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Voting is the Problem. Here’s the Solution. | CorbettReport.com November 8, 2016
In Douglas Adams’ So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish , there is a scene where a spaceship lands on earth and a robot emerges from the craft, proclaiming that “I come in peace” and exhorting the earthlings to “take me to your Lizard.” The story’s protagonist, Arthur Dent, has this strange request explained to him by his friend, Ford Prefect, an experienced galactic hitchhiker:
“It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see…”
“You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?”
“No,” said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, “nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.”
“Odd,” said Arthur, “I thought you said it was a democracy.”
“I did,” said ford. “It is.”
“So,” said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding ridiculously obtuse, “why don’t the people get rid of the lizards?”
“It honestly doesn’t occur to them,” said Ford. “They’ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they’ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.”
“You mean they actually vote for the lizards?”
“Oh yes,” said Ford with a shrug, “of course.”
“But,” said Arthur, going for the big one again, “why?”
“Because if they didn’t vote for a lizard,” said Ford, “the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?”
“What?”
“I said,” said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, “have you got any gin?”
“I’ll look. Tell me about the lizards.”
Ford shrugged again.
“Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them,” he said. “They’re completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone’s got to say it.”
If only this was a joke. But here we are, on the verge of a contest between the two least respected, most distrusted candidates to run for office in modern political history. And some people say these lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them.
If there is any solace at all in this year’s selection cycle it is that, as The Corbett Report has been pointing out since the very day of its inception, there is absolutely nothing at stake here; the presidential figureheads are mere puppets, false fronts for the shadow government and deep state that commands and controls the military, economic and diplomatic machinery of the US-led world empire.
Do you really think the oligarchs put their entire system up on the chopping block every four years, hoping against hope that the public doesn’t use the dreaded ballot box to vote them out of power, dashing decades (or centuries) of carefully cultivated enslavement with pencils and touchscreens? Just in case anyone dislikes rhetorical questions, let me answer that one for you: No. No they do not.
But don’t take my word for it. Take Emma Goldman. As she’s been reputed to have said (and if she didn’t, feel free to tell other people that I said it): “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.”
Or take H.L Mencken, who in his usual inimitable fashion quipped :
The state—or, to make the matter more concrete, the government—consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can’t get, and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
Or take Lysander Spooner, who wrote :
The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that – however bloody – can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.
Or Wendy McElroy, who reminds us that:
Voting is not an act of political freedom. It is an act of political conformity. Those who refuse to vote are not expressing silence. They are screaming in the politician’s ear: “You do not represent me. This is not a process in which my voice matters. I do not believe you.”
Yes, voting is worse than a dead end. It’s less effective than bashing your head against a wall in a vain attempt to cure your headache. It’s more pathetic than allowing the oligarchs into your kitchen and then begging for a scrap of food from your own table. It is evil, immoral and contemptible. It is the act of a slave who has internalized that slavery so thoroughly that he wants to ensure that everyone around him is enslaved, too.
But, as I pointed out in yesterday’s conversation with Larken Rose, if there is any bright spot in all of this it is that your vote doesn’t matter anyway and will not change anything at all. It will not even “register as a protest” as some would like to believe, since the elections are rigged and the votes aren’t counted.
So if you are so inclined, knock yourself out. Cast a ballot. But instead of sitting back and feeling good about yourself for having done this senseless, meaningless and immoral act, can we at least agree to use the next 1460 days to do something actually productive? I leave it entirely up to you how to interpret the phrase “actually productive,” but if you’d allow me to offer some humble suggestions:
Find, join or create a community organization or freedom cell with a focus on fostering economic connections and social ties with people in your geographical area.
Find, join or create a community currency , community trading program or community exchange to foster agoristic connection between yourself and others in your area.
Commit to spending a certain amount of time each week spreading awareness about the banking oligarchy , false flag terrorism , GMO crops , or any subject you feel strongly about, either offline or online, using the work of others or by starting your own blog, newsletter or community meet up group.
Learn about gardening , canning, appliance repair, 3D printing , monetary theory , or any subject that you think will be handy in the event of a government collapse (or even if the government doesn’t collapse).
Read more books. Spend less time arguing with people online and more time making friends at the local coffee shop. Learn a new skill and teach it to someone else.
In short, do all of the million things that have nothing whatsoever to do with the phony baloney political charade exemplified by national selection day. Because if all you ever do is tick a box in a voting booth and sit back to see who wins the rigged sporting event, you probably believe the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to you. | 1real |
TRUMP DITCHES PRESS To Make “Last Minute” Surprise Trip | President-elect Donald Trump played a round of golf at his Jupiter golf course Saturday morning without notifying the traveling press pool that traditionally reports on his whereabouts. According to media reports, Trump headed to his Trump National Golf Club sometime in the morning. The golf course sits off Donald Ross Road about a half-hour drive north of Trump s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, where he and his family have been spending time for the Christmas and New Year s holidays. Mar-a-Lago was slated to host its lavish annual New Year s gala later Saturday.A club member tweeted a photo of Trump on the course, saying he was accompanied by about 25 Secret Service agents, The Associated Press reported.David Markus of Miami was spending some time at the golf club to celebrate the New Year s holiday when he and his family spotted Trump. He snapped a few photos of Trump, including one with Markus three daughters taken near the club s pool. Markus said Trump started his golf game around 9:30 a.m. and ate lunch around 2 p.m. before leaving the club.Trump s golf outing was a last-minute decision to play We are in the home stretch of this transition period and don t anticipate any additional situations like this between now and inauguration, Grisham said in a statement to the AP. We hope this one incident doesn t negate all the progress we have made and look forward to continuing the great relationships we have built. Grisham said Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago about 3:10 p.m.Read more: Palm Beach Post | 1real |
Bernie Sanders Supporters Need To Support These Progressive Candidates | When Senator Bernie Sanders speaks about a political revolution, he means grassroots organization propelling not just him to the presidency, but other progressive candidates into elected office as well. While Hillary Clinton has built upon her lead in the Democratic Primary, Bernie Sanders supporters should still fight to help progressive candidates across the country on local, state, and federal levels. Many of these candidates represent the issues and concerns Bernie Sanders addressed that makes his candidacy so appealing to thousands of Americans.While his opponents court wealthy campaign contributors, the 6 8 tattooed Fetterman hosts meet and greets in Pennsylvania dive bars to raise small individual campaign contributions. The Harvard University graduate came to Braddock, PA in 2001 to help local youth earn their GEDs. In 2005, he won the election for mayor by a single vote and has helped transform a forgotten remnant of the once prosperous American steel industry into a budding new haven for small businesses, artists, and developers. Pennsylvania holds its Democratic Primary on April 26th. Debbie Wasserman Schultz s public image was significantly damaged as her leadership of the DNC as its chair was highly scrutinized by both Clinton and Sanders supporters, in addition to many of her colleagues. The corruption and poor leadership she has exhibited inspired Wall Street activist, Tim Canova, to become her first Democratic Primary challenger since she first was elected to congress in 2004. The primary will be held on August 30th.Congressman Grayson took a career risk, especially since he is running in a Democratic Primary against a fellow Congressman, Patrick Murphy, to formally endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for president. Grayson is known for his productivity in congress getting bills amendments proposed and passed, but he is also well known for irking Republicans and his fellow Democrats as well. The proud progressive offers an alternative to the moderate Patrick Murphy, who switched to the Democratic Party shortly after contributing to Mitt Romney s failed 2012 presidential bid.On June 7th, Tom Fiegen is running for the Democratic nomination to unseat Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley. Fiegen, a proponent for campaign finance reform, wants to help the working class people who are all too often his clients as a bankruptcy lawyer in Iowa.A former Nevada Assemblywoman, Flores comes from a family of 13 children, born into a poor family in a low income neighborhood in the Las Vegas area, she turned her life around after a brief stint in juvenile detention, returning to school, and going on to college to become a lawyer, and eventually a state legislator by the age of 31. She maintains a strong lead against her opposition in the Democratic Primary on June 14th.Progressive candidate, Jesse Sbaih faces a tougher road in winning the Democratic nomination for Nevada s 3rd congressional district s seat. The immigrant from Jordan came to the U.S. with his family at the age of 11, and worked his way through school as a dishwasher. Now he runs his own law firm and is running for congress to put many progressive reforms proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders into legislation. Like most pro-Sanders candidates, Sbaih is funding his campaign on small, individual contributions rather than Super-Pac or corporate money.Zephyr Teachout, an Associate Law Professor at Fordham University, took the Democratic establishment by surprise after she won 34 won 34 percent of the vote in the 2014 Democratic Primary against incumbent Democrat, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. This year, she is running for congress and will most likely take the Democratic nomination in the primary on June 28th.Senator Bernie Sanders campaign has also highlighted progressive superstars already in office. Aside from Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who made national headlines after resigning for her position as DNC Vice Chair to endorse Sanders, self-proclaimed socialist, Kshamas Sawant, was elected to Seattle s City Council in 2013, and re-elected in 2015 despite opposition from the Democratic Party establishment. Sawant was a key leader in pushing for the passage of a $15 minimum wage in Seattle and has led efforts to combat increasing city wide rents. When you occupy elected office it is absolutely critical you remain unfailingly loyal to the needs of working people which means you can never be bought and every moment you have to use your position to amplify the voice of working people, the voice of people of color, and the voices of the marginalized, she told the Huffington Post in a December 2015 interview.Featured image via Marc Nozell on Flickr | 1real |
WHOA! CONSERVATIVE MEDIA Was In Cahoots With Rubio To Push Immigration Reform | This is a blockbuster discovery that nails conservative media for being in cahoots with Rubio and other high level politicians in their support of amnesty. The Gang of Eight Bill was the political football being tossed around by Democrats and then Rubio joined in to make it a bipartisan effort. The account of what happened between politicians and media is a perfect example of what s got Americans so ticked off at Washington and the media. It s very obvious that the media was a big reason for Obama s two-term presidency and now we have FOX News selling its soul for Rubio in the 2016 election. The article below will open your mind to the political manipulation happening all the time between media and Washington- it s a stunner:A few weeks after Senator Marco Rubio joined a bipartisan push for an immigration overhaul in 2013, he arrived alongside Senator Chuck Schumer at the executive dining room of News Corporation s Manhattan headquarters for dinner.Their mission was to persuade Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the media empire, and Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive of its Fox News division, to keep the network s on-air personalities from savaging the legislation and give it a fighting chance at survival.Mr. Murdoch, an advocate of immigration reform, and Mr. Ailes, his top lieutenant and the most powerful man in conservative television, agreed at the Jan. 17, 2013, meeting to give the senators some breathing room.But the media executives, highly attuned to the intensifying anger in the Republican grass roots, warned that the senators also needed to make their case to Rush Limbaugh, the king of conservative talk radio, who held enormous sway with the party s largely anti-immigrant base.The dinner at News Corporation headquarters which has not been previously reported and the subsequent outreach to Mr. Limbaugh illustrate the degree to which Mr. Rubio served as the chief envoy to the conservative media for the group supporting the legislation. The bill would have provided a pathway to American citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants along with measures to secure the borders and ensure that foreigners left the United States upon the expiration of their visas.It is a history that Mr. Rubio is not eager to highlight as he takes on Donald J. Trump, his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, who has made his vow to crack down on illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign.Those discussions of just a few years ago now seem of a distant era, when, after the re-election of President Obama, momentum was building to overhaul the nation s immigration system.The senators embarked on a tour of editorial boards and newsrooms, and Mr. Rubio was even featured as the Republican savior on the cover of Time magazine for his efforts to change immigration laws. He already was being mentioned as a 2016 presidential contender.Now Mr. Trump has become the Republican leader in national polls by picking fights with Mr. Ailes and offending the Latino voters whom Mr. Rubio had hoped to bring into the Republican fold. And while Mr. Rubio ultimately abandoned the bipartisan legislation in the face of growing grass-roots backlash and the collapse of the conservative media truce, he, and to a certain degree Fox News, are still paying for that dinner. Rubio Discusses Borders & Benefits In Immigration Bill w/ Bill O Reilly The so-called Gang of Eight was four Democrats and four Republicans, including Mr. Rubio, who drafted an immigration bill in 2013. It passed the Senate but was stymied by conservative opposition in the House.Details of the dinner, and a previous one in 2011, were provided to The New York Times by an attendee of one of the meetings and two people with knowledge of what was discussed at both get-togethers.None of the attendees agreed to be identified for this article because the conversations were supposed to be confidential.But on Monday, Mr. Limbaugh shed light on his interactions with the senators when he told a caller frustrated with his criticism of Mr. Rubio that the immigration position the senator had advocated comes right out of the Gang of Eight bill. Mr. Limbaugh added, I ve had it explained to me by no less than Senator Schumer. Mr. Schumer declined to comment for this article. But before Mr. Obama s re-election and soon afterward, he could hardly stop talking with conservative senators and media power brokers about the chance to pass comprehensive immigration legislation.As early as March 9, 2011, Mr. Schumer joined Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and another eventual member of the Gang of Eight, at the Palm restaurant in Manhattan, where they made their case to Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Ailes and Mr. Limbaugh in a private room. The senators argued how damaging the word amnesty was to their efforts, and walked Mr. Limbaugh through their vision for an immigration overhaul. | 1real |
Pastor Who Prayed At Trump’s Inauguration Takes DACA Decision To The Woodshed | Donald Trump s decision to punish 800,000 young people who came to the U.S. as children, and subject them to deportation, isn t going down well. It s almost as if he didn t think before he decided to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA.Even a reverend who offered one of the prayers at Donald Trump s inauguration called on Tuesday for Congress to act in the wake of the former reality show star s decision to end the DACA program. Hundreds of thousands of Hispanic young people will be overcome with fear and grief today, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said in a statement, according to The Hill. Simultaneously, a multi-ethnic coalition of tens-of-millions of law-abiding, U.S. citizens will begin to put unrelenting pressure on members of Congress to provide a permanent solution for DREAMers, whose fate is in question by no fault of their own, he continued, referring to recipients of DACA.Rodriguez blasted politicians in the statement, saying that Hispanic people in this country have been the political bargaining chips of our powerful politicians for far too long. This is an affront to the sanctity of life, it is inhumane, and the Hispanic community will stand for it no longer, he said.Rodriguez then targeted Congress, saying lawmakers expressed concern for the country s Hispanic community but have chosen to do nothing. We will not distinguish between Republicans and Democrats but between those who stand for righteousness and justice and those who do not, he added.Statement from Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, who prayed at Trump's inauguration: pic.twitter.com/HgXwAoPMTZ Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) September 5, 2017Trump, too cowardly to announce his decision to end DACA, had Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R-Racist) do his dirty work for him on Tuesday.Watch Rodriguez s prayer at Trump s inauguration:After the decision was announced, Trump tweeted, I look forward to working w/ D s + R s [SIC] in Congress to address immigration reform in a way that puts hardworking citizens of our country 1st. Good luck on getting Democrats (or Democrat s, as he put it) to work with you, Mr. Trump, after creating another hot mess. We need to hear from more Christians, especially the pro-life ones, on Trump s decision to kick 800,000 young, hardworking, taxpaying people out of the country.Image via screen capture. | 1real |
Massive “Hillary For Prison” sign held up at World Series game 5 infuriates liberals | Massive “Hillary For Prison” sign held up at World Series game 5 infuriates liberals See what made liberals so mad By Staff Writer - October 31, 2016 ( INTELLIHUB ) — A massive “ Hillary For Prison ” sign was held up at the post games show for the World Series game number five which made liberals furious Sunday night.
During the show the “sign was displayed prominently behind the commentators,” Youtuber Mark Dice reported.
#HillaryForPrison | 1real |
null | A leading US senator: US Supporting War in Syria
A leading US senator said the war in Syria would have been over by now if the US had put an end to its intervention when Russia entered the war-ravaged country.
“If the United States had just stayed out of it at that point, the war would be over by now; people would be rebuilding, refugees would be returning back to Syria, but the United States rushed anti-Tank missiles, and we used these so-called moderate rebels as a conduit to supply al-Nusra Front (also known as Fatah al-Sham Front), which is al-Qaeda in Syria,” republican member of the Virginia State in US Senate, Richard Hayden Black said in an exclusive interview with Press TV.
“If we were not supporting the war in Syria, I believe that the Syrians, combined with their allied forces from Iran, Lebanon and Russia… would move very steadily and restore the borders of Syria.”
The senate member, who visited Syria in April, refused to distinguish between militants and terrorists fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, saying, the two are “thoroughly integrated.”
“They really are one and the same, they’re part of the same army,” he said, citing a US defense intelligence agency’s investigation in 2013, which showed Washington’s ties with the terror group.
The outspoken state senator referred to plans by the CIA to transfer arms from Libya to Turkey and from there to Syria to supply the militants, noting that the move “evolved into an indiscriminate program of supplying all militant groups, including specifically ISIL and al-Qaeda.”
“We do it indirectly because it’s unlawful to do it directly,” he said, adding that the US keeps “extremely violent organizations… off the terrorist watch list because these are the agents that take our weapons and then distribute them to ISIL and al-Qaeda.”
In response to a question on why Iran and Russia are portrayed as the “bad guys,” while they are the ones really fighting terrorism there, as put recently by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, Black said the Republican candidate has a “clear understanding of what’s happening over there.”
“Sometimes, his rhetoric has to match the political mood of the moment… but I know a number of his advisers and they believe that our determination to topple the government in Syria is suicidal, that it threatens not only the entire Middle East but literally the entire world.”
He further warned that the US itself could be “threatened,” arguing that, “if Syria falls, it will be dominated by some al-Qaeda-related organization; Lebanon will fall; Jordan will fall and the entire area will be destabilized.”
The Vietnam war veteran also elaborated on his personal definition of the Middle East “axis of evil,” naming Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and “particularly” Turkey over their support for terrorism.
“Probably, three quarters of the rebels are not Syrian at all, they are mercenaries recruited by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” he asserted, describing the three countries as “the primary force behind the terrorist movement.”
“Turkey has invaded Iraq and Syria with heavy military forces. Turkey has really become a rogue nation,” he added, referring to a 1923 treaty that set the border between Turkey and Greece, saying that was even being questioned by President Rececp Tayyip Erdogan.
“And now you see this emerging threat against Western Europe by Turkey,” he noted, further adding that Erdogan “has made it clear that he looks to resurrection of the Ottoman Empire.”
“He has become more and more aggressive; he’s crushed the military, the free press; every powerful institution of the Turkish government has come under his iron fist and he’s now a total dictator. He’s a man who has said that he wants the constitution amended so that he will have power similar to those of Adolf Hilter… This is our great ally; we’re allied with a man who would be Hitler.”
He also blasted Washington’s alliance with Saudi Arabia, “where women are not allowed to walk out in the front yard to pick up the newspaper without a man’s permission; they can’t drive a car!”
“Somehow, this is part of the liberalization that we seek to impose on the Middle East,” he said ironically, calling it “bizarre.”
He also praised the resistance against the Saudi aggression by the people of Yemen, saying, “God bless them! The Yemenis are giving the Saudis a bloody nose,” despite being a “tiny little, poor nation.”
“I think the world recognizes that Saudi Arabia has just embarked in massive war crimes in Yemen,” he said, voicing regret over the US support for the monarchy.
“We don’t pay too much attention to them while engaged in war crimes because they’re our good allies,” he said, concluding that Washington is on a “suicidal course of action.”
“Saudi money pays the very top politicians in many Western nations. And they really have co-opted the American military into acting as mercenaries for Wahhabism.”Black referred to the Western media’s portrayal of Iran as a supporter of terrorism, saying, “The fact of the matter is that if you really look at global terrorism, it all emanates from Saudi Arabia.”
He exemplified various terrorists attack, including the 9/11, the Boston bombing, and the Brussels attacks, noting that they are all a “reflection of the Wahhabi philosophy.” | 1real |
Twitter ‘Off-Boards’ (Bans) RT and Sputnik Ads Ahead of Capitol Hill Testimony | Twitter s pitch deck for RT?21st Century Wire says In what appears to be a coordinated attack on RT and Sputnik, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (@jack) has declared all advertising purchased by the two media outlets unfit for the online news and social networking service.Off-boarding advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik.We re donating all projected earnings ($1.9mm) to support external research into the use of Twitter in elections, including use of malicious automation and misinformation. https://t.co/zIxfqqXCZr jack (@jack) October 26, 2017The move comes just days before Twitter and other Silicon Valley companies go to Washington to testify on Capitol Hill regarding alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. Election.In the company s official announcement, it states the decision is based on the U.S. intelligence community s conclusion that both RT and Sputnik attempted to interfere with the election on behalf of the Russian government. To be fair, there was no conclusion. The DNI report was only an assessment of high confidence by a group of hand-picked analysts from the CIA, FBI and NSA.What s both ironic and embarrassing about the Twitter bird s ad blockade of the Russian-owned media outlets is their recent ad pitch to RT, specifically, during the election cycle:Hope @jack won t forget to tell @congressdotgov how @Twitter pitched @RT_com to spend big $$s on US elex ad campaign. pic.twitter.com/7GqoEoSaY8 (@M_Simonyan) October 26, 2017That s a tweet on Thursday by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.It s quite clear that Twitter, along with other Silicon Valley properties like Google and Facebook, saw the 2016 U.S. Election as a lucrative ad sales pipeline and decided to cash-in like any other media outlet would do.Now, ahead of their upcoming testimony on election meddling , Twitter just put itself squarely in the crosshairs of the government to curry favor to, and to be push even further as Russiamania pushes forward.More from The Duran READ MORE RUSSIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire RUSSIA FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Papa John’s Founder Retires, Figures Out Racism Is Bad For Business | A centerpiece of Donald Trump s campaign, and now his presidency, has been his white supremacist ways. That is why so many of the public feuds he gets into involve people of color. One of his favorite targets, is, of course, the players in the National Football League who dare to exercise their First Amendment rights by kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racist police brutality. Well, there is one person who has figured out that racism is bad for business, even if it did get the orange overlord elected: The founder of the pizza chain Papa John s.This is a man who has never been on the right side of history on any number of issues, and plus his pizza sucks. But, when he decided to complain about the players protesting, his sales really dropped. Turns out racism doesn t pay, and we all know that corporations are all about the bottom line. Therefore, Papa John Schnatter will no longer be CEO of the hack pizza chain.BREAKING: Papa John's founder John Schnatter to step down as CEO; announcement comes weeks after he criticized NFL over protests. AP Business News (@APBusiness) December 21, 2017The thing is, while people are certainly allowed to have political opinions, they have to realize that those opinions can often come with dire consequences especially if one is in the business of trying to garner sales and support from any and all people, which one would presume is the goal of all CEO s. No one knows whether or not the pressure from his shareholders, the public outcry or boycotts, or even the NFL itself had anything to do with his stepping down. As of right now, all we know is that he will be gone, and perhaps the future CEO will run a company that is inclusive of the diverse fabric that we call America. After all, the guiding symbol of this nation will always be the Statue of Liberty, and bigots like Trump and Schnatter are the past. The rest of us are the future. We just have to survive the present to get there.Featured image via Rob Kim/Getty Images | 1real |
YIKES! Tomi Lahren DEMOLISHES Hillary: “How Dare You Blame Donald Trump…EXCUSE ME?…Did 4 Americans Die On His Watch In Benghazi? [VIDEO] | Wow! Bravo Tomi! You really nailed it this time Enjoy! This notion that political incorrectness is somehow responsible for terror attacks is absolute BS! Do you think we are stupid? How dare you blame this crap on Donald Trump! Excuse me? Was he Secretary of State? Did 4 Americans die on his watch in Benghazi? | 1real |
Red Cross halts aid to swathe of South Sudan after staff member killed | ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The Red Cross has halted operations across a third of South Sudan after gunmen shot dead a staff member, in what the U.N. said on Wednesday was the biggest such suspension during the country s four-year civil war. Kennedy Laki Emmanuel, a driver for the Red Cross, died on Sept. 8 when gunmen fired on a 10-vehicle convoy delivering aid in South Sudan s restive Western Equatoria state. In response, the International Committee of the Red Cross shut down activities across Equatoria, a region roughly the size of Britain that borders Congo and Uganda and has seen some of the heaviest fighting over the last year. The suspension affected more than 22,000 people about to get aid deliveries from the Red Cross. That included more than 5,000 farmers due to receive seeds in an area teetering on the edge of famine. The ICRC will not resume anything until we have a clear picture of exactly what happened and until we receive the necessary security guarantees, spokeswoman Mari Mortvedt told Reuters. The security of the ICRC staff is top priority. The U.N. s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told Reuters that no aid group had shut down its operations over such a large area since South Sudan s civil war began in 2013. The conflict began after President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired his deputy Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer. The U.N. says ethnic cleansing has taken place and warned of genocide, amid reports of murder, rape, and torture of civilians. More than two million South Sudanese have now fled the country, creating Africa s biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and more than half of those remaining need food aid. The country s original population was 12 million. At least 85 aid workers have been killed, according to the U.N., including 18 this year, making it the deadliest country for aid workers in the world. That number did not include a staff member for aid group World Vision, killed in the Western Equatoria town of Yambio on September 3. It was not clear whether that death was related to his work as an aid worker, so it was not included in the total, the group said. (This story corrects to make clear World Vision aid worker not included in total of 85) | 0fake |
Boiler Room EP #125 – Live From the Swamp Train with FunkSoul, Randy J, Patrick Henningsen | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Funk$oul and Randy J (ACR & 21WIRE Contributors), and Patrick Henningsen (21WIRE) for the 125th episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone and the gang is discussing Hurricane Irma, weather modification, the off the charts levels of so called political correctness in Washington DC as reported live by Sunday Wire s Patrick Henningsen, establishment are still actively pushing lies about the war in Syria, the good/bad/ugly business of disaster relief charities, reactionaries still blaming Hurricane Harvey on climate change, the repeal of DACA and the challenges for the left and the right to have any sort of beneficial dialog about immigration realities, platforms and policies in the environment of media driven, knee jerk, emotionally charged politicization of the topic.Direct Download Episode #125Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research: | 1real |
