said. The militants went door-to-door with lists of alleged pro-government collaborators. Homes and stores owned by a pro-government Sunni militia known as the Sahwa were looted or torched.
The residents spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals by the militants.
Youssef al-Kilabi, a spokesman for the Shiite militias fighting alongside government forces, told the AP on Monday that the Iranian-backed paramilitary forces have drawn up plans for a Ramadi counter-offensive in cooperation with government forces.
We will "eliminate this barbaric enemy," al-Kilabi vowed. He did not elaborate on the plans or the timing of a counter-offensive.
Iran's Defense Minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan flew to Baghdad on a surprise visit for urgent talks with Iraqi leaders.
The fall of Ramadi was a stunning defeat for Iraq's security forces and military, which fled as the ISIS rebels overwhelmed the last hold-out positions of pro-government forces, despite the support of U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the extremists
The retreat by Iraqi forces was reminiscent of the nation's earliest battles against ISIS, including the fall of Mosul, when poorly trained Iraqi soldiers shrank from the black-clad Islamist army, leaving guns and other gear behind for the terrorists to capture.
In Ramadi Sunday, bodies littered the streets as local officials reported the militants carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians. Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment speeding out of Ramadi, with soldiers gripping onto their sides.
"Ramadi has fallen," Haimour, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Anbar, told AP Sunday. "The city was completely taken. ... The military is fleeing."
Since Friday, when the battle for the city entered its final stages, "We estimate that 500 people have been killed, both civilians and military," Haimour said.
The figures could not be independently confirmed, but Islamic State militants have in the past killed hundreds of civilians and soldiers in the aftermath of their major victories.
The Pentagon is aware of reports that Iran-backed Shia militias have been asked by Iraq's Prime Minister to lead the fight to take back Ramadi. Iran's defense minister arrived in Baghdad today for talks with his counterpart, in what the media is calling an "emergency meeting."
When asked if the U.S. military planned to increase its involvement in the campaign to defeat ISIS, the senior U.S. military official said, "The Iraqis have to want it more than we want it."
A Sunni tribal leader, Naeem al-Gauoud, said many tribal fighters died trying to defend the city and their bodies were strewn in the streets, while others had been thrown in the Euphrates River. Ramadi Mayor Dalaf al-Kubaisi said that more than 250 civilians and security forces were killed over the past two days, including dozens of police and other government supporters shot dead in the streets or their homes, along with their wives, children and other family members.
Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in South Korea, called Ramadi a "target of opportunity" for extremists, but said he was confident that ISIS' gains could be reversed in the coming days. Kerry also said that he has long said the fight against the militant group would be a long one, and that it would be tough in the Anbar province of western Iraq where Iraqi security forces are not built up.
The U.S.-led coalition said Sunday it had conducted seven airstrikes in Ramadi in the last 24 hours. "It is a fluid and contested battlefield," said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. "We are supporting (the Iraqis) with air power."
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered security forces not to abandon their posts across Anbar province, apparently fearing the extremists could capture the entirety of the vast Sunni province that saw intense fighting after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.
Sunday's retreat recalled the collapse of Iraqi security forces last summer in the face of the Islamic State group's blitz into Iraq that saw it capture a third of the country, where it has declared a caliphate, or Islamic State. It also calls into question the Obama administration's hopes of relying solely on airstrikes to support the Iraqi forces in expelling the extremists.
The final push by the extremists began early Sunday with four nearly simultaneous bombings that targeted police officers defending the Malaab district in southern Ramadi, a pocket of the city still under Iraqi government control, killing at least 10 police and wounding 15, authorities said. Among the dead was Col. Muthana al-Jabri, the chief of the Malaab police station, they said.
Later, three suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden cars into the gate of the Anbar Operation Command, the military headquarters for the province, killing at least five soldiers and wounding 12, authorities said.
On a militant website frequented by ISIS members, a message from the group claimed its fighters held the 8th Brigade army base, as well as tanks and missile launchers left behind by fleeing soldiers. The message could not be independently verified by the AP, but it was similar to others released by the group and was spread online by known supporters of the extremists.
Backed by the U.S.-led airstrikes, Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters have made gains against ISIS, including capturing the northern city of Tikrit. But progress has been slow in Anbar, a Sunni province where anger at the Shiite-led government runs deep and where U.S. forces struggled for years to beat back a potent insurgency. American soldiers fought some of their bloodiest battles since Vietnam on the streets of Ramadi and Fallujah.
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and the Associated Press contributed to this report. | 0fake |
President Obama Says He Believes The Affordable Care Act Will Survive Trump (VIDEO) | The president says he doesn t think Obamacare is going anywhere just yet. In an interview on ABC s This Week, Obama said he doesn t think the Affordable Care Act will be fully repealed quite like Republicans hope and millions of Americans fear.President Obama said that although there is definitely the risk of a full repeal, he simply doesn t think the GOP can come up with a viable replacement plan. After all, he explained with amusement, they have been trying to do so for seven full years and have always failed. But when asked directly if he thought his signature health care legislation would survive, the president said he had faith that the ACA would endure. I think it will, he said. It may be called something else. And as I said, I don t mind. If in fact the Republicans make some modifications, Obama continued. Some of which I may have been seeking previously, but they wouldn t cooperate because they didn t want to make the system work, and re-label it as Trumpcare, I m fine with that. Obama said he isn t worried about having his name attached to the ACA, he is worried about the millions of Americans who depend on the legislation for their medical care. He noted all the letters he gets from real people whose lives have literally been saved because of Obamacare and said that this is what matters to him. This is his legacy, he insisted, not having his name stamped on it.Republicans are still bound and determined to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something better. However, as Obama points out, this isn t necessarily what the American people want. He notes that many Trump voters have said they never really believed that Donald Trump would take away their health care. Obama is hopeful that the will of the American people can keep the ACA around for a long time to come, even if it is called Trumpcare.Watch what President Obama had to say about Obamacare today, here:[ad3media campaign= 1414 ]Featured image via Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Obamacare tax penalty? I'll take it, millions say | Obamacare tax penalty? I'll take it, millions say "Has not been large enough to motivate people to sign up for insurance' Published: 1 hour ago
(New York Times) The architects of the Affordable Care Act thought they had a blunt instrument to force people — even young and healthy ones — to buy insurance through the law’s online marketplaces: a tax penalty for those who remain uninsured.
It has not worked all that well, and that is at least partly to blame for soaring premiums next year on some of the health law’s insurance exchanges.
The full weight of the penalty will not be felt until April, when those who have avoided buying insurance will face penalties of around $700 a person or more. But even then that might not be enough: For the young and healthy who are badly needed to make the exchanges work, it is sometimes cheaper to pay the Internal Revenue Service than an insurance company charging large premiums, with huge deductibles. | 1real |
Clinton attacks Trump's foreign policy as a threat to U.S. safety | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lambasted Donald Trump’s foreign policy platform as “dangerously incoherent” in a speech on Thursday that cast her Republican rival as both a frightening and laughable figure. In remarks that at times resembled a comedy roast, Clinton unleashed a torrent of polished zingers and one-liners to attack Trump’s policies and character, suggesting Trump might start a nuclear war if elected to the White House simply because “somebody got under his very thin skin.” “Donald Trump’s ideas are not just different, they are dangerously incoherent,” she said to a room of supporters in San Diego, California. “They’re not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.” Clinton, the front-runner in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee, delivered her speech as she seeks to shift her attention to the Nov. 8 election against likely rival Trump and away from Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, who is continuing his long-shot bid for the nomination. Clinton was speaking in San Diego ahead of California’s June 7 primary election. Democratic Party leaders have fretted about how to best oppose Trump, who managed to knock out all 16 rivals for the Republican nomination in part with his uninhibited style of assailing them with personal insults. Trump revels in referring to Clinton as “Crooked Hillary” and dredging up the infidelities of her husband, Bill Clinton, the former president. Clinton’s remarks were intended in part to show she would not be cowed and that she could go toe-to-toe with him in scornful put-downs. “He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia,” she said as the crowd guffawed, and she suggested Trump would run the U.S. economy “like one of his casinos.” During her speech, Clinton predicted Trump, who has been deeply critical of Clinton’s foreign policy record, would take to his Twitter account to insult her, and he did. “Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton!” ran one posting during the speech, which included a typo. “Reading poorly from the telepromter! She doesn’t even look presidential!” Trump has said previously that Clinton is distorting his actual policies. Amid the laugh lines, Clinton cited her own experience as secretary of state, in particular her role advising President Barack Obama during the mission to kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, to suggest her approach to foreign policy was the more serious. “He praises dictators like Vladimir Putin and picks fights with our friends, including the British prime minister, the mayor of London, the German chancellor, the president of Mexico and the pope,” Clinton said, listing some of the allies with whom Trump has verbally sparred in the last year. Obama, who has also been repeatedly mocked by Trump, has criticized Trump as being ignorant or cavalier about world affairs and has said that Trump’s rise has “rattled” foreign leaders. Trump has talked tough on foreign policy. He has said he would bring back waterboarding and other brutal interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects that are widely regarded as torture and were discontinued by Obama. Trump has also vowed to renegotiate trade deals, called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, and said he would ask members of the 28-nation NATO alliance to “pay up” or “get out.” He has said he would sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Clinton derided these and other positions, promising she would do a better job keeping the United States safe. Standing in front of a backdrop of 19 large U.S. flags, an unusual abundance even by the standards of presidential campaign events, Clinton painted the election as a choice between “two very different visions.” “One that’s angry, afraid and based on the idea that America is fundamentally weak and in decline,” she said, summing up Trumpism. “The other is hopeful, generous and confident in the knowledge that America is great, just like we always have been.” Trump has criticized Clinton for her handling of foreign policy during her 2009-2013 stint as secretary of state, including the Sept. 11, 2012, attack by Islamist militants on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. He cites Clinton’s support for the war in Iraq, launched by former Republican President George W. Bush, as another example of her shortcomings. Democratic challenger Sanders echoed Clinton’s concerns about Trump after her speech, though he also criticized Clinton’s foreign policy. “I agree ... that Donald Trump’s foreign policy ideas are incredibly reckless and irresponsible,” Sanders said in a statement. In criticizing Clinton, Sanders cited her vote for the war in Iraq, calling it “the worst foreign policy blunder in modern American history,” and said “she has been a proponent of regime change, as in Libya, without thinking through the consequences.” In assailing each other’s suitability for the White House, Clinton and Trump are reflecting a negative voter mood ahead of next month’s party conventions that will choose the presidential nominees. Both Clinton and Trump are facing record-low favorability ratings. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Friday through Tuesday shows half of Trump supporters say the primary reason they are going to vote for him is “I don’t want Hillary Clinton to win,” while 41 percent of Clinton supporters cite their primary reason as not wanting Trump to win. | 0fake |
Axelrod: Can Ailes tame Trump? | David Axelrod is CNN's senior political commentator and host of the podcast " The Axe Files. " He was senior adviser to President Barack Obama and chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
(CNN) About a half century ago, a journeyman ballplayer named Rocky Bridges made his debut as the manager of the San Jose Bees, a desultory California League team.
The day was marred, however, when the hapless Bees missed signs, dropped balls and were generally routed.
"I managed good," a frustrated Bridges recalled in a Sports Illustrated profile, "but boy did they play bad."
All of this is to say: good luck to Donald Trump's new managers.
Trapped in what appears to be a political death spiral, the bilious billionaire has once again shuffled his leadership team.
Paul Manafort, a veteran political operative who took over in the spring from the loyal but volatile Corey Lewandowski, apparently has been shoved aside for a new ruling junta.
We're told that Manafort will also be part of the junta. But having been an adviser to deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Philippines strongman Ferdinand Marcos, Manafort surely recognizes a coup when he sees one.
But in fairness, Trump's precipitous slide in the polls since the conventions in July could hardly be blamed on the manager.
Hours after the gavel fell at the Democratic convention, Trump kicked off a dizzying 10-day spasm of off-the-wall comments and tweets that seemed to confirm the thesis advanced by the Democrats in Philly: He's not ready for the nuclear codes.
I am certain that none of this came at the suggestion of Paul Manafort, though Manafort gamely defended his man in the ensuing uproar. But there really was no adequate defense.
Attempts by the campaign to tether Trump to a TelePrompTer and script provided only intermittent relief. Arming him with charts to discipline his presentations also failed.
Trump's appalling distemper following a well-executed Democratic convention transformed what had been, at least in polling, a relatively close race.
Now he has brought in a new management team, led by Stephen Bannon , a former Goldman Sachs banker and chairman of Breitbart News. Bannon has never run a campaign at any level, much less one for president, which is a highly complex and specialized challenge.
His new governing partner, Kellyanne Conway, has extensive campaign experience -- but as a pollster, not a manager.
Trump also reportedly is consulting Roger Ailes, the former CEO of Fox News who was recently forced out amid sexual harassment charges, to help coach him for the impending presidential debates.
Ailes is what the other new additions are not.
The brutal, negative ad campaign Ailes ran against Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis remains a classic of political advertising.
Ailes knows campaigns, television and presidential debates, which could be an asset to Trump. Stellar debate performances may now be his only chance.
But that would presume the candidate's ability to listen, work, study, internalize and execute, a capacity we have not seen in this campaign.
The presence of Ailes, whose edgy television channel became a rallying point for conservatives, and Bannon, whose right-wing news website is also notoriously pugilistic, portends a bloody fall campaign. And in the ever-combative Trump, they will find a willing deliverer of missiles.
The question with Trump is always, where will they land?
Even if Trump were adding the greatest political team in history, which he is not, the problem is not the campaign. The problem is the candidate, whose allergy to substance and impulse to react angrily -- and often tastelessly -- to any provocation has unnerved voters.
In the primaries, his "shoot first, ask questions later" style was enough to ignite his base, but that very quality has become a liability now that he has to expand beyond it.
Maybe "Trump Team Three" has the magic elixir.
More likely, however, they will be left shaking their heads like old Rocky Bridges as they watch their candidate play. | 0fake |
Democrats Won’t Have A Chance in 2018 Unless They Start to Do This | The Democrats went down the path of identity politics long ago but it s only gotten worse in the past 8 years of Obama. He was a mater at dividing groups and pitting Americans against each other according to race, sex and gender. Americans figured it out in this past election when they elected Trump. President Trump has been working for ALL Americans!IDENTITY POLITICS=DEMOCRATSTHE NYP REPORTS:Open up the Republican Party Web site and you ll quickly see an article called Principles for American Renewal with 11 broad statements of principle such as this one under immigration: We need an immigration system that secures our borders, upholds the law, and boosts our economy. Scroll down the Democrats home page and you ll find a dull party platform with 93 bullet points and a list of links entitled People. Each link leads to a subgroup: Women. Hispanics. LGBT people. Ethnic Americans. There are 17 different groups, and a different message tailored for each.Republicans offer a vision to unite America. Democrats offer to break it down into pieces.The Democrats are all about divide-and-conquer tactics when what they need is a vision of our shared destiny and the things we all hold in common as Americans. Liberals have become America s ideological third party, lagging behind self-declared independents and conservatives, writes Lilla, a Columbia humanities professor and committed liberal who believes the single most important issue is on-demand access to abortion for women.President Trump sees what a value it is to keep the very divisive Nancy Pelosi: | 1real |
Indians vote in first stage of election seen as acid test for Modi | SURENDRANAGAR, India (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Indians voted in the first stage of assembly elections in the western state of Gujarat on Saturday, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces his toughest electoral test since coming to power with a landslide victory in 2014. Modi has himself led the campaign to ensure that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retains power in his home state, as a combined opposition mounted the biggest challenge ahead of the general election in 2019. Three big polls carried out in the run-up to the vote on Saturday and next week have predicted a victory for BJP but with a greatly reduced majority. Voters started turning up early in the morning and some had to wait for about 15 minutes due to a malfunction in the electronic voting machine. In the first few hours, more than 15 percent of voters in Surendranagar district cast their ballot, according to state government officials. An ABP-CDS poll this week gave the BJP 91-99 seats in the 182-member state house and the main opposition Congress 78-86, suggesting a close fight. To win, a party needs 92 seats. The surveys have often gone wrong, though, and Modi himself remains far more popular across the country than his rivals, including Rahul Gandhi who is leading the Congress charge to weaken Modi in his home base. Votes from the election will be counted on Dec. 18 and the results announced the same day. In the first stage of state assembly elections on Saturday, 977 candidates are trying their luck in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts of Gujarat, according to the Election Commission. More than 21 million people will vote during the first stage of the election on Saturday. Modi has thrown himself into the campaign, addressing dozens of rallies over the past month, saying he alone could deliver on development. Gujarati businesses, which form the core of Modi s support base, have complained that the Goods and Services Tax introduced this year and late last year s shock move to abolish 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes, accounting for 86 percent of cash in circulation, aggravated already tough economic conditions. Hindu-majority Gujarat is one of India s richest and fastest growing states but also one of its most communally divided. About 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed after a wave of riots rocked Gujarat in 2002, when Modi was chief minister. A Supreme Court investigation found no case against Modi, who denied any wrongdoing. | 0fake |
Simulation Training: Are You Actually Ready To Use Your Gun In An Emergency? (VIDEO) | in: Multimedia , Preparedness\Survival , Science & Technology If you are a gun owner, especially one who carries a firearm on a daily basis, you’ve probably wondered how you would fare if you had to use your weapon in a life-and-death situation. Could you hit a moving target? Would you freeze under pressure? Would you accidentally harm innocent bystanders in your attempt to take down a threat? With virtual simulation training, you can find out the answers to these questions. There are some awesome stories out there in Internetland about armed citizens stopping crimes and protecting lives. In a life or death situation like a mass shooting , each second counts and a firearm can level the playing field and give you a much better chance at surviving than the standard liberal wisdom of hiding and praying. As well, a growing number of homes have guns now – 44% at most recent tally . Unfortunately, it seems like these life and death situations are happening more frequently, as acts of terrorism, civil unrest, and mindless violence continue to plague our country. The qualifications for a concealed carry permit vary from state to state, but generally speaking, you have to take a course that ranges anywhere from 4 hours to 16 hours. Some states require range qualification and others do not. The course that you take is very informative. It explains the laws in regard to using your firearm for protection in your particular state. But, does that really mean that you will be ready to use your firearm in an emergency situation? I am a CCW permit holder in the state of California . I am a single mom and I fully intend to be able to protect my family without being powerless until the police arrive. I practice shooting regularly and take classes with an NRA instructor. I’ve read many books on the topic of carrying my firearm. ( I highly recommend this one .) I have had occasion to be very glad that I was armed , but I’ve never had reason to actually use my gun against someone. And that is something which is little understood by anti-gun people: Most gun owners have our guns if we need them, but we sincerely hope to never need them. Of course, this makes you wonder: do you really have what it takes to use your firearm to protect yourself or someone else? Is the training you’ve been doing enough? And how do you find out before the rubber meets the road? The pros have been using virtual simulation training for quite a while. Training simulations are one way to learn a skill that is too dangerous to perform for real. Both the police and the military use virtual reality simulations for training. The US Army website says : “This system gives the power of simulation to the squad in order to close the gap of individual Soldier training and collective training,” said John Matthews, project director, Assistant Project Manager for Close Combat Tactical Trainers. “This system enhances training; it does not replace it.” The ability to train with this system allows the “reset” time to be cut down, which allows the ability to get more repetitions in a shorter amount of time and the ability to review each mission on a television screen to enhance the after action review process upon completion of each mission… …With a wide variety of environments, and the ability to insert specific entities into the scenarios, the options for training opportunities are virtually limitless; rehearsals for missions or live-fire exercises are just a couple of examples. Currently, the programmed training environments include mountainous, wooded, and desert. These are intended to simulate places like Afghanistan and Iraq but are not limited to only these specific scenarios. Virtual reality training allows soldiers and police officers to face situations in a multitude of environments with as many different scenarios as you could possibly imagine. And it isn’t all training with guns, either. Users can deploy non-lethal virtual weapons like tasers and OC, making this a good way to test out alternatives to lethal force without putting lives at risk. Virtual simulation training is now available for civilians My firearms instructor is incredibly innovative. (If you are anywhere near Sacramento, you can find her here. ) When she discovered a virtual simulation facility within an hour of us, she invited me along to try it out. We headed to Virtual Safe Shot in Fair Oaks, California . Unsurprisingly, the training for civilians is quite different. A strong emphasis of this training is on shoot/don’t shoot scenarios. Not all situations require that your firearm be discharged and because the instructors mix up the situations, you don’t know whether to expect a kid to pop around the corner of your basement stairs or a wild-eyed drug addict. And really, isn’t that how it is in real life? Some scenarios that were addressed in the training I took read like a person’s worst nightmare: A convenience store robbery A mass shooter at a school A carjacking Surprising a burglar in your home A knife-wielding ex who is intent on killing your neighbor Anyone can imagine being caught up in one of these scenes because they’re taken directly from the headlines. Even though you know the situation isn’t real and that your life is not in danger, you get a surge of adrenaline – you know something is going down, but you don’t know what to expect. Everything that happens, happens fast. The guns at the facility are real Glock 17s that have been modified to shoot only harmless lasers. The recoil is CO2 driven so you get the feel of shooting a gun with real ammo – this means that you must quickly reacquire your target if a second shot is needed. Beginners work with stationary targets and replica pistols, while advanced shooters practice simulations in which they must draw their weapons, move, verbally interact, take cover, and shoot from a covered position. The accuracy of this technology is 4 pixels – that means if you show a hit on the screen, it would have been a hit in real life. Here’s what a virtual simulation is like. The instructors at this facility are retired police officers, which means that they brought something very different to the table: understanding how an investigation will work. Any time you discharge your firearm, even to defend your life or someone else’s, you have to be able to defend your action legally . In this anti-gun day and age, the liberal media is all too ready to crucify a person using a firearm, even if they are using that firearm to defend themselves or others. The instructors discussed each scenario with us after it was finished. They explained what we would likely be asked when the police arrived on the scene and also, what might make officers believe that a self-defense shooting was actually a homicide. (Hint: You were in fear for your life and you want a lawyer. Then, shut up until your attorney arrives.) Here’s what I learned. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I’m pretty accurate under pressure. (Of course, there’s always room for improvement but for my first time firing at a moving target, I did well hitting what I aimed at.) Unfortunately, I was a little bit trigger happy, something I don’t like to admit. Early on, there were a couple of scenarios in which I would have been better off to wait before firing. And in one very unfortunate situation, I accidentally hit a bystander as well as the criminal. But this was a good learning experience. By the end of my session, my shoot/don’t shoot discretion had greatly improved. I became far more aware of bystanders instead of hyper-focusing on the threat. I would hazard a guess that unless a person has a military or law enforcement background, then like me, they haven’t had much experience making these types of judgment calls. The most important part of this training is the replay. First, you see a readout of how many shots you fired, how many of them were non-lethal hits, how many were lethal, and how many hit someone they shouldn’t have. Even when you know this is only a simulation, it’s very sobering when you see that you shot someone that should not have been shot. Virtual reality gives you a cold hard smack of actual reality and it isn’t pleasant because you immediately realize that in a true emergency, the same thing could have easily happened. Then, the instructor discusses the scenario. You learn what you did wrong and what you did right. They give you tips on improving your strategy and/or accuracy if needed. You discuss how this shooting would look from a legal standpoint, and if necessary, you get the chance to repeat the scenario and do it better. This breakdown of the scenario is an invaluable tool, because in VR, you get a do-over. Not so in real life. I left feeling a little conflicted. I was more confident because of my accuracy, but more aware of the pitfalls of firing a weapon. Those pitfalls should be obvious – we discuss them in CCW classes, read about them online, and watch them on the news. But until you see that the shot you fired missed the bad guy and lethally hit the person behind him, it doesn’t make quite the same impression. If you carry, you need some advanced training. I strongly recommend this type of training. I learned a lot and plan to replace 2 of my range sessions each month with virtual simulation training. I believe that if the day ever comes when I must draw my gun to use it, I’ll be far better prepared than I was before I discovered Virtual Safe Shot and the informative, encouraging instructors there. You can play scenarios over in your mind as much as you want, but this is as close to the real thing as you can get. And trust me – you, too, will probably discover that you aren’t as ready as you think you are. This is not a substitute for shooting your real firearm, but it’s an incredible complimentary type of training. This is the level of tactical training that professionals get, and if you can find it in your area, you’ll be far better prepared to use your firearm – or not – should the situation warrant that you do so. Article first appeared at DaisyLuther.com Submit your review | 1real |
Maine governor orders partial shutdown with budget in limbo | (Reuters) - A budget impasse between Maine Governor Paul LePage and Democratic lawmakers triggered a shutdown of nonessential state services on Saturday, after the conservative Republican threatened to veto a bipartisan compromise reached by lawmakers. LePage has insisted on a budget with deeper spending cuts than those contemplated by lawmakers and has promised to veto any spending plan that raises taxes. “This is about the future of Maine. The Maine people are taxed enough. I will not tax them anymore and in my budget overall taxes were decreased,” LePage said in a statement announcing the partial shutdown, the first in the state since 1991. The governor’s order for a partial closure of state government went into effect at 12:01 a.m. local time after negotiations stalled over a $7.055 billion, two-year budget. A six-member bipartisan budget committee with lawmakers from the House and Senate had reached a deal on a proposed budget late on Thursday night, but LePage signaled he would veto the package because it included some tax increases. The Republican-controlled Senate passed the package by a 34-1 vote on Friday, and later in the day the Democratic-controlled House approved it by an 87-60 vote. But the margin of approval fell short of the two-thirds threshold needed to override LePage’s threatened veto. Even if two-thirds of the House voted for approval, state law gives the two-term governor up to 10 days to respond to the legislation, allowing for a partial shutdown during that time. State police, parks and all offices responsible for collecting revenue will continue to operate during the current shutdown, LePage has said. A spokeswoman for the governor could not be reached for comment on Saturday. Lawmakers met in the state capital Augusta on Saturday, but they had no formal counterproposal from the governor to consider, said Mary-Erin Casale, a spokeswoman for Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon. “Right now we are in a very fluid situation where we don’t have anything in front of us,” Casale said by telephone. The stalled budget proposal would have repealed a measure that voters approved in November to impose an additional 3 percent income tax on state residents who earn more than $200,000 a year. But it contained a 1.5 percent increase in the lodging tax, Casale said, while increasing funding for public education by $162 million. | 0fake |
FDA Found Manipulating The Media In Favor Of Big Pharma | By Brianna Acuesta
Although the Federal Drug Administration is thought to serve American consumers by keeping them safe and well-informed, they are doing just the opposite by controlling the media and science press in order to create misleading and one-sided articles.