If Cannabis Can Kill “Incurable” Brain Cancer, Why Is It Criminalized? (VIDEO) | in: Medical & Health , Multimedia , Natural Medicine , Sleuth Journal , Special Interests Cannabis contains a compound that may kill brain cancers that chemotherapy and radiation can’t touch, so why isn’t it being used today? In recent years, we’ve focused heavily on educating our readers about the still relatively unknown role that cancer stem cells play in cancer, both in terms of conventional cancer treatment failure and the exceptionally promising role that natural interventions play in targeting these highly malignant cells. It is encouraging to witness a growing awareness that cancer has been completely misunderstood , and that in order to make progress against the global epidemic we will have to go back to the wisdom of the ancients by using foods and spices instead of toxic chemicals and radiation to fight a disease that should be classified more as a survival mechanism unmasked than an inexorably lethal, genetically-driven condition . Even the National Cancer Institute now admits that it had been wrong for decades about “early stage” breast ( DCIS ) and prostate (HGPIN) “cancers,” and that they should be reclassified as indolent or benign lesions of epithelial origin, i.e. not “cancer” at all! Essentially, therefore, millions were overdiagnosed and overtreated for cancers they never had. Even now, despite this admission, the vast majority of conventional doctors have yet to account for, acknowledge, or integrate this radically different definition of cancer and its implications for treatment into their “standard of care.” Only last week, we featured a new review on natural therapies that target cancer stem cells , many of which included common foods and spices. You can view it here. But one substance conspicuously absent from the list was cannabis , which is the herb we now turn to to give it a fair representation in the context of this topic. A recent article published in the Journal Neuroimmune Pharmacology titled, “ The Antitumor Activity of Plant-Derived Non-Psychoactive Cannabinoids ,” reviewed the therapeutic potential of a non-psychoactive class of phytochemicals found in cannabis known as cannabinoids . Unlike THC, cannabinoids do not activate the cannabinoid 1 and cannabinoid 2 receptors in the central nervous system in any significant way, making their activity less controversial as they do not produce changes in perception and sensation associated with “recreational” and/or “psychedelic” drugs. There are actually over 60 cannabinoids in cannabis, but the second most abundant one, cannabidiol (CBD), has been found to inhibit and/or kill a wide range of cancers in the animal model, including gliobastoma (a difficult-to-treat type of brain cancer), breast, lung, prostate, and colon cancer. There have been a wide range of mechanisms identified behind these observed anti-tumor activities, including anti-angiogenic (preventing new blood vessel formation), anti-metastatic, anti-cell viability, but the one we wish to focus on in this report is its ability to to inhibit the stem-like potential of cancer cells. Stem cells are unique within the body as they are capable of continual self-renewal, theoretically making them immortal relative to regular body cells (somatic cells), which die after a fixed number or replication cycles. In their normal state of function they are essential for healing and bodily regeneration, as they are capable of differentiating into the wide range of cells that make up the body and need to be regularly replaced when damaged. This so-called pluripotent property of stem cells is also observed in tumor formation and maintenance, as cancer stem cells are capable of producing the entire range of different cells that make up a tumor colony. Unlike regular tumor cells, cancer stem cells are uniquely tumorigenic because they are capable of breaking off from an existing lesion or tumor and forming a new tumor colony of cells. In this sense, they are “mother cells” at the heart of cancer malignancy, whose ability to colonize other tissues by producing all the “daughter cells” necessary to form a new tumor make their existence highly concerning from the perspective of cancer prevention and treatment. Radiation and chemotherapy, while capable of reducing the size of a tumor, actually enrich the post-treatment residual lesion or tumor with higher levels of cancer stem cells , and in some cases transform non-cancer stem cells into cancer stem cells , ultimately making the post-treatment state of the treated tissue far worse than its pre-treatment condition. This is why identifying and using natural, safe, effective and affordable ways to target cancer stem cells versus the non-tumorigenic tumor cells in a lesion or tumor is the only rational way to treat cancer, and should be the primary focus of present day cancer treatment approaches. The new review discussed the way that cannabidiol targets and/or inhibits the cancer stem cell subpopulation in cancers such as the highly treatment-resistant form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma, which is widely considered by conventional medicine as “incurable.” A 2013 study, 1 mentioned in the review, found that patient-derived glioblastoma cells when exposed to cannabidiol saw a significant down-regulation of the genetic tumor marker Id-1, which has been closely correlated with brain cancer cell invasiveness. They also found that cannabidiol was capable of inhibiting neurosphere formation (a sign of cancer stem cell tumor formation), as well as was capable of inhibiting glioblastoma tumor invasiveness in an animal model. The results of this preclinical study were so compelling that the researchers concluded cannibidiol might make an ideal adjunct treatment: With its lack of systemic toxicity and psychoactivity, cannabidiol is an ideal candidate agent in this regard and may prove useful in combination with front-line agents for the treatment of patients with aggressive and high-grade glioblastoma tumors. Integrative approaches often focus on using natural interventions as “adjuncts” to conventional, inherently toxic approaches like chemotherapy and radiation, we believe that another possibility exists, namely, that cannabidiol in combination with a wide range of other natural substances studied for targeting glioblastoma is more effective (and certainly far safer) than a combination approach. To view other anti-glioblastoma substances, view our database on the subject . Another highly relevant study published in 2007 titled, “Cannabinoids induce glioma stem-like cell differentiation and inhibit gliomagenesis,” 2 found that cannabinoids target the stem-like properties of glioma cells, encouraging their differentiation into functioning, non-tumorigenic cells, and inhibiting the dysregulated increased production of glioma cells. A more recent 2015 study, 3 found that glioblastoma cells treated with cannabidiol inhibited their self-renewal by down-regulating “critical stem cell maintenance and growth regulators.” Another study, published last month, found that cannabidiol inhibits glioma stem-like proliferation by inducing autophagy, a natural form of programmed cell death. 4 Consider, finally, that the cancer stem cell targeting and killing properties of cannabidiol are only one of a wide range of potential mechanisms through which cannabis as a whole plant, comprised of hundreds of different phytochemicals and phytonutrients, can treat cancer. We have indexed hundreds of studies on cannabis’ therapeutic properties, a good subset concerning its ability to prevent, kill, or regress a wide range of different cancer types. You can view them all on our cannabis research database . Research on cannabis and brain cancer has only just begun, but considering the abject failure if not also sheer violence of conventional approaches, waiting for sufficient quantities of Pharma or government capital to flow in the direction of a non-patentable substance already saddled with archaic laws in some cases criminalizing its possession is a no win proposition. Anecdotes of healing with cannabis are not uncommon. One such report can be viewed on our colleague Dr. Jeffrey Dach’s website, titled, “ Cannabis Oil Brain Tumor Remission ,” demonstrating just how powerful cannabis and its cannabinoids may be for accomplishing what conventional approaches can not. A couple years ago, we reported on a similar case of temporary remission in childhood leukemia using cannabis extract . Also, consider reports like this one, where a woman clearly being victimized by conventional medicine was able to replace 40 different medications through using raw cannabis juice . The short of it is that the future of medicine , if it is to continue to advertise itself to be concerned with alleviating human suffering and being guided by “evidence,” must incorporate this safe, time-tested, affordable and effective healing agent into its standard of care. Failing to do so will not de-validate cannabis, rather, but the medical system itself. One might ask, if cannabis can treat “incurable” brain cancers, and is safer and more effective than chemotherapy and radiation, shouldn’t withholding it or information about its healing properties be considered criminal? Instead we still live in a time and age where simply possessing it or using it is in some jurisdictions classified as a criminal offense of dire if not irreparable consequence to our civil liberties. Perhaps we are at a critical turning point now and the aforementioned research will lead us all forward to a more enlightened medical ethos that respects the right of a patient to choose his or her treatment as long as it does no harm to others. References 1 Soroceanu L, Murase R, Limbad C, Singer EL, Allison J, Adrados I, Kawamura R, Pakdel A, Fukuyo Y, Nguyen D, Khan S, Arauz R, Yount GL, Moore D, Desprez PY, McAllister SD (2013) Id-1 is a Key transcriptional regulator of glioblastoma aggressiveness and a novel therapeutic target. Cancer Res 73:1559–1569 2 Tania Aguado, Arkaitz Carracedo, Boris Julien, Guillermo Velasco, Garry Milman, Raphael Mechoulam, Luis Alvarez, Manuel Guzmán, Ismael Galve-Roperh. Cannabinoids induce glioma stem-like cell differentiation and inhibit gliomagenesis. J Biol Chem. 2007 Mar 2;282(9):6854-62. Epub 2007 Jan 2. 3 Singer E, Judkins J, Salomonis N, Matlaf L, Soteropoulos P, McAllister S, Soroceanu L (2015) Reactive oxygen species-mediated therapeu- tic response and resistance in glioblastoma. Cell Death Dis 6:e1601 4 Nabissi M, Morelli MB, Amantini C, Liberati S, Santoni M, Ricci-Vitiani L, Pallini R, Santoni G. Cannabidiol stimulates Aml-1a-dependent glial differentiation and inhibits glioma stem-like cells proliferation by inducing autophagy in a TRPV2-dependent manner. Int J Cancer. 2015 Oct 15;137(8):1855-69. doi: 10.1002/ijc.29573. Epub 2015 May 8. PubMed PMID: 25903924. © November 1, 2016 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter . Submit your review | 1real |
How Donald Trump and President Obama Put Republicans in a Bind - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — When Donald J. Trump goes low, congressional Republicans go quiet. Their tolerance of Mr. Trump, even at the risk of humiliation, stems from a complex brew of political, policy and personal calculations that differ somewhat between party leaders and officials up for . But on one point, all sides agree: They have never seen a comparable situation, with a presidential nominee in open warfare with party leaders after a nominating convention. And Mr. Trump’s provocations are making the Republicans’ control of the Senate, perhaps even the House, more tenuous. Many Republicans, even those whose contempt for Mr. Trump matches their ill will for President Obama, still view the choice between Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton as a binary one, with implications for every policy area they care about, from judicial appointments to the economy to immigration. They believe that Mr. Trump, guided by a Congress, will break their way more than Mrs. Clinton ever would. For others, the vacancy on the Supreme Court — and its potential to reshape the high court’s rulings for years — overshadow almost everything else, even their nominee’s increasingly erratic statements and grasp of basic facts. “The Supreme Court is probably the choice that will have the single most effect on the nation,” said Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, where Mr. Trump is struggling to win over an overwhelmingly Republican state. Congressional Republicans who are up for — especially the handful like Senators John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire who still face primaries — have made a basic calculation. They have criticized Mr. Trump, but not withdrawn their endorsements. And party leaders have decided the more distance they put between themselves and Mr. Trump, the more likely they are to lose their congressional majorities. Alienating Mr. Trump’s supporters would cost them just enough votes to lose their seats. Their fears at this point appear justified. A poll conducted the last week of July by CBS News found that support for Mr. Trump among Republican voters rose to 81 percent from 79 percent. So the leaders largely responded to Mr. Trump’s attacks with feigned indifference. “Republican elected officials are in a tough spot,” said Nathan L. Gonzales, the editor of The Rothenberg Gonzales Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter. “They are criticized for not listening to the grass roots and criticized for not denouncing the nominee chosen by the grass roots. Some Republicans are reluctant to attack Donald Trump because they’d risk alienating 35 to 40 percent of the party who supported him in the primaries. ” Mr. Trump pointedly declined on Tuesday to endorse Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the nation’s elected Republican, and verged on outright opposition to Mr. McCain and Ms. Ayotte, just hours after Mr. Obama challenged Republicans to denounce their nominee. Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump have put Republicans into an untenable position: Criticizing their nominee could be seen as taking the advice of a president whom their core voters strongly dislike, potentially alienating the very people they need for — but sitting idly as Mr. Trump attacks them and makes inflammatory comments might alienate more moderate voters. “If you are repeatedly having to say, in very strong terms, that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?” Mr. Obama asked during a news conference on Tuesday. Mr. Ryan’s spokesman tersely responded that the speaker had never sought Mr. Trump’s endorsement, and Ms. Ayotte more or less brushed off the matter, saying, “I call it like I see it,” in reference to her defense of a fallen Army captain whose family Mr. Trump had derided. While many Republicans are hoping for ticket splitters — those who might vote Democrat for president but Republican on the rest of the ticket — the parsing is all the more difficult. Many experts are skeptical that the approach can work. “In 2008 and 2010, voters did not draw distinctions,” said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. “It was not like Passover, where the door was marked, ‘This one should be spared.’ No, the Angel of Death came in and said no ‘Let’s kill them all.’ ” It is not just a question of individual desires to win — although that certainly drives many of the statements about Mr. Trump that come short of rescinding an endorsement. Republicans believe they need to maintain the House and the Senate, through a blend of votes from their base and split tickets, to pursue a policy agenda. “The speaker’s goal, one that you set collectively with members of your conference, is to promote ideas and enact policies that make a difference,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican operative who once worked for former Speaker John A. Boehner. “The political reality, though, is that this goal can only be reached if members are not put at risk because the top of the national ticket underperforms. ” Republican leaders also know that in an election cycle, the core of the party would most likely be disposed to reject candidates who embody the Washington establishment. This was the lesson Senator Ted Cruz of Texas learned when he was booed from the stage at the Republican convention last month for declining to get behind Mr. Trump, and accounts for some of the heat that Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a founder of the Never Trump movement, has taken from his party back home this year. Then, there is the vehement opposition to Mrs. Clinton, especially how they view her role in the Benghazi attacks, that has dominated the airwaves for years among Republicans. “I happen to think that lying to the American people is a step way above and beyond some of the disappointing rhetoric of Donald Trump,” said Mr. Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee. He added: “Nothing united Republicans more than Hillary Clinton. ” Some still may pull away. On Tuesday, Representative Richard Hanna, Republican of New York, said he would endorse Mrs. Clinton for president, calling Mr. Trump “unfit to serve. ” But Mr. Hanna is not representative of the broader Republican conference. “He came to Congress as an outsider and never fit neatly into the typical boxes,” Mr. Gonzales said. “He would have had another serious primary challenge this year, if he had decided to seek . But since he’s retiring, he apparently feels even more freedom to say what’s on his mind. ” But if Mr. Trump falls in the polls and Republicans running for start to realize they would do better separating from him and digging deeper for voters, Mr. Hanna might not be alone. | 0fake |
Clare Waight Keller Is Named First Female Designer of Givenchy - The New York Times | Is Audrey Hepburn making a return to the house of Givenchy? On Thursday, the French brand named Clare Waight Keller as its artistic director, responsible for women’s and men’s wear, accessories and couture. She will be the first woman to run the creative side of the house founded by Hubert de Givenchy in 1952. The announcement marks a new stage in this year’s game of fashion musical chairs, and it is a potentially significant change, both for Givenchy and its incoming designer. The news came less than two months after Ms. Waight Keller, a British designer, officially resigned from Chloé — which is owned by Compagnie Financière Richemont, and which announced last week that its new creative director was Natacha . Ms. had been creative director of women’s at Louis Vuitton, a brand that, like Givenchy, is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. “I am very happy to have Clare Waight Keller join the LVMH group,” said Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, in announcing the news, which was released simultaneously on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and Weibo. “I believe her widespread expertise and vision will allow Givenchy to enter the next phase of its unique path. ” What that next phase is remains to be seen, but the choice of Ms. Waight Keller, rumored during the recent Paris Fashion Week, suggests the answer is not more of the same. Givenchy’s previous artistic director, Riccardo Tisci, left the brand in February after 12 years. He was responsible for transforming it from the house defined largely by the relationship between Mr. de Givenchy and Ms. Hepburn, his greatest muse, to a house the Kardashians loved, with all the Gothic buzz that suggests. Mr. Tisci also made it a social media force. By contrast, there is nothing about Ms. Waight Keller, 46, a personality often pictured peeking out from under her long brown hair, hands tucked into trouser pockets. As a designer, she has seemed content to let her brands be the stars, and her work, both at Chloé and in her former position as designer of Pringle of Scotland, was marked by a accessible elegance with a tailored line. Think of it as slouchy chic. Indeed, the statement by Philippe Fortunato, chief executive of Givenchy, seemed to suggest a return to the brand’s roots. “I am very excited to see Clare bring her singular sense of elegance and modernity to Givenchy,” he said. “By exploring our maison’s heritage and the outstanding of its ateliers, I am convinced Clare will help Givenchy reach its full potential. ” Though Ms. Waight Keller, who began her career working at Calvin Klein in New York and with Tom Ford at Gucci, was also in charge of men’s wear at Pringle, she has never worked with an haute couture atelier before. Givenchy suspended its formal couture shows in 2012, first holding static presentations of the collection instead, and more recently incorporating some couture looks into its men’s wear shows in January and June. But the fact that Ms. Waight Keller has been specifically given responsibility for the highest form of fashion’s art suggests that a return to a more formal couture offering may be in the future. It also suggests that the idea was false that Ms. Waight Keller, who has three children and has recently moved her family to London from Paris, was taking time off after Chloé because of the pressures of today’s fashion cycle. Her responsibilities at Givenchy, after all, will be significantly greater than her responsibilities at Chloé: She will be overseeing at least eight collections a year, as opposed to four. LVMH does not break down the performance of individual brands in its financial results, but the Givenchy annual sales revenue is believed to be to around 500 million euros, or more than $530 million,) and there are 72 stores worldwide. In January, LVMH reported revenue of €37. 6 billion in 2016, an increase of 5 percent, beating expectations because of strong sales in the United States and Europe, and a pickup in demand in Asia. Along with the move of Raf Simons to Calvin Klein from Christian Dior, the switch by Ms. Waight Keller should put to rest the recent theory that designers are rebelling against the relentless demands of the system by stepping off the hamster wheel. Perhaps most significantly of all, though, her appointment at the helm of one of LVMH’s signature brands is further indication that the largest luxury group in the world is increasingly focused on the talents of women designers, and changing a historical pattern that has seen most large brands with significant women’s wear profiles run by male creatives. (In June, Christian Dior, the structural owner of LVMH, named Maria Grazia Chiuri as artistic director.) In her new role — like Phoebe Philo, the creative director of Céline, another LVMH brand (who, when she was creative director of Chloé, became the first designer to ever take a formal maternity leave) — Ms. Waight Keller will move between London and Paris, where the Givenchy atelier is based. It may seem astonishing, but the idea that a designer would not have to choose between having a power position and a family life is a relatively new look in the fashion world. Ms. Waight Keller officially begins work May 2. Her first show for Givenchy will take place during Paris Fashion Week in October. The fashion world will be left to speculate on where Mr. Tisci, whose next move has not yet been announced, will end up. Rumor has it the answer is Versace. Stay tuned. | 0fake |
Donald Trump files disclosure of $10 billion in net worth | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump has filed a new personal financial disclosure form that details a net worth of more than $10 billion, the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign said on Tuesday. The party’s presumptive nominee has refused so far to release his income tax statements, which are normally released by presidential candidates. That decision has drawn criticism from likely Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The personal disclosure form is identical to one Trump filed shortly after announcing his candidacy last year. Critics have said the billionaire real estate developer is inflating his net worth in the forms and that his tax documents would provide a more accurate depiction of how much money he has. “I have built an incredible company and have accumulated one of the greatest portfolios of real estate assets, many of which are considered to be among the finest and most iconic properties in the world,” Trump said in a statement about his disclosure. | 0fake |
Why 5 Of The Wealthiest Muslim Nations Refuse To Take A Single Refugee | Coexist, assimilation, religious tolerance these are all foreign concepts to Muslims immigrants and Muslims living in countries who refuse to offer them refuge in their countries .FIVE OF THE WEALTHIEST MUSLIM COUNTRIES HAVE TAKEN NO SYRIAN REFUGEES IN AT ALL, ARGUING THAT DOING SO WOULD OPEN THEM UP TO THE RISK OF TERRORISM.Lebanon, which has 1.1 million Syrian refugees, shut her borders to the Syrians in June of last year. Jordan, host to another 630,000, followed suit in August last year, preventing more Syrians from abandoning their country.Sherif Elsayid-Ali, Amnesty International s Head of Refugee and Migrants Rights, has slammed their inaction as shameful .He said: The records of Gulf countries is absolutely appalling, in terms of actually showing compassion and sharing the responsibility of this crisis It is a disgrace. Via: Conservative Post | 1real |
The US Supreme Court Has Bad News For The American People And The GOP Is To Blame | The vacancy left by Scalia and the inevitable 4-4 ties bound to happen have left the court no choice but to deliver sorry and crippling news to the American public: The court will hear but a fraction of the cases it normally would in a session, with a mere three cases scheduled since Scalia died.The Supreme Court of the United States is tasked under article 3 section 2 with the power to decide all cases in law and equity arising under the Constitution, to interpret the laws of the nation and to be the final word in the legality of all of our treaties. The Judicial branch of the government determines precedent often over cases the people and their elected representatives can t agree on by interpreting their letter and spirit as it applies to our society as well as the intentions of the founders.That s quite a mouthful and a set of expectations that all too often fall by the wayside in favor of partisan politics. That s not to say that the court doesn t have its moments. Centrist judges and even partisan players have often taken their robes and their positions as seriously as they should, such as with the recent decisions on Obamacare subsidies and gay marriage. On the other hand, when you have to sit back and witness the destruction of the Voters Rights Act, once again the issue of partisanship comes into play. Partisan or not, the court is tasked with those decisions, and it has nine justices for a reason. Ties at the highest court of the land don t work.No matter how you view the court, its role in our government is imperative. The death of Justice Scalia and the obstructionist GOP-led senate hasn t just hampered the court s ability to function, it has rendered it nearly inoperable. Between late February and Early April, the court hears eight cases on average with a high of eleven in 2011.The reason is simple: The court isn t interested in wasting time by hearing cases that will end in a deadlock. It s counter-productive to maintaining the rule of law and a massive waste of time and resources. As a result, the court has heard cases with little consequence or controversy. The court has agreed to hear eight cases in total this term, which runs until January 2017, five of which were scheduled while Scalia was still alive. The court typically hears upwards of 70 cases in a term.That means we can forget about integral decisions on archaic abortion laws, redistricting, campaign reform, and a plethora of other issues already ruled on by lower conservative judges until sometime in 2017, or whenever the Democrats regain the Senate if Clinton or Sanders are elected this November. The Republican party doesn t play fair. Their tactics are bush league at best. By obstructing the executive branch and holding the judicial branch hostage, the GOP has effectively destroyed the republic they claim to be saving.Featured image by Win McNamara, Getty Images | 1real |
McMullin surge threatens to squeeze Trump's already narrow path to victory | Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, won the state by nearly 50 points. Republicans hold the state's governor's office, both of its US Senate seats and all four of its US House seats. The party holds 84% of the state's House of Representatives and 79% of the state Senate.
Yet Donald Trump has a very real Utah problem. And it's largely because of one relatively unknown candidate: independent Evan McMullin.
In a year where third-party candidates like Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein have made waves, it's McMullin -- a candidate who fell far short of even qualifying for the ballot in all 50 states -- who stands the best chance of having a quantifiable impact on the race.
That's because McMullin, according to a raft of recent polling in the Utah, is surging in the state.
"People like to say that Utah is a Republican state or a deep red state. I say it's a principled conservative state," McMullin said in an interview Friday in his Salt Lake City campaign headquarters.
McMullin's campaign is far from a powerhouse operation -- it's leanly staffed and leanly financed (it had less than $5,000 in the bank at the start of October, according to federal filings.)
"Our campaign is a three-month presidential campaign, which, let me be clear to everyone, is not ideal," McMullin, who launched his campaign in August, says with a knowing laugh.
Yet driven largely by its digital operation and about $300,000 in small dollar donations, the Provo, Utah-born McMullin and his running mate, Mindy Finn, have been bobbing back and forth ahead, or within a couple of points, of Trump in the state.
To put a potential McMullin-Finn victory in perspective, it has been 48 years since a third-party candidate secured any electoral votes. It's been 52 years since Utah supported any nominee but the Republican Party's.
For Trump, Utah's emergence as a potential GOP hole couldn't come at a worse time. Facing an exceedingly narrow path to victory as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her team continue to flip potential swing states into their column, the loss of the west state's six electoral votes is equal parts unthinkable and devastating.
For their part, Trump's advisers don't appear publicly concerned about the state. There's been no rash deployment of resources, either in terms of field staff or television advertising, to try and cut down McMullin's rise. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump's running mate, stopped in the state in September, but otherwise big-name surrogates have been absent.
McMullin's team says it hasn't identified any broad effort to undercut his support or credentials, short of the standard line that supporting anyone but Trump equals tacit support for a Clinton presidency. In other words, the Trump campaign is either confident that Utahns will revert to form, or supremely unaware of what both McMullin and Clinton campaign advisers say is happening on the ground in the state.
McMullin's team points to the release of Trump's lewd "Access Hollywood" tape as the moment where gradual momentum turned into tangible numbers. The campaign saw digital engagement grow by 2,000% in the wake of the video.
"What they tell us," says Finn, a veteran GOP campaign hand and outspoken Trump critic from the start of his campaign, "is you've been offering a glimmer of light in what has been a sea of darkness in this 2016 election."
That message of "principled alternative" to Trump appeared to take on new meaning in a state where Trump already wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms.
In fact, the root of Trump's problem in the state has been clear for much of the year: Mormon voters seem to want no part of his candidacy. In a state where Mormons make up more than 60% of the population, that's a big problem -- one exacerbated by top state officials, many sharing the faith, either outright rejecting Trump's candidacy or pulling their endorsements.
That list includes the state's governor, Gary Herbert, who called Trump's hot mic video "despicable"; former Gov. Jon Huntsman, who called on Trump to step aside; junior Sen. Mike Lee, long critical of Trump and even more so in the wake of the video; as well as one of the state's highest-profile congressmen, Jason Chaffetz, who pulled his endorsement of the GOP nominee.
On top of all of that, in an unprecedented action, the editorial board of the Salt Lake City newspaper The Deseret News, which is owned by the Church of Latter-Day Saints, called on Trump "to step down from his pursuit of the American presidency."
"What oozes from this audio is evil," the editors wrote.
For his part, McMullin downplays the role his faith plays in his rise.
"It's sort of like saying President Obama became president because he had the support of African-Americans," McMullin says. "Every candidate has people who are like them in some way who may find it easier to understand who the candidate is and therefore maybe there's a heightened chance that they'll be supportive of that candidate. But the reality is that it's much more than that."
There's no question the tone of the race -- and the major party candidates -- appear to be driving people McMullin's way more so than his faith. A former CIA officer, Goldman Sachs banker and US House staffer, McMullin touts a strong resume and firmly conservative message as his major selling points.
And while a handful of Utah state political officials have endorsed McMullin, the state's biggest, boldest names have not. But just as Obama wouldn't have won the White House without the overwhelming support of black voters, McMullin is the clear beneficiary of Mormon voters who can't come to grips with Trump has a candidate.
Bemused is probably the best way to describe the Clinton campaign's view of the current state of play in Utah. They put more effort in here than traditional Democratic campaigns -- a campaign office was opened, a field staffer was deployed and Clinton officials have repeatedly made themselves available to local media. But they also acknowledge that there is a ceiling of sorts for a Democratic candidate statewide -- particularly one who holds the sky-high unfavorable ratings of Clinton. But their fight to gain ground in the state has helped create the unlikely dynamic that now exists.
Driving through the neighborhoods in and around Salt Lake City with just over two weeks left until Election Day, pockets of political signs protrude in block after block, yard after yard. Blue and orange and green, big bold letters touting candidates for a variety of political offices.
That is exactly the kind of opening McMullin and his team have seized on -- and one that puts them in position to make a bit of history, even if that means contributing to the loss of the GOP nominee.
"We're saying even in that case, stand on principle, stand for what you know is right, stand for what kind of leadership you actually want to see in this country and lets build from there," McMullin says. | 0fake |
Armed Citizen Who Threw Wallet to Distracted Suspect: ’That’s When I Lit Him Up’ - Breitbart | An armed citizen, who was in Detroit’s ES Carry Out Shrimp Shack during an alleged robbery, says he threw his wallet on the floor, and when the robbery suspect looked away to retrieve it, the citizen shot him. [The incident occurred around 5:45 p. m. on January 21. According to ClickonDetroit. com, the armed citizen is a concealed carry permit holder going only by “Dennis” to protect his privacy. He was in the Shrimp Shack with his girlfriend, Latanya, when an alleged armed robbery suspect came in and ordered everyone to hand over their “cash. ” Dennis and his girlfriend “and another customer started throwing their money and wallets on the floor. ” The suspect allegedly pointed his gun at Latanya’s face but was distracted by the wallets on the floor and looked away to pick them up. Dennis used the brief distraction as an opportunity to draw his own gun and shoot the suspect in the stomach. Dennis said, “When I saw he had the gun in her face, and I threw my wallet down and keys, he turned to look and get the money, that’s when I lit him up. ” He then “kicked the robber’s gun away” and tended to the wounded suspect until first responders arrived. Following the incident, Dennis made clear that he did not have a specific plan to distract the suspect, but he took advantage of the situation when the distraction occurred. He added, “Even though you give them everything, they’ll still shoot you, and I wasn’t going out like that. ” WWJ reports that Detroit police said Dennis will face no charges for his actions he “acted in . ” AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 0fake |
HELPING HILLARY: What The Virginia Governor Just Did Will Help 200,000 More People Vote For Hillary | Felons get to vote all of a sudden in Virginia because the governor is a buddy of the Clinton s .dirty politics seems to follow the Clintons. There s a long history of corruption between McAuliffe and Bill Clinton. Once again, they re just helping each other out On Friday Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) gave 200,000 felons the right to vote. The list includes rapists and murderers. But, it s OK. It will help Hillary Clinton in the fall. The Washington Post reported:Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will make all ex-felons in Virginia eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, part of a years-long effort to restore full voting rights to former convicts.McAuliffe s announcement in Richmond on Friday will allow an estimated 180,000 to 210,000 former felons who are not in prison or on probation or parole to register to vote this year in Virginia, a battleground state, according to a coalition of civil rights groups that had pushed for the restoration of voting rights.Advocates said McAuliffe s move was the biggest-ever single action taken to restore voting rights in this country. It is a historic day for democracy in Virginia and across our nation, said Tram Nguyen, co-executive director of the New Virginia Majority, a progressive activist group. The disenfranchisement of people who have served their sentences was an outdated, discriminatory vestige of our nation s Jim Crow past. Many Republicans viewed McAuliffe s action as a blatant favor to his longtime friend Hillary Clinton, for whom he and his wife recently raised $2 million at their McLean home. It is hard to describe how transparent the Governor s motives are, House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) said in a statement. The singular purpose of Terry McAuliffe s governorship is to elect Hillary Clinton President of the United States. This office has always been a stepping stone to a job in Hillary Clinton s cabinet.Republicans were particularly outraged that the policy doesn t take into account the violence of the crime, whether the person committed serial crimes, whether they ve committed crimes since completing their sentence or whether they ve paid their victims back for medical bills.Via: WaPo | 1real |
Puppet Hillary's Blame Game | During the 3 rd presidential debate Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton laughably claimed that self-made billionaire, Donald Trump —a political outsider—was a puppet, rather than herself:
“He'd [Vladimir Putin] rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”
“No puppet, no puppet… You're the puppet,” was Mr. Trump's honest reply.
Excuse me, but which scandal-embroiled candidate made a dirty U.S. uranium deal with Russia? Which same one blatantly broke American law and fostered potential espionage? As with everything two-faced Hillary says, the truth opposes her own words and deeds. Via Charity-gate , Mrs. Clinton did the former; with Server-gate, she did the latter. Thus, at the debate, she falsely accused Trump of her own crimes. This behavior is classical psychological projection: her own deep-seeded guilt blamed on her innocent political opponent.
Beyond a worthless apology, Hillary's blame game never includes herself. Mr. Trump's call to Russia to release her illegally destroyed emails (if they have them) isn't espionage. He has nothing to do with what was left unprotected or has likely been stolen. First, wasn't it Hillary who intentionally had unauthorized, private servers set up in the first place as Secretary of State? Second, wasn't it Mrs. Clinton's responsibility to follow the law forbidding such extraneous storage of classified information? Third, since she knowingly ignored the rules, doesn't she own the consequences of hackers and potentially “interfering” foreign governments in next month's election?
Hillary has aided Russia, the foreign government she now publicly demonizes. In reality, if anyone is a hypothetical puppet of Putin's, it's Hillary Clinton , not Donald Trump. Specifically, her State Department approved the Uranium One deal, which insanely ceded Russian control of 20% of American produced uranium for a fat donation to her pay for play sham of a charity, the Clinton Foundation . (That's the highly prized “ yellow cake ” used in nuclear weapons.) What's to stop the Kremlin from sharing the extra supply with their Middle East allies, the nuclearly ambitious Iranian Imams ? You know, the same bearded fellows who finessed a toothless, Obama-approved nuclear deal that virtually guarantees them the bomb within the next decade? The answer to all of the above is nothing at all.
Moreover, if the Soviets do have her destroyed emails, Mr. Putin has a treasure trove of top secret material with which to blackmail the normally paranoid and self-obsessed Hillary . Therefore, Mrs. Clinton would waste critical years in office (vital to the continued solvency of America) looking only to save her own skin. Indeed, the next president must contend with the escalating, unsustainable 19.7T debt . (That sounds like a wheelhouse challenge to a businessman and job creator like Donald Trump .)
Yet, Hillary's not up to that, or anything constructive. Crooked Hillary will be embroiled in ever worsening scandals, and future Nixon style cover-ups. Just like her impeached hubby Bill, she'll remain in an endless cycle of political damage control. Recall her already well-established track record of incompetence and lawlessness. While the country seizes in a hellish Clinton Administration death spiral, how would this divisive rabble-rouser lead—except disastrously—over a social and economic cliff?
It doesn't take a dummy to know who's better for America's future . If ventriloquists were Wall Street bankers, speechifying “Hillary six figures” would be their open borders , amnesty-promising marionette. Brassy Donald Trump should not be confused with any of that. Unlike the shifty one percenters who finance Mrs. Clinton's corrupt candidacy, Donald Trump's a captain of industry who can't be bought. He already has all of the fame, wealth and power anyone could want. America needs his tell-it-like-it-is 'can-do' optimism—not an elitist figurehead for foreign and domestic special interest groups, and corporate masters. shares | 1real |
White House does not yet have plan on debt limit: budget chief | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has not settled on a plan for working with Congress to raise the federal debt limit, U.S. budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Thursday, even as the deadline loomed for the government to increase its borrowing authority. The Trump administration has urged Congress to increase the debt limit before it heads out for its August recess, but Mulvaney said officials had not decided what form the legislation should take. “There are various thoughts about how to get something passed, but I don’t think we’ve settled on how to move forward yet,” Mulvaney told reporters at a briefing. “Will it be a clean debt ceiling vote? Will it be a debt ceiling vote with some type of reforms attached to it? I don’t think we’ve settled on that.” The U.S. government has a legal limit on how much it can borrow, currently set at about $19.8 trillion. The limit can be increased only by a vote of Congress. The White House has sent mixed signals on how the debt limit should be handled by lawmakers. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asked lawmakers to pass a bill without any measures attached to it. However, Mulvaney, a conservative Republican, was known to favor using the debt limit as leverage to get spending cuts during his time in Congress, before he was tapped to be budget director. He downplayed any disagreements within the administration, saying it was not unusual for a Treasury secretary and a budget director to have different views on the debt limit. “It is not a source of division right now in the White House, nor is it a source of division in the party,” he said. But on Capitol Hill, the House Freedom Caucus, an influential group of about three dozen conservative Republican lawmakers to which Mulvaney once belonged, has called for any increase in the debt ceiling to be linked to reforms that cut unnecessary spending and work toward balancing the U.S. budget. Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows said on Thursday he favored such a conditional raising of the debt ceiling by about $1.5 trillion, which he believes may be somewhat less than what the Trump administration wants. “There’s a number of us who are talking about a $1.5 trillion range, as long as there are some structural reforms, some other things that could go along with that,” Meadows said in the House Speaker’s Lobby. Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress. Generally, conservative Republicans have attempted to use the debt limit to push fiscal reform, while Democrats and moderate Republicans have opposed such ultimatums. Lower tax revenues this year have forced the U.S. Treasury to borrow more money to cover the federal budget deficit, which may lead to the government hitting its legal debt limit sooner than expected, experts say. Mnuchin said Monday that the government would be able to pay its bills at least through early September. | 0fake |
COLLEGE PROF DEVELOPS 10 “Cracka Commandments” TO HELP WHITE PRIVILEGED PEOPLE WITH IMMINENT “Black Spring” | Dr. Christopher Driscoll, an Africana Studies program affiliate, is a perfect example of how academia uses religion to divide students along racial lines, which ironically only promotes division and hate A hip hop symposium recently inspired a professor at Lehigh University to develop a list of Cracka Commandments intended to help white people accommodate the imminent black spring. Christopher Driscoll, a visiting assistant professor of religious studies at the private university in Bethlehem, Penn., posted the list of commandments last Friday following a lecture on the white appropriation of rap.According to Driscoll, his lecture led to a discussion about how white people fit into the #BlackLivesMatter movement and prompted a collaboration between himself, Lehigh Theater Professor Kashi Johnson, and hip hop artist Asheru. Together, we came up with these, the ten cracka commandments for 2015, Driscoll wrote on his personal blog, Shades of White.Driscoll says the first commandment is: that all lives won t matter until #BlackLivesMatter which he describes as both a litmus test and the greatest commandment. The nine other commandments read as follows:1. Always remember that white privilege is real, even if you do not understand it. Use it to convince other people that black lives, including black women s lives, matter.2. Show up for protests, write letters to representatives, and start discussions with other white people about black lives mattering.3. Always remember that ignorance is real, and is a product of privilege. Treat the ignorant with compassion, but hold them accountable. 4. Never think that the critique does not apply to you. Just because you were at Barack s inauguration and your dad was a freedom rider, or because you are the head of your local chapter of GLADD, that does not mean you do not have more work to do on yourself, your family, and your community. 5. Always remember that it is never a question of if violence, but whose violence are you going to defend. Unjust state-sanctioned and racist violence, or justified resistance; the choice is yours, the choice is ours. 6. Never tolerate racism from your friends or family. Whether it is coming from your eighteen-year-old friend, your thirty-one-year-old cousin, or your eighty-year-old grandmother, confront it always. Confronting racism does not mean you will lose your friend or family. It means you will help to make them act and think in less racist ways. 7. You cannot love cultural products without also loving the people who make those products. If you like black art or athletics, that appreciation is an entryway into recognizing that black lives matter. 8. Never quote black leaders like Dr. King in order to criticize protesters and activists. 9. Always embrace uncertainty. Life is uncertain; death is certain. Uncertainty promotes life; certainty produces death and destruction. 10. Never put white fragility ahead of justice. If you are more concerned to argue that you aren t racist than you are with racism or with people dying, you re priorities are skewed. Do you want justice or comfort? In addition to teaching, Driscoll recently penned the book White Lies: Race and Uncertainty in the Twilight of American Religion, which addresses the instabilities central to a white religion . Driscoll describes his personal website as designated for the progressive anti-racist ally and curious and frustrated, alike. Shades of White is a space for whites to clumsily, openly, and actively wrestle with a host of social issues that impact us, Driscoll states, adding that it is about time white folks come to terms with a problematic social arrangement that has seen them disproportionately advantaged for far too long. According to Driscoll, left-wing blogs do a good job of criticizing white folks on our failings albeit without offering concrete responses to meet the civic and social demands of everyone else. At the same time, Driscoll says right-wing blogs feel good, make us proud to be an American, but are often actively racist and sexist and sometimes, downright dumb. WATCH VIDEO FEATURING DR. CHRISTOPHER DRISCOLL S VIEWS ON RACISM HERE: Dr. Christopher Driscoll from Lehigh IMRC on Vimeo.In an email to Campus Reform, Lehigh s Director of Media Relations, Jordan Reese, said the university is committed to strongly supporting faculty academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas, theories and philosophies on campus. Lehigh believes diversity of thought fuels a healthy exchange of ideas, discussion and debate, contributing to a vibrant intellectual environment in which our students can grow and learn, Reese said.Via: Campus Reform | 1real |
Tillerson, Russia's Lavrov to meet on Sunday: U.S. State Dept | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in New York on Sunday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the U.S. State Department said in a brief statement. The State Department did not provide any details on what the two men would discuss during the 9 p.m. (0100 GMT on Monday) meeting. Possible topics include the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Syrian civil war and North Korea s nuclear and missile programs. | 0fake |
BILDERBERG: More Secret Meetings with Trump Advisors, US Senators | Mark Anderson The Truth HoundThe danger-ridden, tyrannical goal of creating an all-consuming corporate-ruled world superstate dubbed One World Ltd. -incrementally advanced since Bilderberg first met in Holland in 1954 under the auspices of Jesuit-trained European consolidator Joseph Retinger and his agent, Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands explains why Bilderberg goes to such lengths to keep the details of its inner-workings so secret, while functioning as an off-the-grid world networking and planning forum for private governance benefitting the banking and general corporate classes. A core tactic is to parallel but eventually supersede the nation state itself, thereby canceling effective, genuine nationhood altogether.Bilderberg s gatherings, for the record, consist of about 140 mainly North American and European corporate moguls (including select big media), government ministers, treasury officials, parliament members, high-technology leaders, certain royalty (including Bernhard s daughter, Netherlands Queen Beatrix) and central bankers who annually skulk into the world s top hotels, in order to cross-pollinate to pursue One World Ltd. and related financial and political dealings.McMASTER, TWO U.S. SENATORS ATTENDINGIt s highly notable that President Donald Trump s National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, is listed as an attendee for this year s Bilderberg meeting June 1-4 in Chantilly, Va., at Westfields Marriot. Other U.S. officials attending who are currently serving in public office are Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). While Graham jetted to last year s Bilderberg meeting in Dresden, Germany, Cotton evidently is attending his first-ever Bilderberg meeting.SEE ALSO: BILDERBERG: What s The Big Deal?The 65th Bilderberg gathering this year has 131 participants from 21 countries having confirmed their attendance. The entire attendee and official topic lists (but not necessarily complete) can be found at this link [note on this list the large amount of serving Trump Administration officials, and this year s Bilderberg features more active duty US officials than any other previous meeting].McMaster, Graham and Cotton all share a neo-conservative ideology of aggressively patrolling the world, in conjunction with the UK and the EU, to push Western democracy and monopoly capitalism, while fostering hostility toward Iran, Russia and Syria, for the benefit of Zionism, among other things. This fits the Bilderberg credo of using one might say leasing U.S. military power and other influence to control the natural resources and economic machinery of as many nations as possible, while co-opting or overthrowing those nations that stand firm with their own sovereignty.The Virginia gathering marks Bilderberg s first North American meeting in five years. Last year in Germany, according to the group s officially shallow press release, they discussed (in their own words): Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Chemical Weapons Threats, Current Economic Issues, European Strategy, Globalisation, Greece, Iran, Middle East, NATO, Russia, Terrorism, United Kingdom, USA and U.S. Elections.The group s press releases, a marvel of revealing simplicity, typically present bluntly-worded topics, such as Russia, Iran United Kingdom, European Strategy and so on. Such topics are clearly indicative of Bilderberg s objectives and concerns for maintaining Western hegemony over Russia and its allies, Iran and Syria, which could include war or the risk of war with Iran and does include targeting Syria under the guise of fighting ISIS Continue this story at The Truth HoundNOTE: The May 24 North American premiere of Bilderberg, the Movie, produced by researcher and author Daniel Estulin and covered exclusively by The TRUTH HOUND among national mainstream and alternative news outlets, stressed one point that cannot be overstressed: The Bilderberg Group above all is in pursuit of One World Ltd. On that note, the movie s promotional flyer asked: What do people who have $1,000,000,000,000,000 talk about in private? While the Estulin movie itself, of course, could not be filmed, videographer Ron Avery shot footage of Estulin s question-and-answer session immediately afterwards. WATCH: READ MORE BILDERBERG NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Bilderberg FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Mugabe holds more exit talks with generals: state media | HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe met military chiefs on Sunday for a second round of negotiations to encourage him to stand down after 37 years in power, according to The Herald state newspaper. In photos posted on its website, Mugabe was shown in a dark suit and tie and standing behind a wooden desk at State House as he shook hands with a procession of generals and the chief of police. Beside him was a television tuned in to Al-Jazeera. | 0fake |
5 Reasons to Consume this Every Day | Keywords: Alzhemier's disease , anxiety , dementia , depression , food , health , IBD , IBS , immune system , mental health , nutrition , weight loss Fermented Foods: 5 Reasons to Consume this food Group Every Day
I’m sure you have heard about fermented foods and are wondering if this is just a fad. Here are some reasons why fermented foods should not be just a fad but a food group to keep in your diet daily. What are Fermented Foods?
Bacteria and yeast are used as part of the fermentation process that gives these foods a nutritional boost. The bacteria convert sugars and starches into lactic acid through a process called lacto-fermentation. The yeast undergoes a process called ethanol fermentation.
These yeasts and bacteria that undergo the fermentation process boosts the nutritional content of the food. What it does to the food Provides beneficial bacteria that promote gut health Provides beneficial enzymes Increases the amount of B vitamins, biotin, and folate. Increases the bioavailability of minerals. Provides short chain fatty acids (which helps to improve your immune function) Provides you with GABA, your calming neurotransmitter How can eating fermented foods help me? Optimize your Gut Health
Why this may not seem like a big deal, it is. Your immune system is in your gut and much of your serotonin is made in your gut. Your gut may be in bad shape from NSAIDS, antibiotics, unknown food allergies, the standard American diet and more.
Ideally you want more “good” bacteria populating your gut as opposed to “bad” bacteria. Fermented foods can help shift the balance since most people who consume the Standard American “crap food” diet have a disrupted microbiome.
So, you can take all the supplements in the world, but if your gut is in bad shape, are you even absorbing and benefiting from these supplements or are you just wasting your money?
A healthy gut can help to balance and support your endocrine system, immune system, digestive system, and nervous system. So, as you can see, a healthy gut is critical to your well-being. Support your Immune System
The more beneficial bacteria you have, the stronger your immune system is to fight off colds, flu, allergies and more. Almost 80% of your immune system is found in your gut, thus, it stands to reason that to maintain a strong immune system, one needs to support their gut health.
Asthma and autoimmune conditions, among numerous other health issues, are all linked to having fewer good bacteria in your gut. The less diverse your microbiota is, the greater association with many chronic health issues.
Adding in probiotic rich fermented foods can also shorten the duration of a cold or upper respiratory infection. Aid in weight loss
Studies show that those with certain healthy bacteria in their gut can maintain a healthy weight while those with more negative strains have a greater incidence of gaining weight/difficulty losing weight. Obese people have different gut bacteria than lean individuals.
In a 2011 study, it was found that kimchee had a significant impact on weight and body fat of those who are overweight and obese in the study. In a 2010 study, obese people were assigned to drink fermented milk for 12 weeks. Those that drank the fermented milk had significant fat loss as compared to the control group. Digestive/Bowel Issue Improvement
Those with IBS or IBD may have reduced symptoms of diarrhea and constipation when fermented foods are added into the daily diet. Dr. David Williams states that to eliminate digestive issues, you need to improve the balance in the gut microbiome and one of the most effective ways of doing so is by adding in fermented foods. Kefir in studies, has shown to improve symptoms of IBS and IBD. Research has shown that anywhere from 50 to 75% of those who make this change (Adding in fermented foods) will notice a significant difference in their IBS symptoms. Improved mental health, mood control and behavior.
The gut is considered your second brain. A healthy gut therefore can mean a healthy brain. Several probiotic strains have been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in short term studies. For this reason, to get more variety of probiotic strains, it is best to not stick with the same fermented food to eat over and over. Mix it up; for instance, have kefir one day, kombucha the next, fermented vegetables the next day and so forth.
Many of you know that GABA is your calming neurotransmitter. But did you know that fermented foods can supply you with GABA too? Oral administration of fermented rice bran and other traditional fermented foods have been shown to increase GABA content significantly! Whereas GABA in the oral form may have limited benefits due to absorption issues.
Another study looking at 700 college students found that those who ate a variety of fermented foods has less negative emotions than before such as anxiety, fear, moodiness, worry, envy, frustration, and loneliness.
It is possible that the fermented foods not only healed leaky gut but also provided some needed GABA. Even in psychiatry they are starting to recognize the benefits of fermented foods for mood disorders. Reduce the risk of brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Some scientists have recently begun to consider the possibility that Alzheimer’s Disease is in fact an autoimmune disease. And as many of you may know, having one autoimmune condition puts you at risk for more autoimmune conditions down the road. For any autoimmune disease, the immune system must be supported. So, it would make sense that gut health needs to be addressed for AD. If you want to support your brain than I suggest that you add in fermented foods.
Along with the benefits above, fermented foods can also benefit those with Autism and help prevent H-Pylori. You don’t need a whole lot of fermented foods daily. Start with small amounts until you know how your body will react and slowly build your way up to say 3 tablespoons of fermented vegetables or a cup of kefir per day. What to add in
Look for the product to say raw and fermented. These foods should be in the refrigerator section of the store. Sauerkraut or other fermented vegetables : eat these cold, don’t heat them up. Bubbies pickles is a great way to get introduced to fermented foods. Kimchee : this is a Korean version of fermented cabbage, carrots, onions and garlic. Kefir: usually made from cow’s milk but is also made from goat milk or coconut milk. It has more of a drinkable texture than yogurt. I buy goat milk kefir and find that it is relatively thick and mix in some of my paleo granola and have this for breakfast. If you suspect any issues with milk it is best to opt for the coconut kefir or the goat milk kefir. If you have asthma or chronic sinus congestion, avoid the kefir until issues resolve. Opt for the other fermented choices instead. Tempeh: Indonesian type of “cake” with a nutty taste and chewy texture. A good vegan source of protein too. Kombucha : a fizzy fermented tea. Most stores carry a variety of flavors now. Don’t go overboard on the kombucha however. Some people who drink kombucha in excess amounts (i.e.: several bottles per day) report symptoms of gas and bloating. Miso: a fermented soybean paste which can be used in soups and sauces. A miso broth soup is a great way to start a meal and very easy to make.
Notice I did not sat yogurt. While some yogurts may contain some probiotics, many others are sugary processed foods in disguise. Yogurt is also not going to pack as powerful of a punch as the above-mentioned foods.
Sources | 1real |
Jimmy Carter offers help for Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria | Former President Jimmy Carter said recently that he provided maps of Islamic State positions in Syria to the Russian embassy in Washington, a move apparently at odds with the Obama administration’s official policy of not cooperating with Russia in the Syrian war.
Carter said on Sunday in Georgia that he knows Russian President Vladimir Putin “fairly well” because they “have a common interest in fly fishing.” When he met with Putin in April along with other global leaders to discuss the crises in Syria and Ukraine, the Russian president gave him an email address so the two could discuss his “fly fishing experiences, particularly in Russia,” Carter said.
The civil war in Syria, where U.S. officials say Russia has bombed rebels and CIA-backed groups rather than the Islamic State terrorist group, has also been a topic of conversation between the two. Carter said he sent maps of the Islamic State’s locations in Syria, produced by the Carter Center, to the Russian embassy so Moscow could improve the accuracy of its strikes.
“I sent [Putin] a message Thursday and asked him if he wanted a copy of our map so he could bomb accurately in Syria, and then on Friday, the Russian embassy in Atlanta—I mean in Washington, called down and told me they would like very much to have the map,” Carter said at his Sunday school class in Georgia, according to a video of his remarks first aired by NBC News. “So in the future, if Russia doesn’t bomb the right places, you’ll know it’s not Putin’s fault but it’s my fault,” he added as the audience laughed.
Obama administration officials have publicly said the United States will not collaborate with Russia as long as it targets U.S.-backed rebels in an effort to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime ally of Moscow. The administration has said Assad must eventually step down as part of efforts to seek a political resolution to the Syrian war. “We are not prepared to cooperate on strategy which, as we explained, is flawed, tragically flawed, on the Russians’ part,” said Ash Carter, U.S. defense secretary, earlier this month.
Click for more from the Washington Free Beacon. | 0fake |
Trump Names Alt-Right Racist As His Chief Strategist (VIDEO) | If anyone had any deluded designs that Donald Trump wasn t going to stack his staff with racists, they were sadly mistaken. Trump has named Steve Bannon, the guy who runs the alt-right website Breitbart, as his chief strategist. Paul Ryan went on television this morning and tried to say that the Trump Administration and the Republican Party do not condone racism and hate, but all of that just went out the window with this appointment. Here is video of that interaction with CNN s Jake Tapper:[ad3media campaign= 1347 ]The Trump campaign released the following statement regarding Trump s appointments and of course it doesn t address the fact that Bannon is a bona fide racist: I am thrilled to have my very successful team continue with me in leading our country. Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory. Now I will have them both with me in the White House as we work to make America great again. So, in other words, Trump and his team are in no way concerned about the racist hate crimes that have been cropping up around the country as a result of Trump s getting elected. If the GOP wants the nation and world to think that they are not racists, this is definitely NOT the way to do it. Trump himself is a racist, and Bannon is a huge racist as well.Buckle your seatbelts, folks. There s no way this country isn t going to devolve into a pit of hate with these people running it.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 1real |
SORE LOSER Jeb! Bush Denies Claim By BBC He Ordered Dirty Dossier On Trump | Former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has been forced to deny a claim that he ordered the outlandish dirty dossier on President-elect Donald Trump.The BBC initially named Bush, one of Trump s opponent in the 2016 Republican primary, as having enlisted the services of Washington-based political research firm FusionGPS to look into Trump s business dealings.FusionGPS later hired ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele to dig further into Trump s connections with Russia. He (Steele) was compiling this report on behalf of initially Trump s opponent Jeb Bush, the BBC said on Wednesday. The BBC subsequently said on Thursday its Washington correspondent Paul Wood misspoke.Bush s spokeswoman, Kristy Campbell, categorically denied any involvement between Bush and Steele. It is absolutely not true that Governor Bush had any knowledge or involvement with this gentleman and his allegations, Campbell told Reuters by phone It s nothing we ve ever seen before. However, Bush s camp have not specifically ruled out any contact with FusionGPS.On Thursday, the former Florida state governor said it s unlikely he ll run for office again.Bush said that life goes on and that he s focused on building up his business again and working with the foundation he created to push for changes in education policy. He s also ruling out running again for governor in his home state.It seems what started in September 2015 as a fairly standard political research mission to scrutinize the business dealings of a presidential candidate unexpectedly spiralled into a series of increasingly bizarre and lurid claims, none of which are verified. The company that was hired to dig into Trump, FusionGPS, is run by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Glenn Simpson, and advertises itself as providing premium research, strategic intelligence, and due diligence services .On Thursday, the former Florida state governor said it s unlikely he ll run for office again.Bush said that life goes on and that he s focused on building up his business again and working with the foundation he created to push for changes in education policy. He s also ruling out running again for governor in his home state.It seems what started in September 2015 as a fairly standard political research mission to scrutinize the business dealings of a presidential candidate unexpectedly spiralled into a series of increasingly bizarre and lurid claims, none of which are verified.The company that was hired to dig into Trump, FusionGPS, is run by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Glenn Simpson, and advertises itself as providing premium research, strategic intelligence, and due diligence services .Simpson left the Wall Street Journal in 2009 to launch an investigations company with fellow reporter Sue Schmidt.The company was called SNS Global LLC and the pair were also affiliated with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, a nonprofit foundation focused on security issues.Here s Trump s response:Via: Daily Mail | 1real |
Trump Has Quiet Black Students Removed From Rally At School That Was Segregated (VIDEO) | The latest racial incident associated with the Donald Trump for President campaign occurred today at a campaign rally in Georgia. According to news reports, the Trump campaign ordered the removal of a group of black students. They weren t being disruptive or interrupting his rally.About 30 black students who were standing silently at the top of the bleachers at Donald Trump s rally here Monday night were escorted out by Secret Service agents who said the presidential candidate had requested their removal before he began speaking.The sight of the students, who were visibly upset, being led outside by law enforcement officials created a stir at a university that was a whites-only campus until 1963. We didn t plan to do anything, said a tearful Tahjila Davis, a 19-year-old mass media major, who was among the Valdosta State University students who was removed. They said, This is Trump s property; it s a private event. But I paid my tuition to be here. The removal of black students from the formerly segregated campus comes just a little over 24 hours after Trump was widely ridiculed for refusing to denounce or reject the endorsement of former klansman and white supremacist David Duke in an interview with CNN.One student, Tahjila Davis, a 19-year-old mass media major, told USA Today: I have not experienced any racism on this campus until now. Trump s increasingly visible racial insensitivity is creating a major problem for the Republican Party, with some party bigwigs now publicly panicking that a Trump candidacy would mean electoral catastrophe in the fall election.Despite this, Trump received an endorsement from Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), who allegedly once referred to a black attorney as boy and has a considerable history of racial slights and insensitivity.The incident is the second controversy in one day involving Trump s security team. At another event, a man working security possibly for the Secret Service choke slammed a press photographer who was attempting to take pictures of protesters.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Sexual Abuse Claims in English Youth Leagues Prompt Wider Inquiry by Authorities - The New York Times | England’s Football Association, which remained largely silent for almost two weeks as former players came forward with accusations of sexual abuse by coaches in the country’s soccer development system, announced Sunday that it was broadening an internal investigation into the claims. The F. A. the governing body for soccer across England, said it had appointed Kate Gallafent, a lawyer with experience in sexual abuse cases, to oversee the internal investigation, which had not been revealed before. The F. A. also said it was working closely with the police in pursuing the claims. At least six former players have said publicly that they were molested as boys in the youth programs, and the head of the English soccer players’ union said Sunday that nearly two dozen more former players had come forward privately. Until now, the F. A. had made little public comment on the revelations other than to say it had set up a telephone help line for victims of abuse. “The internal review will look into what information the F. A. was aware of at the relevant times around the issues that have been raised in the press, what clubs were aware of, and what action was or should have been taken,” the association said in a statement Sunday. The scandal has grown out of an interview with Andy Woodward, a former player with the Crewe Alexandra, that was published by The Guardian on Nov. 16. In the article, Woodward said he had been sexually abused by Barry Bennell, who has been convicted of sexual abuse charges in both Britain and the United States. Bennell worked as a scout and coach for a number of clubs, including Crewe, across England’s North West during the 1980s. Woodward, now 43, said the abuse began when he was 11 and was invited to stay at Bennell’s house. He said Bennell had silenced him during the years of abuse with threats of further violence and of undermining his prospective soccer career. Woodward said that Crewe had failed in its “duty to protect” those children under its care. Four more former players have since said that they had been victims of Bennell. Steve Walters, another former Crewe player, said that reading Woodward’s account had persuaded him to reveal that he had been abused for a year, until he was 14. David White, who would go on to the English national team, and Jason Dunford both recounted abuse, or attempted abuse, while playing for a junior team in Manchester called Whitehill that was run by Bennell. A fourth former player, Ian Ackley, said he had been raped “hundreds of times” while playing amateur soccer in Derbyshire. The allegations against coaches have spread beyond Bennell. Paul Stewart, who played for Liverpool and England, said he had been abused by another coach for four years. And on Sunday, Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, the players’ union, told the BBC that as many as 20 players have come forward with information. Many, he said, have chosen to remain anonymous for now. At least four police forces across the country — in Northumbria, Hampshire and Cheshire as well as the Metropolitan Police in London — have announced that they are conducting inquiries into sexual offenses in soccer clubs. Various clubs, including Manchester City, Newcastle United, Blackpool and Leeds United, have said they will cooperate with any inquiries. Crewe’s initial response to Woodward’s claims was to offer no comment. The club’s longstanding technical director, Dario Gradi, who worked with Bennell, said he had been instructed by his superiors not to discuss the issue. Only after a former director, Hamilton Smith, revealed Thursday that he had informed the club of his concerns about Bennell at the time did Crewe announce that it planned to set up an internal investigation to determine what, if anything, the club had known during the period when Bennell was accused of abusing young players. Bennell worked with Crewe until 1992. He was arrested two years later while working in Florida, and he was convicted of raping a British boy at a soccer camp there. After his conviction in the United States, Bennell was deported to England and convicted, in 1998, on charges dating from 1978 to 1992, with another 22 charges left on file. He was jailed for nine years. In May 2015, Bennell was ordered to serve two more years for sexual offenses against a boy that the authorities said dated to 1980. In its statement on Sunday, the F. A. said it had begun its investigation “with acknowledgment that a inquiry may be required in time. ” The accusations of abusing children echo those against other authority figures connected to powerful institutions, including Roman Catholic priests, coaches in U. S. A. Swimming and Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State. Woodward has suggested that Bennell’s case could prove similar to that of Jimmy Savile, a British television personality who was found, after his death in 2011, to have committed many sexual crimes during a career that lasted decades. A investigation of that case concluded, in a scathing report, that Savile’s employers at the BBC had done little to stop his abuse of minors despite a history of complaints against him. | 0fake |