An investigation into documents released through the Freedom of Information Act by Scientific American revealed that the FDA uses a variety of tactics to prevent the full truth from being revealed about a certain product. The biggest tactic is the “close-hold embargo,” where they invite a select few news sites to a briefing about the to-be released information with conditions. They stipulate that the journalists have to surrender their reportorial independence by agreeing to only speak with sources approved by their agency.
When NPR reporter Rob Stein was extended one of these loaded invitations, he responded by saying, “My editors are uncomfortable with the condition that we cannot seek reaction,” and asked that they be given a bit more wiggle room to speak with others. When Stein was met with a resounding no, he decided to agree to the terms and attend the briefing.
Stein wasn’t the only reporter to attend this particular briefing, as other sites such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times were all present. Despite agreeing to the terms, not everyone is actually comfortable with these conditions. The New York Times former Public Editor, Margaret Sullivan, said:
“I think embargoes that attempt to control sourcing are dangerous because they limit the role of the reporter whose job is to do a full look at a subject. It’s really inappropriate for a source to be telling a journalist whom he or she can and can’t talk to.”
Other tactics used by the FDA include denying major media outlets any access to the briefing prior to the public release of information, and the deliverance of half-truths when asked questions directly to hinder an investigation. Those who intend to speak with unapproved sources or announce these embargoes are met with threats.
These embargoes are often used within the science community, but none as strict as the FDA’s rules on whom reporters can confer with. The usual restrictions only focus on the date and time that a news story can be published about a particular study, which is why the stories tend to break at the same time across media outlets.
The Association of Health Care Journalists said that the close-hold embargo is “a serious obstacle to good journalism. Reporters who want to be competitive on a story will essentially have to agree to write only what the FDA wants to tell the world, without analysis or outside commentary.”
If the FDA was truly concerned about the well-being of American citizens, it wouldn’t be so shrouded in secrecy and insistent on the way news stories are covered. Instead, they put up their list of demands in an effort to protect the medical industry and pharmaceutical companies whose interests and profits matter more than having a well-informed public.
Source: True Activist
| 1real |
Where to, Hillary? How Clinton Is Relying on President Obama’s Help - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — After George W. Bush twice carried the New Hampshire county that includes Manchester and Nashua, President Obama turned the tables and won it in both his elections by similar margins. Mr. Bush handily captured the Ohio county that includes Cincinnati and its mostly white suburbs in 2004, while Mr. Obama won there running away in 2012. Colorado and Virginia went for Mr. Bush, then flipped to Mr. Obama. Now that Mr. Obama has endorsed Hillary Clinton, her advisers are eager to use his political touch in those and other battleground states and extend the Democratic streak there this fall. They see Mr. Obama as a resource — a popular sitting president — in the looming campaign to defeat Donald J. Trump. Political strategists at the White House and in Mrs. Clinton’s campaign are just beginning to determine a specific schedule for the president after his endorsement on Thursday of his former secretary of state. Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton will appear together on Wednesday for the first time since she secured the Democratic nomination, and they have chosen Green Bay, Wis. another city where Mr. Obama lifted Democratic fortunes. But that is likely to be one of the few times they appear together. Instead, Mr. Obama will be on his own, cutting a path across white suburbs in the Midwest and Rust Belt and spending time in communities in states like North Carolina and Virginia. The president will reach out to independents and others in New Hampshire and Iowa, and rally young people, Hispanics and in competitive states like Colorado, Florida and Nevada. “He’ll definitely spend time rallying his supporters,” said Jen Psaki, the president’s communications director. “But he will also be engaging communities where people are making up their minds, where they are looking to have a discussion about the choice they are facing. ” Clinton advisers described Mr. Obama as the rare sitting president who could help his party’s nominee in all of the swing states in the general election. Other recent presidents, like Mr. Bush and Bill Clinton, were unwelcome on the campaign trail because their party’s nominees, John McCain and Al Gore, regarded them as controversial. Mr. Clinton had high approval ratings, yet his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky and his impeachment proceedings in 1998 made him persona non grata with the Gore campaign. Mrs. Clinton’s advisers, citing Mr. Obama’s solid approval ratings and popularity with Democrats and some independents, said they thought he would be a net asset in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and other battleground states that he carried in 2008 and 2012 and where he is arguably more popular now. All those states are critical to Mrs. Clinton’s electoral strategy. “There is not a battleground state on the map where President Obama is not an asset,” said Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign. Mr. Obama’s advocacy for agreements and his administration’s rules allowing hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are unpopular with liberals, among others. And it is unclear how effective the president can be in transferring his popularity to Mrs. Clinton. During the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, Mr. Obama campaigned on behalf of Democratic lawmakers but his party was routed by Republicans both times. Still, Clinton advisers said he would be a powerful voice attacking Mr. Trump’s fitness and temperament for the presidency and championing Mrs. Clinton’s determination to build on his record of economic growth, expansion of health care and civil rights progress. He also can testify to her character, portraying her as putting patriotic duty ahead of their personal rivalry when she accepted his offer to be secretary of state in 2008 after their bruising primary battle. In doing so, Mr. Obama may be able to help Mrs. Clinton dent her high unfavorable ratings and persuade some voters to put aside their doubts about her honesty and trustworthiness — weaknesses that regularly show up in polls. Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said they were not sure yet how often she and Mr. Obama would campaign together, but said they were eager to deploy him. Mr. Obama is bound to campaign mostly in Democratic strongholds this fall to help energize voters and ensure strong turnout, but the advisers emphasized that they did not feel boxed in about where they could send him. As one adviser put it, Mr. Obama was broadly popular enough that he could campaign in Cleveland without the Clinton campaign worrying too much that voters in Parma, a suburb, would be turned off by regional news coverage of him. During the initial weeks of the general election campaign, Mr. Obama is likely to focus on suburban communities in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania where the strategists believe that the president will be well received, especially among voters who are not strongly aligned with a party, or who may be turned off by Mr. Trump’s more bellicose rhetoric. Some Democratic officials also think Mr. Obama can help Mrs. Clinton by directly appealing to supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders in states like Wisconsin that he carried this spring. While Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton share some policy goals and positions that are not liberal enough to satisfy some Sanders supporters, Mr. Obama still enjoys a measure of good will with many of them as a president. “I think the president will be able to talk to Sanders supporters, and be heard by them, in a way that Mrs. Clinton can’t right now, because so many Sanders voters haven’t accepted her as the nominee yet,” said former Gov. James E. Doyle of Wisconsin, a Democrat. “Bernie is tremendously popular here. I think people like Hillary and she’ll win here in November, but Obama’s popularity will rub off on her at just the right time — the end of a primary. ” Still, some Sanders supporters said they were devoted to their candidate and ambivalent about hearing Mr. Obama extol Mrs. Clinton. “I certainly am proud of the things that President Obama has done, and admire him, but we also need some time to grieve the end of the nomination race,” said Pat Cotham, a Democratic superdelegate who recently endorsed Mr. Sanders, and a county official in Charlotte, N. C. — another area the Clinton campaign would like to dispatch the president. Mr. Obama won North Carolina in 2008, but lost there in 2012. Clinton advisers think he could help Mrs. Clinton put it back in the Democratic column. “I hope that the president acknowledges the unbelievable accomplishments that Bernie has made by raising hundreds of millions of dollars without a ‘super PAC,’ and the issues Bernie and his supporters care about,” Ms. Cotham said. “That sort of message would be welcomed. ” Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic allies also hope that Mr. Obama’s efforts on her behalf will impress suburban women, providing her with an effective, levelheaded counter to the appeal that Mr. Trump demonstrated among white, men during the Republican primaries. “Having Obama make the case to independents, women, even Republicans around Cincinnati and other suburbs is smart politics, because a lot of these voters will want someone other than Donald Trump,” said Paul A. Sracic, professor and chairman of the department of politics at Youngstown State University in Ohio. “And Hillary Clinton needs their votes to offset her losses among white men in other places. ” An analysis of voting patterns by The Upshot shows that Mr. Obama did even better in 2012 than previously thought in the mostly white counties around Cincinnati. In Butler, Warren and Clermont Counties, the analysis showed, Mr. Obama improved upon the performance of John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate. The focus on independents and suburban women, and the message from the president on behalf of Mrs. Clinton, are likely to shift as Election Day draws closer. In October, Mr. Obama could be expected to fly Air Force One into places where he can energize turnout among core Democratic supporters. Aides said the president’s October calendar has been largely cleared of other activities, leaving him time to campaign wherever Mrs. Clinton needs him. Mrs. Clinton’s strategists said they were likely to send the president to the Orlando area in Florida Montgomery County, Pa. north of Philadelphia Denver and Charlotte. Mr. Obama has proved particularly good at winning support from black voters. In 2004, 13. 2 million voted in the presidential campaign in 2012, more than 17. 6 million did. And Mr. Obama raised the proportion of black voters who supported him, something that Mrs. Clinton’s campaign hopes he can also do for her. In 2004, Mr. Kerry got 86 percent of the black vote in 2012, Mr. Obama got 96 percent. | 0fake |
LUCIFER in the Temple of the Dog I | Trump’s grandfather was a pimp and tax evader; his father a member of the KKK ‹ › Bio by Jack Heart : My earliest memories were of being surrounded by machinery and a constant deep mechanical humming rose and fell like the breath of fitful sleep. Maybe it was the "mother ship" or the "Montauk underground" like Preston Nichols author of the The Montauk Projects would later claim but I am inclined to believe it was the post natal care room at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn where I was born to a well to do family. I grew up in Brooklyn. My father had a Fur business on Twenty-Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. The city bought him and his partners out when they built the Fashion Institute of Technology. From grades one to five I attended the finest Catholic school in NYC. Before I was 12 my family moved to Amity Harbor Long Island and from there the volume on the strangeness was turned up full blast. My teenage years were spent working on fishing boats at Montauk Point where my father had been stationed at Camp Hero for the Korean War. Back home in Amityville we would wile away the night doing performance art for tourists milling around outside my best friend’s home gawking at the Amityville Horror House, some of you may have already met me I was one of the guys throwing beer bottles at you. Butchy to this day doesn’t know who was up in that room with him that night, nobody does but I can take a real good guess. By the time I was eighteen I realized that globalism had made the seas off Long Island barren and I would have to find a new way in life to make a living. I had always wanted to be a fisherman but I opened a landscaping business with my mother who was the top woman designer in her field. Our clients included many celebrities and denizens of Long islands gold coast. Back then it seemed life would always be good. I remember one day while dragging trees out some stock broker’s yard he pulled up his long driveway in his convertible sports car. I looked at his decaying body not much older than mine. Then I looked down at mine. Salty sweat encased sinewy bronze muscles pumped full of blood from the days exertion. I decided I was just where I wanted to be. He would make his 500$ for the day and he had to give it to me because there was no way he was dragging that tree down his long driveway. Little did I know that he and his tribal brethren had a plan. Over the next twenty years they would flood America with illegal “immigrants” to do my job for a hundred dollars a day. Things are not so good anymore even with an associate’s degree in architectural engineering I’ll never make 500$ a day again. He makes more because now the government that sold me out, not once but three times subsidizes his job. I wonder how many of his tribe are buried in veterans memorial cemetery’s. Practically every male member of my family is. I ended up on the wrong side of the law when I was 27 years old through no fault of my own. I was helping Geraldo Rivera film what I now realize must have been Ollie North's little cocaine contra excursion into NY. It was never aired. He quit his job but I was beaten and tortured by the police then branded as a felon for the rest of my life. In 1987 I was asked to remove the Pagans motorcycle gang from their clubhouse a strip club named Bogart’s. The person that asked me was Richard Capri who died abruptly a few years back. He owned Bogart's and a lot of other strip clubs on Long Island. He was a prominent figure in New York's underworld. Financially he dwarfed people like Gotti and the rest of the menagerie of mutts paraded on TV as “mob bosses.” It was during that period that I realized I was a member of a very elite unit. Some would call us soldiers of God others the army of Satan. You read what I write and you decide. LUCIFER in the Temple of the Dog I By Jack Heart on October 28, 2016 LUCIFER in the Temple of the Dog I By Jack Heart, Orage & Friends
Every story has a beginning and an end, everything in between is just a story…
The oldest stories known come from the Aborigine people of Australia. Their stories go back at least thirty thousand years. They are passed on orally by the tribe’s elders under a rigid tradition called “the law” which ensures the preservation of the Aborigines ancient tribal narratives. Linguistic scholars who have studied them have noted the Aborigines ability to sustain “the inter-generational scaffolding needed to transmit stories over vast periods.” 1
Aborigine tribal lore has been academically documented to chronicle the thawing of the Ice Age and the flooding of the Australian coastline thirteen-thousand years ago.2 According The Wisdom Keepers an episode of Ancient Aliens, the television show purporting to document alien intervention in human history, Aborigine lore also recounts meteorite impacts, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and solar eclipses…3
What is certain is that aborigine culture ignores the brutal realities of its own existence and focuses on what is now called the dreamtime. The word dreamtime itself is a mistranslation of the Aborigine word alcheringa, which means the uncreated source; a source which was always there, which perpetually yields fresh materials from which everything that is perceived is derived.
To the aborigine the dreamtime is an altered state of consciousness that lies across the uncharted chasms of the mind, a place where everything that ever was has been imprinted forever in the aether. Nothing that was, nothing that is, can be lost and it can always be accessed by going back to the beginning through ceremonies and dreams.
According to Ancient Aliens; “in many ways the concept of dreamtime mirrors the ancient Hindu idea of the Akashic records.” 4 This may not be true…
The idea of Akashic records go back no further than Madam Blavatsky and Theosophy, a system of mysticism which she founded. Akasha simply means aether in Sanskrit.
The expansion of the microcosm into the macrocosm and contraction back of the macrocosm into the microcosm is a doctrine of just about every reputable school of mysticism. “As it is above is so it is below” to the Hermitic. “And the living creatures rush forth and return” as it is written in verse 537 of the Zohar: Concerning the Eyes of Microprosopus…
If Blavatsky and her followers got the idea from anywhere other than a library that there was an astral hall of cosmic records it was from Tibetan lamas schooled in the all but forgotten ways of the ancient Bon religion. Bon was the mysterious religion of Tibet before Buddhism, a primal type of animism that believes all things animate and inanimate are sourced from an invisible world.
Ancient Aliens is a show that is often painful to watch yet is a necessity for any serious student of human history. The show has by far its finest moment in its decade long existence when it proposes that the Aborigines concept of the dreamtime matches a leading edge property of String Theory called the “Holographic paradigm.”5
There are tears in the fabric of Mans reality that upon scrutiny open to abysses of darkness. Quantum entanglement as been proven over and over again in laboratories whose annual budget would bankrupt a small country. Einstein was wrong and his precious “particles” do react with each other by some mechanism that travels faster than light. Anyone who’s ever had a premonition should have known that…
In the Holographic universe, quantum entanglement the enigma of superluminal interaction between particles –what a baffled Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” petulantly denying its existence in the face of all the evidence (even then) 6 – is easily explained. What are being observed in particle physics are not particles at all, but different aspects of interference patterns generated by the collision of spherical frequency waves emanating from an Event Horizon.