The Best and Worst of the Golden Globes - The New York Times | Here’s a look at the most memorable moments from the 2017 Golden Globes, including Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech, Jimmy Fallon’s lackluster hosting, funny presenters and awkward flubs. Meryl Streep campaigned on behalf of Hillary Clinton, so expectations were high that when she took the Golden Globes stage to accept the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award, she would comment on the recent election. But how political would she be? Pretty political, as it turned out. She used her speech to call out Donald J. Trump for seeming to mock a disabled New York Times reporter, and to warn that a free press would need to be defended. “This instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing,” she said. “Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. ” The room roundly applauded her remarks, but on social media some conservative commentators immediately criticized her and the target of her remarks had his own take. In an interview with The Times, Mr. Trump dismissed Ms. Streep as “a Hillary lover” and said that while he had not watched the ceremony, he was “not surprised” to come under attack from “liberal movie people. ” — Daniel Victor and Patrick Healy Read the full text of Meryl Streep’s remarks and read more about the ’s comments. Jimmy Fallon, generally an ebullient cruise director for awards shows, wasn’t a presence so much as a nuisance. The “La La Land” intro only really worked if you’d already seen “La La Land,” and the segment lacked the pep and fun of, for example, his “Glee” musical intro to the 2010 Emmys. There was barely a monologue, but a teleprompter snafu probably shouldn’t derail a comedian who hosts a TV show five nights a week. The rest of his material was tiny — and not funny — interstitials introducing the presenters with strained wordplay. Does this show need a host? Maybe not. — Margaret Lyons Read a review of the telecast. Even cynical watchers had to smile when the songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, ages 31 and 32, came bounding onto the stage to collect their Globe for the moody “La La Land” tune “City of Stars. ” The young men had clearly not yet received the show business memo that awards are to be accepted with practiced (false) modesty and coolness. “We need to calm down!” shouted Mr. Paul. “We’re so nervous!” They charmingly dedicated their best song award to “musical theater nerds everywhere. ” (Mr. Pasek and Mr. Paul also wrote the music for the celebrated “Dear Evan Hansen. ”) The same kind of emotion could also been seen whenever the cameras passed the “La La Land” table, where the two producers who shepherded the film the longest, Fred Berger and Jordan Horowitz, ages 35 and 36, could be seen melting down with joy as their film racked up one prize after another. Add in multiple trips to the stage by the film’s director, Damien Chazelle, 31, and it felt like an arrival moment for a new set of Young Turks. On to the Oscars? — Brooks Barnes Read about the making of “La La Land. ” There’s no movie called “Hidden Fences. ” There’s “Fences,” starring Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, and there’s “Hidden Figures,” starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe. First Jenna Bush Hager said it on NBC’s red carpet show when she was interviewing Pharrell Williams (who is a producer of “Hidden Figures”) and then Michael Keaton said it onstage. Look alive out there, folks. — Margaret Lyons Read about Pharrell Williams’s reaction. Donald Glover’s two acceptance speeches for his work on the FX show “Atlanta” were touching and personal (“I grew up in a house where magic wasn’t allowed”) and also hilarious (“I’d like to thank the Migos — not for being on the show, but for making ‘Bad and Boujee.’ That’s the best song ever”). “Atlanta” was one of the best, most distinctive shows of last season, and everything about the show’s win, and Mr. Glover’s velvet suit, and the cast’s portrait felt unique and just right. — Margaret Lyons Read the complete list of Golden Globe winners. It was a night of facial hair and sparkles, fairy princess frocks and character dressing, with the characters, and the (Hollywood) royals, dressed straight from the silver screen playbook. Of course, some costumes are less obvious than others. And when it comes to the red carpet, at least pretending to dress as yourself as opposed to, say, a cut flower or Disney caricature, has power. Ruth Negga, for example, in a sequined gown (who doesn’t love the idea of a gown?) by Louis Vuitton, took the idea of dressing for the award you want, a popular seasonal trope, and gave it a dose of futuristic cool. Evan Rachel Wood, channeling Marlene Dietrich and David Bowie (and Julie Andrews in “ ”) in an exactingly cut Altuzarra tux with white vest, offered absolute proof of her words that when it comes to awards season, there was no dress required. And Thandie Newton, in white Monse, flames picked out in paillettes licking up her hem, just hinted at the idea of an avenging angel come to earth. Also on the list, though in a more classical mode: Emma Stone, in (pink was a trend) Valentino, metaphor obvious but still undeniably enchanting Brie Larson, in strapless red Rodarte with a draped and beaded bodice, matching lips and Veronica Lake hair Natalie Portman, in ’ chartreuse Prada maternity gown, a little “Jackie,” but not too much and Viola Davis in sunshine yellow sequined Michael Kors, so bright she gave off her own light. For good or ill, Fashion with a capital F dresses can often look overdone or out of place on what has become a pretty visually safe space, and such was the case with Nicole Kidman’s Scottish shipwreck of a corseted Alexander McQueen. Ditto Sarah Jessica Parker’s white Vera Wang, with its echoes of both wedding dresses past and Princess Leia. And ditto Janelle Monáe’s Armani: short in front, trailing in back, sequined on top. Just when you had taken one detail in: whoa! There was another. The red carpet just doesn’t reward risk. At least the very boring — all those sequined columns, yawn — doesn’t linger long in the brain. — Vanessa Friedman Read a review of the night’s looks and see a red carpet slide show. In “Nocturnal Animals,” Tom Ford’s twisty drama, Aaron plays a sadistic thug who menaces a family on a deserted highway. Critics singled out the terrifying performance but on the awards circuit so far, the actor had garnered just one award (from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival) before his surprise Golden Globe for best supporting actor. Left were favorites like Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”). On the red carpet, Mr. said he watched movies about Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer to prepare, while his wife, the director Sam confessed, “It wasn’t my favorite part. ” — Stephanie Goodman Read a review of “Nocturnal Animals. ” Tracee Ellis Ross’s acceptance speech was an elegant combination of meaningful ideas and gleeful spontaneity. Winning the Globe for best actress in a comedy (“ ”) Ms. Ross said that her award was also for “all of the women, women of color and colorful people whose stories, ideas and thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important. ” She said that it’s “an honor” to be on a show that tells stories “outside of where the industry usually looks. ” She also seemed absolutely delighted to have won. Isn’t this what we want from an acceptance speech? A little humor, a bit of thoughtfulness, some seemingly true human emotion. — Margaret Lyons Read more about Tracee Ellis Ross’s speech. It’s time to retire “Sofia Vergara is not a native English speaker” as a comic premise. She came out and said “anal” twice and then “anus,” the big joke being that she can’t pronounce “annual. ” — Margaret Lyons Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig’s introduction for best animated feature was hilarious. And thank God — the otherwise abysmal banter segments were draining every iota of energy out of the ceremony. — Margaret Lyons The actors who really stole the show were, for the most part, under the age of 15: the kids from “Stranger Things” and Sunny Pawar, the Indian actor who played a lost child in “Lion. ” The “Stranger Things” boys — Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp — arrived together, charming the red carpet with their sharp outfits and snappy moves. Caleb later grabbed a selfie with Ryan Gosling during a commercial break. And onstage during the show, when Sunny was hoisted up to the mic by Dev Patel, who plays the older version of their character in the drama “Lion,” the entire ballroom erupted in awws and coos, the sound of hundreds of hearts melting. — Cara Buckley Read a review of “Lion” and a review of “Stranger Things. ” | 0fake |
For the Trumps, ‘Made in U.S.A.’ May Be a Tricky Label to Stitch - The New York Times | At Saks Off Fifth recently, an Ivanka Trump white polyester and spandex blouse made in Indonesia was marked down to $34. 99, from $69. A few racks over, her black and white jacket came from Vietnam, while several blocks away, at Macy’s, her leather bootee manufactured in China sold for more than $100. At the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, a $35 blue cotton cap embroidered with “Trump National Golf Club” was made in Bangladesh. A Trump Tower hoodie from Pakistan set tourists back $50. A majority of clothes these days are made anywhere but in America. And in this era of local pride and nationalistic fervor, that has become a political liability. The conflict is starkly evident in the apparel brands made and marketed by Donald J. Trump and his daughter Ivanka. Mr. Trump has cast companies that make goods in China and other foreign countries as economic pariahs, siphoning off jobs better left at home. He has blamed the system, a set of policies in the United States that Mr. Trump acknowledged using for his own gain. And since being elected, he has continued to rail against global forces, threatening to punish companies with high tariffs if they don’t move production to the United States. Should Mr. Trump make good on such promises, he would take aim at not only his own brand, but his daughter’s as well. Mr. Trump doesn’t stand to lose much. While his goods are largely manufactured overseas, most of his retail ventures have gone the way of Trump vodka and steaks. And what products can be found — at his hotels and golf courses and on Amazon sold by independent sellers — are the vestiges of a mostly defunct clothing line or sporadic shipments of Trump sweatshirts and hats. Ivanka Trump’s company, by contrast, is the type of operation that Mr. Trump is squarely aiming for. Her shoes and dresses largely retail for less than $150. Coats cost as much as $400. Factored into those prices is the cost of materials and production, as well as shipping, tariffs, marketing and advertising expenses. Cheap production overseas means more coin in the coffers of Ms. Trump and the shoe, accessory and clothing makers that are her partners, among them Marc Fisher footwear, the Apparel Group and Mondani. (Ms. Trump’s company, which is privately held, does not disclose its financials.) Almost all of her goods are made overseas, according to a New York Times review of shipments compiled separately by Panjiva and ImportGenius, two trade databases. ImportGenius tallied 193 shipments for imported goods associated with Ms. Trump for the year through Dec. 5, mostly shoes and handbags. Her dresses and blouses are made in China, Indonesia and Vietnam, according to a review of hundreds of clothing tags and financial documents filed by . It is the harsh reality of the clothing business. Before Ms. Trump started her shoe and clothing lines in the early 2010s, she did what any New Yorker would, consulting corporate chieftains, fashion designers and department store executives. She ultimately decided to license her name. Since then, Ms. Trump, 35, has pondered making some items . Investors were consulted, and a business plan was drawn up — but the project was scrapped, said one person briefed on the discussions. It was costly and impractical, so suppliers continued to make her clothes overseas. “When I started my business, I recognized where my strengths were and knew that I didn’t have any experience in production and manufacturing,” Ms. Trump said in a rare interview. “I am not a designer. I am an entrepreneur. ” In retail, where margins are slim, overseas manufacturers are crucial to profits. Most of the clothing Americans buy at Walmart, Macy’s and Target are made abroad, including 97 percent of apparel and 98 percent of shoes, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. It is part of a long history of American garment manufacturers chasing cheap labor. They moved to China in the 1980s, then elsewhere in Asia. Now, Chinese shoemakers are building factories in Africa, where wages are about $40 a month, compared with $400 in China. Even then, an overseas strategy does not portend survival, as Mr. Trump’s experience shows. At Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, the Trump Store is downstairs from the lobby, sandwiched between a restaurant and an ice cream parlor. While a $65 white polo golf shirt from Lesotho in southern Africa was available, there was no sign of many of Mr. Trump’s other items, like the dress shirt made in Vietnam on display upstairs. Last year, Macy’s dropped Mr. Trump’s clothing line over inflammatory comments he made about Mexican immigrants. Now about the best place to find his ties, dress shirts and accessories is on Amazon. com — and even that stock is just a hodgepodge. The company that made comforters and sheets, Downlite, said it had ended its relationship with him last year. His beds, designed by Dorya, aren’t in stores, either. They are made to order overseas, according to the company. Mr. Trump said in campaign interviews that he would like to make his apparel in the United States, but that it was hard to find companies that did. When George Stephanopoulos of ABC pressed him to explain, Mr. Trump said, “They don’t even make the stuff here. ” That is not exactly true. B J Nickol, president of the All American Clothing Company, based in Arcanum, Ohio, said he employed 15 people, as well as subcontractors in about 20 states who cut, sew and ship shirts, jeans and sweaters. He estimated it cost All American $10 to $15 to manufacture a polo shirt, including fabric and labor. He sells them for about $28 to $38, or about half of what a polo shirt costs at Trump Tower. While the company mostly sells shirts to individuals, Mr. Nickol said he would welcome a customer like Mr. Trump. Mr. Nickol said he had witnessed the impact on his community when apparel manufacturers moved away. “And the only way we could think of to fix that was to keep jobs here,” he said. While clothing manufacturing is unlikely to return to the United States, specialty items or apparel has promise. Todd Shelton, a fashion designer who makes sleek separates and sells them online, sews his clothes at a factory in East Rutherford, N. J. But there are namely price. A pair of women’s jeans made by Todd Shelton costs $200 an Oxford shirt is $180. And cost is only one factor. Fashion is another. Recently, Ms. Trump tried to make a in the United States. She and one of her main partners, Marc Fisher, shopped a design to retailers, according to a person with knowledge of the venture. Buyers, though, didn’t like the design — and it never got made. With the Ivanka Trump brand, another variable now comes into play: politics. Ms. Trump served as a more polished emissary of her father’s messages during the campaign, and she is under pressure to bring jobs home. And in a postelection era, her carefully crafted public persona, which is at the heart of the brand, is at risk. Ms. Trump has found a way to commercialize female empowerment, selling petal pink sheaths and trendy shoes to young professionals on the go. Her brand’s hashtag #womenwhowork often accompanies pitches to buy her satchels and clothes. “She wants to make sure her reputation is unblemished,” said Marshal Cohen, a consumer behavior and retail analyst at the NPD Group, a research firm. Ms. Trump is already facing some blowback. She was criticized for meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan while completing a licensing deal with a company whose largest shareholder is wholly owned by the Japanese government. Consumers offended by her father’s inflammatory comments about minorities continue to boycott her line. Ms. Trump acknowledged the potential appearance of conflicts as her father prepared to move into the White House. She said she would step down as the head of her namesake brand if asked to become an adviser to her father and the Trump administration. “I would completely separate myself from my businesses,” said Ms. Trump, who is also considering a leave of absence from the Trump Organization, where she serves as an executive vice president for development and acquisitions. Representatives for Mr. Trump declined to comment. But it will not drastically change her company’s strategy. She and her team do not plan to move manufacturing back just to quell critics. “It’s great to say we want to do all of this, but we want to make responsible business decisions, too,” said Abigail Klem, president of the Ivanka Trump brand. “From a business perspective, we have to have longevity. ” | 0fake |
(Video) Hispanic Woman Speaks Up And Gives BEST DEFENSE of Donald Trump EVER! | Katrina Campins gave an excellent explanation of Trump s position on immigration and the press: As an American I feel frustrated because people are losing sight of what Donald Trump is trying to say. What he s saying is, people should come to this country legally. And I know about that process very well because my husband is going through it right now and it s extremely expensive. So there s more incentive for people to come over to this country illegally. So all he s saying is, let s make the process to come here easier and less expensive so there s more incentive to do that. When people cross the border who are not supposed to be here, let s make sure they are sent back. But what the media is doing is twisting and turning everything that he s saying and what s so frustrating as an American is that the point is not getting across. We re so worried about his fights with Megyn Kelly and Jorge Ramos now, let s talk about the real issues I don t think it s his fault. I think it s the fact that everything he says gets misconstrued. Like this immigration thing I m a Hispanic woman and I m not offended for what he s saying. I understood exactly what he is saying. No. And I don t agree that I m in the minority because the last time I was on CNN speaking about this as a Hispanic woman, so many Hispanic women tweeted me and said, Thank you for speaking for the real Hispanic woman. | 1real |
Ousted Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif returns to face trial | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned home on Thursday to face trial in an anti-corruption case he calls political revenge but which opposition leaders have termed as accountability for the rich and powerful. Sharif, who had been in London with his wife who is undergoing cancer treatment, is due to appear in court on Friday over allegations linked to London properties the family owns, charges that could see the former premier jailed. Allies of Sharif, who has served as prime minister twice and was toppled in a military coup in 1999, have called the proceedings a political vendetta and hinted at intervention by elements of the powerful army. Sharif, 67, denounced the process in an interview on Wednesday in London before flying home. This case in the National Accountability Bureau is highly bogus and fake, which doesn t have links to corruption, he told Geo TV, comparing the process to charges laid against him after General Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999. There is no kickback or misappropriation of the national exchequer, he added. The Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from office in July over unreported sources of annual income of about $10,000, a salary the former premier denies ever receiving. The high court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate and conduct a trial into the Sharif family s wider finances, including the London properties. Sharif maintains control of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, which elected close ally Shahid Khaqi Abbasi as prime minister after Sharif was disqualified. Also facing trial before the NAB court is Sharif s daughter Maryam and her husband, Muhammad Safdar. They have all pleaded not guilty. The allegations stem from the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that appeared to show that Maryam and her two brothers owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy upscale flats in London. A Supreme Court-appointed investigatory panel deemed that the family s wealth did not match its income, and accused Maryam and her brothers of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of companies used to buy the properties. The Supreme Court has ordered the NAB investigation and trial to be concluded within six months, which would probably bring a verdict before general elections due next year. Maryam Sharif, who has increasingly played a prominent role in the PML-N, has been seen as her father s political heir. This week, however, two party insiders said the leadership had decided that Shahbaz Sharif, the former premier s brother, was likely to be the party s candidate for prime minister next year. | 0fake |
DEMOCRAT DERSHOWITZ Slaps Down Feinstein’s Effort to Say Trump Guilty of Obstruction: ‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about’ [Video] | I think this is hope over reality longtime Democrat and Harvard Law professor Allen Dershowitz ripped into Senator Diane Feinstein for making accusation of obstruction of justice against President Trump. He went through all of the reason why there is nothing to the claim by Feinstein that POTUS committed a crime. Dershowitz compared Trump to the crimes of past presidents and concluded that Trump is in the clear. He detailed crimes that Nixon and Clinton clearly committed but said that it s within the Constitutional powers that Trump did what he did by firing former FBI Director James Comey: You cannot charge a president with obstruction of justice for exercising his constitutional power. @AlanDersh pic.twitter.com/dPZBrIcsLh FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) December 4, 2017 She simply doesn t know what she s talking about Dershowitz on Senator Diane Feinstein s claim that President Trump obstructed justice.This woman is another one who needs to go! She s gotten rich off of being in Washington and will probably only retire if she s pulled out of her office kicking and screaming. It s been a lucrative business for Diane and we re sure she doesn t want to see it end. Is she pushing the envelope politically because she knows her delusional liberal base will approve? Reelection over truth and integrity wins out with these people every time | 1real |
BRITAIN’S THERESA MAY Refuses To Wear Headscarf On Saudi Arabia Visit…Media Compares Her Bravery To Hillary, Michelle Obama…But We Have Pictures That Tell A Different Story | How long before the media will stop using two of the most irrelevant women in America to compare to women who actually will be remembered in history for making a positive difference in this world? British Prime Minister Theresa May, turned heads on Tuesday when she arrived in Saudi Arabia without wearing a headscarf reportedly bucking the advice of her own government.The photos showed May s ankles and wrists were covered. However, The Telegraph noted her outfit did not completely comply with Foreign Office guidelines: Women should wear conservative, loose-fitting clothes as well as a full length cloak (abaya) and a headscarf. There is no law in Saudi Arabia forcing foreign visitors to wear a headscarf, the newspaper reported. FOX NewsMSN News and other publications attempted to paint Hillary and Michelle Obama as two other prominent women who refused to don the headscarf in Saudi Arabia. They probably just forgot that First Ladies going back for several decades refused wear a headscarf while visiting Saudi Arabia.She follows in the footsteps of other political figures including Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, in refusing to adhere to the dress code for women.Ms May has said she hopes to be an inspiration to oppressed women in Saudi Arabia by showing people there what women can achieve .Wow here s Hillary in Muslim majority Pakistan. It sure looks like her head is covered in this picture: While the media is busy giving Hillary kudos for being so brave as to reject wearing a headscarf in Saudi Arabia, perhaps they can explain why she and her adult daughter were wearing headscarfs with the person many call the Father of terrorism Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. How is it considered brave to wear a headscarf in deference to a terrorist?Oops! It looks like Michelle was caught wearing a headscarf while visiting Muslim majority Jakarta, Indonesia. It doesn t look like she s refusing to follow the Islamic dress code in this picture. While it s true that Michelle did not wear a headscarf while visiting Saudi Arabia, she was only following a long tradition of other First Ladies who also refused to wear a headscarf. She was not expected to, nor did she shake hands with the Saudi dignitaries.Rosalyn Carter can be seen without a headscarf as she walked behind the Saudi dignitaries. | 1real |
Indian police arrest French journalist for filming in Kashmir | SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - An Indian court on Monday remanded in custody a French journalist for five days after he was arrested in the disputed Kashmir region for filming a documentary without permission and violating visa regulations, police said. The freelance journalist, Paul Comiti, was arrested on Sunday in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir where Muslim separatists have been waging a violent campaign against Indian rule since the late 1980s. Comiti held an Indian business visa which did not permit him to make a documentary on political or security-related issues, Senior Superintendent of Police Imtiyaz Ismael Parray told Reuters. Comiti had met a separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and filmed protesters throwing stones at members of the security forces, said another senior police official, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media. He had also met victims of anti-riot pellet guns that the security forces use against protesters. More than 3,800 people have been wounded and one killed by the weapons since a new round of protests against Indian rule erupted last year, with more than 100 partially or fully blinded, official figures show. We called him to ask him about his activities, but he refused to present himself before the police, the second police official said. He was not authorized to film here because he was on a business visa. He was finally arrested. Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in part by mostly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan and has been at the heart of nearly seven decades of hostility between the neighbors. Comiti had asked the defense ministry for permission to film in Kashmir, but it had been denied because he was on a business visa, said the second police official. A French Embassy s consular official based in New Delhi met Comiti at the police station in Srinagar, police said. An embassy spokesman was not available for comment. An insurgency by separatist militants raged in Kashmir through the 1990s and into the 2000s but it had died down more recently. But the killing by the security forces of a young, popular separatist leader in July 2016 sparked a new wave of protests by a new generation in India s only Muslim-majority state. India s interior minister said last year the government planned to reconsider the use of the pellet guns to control crowds, after the multiple casualties stirred public anger and condemnation by rights groups. | 0fake |
Poll: Most Californians Favor Vouchers for Private Schools - Breitbart | A poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) finds a solid majority of Californians support vouchers for private and religious schools. [According to the poll, 60 percent of adults favor “providing parents with vouchers to send their children to any public, private, or parochial school they choose. ” Among registered voters, 55 percent favor vouchers, and, among likely voters, 50 percent favor vouchers. Among adults, the survey finds 73 percent of African Americans, 69 percent of Latinos, 56 percent of Asian Americans, and 51 percent of White Americans favor school vouchers. Republicans are more likely to favor school vouchers than Democrats, 67 percent to 46 percent. At the same time, results of the poll show that most Californians give passing grades to their local public schools. Among adults, 54 percent give their public schools an A (22 percent) or a B (32 percent) with only 7 percent giving a grade of F. Most adults (64 percent) and likely voters (66 percent) also say current funding for public schools is inadequate. “Most Californians give passing grades to their local public schools,” said Mark Baldassare, PPIC president and CEO. “But many believe that the state isn’t spending enough money on K — 12 education and should also spend what it has more wisely. In this context, many are willing to raise their local taxes and consider a voucher system. ” The PPIC poll’s results are based on a survey of 1, 705 California adult residents between April 2017, with a sampling error of ±3. 2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. The poll contains a subgroup of 1, 036 California adult likely voters. Results for that group have a sampling error of ±4. 1 at the 95 percent confidence level. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have made school choice the focus of their national education agenda. A national poll by Education Next (EdNext) in August 2016 found that, while overall support for school choice has remained high, support for the use of vouchers to access choice programs has fallen. School choice can be designed with a variety of financial mechanisms, including school vouchers, education savings accounts (ESAs) and scholarship tax credits (STC) — all of which may differ in terms of the level of state regulation that may be required of the schools that participate in the choice program. According to EdNext, support for vouchers targeted for families was at 37% in 2016, and for universal vouchers for all families at 45%. However, 53% of the general public and 60% of parents in 2016 backed scholarship tax credits for individuals or companies that donate to foundations that provide scholarships to students to attend private schools. That percentage backing STCs is increased from 46% since 2009, though down from its highest level of 60% in 2014. “The EdNext findings on school choice suggest that program design matters,” Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, told Breitbart News, adding: The poll results found a drop in support for school vouchers, which could reflect recent experiences in states that have heavily regulated their school voucher programs, leading, paradoxically — as the regulations were promulgated in the name of accountability — to lower participation among high quality private schools. The concept of “school choice” is very appealing, but the reality is that vouchers are a transfer of taxpayer funds from a public school to a private or religious participating school. If parents “choose” to send their children to a participating school, that school may have additional regulatory burdens placed upon it by the state in which it is located — in the name of “accountability” — in order to qualify for the school choice program. The overarching question then becomes why transfer a child to a school when it might have the same regulations, test requirements, etc. as the public school? In a 2010 study at the Cato Institute, Andrew Coulson found that voucher programs are more likely to “suffocate the very markets to which they aim to expand access,” because state funds — which invariably invite state regulation — are directly transferred, in the form of vouchers, to parents to spend in an alternate education setting. | 0fake |
Clinton, Trump and Obama aren't telling American workers the truth. Here it is | Labor Day is the one day every year when we come together as a nation to celebrate the achievements of the American worker and the history of the labor movement in this country. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will join President Obama (who spent the weekend meeting with G20 leaders issued a Labor Day message on September 1) as well as a variety of politicians and public officials from across the country, in commemorating the day.
You can bet that their lofty rhetoric will be accompanied by a promise to restore the nation to its manufacturing heyday.
At the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, for instance, Clinton promised to push policies that will help foster a “manufacturing renaissance.” Not to be outdone, Donald Trump has long said he will be “the greatest job-producing president in American history.”
What neither Clinton, Trump, Obama, or any other public official is likely to do on Labor Day, however, is to level with the American worker. None of them are likely to confess the hard truth: the jobs they keep talking about bringing back to the United States are not coming back. None of them are likely to have the guts and foresight to tell the public that instead of making empty promises they will focus their energy on helping the American worker prepare for a time, in the next decade or so, in which many of the tasks they perform at their current job are increasingly automated. None of them are likely to acknowledge what is the reality: that we need to prepare collectively for “new” types of work and learn to co-exist in an economy alongside artificial intelligence and robotics.
How do we know these jobs are not returning? Consider the following evidence. First, over the last several years, a small but growing number of companies have reopened factories in the United States. Unfortunately, jobs have not returned with them because many of these plants are increasingly automated. Second, since 2009, manufacturing output has increased more than twenty percent, but that hasn’t resulted in an equivalent increase in the number of jobs, i.e., manufacturing employment has grown just five percent in the same period. Third, manufacturing output is higher than it has been for decades – it is up $2.2 trillion in 2015 from $1.7 trillion in 2009. Despite this, employment in the sector is lower than it has been since the mid-twentieth century and total employment has decreased by a third since 1970.
Automation is not the sole reason for this, but it is seen by most experts as an increasingly important factor. In 2014 almost half of the leading economists and other experts interviewed for a PEW research study said that they “envision a future in which robots and digital agents have displaced significant numbers of both blue- and white-collar workers—with many expressing concern that this will lead to vast increases in income inequality, masses of people who are effectively unemployable, and breakdowns in the social order.”
There is no question that a portion of the jobs many of us perform today will be lost to robotics, automation, and the rise of artificial intelligence in the next few decades. A recent study by AppliedTechonomics, for instance, found that we currently have the technological capacity to automate 52 percent of the activities performed by workers in the manufacturing sectors. Moreover, the study found that manufacturing is the second most automatable sector in the global economy, just behind the services industry.
Given this reality it is bordering on malpractice that our current candidates and public officials have not done more to help prepare us all for a future in which accelerated technological change has a major impact on our labor force.
There are many steps we can take to confront that reality -- from better education and training for impacted workers, to more controversial proposals like offering incentives to corporations to encourage them not to automate at such a fast past or even providing a guaranteed minimum income to everyone in our country.
There is much that can and should be done to prepare all of us for the future, beginning with an honest discussion about the changes workers are going to face – prepared or not – in the coming years.
Labor Day 2016 is not too late to begin having this discussion. Our current crop of candidates, as well as our elected leaders, have a responsibility to all Americans to get the conversation started.
Saquib Hyat-Khan is Founder and Chief Executive at AppliedTechonomics.
Jeanne Zaino, Ph.D. is professor of Political Science and International Studies at Iona College and Senior Advisor at AppliedTechonomics, Public Sector. Follow her on Twitter @JeanneZaino. | 0fake |
Czech parliament revokes Communist-era policeman's election to oversight post | PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech parliament revoked an election of a Communist-era policeman to a police oversight job on Tuesday after some lawmakers claimed the vote was manipulated. Earlier, the lower chamber entrusted oversight of the police force to Zdenek Ondracek, former member of a Communist-era special unit which tried to crush the peaceful 1989 uprising that helped to bring down Communist rule. The unprecedented appointment of a Communist lawmaker as chairman of parliament s General Inspection of Security Forces commission appeared to be part of complex maneuvering by the new prime minister, billionaire businessman Andrej Babis, and his ANO party to get backing for a minority government. After the secret ballot, some lawmakers challenged the result with claims that it was unclear how many in the 200-seat lower chamber actually participated in the election. Ondracek received 95 votes, but due to the uncertainty it was impossible to determine whether he got the required majority. Speaker of the house, ANO s Radek Vondracek, then declared the vote confused and said that it would be repeated in January. The ANO has 78 seats in the new 200-seat lower house. Babis is seeking support or at least acquiescence from lawmakers of the other eight parties in parliament. The far-left Communists with 15 seats, and far-right, anti-European Union SPD party with 22, have lent support in initial parliamentary votes in return for committee posts, but no deal has been announced on their backing for an ANO cabinet. The secret ballot vote on Tuesday to appoint Ondracek was the first time the Communist party has gained such a post in nearly three decades since the fall of communism. In 1989 his police unit used water cannon, clubs and dogs to disperse anti-regime protests. The demonstrations eventually led to the peaceful overthrow of Communist dictatorship in what became known as the Velvet Revolution. A video from 1989, posted on YouTube, shows Ondracek defending police actions in an interview with state television. It is sad that it happened only one day after we remembered the anniversary of (late president and leading anti-Communist dissident) Vaclav Havel s passing. The times have changed, said Vit Rakusan, deputy chairman of the Mayors and Independents party. Communist party deputy chairman Jiri Dolejs, however, defended the appointment. Police work should be scrutinized by those who understand it, he told reporters. In October, the Communist party suffered the worst election result in its nearly 100-year history. Still, it is the only faction so far to say it could back the ANO government. Direct or indirect support might also come from the SPD party of Czech-Japanese businessman Tomio Okamura. Other parties have shunned Babis, mainly due to pending police charges against him over allegations he concealed his company s ownership of a farm and conference center a decade ago to illegally obtain a 2 million-euro European Union subsidy. Babis denies wrongdoing. Babis, who was appointed prime minister this month and whose cabinet took power last week, has until mid-January to win a confidence vote. President Milos Zeman has said Babis will get a second try if his first attempt to form a government fails. | 0fake |
Lowry And McIlroy Off To Good Start At BLTC-NTPL-BDTN-STFL Tournament | We Use Cookies: Our policy [X] Lowry And McIlroy Off To Good Start At BLTC-NTPL-BDTN-STFL Tournament October 28, 2016 - BREAKING NEWS , SPORT Share 0 Add Comment
PLAY has begun at the BLTC-NTPL-BDTN-STFL golf tournament in Dubai, with Irish hopefuls Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry off to a flying start in the early going.
With the tournament sponsored by four of the biggest financial institutions on the planet, both Lowry and McIlroy were able to shrug off any concerns about tropical diseases and viral infections, which hampered their availability for contests during the summer.
Staying under par for the first 9 holes, the two athletes are competing for more money than most people could possibly earn in ten lifetimes and expect to end the tournament with at least a healthy sum from sponsorship, appearance fees and endorsements.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure what all those initials stand for,” said Lowry, still Zika-free.
“The ‘Bs’ are probably bank of something, ‘N’ might be national… I couldn’t tell you, truthfully. Now back up out of the way while I earn a hundred grand”.
Meanwhile McIlroy fielded angry questions from gamers wanting to know why the Brazil level of this year’s edition of Rory McIlroy PGA Tour on PS4 was locked and unplayable. | 1real |
Unreal! CNN Anchor Claims Trump Has Committed “Treason”…Former Attorney General Shoots Back: “Where is the crime?” [Video] | 1real | |
CHICAGO AREA SCHOOLS REPLACING BOOKS BY WHITE MALE AUTHORS With Books That Are “more culturally relevant” | Because books written by authors like Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain and John Steinbeck are so-o-o-o overrated and so culturally irrelevant Chicago area schools are replacing white male authors on student reading lists with minority and women authors who delve into themes like power, justice, humanity and social responsibility. I think yes, book lists in schools are sexist, but I don t think it s the school s fault, senior Sarah Eiden told the Gapers Block Book Club blog. I think it s because we still think good literature is only written by white males, which simply isn t true. I do see though that teachers are trying to change that. New Trier High School English teacher Scott Campbell is among them. When we think about summer reading books or adding a new book to a course, we re often looking for woman or people of color, he told the site.It s some teachers way of countering the prevalence of white male authors who penned classics like The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, The Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men, Campbell said. Women a hundred or so years ago were not encouraged or expected that they might write, so we re left with literature that seems unbalanced and institutionalized, almost in the way we talk about racism, he said. Women haven t been championed as writers generally, Campbell said. This is just one of the after-effects of male domination. John Hancock College Prep English teacher and curriculum coordinator Natalie Garfield seems to share Campbell s perspective.She hunts out books that are more culturally relevant to students at the school than classic books written by white male authors. At the end of their high school career, a kid can pick up any new book and potentially have been exposed to anything like it based on the wide spectrum of texts we offer here, Garfield told Gapers Block. (You) make changes and reflect the times and kids in front of you. Those changes include books like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is actually a fictionalized story about a 14-year-old Native American teen that attends a mostly white high school with themes of alcoholism, sexuality, violence and bullying, according to the blog.Other titles like Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. focuses on gang life, unemployment, drug addiction, incarceration and suicide. But in the end, it s a positive, uplifting story of a man who realizes his potential as a Chicano activist and artist and manages to turn his life around, Gapers Block reports. This book gives readers a raw look at what it meant to be Latino in Los Angeles during the 80s and how community involvement can truly impact marginalized groups. Some student told the site they appreciate that teachers are catering reading lists to their culture by replacing books written by white male authors with minority-penned prose.Hancock senior Lisseth Perez said books on Hispanics offered in the past are from a white person s perspective. We come from a Hispanic culture, but enven when they give us Hispanic books, it s more like, just Hispanic people trying to fit into a white community, Perez said. It s the same book over and over: Hispanic kid wants to go into the white community and not get looked down upon. It s the same story with women, Hancock junior Sandra Rodriquez told Gapers Block. These books just talk about men and men and men. And they never actually show women actually doing something, she griped. You have to read something you feel good about. Via: EAG News | 1real |
COMEDIAN SHOCKS LEFTIST COLLEGE STUDENTS With Best Liberal Smackdown You Have EVER Seen!…MUST Watch VIDEO! | This video of conservative comedian Steven Crowder should be an example for every conservative in America on how to handle the well-trained Left! It should be used in training sessions for conservatives about how to fight back against the LOUD, OBNOXIOUS liberals who have been allowed to shame and disgrace conservatives into adopting their positions for way too long! If you re tired of sitting back and allowing the Left to disrupt every conservative event or rally in America by shaming you or threatening your physical well-being, you are going love this video! Comedian Steven Crowder mercilessly tore into so-called social justice warriors when they disrupted his opening remarks within seconds of him taking the stage.Here is the video showing the LOUD and OBNOXIOUS protesters who Steven Crowder was addressing:Crowder was scheduled to tell some jokes and discuss free speech at the University of Massachusetts on Monday night alongside other speakers, including conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos and former philosophy professor Christina Marie Hoff Sommers. However, the comedian quickly ditched his prepared material to give his vocal critics a reality check. Do you have any idea, sir, how pathetic it must be to be you? These people wanted to hear a few jokes, some thoughtful discussion, but your head pops off the pillow in the morning with, How can I be a professional victim today? Let me go in and screw with their act just because, oh my god, your parents didn t tell you that your opinion wasn t worth that much, Crowder said.For emphasis, he added, I m not your gender studies professor who has to cater to your trigger warning, microagression, safe space bulls**t! It wasn t long before Crowder was apparently accused of being a racist. Oh, I m a racist that s a new one. Where d you learn that, in social human studies 101? the comedian asked mockingly.But the bigger issue, Crowder explained, is that the left is now openly against free speech and the open debate of ideas. You re not fighting for free speech, you re not fighting for rights you re fighting for the right to be a p***y and not hear opinions that you don t like, he said. Alright, I m done, he concluded. Via: The Blaze | 1real |
WATCH: Violent Trump Fan Shoves Peaceful Protester Down Stairs From Behind Like A Coward | The violence and hate we witnessed at Trump rallies is now spilling over into the rest of society. Since the billionaire racist misogynist internet troll was elected to lead the free world, there have been literally hundreds of hate crimes (many of which in his name) and his supporters have proved completely unwilling to behave themselves even in their victory.At an anti-Trump protest in Ohio on Monday, we received a reminder of the violent nature of the animals known as Trump voters. As Tim Joseph was delivering his message into a bullhorn at the Ohio Union at OSU in Columbus, one Trump voter voiced his displeasure with the current direction of the country (or whatever bullsh*t the media is saying to explain away these alleged people s behavior today) by shoving the protester down some stairs from behind like a coward, of course. You idiot, the disenfranchised white man screeched as he went all WWE on Joseph.One man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask began to beat the living hell out of the attacker, whose identity has not yet been released. Instead of joining in like we saw at Trump rallies throughout the election year, other protesters calmed the man down and the crowd detained him peacefully until police arrived. According to Undergraduate Student Government president Gerard Basalla the attacker, a student, was arrested and placed under indefinite suspension. The assault that occurred that s what it was in the Union tonight is completely unacceptable, Basalla told The Lantern. Every person on this campus has the right to feel safe and voice their opinion without fearing harm. We can t be having this. We protect First Amendment rights actively, but we do not under any circumstances tolerate intimidation or threats to students, faculty, staff or visitors to our campus, University President Michael Drake said in an email to students following the attack.Watch the assault below: | 1real |
Fox News Correspondent Arrested For Rape And Forcible Sodomy (VIDEO) | Since sexual harassment is almost a sport at Fox News, it is unsurprising that a man who worked as a Miami correspondent for the network until fairly recently was just arrested for raping someone.Orlando Salinas, who worked for the network from 2000-2012 until he was hired by a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, was arrested Tuesday and charged with forcible sodomy and rape. Due to the horrific nature of the allegations, the victim s identity is being shielded but reports specify that the accuser is not his wife or a relative.Salinas, whose prior criminal record includes contributing and three counts of larceny, faces five years to life for each of his felony charges.Salinas was an employee of WDBJ7 from 2012-2015, but was terminated last April for insubordination. Since then, he has been working as a real estate agent in the New River Valley. In a whatever happened to article published by the Roanoke Times in December, Salinas current employer called him a wonderful person and said that people who know who he is really trust him. The judge, however, apparently doesn t really know him because he is being held without bail for the horrific crimes.Salinas told the Times that his firing was the result of a refusal to tone down his aggressive interview style, an idea with which he disagreed because he seeks truth like a missile. But, hey, he says some of the most annoying people make the best reporters. Seems like they make pretty accomplished rapists, too.Watch a report on the Fox contributor s arrest below:Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Trump's election panel puts hold on voter data request | (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s commission to investigate possible election fraud on Monday put a freeze on its effort to collect sensitive voter data from states in the face of growing legal challenges. In an email, the panel’s designated officer, Andrew Kossack, asked state elections officers to “hold on submitting any data,” the commission said in court filings. Several state elections officials confirmed receiving a letter from the panel stating that it would provide further instructions after a federal judge had ruled on a complaint filed by a watchdog group, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), which is seeking a temporary restraining order. Earlier on Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, alleging violations of federal law requiring transparent government. The bipartisan panel, led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, asked the 50 U.S. states for a host of voter data, including birth dates and the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers. Most U.S. states have rejected full compliance, which many called unnecessary and a violation of privacy. “This has been a misadventure from the get-go,” Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, who had refused to give the commission any data, said by phone. In Wisconsin, elections officials halted plans to inform the commission how it could purchase for $12,500 its public voter data, not including Social Security numbers or birth dates. “We’re just putting everything on hold,” said Reid Magney, spokesman for the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Arkansas, however, had already sent in a limited batch of publicly available data, according to the office of Secretary of State Mark Martin, In a court document, the government said it would not download the information from Arkansas and would instead delete it. Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The commission last week said it would meet on July 19 in Washington near the White House. On Monday, critics cheered the move and expressed hope the commission would permanently abandon efforts to collect voter data. “The commission has effectively conceded,” EPIC President Marc Rotenberg said by phone. State officials from both parties and election experts widely agree that voter fraud is rare. Civil rights groups called the commission a voter suppression tactic by Trump. The Republican president created the panel in May following his claim, without evidence, that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election. | 0fake |
HOLY TAX PLAN! Bernie Sanders Released His Plan For “Freebies” For All | Hey Bernie fans! You might want to take a look at this:BernieSanders.com, Medicare for All: Leaving No One Behind:How Much Will It Cost and How Do We Pay For It?How Much Will It Cost? This plan has been estimated to cost $1.38 trillion per year.The Plan Would Be Fully Paid For By:A 6.2 percent income-based health care premium paid by employers. Revenue raised: $630 billion per year.A 2.2 percent income-based premium paid by households. Revenue raised: $210 billion per year.This year, a family of four taking the standard deduction can have income up to $28,800 and not pay this tax under this plan.A family of four making $50,000 a year taking the standard deduction would only pay $466 this year.Progressive income tax rates. Revenue raised: $110 billion a year.Under this plan the marginal income tax rate would be:37 percent on income between $250,000 and $500,000. 43 percent on income between $500,000 and $2 million. 48 percent on income between $2 million and $10 million. (In 2013, only 113,000 households, the top 0.08 percent of taxpayers, had income between $2 million and $10 million.) 52 percent on income above $10 million. (In 2013, only 13,000 households, just 0.01 percent of taxpayers, had income exceeding $10 million.) Taxing capital gains and dividends the same as income from work. Revenue raised: $92 billion per year.Warren Buffett, the second wealthiest American in the country, has said that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. The reason is that he receives most of his income from capital gains and dividends, which are taxed at a much lower rate than income from work. This plan will end the special tax break for capital gains and dividends on household income above $250,000.Limit tax deductions for rich. Revenue raised: $15 billion per yearUnder Bernie s plan, households making over $250,000 would no longer be able to save more than 28 cents in taxes from every dollar in tax deductions. This limit would replace more complicated and less effective limits on tax breaks for the rich including the AMT, the personal exemption phase-out and the limit on itemized deductions.The Responsible Estate Tax. Revenue raised: $21 billion per year.This provision would tax the estates of the wealthiest 0.3 percent (three-tenths of 1 percent) of Americans who inherit over $3.5 million at progressive rates and close loopholes in the estate tax.Savings from health tax expenditures. Revenue raised: $310 billion per year.Several tax breaks that subsidize health care (health-related tax expenditures ) would become obsolete and disappear under a single-payer health care system, saving $310 billion per year.Most importantly, health care provided by employers is compensation that is not subject to payroll taxes or income taxes under current law. This is a significant tax break that would effectively disappear under this plan because all Americans would receive health care through the new single-payer program instead of employer-based health care.Via: TAXPROFBLOG | 1real |
MACY’S CELEBRATES AMERICA’S INDEPENDENCE BY PUTTING ILLEGAL ALIENS FIRST | Americans need to put American citizens first and dump Macy s. Macy s has a Customer Service Department phone number that should be ringing off the hook with Americans who love their country and are sick and tired of the left bullying us into submission. Tell them it s time to put American citizens first and you appreciate Donald Trump standing up for LEGAL immigration: 1 (800) 289-6229 I ll be canceling my Macy s credit card today. Macy s just lost its Magic #MakeAmericaGreatAgain .Dump Macy s!Real-estate mogul and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a boycott of Macy s on Wednesday after the retail company said it would drop Trump s products. Earlier in the day, Macy s said it was snubbing Trump because of the disparaging characterizations he made about Mexican immigrants during his campaign launch. Among other things, Trump accused Mexico of sending its rapists and drug dealers to the US.In addition to blasting Macy s in an official statement, Trump attacked Macy s in a series of tweets for being weak on border security : Those who believe in tight border security, stopping illegal immigration & SMART trade deals w/other countries should boycott @Macys. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2015For all of those who want to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain, boycott @Macys. They are weak on border security & stopping illegal immigration. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2015Macy s is only the latest in a string of businesses that have cut ties with Trump in the past week. NBC, Univision, and the Mexican media company Televisa all recently announced they would not show Trump s Miss Universe Organization beauty pageants because of his comments about immigrants. When Mexico sends its people, they re not sending their best; they re not sending you, Trump said in his June announcement speech, according to a transcript. They re sending people that have lots of problems, and they re bringing those problems with us. They re bringing drugs. They re bringing crime. They re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. Trump, who said he was criticizing the Mexican government and not its people, has aggressively responded to the companies that are ending their relationships with him. He said he was suing Univision for $500 million. He denounced NBC as weak. And he insisted that he was the one cutting ties with Macy s not the other way around.He also argued that the Macy s snub proved how difficult it was for billionaires like him to seek political office. I have always said that if you are successful, it is very hard to run for office, especially the office of president, he said in his Wednesday statement. I have also continually stated that I am not beholden to anyone, and this includes NBC and Macy s. Clearly, NBC and Macy s support illegal immigration. Trump products at Macy s include $70 dress shirts, $65 ties, and a fragrance called Success. Via: Business Insider | 1real |
‘F*ck Donald Trump’: Democratic Chair Of California Goes Out With Both Middle Fingers In The Air | John Burton, the outgoing chairman of California s Democratic party, had one final thing to say before he leaves and it was a sentiment we can all relate to. Speaking at the convention of the California Democratic Party, Burton proudly raised both middle fingers in the air and shouted, Fuck Donald Trump. The crowd of thousands, who joined in on the mantra, obviously felt the same way.The Sacramento Bee reports:The always foul-mouthed Burton, 84, stood before thousands of Democratic delegates at Saturday s general assembly and as a rallying cry asked the crowd to join in. He then shoved two fists in the air, flipping the bird. Across the room at the Sacramento Convention Center, others onstage and in the audience followed suit.Burton was not alone onstage, also present were House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, Rep, Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and state Sen. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, among others.While Burton may have been the most direct with his message, just about every lawmaker who spoke at the convention was quick to denounce Trump and his disaster of a presidency. We are President Trump s worst nightmare, California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Le n said in his speech.You can watch Burton give Trump the finger here:Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
AG JEFF SESSIONS Warns Leakers…Taking Steps to Stop the Leaks that “Hurt Our Country” [Video] | Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced today that the DOJ is taking steps to reduce the amount of leaking from the White House:Sessions said during his Friday press briefing that everyone in government can do better and must practice more discipline when it comes to the leaking of classified information. Simply put, these leaks hurt our country, Sessions said. All of us in government can do better. To prevent these leaks every agency and Congress have to do better, Sessions said. We are taking a stand. This culture of leaking must stop. Sessions said that there are multiple steps being taken by the National Insider Threat Task Force to prosecute those who leak classified information. Since January the department has more than tripled the number of active leak investigations compared to the number pending at the end of the last administration, Sessions said. And we ve already charged four people with unlawfully disclosing classified material or with concealing contacts with federal officers, he said.AG Sessions also said he s Considering Reviewing Policies Involving Media Subpoenas: | 1real |
Trump: Healthcare, infrastructure, welfare reforms up next after taxes | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he plans to take up healthcare, infrastructure and welfare reform issues soon after Republicans’ tax overhaul is finalized, which the party has pledged to complete by the end of the year. “We’ll be submitting plans on healthcare, plans on infrastructure and plans on welfare reform, which is desperately needed in this country, soon after taxes,” he told reporters at the White House ahead of a meeting with his Cabinet secretaries. | 0fake |
Shopify Erased Our Store From The Internet While I Was Fulfilling 55 Orders | Shopify Erased Our Store From The Internet While I Was Fulfilling 55 Orders Shopify Erased Our Store From The Internet While I Was Fulfilling 55 Orders November 15, 2016 Work & Money
To launch a Return Of Kings t-shirt shop, I decided to go with Shopify because of how much easier it is to launch than a self-hosted store. I signed up with them, paid for one year of service, and did a pre-launch with a small group of readers, which resulted in 55 orders. As I began fulfilling them, Shopify pulled the plug on the entire store without warning, both the public storefront and the administrative backend with all our data.
Because of Shopify’s decision, my customers couldn’t access their order status, I had no way of informing them of what happened, and I couldn’t fulfill remaining orders. They put both me and 55 individuals in the lurch for no legitamate reason, forcing me to threaten legal action in order to get enough information to complete fulfillment of all orders. The Backstory
There are many open source solutions for hosting a web store. The problem with them is that it takes extra time to create the store and maintain it, compared to services like Shopify, Squarespace, Bigcommerce, Magento, and others. To get the ROK store up and running as quickly as possible, I picked Shopify because of their competitive prices, not knowing that I was in for a far greater price down the road.
After I set up the store, featuring photos of yours truly in our first t-shirt, I collected email addresses of those who were most interested with participating in the pre-launch. I sent this group an email announcing the store and 55 of them took action, ordering a t-shirt or two. The shirt in question
During this time, I received an email from a Shopify risk analyst by the name of Justin. He asked me to send in identification, which I was happy to do, and then asked me for more information:
Thanks for signing up with Shopify Payments and providing your ID.
In order to complete this initial review and ensure payments continue to be sent to your account we would need a little bit more information.
If you could send me any documentation you may have to validate the business that would be great. Examples would be a business bank statement, business license or business registration documents.
Could you also confirm where you’re primarily operating your business from?
I sent in my business incorporation documents, my IRS employer number designation, a recent bank statement (from my US-based bank), and a note of how I often travel through Eastern Europe, but that my business, bank accounts, and tax status all reside in the United States. In spite of that, Shopify unjustly classified me as a foreign business and gave me no means to dispute it.
Unfortunately, Shopify Payments is currently only available to companies that are based in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States, so we are not able to help with payments for your site right now. It’s frustrating for us to have to turn down good businesses, but we need to make sure we’re abiding by both US and international regulations. This means that any successful charges you have will be transferred to you on schedule, but you won’t be able to use Shopify Payments to accept any further payments. […]
Despite the information provided, our payment processing partner needs to ensure that the shops are based, operating from and have a substantial presence in the United States.
Ultimately, their decision is final and we must respect it.
According to the United States Federal Government and the IRS, my company is American and liable to pay American taxes, but to Shopify, I’m not an American business. The repercussion from this was that I couldn’t use Shopify’s own payment system (Shopify Payments) and had to pay a 2% extra commision on all orders, but this wasn’t a huge setback since there were many other payment options. I stayed the course because I wanted to do an on-time opening for my readers. I could always change stores later when it was convenient for me. The Disaster
I have a worker based in the United States who maintains the shirt inventory and is charge of shipping them out. He printed most of the shipping labels for the first batch of orders and got ready for shipment. Before he was finished, I tried to log into the admin area of the store to monitor his progress and saw this:
The public storefront was also taken down. There was no longer any way for me to know who my customers were and what they ordered. I couldn’t even send them an email. I then received this from Justin:
Hello,
I’m afraid that after reviewing your information and website we believe your business presents a level of risk for customer disputes that we will be unable to support on Shopify.
We will transfer your existing payments to you, but will be unable to accept any additional payments on your behalf from Shopify Payments.
I’m sorry we won’t be able to help with your business.
Regards,
Justin
After I read this email, I was absolutely livid. I’ve been doing business on the internet for over fifteen years, and have never had a situation where a company pulled the rug out from under me and my customers in a way that I would personally classify as fraud.
They allowed me to take 55 orders, begin processing them, and then removed all access so I could not complete fulfillment. Imagine if you bought a shirt from me and then tried to access the store to see the status of your order. You would have no way to know what’s going on and would probably think that I took your money and ran. Shopify created a situation of unneeded worry for 55 individuals while directly hurting my reputation as if I’m running some sort a scam operation. The Phone Call To Support
I called support and got on the line with a Level 1 support tech. I told him the situation as calmly as I could. His response: send an email reply to Justin. This was unacceptable because politely complying with him through email beforehand had only resulted in the deletion of my entire store without warning. I demanded to speak with someone from the risk department but the support tech told me there was no way to patch me through since he was working remotely. I was not calling Shopify’s main office but someone sitting in the middle of nowhere in his pajamas.
I also told the support tech that there was no further information asked of me, that this was a unilateral closing of my shop while I was in the middle of fulfillment. If Shopify is so worried about fraud, why would they leave 55 individuals in a position where they would believe they got defrauded and start initiating chargebacks with their credit card companies? I had no choice but to threaten legal action. I told the support tech that if Shopify doesn’t give me a way to complete these 55 orders, I would pursue all legal means as a response to what I saw as fraud.
The support tech put me on hold. After a few minutes of chatting with the risk team, he said that they have given him permission to send me a CSV file of all my orders. I decided that this was enough to satisfy the 55 individuals who purchased from me, but it still didn’t allow me an easyway to process exchanges or refunds if one of my customers was unsatisfied with the shirt.
Before ending the call with the support tech, I told him to relay to Justin and his team that they have created so much ill will by the way they have treated me that I will ensure that everyone knows exactly what they did, not just to me but also to my customers, who had an unfortunate experience because of their e-commerce platform.
Using the CSV file I received, I was able to contact my customers to let them know of the situation and complete fulfillment. Many of them have already received their t-shirts in the mail. The Lesson
Shopify has every right to choose who to do business with, and I would not be particularly upset if they said I have to go elsewhere after fulfilling open orders , but the way they removed all access from my store is absolutely reprehensible and the stuff of nightmares for a business owner. No owner wants to wake up one day and find that everything is gone with no way to contact his customers. I have never been treated so poorly by an American internet business before, and I’m confident that any business who treats people in this way won’t be in business for long.
Maybe my situation was special, as I am often abroad, but Shopify operates as if its customers are not even allowed to take a vacation out of the country. If you log in from a certain IP address pool, their algorithms go crazy and here comes Justin to hit the delete button on your store with one click.
Whatever the reason, it’s important for existing and potential Shopify customers to know that it doesn’t take much for them to shut you down at any moment and for any cause. They will take all your information and prevent you from contacting customers or fulfilling orders. Your only recourse to receive your data is to threaten legal action, and that may be no guarantee of success. If any of my friends ask me about which web store platform to use, I will strongly warn them against Shopify.
As for the ROK store, I’ve decided to try the open source method. Hopefully we will be ready for orders again within two months. Nov 15, 2016 Roosh Valizadeh | 1real |
Facebook says likely Russian-based operation funded U.S. ads with political message | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it had found that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of U.S. ads promoting divisive social and political messages in a two-year-period through May. Facebook, the dominant social media network, said 3,000 ads and 470 “inauthentic” accounts and pages spread polarizing views on topics including immigration, race and gay rights. Another $50,000 was spent on 2,200 “potentially politically related” ads, likely by Russians, Facebook said. U.S. election law bars foreign nationals and foreign entities from spending money to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. Non-U.S. citizens may generally advertise on issues. Other ads, such as those that mention a candidate but do not call for the candidate’s election or defeat, fall into what lawyers have called a legal gray area. Facebook announced the findings in a blog post by its chief security officer, Alex Stamos, and said that it was cooperating with federal inquiries into influence operations during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Facebook briefed members of both the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees on Wednesday about the suspected Russia advertising, according to a congressional source familiar with the matter. Both committees are conducting probes into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, including potential collusion between the campaign of President Donald Trump and Moscow. Facebook also gave its findings to Robert Mueller, the special counsel in charge of investigating alleged Russian interference in last year’s presidential election, a source familiar with the matter said. The company produced copies of advertisements as well as data about the buyers, the source said. Mueller’s office declined to comment. Facebook said it found no link between the Russian-purchased advertising and any specific presidential campaign. The ads were mostly national in their focus and did not appear to reflect targeting of political swing-states, the company said. Even if no laws were violated, Facebook said the 470 accounts and pages associated with the ads ran afoul of the social network’s requirements for authenticity and have since been suspended. Facebook did not print the names of any of the suspended pages, but some of them included such words as “refugee” and “patriot.” More than $1 billion was spent on political ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, thousands of times more than the presumed Russian spending identified by Facebook’s security team. But the findings buttress U.S. intelligence agency conclusions that Russia was actively involved in shaping the election. Facebook previously published a white paper on influence operations, including what it said were fake “amplifier” accounts for propaganda, and said it was cracking down. As recently as June, Facebook told journalists that it had not found any evidence of Russian operatives buying election-related ads on its platform. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called the Facebook report “deeply disturbing and yet fully consistent with the unclassified assessment of the intelligence community.” “We are keenly interested in Russia’s use of social media platforms, both the use of bots and trolls to spread disinformation and propaganda, including through the use of paid online advertising,” he said in a statement. A Facebook employee said Wednesday that there were unspecified connections between the divisive issue ads and a well-known Russian “troll factory” in St. Petersburg that publishes comments on social media. Ellen Weintraub, a member of the U.S. Federal Election Commission, said U.S. voters deserve to know where the ads are coming from and that the money behind them is legal. “It is unlawful for foreign nationals to be spending money in connection with any federal, state or local election, directly or indirectly,” Weintraub said in a phone interview. She declined to comment on the Facebook ads, saying she could not discuss subjects that could come before the agency. Facebook declined to release the ads themselves, prompting a sharp rebuke on Twitter from Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of First Look Media, a producer of feature and documentary films, television and podcasts. “Facebook keeps the targeted political ads it publishes secret, emboldening criminals,” wrote Omidyar, the eBay founder who also provided funding to launch media organization The Intercept. “I don’t see how that can possibly be legal.” Facebook’s disclosure may be the first time a private entity has pointed to receiving Russian money related to U.S. elections, said Brendan Fischer, a program director at the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington nonprofit that advocates for more transparency. “Whoever may have provided assistance to Russia in buying these Facebook ads is very likely in violation of the law,” he said, adding that Facebook has a legal duty to act if it is aware of similar activity in the future. | 0fake |
French Election: Fillon’s Fate Hinges on Paris Rally | PARIS (AP) — The Latest on France’s presidential campaign (all times local):[3:40 p. m. Waving French flags in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, thousands have gathered to show support for conservative Francois Fillon’s troubled presidential candidacy. The Paris rally could be Fillon’s last stand, amid growing pressure on him to quit the race because of corruption allegations. Dozens of buses brought supporters from around France, while riot police stood guard around the Place de Trocadero. Retirees Luc and Marie Houllier braved rainy, blustery weather to denounce what they see as a investigation of jobs for Fillon’s family. Luc said that “he is the only one who can raise France up again. ” Fillon’s chances for the election have fallen since the corruption allegations emerged. Older people, who make up Fillon’s most loyal voter base, constituted a large part of Sunday’s crowd, along with parents of young children. are also being held. — 11:00 a. m. France’s presidential campaign is facing a potential turning point as conservative candidate Francois Fillon, facing corruption charges, holds a rally that could determine whether he stays in the race. Sunday’s rally across from the Eiffel Tower is meant to gauge Fillon’s remaining support after numerous defections by allies. They’re disillusioned by how he has handled the investigation into allegations he arranged parliamentary jobs for his wife and children that they never performed. Fillon’s wife Penelope urged her husband to stay in the race in a newspaper interview published Sunday. They deny wrongdoing. If Fillon quits, many conservatives want Alain Juppe to run in his place for the vote. Fillon was once the but polls now favor centrist Emmanuel Macron and leader Marine Le Pen. | 0fake |
Racism is “America’s original sin”: Unless we tell the truth about our history, we’ll never find the way to reconciliation | Understanding our own stories about race, and talking about them to one another, is absolutely essential if we are to become part of the larger pilgrimage to defeat racism in America. It is also a biblical story, and now a global story in which we play a central role. We all start with our own stories about race, so I will begin with mine.
Fifty years ago I was a teenager in Detroit. I took a job as a janitor at the Detroit Edison Company to earn money for college. There I met a young man named Butch who was also on the janitorial staff. But his money was going to support his family, because his father had died. We became friends. I was a young white man, and Butch was a young black man, and the more we talked, the more we wanted to keep talking.
When the company’s elevator operators were off, Butch and I would often be the fill-ins. When you operated elevators, the law required you to take breaks in the morning and in the afternoon. On my breaks, I’d go into Butch’s elevator to ride up and down and talk with him. On his breaks, Butch came to ride and talk with me. Those conversations changed the way I saw Detroit, my country, and my life. Butch and I had both grown up in Detroit, but I began to realize that we had lived in two different countries—in the same city.