The Holographic paradigm postulates, in fact takes it as a given, that at the threshold of the time-space continuum, what physicists call the cosmological horizon, lay the source of everything that is, ever was, or will be. The information that composes the universe is never lost or changed. It’s immutable and is broadcast in oscillating signals, generating a chaotic sea of fluctuating frequencies that are picked up by mans senses and translated by the mind into the three dimensional world in which he finds himself.
In short; consciousness takes place inside a frequency receiver and “reality” is a television show…
The empirical evidence is overwhelming that the human brain works in the exact same manner as a hologram. This is called the Holonomic brain theory by neuroscientists. Many just cannot accept its implications. But its founder Karl Pribram, who held professorships for ten years at Yale and thirty at Stanford, was the Albert Einstein of neuroscience…
Pribram died in the beginning of 2015 at the age of ninety-five after a long and distinguished career working side by side with such giants in science as BF Skinner, Jon von Neumann and David Bohm; arguably the most brilliant physicist that the Anglo-American empire produced during the twentieth century.
Bohm collaborated closely with Pribram in the formulation of the Holonomic brain theory, but his earlier radical communist political affiliations would have barred him from the inner sanctums of the Stanford Research Institute.
There at Menlo Park, in the womb of madness, Pribram would have had access to at least some of the classified material of Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ. Throughout the seventies Puthoff and Targ were weaponizing the paranormal for Americas Department of Defense. They were working in the outer limits of quantum entanglement. In fact, Pribram admits to consulting with both Puthoff and Targ about it before beginning his collaboration with Bohm…7
In the same interview, from years ago, Pribram explains that “when an input comes in through one of the senses to the brain, it has to then become encoded in some way so that there is a representation.”8 Pribram calls these representations memory traces and says they have no localized point of origin in the brain.
“If you hack away at the brain” in surgery “you would expect that whatever representational process there is and –call it a memory trace if you will– that it would really be impaired tremendously, that you would remove a memory,” like cutting off a piece of a picture. “It doesn’t work that way.”
Pribram –a highly skilled neurosurgeon– noted among other things for his experimental work at the Yerkes Primate Center, of which he became director, recounts that “when lesions occur in the brain there is never any particular memory trace that is removed.” Recalling from over a half century of experience he continues “you may remove something, like the way to retrieve, to get back out the memory. For instance; you might not be able to talk about it but you can still write a note and say what it is you mean.”9
But the overall method by which these memories are spread throughout the brain, enabling them to avoid damage from injury, has always been a mystery.
Pribram explains that it was discovered in the late fifties that the input from the retina is organized in spots, then focused into lines in the cerebral cortex suggesting that the cerebral cortex is filled with cells that act as line detectors. These cells are sensitive to lines at multiple orientations and once you have lines you can create “circles, faces, stick figures, whatever” to formulate images.10
The idea that the cerebral cortex was interpreting interference patterns can be traced back to Germany in 1906.11 Decades later, John Lashley, Pribram’s mentor at the Yerkes Primate Center, reached the same conclusion.
Interference patterns can be seen in the water if you cast two stones in a pool. When the series of concentric waves generated by each of the stones clash the resulting confused ripples or wavelets are interference patterns.
In the interview Pribram asks “what might constitute those interference patterns in the brain” and “given interference patterns, how do you get an image out of that?”12 He then answers his own questions saying both problems were solved when people started building holograms at the University of Michigan and at Stanford (around 1962). He qualifies that by saying “because a hologram is a photographic store of ripples, of interference patterns. Instead of pebbles on a pond, what you have is light beams hitting the film.” 13The light then spreads in ripples over the surface of the film.
Pribram continues “Every light beam that hits does that and the neighboring ones do it and the neighboring ones and so you got every light beam, every part of a beam essentially spread over the entire surface. That’s why mathematically it’s called a spread function.”14
In a hologram that spread function is translated into images and with every passing year in neuroscience it becomes more and more apparent, Pribram uses the word “overwhelmingly,”15 that the brain functions in the same manner.
Pribram goes on to say that “over the last thirty years or so more and more evidence has accumulated to suggest strongly that the cerebral cortex acts as a resonator. It resonates to the frequencies of energies that are being transduced by the receptors; it’s the frequencies of energies.” He emphasizes that this is not an epiphany. German scientists were talking about it in 1906…16
Holography works by using interference patterns to encode information about a three dimensional object into what is, for all intents and purposes, a two dimensional light beam. The interference patterns can then be translated back into a three dimensional object. A tremendous amount of information can be stored and transferred this way.
Another profoundly functional feature of the hologram and analogous to the non-locality of memory in the human brain, is that all information is stored throughout the entire hologram. As long as a part of the hologram is big enough to contain the interference pattern, it can recreate the entire image stored in the hologram.
Holographic technology is based on the Fourier transform, a type of integral transfer sometimes called an improper Riemann integral. The Fourier transform itself is a mathematical function originally used in the nineteenth century to show the transfer of heat between two systems. Fourier transforms are the foundation of Spectral Analysis in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century.
In a Fourier transform two graphs are created; one showing the frequency domain and the other the time domain. The differential is then mapped between the two domains and through various permutations of the equations a spread sheet is achieved of all the individual frequencies that constitute a function of time, what is defined as a signal…
Often it is easier to solve a problem in the time domain by working on it in the frequency domain. Afterwards transformation of the result can be made back to the time domain by reversing the equation, what is called an inverse Fourier transform. The entire signal can be filtered simply by changing the frequencies in the frequency domain…
A Fourier transform can, theoretically, be used to send a function of the three dimensional continuum into a moving four dimensional mass or vice a versa…
The father of the Holograph is 1971 Nobel Prize recipient Dennis Gabor, who right after WW II produced the math –called windowed Fourier transforms– necessary to make one. Gabor served in a Hungarian artillery unit during WW I and in the twenties was instrumental in the development of the electron microscope in Berlin. When the National Socialists came to power in 1933 Gabor, a Hungarian Jew that had converted to Lutherism, fled Germany to England.
By the time Gabor worked with them, Fourier transforms had been infused with the genius of Bernhard Riemann, the nineteenth century German mathematician who broke the back of Euclidian geometry for good, making quantum physics and relativity possible. Erwin Schrödinger, the twentieth century Austrian physicist whose wave equation would become one of the two pillars of quantum physics and the foundation of wave mechanics.
David Hilbert, the German mathematician who taught most of the others and after whom Hilbert’s Space is named, and Werner Heisenberg the discoverer of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, the other pillar of quantum physics…
Gabor would have at least had access if not worked directly with the legendary Jon von Neumann, Hilbert’s best pupil. Gabor and von Neumann were both Jews, native Hungarians and born to money, although von Neumann’s education under Hilbert had been paid for by the Rockefeller Foundation. Von Neumann was in fact titled nobility, besides being the man who named Hilbert’s Space in Hilbert’s honor.
Von Neumann was perhaps the most brilliant mathematician who ever lived. He would leave Berlin upon concluding his tutelage under Hilbert and be in Princeton by the end of 1929…
At Princeton, von Neumann delighted in playing Prussian marching music so loud on his gramophone that Einstein, who was in an adjoining office, would have to ask the authorities to intervene. In vain, there was nothing Einstein or anyone else could do about it. Von Neumann wrote the textbook for Quantum mechanics; Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik, or in English Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics.
His mathematical contributions to civilization could fill a library, but his real achievements remain classified till this day. It is said that when von Neumann was dying of cancer, while under sedation he was surrounded by a Special Forces guard to insure he didn’t blurt out any of the empires secrets.
Von Neumann would tell anyone who would listen, delighted in it, that he had mathematically proven Einstein wrong. Most academics, although they could not understand his math, believed him and still do… Although they are now fonder of the experimental results of John Stewart Bell for their Einstein bashing…17
Einstein had always insisted that there were hidden variables that when discovered would reconcile quantum physics, which is indeterminate, and relativity, which is determinate. In Einstein’s vision of the future there would be just one unified field of physical phenomena and that would be determinant.
In physics, determinant means events transpire as a result of a mechanistic necessity and are therefore predictable. They follow laws. All physical phenomena should follow rules.
But they don’t. In Quantum physics, quantum entanglement is not the only enigma. There is the double slit experiment where an individual particle is fired through a slit and another through a different slit at a screen. What shows up on the screen is a wave interference pattern which could have only been made by waves passing through the slit…
There is the wave function collapse and quantum randomness in general. If the observer calculates the position of a “sub-atomic particle” in space they cannot calculate its momentum because the very act of locating it influences its trajectory. If they find its momentum, the act of their doing so prevents them from finding its position. That’s the short definition of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.
It’s all about predicting probabilities in a matrix, nothing is certain and the observer is part of the equation, anathema to ‘good science…’
Erwin Schrödinger, who won the Nobel Prize in 1933 for providing the equation that makes it all work, was more than just a scientist. A philosopher and poet at heart, he was a lifelong student of the Vedas and believed individual consciousness was a manifestation of the universal whole.
Back then, Schrödinger described the prevailing interpretation of quantum physics, now called the Copenhagen interpretation, as making no distinction “between the state of a natural object and what I know about it, or perhaps better, what I can know about it if I go to some trouble. Actually — so they say — there is intrinsically only awareness, observation, measurement.”18
The Copenhagen interpretation is the prevailing school of thought in quantum physics to this very day. As George Berkeley, the father of Immaterialism and therefore the Copenhagen interpretation, said three hundred years ago; nothing can exist if there is nothing to see it, “esse est percipi,” to be is to be perceived.
After serving as an apprentice to the mysterious German scientist; Max Wien, heir of Friedrich Paschen’s late nineteenth century experimental research on hydrogen spectral lines in the infrared region, Schrödinger would begin publishing papers about atomic theory and the theory of spectra in the early twenties…
He would publish his famous equation in 1926. In the twenty-first century, it’s still the tool mathematicians use to describe a wave function. In the Copenhagen interpretation the wave function is the most complete description that can be given to a physical system.
In Quantum mechanics the Schrödinger equation predicts probability distributions from which results are drawn. A probability distribution is a mathematical description of a random phenomenon. There are no exact results and at the time Schrödinger is quoted as saying “I don’t like it, and I’m sorry I ever had anything to do with it.”19
Einstein was livid. Not only was special relativity no longer feasible but perhaps relativity itself. As every school child knows he said “God does not play dice with the universe!”
Schrödinger worked closely with Einstein in the ensuing years, attempting to formulate a unified field theory and reconcile the whole mess into one determinant science, but by the end of the forties he had abandoned those efforts. In a 1952 lecture, he made the first documentable reference to what has become known as the multiverse, prefacing it by saying that what he was about to say might “seem lunatic.” 20
Schrödinger went on to tell his perplexed audience that when his equations seem to be describing several different histories they are “not alternatives but all really happen simultaneously…”21
Famously, in 1956 Schrödinger would refuse to speak about nuclear energy at an important lecture during the World Energy Conference, giving a philosophical lecture instead because he had become skeptical about the entire subject. He would cause a great deal of controversy in the physics community after that, abandoning the idea of particles altogether and adopting the wave-only theory also put forth by Hugh Everett III in his many-worlds interpretation of the multiverse.
In the many-worlds interpretation, the wave in the quantum state is the only thing that is real and under the appropriate conditions it will exhibit particle-like behavior. In Everett’s multiverse, everything that ever could have happened in the past did and every possibility spawns its own universe where that possibility did and does occur.
After Jon von Neumann died prematurely of cancer in 1957 Hugh Everett III would become the Anglo-American empires go-to guy on Quantum physics…
Pilot Waves were first proposed by Einstein in an effort to explain the wave interference patterns produced by particles in cases like the double slit experiment. He had hoped that they could be explained deterministically if the particle were somehow guided by an electromagnetic field; “which would thus play the role of what he called a Führungsfeld or guiding field.”22
The idea of a pilot wave was picked up and made mathematically feasible by Louis de Broglie in 1927, but with little support from a physics community now enamored by Heisenberg and the Copenhagen interpretation it died a slow death from neglect.
De Broglie’s math was resurrected by David Bohm in 1952 and renamed Bohmian mechanics. Heisenberg, who had been “profoundly unsympathetic”23 to the idea from its inception in the twenties wrote in 1955 that it was nothing more than an “exact repetition” of the Copenhagen interpretation “in a different language…”24
Regardless of the value of “Bohmian mechanics” the rest of what David Bohm had to say about the holographic universe may be a summation of everything that was really learned by man in the twentieth century (outside of course all those in this account who had an above top secret clearance…).
Bohm said there were two worlds. The primary one he called the Implicate Order or the enfolded order. He said the enfolded order was “the ground out of which reality emerges.”25The other world, “reality,” the world of the human senses, the world where consciousness dwells, he called the Explicate Order or the unfolded order.
“What we take for reality, Bohm argues, are surface phenomena, explicate forms that have temporarily unfolded out of an underlying implicate order. Within this deeper order forms are enfolded within each other so systems which may well be separated in the Explicate Order are contained within each other in the Implicate Order.”26
Superficially it would appear the two worlds are “dual forms related by an integral transfer” but the reality is the unfolded order cannot exist independent of the enfolded order.27
Bohm, always a pariah to the powers that be because of his politics sometimes had his work classified before he could even finish it. In the Manhattan project he was barred access to Los Alamos and was not allowed to write the thesis for his own scattering equations.
Einstein had always been his mentor, shielding him and preventing his ostracism from academia and Bohm had always worked closely with him in Einstein’s quest to save physics as he knew it. But by the end of the war Bohm had come to the conclusion that quantum mechanics would never become a deterministic science. He stopped looking for deterministic mechanisms as the cause of quantum phenomena and set out to show that the events could be attributed to a far deeper underlying reality.
Bohm’s idea of an Implicate and Explicate order mirror the conclusions reached by Mircea Eliade, the world’s foremost theological scholar of the WW II era… Eliade said there are only the Sacred and the Profane. The Sacred is the place of mythology, where the gods and archetypes dwell together with all the things that establish the very structure of this world. The Sacred is the First Cause of the Gnostics, the alcheringa of the Aborigine and the Implicate Order of Bohmian mechanics.
The Profane is the material things of this world, the things that have nothing to do with the Sacred. They are basically just like the set in an old black and white movie story… Eliade said they “acquire their reality, their identity, only to the extent of their participation in a transcendent reality.”28 In other words, it is only through its participation in the Sacred that the Profane finds validation.
Through his myths, his ceremonies and his rituals, even in his behavior and dreams, man manifests the Sacred into the Profane. It is Man himself that breaths reality into the fleeting and phantasmagorical world of the Profane…
Eliade said that in order to uphold the world of the Profane, the Scared must be manifested into it, over and over again. He called these incarnations, these places where the Sacred intersects with the Profane, the Eternal Return (not to be confused with Nietzsche’s Eternal Return, just as important but more to do with the cycle of the Yuga’s and the Mandela). Eliade called these manifestations of the Sacred into the Profane hierophanies.
Eliade maintained that all Shamanic practices in cultures uncluttered by the poisons of twentieth century rationalism, indeed the foundation of all Paleolithic spiritual practices, was an attempt to produce these hierophanies.
No one was, nor ever will be, more influential than Mircea Eliade, not even the vaunted Joseph Campbell. But present day academia with its penchant for semantics and cutting the whole up into smaller and smaller pieces till there is nothing left to see at all (both Pribram29 and Bohm30 warned the world about this), still rails against him. They say Eliade painted all cultures with too broad a brush stroke and seem to feel that their exceptions are more important than his whole, the same mistake Einstein made… But even Eliade’s staunchest critic; Geoffrey Kirk, Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge from 1974 to 1984 and prolific author himself, concedes that what Eliade said about the Eternal Return fit the culture of Australia’s aborigines like Cinderella’s slipper…
There has always been something dark and foreboding about Australia. Master of horror H P Lovecraft wrote about it in The Shadow out of Time. There is something menacing, something unspoken and threatening, a nameless fear of the stark and unforgiving land and an instinctual loathing of its native aborigine inhabitants that runs like an unseen current through the hard White men who dispossessed them.
In 1770 a British exploratory expedition led by James Cook would land in Botany Bay where the great city of Sidney now stands. They began shooting the natives immediately and the fighting would continue for over a hundred and fifty years. It finally subsided after the Coniston massacre in 1928 in the Northern Territory, which left over a hundred Aborigine dead.
Overall the fighting left thousands of Whites dead and hundreds of thousands of Aborigines. There were no pitched battles; the fighting was at close quarters, often hand to hand before repeating rifles were invented and savagely brutal, more like gang fights than military engagements. Atrocities were committed by both sides and in the interest of political correctness a well documented history of cannibalism among the Aborigine has been kept suppressed by the authorities.31
The Aborigine bore no animosity towards Whites because of their skin color. Eating the dead was strictly business in a land where distances are endless and the sun relentless. As settlers claimed the rights to all Australia’s fertile land the Stone Age hunting and gathering lifestyle of the Aborigine provided less and less sustenance. Resentment, and hunger, became inevitable.
But a journal from as late as 1849 explains how the Aborigine viewed Whites as their “ancestors who have returned to them again.”32 The archived diary describes how the Aborigine, before eating each other, would “scorch off the entire outer skin or epidermis which reveals the ‘true skin’ which in all branches of the human race is quite white.”33
“Their impression being that when they die ‘The black fellow England walk and by and by jump up white fellow.’”34 Australia is rivaled for geological anomalies only by its nearest neighbor Papua New Guinea. Both have stood in isolation for what academia says is sixty thousand years. Only their indigenous tribes, more like ghosts than men, can testify as to what cataclysmic events they may have witnessed.
In the Kimberley region of Western Australia four thousand year old cave paintings depict fantastic beings from the dreamtime called Wandgina. Local Aborigine believe the actions of the Wandgina in the dreamtime manifest themselves as features in the landscape of Australia’s Great Western Desert. They believe these beings control the wind, the rain and the lighting… The Wandgina
Rising like a specter out of the center of the Australian continent and on an otherwise almost unbroken horizon is Uluru or Ayers Rock, an isolated hill that appears like a single great stone has been imbedded into the earth. Uluru, a Mecca for tourists, is famous for its glowing red appearance at dusk and dawn and is sacred to the Aborigine.
At two miles long, over a mile wide and eleven hundred feet high Uluru is by far Australia’s best known geological anomaly. But just as striking is Kata Tjuta, fifteen and a half miles to the west and Mount Conner, slightly to the south and forty-five miles east of Uluru.
Kata Tjuta or the Olga’s consists of thirty six domes covering a little less than eight and half square miles, the tallest being Mount Olga at over seventeen hundred feet high. Mount Conner covers eight and half square miles and rises nine hundred and eighty-four feet at its highest point. All of them are conglomerates of granite-like stone and gravel cemented by a matrix of sandstone, about 50% feldspar, 25–35% quartz and up to 25% rock fragments.
Explanations abound for how the island mountains, called inselbergs by academics, got to be in the western desert. They range from the electric universe theory which postulates that they are the result of an immense electrical discharge, to creationism which of course believes they were scoured out by the deluge, all the way to academia’s old standby of a greased pig, erosion…
Local Aborigines believe most of the south face of Uluru is the result of a war fought in the dreamtime between the carpet-snakes (Kunyia) and the venomous-snakes (Liru). The northwestern corner of Uluru and most of its north face were formed as a result of the activities of the hare-wallaby’s (Mala) and the comings and goings of other dreamtime entity’s fill in the rest of Uluru’s geological features.
To the Aborigine it is the dreamtime that generates this world and with it the landscape…
Black Mountain National Park is located at the northern end of Queensland, a little over five miles from the Coral Sea. “The park” is just a restricted three square mile area around a pile of dark colored granite boulders, some the size of houses. The pile reaches almost a thousand feet in height. Academics have explanations for this striking geological anomaly but to the untrained and perhaps the more objective eye the boulders appear to have been placed there by unknown methods for unknown reasons.
Black Mountain has a sinister reputation among Whites as well as the Aborigine. The Aborigine call it Kalkajaka or place of the spear and avoid it. People disappear around Kalkajaka and the people who go looking for them disappear too.
Some believe the missing have simply been lost forever in the labyrinthine passages between the boulders. Others claim the missing were eaten or enslaved by reptilian aliens that, among other things, have been sighted around the rocks. They believe reptilian aliens have a secret base under Black Mountain where UFO sightings are a regular occurrence.
UFO’s have been receiving a lot of attention lately in Australia. An Australian himself, Duncan Roads –editor of Nexus Magazine for over a quarter century and the most respected name in the alternative media– recounts “Australia is certainly a hot spot of UFO sightings. We’ve had a phenomenal growth in the reporting of UFO sightings by the general public especially since the advent of the internet.”35
Roads points to the area around the Blue Mountains in Australia’s New South Wales “as a hotspot of UFO sightings and other mysteries. There is certainly a lot of mystery in the Blue Mountains. Campers, bushwalkers, explorers all have got tails of mystery, disappearing people, strange tunnels, strange noises and strange creature sightings…”36
According to Aboriginal tribal elder Kevin Gavi Duncan “the Blue Mountains is a very sacred area, sacred place, especially the highest places, because we would be closer to Baiame, closer to god.”37
The human disappearances in the Blue Mountains seem to be focused around Mount Yengo. Called the Uluru of the east, the flat top of Mt. Yengo rises about a thousand feet above a plateau and is believed by academics to be all that remains of an ancient volcano. Perhaps because of its prominent flat top, Aborigine tribes believe that after he was done with the act of creating this world their creator god Baiame leapt back up into the spirit world from Mt. Yengo.
Roads continues “UFO sightings of the Blue Mountains have triggered many magazine articles, radio shows and books. A lot of people have come forward over the last few decades to document and put onto the record their own experiences.”38 Rex Gilroy, author of Mysterious Australia, has unearthed accounts of UFO sightings in the Blue Mountains by nineteenth century pioneers…39
Ancient Aliens straight man David Hatcher Childress theorizes that the Blue Mountains are a “stargate, some portal to another dimension and jumping to hyperspace perhaps…”40 Childress speculates “For some reason Australia was the place where they put this hyperspace portal used by extra terrestrials.”41
Duncan continues “there are stories that elders would say, that some people have actually travelled back to the Morning Star and have come back again.”42 Earlier, standing in front of an ancient rock carving depicting Baiame about forty miles southeast of Mt. Yengo, Duncan explained “Baiame came from a place that we call the Morning Star within the Mirrabooka. Mira means stars and booka means river. That is the Milky Way that flows across the North Star. ”43 Baiame, Bulgandry Aboriginal Engraving site, Brisbane Water National Park, New South Wales, Australia
Duncan then gives his interpretation of the petroglyph. Baiame “holds the Moon in one hand and the Morning Star in the other. Which is a bit like what we call planet earth and these are the two moons which exist around the Morning Star in the Mirrabooka.”44
What the petroglyph shows is Baiame with his arms outstretched and a giant knife horizontal across his naval. The hilt is under his left arm. He is holding a circle in his right hand and a crescent in his left. Below the crescent is another circle suspended in mid air and slightly smaller than the one he holds in his right hand. To the right of the free floating circle, perfectly horizontal to it, is a much smaller almost tiny circle. Slightly to the right of the tiny circle and above it is another tiny circle.45
If the two tiny circles are rotated about two hundred and eighty degrees clockwise or ninety degrees counter clockwise so that the tiny circle that was furthest from Baiame is now in the hilt of the knife you would have close to an image of what, left to right, is in the middle of Australia. Mount Conner would be the large circle, now furthest right.
The Three Sisters rock formation is about fifty miles to the Southwest of Mt. Yengo. The three craggy pillars of sandstone tower above the lush Jamison Valley. No doubt conjuring memories in Australia’s early Anglo-Saxon settlers of the three Wyrd Sisters crouched at their cauldron casting spells on both gods and men in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Wyrd is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning destiny, to come to pass, to become. By the fifteenth century it had come to mean having the power to control fate. In sixteenth century Scotland and northern England wyrd implied that an event was miraculous. It wasn’t till the early nineteenth century that weird came to mean something was odd. The Proto-Indo-European root is wert meaning to turn or to rotate…
In the 1965 epic science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert the Wyrding Way is an overwhelming close quarter fighting technique used by the story’s messianic hero and his rebel armies with devastating effectiveness. In hand to hand combat its adepts are able to maneuver around and strike their opponents at speeds that resemble teleportation to the observer and words and sounds can be amplified to become lethal weapons.
Mastery of the Wyrding Way required the adoption of a completely different concept of what the space-time continuum is and what its cause and effect are. The essence of the Wyrding Way is summed up in both the motto and the mantra of its practitioners “my mind affects my reality.”
Wyrd is a notion taken from the pre-Christian religion of the Norseman. In Old Norse the word is Urðr. It is also the name of the mother of the Norns, female beings who rule over the destiny of gods and men. There are many Norns, good and evil, who appear at a person’s side at their birth and decide upon their future.
Urðr (fate), Verðandi (present) and Skuld (karmic debt) are the most powerful of the Norns and said to have come to intervene in a time long past when the gods ruled too haughtily over men. The three beautiful maidens pour the purifying waters of the Urðarbrunnr (Well of Urðr) over the Yggdrasil (Tree of Life) to keep it eternally rejuvenated.
The Urðarbrunnr is said to be one of three wells, one under each of the three roots of the Yggdrasil. Each root reaches to a different far off land. The other two wells are Hvergelmir (bubbling boiling spring), located beneath a root in Niflheim (Abode of Mist), and Mímisbrunnr (Mímir’s well), located beneath a root near the home of the frost jötnar (Giant). It was said that Odin gave one of his eyes to drink from the Mímisbrunnr, the well of wisdom and understanding.
Aside from Tasmania and parts of New Zealand Australia’s Blue Mountains is the last real stop in the Pacific Ocean before the Antarctic. The Blue Mts. are about as far away as you can get from the land of the Norsemen on the Baltic Sea. But as Caroline Cory author of The Visible and Invisible Worlds of God notes “there are several umbilical cords on the planet. This particular location is located exactly at negative thirty-three latitude.”46
Cory then recites the standard alien enthusiast dogma about the thirty-three degree latitude of planet earth aligning with the center of the galaxy and how it is “continuously being visited from different parts of the planetary system from different parts of the galaxy and even from beyond this galaxy, from way out in the universe.”47
Most amateur UFO enthusiasts have never heard of Bruce Cathie and his book; Harmonic 33, published way back in 1968. But most professional researchers are well acquainted with the book and many new age authors use Cathie’s math to validate their Tinkerbellian speculations.
“Even while you read this interplanetary space ships are rebuilding a world grid system from which it appears they can draw motive power and they are possibly using the grid for navigational purposes.” 48
This is the cover sentence in Harmonic 33. There are rumors that the original book was immediately pulled from bookstore shelves, edited, then rereleased with Cathie put under wraps and assigned a handler, never to produce anything again of any consequence for the general public, though he would write a few more books.
Cathie, a New Zealand airline pilot, saw his first UFO in 1952. He would be fascinated till he died in 2013. He began collecting data and collating it with sightings by other pilots over New Zealand. Using techniques borrowed from French UFO researcher Aimé Michel he was able to establish two track lines where aerial anomalies were being regularly encountered. From there he “was able to form a complete grid network over the whole of the New Zealand…”49
Cathie learned that the American survey ship Eltanin had taken some of the strangest photographs of the twentieth century off the west coast of South America. There, thirteen thousand feet beneath the waves mounted on the pacific sea bed was an “aerial-like object” that was “two-to-three-feet high and had six main crossbars spaced evenly up its stem with a smaller one at the top. Each set of crossbars had a small ball at the end of each arm.”50
Later one of the scientists who had been on board the Eltanin told Cathie the object was thought to be metallic and an artifact of some kind. Cathie was able to align his New Zealand grid with the coordinates of the artifact fashioning what he reasoned was a world energy grid and perhaps used as a galactic navigational tool by extra-terrestrials.
Interestingly enough, in light of Erwin Schrödinger’s actions at the World Energy Conference in 1956, Cathie did not believe nuclear weapons could be detonated randomly but would have to be at exactly the right coordinates at exactly the right time to work. Using his world energy grid he started publically predicting the exact times and places of test sites before they got him muzzled…
In Cathie’s own words “It was only a matter of time before I realized that the energy network formed by the grid was already known to a powerful group of international interests and scientists. It became obvious that the system had many military applications, and that political advantage could be gained by those with secret knowledge of this nature. It would be possible for a comparatively small group, with this knowledge, to take over control of the world.” 51
Cathie concluded that the “whole of physical reality was in fact manifested by a complex pattern of interlocking wave-forms.”52
Aliens are a very grey area, as is reality itself. What the Explicate Order translates out of the Implicate Order, what the Sacred manifests in the Profane, they are like points in a wave that show up as a particle. Just as surely they are guided only by Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle…
Something is going on in the Blue Mountains, always has been. It’s been categorized by twenty-first century academia as paranormal but it’s something Australia’s aboriginal people are well acquainted with.
Duncan Roads is the man who introduced Bruce Cathie to the general public. He knows words like von Neumann knew numbers. He says “the Australian aborigines have a connection and a relationship with what we call extra terrestrials and UFO’s which goes back tens of thousands of years. Their rather nonplussed by their existence, they have developed an awareness of individual types of visitors from what we call outer space.”53
The Three Sisters crouch at the south edge of the town of Katoomba, an Anglo-Saxon enclave of artists and artisans. They can be viewed from its golf course and are the most famous landmark in The City of Blue Mountains, a ribbon of contiguous towns, which lie on New South Wales Main Western railway line. The City of Blue Mountains has dubbed itself ‘The City within a World Heritage National Park.’ It has Sister City Relationships with Sanda City, Japan and Flagstaff, Arizona in the USA.
Located in the southwest of the Four Corners, an area famed for its paranormal activities, Flagstaff is the unofficial capital of the Navaho (Diné) Nation and the Hopi, the priestly tribe who are the keepers of the Diné’s most profound secrets.
Like a penitent kneeling at the foot of the alter Flagstaff prostrates itself at the south foot of Agassiz Peak, Freemont Peak and Doyle Peak in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness.
To the Hopi this area, part of the San Francisco Peaks, the remains of an eroded composite volcano, is the most sacred place in the Four Corners. In fact it is the most sacred place in the world…
The San Francisco Peaks are where the doorways open up for their gods, which they call Kachina, to come forth when they are called in the powerful ceremonies performed by the Hopi.
The Kachina are supernatural beings said to control the wind, the rain and the lighting…
At 11,464 feet Doyle Peak was the site of the world’s highest astronomical observation point from 1927-1932. Built by the Lowell Observatory, the stated purpose of the cabin on the south side of the summit was to scan the heavens and make spectroscopic observations, especially in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths…
In 2005 “a collaborative project team formed, the heart of which is still active today, including NASA scientists, Navajo Medicine Men, and both NASA and Navajo educators.”54 Flagstaff is the home of the Lowell Observatory, the U.S. Naval Observatory and the United States Geological Survey Flagstaff Station… Rock art from Sego Canyon at the northern frontier of the Four Corners.
Citations
1 – Reid, Nick, and Patrick D. Nunn. “Ancient Aboriginal Stories Preserve History of a Rise in Sea Level.” The Conversation. 13 Jan. 2015. Web. 25 July 2016. http://theconversation.com/ancient-aboriginal-stories-preserve-history-of-a-rise-in-sea-level-36010
2 – Ibid.
3 –“Ancient Aliens S11E07 – The Wisdom Keepers.” 11:00. YouTube, 7 July 2016. Web. 26 July 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-mX1eWoj6I
4 –Ibid. 29:33.
5 –Ibid. 30:09.
6– MARKOFF, JOHN. “Sorry, Einstein. Quantum Study Suggests ‘Spooky Action’ Is Real.” Science. New York Times, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 3 Aug. 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/science/quantum-theory-experiment-said-to-prove-spooky-interactions.html?_r=0
7 – “Karl Pribram ‘Holographic Brain’ New Dimensions 1:12:52.” Youtube. Insightfreeman, 5 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Aug. 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awFleswtH2Y
8 –Ibid. 23:34. | 1real |
Conservative Terrorist Given INSANELY Light Sentence For Threat To Kill ‘Usurper’ Obama | Last year, a Wisconsin man was busted for threats he made against President Obama s life. This wasn t just an instance of someone who has been brainwashed spouting off about lynching ( hanging for Treason ) the President. Brian Dennis Dutcher actually intended to kill the President, even if he had to use a slingshot. During a July 15 visit to Wisconsin, a threat lurked in the shadows. The usurper is here and if I get a chance I ll take him out and I ll take the shot, Dutcher told a security guard at a La Crosse library as he prepared his attack against the President something conservative media had convinced Dutcher was his Constitutional duty. Sure, he may have just been making small talk Nice weather today. I m going to kill the President. but Dutcher s Facebook posts leading up to the vocalization of his plot reveal that this is something he had been openly planning. I have been praying on going to D.C. for 3 months and now the upsurper is coming HERE. saving me a 800 mile trip, wrote in a June 30 Facebook post. Doing what I do for my daughter, so she can live free. pray for me to succeed in my mission. Dutcher explained to his friends and family that it is his CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY TO TAKE ACTION because the gov has declaired war on us. Another post, which Dutcher had deleted explained his plan in more detail: that s it! Thursday I will be in La Crosse. Hopefully I will get a clear shot at the pretend president. Killing him is our CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY! Numerous other posts complained that Secret Service was stopping people like him from taking the shot. Dutcher even told a detective in no uncertain terms that his threat was serious and he would not have said what he said if he didn t intend to carry it out. In fact, he told Secret Service his intent was to circumvent security and figure out how to shoot (Obama) with a slingshot. Dutcher, referencing the Biblical story of David and Goliath, told law enforcement that he could easily kill a human Bart Simpson style.Each of the many times he threatened the President could have landed him in prison for up to five years and cost him $250,000. Despite the very real nature of his promise to murder President Obama, the would-be assassin was only sentenced to three years in prison and three years of supervised release.This is exactly why conservatives feel it is acceptable to threaten the President. No matter how clear their intentions, no matter how many times they explain the ways they will exucute (to use Dutcher s word) Barack Obama, they receive the equivalent of a slap on the wrist.Dutcher will likely be seen as a martyr to the Revolution by our frenemies on the Right, but the truth is that he is a symptom of a cancer in society that we must cut out before it is too late.Featured image via Addicting Info archives | 1real |
FINA suspends Russian swimmer for 8 years over doping — web portal - Russia News Now | This post was originally published on this site Vitaly Melnikov
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS
MOSCOW. November 11. /TASS/. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) has banned Russian swimmer Vitaly Melnikov for eight years after a repeat violation of anti-doping rules, the web portal Swimswam reported on Friday.
The swimmer who was earlier suspended for two years had his sample taken on March 29, 2016. The sample tested positive.
{{item.group_date}} | 1real |
Chart Of The Day: French Auto Production Down 45% Since 2000 | Chart Of The Day: French Auto Production Down 45% Since 2000 | 1real |
The Powerful Words of John Trudell Ring Out Over Standing Rock | The Powerful Words of John Trudell Ring Out Over Standing Rock Share on Facebook Tweet The words of John Trudell, who walked on late last year, ring out in this video by filmmakers Heather Rae, Cody Lucich and Ben Dupris, who recently spent time with the water protectors near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation who are trying to stop the Dakota Access oil pipeline’s proposed route under the Missouri River. His words, delivered in the 1980 speech We Are Power, are even more... read more
The words of John Trudell, who walked on late last year, ring out in this video by filmmakers Heather Rae, Cody Lucich and Ben Dupris, who recently spent time with the water protectors near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation who are trying to stop the Dakota Access oil pipeline’s proposed route under the Missouri River. His words, delivered in the 1980 speech We Are Power , are even more prophetic in the wake of the destruction of sacred burial grounds and the use of dogs and pepper spray against those who tried to stop it.
“The brutality of the American corporate state way of life is nothing more than violence and repression, and it has nothing to do with power,” Trudell’s voice says. “It is brutality. It’s a lack of a sane balance.”