When Butch invited me to come to his home one night for dinner and meet his family, I said yes without even thinking about it. In the 1960s, whites from the suburbs, like me, didn’t travel at night into the city, where the African Americans lived. I had to get directions from Butch. When I arrived, his younger siblings quickly jumped into my lap with big smiles on their faces, but the older ones hung back and looked at me more suspiciously. Later, I understood that the longer blacks lived in Detroit, the more negative experiences they had with white people.
Butch was very political, and even becoming militant—he always carried a book he was reading, such as Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, stuffed into the back pocket of his khaki janitor’s uniform—but his mom certainly wasn’t. She was much like my own mother, focused on her kids and worried that her son’s ideas would get him into trouble.
As we talked through the evening about life in Detroit, Butch’s mom told me about the experiences all the men in her family—her father, her brothers, her husband, and her sons—had with the Detroit police. Then she said something I will never forget as long as I live. “So I tell all of my children,” she said, “if you are ever lost and can’t find your way back home, and you see a policeman, quickly duck behind a building or down a stairwell. When the policeman is gone, come out and find your own way back home.” As Butch’s mother said that to me, my own mother’s words rang in my head. My mom told all of her five kids, “If you are ever lost and can’t find your way home, look for a policeman. The policeman is your friend. He will take care of you and bring you safely home.” Butch and I were becoming friends. And I remember his mother’s advice to her children as vividly today as I heard those words fifty years ago.
Five decades ago, revelations about race in my hometown turned my life upside down—and turned me in a different direction. Encounters with black Detroit set me on a new path, on which I am still walking. My own white church ignored and denied the problem of race. People there didn’t want to talk about the questions that were coming up in my head and heart—questions that suggested something very big was wrong about my city and my country.
As a teenager, I was listening to my city, reading the newspapers, having conversations with people. I wondered why life in black Detroit seemed so different from life in the white Detroit suburbs. I didn’t know any hungry people or dads without jobs, and I didn’t have any family members who had ever been in jail. Why were all these things happening in the city? Weren’t there black churches in the city too? Why had we never visited them or had them come to visit us? Who was this minister in the south named King, and what was he up to? Nobody in my white world wanted to talk about it—any of it.
All of this drew me into the city to find answers to questions that nobody wanted to talk about at home. When I got my driver’s license at age sixteen, I would drive into the city and just walk around, looking and learning. I took jobs in downtown Detroit, working side by side with black men, and I tried to listen to them. That’s how I met Butch and many young men like him who had grown up in an entirely different city from me—just a few miles away.
In Detroit, I found the answers I was looking for, and I made new friends. I also met the black churches, which warmly took in a young white boy with so many questions and patiently explained the answers. When I came back to my white church with new ideas, new friends, and more questions, the response was painfully clear. An elder in my white church said to me one night, “Son, you’ve got to understand: Christianity has nothing to do with racism; that’s political, and our faith is personal.”
That conversation had a dramatic effect on me; it was a real conversion experience, but one that took me out of the church. That was the night that I left the church I had been raised in and the faith that had raised me—left it in my head and my heart. And my church was glad to see me go.
During my student years I joined the civil rights and antiwar movements of my generation and left faith behind. But that conversation with the church elder was indeed “converting,” because it led me to the people who would later bring me back to my Christian faith—“the least of these” whom Jesus talks about in Matthew 25, which would ultimately become my conversion text.
How we treat the poorest and most vulnerable, Jesus instructs us in that Gospel passage, is how we treat him: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these . . . you did it to me” (v. 40). My white church had missed that fundamental gospel message and, in doing so, had missed where to find the Jesus it talked so much about. My church, like so many white churches, talked about Jesus all the time, but its isolated social and racial geography kept it from really knowing him.
At the same time, black churches were leading our nation to a new place. Their more holistic vision of the gospel was transforming my understanding of faith, and my relationship to the churches was forever changed.
I had to leave my white home church to finally discover Christ himself and come back to my faith. In doing so, I discovered something that has shaped the rest of my life: I have always learned the most about the world by going to places I was never supposed to be and being with people I was never supposed to meet. What I discovered by driving from the white suburbs to the city of Detroit every day, and going into neighborhoods and homes like Butch’s, were some truths about America that the majority culture didn’t want to talk about—truths that are always more clearly seen from the bottom of a society than from the top. This different perspective continues to change me, and Matthew 25 continues to be my conversion passage.
As a teenager, I didn’t have the words to explain what happened to me that night with my church elder, but I found them later: God is always personal, but never private. Trying to understand the public meaning of faith has been my vocation ever since. How that personal and public gospel can overcome the remaining agendas of racism in America is the subject of this book.
Much Has Changed, but Much Still Hasn’t
A half century later, much has changed. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and the black churches of America led a civil rights movement that changed the country and impacted the world. The historic Civil Rights Act passed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Black elected officials moved into office around the country for the first time since Reconstruction. And Barack Obama was elected the first black president of the United States and reelected four years later. African Americans have achieved much in every area of American society, from law and medicine to business and labor, from education and civil service to entertainment, sports, and, always, religion and human rights. A new generation, of all races, is more ready for a diverse American society than any generation has ever been.
But much still hasn’t changed. Too many African Americans have been left behind without good education, jobs, homes, and families—and these factors are all connected. Perhaps most visibly and dramatically, the treatment of black men by police and a still-racialized criminal justice system in America became a painful and controversial national issue over the last few years, making visible what has been true for decades. The cases of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida; Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri;
Eric Garner in New York; Tamir Rice in Cleveland; and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, along with countless other black men whose names didn’t receive national attention, have provoked a raw and angry racial debate in our nation. As I finish the final edits on this book, yet another story has drawn national attention, this time involving a young black woman named Sandra Bland, who was on her way to take a new job at Prairie View A&M University, her alma mater in Texas, until she was arrested in a routine traffic stop and died three days later in police custody.
The facts in specific cases are often in great dispute. But the reality that young black men and women are treated differently than are young white men and women by our law enforcement system is beyond dispute. A half century after my relationship with my friend Butch’s family, there is still not equal treatment under the law for black and white Americans. And that is the great moral and religious failure we must now address.
I feel a deep sadness at recent revelations that show how deep our racial divides still go. The stories of young black men, in particular, are still so different from the stories of my young white sons. As a dad who is also a person of faith, I believe that is an unacceptable wrong it is time to right.
All the black parents I have ever spoken to have had “the talk” with their sons and daughters. “The talk” is a conversation about how to behave and not to behave with police—“Keep your hands open and out in front of you, don’t make any sudden movements, shut your mouth, be respectful, say ‘sir,’” as my friend and regular cab driver, Chester Spencer, said he told his son. “The talk” is about what to do and say (and what not to do and say) when you find yourself in the presence of a police officer with a gun.
White parents don’t have to have this talk with their kids. That’s a radical difference between the experiences of black and white parents in America. Why do we continue to accept that? As a Little League baseball coach, I know that all the parents of the black kids I have coached have had the talk, while none of the white parents have had such conversations with their children. And most white parents don’t have a clue about those talks between their children’s black teammates and their parents.
It’s important now that we white people begin to understand “the talk.” Even white couples who have adopted black sons and daughters have that same conversation with their kids. As a white dad, that is a talk I don’t need to have with my two white sons, Luke and Jack, who are now ages sixteen and twelve. The fact that most white parents don’t know that this talk is even occurring is a big problem. Not being able to trust the law enforcement in your community—especially in relationship to our own children—is a terrible burden to bear. The stark difference in the way young black men and women are treated by police and our criminal justice system compared to white children is a deeply personal and undeniable structural issue for every black family in American society. For many white Americans, the tragic deaths of young black men at the hands of white police officers are “unfortunate incidents” that can be explained away. But for most black families, they are indicative of systems they have lived with their entire lives. Therein lies the fundamental difference: a radical contrast in experience and, therefore, perspective. If the mistreatment of young black men by law enforcement officials is true, if black lives are worth less in our criminal justice system than white lives are, then this is a fundamental and unacceptable wrong that it is time to correct. I know it is true. The overwhelming evidence on the operations of our criminal justice system proves it is true, even beyond the individual facts of particular cases. Believing that black experience is different from white experience is the beginning of changing white attitudes and perspectives. How can we get to real justice if white people don’t hear, understand, and, finally, believe the real-life experience of black people? Families have to listen to other families. If white children were treated in the ways that black children are, it would not be acceptable to white parents; so the mistreatment of black children must also become unacceptable to those of us who are white dads and moms. The old talk is still necessary—and it’s time to start talking together. If we do, I believe we can change the underlying patterns of personal and social prejudice that hold up the larger structural injustices in our society. The best way to change that old talk that black parents have with their children is to start a new talk between white and black parents. These conversations will make people uncomfortable, and they should. White parents should ask their black friends who are parents whether they have had “the talk” with their children. What did they say? What did their children say? How did it feel for them to have that conversation with their children? What’s it like not to be able to trust law enforcement in your own community? Pay attention, read, listen. If you are white and have African American colleagues at work or friends at your church, ask them to talk with you about this, to tell you their stories—then listen. If you don’t have any black people or other people of color in your church, it’s time to ask why. Reach out, and ask your pastor to reach out, to black and Latino churches in your community. We must find safe and authentic ways to hear one another’s stories across the racial boundaries that insulate and separate us from others. Reach out sensitively to black parents at your children’s schools. Ask to hear their stories. Talk to the black parents of your children’s teammates if they play a sport. Or maybe it’s time to realize that not having children of color at your children’s school or on their teams is a big part of the problem. Parents talking to parents and hearing one another’s stories may be one of the most important ways of moving forward in the church and in the nation. But white Americans must also take responsibility for their self-education and preparation before these talks so as to not put the whole burden of their learning on their colleagues and friends of color. White people need to stop talking so much—stop defending the systems that protect and serve us and stop saying, “I’m not a racist.” If white people turn a blind eye to systems that are racially biased, we can’t be absolved from the sin of racism. Listen to the people the criminal justice system fails to serve and protect; try to see the world as they do. Loving our neighbors means identifying with their suffering, meeting them in it, and working together to change it. And, for those of us who are parents, loving our neighbors means loving other people’s kids as much as we love our own. To put this in a religious context: overcoming the divisions of race has been central to the church since its beginning, and the dynamic diversity of the body of Christ is one of the most powerful forces in the global church. Our Christian faith stands fundamentally opposed to racism in all its forms, which contradict the good news of the gospel. The ultimate answer to the question of race is our identity as children of God, which we so easily forget applies to all of us. And the political and economic problems of race are ultimately rooted in a theological problem. The churches have too often “baptized” us into our racial divisions, instead of understanding how our authentic baptism unites us above and beyond our racial identities. Do we believe what we say about the unity of “the body of Christ” or not? The New Testament speaks of the church as one body with many members. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. . . . For the body does not consist of one member but of many. . . . As it is, there are many parts, yet one body . . . that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Cor. 12:12, 14, 20, 25–26 RSV) Another version of 1 Corinthians 12:26 reads, “If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts share its suffering” (GW). What would it mean to share in the suffering of our brothers and sisters of color who are subjected to a racialized criminal justice system? So let’s be honest. As I said in the introduction to this book, if white Christians in America were ready to act more Christian than white when it comes to race, black parents would be less fearful for their children. Racial healing is a commitment at the heart of the gospel. If we say we belong to Christ, that mission of reconciliation is ours too. What does racial healing and reconciliation mean in the face of America’s racial divide over policing and the criminal justice system? Churches, in particular, can offer leadership in navigating us through these difficult issues. The United States has the most racial diversity of any country in the world. This diversity is essential to our greatness, but it has also given us a history of tension and conflict. It has always been the resolving and, ultimately, the reconciling of those tensions that makes us “a more perfect union.” However, that cannot happen when we ignore, deny, or suppress our racial history and journey; it can occur only when we talk about it, engage it, embrace it, and be ready to be transformed by it. Ironically and tragically, American diversity began with acts of violent racial oppression that I am calling “America’s original sin”—the theft of land from Indigenous people who were either killed or removed and the enslavement of millions of Africans who became America’s greatest economic resource—in building a new nation. The theft of land and the violent exploitation of labor were embedded in America’s origins. Later immigration of other racial minorities was also driven—at least in part—by the need for more cheap labor. Therefore, our original racial diversity was a product of appalling human oppression based on greed. Many people have come to America, involuntarily in chains or voluntarily in the hope of a better life. And our great diversity is the key to our brightest and most transforming future. Indeed, it has already been one of America’s greatest contributions to the world. I believe that most police are good cops, but it would take more than a few “bad apples” to produce all the stories that almost every black person in America has about their experience with the police. Those stories are about a system, a culture, old structures and habits, and continuing racial prejudice, and how the universal but complex relationship between poverty and crime is made worse by racism. All of that can and must change with reforms that begin with better training and transparency and more independent prosecution in incidents of lethal police violence—and end with making police more relational and accountable to the diverse communities they serve. But underneath the flaws and injustices of the criminal justice system is our unfinished business of challenging and ending racism, an agenda that is not finished and never will be. We are not now, nor will we ever be, a “postracial” society. We are instead a society on a journey toward embracing our ever-greater and richer diversity, which is the American story. The path forward is the constant renewal of our nation’s ideal of the equality of all our citizens under the law—which makes the American promise so compelling, even though it is still so far from being fulfilled. Our highest and most inspirational points as a nation have been when we have overcome our racial prejudices; our lowest and ugliest points have been when we have succumbed to them. In 2013, Time magazine did a cover story on the fiftieth anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech. In it, Time rightly said that Martin Luther King Jr. is now understood to be a “father” of our nation because he helped shape its course as much as the founding fathers did. King and the movement he led opened a new door of opportunity for the future of America. But as we are becoming, for the first time, a country with no single racial majority—having been from our beginnings a white-majority nation—we stand at another door, which many white Americans are still very fearful of passing through. Race is woven throughout the American story and each of our own stories. All of our stories can help to change the racial story of America. I hope you will join me in this hard but critical—and ultimately transforming—conversation. Only by telling the truth about our history and genuinely repenting of its sins, which still linger, can we find the true road to justice and reconciliation. Excerpted from “America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America” by Jim Wallis. Copyright © 2016 by Jim Wallis. Excerpted by permission of Brazos Press. | 0fake |
DAMNING New Poll Shows A BIG Chunk Of Federal Employees Could Quit Their Jobs If Trump Wins | It seems that Donald Trump is rather unpopular with the workforce that will have to answer to him if he s elected. Despite the union representing ICE endorsing him, other federal workers in various ederal agencies view Hillary far more favorably than Trump. That s not too terribly surprising. What is surprising, though, is that a number of them may just up and quit their jobs if they find their agencies answering to a President Trump.A large number of them. A recent poll, from a federal publication called Government Executive, surveyed a random sample of 1,085 federal employees across 35 agencies and found that Hillary has a commanding lead over Trump, with 53 percent saying they d vote for her vs. 35 percent saying they d vote for Trump if the election were today.Image via Government ExecutiveBut the more damning statistic was that 27 percent said they would, would consider, or might leave the federal service if Trump was elected. That s compared to 16 percent for Hillary. Nine percent said they didn t know what they d do if Trump was elected, compared to just five percent who said that about Hillary.Image via Government ExecutiveImage via Government ExecutiveFederal employees do tend to lean Democratic in part because their jobs are more secure, and they do better economically, under Democratic presidents rather than Republicans. Donald Trump just adds to the GOP s woes in this area because he s a completely incompetent fool that they allowed to become their nominee.In fact, that s evidenced in another damning part of the poll. Thirty-one percent of respondents feel that Hillary would be very effective at managing federal agencies, whereas only 18 percent feel Trump could do that job very well. Just 27 percent said that Hillary would be not at all effective in that arena, compared to a whopping 51 percent who believe that about Trump.Image via Government ExecutiveImage via Government ExecutiveThe federal workforce is made up of more than four million people, including our 1.5 million members of the military. Assuming everyone who resigned was in the civilian workforce, that s well over 700,000 employees who would leave under Trump. Add the military members who could consider early retirement into that, and Trump s in a lot of trouble. At the bare minimum, Trump would have to face a workforce that, by and large, doesn t like him, along with a quick loss of hundreds of thousands employees.As for the rest of the country, the federal workforce would then fill up with Trumpkins, which could make life worse for us even faster. We sooo do not need a federal workforce full of deplorables. That would be deplorable.Sure, Republicans would probably paint that as a good thing because they say we need to shrink the size of the government anyway, but the whole thing could backfire spectacularly depending on which agencies suffered the heaviest losses.But really, we can t blame them for feeling this way. Trump would be the worst president to happen to this country.Featured image by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images | 1real |
Attack on Libyan crude pipeline cuts output by up to 100,000 bpd | BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Armed men blew up a pipeline pumping crude oil to Es Sider port on Tuesday, cutting Libya s output by up to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), military and oil sources said. The state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in statement output had been reduced by 70,000-100,000 bpd. The cause of the blast was unclear, it added. The attackers arrived at the site near Marada in two cars and planted explosives on the pipeline, a military source said. Pictures purportedly showing a huge cloud from the blast in central eastern Libya circulated on social media. The damage was still being assessed, one oil source said. Oil prices rose on the report. Islamic State fighters had a presence in the area until government forces expelled them from their main stronghold in Sirte a year ago. The operator of the pipeline is Waha, a subsidiary of the NOC and a joint venture with Hess Corp, Marathon Oil Corp and ConocoPhillips. Waha pumps a total 260,000 barrels a day, its chairman said last month. The North African state s oil production was last put by officials at around one million bpd but exact figures are hard to obtain in a country riven by factional conflict. | 0fake |
‘Chairman Cash’ – John Podesta is Paid $7,000 a Month by Foundation Run by Banker With Ties to Financial Crisis | Trending Articles: Trending Articles: ‘Chairman Cash’ – John Podesta is Paid $7,000 a Month by Foundation Run by Banker With Ties to Financial Crisis Source: Michael Krieger, Liberty Blitzkrieg
Last Friday, I published a post titled, John Podesta’s Sister-in-Law Lobbied For Raytheon While Hillary Was Secretary of State , which understandably got totally buried in the madness surrounding the latest FBI news. Here’s the first paragraph of that post:
The Podesta family seems particularly adept at earning extraordinary sums of money via selling out the American public. Earlier this year, I highlighted how John Podesta’s brother Tony was paid $140,000 per month by the medieval monarchy of Saudi Arabia. After all, who cares about women’s rights when the pay is good?
Indeed, it’s not just relatives of Podesta who know how to rake in the cash. John is no slouch either, as Politico explained in an article published earlier today.
Here are a few excerpts:
Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, last year signed a $7,000-a-month contract with the foundation of a major Clinton donor who made a fortune selling a type of mortgage that some critics say contributed to the housing collapse, hacked emails show.
In February of last year, as Podesta was working to lay the groundwork for Clinton’s soon-to-launch campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, he signed the contract with the Sandler Foundation, which was started by Herb Sandler and his late wife Marion Sandler.
The contract — a copy of which was included in emails illegally obtained from Podesta’s Gmail account and disseminated Monday by WikiLeaks — is still active, according to Herb Sandler, who said that it calls for Podesta to provide advice on grant-making and other foundation functions.
It’s unusual for the full-time chairman of a general-election presidential campaign to maintain an active side deal with a major donor to that campaign — let alone to raise money from that donor for the campaign.
The WikiLeaks cache shows that Podesta provided Sandler with philanthropic advice and assortments of cheeses and pastas as gifts on the holidays, while Sandler offered all manner of political observations and once tried to get Podesta to arrange for former President Bill Clinton to write a blurb for a book written by one of Sandler’s friends.
Lobster risotto?
But Sandler brushed aside any concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
“I have never asked for anything of any political person — zero requests ever,” Sandler said. “If they’re responsive, it’s because they regard me as thoughtful, and a major contributor to Democratic causes,” Sandler said, adding that Podesta “knows that he doesn’t get bullshit from me. He knows I have no hidden agenda. He knows that my values are similar to his and that we care about people and not the billionaires, even though I ended up by some crazy thing to be one.”
Neither Podesta nor the Clinton campaign responded to questions about the contract.
Herb Sandler’s Clinton-related giving picked up last December after a visit from Podesta.
The campaign’s finance director Dennis Cheng responded “ Great!! ,” calling Podesta “#ChairmanCash.”
“Chairman cash.” A new meme has just been born.
The very next day, Sandler gave $1.5 million to Priorities USA Action, to which he has now given a total of $3 million, FEC records show.
The family’s fortune comes from the savings and loan institution that Herb and Marion Sandler ran for decades, a bank that became World Savings. It would end up making boatloads of cash from a type of adjustable rate mortgage that other lenders would later adopt, securitize and sell in a way that some have blamed for contributing to the housing bubble that burst in 2008. Not long before the burst and subsequent recession, the Sandlers sold the bank for $25.5 billion to Wachovia, earning $2.6 billion off the sale and donating most of their net worth to their foundation. Wachovia was later acquired by Wells Fargo.
The Sandlers met Podesta when they helped seed the Center for American Progress, the think tank he started in 2003 as a sort of Democratic administration in exile during George W. Bush’s presidency. Tax filings show that the Sandler Foundation has donated more than $37 million over the years to CAP, which worked to support President Barack Obama’s administration but has always been seen as more aligned with Clinton.
Center for American Progress…where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, in last week’s post, Dennis Kucinich’s Extraordinary Warning on D.C.’s Think Tank Warmongers , we learned:
The self-identified liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) is now calling for Syria to be bombed, and estimates America’s current military adventures will be tidied up by 2025, a tardy twist on “mission accomplished.” CAP, according to a report in The Nation, has received funding from war contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who make the bombers that CAP wants to rain hellfire on Syria.
Remember peasants, war is ok if “liberals” do it. Now back to Politico …
The WikiLeaks emails reveal that Podesta and his team at the Center for American Progress discussed how to push back on scrutiny of the Sandlers related to the 2008 housing collapse. That included an October 2008 “Saturday Night Live” sketch in which an actor playing Herb Sandler thanked members of Congress “for helping block congressional oversight of our corrupt activity.”
Podesta wrote to his colleagues that he’d talked to Herb Sandler, and “they are obviosly [sic] upset. Weird that snl should pick them out.”
After doing some research, a subordinate replied that “it appears default rates on their stuff was high (herb says not more so than others) and the losses were key to almsot wachovia failure — athough herb emphasizes that they were only one of the institutions problems.” Sandler told POLITICO that any suggestion that his bank’s products contributed to the collapse were “a bunch of bullshit,” pointing out that their bank used a risk-averse approach to their loans, which had among the lowest default rate in the industry.
But Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center, a conservative nonprofit that monitors the giving of major liberal donors including Sandler, argued that Podesta’s newly revealed contractual relationship with Sandler stood in stark contrast to Clinton’s efforts to cast herself as tough on the financial industry. “This is another instance where the Clinton campaign has been revealed to have surprising links to some of the most dubious parts of the finance industry,” Walter said.
The Sandlers’ philanthropy increasingly has focused on fighting financial inequality and the role of big money in politics — a subject about which Herb Sandler and Podesta emailed frequently, according to WikiLeaks.
Interesting considering he is big money in politics, and seems to have no problem endlessly cheerleading the chosen candidate of America’s oligarchs.
Sandler explained to POLITICO that during the process of working to launch the center, he realized “we had been picking his brain ad nauseum” for years without paying Podesta as a consultant — a scenario Sandler called “very unfair.” That led to the consulting contract, which Sandler cast as “a ripoff” for Podesta. “I’d pay a lot more for that advice,” Sandler said, calling Podesta “one the most intelligent, decent, thoughtful human beings I’d ever met.”
In March, as Clinton’s Democratic primary campaign against Bernie Sanders grew increasingly bitter, Sandler emailed Podesta just to check up.
“How are you?” Sandler wrote . “MIss you.”
Call me crazy, but if he was really so focused on solving income inequality why wasn’t he supporting Bernie Sanders?
But hey. | 1real |
Clinton’s Allies Promise a Tougher Line on Iran | By wmw_admin on October 27, 2016 Eli Lake — Bloomberg Oct 26, 2016
The next president has an opportunity in the Middle East to reassure wavering allies, to tell them: “We’re back and we’re going to lead again.”
That sounds like something you might hear this month in an alternate reality, from the Rubio-Cheney campaign. After all, President Barack Obama would argue that he is already leading in the Middle East.
But that is a quote from Michael Morell, a former deputy and acting director of the CIA and an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He said this on Tuesday at the Center for American Progress, a think tank founded by the Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta, and headed today by the policy director of the 2008 Clinton campaign, Neera Tanden.
Morell, who is likely to be tapped for a senior post in a Clinton administration, outlined a more robust role for the U.S. to counter Iran in the Middle East. For example, Morell said the U.S. should consider a new set of sanctions against Iran to punish its “malign behavior in the region.” The Obama administration, on the other hand, has opposed efforts from Congress to impose new sanctions on Iran after the nuclear deal that lifted many of them.
Morell also proposed a new policy for the U.S. Navy to board Iranian ships that are assisting its proxy war in Yemen. “Ships leave Iran on a regular basis carrying arms to the Houthis in Yemen,” he said. “I would have no problem from a policy perspective of having the U.S. Navy boarding their ships and if there are weapons on them to turn those ships around.”
In fairness, Morell said this raised questions of international maritime law. He also recommended countering Iran as part of a new strategy that calls on U.S. allies in the Middle East to do more to tamp down the threat of jihadist ideology and reform weak and corrupt governing systems.
But it’s striking how different Morell’s approach to Iran is from that of the president he once served. After the Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. hosted summits for Persian Gulf states to discuss their concerns about an emboldened Iran and its support for militias in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen and for the government in Syria. But the main lever of Obama’s policy for reassuring these allies has been a new suite of arms sales — without a new policy framework to counter Iranian influence.
Indeed, Obama has barely countered Iranian aggression in the region at all. In Iraq, the U.S. has from time to time provided air cover to operations by Iran-supported Shiite militias against the Islamic State. In Syria, the U.S. has sought an agreement with Russia to coordinate airstrikes — as Russia supports the same factions as Iran — and has pressured the rebels it once supported to accept negotiations with the Syrian regime that would not result in its dictator’s immediate removal from power.
Secretary of State John Kerry meanwhile has tried to assure European banks that it’s safe now to invest in Iran. The Obama administration has approved a sale that would allow Boeing to sell planes to Iranian airlines sanctioned for supporting the regime in Syria.
Morell’s approach matches the one laid out in June by Jake Sullivan, Clinton’s top national security adviser. He told the Truman Security Project: “We need to be raising the costs to Iran for its destabilizing behavior and we need to be raising the confidence of our Sunni partners.”
These ideas are also in line with a report from the Center for American Progress released this week that proposes a new strategy for the Middle East. That report says plainly that the nuclear deal reached in 2015 “does not make Iran a regional partner for the United States” and that “Iran continues to pose a threat to U.S. interests and values in the Middle East and around the world.”
Not surprisingly, the report has already drawn criticism from the Iran agreement’s supporters and the left wing of the Democratic Party. Writing in the Nation, former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich speculated that the report was influenced by defense contractors who contributed to the Center for American Progress. Progressive journalist Jim Lobe skewered the report for squandering an opportunity to cooperate with Iran.