Rae, who produced and directed the 2005 Sundance Film Festival documentary selection Trudell , teamed up with Lucich and Dupris and posted this on the Sundance Institute’s website. They graciously shared this, their footage of the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline, with Indian Country Today Media Network . [watch video below] | 1real |
Republicans Hold CPAC Event In A Gun Free Zone, Reach New Level Of Hypocrisy (IMAGE) | Republicans have spent the last few years in a frenzy, passing pro-gun legislation at every opportunity even while mass shootings continue to plague the country. At the moment, conservatives in almost every state are spending enormous amounts of energy passing so-called guns everywhere bills that allow people to go to places like bars, national parks, churches, and schools strapped with a firearm. They say this will keep people safe because more guns means more good guys with guns. But when it comes to their own events, their opinion suddenly drastically changes. Thousands of Tea Party patriots and conservative fanatics crammed into a small conference center? Organizers would rather they left their guns at home. After all, they may be hypocrites, but they re not suicidal!Republicans have flocked to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference, one of the biggest Republican events of the year. At the event, attendees will hear right-wing talking points spoken by some of their favorite Republican politicians and drilled into their heads over loudspeakers. Without a doubt, CPAC will feature lots of pro-gun mania. A few years ago, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was actually given a musket on stage to the delight of the audience. (Yeah, CPAC is really weird.)But this year before they can get in, attendees are greeted with this sign.At CPAC there will be no good guys with guns :/ pic.twitter.com/Kn8tUWyubs Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) March 3, 2016They then must walk through a metal detector just to ensure they aren t still bearing arms.Why ban guns? Well, because having that many gun carriers packed into a small area practically begs a tragedy to happen. Whether by accident or on purpose, the chances of a shooting skyrocket. This year will be particularly tense, because the Republican Party is in the process of imploding. Trump fans, known for roughing up their critics, and Republican establishment fans, known for hating Trump, will be crammed into Standing Room Only venues. Weapons are the last thing these people need.Inside, they ll probably feel a bit naked without their guns, but they will be covered head-to-toe in hypocrisy. Gun free zones are for liberal places like churches, universities, and elementary schools. This is CPAC, where conservatives can roam in the comfort of their own warped ideology. Everyone should have a Bible in their breastpocket and a gun on their hip. Conceding that guns make a place dangerous is counter to their most sacred belief: Guns keep us safe.It s unclear whether the no guns allowed policy came from CPAC organizers or the convention center they rented. Either way, it looks bad. Republicans want guns to be around school children but can t tolerate them during their weekend event.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
PRESIDENT TRUMP CALLS OUT NATO MEMBERS Standing Feet Away For Not Paying [Video] | President Trump met for the first time with members of NATO and scolded them for not paying their fair share : Members of the alliance must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations. Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH5XeHaEEaYThis was true Trump style with his blunt speech telling them to pay up. | 1real |
HILLARY SUPPORTER AND MUSLIM IMMIGRANT Who Shot Up Mall Voted In Last 3 Elections…Isn’t An American Citizen [VIDEO] | This story is a perfect example of why Barack and Hillary are in such a big hurry to bring foreigners into our country. It doesn t matter if American citizens are on the hook to support them and their extended families for decades to come. What matters is how they vote, and it s pretty clear by this discovery about this Muslim immigrant, he not only supports Hillary, he s been ILLEGALLY voting in the last 3 elections!The Cascade Mall shooting suspect, Arcan Cetin, may face an additional investigation related to his voting record and citizenship status.Federal sources confirm to KING 5 that Cetin was not a U.S. citizen, meaning legally he cannot vote. However, state records show Cetin registered to vote in 2014 and participated in three election cycles, including the May presidential primary.Cetin, who immigrated to the United States from Turkey as a child, is considered a permanent resident or green card holder. While a permanent resident can apply for U.S. citizenship after a certain period of time, sources tell KING his status had not changed from green card holder to U.S. citizen. | 1real |
Hillary Clinton Receives Ovation at ‘The Color Purple’ - The New York Times | Hillary Clinton, who has kept a relatively low public profile since losing the presidential election two months ago, on Sunday showed up at the final performance of the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple,” reveling in the story of a beleaguered woman who triumphs over the oppressive men in her life (and, along the way, discovers a love for colorful pants). Mrs. Clinton, accompanied by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, received several ovations from the audience as she arrived, and then another round of applause when she was acknowledged by the cast after the show. “There’s a lot of really awesome famous and notable people here today,” the actress Patrice Covington, who gave the farewell speech on behalf of the cast after the show, said to the audience. “I’m not going to call all of them out — I know you already know them,” she said, before pausing, looking in Mrs. Clinton’s direction, and waving at her mischievously. At that, the audience erupted into a new, loud round of applause. The reaction was substantially warmer than the scattered booing and clapping that greeted the arrival of Vice Mike Pence when he attended “Hamilton,” just one block north, on Nov. 18. “We love you Hillary,” some audience members shouted. Several thanked Mrs. Clinton and told her, “God bless you. ” “God bless you,” Mrs. Clinton replied. Mrs. Clinton was besieged by before the show, at intermission and as she was ushered out a side door after the musical ended (“Whoa!” said her husband as they left.) Jordan Serpone, 33, an audience member from Boston, said that spotting Mrs. Clinton was a surprisingly moving experience for him. “I was having every emotion I’ve tried to get rid of over the past few weeks,” he said during intermission. He shook her hand, but said he is still filled with frustration over her loss. “She shouldn’t be here. She should be planning her cabinet,” he said. Because the Sunday matinee was the last performance for the acclaimed production, which won last year’s Tony award for best musical revival, the crowd was starry: Among those in the audience were Jonathan Groff, Mariska Hargitay, Gayle King, Debra Messing, Leslie Odom Jr. Billy Porter, Phylicia Rashad and Anna Wintour. Public sightings of Mrs. Clinton in the weeks since the election have been sufficiently rare that they create a stir on social media. Strangers have sought photographs with her at stores and in the woods near her home in Chappaqua, N. Y. But Mrs. Clinton has indicated that she and her husband plan to attend the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president on Jan. 20. “The Color Purple” tells the searing story of a young black woman abused by her stepfather and her husband in rural Georgia in the early 20th century. The musical is an adaptation of a 1982 novel, by Alice Walker, which was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Steven Spielberg adapted the novel into a film in 1985, and Oprah Winfrey, who was featured in the film, went on to become an important champion, and of the musical. The musical has been one of the most successful at attracting black audiences to Broadway. It first opened on Broadway in 2005, and features a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Stephen Bray, Brenda Russell and Allee Willis. The revival, which opened in 2015 and was directed by John Doyle, featured a performance by the British actress Cynthia Erivo. She won a Tony award for best actress in a leading role in a musical. The last show took place on Ms. Erivo’s 30th birthday. | 0fake |
Atzmon: Who Keeps Americans in the Dark? | . By Gilad AtzmonEarlier this week, senior Tablet magazine writer Yair Rosenberg pointed out in a Washington Post article that the White nationalists who gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia targeted the Jews. They (the White Nationalists) immediately went after the Jews, Rosenberg writes. They chanted anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans, including blood and soil and Jews will not replace us all crafted to cast Jews as foreign interlopers who need to be expunged. The attendees proudly displayed giant swastikas and wore shirts emblazoned with quotes from Adolf Hitler. One banner read, Jews are Satan s children. This is an important and genuine observation by Rosenberg. He suggests that the white nationalists are fully aware that that they are in a battle with the Jews. The Jews also seem to acknowledge that they are at war with the White Nationalists and that this broad category includes the American President* who according to the Jewish press took side with the Nazis .It seems that the American people are the only ones who are kept in the dark. They seem baffled by this spectacle of hatred that threatens to escalate into a new civil war. The Americans are told by their media that this is a race war: White vs. Black, slavery apologists vs. peace loving liberals, White Lives Matters vs. Black Lives Matter and so on. But if Rosenberg is right and this is a war between the Jews and the White Nationalists, why do the American media attempts to conceal it?If you hate racism, as you should, but also brave enough to look for an answer, you may grasp how volatile the situation is. Those who read Jewish history aren t surprised by the current developments. It has all been building for quite a while.This article was originally published at Gilad Atzmon s blogGilad Atzmon s book Being In Time: A Post Political Manifesto is available now on: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and gilad.co.uk. READ MORE CHARLOTTESVILLE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Charlottesville FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Trump's trade czar expected to get easy U.S. Senate confirmation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross is expected to be easily confirmed as U.S. Commerce Secretary on Monday, clearing President Donald Trump’s top trade official to start work on renegotiating trade relationships with China and Mexico. The vote will insert a major new voice into Trump’s economic team, one that strongly influenced his criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a now-scrapped Asia-Pacific trade deal. Ross’ nomination is scheduled for a vote on Monday at around 7 p.m. (0000 GMT). It was advanced by the Senate in a 66-31 procedural vote on Feb. 17, signaling solid support from Democrats. Part of that support stems from praise that Ross has drawn from the United Steelworkers union for his efforts in restructuring several bankrupt steel companies in the early 2000s, saving numerous plants and thousands of jobs. But he also has come under criticism from some left-wing groups as another billionaire in a Trump cabinet that claims to be focused on the working class, and for being a “vulture” investor who has eliminated jobs. Reuters reported last month that Ross’s companies have shipped some 2,700 jobs overseas since 2004. The 79-year-old investor will oversee a sprawling agency with nearly 44,000 employees responsible for combating the dumping of imports below cost into U.S. markets, collecting census and critical economic data, weather forecasting, fisheries management, promoting the United States to foreign investors and regulating the export of sensitive technologies. While Commerce secretaries rarely take the spotlight in Washington, Ross is expected to play an outsize role in pursuing Trump’s campaign pledge to slash U.S. trade deficits and bring manufacturing jobs back to America. Trump has designated Ross to lead the renegotiation of NAFTA with Mexico and Canada, a job that in past administrations would have been left to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. Ross will join other major players on the economic team, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council. Some experts said Ross could serve as a counterweight to advisers such as Peter Navarro, the University of California-Irvine economics professor who heads Trump’s newly created White House National Trade Council. Navarro has advocated a controversial 45 percent across-the-board tariff on imports from China that Trump threatened during his campaign. “I expect that Ross will quickly become the administration’s chief trade spokesman, and that Navarro’s influence will be felt indirectly, rather than through public statements or testimony,” said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. At his confirmation hearing, Ross downplayed chances of a trade war with China, while calling it the “most protectionist” large economy. He vowed to level the playing field for U.S. companies competing with Chinese imports and those trying to do business in China’s highly restricted economy. Ross, estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.9 billion, built his fortune in the late 1990s and early 2000s by investing in distressed companies in steel, coal, textiles and auto parts, restructuring them and often benefiting from tariff protections put in place by the Commerce Department. | 0fake |
ISIS shoots down Russian helicopter near Palmyra (VIDEO+PHOTOS) | November 4, 2016 - Fort Russ News - RusVesna - translated by J. Arnoldski -
As previously reported by Russian Spring, ISIS’ media wing, and the Al-Amak agency, on the evening of November 3rd, a Russian helicopter was shot down near Palmyra in the Khveisis village district in the Syrian province of Homs.
Later, the Ministry of Defense of Russia denied reports that Russian servicemen were killed. The ministry did confirm that during the execution of a special operation on humanitarian cargo delivery on November 3rd, a Russian military helicopter made an emergency landing 40 kilometers northwest of Palmyra and its crew was successfully evacuated by Russian search and rescue forces.
Earlier, ISIS terrorists reported that the Russian armed force’s helicopter was shot down by a guided missile.
The terrorists have just published footage of the rescue operation and the destruction of the Mi-35 helicopter in the desert near Palmyra. The video and photos clearly show Russian special forces on armored Tiger cars and KamA3 “Vystrel” evacuating the crew with an Mi-8 military transport helicopter.
During the rescue helicopter’s takeoff, the damaged Mi-35 exploded, after which special forces orderly left the scene on armored vehicles and in the Mi-8. The rescue helicopter shot flares to protect against MPADS.
On social networks, it has been suggested that the helicopter could have been detonated by special forces because of the impossibility of taking it back to base. According to another theory, the Mi-35 exploded after being hit by an MPAD rocket fired by militants.
The Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria subsequently reported the details of the emergency situation: “During the inspection of the helicopter by the crew on the scene, the landing area was subjected to mortar fire by militants. The helicopter was damaged, preventing it from independently returning to its air base.”
The Russian defense ministry also specified that the Mi-35 crew did not suffer and was rapidly evacuated by the search and rescue helicopter to the Russian military base at Hmeimim in the province of Latakia. At the time, the fate of the damaged aircraft was not known.
The Mi-35 combat helicopter was alleged to have been carrying out the military task of covering a transport helicopter delivering humanitarian aid.
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Why These Democrats Flipped To Defeat Wall Street Deregulation | WASHINGTON -- Anyone who wants to understand the current state of the Democratic Party should pay close attention to what happened this week in the House of Representatives, where Democrats cut down a GOP-backed Wall Street deregulation bill. In response, the bill's supporters avoided talking about who the legislation would have helped (hint: two big banks), focusing instead on calling its victorious opponents a bunch of flip-floppers.
"The atmosphere is a little bit different," Himes said. "I think there were 35 Democrats who voted yes. On similar legislation in the last Congress, that number was more like 75 or so. So yes, there were some folks who looked at the same thing this Congress and thought that they felt differently about it."
Actually, 95 Democrats supported a very similar bill as recently as September. Both bills were 11-point packages chipping away at the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The most serious attack of the bunch came in the form of a partial two-year delay of the Volcker Rule, which would ban banks from speculating in securities markets with taxpayer money. The bill would have allowed Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase to hold onto almost $50 billion in risky corporate debt packages known as collateralized loan obligations through 2019. Since that perk wasn't included in the September version of the bill, the alleged flip-floppers can make a case that this time around, things just went too far.
But that doesn't seem to be what's really going on among today's Democrats. For one thing, Democrats approved a previous two-year delay of the same Volcker Rule provision last spring, pushing it to 2017, and dozens of House Democrats spent much of 2013 and 2014 lining up to support bill after bill that dealt blows to the party's second-biggest policy achievement of the Obama era.
This infuriated financial reform advocates. In isolation, many of these bills would have meant only minor trouble for Dodd-Frank. Others, however, were quite serious, and collectively, they functioned as a repeal strategy that may ultimately prove more effective than the GOP's straightforward assault on Obamacare. They never became law because then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) didn't bring them up in the Senate, but with Republicans now in control of the Senate, that firewall is gone.
The Democratic domestic policy agenda is remarkably uniform across the caucus, with one major exception. Nearly every House Democrat supports same-sex marriage, stronger environmental protections and increasing the minimum wage. But on bank reform, the party remains divided. Things have been shifting lately, however, and the 44 Democrats who switched their votes between September and January show which way the wind is blowing. They're listed at the bottom of this article. As for the other supporters of the September bill, 12 aren't in Congress anymore -- a politically significant point in its own right -- and four didn't vote.
There's nothing inherently terrible about flip-flopping. Historically, it's a pretty important part of the legislative process, on everything from the Democratic Party's embrace of the civil rights movement in the 1960s to the passage of the Wall Street bailout in 2008. Even Himes, mourning his defeat on C-SPAN, noted that a lot of people who thought unfettered finance was a good idea in the late 1990s recanted after the banking crash.
Elections, in particular, have a way of changing politicians' opinions, and November was horrible for Democrats in almost every possible way. Economic policy factors stuck with a lot of liberals. Ballot initiatives to increase the minimum wage passed all over the country in districts blue and red, even as Democrats took a beating everywhere. Exit poll data showed that the economy remained the most important issue to voters (as it has in every election since 2008), and shepherded in Republicans, even though a robust majority didn't think the GOP had a plan to make things better.
The public is still angry about the bank bailouts. And even with the economy showing signs of improvement, voting for more Wall Street financial aid is an easy way to convince many constituents that you aren't playing for their team.
All of that came to a head in the December vote on a major government funding bill. When top negotiators from both parties included a provision subsidizing risky derivatives trading in the package, many Democrats who had been quietly going along with the piecemeal dismantling of Dodd-Frank began trying to take down the spending bill over the bank perk. They came pretty close, and the final events of the vote -- President Barack Obama and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon personally lobbying lawmakers for support -- only added fuel to the bank reformers' fire.
They appear to be picking up converts, as demonstrated by the 44 Democrats who came out against the Volcker Rule delay Wednesday. Several of those 44 were frequent Wall Street supporters in the last Congress -- House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Reps. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.). Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) stand out as interesting changes.
Of course, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) whipped Democrats hard on Wednesday to oppose the Volcker Rule delay, and issued a statement after the vote blasting the bill as a GOP rip-off of the American people. Pelosi is obviously a powerful person in the caucus, and when Republicans bring the same Volcker Rule bill up again next week under rules that will guarantee its passage, she'll have less leverage, and some of the financial reform converts may revert to backing big banks. | 0fake |
Russia blocks U.N. Security Council condemnation of Syria attack | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia blocked a Western-led effort at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to condemn last week’s deadly gas attack in Syria and push Moscow’s ally President Bashar al-Assad to cooperate with international inquiries into the incident. It was the eighth time during Syria’s six-year-old civil war that Moscow has used its veto power on the Security Council to shield Assad’s government. In the latest veto, Russia blocked a draft resolution backed by the United States, France and Britain to denounce the attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun and tell Assad’s government to provide access for investigators and information such as flight plans. The toxic gas attack on April 4 prompted the United States to launch missile strikes on a Syrian air base and widened a rift between the United States and Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that trust had eroded between the two countries under U.S. President Donald Trump. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson echoed that comment after meetings with Russian leaders in Moscow, saying that relations are at a low point with a low level of trust. Tillerson called for Assad to eventually relinquish power. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called on Moscow to stop protecting Assad and said the United States wants to work with Russia toward a political solution for Syria. “Russia once again has chosen to side with Assad, even as the rest of the world, including the Arab world, overwhelmingly comes together to condemn this murderous regime,” Haley told the 15-member Security Council. “If the regime is innocent, as Russia claims, the information requested in this resolution would have vindicated them.” Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, said the draft resolution laid blame prior to an independent investigation. “I’m amazed that this was the conclusion. No one has yet visited the site of the crime. How do you know that?” he said. He said the U.S. attack on the Syrian air base “was carried out in violation of international norms.” Syria’s government has denied responsibility for the gas attack in a rebel-held area of northern Syria that killed at least 87 people, many of them children. A fact-finding mission from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is investigating the attack. If it determines that chemical weapons were used, then a joint U.N./OPCW investigation will look at the incident to determine who is to blame. This team has already found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants used mustard gas. China, which has vetoed six resolutions on Syria since the civil war began, abstained from Wednesday’s U.N. vote, along with Ethiopia and Kazakhstan. Ten countries voted in favor of the text, while Bolivia joined Russia in voting no. U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking at an event in the White House, said he was not surprised by China’s abstention. Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the Security Council that samples taken from the site of the April 4 attack had been analyzed by British scientists and tested positive for the nerve gas sarin. He said Assad’s government was responsible. Diplomats said that Russia has put forward a rival draft resolution that expresses concern at last week’s gas attack and condemns the U.S. strike on Syria. It was unclear if Moscow planned to put the text to a vote. | 0fake |
Obama's community college proposal: dead on arrival? | Knoxville, Tennessee (CNN) President Barack Obama's ambitious proposal to give millions of Americans more affordable access to a community college education and what he called a "ticket to the middle class" is unlikely to become law any time soon.
His plan is to partner with states and fund the first two years of community college for Americans "willing to work for it." The White House will work to push this plan through Congress "in the next few weeks," Obama promised.
But with a roughly $60 billion price tag over the next 10 years, the proposal may have little chance of getting through the wall of Republican deficit hawks that now control both houses of Congress.
Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Republican senators from Tennessee, joined Obama on Air Force One and at the community college during Obama's speech, but neither want Obama's plan to become federal law.
That's despite the fact that Obama called his proposal bipartisan, noting that similar policies have been implemented by Tennessee's Republican governor and Chicago's Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Asked whether he would support Obama's proposal, Corker said "Oh no, no, no, no, no," instead urging other states to take the president's initiative, and do something similar themselves rather than create "a whole new bureaucratic federal program."
Sen. Alexander, chairman of the Senate's education committee and the former education secretary, echoed that in a statement on Friday saying states should follow Tennessee's lead.
Obama's proposal, dubbed America's College Promise, wouldn't be the first broad-sweeping proposition that didn't get far in Washington, but --aided by a presidential push -- could still make inroads throughout the country by way of state and local initiatives.
"It's not necessarily all about bills and funding," said Maine's Sen. Angus King who serves on the Senate Budget Committee. "Sometimes it's about the bully pulpit and raising the profile of an issue."
King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, pointed to the President's previous ambitious proposal for universal early childhood education in 2013. It hasn't produced results on Capitol Hill, but has spurred attempts to provide Pre-K education in King's state of Maine.
And while Congress hasn't raised the federal minimum wage since Obama called for an increase during last year's State of the Union, dozens of states and municipalities have since passed laws to create a higher minimum wage on their own.
"Setting the national agenda is an important part of what the presidency is," King said.
King said Obama is "definitely in the target zone" with his proposal, but said there would be a challenge to find the $60 billion, which he called "a big number." While he supports Obama's idea, King said he wouldn't endorse the proposal outright until he reviews the plan's funding mechanism, which remains a massive question mark.
And King was thrilled to learn that Obama committed in his speech to working with Alexander on a bill King cosponsored that would shrink the size of the federal student aid application form, which has more than a hundred questions -- something college affordability advocates have pushed for in recent years.
Obama's proposal would give states a huge break -- with the federal government picking up three-quarters of the cost of waiving community college tuition for the first two years, and leaving states to fund the rest.
"States would have to do their part too. For those willing to do the work and for states and local communities who want to be a part of it, it could be a game changer," Obama said.
Emphasizing that there are "no free rides in America," free tuition would be contingent on students getting good grades, enrolling at part-time and following through on earning their degree.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reporters on Air Force One recognized that the $60 billion plan was a "significant investment."
"But it's one the president believes is worthwhile because we need to make sure that America's young people are getting the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century economy," Schultz said.
Obama modeled the proposal on a Tennessee program started under Republican Gov. Bill Haslam a year ago.
"Why not just build on something that works?" Obama said at Pellissippi State Community College on Friday.
Haslam launched the Tennessee Promise, a program that covers the cost of tuition and fees of a certificate or degree at any of the state's community colleges after students already kick in whatever financial aid they can get.
But higher education experts stress that the Tennessee program doesn't make a community college education "free" since students incur many other costs to attend college -- from living expenses to lost wages.
Lauren Asher, President of The Institute for College Access & Success, said Obama's plan is different (and, she said, better) since it would waive tuition costs and let students use federal aid, like Pell Grants for the neediest students, go toward expenses other than tuition.
And Obama's focus on community colleges was also a welcome message, just one of the many steps the administration has taken to address college access and affordability, Asher said.
"The President is rightly calling attention to the importance and value of community colleges and of education and training after high school," Asher said. "What the President is proposing has the potential to help low-income students.
Nicholas Wyman, CEO of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation, a consulting firm, called Obama's focus on community colleges and skills-driven, vocational training a much-needed step to boost the U.S. economy.
The number of job openings could halve the unemployment rate, but a massive gap between the skills of prospective employees and those in demand is holding the economy back. And by elevating community colleges, Obama is helping to destigmatize what many view as bottom-rung institutions.
"Companies want to employ people with strong academics, but they also want to employ people with strong workplace skills. A lot of the community colleges offer that and unfortunately a lot of the four year colleges don't," Wyman said. "This is an opportunity to move the community college system into the 21st century."
Obama also hit on a note that is a focus of Wyman's consulting firm, addressing the need to connect community colleges and employers who could benefit from the neatly-tailored skills of a community college graduate.
And even if Obama's proposal flops in Washington, Wyman, who has travelled around the country, asserted that states are "hungry for reforms."
"There's a lot of states who would look at this and often as you know states don't like being told what to do," Wyman said, and maybe they'll now take the initiative themselves. | 0fake |
Elizabeth Warren Just DECIMATED Ted Cruz For Whining About His ‘Sacrifices’: BOO HOO (TWEETS) | It looks as though Ted Cruz is really proud of himself for everything he believes he is doing for the nation as he is running for president. On Monday, he sent out a campaign email explaining all the sacrifices he s making as he s on the campaign trail. He said, The sacrifices for our campaign are steep, but I m proud to be making them on your behalf. Then he goes on to list the sacrifices:Now, I don t know about you, but I needed a barf bag to get through his list of sacrifices. Someone else who was not at all impressed with Cruz s complaints about life for the good of his campaign is Senator Elizabeth Warren from the great state of Massachusetts. She saw his list of sacrifices and took to Twitter faster than a locomotive to let him know a thing or two about real sacrifice.Yesterday @TedCruz sent a campaign email whining about the significant sacrifice he s made to run for President. pic.twitter.com/yKtLpWG0Ou Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016.@TedCruz whined about facing constant attacks, nonexistent family time, limited health and sleep, and no personal time. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016She even said boo hoo that s when I stood up at my computer and applauded.Are you kidding me, @TedCruz? We re supposed to pity you because trying to be the leader of the free world is hard?! 2 words: Boo hoo. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016Then she goes through his sacrifices one by one and absolutely tears each and every one of them apart with true examples of sacrifice.Know whose health is limited? Workers w/ no paid leave who can't stay home when sick or caring for kids. @TedCruz won't support it. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016Know whose sleep is limited? Working parents who stay up worrying about getting kids thru college w/o big debt. @TedCruz blocked #refi. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016Know who gets no personal time? People who work 2 min wage jobs to support their families. @TedCruz opposes giving them a raise. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016Know who gets no family time, @TedCruz? Moms w/ unfair schedules who drop kids at daycare & find their hrs cancelled. @GOP won't help. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016Know who s facing "constant attacks," @TedCruz? Hardworking American immigrants, Muslims, LGBT folks, women. Your constant attacks. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016And @TedCruz? Working people work more, get paid less, can't save, get mistreated, struggle with illness & family but they don't whine. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016They don't throw tantrums or try to shut down their workplace because they don't get their way & then turn around & demand promotions. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016Oh, but she wasn t done yet Now she drives it home!You chose to run for President, @TedCruz. You chose to make your sacrifices. Working people don't have a choice. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016Hey @TedCruz: Maybe you should spend less time complaining about your "significant sacrifices" & more time doing something about theirs. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 19, 2016YES! YES! YES! A thousand million kajillion times YES! Senator Warren, thank you for telling it like it is. Bravo! Never stop being you!The mic has been dropped. Eat crow, Cruz.Featured Photos by Darren Hauck/Getty Images Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Twitter | 1real |
Michael Moore Owes Me $4.99 | Email
Michael Moore has made some terrific movies in the past, and Where to Invade Next may be the best of them, but I expected Trumpland to be (1) about Trump, (2) funny, (3) honest, (4) at least relatively free of jokes glorifying mass murder. I was wrong on all counts and would like my $4.99 back, Michael.
Moore’s new movie is a film of him doing a stand-up comedy show about how wonderfully awesome Hillary Clinton is — except that he mentions Trump a bit at the beginning and he’s dead serious about Clinton being wonderfully awesome.
This film is a text book illustration of why rational arguments for lesser evilist voting do not work. Lesser evilists become self-delusionists. They identify with their lesser evil candidate and delude themselves into adoring the person. Moore is not pushing the “Elect her and then hold her accountable” stuff. He says we have a responsibility to “support her” and “get behind her,” and that if after two years — yes, TWO YEARS — she hasn’t lived up to a platform he’s fantasized for her, well then, never fear, because he, Michael Moore, will run a joke presidential campaign against her for the next two years (this from a guy who backed restricting the length of election campaigns in one of his better works).
Moore maintains that virtually all criticism of Hillary Clinton is nonsense. What do we think, he asks, that she asks how many millions of dollars you’ve put into the Clinton Foundation and then she agrees to bomb Yemen for you? Bwahahaha! Pretty funny. Except that Saudi Arabia put over $10 million into the Clinton Foundation, and while she was Secretary of State Boeing put in another $900,000, upon which Hillary Clinton reportedly made it her mission to get the planes sold to Saudi Arabia, despite legal restrictions — the planes now dropping U.S.-made bombs on Yemen with U.S. guidance, U.S. refueling mid-air, U.S. protection at the United Nations, and U.S. cover in the form of pop-culture distraction and deception from entertainers like Michael Moore.
Standing before a giant Air Force missile and enormous photos of Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore claims that substantive criticism of Clinton can consist of only two things, which he dismisses in a flash: her vote for a war on Iraq and her coziness with Wall Street. He says nothing more about what that “coziness” consists of, and he claims that she’s more or less apologized and learned her lesson on Iraq.
What? It wasn’t one vote. It was numerous votes to start the war, fund it, and escalate it. It was the lies to get it going and keep it going. It’s all the other wars before and since.
*She says President Obama was wrong not to launch missile strikes on Syria in 2013. *She pushed hard for the overthrow of Qadaffi in 2011. *She supported the coup government in Honduras in 2009. *She has backed escalation and prolongation of war in Afghanistan. *She skillfully promoted the White House justification for the war on Iraq. *She does not hesitate to back the use of drones for targeted killing. *She has consistently backed the military initiatives of Israel. *She was not ashamed to laugh at the killing of Qadaffi. *She has not hesitated to warn that she could obliterate Iran. *She is eager to antagonize Russia. *She helped facilitate a military coup in Ukraine. *She has the financial support of the arms makers and many of their foreign customers. *She waived restrictions at the State Department on selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar, all states wise enough to donate to the Clinton Foundation. *She supported President Bill Clinton’s wars and the power of the president to make war without Congress. *She has advocated for arming fighters in Syria and for a “No Fly” zone. *She supported a surge in Iraq even before President Bush did.
That’s just her war problem. What about her banking problem, prison problem, fracking problem, corporate trade problem, corporate healthcare problem, climate change problem, labor problem, Social Security problem, etc.?
Moore parts company from substantive critique in order to lament unproven rightwing claims that Hillary Clinton has murdered various people. “I hope she did,” screams Moore. “That’s who I want as Commander in Chief!” Hee hee hee.
Then Moore shamelessly pushes the myth that Hillary tried to create single-payer, or at least “universal” healthcare (whatever that is) in the 1990s. In fact, as I heard Paul Wellstone tell it, single-payer easily won the support of Clinton’s focus group, but she buried it for her corporate pals and produced the phonebook-size monstrosity that was dead on arrival but reborn in another form years later as Obamacare. She killed single-payer then, has not supported it since, and does not propose it now. (Well, she does admit in private that it’s the only thing that works, as her husband essentially blurts out in public.) But Moore claims that because we didn’t create “universal” healthcare in the 1990s we all have the blood of millions on our hands, millions whom Hillary would have saved had we let her.
Moore openly fantasizes: what would it be like if Hillary Clinton is secretly progressive? Remember that Moore and many others did the exact same thing with Obama eight years ago. To prove Clinton’s progressiveness Moore plays an audio clip of her giving a speech at age 22 in which she does not hint at any position on any issue whatsoever.
Mostly, however, Moore informs us that Hillary Clinton is female. He anticipates “that glorious moment when the other gender has a chance to run this world and kick some righteous ass.” Now tell me please, dear world, if your ass is kicked by killers working for a female president will you feel better about it? How do you like Moore’s inclusive comments throughout his performance: “We’re all Americans, right?”
Moore’s fantasy is that Clinton will dash off a giant pile of executive orders, just writing Congress out of the government — executive orders doing things like releasing all nonviolent drug offenders from prison immediately (something the real Hillary Clinton would oppose in every way she could).
But when he runs for president, Moore says, he’ll give everybody free drugs.
I’ll tell you the Clinton ad I’d like to see. She’s standing over a stove holding an egg. “This is your brain,” she says solemnly, cracking it into the pan with a sizzle. “This is your brain on partisanship.” | 1real |
Obama’s Doing Something BIG To Raise Pay For Millions Of Americans (VIDEO) | Throughout his presidency, President Obama has dedicated himself to exploring policies with the goal of making life better for working Americans and making sure they are fairly compensated for their time and effort.Unfortunately, the GOP has become a major obstacle for the President ever since he stepped foot in the White House. After a Republican Congress made it perfectly clear that they won t even consider a minimum wage increase, the Obama administration was forced to seek out another alternative and it s finally going to pay off. Thanks to Obama s overhaul on overtime pay which doubles the salary level that workers must be paid overtime, millions of Americans are going to have more money in their pockets. This is major news, because this law hasn t been changed in over ten years!When Obama first mentioned that he wanted to revamp overtime pay, hardly anyone took him seriously. At his State of the Union address last year, the President said, We still need to make sure employees get the overtime they ve earned. Then, he unveiled a proposal to raise the income thresholds for those who would be eligible for overtime. It still seemed like faraway goal, until yesterday when the Labor Department finalized those new rules an initiative that the Huffington Post called one of the most ambitious economic reforms of the Obama era. Vice President Joe Biden announced the decision on Tuesday, stating that middle-class workers have been getting clobbered for decades. Biden said: The American people want to work. They want a fair shot. No handouts, no guarantees. Just a good job at a fair wage. Under the new rules, all workers earning salaries under the overtime salary threshold are entitled to time-and-a-half pay when they work over 40 hours per week which many do. The previous threshold was only $23,660 making millions of struggling, hard-working Americans ineligible. But thanks to the Obama administration, that number will be doubled to $47,476, which guarantees overtime rights for any salaried workers earning underneath that number. Before this was changed, only 7% of Americans were eligible for overtime. And it gets better the threshold will be updated by the Labor Department every three years to make sure that it keeps up with inflation. The Huffington Post reported:Featured image via Pool / Getty Images | 1real |
Trump says intelligence leaks 'deeply troubling' | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Trump vowed on Thursday to bring anyone caught leaking U.S. intelligence to justice after British police stopped sharing information about the Manchester suicide bombing with the United States. In a statement released after Trump arrived at the NATO military alliance, the president said he would seek an official review to stop leaks that he said posed a serious security threat. “The alleged leaks coming out of government agencies are deeply troubling,” Trump said in the statement. “I am asking the Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to launch a complete review of this matter, and if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” He said the relationship between the United States and Britain was the most cherished of all U.S. ties. | 0fake |
NATIONAL ARCHIVES MISSING Massive Data From Clinton White House Records | The National Archives inspector general investigated the theft. Later emails released by the State Department do not indicate if the federal government ever found the hard drive.There s also the separate case of Sandy Berger who literally stuck documents in his clothes and left the National Archives with them. He was later found cutting the documents up with scissors! It s understood that he wanted to destroy any papers with writing/notes written in the margins. He was the National Security advisor for the Clinton administration and it appears he was a good and loyal soldier to the Clintons when he destroyed evidence These two case of stolen documents have not been solved and we feel it s yet another case of a Clinton coverup A newly released email from the State Department shows that Hillary Clinton was informed in April 2009 of a massive theft of data pertaining to former President Bill Clinton s White House records.On April 13, 2009, Clinton attorney Cheryl Mills informed newly sworn-in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton via email that the National Archives could not account for a two-terabyte hard drive. The drive may contain a wide range of memos, emails, and other electronic documents from the Clinton White House. The hard drive contained information from the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.The email was made public from State Department files on Thursday as part of an ongoing release of recovered emails that had been previously deleted from Clinton s private server.The forwarded email said the National Archives had a duplicate and was examining it to know what was stolen. It was stolen or misplaced between Jan. 30, 2009, and March 24, 2009.The possible data losses were all serious but only three documents were classified. Social Security numbers and dates of births may have been lost to thieves. Political information may have been stolen too. Two terabytes is a very very large amount of data; the drive may contain a wide range of memos, emails, and other electronic documents from the Clinton White House, wrote Blake Roberts, deputy associate White House counsel for President Barack Obama. All the material is unclassified, except for three documents which Bill Leary has examined and does not believe present any significant risk. But the loss was still serious. Based on its analysis, NARA (National Archives) believes the drive contains other sensitive material, including: There is at least a 50% likelihood that the personal information (including DOB and SSN) of all individuals placed through the Clinton Presidential Personnel Office was on the lost hard drive, wrote Roberts. There is a 90% likelihood that the personal information (including DOB and SSN) of all Clinton WH staff was on the lost hard drive. There is a 100% chance that some of it was on the lost hard drive. The three classified documents were authored by Lael Brainard, then a top nominee for the Department of the Treasury, Roberts wrote. There are almost certainly records from many other White House officials, he said.The National Archives inspector general investigated the theft. Later emails released by the State Department do not indicate if the federal government ever found the hard drive. The federal government said they would notify affected people of the breach.The National Archives later did issue a press release on July 16, 2009, updating the public on the search for the hard drive. It offered a reward of $50,000. It also said 15,750 individuals had to be notified by mail of the possible theft.It s not clear why the hard drive was stolen eight years after Bill Clinton left office, and at the start of a new Democratic administration that included his wife, Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state.Theft of records from the National Archives had happened before.The late Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton s national security adviser from 1997 to 2001, removed several documents from the National Archives between Sept. 2, 2003, and Oct. 2, 2003.Berger removed the classified documents from the National Archives by sneaking them out in his socks and pants. Berger then stored and retained such documents at his place of employment. He pleaded guilty in 2005 but received no prison time, according to CNN. | 1real |
Trump campaign manager says he called reporter after run-in: CNN | (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign manager said on Friday he was relieved a battery case against him was over but disputed a reporter’s claim that he never tried to get in touch after she accused him of bruising her arm. Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said on Thursday that Lewandowski, 42, would not be prosecuted on a misdemeanor battery charge involving Michelle Fields, previously a reporter for the conservative news outlet Breitbart. Police charged him on March 29 with intentionally grabbing and bruising Fields’ arm at a campaign event. Lewandowski told CNN he called Fields on the night of the March 8 incident in Florida after seeing her boyfriend’s Twitter account that something had occurred. He said he never heard back. “I didn’t know what happened, honestly,” he said. “It was a brief interaction, and it wasn’t memorable to me, and I’m sorry about that.” Lewandowski told CNN his phone records proved that he did in fact try to contact Fields. Fields disputed that. “No. I never heard from Corey,” she said on Twitter on Friday following Lewandowski’s interview. | 0fake |
Cleveland officials to outline security for Republican Convention | (Reuters) - The mayor and police chief of Cleveland next week will outline what security measures they would take for the Republican National Convention, officials said after a civil rights group and a police union criticized aspects of the preparations. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has drawn intense protests at campaign stops this year. At times the demonstrations have resulted in violence between his supporters and opponents. Officials in Cleveland are gearing up for the thousands of demonstrators expected outside the convention, scheduled from July 18 to 21. The event will culminate with the party anointing the billionaire real estate developer as its nominee for the November general election. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson will join the police chief and other city officials on Tuesday to present a “comprehensive overview of security preparations” for the convention, the mayor said in a statement. “Despite rumors, the Division of Police is prepared and is on track with its planning goals,” the statement said. The announcement comes after the American Civil Liberties Union on May 19 accused the city of taking too long to issue permits to protesters planning demonstrations at the convention. The city has since said it will allow application for permits starting on Tuesday, the same day officials will outline security plans. The Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association also has objected to certain parts of the city’s plan. The union filed a grievance over an order prohibiting officers from taking vacations for several days before and after the convention. That prompted an arbitrator to order the city to pay overtime to officers who would lose out on vacation time, according to a copy of the ruling posted at news website Cleveland.com. Cleveland officials are marshalling a force of about 5,000 officers, including police from other law enforcement agencies, to provide security for the convention, City Council members have said. Council members earlier this month raised questions about the lack of transparency in Cleveland’s plans for the convention. But Police Chief Calvin Williams has said the city must withhold certain information to stymie anyone seeking to disrupt the convention. He has declined to say how many officers will be assigned to the event. Protests against Trump dogged his appearance on Friday in San Diego, where more than 1,000 demonstrators turned up and 35 were arrested, and on Tuesday night in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where protesters threw rocks and bottles at police. | 0fake |
A Measure of Fascism in America | By wmw_admin on October 27, 2016 by Marcus Aurealeus, Facebook Note — OffGuardian.org Oct 27, 2016
T he word “fascism” is generally used today as a pejorative to attack any idea that a speaker happens to dislike. But this word has a specific meaning and a specific historical context. It refers to an authoritarian, nationalistic system of government and social organization that is usually considered to be far right-wing. Historically, it was most popular in the 1930s, when the regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were in their primes. Later examples include Indonesia under Suharto, Bolivia under Banzer, and Chile under Pinochet. In practice, fascism combines the ideas of collectivism, mercantilism, nationalism, (statist) syndicalism, and uniculturalism into a system where business leaders and political rulers work together to create public policies that benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else.
To what extent is the United States of America in 2015 a fascist nation? In order to determine this, a means of measurement is needed. Lawrence Britt has studied fascist regimes and found that there are 14 characteristics which all of them have in common to some degree. Matthew Reece goes further and examines these characteristics and assigns each of them a value on a ten-point scale, with zero being completely absent and 10 being omnipresent. Let us also see how many are trending upward, trending downward, and holding steady. The final score on a 140-point scale will give a useful measure of the degree of fascism in America. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascists tend to make constant use of patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
In America, patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and flags have been part of the culture since the founding of the nation, with the frequency of their use varying from time to time. This reached a fever pitch immediately following the September 11 attacks, and while it has backed off since then, the sense of nationalism in America remains strong, perhaps the strongest of all nations in which the state does not directly force people into such observances.
Score: 8/10, Trend: Steady Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, fascists are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
After 9/11, the Bush regime and their lapdogs in the right-wing media were largely successful in convincing people that torture and indefinite detention of those who were not convicted of crimes was justifiable for national security reasons. The Obama regime has taken some positive steps on these matters, but has murdered far more people with drone strikes than his predecessor. The left-wing media has largely given Obama a pass on this. At home, the War on Drugs has placed many innocent people into prison for decades. While the American people are becoming more opposed to such abuses of power, little real change has occurred.
Score: 8/10, Trend: Slightly Up Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
America has a dark history of this. Over the centuries, Native Americans, Blacks, Mexicans, Irish, Eastern Europeans, Germans, Jews, Japanese, communists, and Muslims have all been perceived as common threats or foes to be contained or eliminated. More than once, the state has been able to engage in wars due to yellow journalism or false flag operations successfully creating a new enemy du jour. With the War on Terrorism, the state has found its holy grail: a war which can be made indefinite against an omnipresent foe which it can never seem to vanquish, not that it would want to.
Score: 10/10, Trend: Steady Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
The United States has the largest military budget in the world, and spends more money on its military than the next seven nations combined. Despite a stagnant economy and decaying infrastructure, 20 percent of the federal budget is devoted to the military. This is equal to the combined budgets of Medicare and Medicaid, and is nearly as much as the budget for Social Security. To be critical of the military as an institution is considered to be nearly as bad as aiding the enemy by the lapdog media, as is criticizing the glamorization of soldiers and military service. Though a minority is becoming skeptical of this situation, no changes appear to be coming in the near future.
Score: 10/10, Trend: Steady Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
The United States is one of the least sexist countries in the world. While the number of males in positions of political power outnumber females by about four to one, the United States ranks 94th out of 190 countries in this regard as of June 1, 2015. Over the last few decades, traditional gender roles have become less rigid. Divorce has become easier to obtain, with fault requirements being mostly removed as of 2015. Abortions were made legal nationwide in 1973, and same-sex marriage was made legal nationwide in 2015. A general hostility has developed toward government intervention into the family institution.
Score: 3/10, Trend: Down Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.
While the press in America is not directly controlled by the government, it is indirectly controlled. Government regulation and pro-state media personalities perpetuate a lapdog establishment that echoes government propaganda and eschews authentic investigative journalism. Those who would challenge this status quo by asking uncomfortable questions frequently find themselves victimized by slave-on-slave violence as the privileged establishment seeks to preserve its access to the halls of power and its usefulness in informing the public of government activities. Censorship is common with regard to certain words and topics which are not used or discussed on mainstream programming, especially during wartime, although this is mostly done without direct government involvement. Before and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the establishment media consistently towed the government line and censored certain images, such as war deaths. As a result, alternative and independent media sources are growing in popularity and trust in the establishment media is at an all-time low, but they have yet to displace the establishment media.
Score: 8/10, Trend: Slightly Down Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
At least since the First Red Scare following the Russian Revolution and continuing through World War II, the Cold War, and the War on Terrorism, the government has used fear of external enemies as a justification for its activities. National security is considered by many right-wing (and some left-wing) politicians to be the most important role of the state. Though many people believe this has gone too far in the wake of the Snowden leaks, little meaningful change has occurred.
Score: 8/10, Trend: Steady Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
There is a tradition of separation of church and state in America, but this is only true in the sense that there is no official state religion. Atheists, agnostics, and religious skeptics are few and far between in public office. Appeals to the tenets of Christianity, the most common religion in America, are frequently used by politicians to advance their agendas, even when those tenets are diametrically opposed to such agendas. Christian theories of just war play a significant role in American conservatism, and Christian ideas about helping the poor are used by American liberals to argue for government welfare programs. Religiosity among the American people is declining, but these conditions will likely remain stable for another generation or so.
Score: 7/10, Trend: Down Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
Since soon after the Constitution was ratified, business interests have played a financial role in determining which candidates for office are successful in elections. With the Citizens United decision, this has become more open and somewhat more blatant. Of course, those who invest in political campaigns expect a return on that investment, and research shows that they get it in spades. A political aristocracy has been present throughout much of American history, with many candidates for office being related to prior office holders. The 2016 presidential election is shaping up to be more of the same.
Score: 9/10, Trend: Up Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
While labor unions have not been eliminated entirely in America, they have been declining in the private sector for quite some time. In 2014, only 6.6 percent of private sector workers were union members, the lowest level since 1932. However, government sector unions are much stronger, with 35.7 percent of government workers belonging to a union in 2014. While national syndicalism is a major part of fascist theory, it has only had minor influence in America in the form of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) labor union.
Score: 6/10, Trend: Slightly Up Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
In America, the government is quite dependent on the intellectual classes to propagandize the people, and is therefore rather accommodating to them, to the point of creating a bubble in higher education that has benefited the intellectual classes at the expense of everyone else during the postwar period. That being said, it is becoming more common for professors and other academics to be attacked for their views. The rise in influence of social justice warriors is causing disdain for free expression to trend upward.