All of this suggests that if Clinton wins the presidency next month, she will be taking on not only Iranian aggression abroad, but also Iran’s apologists back in Washington. | 1real |
Training für die nächsten Olympischen Spiele | Training für die nächsten Olympischen Spiele Donat Sorokin/TASS
Eine junge Sportlerin schwimmt im Becken der Schule der olympischen Reserve in Jekaterinburg. Facebook | 1real |
WOW! HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER Cracks Down On Refugee Invasion…Calls Out Open-Borders Soros For Secretly Using “TONS OF MONEY AND HEAVY ARTILLERY” To Influence Politics | Hungary s populist prime minister on Friday lashed out against billionaire financier George Soros, claiming he and groups backed by him want to secretly influence the country s politics.In his annual state of the nation speech, Viktor Orban said groups partly funded by Soros, who was born in Hungary, needed to be made transparent and identifiable. Large-bodied predators are swimming here in the waters. This is the trans-border empire of George Soros, with tons of money and international heavy artillery, said Orban, who received a Soros-funded scholarship as Hungary was transitioning from communism to democracy in the late 1980s. It is causing trouble that they are trying secretly and with foreign money to influence Hungarian politics, Orban said.He did not cite evidence backing his claims, and did not identify the groups he mentioned. Government officials had earlier taken aim at corruption watchdog Transparency International and rights groups like the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.The Open Society Foundations is bigger than you think. In fact, it may be the largest philanthropic organization ever built, with branches in 37 countries. While the Gates Foundation spends more money, OSF has a larger footprint worldwide thanks to its many local offices, including throughout Africa. OSF s budget will be around $930 million this year which is substantially more than Ford s total grantmaking.That budget is set annually by George Soros, who s given away nearly $12 billion since he got into philanthropy decades ago. Nevertheless, thanks to his skills in financial markets, Soros who recently turned 85 is now richer than ever, with a net worth estimated at $26 billion. The bulk of that fortune is slated to go one day to OSF, creating a massively endowed foundation that, in recent years, has been redesigned to exist in perpetuity.Watch this video that explains a leaked memo from George Soros s Open Society Foundation, outlining a proposed strategy for successfully influencing immigration policy:In 2014, Orban ordered a crackdown on civic groups supported in part by Norway, but extensive investigations and audits did not uncover any financial irregularities of note.In an email to The Associated Press, a Soros representative said they were proud to support Hungarians who insist on having a voice in their democracy. Orban also claimed that Soros organizations were still working on bringing hundreds of thousands of migrants into Europe, contrary to the wishes of Hungarians and their government. Orban has been outspoken about his strong opposition to taking in refugees and migrants, and in 2015 ordered fences built on Hungary s southern borders with Serbia and Croatia to stop the migrant flow.On Friday, he reiterated a government plan to keep migrants in border camps built from shipping containers while their asylum applications are being processed.Orban also painted a bleak picture of Western Europe, saying its future is casting a long and dark shadow on its present. He joked that Hungary was ready to take in Western Europeans, whom he said are suffering from globalization s effects. Naturally, we will take in the real refugees, Orban said to laughter and loud applause. The panicked German, Dutch, French and Italian politicians and journalists, Christians forced to leave their countries who want to find here the Europe they lost at home. FOX News | 1real |
British PM May appoints Julian Smith as chief whip: statement | LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed lawmaker Julian Smith as her new Chief Whip on Thursday, promoting him to head the office which is responsible for making sure May s Conservatives vote in support of the government. Smith, 46, had previously been a deputy chief whip. He replaces Gavin Williamson who was earlier appointed as defense minister. The government said lawmaker Esther McVey would take on Smith s former role. | 0fake |
Senate approves $1.1 billion to fight Zika virus | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An election-year fight over addressing the spreading Zika virus intensified in the U.S. Congress as the Senate on Thursday approved $1.1 billion in emergency money one day after the House of Representatives voted $622.1 million financed through cuts to existing programs. The two chambers would have to reach agreement on a spending level before they can send it to President Barack Obama, who in February requested $1.9 billion. The White House has called the House measure “woefully inadequate” and has threatened to veto it. Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington State urged Congress to act quickly, saying, “This is a public health emergency and Congress should treat it like one.” The Senate will enter negotiations with the House with a strong hand: a bipartisan 68-30 vote in favor of the emergency funds to battle Zika, a virus that has been spreading rapidly through the Americas, with more than 100 confirmed cases in the U.S. state of Florida. However, the conservative group Heritage Action is lobbying against any Zika funding bill that is not paid for with an equal amount of spending cuts. The Senate’s funding was attached to an unrelated transportation and housing appropriations bill that also passed the chamber on Thursday. U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. Conservative Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah tried unsuccessfully to kill the Senate funding, saying the Obama administration already had enough money to deal with Zika. “What we should not do, however, is allow the Zika virus to be yet another excuse to run up the national debt,” Lee said. But Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican, countered that U.S. debt problems were rooted in the rapid growth in the cost of huge programs such as Social Security and Medicare and not so-called “discretionary” spending like on Zika. | 0fake |
Elizabeth Warren HUMILIATES Ben Carson During HUD Hearing; Reveals His Intent To Line Trump’s Pockets (DETAILS) | Donald Trump has nominated Ben Carson an idiot in every area except that of brain surgery to run the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department. Carson has no experience in urban development, government, real estate, or anything else relating to the job he s trying to be confirmed to do, and therefore has no business being nominated for it. Therefore, his confirmation is and should be! especially difficult. Well, have no fear Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren made sure of that.Senator Warren s first order of business was to make sure that Donald Trump, who is obviously a real estate tycoon, would not benefit from the activities of HUD under Ben Carson. Warren asked of Carson: Can you assure me that not a single taxpayer dollar you give out will financial benefit the president-elect or his family? Carson could not make that assurance directly, and said that he could only assure that would refuse to play favorites, continuing: I can assure you that the things that I do are driven by a sense of morals and values. That wasn t good enough for Warren, though, and she pushed Carson further: It s not about your good faith. My concern is whether or not, among the billions of dollars you will be responsible for handing out in grants and loans, can you just assure us that not $1 will go to benefit either the president-elect or his family? Carson said of that question: It will not be my intention to do anything to benefit [Trump]. Since Carson refused to give any direct answers here, Warren drew her own conclusions saying: Do I take that to mean you may manage programs that will significantly benefit the president-elect? Carson insisted: You can take it to mean that I will manage things in a way that benefits the American people. Carson went on to say that he wouldn t directly promise that he wouldn t use Trump s family properties for HUD programs: If there happens to be an extraordinary program that s working for millions of people, and it turns out that someone that you re targeting is going to gain $10 from it, am I going to say, No, the rest of you Americans can t have it? I think logic and common sense probably would be the best way. Warren concluded: The problem is that you can t assure us that HUD money not of $10 varieties but of multimillion-dollar varieties will not end up in the president-elect s pockets. And that s just the problem. Donald Trump is surrounding himself with sycophants like Ben Carson, who will use their positions of power to do anything Trump wants including using federal dollars to line Trump s pockets. If and when this guy is confirmed, we ll literally be paying Donald Trump, via our tax dollars through Ben Carson s HUD Department, to house low-income families.This is shaping up to be the most corrupt administration in modern history.Watch the exchange below:.@SenWarren asks Dr. Ben Carson: Can you just assure us that not one dollar will go to benefit either the President-elect or his family? pic.twitter.com/lSyur2AYik CSPAN (@cspan) January 12, 2017Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
BREAKING: OBAMA JUST RELEASED GITMO Prisoner Who Said He Would “Kill Americans” If He Was Released [VIDEO] | // <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Gitmo detainee, who said he would kill Americans if he was released, has just been freed Posted by Fox & Friends on Tuesday, 12 January 2016Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) eviscerates Obama and his regime for the release of this terrorist: | 1real |
House committee seeks testimony from 'Pharma Bro' Shkreli | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional panel has asked pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli to testify at a Jan. 26 hearing about his company’s decision to raise the price of a life-saving prescription drug, according to a Republican committee staffer. Shkreli, who became known as “Pharma Bro,” created a fire storm last year after his company Turing Pharmaceuticals hiked the price of a drug called Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent. Last month, Shkreli was forced to step down as Turing CEO amid criminal and civil securities fraud charges alleging he ran a Ponzi-like scheme during his tenure at the hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and while he was the CEO of Retrophin, another drug company he previously headed. The securities fraud charges are unrelated to the drug pricing probe by the committee. The hearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will primarily focus on Turing’s price spike of Daraprim, and price hikes for two of Valeant Pharmaceutical’s heart medications - Isuprel and Nitropress. A Democratic committee staffer told Reuters on Friday that Valeant’s Interim CEO Howard Schiller is also expected to appear at the hearing. A Valeant spokeswoman confirmed that Schiller will attend, and said he looks forward to testifying and that the company is cooperating with the ongoing congressional probe. An attorney for Shkreli declined to comment. Earlier this month, House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings jointly sent document requests to Valeant, Turing and Shkreli. In their requests, the lawmakers asked for documents showing each company’s gross revenues and profits from the sales of the drugs in question, as well as communications by the CEOs in connection with the drugs. Since then, Turing has given tens of thousands of documents to U.S. congressional investigators ahead of the hearing, according to a Democratic committee staffer. A spokeswoman for Turing did not have an immediate comment. The committee is expected to review another batch of documents from Valeant in the near future. The deadline for submission is Jan. 22. The House Oversight panel’s interest in drug pricing was sparked by Cummings, who for more than a year has called for the Republican-led panel to probe prescription drug pricing. In a statement, Cummings said he is glad there is now bipartisan support for an investigation. He said Americans are “fed up with watching major drug companies rake in record profits while they continue to struggle to afford their medicines.” | 0fake |
DISNEY SELLS Disgusting New Book Teaching “Liberal and Progressive” Thought…Targets 0-2 Yr Old Babies | Is Disney officially admitting they re in the business of indoctrinating our children to become good little progressives? For anyone who says this book has nothing to do with Disney or their philosophy, Disney Publishing Worldwide s company overview claims to publish books that are in support of the franchises :Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc. publishes children s books, comics, and magazines. The company publishes titles in support of the franchises.Disney is selling a new Feminist Baby children s book so parents can teach their toddlers to grow up to be progressive thinkers who smash the patriarchy and believe gender is a social construct.Loryn Brantz, the author and illustrator behind Feminist Baby, told TIME that her 22-page children s book aims to make children liberal and progressive thinkers. Here s an example of Brantz s liberal propaganda: They re not going to take away all the nuances and important parts of feminism necessarily, but it s important just to have it be in their vocabulary and part of their life rather than discovering it when they re older, Brantz explained. It s so that they re aware of feminism and see it as a good thing and not a bad thing. They need to grow up with feminism and not be scared of it, and not think that it means they re going to be overpowered by women someday, Brantz said. It just means wanting equality for everyone. It s not something they think they need to fight when they re older. Huffington Post In the comics, Feminist Baby serves as an underage heroine bent on smashing the patriarchy and subverting tired traditions like the gender reveal. The panels provide both political commentary (she punches Steve Bannon who is dressed as a Nazi) and silly comic relief. But while they re aimed at different audiences, both the comics and the book express the same basic message. Feminism is for everyone including babies! Brantz says. Here are some examples of Brantz s feminist baby cartoons: The publisher for the book is Disney Publishing Worldwide. Disney s website claims the book is targeted for children the 0-2 age range.Disney s description for the book states the Feminist Baby likes pink and blue. Sometimes she ll throw up on you! Feminist Baby chooses what to wear and if you don t like it she doesn t care! The book hit online stores and bookshelves on April 11. According to the Amazon listing for the book, as of the 13th, the book is No. 7 in best sellers for children s books new baby.For entire story: MRCTV | 1real |
John Derbyshire On Peter Thiel On Trump | 1real | |
Colombia protests what it says was Venezuelan military incursion over border | BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia has sent a letter of protest to Venezuela after it said security forces from the socialist country crossed the border into the Colombian province of La Guajira over the weekend, two government sources said on Monday. The sources told Reuters the Colombian Foreign Ministry had given the letter to Venezuela s embassy in Bogota, although the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denied on Sunday that the crossing into Paraguachon, La Guajira, took place. The governor of La Guajira criticized the crossing on Twitter over the weekend, saying the security forces came over the border on Saturday night and stole money and cellphones from residents. Long-standing tensions between the neighboring countries have escalated since Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos joined with other countries in the region to criticize Maduro and said Venezuela was heading toward a dictatorship. Venezuela s former top prosecutor, who has accused Maduro of involvement with corruption, fled to Colombia this month. | 0fake |
null | As long as it identifies as accounting | 1real |
Deutsche Bank Considering Alternatives To Paying Cash Bonus | By Zero Hedge
It has been at least a few weeks since Deutsche Bank appeared in the flashing red breaking news sections of newswires, with news that was – mostly – negative. And while the stock has since rebounded materially, wiping out all losses since the DOJ’s $14 billion RMBS settlement leak, it appears that not everything is back to normal for the largest German lender. Because in what may be the worst news yet for DB’s employees, moments ago Bloomberg reported that the German Bank is exploring “ alternatives to paying bonuses in cash ” as Chief Executive Officer John Cryan seeks to boost capital buffers.
According to Bloomberg, DB executives have discussed options including giving some bankers shares in the non-core unit instead of cash bonuses. Another idea under review is replacing the cash component with more Deutsche Bank stock.
The supervisory board may discuss the topic of variable pay at a meeting on Wednesday though no final decisions are expected, the people said, the day before it reports third-quarter earnings. The measures, if pursued in the coming months, would mostly impact the investment bank, the people said . The Frankfurt-based lender is still considering other alternatives, they said.
As Bloomberg adds, any bonus-related decision will depend on the size and timing of Deutsche Bank’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over a probe into the the sale of faulty real-estate securities. Last year, Deutsche Bank awarded staff 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) of bonuses for 2015, 1.45 billion euros of which was for the combined investment banking and trading unit. Of the 2.4 billion euros, 49 percent was deferred stock and cash while the remainder was paid out immediately. It appears that DB wants to take the 49% number and make it bigger.
The idea echoes a similar move by Credit Suisse Group AG at the height of the financial crisis, when the Swiss firm used its most illiquid loans and bonds to pay employees’ year-end bonuses.
The report is comparable to a similar announcement made exactly one year ago , when DB announced it may slash bonuses by as much as one third. Since then, however, DB’s aggressive cost cutting initative has made life for the bank’s employees progressively more miserable. Since taking over in 2015, Cryan has suspended the dividend, reduced bonuses, cut risky assets, frozen new hiring and announced plans to shed some 9,000 jobs. The CEO has already said Deutsche Bank may fail to be profitable this year after posting the first annual loss since 2008 last year. Now, DB bankers may end up getting “paid” in some of the billions in impaired tanker loans, carried quietly on the bank’s book, if not CDS or interest rate swaps. Those DB certainly has a lot of.
Should DB be successful with this significant shift in compensation strategy without leading to an exodus of workers, it will likely be attempted at other banks as the core problems facing Deutsche Bank, namely declining profitability, have now become systemic across the entire banking sector. Which is bad news for investment bankers everywhere.
Source: Zero Hedge
| 1real |
Death toll from Somalia truck bomb in October now at 512: probe committee | MOGADISHU (Reuters) - More than 500 people were killed in twin bomb blasts in Mogadishu in October, a Somali committee looking into the attack said on Thursday, raising the death toll from at least 358. In the incidents on Oct. 14, a truck bomb exploded outside a busy hotel at the K5 intersection lined with government offices, restaurants and kiosks. A second blast struck Medina district two hours later. The impact of the truck bomb was worsened by it exploding next to a fuel tanker that increased its intensity and left many bodies being burnt or mutilated beyond recognition. By Oct. 20, the government said the toll had reached 358. It set up a committee, known as the Zobe Rescue Committee, to establish a more accurate death toll by talking to relatives of those who may have been at the site of the blasts. So far we have confirmed 512 people died in last month s explosion ... (Some) 316 others were also injured in that blast, Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwac, the committee s chairman, told Reuters on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the government on the latest toll. The bomb attacks were the deadliest since Islamist militant group al Shabaab began an insurgency in 2007. Al Shabaab has not claimed responsibility, but the method and type of attack - a large truck bomb - is increasingly used by the al Qaeda-linked organization. Al Shabaab stages regular attacks in the capital and other parts of the country. Although the group says it targets the government and security forces, it has detonated large bombs in crowded public areas before. It has sometimes not claimed responsibility for bombings that provoked a big public backlash, such as the 2009 suicide bombing of a graduation ceremony for medical students. | 0fake |
Partisan voters treat politics and elections like a competitive sports rivalry. | The rise of political polarization in the U.S. government has been mirrored by a similar trend of growing animosity between people who support different parties. But how have these – often uncivil – rivalries arisen? Using data from two representative surveys of Americans in 2010 and 2012, Patrick R. Miller find that partisans treat politics as they would a sports rivalry, with parties viewed in terms of good and evil, with a strong motivation to win at any cost, often independent of policy outcomes. He also finds that not only are those that view politics as a rivalry the most politically knowledgeable, they are also the most vicious, uncivil, and party-driven voters. This hostile mindset is made worse by a combination of competitive elections and politicians who further fan the flames of partisan rivalries.
Americans are justifiably cynical about politics. Congress is more polarized than ever, leaving ideological extremists to govern a more centrist citizenry. Lawmakers seem incapable of civil compromise on even uncontroversial issues; leaving Washington gridlocked on pressing policy problems. But an ugly truth of American politics today is that average citizens too readily condemn politicians for our political problems without owning their role in enabling that dysfunction. If our politicians are aggressively and uncompromisingly uncivil, they make just be reflecting the voters who elected them.
My coauthor, Pamela Johnston Conover, and I have been researching the nature of political party identities in America since 2010. Political scientists around that time began researching a growing social distance between average Republicans and Democrats, even in nonpolitical respects like comfort with one’s child marrying someone of the other party. What is it about parties, we wondered, that could elicit such intense hostility between everyday people?
For us, the answer is in how people construct their sense of self. All of us are attached to identities—national, racial, religious, schools, and even parties—that shape who we believe we are and how we perceive the world. Like our religions, many Americans inherit party attachment from their parents. Many of us learn that we are Democrats or Republicans long before we learn that those loyalties mean that we should be liberal or conservative, pro-choice or pro-life, or for or against the social welfare state.
In new research we focus on average partisans—everyday Democrats and Republicans—and their potentially unhealthy political attitudes. Politics in an intensely polarized era like today reinforces for citizens that the parties are not just distinct, but starkly different in belief and who they favor. And our regular elections ensure that our party team always has another “game” with the other team looming. We show that this creates an environment where many partisans treat politics like a sports rivalry, akin to Kansas-Missouri or UNC-Duke in college sports. Partisans with that mentality view politics in stark good-evil terms and are motivated to participate in politics foremost by a strong desire to win at any cost.
We conducted two nationally representative surveys of Americans in 2010 and 2012. Before fielding the surveys, we conducted extensive interviews with average partisans to better understand the mentality that our surveys would assess. When we asked what motivated them to vote, many partisans seemingly did not connect that a party must win an election to advance policy. Instead, many talked about victory and policy ends as if they were disconnected or competing motivations (lesson: be wary of assuming that average citizens think strategically about politics).
Accordingly, we asked partisans about their electoral motivations. The survey showed that 41 percent of partisans agreed that simply winning elections is more important to them than policy or ideological goals. Just 35 percent agreed that policy is a more important motivator for them to participate in politics. Only 24 percent valued both equally.
Troublingly, 38 percent of partisans agreed that their parties should use any tactics necessary to “win elections and issue debates.” When those who agreed with this view were asked what tactics they had in mind, the most common ones they offered were: voter suppression, stealing or cheating in elections, physical violence and threats, lying, personal attacks on opponents, not allowing the other party to speak, and using the filibuster to gridlock Congress. Democrats and Republicans were equally likely to express this incivility.
These sentiments about victory and incivility were most common among partisans who most strongly viewed the opposing party as a “rival.” These most hostile partisans also expressed the strongest partisanship and the greatest anger at the other party. And curiously, these same citizens were also the most politically knowledgeable when asked a battery of basic political knowledge questions, meaning that our most informed citizens are also the most vicious, uncivil, and party-driven voters. These effects were also independent of ideological or issue positions, which means that once a partisan develops a sense of strong interparty rivalry, it turns into a hostile dynamic with a psychological life of its own.
So there is a certain type of voter—thankfully not all—for whom politics is primarily about group loyalty and using any means to claim victory over their rivals. Not about issues per se. Not about ideology or candidates. Just “we’re good, they’re bad, and let’s win.” But so what? Two other results from our research imply a lot about American politics today.
First, competitive elections exacerbated these hostile attitudes toward the other party. Using Cook Political Report rankings for both survey years, we found that partisans voting in the most competitive races reported the highest levels of rivalry, desire to win, and incivility. What does that say about political campaigns? For some voters, sure, elections are about issues and selecting a compatible candidate. But for many partisan voters, those same elections are just red meat riling them up over the symbolism of party labels. Rather than bringing us together to discuss our differences and deliberate, our elections are alienating many of us from one another.
Second, these most hostile partisans were also the most likely to participate in campaigns (volunteer, donate money, persuade friends, etc.) and vote. Think about the implications of that. Candidates depend on others’ resources and votes to win, especially from their own parties. So if the most mobilized partisans are also the most hostile toward the other party, then a major incentive for politicians is to placate that hostility even if it poisons the political environment. They can do that in campaigns with vitriolic and often relatively issueless partisan appeals, but also by acting as “partisan warriors” in office: not compromising, abusing the filibuster, or stridently partisan press appearances on Fox and MSNBC.
Easy as it is to blame politicians for dysfunctional politics, citizens have some responsibility for enabling that ineptitude. In reality, the intense polarization of American politics likely results from a two way give and take: electorates produce uncompromising and uncivil politicians partly because those politicians may best appeal to the most mobilized partisan voter. But through campaigns and the partisan press, politicians also lead partisans to a hostile mindset where they view the other party as an evil rival.
Obviously, many believe that fierce partisanship is a good thing. In practice, though, our Founders designed a government to force compromise between factions, and a system where it is unlikely that any one party will gain such complete control of government that compromise is unnecessary. It is easy for partisans who never shoulder any responsibility for making government policy work to view politics as a sport where purity, loyalty, and contempt for the opposition make a good game. But whether they make good government is a whole other matter.
This article is based on the paper, “Red and Blue States of Mind: Partisan Hostility and Voting in the United States” in Political Research Quarterly.
Please read our comments policy before commenting.
Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USApp– American Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.
Patrick R. Miller – University of Kansas
Patrick R. Miller is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas. He specializes in American public opinion, political psychology, elections, and survey and experimental methodology. His current research focuses on civility and partisan identity in the U.S. He tweets about politics at twitter.com/pmiller1693. | 0fake |
Inside The Invisible Government: War, Propaganda, Clinton & Trump | License DMCA The American journalist, Edward Bernays, is often described as the man who invented modern propaganda. The nephew of Sigmund Freud, the pioneer of psycho-analysis, it was Bernays who coined the term "public relations" as a euphemism for spin and its deceptions. In 1929, he persuaded feminists to promote cigarettes for women by smoking in the New York Easter Parade -- behavior then considered outlandish. One feminist, Ruth Booth, declared, "Women! Light another torch of freedom! Fight another sex taboo!" Bernays' influence extended far beyond advertising. His greatest success was his role in convincing the American public to join the slaughter of the First World War. The secret, he said, was "engineering the consent" of people in order to "control and regiment [them] according to our will without their knowing about it."
He described this as "the true ruling power in our society" and called it an "invisible government." Today, the invisible government has never been more powerful and less understood. In my career as a journalist and film-maker, I have never known propaganda to insinuate our lives and as it does now and to go unchallenged. Imagine two cities. Both are under siege by the forces of the government of that country. Both cities are occupied by fanatics, who commit terrible atrocities, such as beheading people. - Advertisement -
But there is a vital difference. In one siege, the government soldiers are described as liberators by Western reporters embedded with them, who enthusiastically report their battles and air strikes. There are front page pictures of these heroic soldiers giving a V-sign for victory. There is scant mention of civilian casualties. In the second city -- in another country nearby -- almost exactly the same is happening. Government forces are laying siege to a city controlled by the same breed of fanatics. The difference is that these fanatics are supported, supplied and armed by "us" -- by the United States and Britain. They even have a media center that is funded by Britain and America. Another difference is that the government soldiers laying siege to this city are the bad guys, condemned for assaulting and bombing the city -- which is exactly what the good soldiers do in the first city. Confusing? Not really. Such is the basic double standard that is the essence of propaganda. I am referring, of course, to the current siege of the city of Mosul by the government forces of Iraq, who are backed by the United States and Britain and to the siege of Aleppo by the government forces of Syria, backed by Russia. One is good; the other is bad. - Advertisement - What is seldom reported is that both cities would not be occupied by fanatics and ravaged by war if Britain and the United States had not invaded Iraq in 2003. That criminal enterprise was launched on lies strikingly similar to the propaganda that now distorts our understanding of the civil war in Syria. Without this drumbeat of propaganda dressed up as news, the monstrous ISIS and Al-Qaida and al-Nusra and the rest of the jihadist gang might not exist, and the people of Syria might not be fighting for their lives today. Some may remember in 2003 a succession of BBC reporters turning to the camera and telling us that Blair was "vindicated" for what turned out to be the crime of the century. The US television networks produced the same validation for George W. Bush. Fox News brought on Henry Kissinger to effuse over Colin Powell's fabrications. The same year, soon after the invasion, I filmed an interview in Washington with Charles Lewis, the renowned American investigative journalist. I asked him, "What would have happened if the freest media in the world had seriously challenged what turned out to be crude propaganda?" | 1real |
Spanish court grants U.S. extradition for Russian hacking suspect | MADRID (Reuters) - Spain s High Court said on Tuesday it had granted a U.S. request to extradite Russian citizen Peter Levashov, who is accused of U.S. hacking offences including operating a network of infected computers used by cyber criminals. Levashov, 36, was arrested while on holiday in Barcelona in April. U.S. prosecutors have accused him of running the Kelihos botnet, a network of more than 100,000 infected devices used by cyber criminals to distribute viruses, ransomware, phishing emails and other spam attacks. U.S. prosecutors are seeking a 52-year jail sentence against Levashov, who denies the charges against him. The Spanish court said Levashov had three days to lodge an appeal against the extradition decision. Levashov, who is fighting extradition, told the Madrid court last week that he had worked for President Vladimir Putin s United Russia party for the last 10 years, Russia s RIA news agency reported. He told the court that investigators in the United States would torture him for information about his political work if he was sent there to face the charges. If I go to the U.S., I will die in a year. They want to get information of a military nature and about the United Russia party, RIA quoted him as saying. I will be tortured, within a year I will be killed, or I will kill myself. The Spanish court ruling said that Levashov s lawyers had also alleged a political motivation behind the U.S. request for his extradition and that the real reason behind it may be that he was a programmer who might have hacked the U.S. elections . U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the Kremlin orchestrated a wide-ranging influence operation that included email hacking and online propaganda to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump, a Republican, win the White House last November. The Kremlin denies the allegations. The Spanish court dismissed all the arguments put forward by Levashov and his lawyers against extradition. Nothing has been proven with respect to the allegations about political motivation and neither ... has the potential infringement of the accused s right to life or of his physical integrity, the court ruling sad. In an eight-count indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in Connecticut in April, Levashov was charged with causing intentional damage to a protected computer and wire fraud. Russia has lodged its own request for Levashov s extradition from Spain, RIA reported. | 0fake |
House Speaker Ryan easily wins primary: media | MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan handily won a primary election for his congressional seat on Tuesday, a contest overshadowed by presidential candidate Donald Trump’s brief refusal last week to endorse his fellow Republican. Ryan, who ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2012, had roughly 84 percent of the vote compared with challenger Paul Nehlen’s 16 percent, with 87 percent of voting areas reporting results, the Journal Sentinel reported at 11 p.m. local time. “I am humbled and honored that Wisconsinites in the 1st Congressional District support my efforts to keep fighting on their behalf,” Ryan said in a statement. In the general election for the 1st Congressional District seat in southeast Wisconsin on Nov. 8, he will likely face Iraq war veteran Ryan Solen, who won the Democrat primary on Tuesday. Nehlen thanked his supporters in a brief Twitter post after the polls closed. “Truly an amazing journey,” he said. The race became the center of attention a week ago when Trump refused to endorse Ryan during an interview with the Washington Post. In a sign of the tension between the politicians, Trump told the newspaper he was “not quite there yet” - echoing a phrase Ryan had used about Trump. On Friday, Trump endorsed Ryan and Senators John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire during a campaign stop in Green Bay, a show of support that could be a step to mend his frayed relations with fellow Republicans. Trump, a former reality TV star, has troubled many in the Republican establishment with his off-the-cuff, often insulting, style and controversial policies. These include a proposed ban on Muslims visiting the United States and his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep out undocumented immigrants. Ryan, Ayotte and McCain had criticized Trump’s feud with the family of Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004 and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal for bravery. Trump had a running dispute with Khan’s parents after they criticized him at last month’s Democratic National Convention. | 0fake |
After healthcare flop, White House seeks help from Congress on tax | (Reuters) - Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday blamed the Congress for thwarting a Republican plan to overhaul healthcare law, but acknowledged that the White House will need to work with lawmakers to accomplish its next set of legislative plans. Speaking to a group of small business owners in Charleston, West Virginia, Pence said President Donald Trump is ready to move on to his next priority: simplifying the tax code and cutting tax rates. “We’re going to roll our sleeves up and we’re going to cut taxes across the board for working families, small businesses and family farms,” Pence said. “Working with this Congress, President Trump is going to pass the largest tax cut since the days of Ronald Reagan, and we’re going to get this American economy moving again,” he said. Comprehensive tax reform has eluded previous Congresses and administrations since 1986 when it was last accomplished under former President Ronald Reagan. Pence made his comments the day after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives failed to find enough support within its own ranks to pass legislation to roll back Obamacare — a setback that raised doubts about Trump’s ability to deliver on other big promises requiring help from Congress. Trump and Republicans had campaigned to overhaul former President Barack Obama’s health care law, which they have argued is too intrusive and expensive. “As we all learned yesterday, Congress just wasn’t ready,” said Pence, who spent a dozen years in Congress starting in 2001, and has been a key emissary for Trump on Capitol Hill. “With 100 percent of House Democrats — every single one — and a handful of Republicans actually standing in the way of President Trump’s plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, we’re back to the drawing board,” Pence said. On tax reform, Pence said Trump wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent to spur investment. The House of Representatives’ tax committee is working on legislation that would cut the corporate rate to 20 percent. Pence said the White House also would seek to work with Congress to boost funding for the military, roll back regulations on the energy sector, and confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s pick to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Standing with Linda McMahon, who started and ran World Wrestling Entertainment before being named as head of Trump’s Small Business Administration, Pence joked that the White House could use some muscle to work with lawmakers. “Maybe we could have used a few of your WWE superstars on Capitol Hill yesterday,” Pence said. | 0fake |