Score: 4/10, Trend: Slightly Up Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forgo civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
While many police accountability activists in America say that “badges don’t grant extra rights,” the fact is that in practice, they do. Police routinely engage in activities that would land an ordinary citizen in prison, and when they are investigated, it is either by an internal review process or a grand jury examination, each of which tend to be highly sympathetic to the police due to conflicts of interest. While there is no national police force with virtually unlimited power, the DEA, FBI, and Secret Service are quite powerful and are getting stronger. After 9/11, many people were willing to overlook police abuses, but this is changing. However, many efforts toward police accountability are being blunted by distractions, such as a focus on racism.
Score: 8/10, Trend: Slightly Up Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
There is a revolving door in Washington, D.C. between being a member of Congress or federal employee and being a lobbyist for special interest groups. These special interest groups bribe politicians and regulators on behalf of wealthy business interests to write laws and regulations that favor their interests at the expense of competing businesses and individual citizens. Many of these laws and regulations work to shield business owners from civil and criminal liability. While it is uncommon for American rulers to steal national treasures, there is a tendency for the government to appropriate natural resources and sell access to them. This shows no signs of improving anytime soon.
Score: 7/10, Trend: Up Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
While there is no proof that American elections are a complete sham, there are clear cases of manipulation. While smear campaigns tend to be waged by each major political party against the other, assassination of opposition candidates is almost never seriously considered, let alone attempted. That being said, the two major parties have rigged election laws to keep third parties from having any reasonable chance of winning. Over the past few decades, gerrymandering of political district boundaries has been used to create districts which are either reliably Democratic or reliably Republican, with the result being that the fringe elements of each party are able to put people into office. The judiciary was arguably used to manipulate the 2000 presidential election, and courts usually act to control elections by siding against claims of unfairness by minor political parties. With the introduction of top-two primaries in recent years, third party and independent candidates are being excluded further.
Score: 7/10, Trend: Slightly Up
Overall, America gets a score of 103 out of 140, meaning that America is 73.6 percent of the way toward fascism and away from liberty. While the trends on the various characteristics of fascism are moving in different directions, the overall trend is slightly upward, meaning that the score could advance at a rate of one or two points per year.
Now, wake up and examine which country is actually harming you and the rest of us. It’s time to put aside old grudges that date back to the Soviet days, in the same way you forgot the harm done to you in the past, by your now good neighbor, Germany. | 1real |
‘Anti-Russia’ Escalation? Plans for New US Marine Base in Norway | 21st Century Wire says It seems that US anti-Russian rhetoric has translated into action as new plans for NATO to continue its march eastward have emerged.According to Norwegian News sources, the US Marine Corps will establish a new base in northern Norway as early as January.Their reason: To improve their ability respond rapidly to potential Russian aggression. Here is a video of US Marines live-fire training in Norway last winter:. If approved by the Norwegian government, a Marine Corps presence in Norway will increase NATO s ability to rapidly aggregate and employ forces in northern Europe. Why would NATO need to deploy rapid reaction forces into northern Europe? Is Washington planning for war?More from RT RTAs soon as early January, Norway may permit the US Marine Corps to deploy troops on its soil, furthering NATO s goal of placing more military assets on Russia s border, according to local media.A rotating force of 300 US troops would be deployed in Vaernes, an air station outside the central Norwegian city of Trondheim about 100 kilometers from Russia, as part of what NATO claims to be an effort to deter Russian aggression, Norway s Adresseavisen newspaper reported.READ MORE: Norway mulls US troop deployment on its soil Defense MinistryThe plan is yet to be approved by the Norwegian Parliament, where several parties oppose it for various reasons. Some politicians say inviting the US marines would violate the spirit of Norway s 1949 commitment not to host foreign troops, while others say the government should not outsource its national security to the United States. Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide is to address the MP s concerns before they vote.Meanwhile, US officials say maintaining 300 Marines in Norway would be beneficial.READ MORE NATO NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire NATO FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
BODY BLOW: For a puppet of a loser no one’s ever heard of, Evan McMullin hits back pretty hard | BODY BLOW: For a puppet of a loser no one’s ever heard of, Evan McMullin hits back pretty hard Posted at 11:45
Though some suggest the Mormon Mafia was responsible for his rise to power, Evan McMullin nevertheless has made an amazing showing so far in Utah, managing to best both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in one poll.
That momentum put him on Trump’s radar at last. On Saturday, the GOP nominee wrote off McMullin as “a puppet of a loser” whom no one’s heard of. You saw this coming. Trump and Pence finally go after @Evan_McMullin . Trump calls him @BillKristol 's puppet. pic.twitter.com/GKExwfDXZK
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) October 30, 2016 I believe this is the first time Trump has said anything about @Evan_McMullin . Chose to ignore him — until he couldn't.
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 30, 2016 The funniest thing about Trump's attack here is his claim that @Evan_McMullin is "going from coffee shop to coffee shop" to win Utah.
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 30, 2016 @Joel_Searby @realDonaldTrump @Evan_McMullin He's just jealous of your effective coffee shop campaign…in Utah
Word is the Mormon Mafia drove the caffeinated beverage racket almost clean out of the state, but residents are anything but low energy election. Trending
For a puppet, it turns out McMullin can punch back pretty hard. . @realDonaldTrump , Yes you’ve never heard of me because while you were harassing women at beauty pageants, I was fighting terrorists abroad. https://t.co/hNDTWn3HPN
— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) October 30, 2016
That tweet racked up more than 6,000 likes in under an hour, so someone, somewhere must know who he is. @TheRickWilson Congrats to @Evan_McMullin . You know you've made an impact when Trump starts insulting you. | 1real |
Wikileaks Gives Hillary An Ultimatum: QUIT, Or We Dump Something Life-Destroying – The Resistance: The Last Line of Defense | Home Leftist Corruption Wikileaks Gives Hillary An Ultimatum: QUIT, Or We Dump Something Life-Destroying Wikileaks Gives Hillary An Ultimatum: QUIT, Or We Dump Something Life-Destroying Freedom Leftist Corruption , Leftist Perversion , News 0
On Sunday, Wikileaks gave Hillary Clinton less than a 24-hour window to drop out of the race or they will dump something that will destroy her “completely.”
Recently, Julian Assange confirmed that WikiLeaks was not working with the Russian government , but in their pursuit of justice they are obligated to release anything that they can to bring light to a corrupt system – and who could possibly be more corrupt than Crooked Hillary?
“The Clinton camp has been able to project a neo-McCarthyist hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything. Hillary Clinton has stated multiple times, falsely, that 17 US intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That’s false – we can say that the Russian government is not the source,” Assange said in a recent interview. “Hillary Clinton is just one person. I actually feel quite sorry for Hillary Clinton as a person, because I see someone who is eaten alive by their ambitions, tormented literally to the point where they become sick – for example faint – as a result of going on, and going with their ambitions. But she represents a whole network of people, and a whole network of relationships with particular states.”
“Hey, @HillaryClinton, you have until Monday to drop out, or we will destroy you completely,” the cryptic tweet says.
It is unknown what information WikiLeaks has that has not already been released. Is it proof that Bill molested children when he was with his friend Epstein? Is it something, dare I say, worse?
Part of me hopes that she stays in the race so we can find out what it is. The rest of me just wants her gone.
Join The Resistance And Share This Article Now! 187 | 1real |
Factbox: The race to the U.S. presidential nominations: How delegates are selected | The Democratic and Republican nominees for the Nov. 8 presidential election are decided in a series of state-by-state contests. The key to winning the nomination for each party is ultimately not about the popular vote, but about securing the number of delegates needed to win the nomination at each party’s convention - July 18-21 in Cleveland for the Republicans and July 25-28 in Philadelphia for the Democrats. The following is a guide to the nominating process: Q: Is the delegate selection process the same for the Republican and Democratic parties? A: No. The parties set their own rules. One thing that is the same is that at each party convention, a candidate needs to reach only a simple majority of the delegate votes to win the nomination. Q: How many delegates are there? A: The Democratic convention will be attended by about 4,763 delegates, with 2,382 delegates needed to win the nomination. The Republican convention will be attended by 2,472 delegates, with 1,237 delegates needed to win. Q: I keep hearing about “superdelegates.” Are they different from other delegates? Do both the Republicans and Democrats have superdelegates? A: Superdelegates, officially known as unpledged delegates, are a sort of wild card in the nominating process, but only the Democrats have them. The category was created for the 1984 Democratic convention, and according to political scientists, they are a legacy of the 1980 convention when there was a fight for the nomination between President Jimmy Carter, who was seeking a second term in the White House, and Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Members of Congress were frustrated by their lack of influence, because delegates elected to support one candidate could not switch to support another. So Democratic members of the House of Representatives led an effort to win a role for themselves. That resulted in the creation of superdelegates. Unlike other delegates, superdelegates may change what candidate they are supporting right up to the convention. There is no fixed number of superdelegates because the group is defined by various categories whose members change from one election cycle to another. Here is who gets to be a superdelegate: All Democratic members of the House of Representatives and the Senate; the Democratic governors; the Democratic president and vice president of the United States; former Democratic presidents and vice presidents; former Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate; former Democratic speakers of the House and former Democratic minority leaders. Throw in the members of the Democratic National Committee and the former chairs of the DNC and you finally have the whole pool of superdelegates. Q: What about the other delegates? Do they get to choose which candidate to support? A: Both the Democratic and Republican parties send delegates to their conventions based on the popular vote in the primary elections and caucuses held in each of the 50 states. But the parties have different rules on how delegates are allotted to a candidate. The Democratic Party applies uniform rules to all states. In each state, delegates are allocated in proportion to the percentage of the primary or caucus vote in each district. But a candidate must win at least 15 percent of the vote to be allocated any delegates. The Republican Party lets states determine their own rules, although it does dictate some things. Some states award delegates proportionate to the popular vote, although most such states have a minimum percentage that a candidate must reach to win any delegates. Some other states use the winner-take-all method, in which the candidate with the highest percentage of the popular vote is awarded all the delegates. Other states use a combination of the two methods. States that use the proportionate method may instead use the winner-take-all method if one candidate wins more than 50 percent of the popular vote. In addition, the Republican Party requires that all states with nominating contests held between March 1 and March 14 use the proportional method, meaning that all the states holding votes on Super Tuesday will have to award delegates proportionally. Q: What happens to delegates if a candidate drops out of the race? A: Another good question, because we have certainly seen that happen this year. For the Democratic Party, in every state, delegates are reallocated to the remaining candidates. For the Republican Party, it varies by state. In some states, delegates are required to stick with their original candidate at least through the first ballot at the Republican National Convention. In some other states, if a candidate drops out, his or her delegates may immediately pledge to another candidate. There is also a middle ground in which those delegates are reallocated to the remaining candidates. Republican National Committee: here here Democratic National Committee: here Battlopedia: here,_2016 Vote for Bernie: here www.realclearpolitics.com here here www.demconvention.com/ | 0fake |
It’s Not Over Yet: “They May Be Trying To Steal Arizona And Michigan” | Calls For Electoral College To Ignore Will Of People |
You didn’t think she’d go down without a fight did you?
The Clinton campaign is clawing it’s way to what they hope may land Hillary in the White House. Though Clinton officially conceded the race to Trump on Wednesday morning, a concession is not legally binding. During the 2000 election Al Gore conceded to George Bush on the night of the election, only to begin court proceedings a few short hours later to contest the results and initiate recounts.
According to Jim Stone , the race between Trump and Clinton may not be over just yet:
They may be trying to steal Arizona and Michigan, and then use special powers to flip 9 electoral votes away from Trump. THERE IS A REASON WHY THEY HAVE REFUSED TO MAKE THEIR TOTALS OFFICIAL. THIS IS NOT OVER YET
…
Trump won Arizona. Why has it not been made official? Trump won Michigan. Why has it not been made official? They are calling the counts “unofficial,” WHY?
Election officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and New Hampshire are still counting votes. The vote differentials while the counts conclude are so close that Clinton could potentially inch out a win with early voting ballots and provisional ballots. The small difference in votes in most of these states could trigger recounts. And given what we know about the Clinton campaign, we suspect that any recount would bring with it the real possibility of “uncounted votes” being discovered in back closets, much like we saw in Florida during the 2000 election debacle.
Newsweek confirms that Clinton still has a chance:
AP analyst Michael McDonald says he is skeptical that Trump won Wisconsin, as the AP projected. If that state flips for Clinton and she wins the other toss-up states, she and Trump could be in a tie at 269 votes each .
“Maybe Clinton actually wins Wisconsin,” McDonald says. “Look, just because the media calls something does not mean that that’s actually the outcome of the election.”
In that event that neither candidate hits the 270 electoral vote threshold, the vote for President would be passed on to the Repoublican controlled House of Representatives and the vote for Vice President would be put before the Senate, also controlled by Republicans.
One might say this is a no-brainer, except we have two words: #NEVERTRUMP.
The NeverTrump movement, started by conservatives and championed publicly and privately by sitting U.S. Congressional leaders, could potentially steal the win right out from under Donald Trump.
Though unlikely, it remains a distinct possibility.
And never to go without a Plan B, as John Podesta hinted on election night , Clinton has a second option, which involves targeting the electoral college directly.
Change.org has already filed a petition that includes 361,000 signatures as of this writing asking members of red States’ Electoral College to turn on the will of the people of their state and cast a vote for Hillary instead of Trump. The situation would not be unprecedented, as there have been 157 “faithless electors” since the inception of the College in 1787. None of those faithless votes ever resulted in a significant shift in the election. Electors are bound by most states to cast the vote for their pledged party and failure to do so comes with fines and, in some cases, jail time.
What it boils down to is that Hillary could conceivably flip 10 Electors to her side, however unlikely of a scenario that is:
Petition Excerpt:
On December 19, the Electors of the Electoral College will cast their ballots. If they all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win. However, they can vote for Hillary Clinton if they choose. Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine – which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay!
We are calling on the Electors to ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton. Why?
Mr. Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger to the Republic.
Secretary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE and should be President.
Hillary won the popular vote. The only reason Trump “won” is because of the Electoral College.
But the Electoral College can actually give the White House to either candidate. So why not use this most undemocratic of our institutions to ensure a democratic result?
We can fully expect Hillary Clinton to push, even if she does so from behind the scenes.
We expect that within hours or days the push from the liberal media will be widespread and the thousands of protesters taking over major cities across America will be calling for recounts, faithless electoral votes and revolution.
It’s definitely not over until the electoral votes are cast on December 19.
Also See: We Finally Know Why Hillary Disappeared On Election Night: “She Was Crying Inconsolably… It Was Hard To Understand What She Was Saying”
| 1real |
BRAZILE’S BOMBSHELL BOOK Exposes How The Media And Democrat Party Hid Hillary’s Serious Illness | Silly, silly Donna Brazile. She s publishing a book detailing turmoil in the Democratic Party during the 2016 campaign, highlighted by her concern that Hillary Clinton was seriously ill and might need to be replaced by Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders.Was the Democrat Party setting up Joe Biden to replace Hillary when she accompanied him to his hometown in Scranton, PA? The media completely ignored Hillary s inability to walk or stand unassisted in front of, and inside Joe s childhood home, that was all caught on this incredible, but mostly hidden video. In the video below, Hillary can be seen using the arm of the homeowner for support while reaching for the railing next to the stairs to stabilize herself. She can be seen repeatedly grasping for the railing outside, and then later on, when Hillary s inside the home, she seems unable to stand on her own, as she grasps for the backs of chairs and the kitchen table.Watch:Earlier in the day, Vice President Joe Biden was forced to help the seriously ill Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton down from the podium where she spoke at a small rally.What s the big deal? There s no news here because all this was well-known and covered at the time by the big national newspapers and networks, right?Wrong. If Brazile were rehashing things we knew, there would be no book and no bombshell headlines now.Instead, she has thrown open a new and very big window on 2016 and exposed yet again the consequences of the political biases of the Democratic media.The missed stories are not merely the result of mistakes or sloppy reporting. Brazile s book is a revelation in that it shows that many left-leaning journalists didn t so much cover Clinton as cover up for her.Put it this way: How is it possible that the leader of the Democratic Party was talking to colleagues about trying to replace its nominee during the general election because of health concerns, and none of the thousands of journalists covering the campaign got wind of it?It s not possible if the media had been playing it down the middle and holding both candidates to the same standard of scrutiny. But big media missed a big story because so much campaign news coverage was tilted toward defeating Donald Trump and electing Clinton.Anything that could possibly suggest Trump was unfit for the Oval Office bingo, front page, top of the broadcast.On the other hand, anything that could hurt Clinton was downplayed or ignored. Nothing to see here, move along.The coverage of Clinton s health was a prime example of the tilt. Her coughing fits, especially a long one on Labor Day, and a history of falling were pointed out by the popular Drudge Report, some Republicans and smaller, conservative-leaning sites to suggest she was not being honest about her health.But her campaign always denied anything was wrong allergies, the candidate, and her flacks insisted, caused the persistent coughs, and major news organizations mostly nodded their heads and stayed mum, accepting the official denials without skepticism.The dam cracked a bit on Labor Day, when an NBC reporter filed a 91-word, four-paragraph story that said Clinton had been unable to finish her speech in Ohio because of a coughing fit.The truth was dangerous, so the Praetorian Guard sprang to Clinton s defense. The NBC reporter, Andrew Rafferty, was mocked and insulted, first by the campaign, and then by journalists, including some MSNBC commentators who turned on their colleague as if he had violated a secret oath.CNN joined the Clinton amen chorus, and at the Washington Post, political writer Chris Cillizza denounced the topic of Clinton s health as a totally ridiculous issue and declared it a sure-fire loser for Trump. It s hard to plausibly insist, based on the available data, that Clinton is ill, insisted Cillizza, who is now at CNN.Five days later, Clinton was unable to walk on her own and collapsed at the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan as she tried to get into a van. The campaign insisted she was just dehydrated until a short video of the incident aired, then admitted the candidate had been diagnosed with pneumonia days earlier.In other words, the claim of allergies was a big fat lie. That prompted Brazile to contemplate starting the process of replacing Clinton, writing in her book that the campaign also was anemic and had the odor of failure. She says she considered numerous tickets to replace Clinton and Sen. Tim Kane, and decided that Biden and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) would be the best.It s not clear how long she deliberated or how many people she talked to, but Brazile writes that Biden called her on Sept. 12. In the end, she says, she made no move because she couldn t disappoint Clinton s supporters.For entire story: NYP | 1real |
Trump’s Favorite New Dictator Just Cut Off Access To Wikipedia | The Turkish government has blocked access to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. When people throughout the country try to access the site, all they will see is a swirly symbol until they see a message that the connection to the server has timed out. Turkey was recently subject to a failed coup attempt, and in the aftermath President Erdo an used the incident to seize greater powers over the government, becoming a dictator. Trump praised this.The official reason the Turkish government has given is that the site, has started acting as part of the circles who carry out a smear campaign against Turkey in the international arena, rather than being cooperative in fight against terror. This is according to a statement by Turkish ministry officials. There have been articles posted to Wikipedia that equate the Turkish government with various terror groups.The Turkey Blocks organization that watches for these kinds of blocks announced the government actions against Wikipedia. Johnny Wales, the founder of Wikipedia took to Twitter to voice his objections. He posted, Access to information is a fundamental human right. The Turkish people I will always stand with you to fight for this right. While other sites are working normally right now, the Turkish government has used its power to cut off access to other sites in the past. For example, it blocked access to YouTube for several months in 2014. This was in response to a video the site showed of a meeting in Syria on security. The year before that, the government shut off access to a variety of social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook due to bomb attacks or widespread protests.Last November, limitations were placed on access to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.Some clever internet users have been able to get around the blocks by using VPNs. Increasingly, the government has been finding ways to keep these users from accessing banned sites.The government admits that from time to time for security reasons we can use such measures These are temporary measures. Once the danger is passed, everything returns to normal. This is according to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.Featured image via Getty Images | 1real |
Selling bonds, dropping bombs: How China could respond to Trump's Taiwan talk | (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has upset China by speaking to the president of self-ruled Taiwan and saying the United States did not necessarily have to be bound by its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of China. Taiwan is arguably the most sensitive part of the China-U.S. relationship, and China has never renounced the use of force to bring the island it regards as a renegade province under its control. Here are 10 things China could do to retaliate against the Trump administration if he continues to push the Taiwan issue. - Cutting ties with Washington If Trump offers any type of formal diplomatic recognition to Taiwan, China would likely severe its own diplomatic ties with the United States, in what would be an extreme and highly disruptive move. China refuses to have diplomatic ties with any nation that also has diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Cutting ties with Washington would likely be a final resort by Beijing. - War games near Taiwan China could signal its resolve over Taiwan by holding war games close to the island, for example by effectively closing off air and shipping routes by lobbing missiles into waters close to Taiwan’s densely populated western coast, a move that would deeply unsettle the region. Chinese state media have even suggested military means may now be needed to settle the Taiwan issue once and for all. - South China Sea face-off China has been angered by U.S. freedom-of-navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea, where China has been reclaiming land on the islands and reefs it occupies and building airfields and other facilities. So far, China has responded to U.S. patrols by shadowing them and issuing verbal warnings. China may take more forceful measures to future U.S. patrols. In 2001, a U.S. spy plane was forced to land in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea. Beijing would be reluctant to see a military clash as China needs a peaceful South China Sea to keep its trade lanes open. - Sanctioning U.S. companies involved in arms sales to Taiwan In 2010, Beijing reacted with fury to the Obama administration plans for a new round of weapons sales to Taiwan, threatening to sanction the U.S. companies involved. The threats ultimately did not come to fruition. - Cut its holdings of U.S. Treasuries China is America’s biggest creditor, holding $1.16 trillion dollars worth of U.S. Treasuries as of September. If Beijing decided to suddenly liquidate a big chunk of its holdings, it could do severe damage to U.S. debt markets, forcing the United States to scramble for funds. A big retaliatory sell-off of U.S. government debt by China would not be a precision strike, though. Such a move would roil global markets and likely even rebound on China’s own, making this, in some analysts’ minds, a worst case scenario short of war. - Ease up pressure on North Korea The United States has repeatedly urged China to “get tough” on nuclear-armed North Korea, and while China is Pyongyang’s most important economic and diplomatic backer, it has also been infuriated by its nuclear and missile tests. While China could ease up on United Nations sanctions on North Korea to express displeasure with the United States, it could boomerang and end up giving succor to Pyongyang and its missile and nuclear programs, something Beijing does not want. - Pressure on U.S. companies Indirect levers exist for hitting companies via state-run media and consumer organizations, or just stoking popular sentiment. After China lost an international ruling earlier this year over its claims in the South China Sea, several U.S. brands became targets for short-lived anti-U.S. protests and boycott calls, including Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and KFC-parent Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N). U.S. companies could also face higher tariffs as well as outright substitution of their products, such as aircraft, in favor of Chinese or other foreign competitors. China might throw bureaucratic obstacles in the way of U.S. firms in the country. A senior executive in China at a large American consumer goods firm told Reuters any strike back against U.S. firms would likely involve local authorities clogging up approval processes or slowing down paperwork, rather than a loud and brash response. - Alternative agricultural supplies China, the world’s top consumer of commodities from copper, to corn to crude oil, could hit the United States if it sought alternative supplies of agricultural products. Volumes of U.S. agricultural imports from corn to soybeans into China hit a record 47.9 million tonnes in 2015. - Kill momentum for market access A Trump departure from a one China policy would almost certainly undermine bilateral investment treaty talks. Trump may not be a fan of those to begin with, but greater market access under a Bilateral Investment Treaty tops the U.S. business community’s wish list for China. The U.S.-China BIT had long been viewed within the broader foreign business community to be the vanguard of liberalizing investment deals with China. If those talks stall, it’s possible China will promote investment treaty talks with Europe. - Undermining the consensus on cyber issues If Trump goes back on One China, it’s possible there could be a Chinese reversal on cyber security commitments made between Xi and Obama in 2015, which U.S. government advisers and security experts have credited with reducing China-led cyber-espionage. | 0fake |
Mother Of Slain American Muslim Soldier Pens Scathing Response To Donald Trump | Khizr Khan, whose son was killed in Iraq while serving in the United States Military, took the stage at the Democratic National Convention and blasted Donald Trump. Beside him, his wife stood quietly while he asked if the Republican nominee had ever read the Constitution and then offered to lend him his copy. So naturally, Trump decided to attack her silence, insisting she held her tongue because she was MuslimGhazala Khan wrote a scathing response to the billionaire bully that was published in Sunday s edition of the Washington Post.Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention. He said he would like to hear from me. Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart.She wrote of how much her son, Humayun Khan, loved his country and how brave he was. She told of how, like every soldier s mother, she worried for his safety. She said that as he got on the plane for his deployment, he gave her strength. Don t worry, Mom. Everything will be all right, he had told her.Mother s Day 2004 was the last time Ghazala got to speak with her son. She had begged him to be safe and he told her, Mom, these are my soldiers, these are my people. I have to take care of them. He was taking care of his men when he died. He went to investigate a suspicious vehicle and was killed by a car bomb, but only after telling his everyone else to stay back and take cover.She said that her son always wanted to help people, something he did by volunteering to teach swim classes for people with disabilities at a local hospital. She added that he had wanted to follow in his father s footsteps and become a lawyer. To this day, Ghazala said she is unable to walk into a room with pictures of the middle son she lost. Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself, she wrote. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak? Ghazala then spoke directly to the Republican nominee as she concluded.Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn t allowed to say anything. That is not true. My husband asked me if I wanted to speak, but I told him I could not. My religion teaches me that all human beings are equal in God s eyes. Husband and wife are part of each other; you should love and respect each other so you can take care of the family.Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn t know what the word sacrifice means.Something tells me that Trump wishes he hadn t antagonized Ghazala to the point she felt the need to respond. It surely didn t turn out very well for him.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1real |
null | This guy sounds just like Castro. They brag about the communist utopia but the only crumbs they can get don't come from other commie nations. Cuba is still 50 years behind the rest of the world - where has the commie support from their commie brothers been for the last 50 years.
These Filipinos won't be happy until they are on the US Gov't dole. | 1real |
Brazil's Temer to shuffle cabinet in March, main ally out: source | BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Michel Temer will shuffle his cabinet in March and likely exclude members of his main allied party after many of its lawmakers turned against him this week, a senior government source said on Friday. The source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said he did not expect the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) to be part of the future government. The reshuffle follows the biggest revolt yet against Temer s 13-month government when the majority of PSDB lower-house deputies on Wednesday voted to put him on trial over corruption charges. The PSDB plans to field its own presidential candidate next year and may well quit Temer s coalition of its own accord as the elections draw closer, the source said. Though the lower house voted to shelve a corruption case against Temer, the upheaval in his ruling coalition is likely to derail Temer s plans to plug a budget deficit to help Brazil recover from its worst ever recession. The planned cabinet changes will take place as ministers have to leave the cabinet by April to run in October elections. Smaller allied parties have asked Temer to eject the PSDB from his government. It currently holds four cabinet posts. The source said Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, a member of the PSDB, might stay on even if his party leaves the government. Temer, whose popularity is at rock bottom, has no plans to run for re-election. His centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), Brazil s largest, has generally entered governments through coalitions with other parties and rarely fielded its own presidential candidate. Government officials expect the economy to pick up and grow at 3 percent by mid-2018, which would improve the PDMB s chances should it choose to do so. Such a candidate would likely be someone from outside the party and have to be untarnished by the corruption scandals battering Brazil s political class, the source said. | 0fake |
HATE-FILLED LEFTISTS Tell Former Fox News Host Eric Bolling, His 19-Yr Old Son’s Death Is “Karma”…What He “Deserved” In Response To His Request For Prayers | Eric Bolling tweeted out a heartfelt statement about the unexpected death of his only child, 19-year old Eric Chase Bolling only one day after he was fired from his position as a wildly popular host on FOX News. The Murdoch s appear to be cleansing the network of any passionate and outspoken Trump supporters. The allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced after a Huffington Post reporter Yahsar Ali interviewed women who said he sent them inappropriate texts that contained sexual content.Eric Bolling, like Fox News host Sean Hannity, decided to fight back, and not take what he calls false allegations sitting down. Sean Hannity was a target of washed up blogger and lawyer Debbie Schlussel until he hired a team of lawyers who threatened to sue her. Like magic, the false allegations went away.Eric Bolling tweeted about his decision to fight the allegations by suing the author of the story on August 9, 2017:I will continue to fight against these false smear attacks! THANK YOU FOR CONTINUED SUPPORT Eric Bolling (@ericbolling) August 9, 2017Huffington Post writer Yashar Ali responded:Just received a summons. Eric Bolling is suing me for defamation $50 million in damages. I stand by my reporting + will protect my sources Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 9, 2017On September 8, the increasingly left-leaning FOX News network announced the firing of the wildly popular FoX News host, Eric Bolling, based on ALLEGATIONS that were levied against him by Caroline Heldman (pictured in photo below, second from right in a pussy hat) a serial sexual misconduct accuser, who once held a sign at a Trump protest accusing him of being a rapist. Many brought up #pizzagate in response to my "good people don't vote for rapists" sign at Trump's inauguration. https://t.co/lTDtBEhhgh pic.twitter.com/T2S8UfIF5O Caroline Heldman (@carolineheldman) June 22, 2017Bolling was hoping he would not go the way of the network s most popular conservative Bill O Reilly, who has since mocked the Murdoch s for their decision to can him. The Murdoch brothers also fired Roger Ailes, the then-head of Fox News Channel, for sexual harassment. Roger Ailes died shortly after his firing, many believed the firing took a huge toll on his health. It appears as though the Murdoch brothers have no intention slowing down on the firing of their most popular conservative hosts, regardless of the consequences.On September 9, Eric Bolling and his wife Adrienne lost their only son, 19-yr. old Eric Chase Bolling. The details of his death are still unknown, but rumors have been circulating that he took his own life after watching his father being smeared in the hate-filled, anti-Trump mainstream media. It wasn t enough that Fox News fired Bolling, or that he is suffering the unimaginable loss of his only son, the hate-filled alt-left liberals wanted him to suffer even more, as they took to Twitter to let Bolling know he deserved it.Bolling tweeted about the death of his son on September 9, making it clear that the details of his death were still unclear . Here are some of the vile and hate-filled comments that leftists posted under his request for prayers: Sad news about your son, BUT karma is a hot bitch when she visits.Think about what you've done and the affect it has on others. #repent Anthony (@Amgiv) September 9, 2017KARMA IS A BITCH !!! RACISM HOMOPHOBIC ECT WILL COME BACK TO GET YOU FIRST YIUR JOB THEN YOUR SON YOU SHOULD REALLY CHANGE YOUR LIFE Samuel Defreese (@SamuelDefreese2) September 10, 2017Clearly sins of the father come to visit the son. The man was a dick pic sending creep. And Karma just hit him twice. Good riddance, lol pic.twitter.com/fr3aMLlfPh White Jesus (@paleface_savage) September 9, 2017Eric Bolling lost his 19-year-old son and the response from these cretins? "karma" and "got what he deserved"It's truly disgusting. pic.twitter.com/BtT3Ci0eO5 Chet Cannon (@Chet_Cannon) September 9, 2017 | 1real |
Donald Trump rejects Mitt Romney's ironic tax attack | (CNN) Donald Trump is striking back at Mitt Romney on Thursday, after the 2012 Republican presidential nominee said his party's current front-runner could have a "bombshell" in his tax returns.
"Mitt Romney, who was one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics, is now pushing me on tax returns. Dope!" the billionaire businessman said in a series of Tweets attacking Romney.
Mitt Romney, who was one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics, is now pushing me on tax returns. Dope!
Trump wrote that tax returns have zero to do with a person's net worth, and all swung at the establishment wing of the Republican party, many of whom have coalesced behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as an answer to Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
"Why doesn't @MittRomney just endorse @marcorubio already. Should have done it before NH or Nevada where he had a little sway. Too late now!"
Trump said, "I'm going to do what @MittRomney was totally unable to do- WIN!"
Romney used the same medium to respond, tweeting back at the billionaire businessman Thursday.
The real estate mogul first rejected Romney's accusation out of hand in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, saying "there is no bombshell at all other than I pay a lot of tax and the government wastes the money."
Romney's biting attack hinted at clear signs of alarm in the Republican establishment at the billionaire's tightening grip on the party's presidential race.
"We have good reason to believe that there's a bombshell in Donald Trump's taxes," Romney told Fox News, and also called on the top anti-Trump contenders Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to disclose their tax information as well.
"Either he's not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn't been paying taxes we would expect him to pay or perhaps he hasn't been giving money to vets or to the disabled like he's been telling us he's been doing," Romney added.
"We as Republicans should not accept that this man has a tainted financial past," Graham told CNN's "This Hour," adding later, "It's clear to me he doesn't want to show us his financial situation."
The 2012 Republican nominee's broadside followed Trump's thumping victories in three of the first four GOP nominating contests, including in Nevada on Tuesday night, which have established the billionaire businessman as the party's undisputed front-runner.
Trump left the door open to not releasing his tax returns Wednesday.
The GOP front-runner told CNN that he will "make a determination over the next couple of months" as to whether he will release his tax returns.
Romney, who decided against a third presidential run last year after initially considering jumping in to the race, uncorked his attack on Trump, ahead of next week's Super Tuesday contests that could further cement the billionaire's strong front-runner status in the GOP presidential race.
Romney's move appeared to not just be a sign of concern that Trump -- after defying pundits and political logic since he launched his "outsider" campaign last summer -- could actually go on to claim the Republican nomination.
It was also a sign of skittishness about the damage the Democrats will try to inflict on Trump, who has a long and sometimes controversial business record, in a general election, if he does indeed emerge as the GOP nominee.
"They were all over me for my taxes," Romney told Fox.
While Cruz and Rubio have yet to release their tax returns this campaign season, years of tax returns from both candidates are already publicly available from the time when they ran for Senate.
Reid ignited a firestorm in the 2012 presidential race by claiming on the Senate floor, without presenting any evidence, that "the word's out that he hasn't paid any taxes in 10 years." His attack was part of a fierce effort by the Obama re-election campaign to portray Romney as an out of touch and heartless businessman unable to understand the economic problems afflicting the middle class. Reid later told CNN that he did not regret his move, noting archly that Romney did not win the election.
The irony of the moment was not lost on Reid.
"All I know, I can't imagine Romney having the gall coming after anybody's returns," the Senate minority leader told CNN on Thursday. "Let's look at his."
It also struck one key member of Obama's re-election campaign.
"Did Mitt Romney just do to Donald Trump on tax returns what he was so mad at Harry Reid for doing to him?" said former Obama political adviser and current CNN commentator Dan Pfeiffer on Twitter.
Under intense pressure, Romney did finally release his tax returns during the campaign, but when it emerged that he had paid around 14% taxes on his 2010 return, there was political uproar that played into the hands of the Obama campaign.
The former Massachusetts governor was taking advantage of rules in the tax code under which income derived from dividends and capital gains is taxed at lower rates than traditional wages.
Trump last summer released his personal financial disclosure shortly after announcing his presidential run and has consistently touted the fact that he released his financial numbers ahead of schedule.
Trump said he was worth $8 billion, a figure he and his accountants later revised to $10 billion when he officially released his personal financial disclosure. Forbes has estimated Trump's net worth at $4.5 billion, a figure Trump has disputed.
On Wednesday, Trump also stressed that his tax returns "are extremely complex," which Romney has rejected given that Trump would only need to publish several years of past tax returns which he has already filed.
Trump stressed as he has in the past that he pays "as little as possible because it's an expense and it's not one I'm happy paying because frankly the United States government wastes a lot of money." | 0fake |
Progressive Lunacy: PETA Claims Indonesian Monkey Owns ‘Selfie’ Copyright | 21st Century Wire says You know that western society is approaching its final hour when animal rights activists start advocating individual animals to be able to sue humans in courts. That s exactly what has happened in the US.We can trace some of this line of thinking back to Cass Sunstein, the radical, liberal progressive technocrat and chief advisor to President Barack Obama (as well as the husband of disastrous UN Ambassador Samantha Power). According to his own writing and public declarations, Sunstein believes that activists should be able to bring a lawsuit on behalf of an animal in US courts. In his 2004 book Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions, Sunstein remarked:Cass Sunstein. My simplest suggestion is that private citizens should be given the right to bring suits to prevent animals from being treated in a way that violates current law. I offer a recommendation that is theoretically modest but that should do a lot of practical good: laws designed to protect animals against cruelty and abuse should be amended and interpreted to give a private cause of action against those who violate them, so as to allow private people to supplement the efforts of public prosecutors. Somewhat more broadly, I will suggest that animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law. As one of liberal America s most influential technocrats, Sunstein argues that this legal right can be invoked on the basis of animal cruelty. While no cruelty seems to be present in the case of the Monkey Selfie (see story below), activists at PETA were no doubt emboldened by Sunstein and others who have propelled their ideological argument into the political activist discourse.While our society and our legal system are far from perfect, a move like this from a wealthy charity like PETA could throw that system into even further chaos.Surely, if animals can sue humans, then shouldn t humans be able to sue animals? As you can see, when you pursue this activist rabbit hole, reality starts to dissolve rather quickly.More on this incredible story from AP Monkey Selfie Copyright credited to David J. Slater (UK)Linda Wang APcurious monkey with a toothy grin and a knack for pressing a camera button was back in the spotlight Wednesday as a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether an animal can hold a copyright to selfie photos.A 45-minute hearing before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco attracted crowds of law students and curious citizens who often burst into laughter. The federal judges also chuckled at times at the novelty of the case, which involves a monkey in another country that is unaware of the fuss.Andrew Dhuey, attorney for British nature photographer David Slater, said monkey see, monkey sue is not good law under any federal act.Naruto is a free-living crested macaque who snapped perfectly framed selfies in 2011 that would make even the Kardashians proud.People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA] sued Slater and the San Francisco-based self-publishing company Blurb, which published a book called Wildlife Personalities that includes the monkey selfies, for copyright infringement. It sought a court order in 2015 allowing it to administer all proceeds from the photos taken in a wildlife reserve in Sulawesi, Indonesia to benefit the monkey.Slater says the British copyright for the photos obtained by his company, Wildlife Personalities Ltd., should be honored Continue this story at AP/Chicago TribunePictured here is a typical Indonesian Crested Black Macaque monkey (Image Credit: Lip Key Yap, Wikicommons)READ MORE FINANCIAL NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Financial FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Bombshell Report Exposes FBI Agents Trying To Get Trump Elected (TWEETS) – New Century Times |
According to Reuters:
“The new emails turned up as FBI investigators were examining electronic devices used by former Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner in connection with an alleged “sexting” scandal. Weiner’s estranged wife, Huma Abedin, is a Clinton confidante.”
According to two law enforcement sources, there is a group of investigators within the FBI’s New York Field Office – the office that discovered the recent Anthony Weiner emails – that are hostile toward Clinton – and it is believed that this faction is behind the recent media leaks about the ongoing Clinton Foundation investigation.
One thing is for sure – if Clinton wins the election on Tuesday, the Democratic Party will undoubtedly be launching an investigation into the FBI, and it would be more than ironic if the most memorable scandal of the 2016 election ends up being about the FBI, instead of Clinton’s emails.
Apparently, Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani – the former mayor of New York City – might have some involvement in it as well:
It is a clear violation of the law by these FBI agents in an attempt to influence a presidential election. If any Democrats were thinking about staying home on election day, this should really inspire them to do the opposite.
Clinton needs every vote now, as people are going to ridiculous lengths to make this election work for Trump, who is currently losing in the polls. Clinton is facing more opposition and obstacles than any presidential candidate has ever dealt with, and even those in power are abusing their authority to get her insane opponent into the White House. | 1real |
WHY THESE ARMY ROTC CADETS WERE PRESSURED INTO WEARING HEELS WILL HAVE YOU SEEING RED… | The wu$$ification of our military Army ROTC cadets are complaining on message boards that they were pressured to walk in high heels on Monday for an Arizona State University campus event designed to raise awareness of sexual violence against women.The Army openly encouraged participating in April s Walk A Mile in Her Shoes events in 2014, but now it appears as though ROTC candidates at ASU were faced with a volunteer event that became mandatory. Attendance is mandatory and if we miss it we get a negative counseling and a does not support the battalion sharp/EO mission on our CDT OER for getting the branch we want. So I just spent $16 on a pair of high heels that I have to spray paint red later on only to throw them in the trash after about 300 of us embarrass the U.S. Army tomorrow, one anonymous cadet wrote on the social media sharing website Imgr, IJReview reported Monday.In a Reddit Army thread on the subject titled Okay, who put the cadets up to this? one user said the claims were legitimate and added, I just don t understand why [General] Combs would court political controversy like this. Isn t the military supposed to avoid faddish political movement and religious issues. Army ROTC cadets are complaining on message boards that they were pressured to walk in high heels on Monday for an Arizona State University campus event designed to raise awareness of sexual violence against women.The Army openly encouraged participating in April s Walk A Mile in Her Shoes events in 2014, but now it appears as though ROTC candidates at ASU were faced with a volunteer event that became mandatory.Via: Washington Times | 1real |
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