Jeanine Pirro Calls for Paul Ryan to Step Down After Health Bill Failure - The New York Times | Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News host, is a longtime friend of President Trump. So when Mr. Trump said on Twitter on Saturday — a day after his crushing defeat in the House on health care — that people should watch her show that night, political observers began guessing what was in store. What she delivered was a diatribe against the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan. “Paul Ryan needs to step down as speaker of the House,” Ms. Pirro, a former prosecutor, said at the opening of her show. “The reason? He failed to deliver the votes on his health care bill. ” In Ms. Pirro’s telling, Mr. Ryan let Mr. Trump down by not doing his share of the work in corralling Republican votes to fulfill a promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act — a view held by a number of the president’s advisers. “Speaker Ryan, you come in with all your swagger and experience and you sell ’em a bill of goods, which ends up a complete and total failure, and you allow our president in his first 100 days to come out of the box like that, based on what?” Ms. Pirro said. On Fox News on Sunday, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, an ally of Mr. Ryan’s, said he had not spoken to the president about the Twitter post, but he called the timing “coincidental. ” Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Ryan, said, “The speaker and president talked for an hour yesterday about moving forward on the agenda, and their relationship is stronger than ever right now. ” Another spokesman in Mr. Ryan’s office said on Sunday: “The two spoke again today, and the president was clear his tweet had nothing to do with the speaker. They are both eager to get back to work on the agenda. ” On Friday, after House Republicans pulled the health care bill, Mr. Trump voiced support for Mr. Ryan, saying the speaker had worked “very, very hard. ” A person close to the president said that aides did not believe that Mr. Trump had spoken with Ms. Pirro before his Twitter post, or that he was trying to advertise criticism of Mr. Ryan’s leadership. But Mr. Trump has a long history with Ms. Pirro. During the worst weekend of the Trump campaign, when Mr. Trump was under siege over an outtake from “Access Hollywood,” he told aides that he would do an interview with Ms. Pirro to defend himself, according to a person with direct knowledge of the conversation. He was dissuaded by aides who told him it would not be viewed as credible by voters. In their phone call on Saturday, according to a person briefed on the matter, Mr. Ryan told Mr. Trump that he wanted to proceed with a tax overhaul package. Their relationship, so far, has seemed to hold. But privately, Mr. Trump has been pressed by some advisers to consider the damage wrought by the bill’s failure, and to consider Mr. Ryan’s role. Publicly, at least, Mr. Trump was casting blame on Sunday morning not on Mr. Ryan but on the conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, as well as outside conservative groups. | 0fake |
U.N. mediator de Mistura to attend Syria talks on Friday: report | MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.N. special envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura will arrive in Kazakhstan s capital on Friday to take part in Syria peace talks, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, according to Russia s state news agency RIA. De Mistura will fly to Astana after talks in Moscow on Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Kazakhstan is hosting negotiations that aim to end the Syria crisis. Discussions in the past few months have focused on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria. | 0fake |
France discusses increased pressure on North Korea with Trump, Abe | PARIS (Reuters) - France s Emmanuel Macron discussed increased pressure and sanctions on North Korea on the telephone with U.S. President Donald Trump and Japan s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday, the French president s office said. The three leaders stressed the need for a united and firm reaction from the international community toward Pyongyang, Macron s office said. South Korea was bracing on Saturday for a possible further missile test by North Korea as it marked its founding anniversary, just days after its sixth and largest nuclear test. The French presidency said North Korea s repeated provocations were a threat to peace and international security . It also said Macron had expressed France s solidarity with Japan. Tension on the Korean peninsula has escalated as North Korea s leader, Kim Jong Un, has stepped up the development of weapons, testing a string of missiles this year, including one flying over Japan. Experts believe the Pyongyang government is close to its goal of developing a powerful nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States, something U.S. President Trump has vowed to prevent. | 0fake |
MATT DAMON Says America Needs IMMEDIATE GUN BAN After Making $50 MILLION KILLING People With Guns In Popular Movie Series | It warms the heart to know people as important as Hollywood actor Matt Damon care so much about the little people with guns in America. If Damon really feels so strongly about the government taking our Second Amendment right away, perhaps he should stop making a living with guns Matt Damon will return to the big screen as trained assassin Jason Bourne later this month, and while promoting the new film in Australia over the weekend called for a ban on guns in the United States.In an interview with a reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald, Damon said: You guys did it here in one fell swoop and I wish that could happen in my country, but it s such a personal issue for people that we cannot talk about it sensibly. We just can t. Damon made these comments at the red carpet premiere of the new Bourne movie, a film series in which he has killed at least 10 people with a firearm.Damon, who has reportedly made over $50million for his work in the four Bourne films, has also had no issue with using weapons in other films.The 45-year-old actor has also carried firearms in his movies The Departed, Green Zone and Elysium, to name just a few.Via: Daily Mail | 1real |
Philippines starts construction near China's manmade islands in disputed waters | MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has started upgrading military facilities on the biggest features it occupies in the disputed South China Sea, its defense secretary said on Tuesday, asserting Manila s claims in the strategic waterway. Delfin Lorenzana said a contractor was building a beach ramp on Thitu Island, locally known as Pag-asa (hope), the largest of nine features the Philippines holds in the Spratly islands. While construction is ongoing, albeit intermittently, depending on good weather, we expect its completion by early 2018, Lorenzana said, adding the monsoon rains have been hampering the building of the beach ramp. No construction can proceed without a good beaching ramp. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the waterway where more than $3 trillion worth of sea-borne goods pass every year. Recent satellite imagery has shown Chinese vessels gathering around Thitu, in what some experts say could be an attempt to deter the Philippines from cementing its claim. China s ambassador has played that down, insisting his country has no ill intent. The two countries have long been at odds over the South China Sea, although ties have warmed substantially under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who says it is smarter to do business with China than pick a fight with its far superior military. Lorenzana said the ramp was important to allow large naval ships to deliver construction materials to repair and upgrade the island s airfield, fix structures and build a new port for fishermen. A small community lives on Thitu, ostensibly to prop up the country s claim, although conditions are basic compared to those enjoyed by Vietnamese and Chinese on other islands in the Spratly chain. Defense department spokesman Arsenio Andolong said the government would spend more than 1.3 billion pesos ($25.3 million) for the upgrades on Thitu. The military has defended the work, saying almost of all South China Sea claimants have been doing the same. China has built seven artificial islands, installing radar and anti-aircraft guns and missiles on several. Experts have predicted fighter jets will soon be deployed on those islands. | 0fake |
BREAKING: Trump Is Playing With Fire, And He Just Brought Us One Step Closer To Nuclear War | North Korea just made it abundantly clear that they have no intention of backing down from Trump, and that Trump, for all his dick-swinging, does not scare them. In fact, according to the U.K. s Mirror, North Korea just let loose with a blistering warning to Trump over his posturing: Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive.We ve got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a US pre-emptive strike. Their vice foreign minister also added this: Whatever comes from the US, we will cope with it. We are fully prepared. The army and people will courageously counter those who encroach upon our dignity and sovereignty and will always mercilessly ravage all provocative options of the US. They ve also flat-out said, We will go to war if they choose, clearly putting the ball in our court as to whether or not war happens.Trump reportedly threatened to hit North Korea with Tomahawks the same missiles we launched into Syria to destroy absolutely nothing if they go ahead with a nuclear test this weekend. But that s not all we also recently test-dropped an inert nuclear bomb to ensure that our military planes can carry and deliver it.There s a slim chance we could decide to use that on North Korea.It s not that North Korea isn t a problem. It s that this military show is having the opposite effect of what Trump no doubt thinks should be happening, despite North Korea being a very aggressive regime. And there will be collateral damage if we launch a pre-emptive strike at North Korea. They ll hit our bases in South Korea, but they may also retaliate directly against our allies in the region, including Japan.If it s nuclear war, well, the whole world will suffer.China is begging both us and North Korea to cool it. Russia has also asked both countries to be very careful. South Korea has warned us not to start anything on the peninsula without their consent as a military ally. Trump has got to stop fanning his peacock feathers and actually start considering the wider consequences of his actions, including show he s putting on near the Korean peninsula at the moment.Featured image by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images | 1real |
Clash between military and suspected gang leaves nine dead in southern Mexico | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican military fought back against an armed attack in the violent southwestern state of Guerrero on Saturday night, leaving eight suspected gang members and one soldier dead, authorities said on Sunday. At around 11 p.m., troops were making their rounds in the city of Teloloapan, about 155 miles (250 km) from Mexico City, when they came under gunfire from suspected gang members dressed in fake military uniforms, Roberto lvarez Heredia, a spokesman for the Guerrero Coordinating Group, said in a statement. The military secured two vans painted in camouflage, weapons and uniforms, authorities said. A soldier was wounded in the confrontation and died afterward from his injuries. The public prosecutor s office in Guerrero, home to the resort city of Acapulco on Mexico s Pacific coast, has begun an investigation into the attack, authorities said. Violence has spiked in Guerrero over the past decade as a growing number of criminal gangs vie for control of crops of opium poppies and for drug-trafficking routes. | 0fake |
HILLARY WORKED FEVERISHLY To Return 10 Russian Spies Operating In U.S. In Midst Of Selling 20% Of U.S. Uranium To Russia | Why is this not front page news on every major media outlet?Russian intelligence targeted Hillary Clinton before she became secretary of state in 2009, FBI documents show.New FBI information about corruption in a Clinton-approved uranium deal with Russia raises questions about Clinton s actions after the FBI broke up a deep-cover Russian spy ring in 2010.For a decade, the FBI ran an operation called Ghost Stories to monitor and rip apart a deep-cover Russian agent network. Ghost Stories tracked a ring Russian spies who lived between Boston and Washington, D.C., under false identities. It was one of the FBI s most elaborate and successful counterintelligence operations in history.After the FBI arrested 10 of the spies in June, 2010, Secretary of State Clinton worked feverishly to return the Russian agents to Moscow in a hastily arranged, lopsided deal with Putin.It all happened as the uranium deal was in play: An arrangement to provide Moscow s state Rosatom nuclear agency with 20 percent of American uranium capacity, with $145,000,000 to pour into the Clinton Family Foundation and its projects.For the Clintons, the FBI s biggest counterintelligence bust in history couldn t have come at a worse time.The day the FBI arrested the Russian agents, on June 28, 2010, the day before the secretary of state s husband, Bill Clinton, was to give a speech in Moscow. A Kremlin-connected investment bank, Renaissance Capital, paid the former president $500,000 for the hour-long appearance.An unnamed Hillary Clinton spokesman told ABC News that there was no reason to think the Secretary was a target of this spy ring. That was a lie.Under the code name Operation Ghost Stories, the FBI had been working the ring for a decade. Its targets had burrowed in along the Acela Corridor between Boston, New York, and Washington DC. They lived normal daily lives as Americans to attend universities, run businesses, marry, and conceive and raise children to infiltrate society and subvert government institutions. One of the SVR agents had stolen the identity of a six-week-old Canadian baby who had died in 1963. That prompted the Ghost Stories code name. The ring inspired the FX network s television series, The Americans. As with any secretary of state, Hillary Clinton would be a primary target under any circumstance. But she was much more. She was a known quantity: predictable, vain and ruthless, and with an insatiable desire for cash to enrich her family, friends, and political machine. Blindly ambitious to become president of the world s only superpower and swearing to come back after losing in 2008 to Barack Obama, she was the 21st century KGB s perfect mark.Read more: Daily Caller | 1real |
DONALD TRUMP JR. Blasts “Comedian” KATHY GRIFFIN After She Poses In Gruesome Photo Holding President Trump’s Bloody, Decapitated Head | The outspoken comedian posed for a photo shoot with controversial photographer Tyler Shields in which she is holding a bloodied mask of President Trump.***WARNING***Photo is graphic and could be confused with an act of terror by an ISIS terrorist:Here s the gruesome ISIS inspired video that Griffin posted to Twitter:https://twitter.com/kathygriffin/status/869654650844098562TMZ published the gory photo from Griffin s photo session with the famed Shields, known for his shocking pictures. FOXIt didn t take long for the son and father of 5 of President Donald J. Trump s grandchildren to react to the ISIS-like photo liberals like comedian Kathy Griffin think is funny Donald Trump Jr. is blasting Kathy Griffin, and all liberals, for her photo op with a bloodied mask of President Trump but admits he s not all that shocked.Don Jr. called the gory Tyler Shields shot of Kathy Disgusting but not surprising. This is the left today. They consider this acceptable. He also said, Imagine a conservative did this to Obama as POTUS? TMZDonald Trump Jr. isn t immune from the hateful, and intolerant left. Only one week before the election, liberal rag magazine Esquire published a story using this bloodied a photo of Donald Trump Jr., a father of five young children simply because he is the son of a man who dared to shake up the system and challenge the rightful heiress to the American throne.The Esquire article was titled:We re just saying that people are saying it.After Kathy Griffin got HAMMERED by Twitter users for her sick and very distasteful photo op, she responded by saying she s not apologizing, she s simply using a bloodied, decapitated head to mock our President:https://twitter.com/kathygriffin/status/869655312239697920Twitter users who didn t find any humor in the photo that more closely resembled an act of terror than an act of humor responded to the vile comedian :It wasn t so long ago that Griffin was seen smiling on a Trump golf course in a photo with Donald Trump s arm around her. But that was before he became president and threatened her small-minded world.Twitter wasn t the only social media outlet who went after Griffin. Greg Locke, a popular pastor who posts commentary videos related to current social issues on Facebook really let Kathy Griffin have it. Watch: | 1real |
Congress passes bill to temporarily fund government, avert shutdown | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress, rushing to beat a Friday midnight deadline, on Thursday passed legislation funding the government through Dec. 22. By a vote of 235-193, the House of Representatives passed the bill and rapidly sent it to the Senate, which then approved it 81-14, sending it to President Donald Trump for signing into law. While a Saturday shutdown of government agencies was averted, Congress and Trump will now have to come up with a deal to keep the government operating beyond Dec. 22. | 0fake |
Comment on Tainted Measles Vaccine Kills More Than 50 Children In Syria by Tragic Deaths Used To Promote Vaccine Fear – On The Fence About Vaccines | Photos Credits: Social Media The so called “ opposition health authorities ” said in a statement posted online in Arabic:
“Primary investigations point to a limited security breach by vandals likely connected to the regime, which has been attempting to target the medical sector in Free Syria in order to spread chaos.” The statement also added: “The Syrian interim government’s health ministry has instructed a halt to the second round of the measles vaccination campaign, which began Monday September 15th … following several fatalities and injuries among children in vaccination centers in the Idlib countryside.” Adnan Hazouri, the health minister in the Syrian opposition who held a conference (in the Arabic Language) said that he will resign if an investigation upheld allegations of negligence, as blood samples have been sent to Turkey for analysis. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , which is based in London, also confirmed:
“At least five children have died and 50 others are suffering from poisoning or allergic reactions after measles vaccinations in Jirjanaz, in the Idlib province.” The following video shows affected children in Saraqeb hospital in Idlib, Syria: Monther Khalil, the head of the Idlib medical department said this during an interview with Radio Hawa Smart -an opposition related station established on Gaziantep, Turkey:
“The department assures all parents who have had their children vaccinated that the vaccine is completely fine and there is no risk to children who have already been injected.
We have already vaccinated 60,000 children against measles and there has been no previous problem. The same crews also previously carried out a polio campaign, where they vaccinated 252,000 children across seven rounds, and there were no abnormal complications.” More than 190,000 Syrians have been killed during the foreign-backed war since 2011, which has also created more than 3 million refugees outside Syria. Sources: | 1real |
Twitter employee briefly shuts Trump account, putting controls in question | (Reuters) - Twitter Inc faced questions on Friday about its approach to internal security after a company employee briefly deactivated U.S. President Donald Trump’s account. The 11-minute blackout of the @realDonaldTrump account late on Thursday drew widespread attention to the microblogging site. Trump frequently uses Twitter to announce policy, assail his adversaries and to tangle with countries, including North Korea, over world affairs. Some users voiced fears that future employee interference or technology glitches involving Trump’s account could threaten national security. The incident also came as Twitter grapples with overall criticism of its handling of account suspensions, user abuse and ever-changing terms of service. Twitter said in a tweet on Friday: “We have implemented safeguards to prevent this from happening again. We won’t be able to share all details about our internal investigation or updates to our security measures, but we take this seriously and our teams are on it.” A company representative declined to answer questions including how many employees can suspend an account or what special protections there are for high-profile users like Trump. Trump was back on Twitter soon after the account was restored, and the employee did not send or alter any tweets. Cyber security experts had previously speculated Twitter could have installed special protections on Trump’s account, such as the ability to only access it from certain devices. “We have learned that this was done by a Twitter customer-support employee who did this on the employee’s last day. We are conducting a full internal review,” Twitter said in a tweet late on Thursday. “We are continuing to investigate and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again,” the company said in an earlier tweet. Reuters could not determine how many Twitter employees had the authority to delete accounts or if any had the ability to tamper with them in other ways, such as by sending bogus tweets. “In all seriousness: We need accountability for social media sites,” Ken Meyer, who served as digital director for former Vice President Joe Biden, tweeted. “Lone employees shouldn’t be able to change statements from the President.” Speaking on condition of anonymity, a former Twitter employee said it was unlikely a worker with suspension privileges would also be able to hijack an account to send out messages. “Different types of access,” the former employee said. “I’m not sure anyone at Twitter can tweet from someone else’s account.” Another person familiar with Twitter operations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said employees currently cannot post from a user’s account, change or even view a user’s password, which is encrypted. Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology, said the suspension reflected a need for Twitter to be more transparent about its ability to control accounts but also demonstrated the perils of a head of state relying on digital technology as a primary mode of communication. “It would be nice to rely on older forms of policy communication with solid foundations,” he said, adding that Twitter should require two-person controls for certain high-profile accounts. The New York Times on Friday reported the rogue employee was in fact a contractor, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the incident. Twitter and other tech companies have ramped up their reliance on contractors due to pressure to respond more quickly and thoroughly to content violations. While the companies “are desperately reliant upon human nuance and sophistication for decision making, human will is quite a risk,” Sarah Roberts, a UCLA professor who studies such contractors, said in a tweet. “Ain’t that a bind?” The company on Friday separately announced minor updates to its rules, including more clarity on what actions could result in an account suspension. It was the latest in a string of iterative changes amid criticism the platform too slowly and inconsistently responds to abuse. Twitter shares were up 1.9 percent in afternoon trading. Trump, who has nearly 42 million Twitter followers, responded to the temporary loss of his account by boasting about his wide reach on the service. “My Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes by a rogue employee,” Trump said on Twitter early on Friday. “I guess the word must finally be getting out-and having an impact.” He has used Twitter to attack opponents and promote his policies, both during the 2016 presidential campaign and since taking office in January. Thursday’s incident also raised questions about how Twitter secures the official @potus presidential account and other accounts that could potentially influence world events. Technology companies including Twitter are, meanwhile, under attack from U.S. lawmakers for failing to stem the spread of Russian propaganda and misinformation on their platforms. Twitter in particular has long been criticized for not doing enough to police its platform and respond to complaints of harassment. Though the temporary deletion of the Trump account sparked a flood of criticism from Twitter users, many of the president’s critics also said they were happy to see the account disabled. In 2013, hackers took control of the main account for the Associated Press and tweeted that explosions at the White House had injured then-President Barack Obama, causing stocks to briefly plunge. | 0fake |
Twitter Just Banned A Major Trump Ally For Threatening Journalists (SCREENSHOTS) | Trump advisor Roger Stone says a bunch of wacky stuff on Twitter, but he managed to go too far even for a platform that seems to ban more people for condemning hate speech than anything else.After it was announced that at least one person had been indicted by a grand jury in the Russia probe, Stone went nuts on journalists who reported the information especially CNN s Don Lemon. There r no credible fact checks that clear the Clinton s on Uranium, Stone wrote in his typical uneducated manner to Lemon. Even the people at CNN say i are a buffoon behind you back. You come across on tv as a dull witted arrogant partyboi, the dull-witted Trump ally added. You lie constantly and no one who knows you thinks you r bright. Don Lemon must be confronted, humiliated, mocked, and punished, Stone said. Dumber than dog shit. Stop lying about the Clinton s and Uranium you ignorant lying covksucker !!!! Stone continued. You fake news you dumb piece of shit. Stone also told Charles Blow, U have no cried you fast talking arrogant fake news piece of shit ! It s unclear why Stone has never bothered to learn to spell at above a second-grade level or why he thinks there should be spaces before exclamation marks, but he ll have plenty of time to think about that and possibly learn to spell because he s gone from Twitter.Whoa. Roger Stone lost his shit to such a degree, Twitter suspended his account.So, why hasn't Trump been suspended? pic.twitter.com/849LYIGztl Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) October 28, 2017Maybe Stone is just worried that he might be indicted, maybe he s just furious that the chickens are coming home to roost but at least we don t have to deal with his bullsh*t anymore.Featured image via Getty Images/screengrab | 1real |
WATTERS’ WORLD: “Do you have Obamacare?”…”How does it work?” [Video] | 1real | |
Michael Moore Wants America To Know “We Are All Muslim”…Even Though We’re A Majority Christian Nation | No dumb ass we are actually NOT all Muslims! Last time I checked we were still a majority Christian nation, and no leftist clown is going to tell us otherwise!One thing you can say about Michael Moore he s consistently on the wrong side of every issue. The Left is more than happy to line his pockets, as long as he represents an anti-American position.Hyper-liberal Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore challenged Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump by holding a sign reading We Are All Muslim outside Trump Tower on Wednesday before penning an open letter to the candidate on Facebook.In his letter, Moore, who recently offered his Michigan apartment to Syrian refugees before inviting his fans to open their own homes, claimed he and Trump met on a talk show in 1998 and the billionaire businessman had asked him not to go after him. I thought, what are we, in 3rd grade? Moore wrote. I was struck by how you, a self-described tough guy from Queens, seemed like such a fraidey-cat. You and I went on to do the show. Nothing untoward happened between us. I didn t pull on your hair, didn t put gum on your seat. What a wuss, was all I remember thinking as I left the set. Moore added that Trump is now similarly afraid of Muslims, after proposing a temporary ban on all Muslim immigration to America until our country s representatives can figure out what is going on. Moore wrote:And now, here we are in 2015 and, like many other angry white guys, you are frightened by a bogeyman who is out to get you. That bogeyman, in your mind, are all Muslims. Not just the ones who have killed, but ALL MUSLIMS.Fortunately, Donald, you and your supporters no longer look like what America actually is today. We are not a country of angry white guys. Here s a statistic that is going to make your hair spin: Eighty-one percent of the electorate who will pick the president next year are either female, people of color, or young people between the ages of 18 and 35. In other words, not you. And not the people who want you leading their country.The filmmaker then asked Trump to leave the rest of us alone so we can elect a real president who is both compassionate and strong. We are all Muslim. Deal with it, Moore concluded.Moore has become increasingly vocal about his dislike for the Republican frontrunner; last week, he invited Facebook followers to report Trump for hate speech in an effort to have him banned from the social media service.In an interview with the Daily Beast the day before his latest stunt, Moore said Trump should embrace his female side. All men have estrogen in them. We all have a bit of estrogen in us. Sometimes, I ve noticed in our gender the guys who have to do a lot of huffing and puffing, they may be better embracing the female side of themselves, Moore told the outlet. They may be a little happier. He might be one of those people. Via: Breitbart NewsIf you re interested, you may read Moore s full letter to Trump here. | 1real |
Bloomberg delivers U.S. pledge to continue Paris climate goals to U.N. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg submitted a statement to the United Nations on Monday that over 1,000 U.S. governors, mayors, businesses, universities and others will continue to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement abandoned by President Donald Trump last week. Bloomberg, who is the U.N. Secretary-General’s special envoy for Cities and Climate Change, submitted the “We Are Still In” declaration to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa. He also launched a process to work with local governments and non-state entities to formally quantify the combined - and overlapping - emissions reduction pledges, which will be known as “America’s Pledge,” and submit the report to the United Nations. “Today, on behalf of an unprecedented collection of U.S. cities, states, businesses and other organizations, I am communicating to the United Nations and the global community that American society remains committed to achieving the emission reductions we pledged to make in Paris in 2015,” Bloomberg said in a statement. Signatories to the new initiative include 13 Democratic and Republican governors, 19 state attorneys general, over 200 mayors, and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and small businesses. Trump on Thursday pulled the United States from the landmark 2015 agreement designed to fight climate change, fulfilling a major campaign pledge despite entreaties from U.S. allies and corporate leaders. Although the formal process to withdraw from the Paris agreement takes four years, Trump said the United States will not honor the pledge the Obama administration submitted, known as the nationally determined contribution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2025. To fill the void, “America’s Pledge” will be submitted to the UNFCCC as a “Societal NDC.” “The UNFCCC welcomes the determination and commitment from such a wealth and array of cities, states, businesses and other groups in the United States to fast forward climate action and emissions reductions in support of the Paris Climate Change Agreement,” said Espinosa. The coalition will align a number of different efforts to show U.S. support for the Paris agreement, including a commitment of over 260 corporations including Kellogg , Pepsi Co. and Walmart to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the latest science. Thirteen governors have also pledged to continue to honor the Paris pledges. “It will be up to the American people to step forward-and in Virginia we are doing just that,” said Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. | 0fake |
null | Actually it was a pick ax.He's a lawyer "activist" so he says and has been arrested 24 times. Wanted to remove it intact to sell it and give the proceeds to the women victims of Donald Trump. He has a video on TMJ bragging about it! | 1real |
JUST IN: Trump Just Spoke Out On Fate Of UCLA Basketball Players Detained In China [Video] | President Trump just spoke out on the fate of the UCLA basketball players who were accused of shoplifting sunglasses while in China: On Air Force One, Pres Trump told the press pool he intervened with Pres Xi about 3 UCLA basketball players being held in China on suspicion of shoplifting. What they did was unfortunate. You know, you re talking about very long prison sentences. They do not play games. "It's a very, very rough situation with what happened to them," Pres. Trump says on UCLA basketball players detained in China https://t.co/YlcP8wTJ9G pic.twitter.com/Lh9hXfILCC CBS News (@CBSNews) November 14, 2017THEY RE FLYING HOME LUCKY GUYS!UCLA team returns from China without arrested players https://t.co/Xv6VXSTS5j pic.twitter.com/t3ymusgy7V FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) November 14, 2017CBS Local reported:Three UCLA basketball players accused of shoplifting in China may be on their way back to Los Angeles.Freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley were seen checking into a Delta flight bound for Los Angeles at Shanghai s Pudong International Airport, according to the Wall Street Journal.The development comes just hours after President Donald Trump told reporters he had a long conversation on the matter with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. They re working on it right now, Trump told reporters in the Philippines as he prepared to return to Washington after a nearly two-week visit to Asia that included an earlier stop in Beijing.The UCLA freshmen were detained last week for questioning about allegations of shoplifting before a recent game against Georgia Tech in Shanghai. The UCLA team returned to the U.S. without them on Saturday.According to reports, there is surveillance footage of the players shoplifting from three stores inside a high-end retail center next to their hotel.These three are very lucky to be going home: | 1real |
Love, Interrupted: A Travel Ban Separates Couples - The New York Times | AURORA, Colo. — It took 11 days of calling lawyers, beseeching immigration officials and trying to book plane tickets, but on Tuesday, Osman Nasreldin got the love of his life back. His fiancée, Sahar Fadul, had been detained late last month after arriving at Dulles International Airport from her parents’ home in Sudan and put on a plane back to Africa, the visa it had taken a year for her to acquire stamped “CANCELLED” in purple ink. They were reunited on a mild afternoon in Colorado, joining a flood of other travelers taking advantage of the temporary suspension of President Trump’s immigration order restricting the entry of refugees and arrivals from seven largely Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa. Other couples across the world were still in limbo. “What does it mean if you live in heaven and don’t have the person you love?” asked Mr. Nasreldin, a dental hygienist in Aurora. For couples of different nationalities trying to navigate America’s immigration system, the president’s executive order and the legal upheaval it created have thrown relationships and marriages into turmoil. Americans with Syrian and Sudanese partners outside the United States are staying up past midnight to buy plane tickets and plan harried reunions while enforcement of the order is still suspended. Legal challenges aside, couples of mixed Iranian and American backgrounds are rethinking their plans to build lives together in a country where one partner no longer feels welcome. Engagement parties abroad have been scrapped, a wedding dress returned. Mr. Nasreldin and Ms. Fadul were among those racing to reunite, hoping to bind themselves together no matter the outcome of federal court cases challenging the legality of Mr. Trump’s temporary ban. Many of the couples touched by the executive order are accustomed to living apart. They had met online, on business trips or on return visits to countries that one or both had left years ago. What changed, they said, was their certainty they would make it through the immigrant vetting process and one day live together in the United States. “It’s all up in the air,” said Guy R. Croteau, a psychotherapist in Boston who met his fiancé, an Iranian, through Facebook and became engaged after a few whirlwind visits in Istanbul and Malaysia. His fiancé — Mr. Croteau publicly refers to him as “M” because he is concerned about M’s safety as a gay man living in Iran — received a fiancé visa that is valid until July, one of 30, 000 to 40, 000 such visas granted each year. But the couple are unsure whether the visa will still be valid after the administration’s immigration hold passes. They are waiting it out apart. “We don’t know,” Mr. Croteau said. “Will there be additional vetting? We don’t know. ” In the meantime, couples are trying to bridge the divide digitally. Olivia Cross chats by video with her husband, Yahya Abedi, an Iranian, as she walks between classes at the University of Michigan. Mr. Abedi has taped photos of the couple’s wedding to the wall of his apartment in Bandar Abbas so Ms. Cross, an American citizen, can see them when she calls. After meeting online, they married last February in Tbilisi, Georgia, and had been threading their way through the visa process when Mr. Trump signed the order. Iran retaliated, saying it would bar American citizens from traveling there. And there went the couple’s plans for a reunion in Iran this May. “I just feel like whatever I do, however I try to pivot, it’s all blocked,” Ms. Cross said. “We just want to be able to live our life together. ” When Michelle Brady chats by video with her husband, a aid worker recovering in Poland after heart surgery, their son, Jad, recognizes his father’s pixelated face on the screen. When they disconnect, Jad tries to find his father in the computer. “He’s crying and upset that his dad is not there,” said Ms. Brady, who is now unsure when her husband can join them at their home in the Washington area. Even those who aren’t separated say the order has scrambled their plans for weddings and engagements. Relatives from Iran or Syria aren’t sure whether they will be able to attend summer weddings in the United States. Couples with immigrant parents say they are hesitant about traveling to their familial homelands to celebrate. Dr. Arash Afshinnik, who leads a neurointensive care unit in Fresno, was married three weeks ago in California and planned to fly to Iran with his wife, Sandra Shahinpour, for a second ceremony with her family. He has been in the United States since he was 3 months old, but she spent part of her 20s in Iran and is close to friends and cousins who had wanted to celebrate. “We’ve scrapped the plans,” Dr. Afshinnik, 40, said. His wife returned the dress she had bought for the ceremony. “While everything’s getting sorted out, what hasn’t changed is the uncertainty. Why even dip your toe in the pool? It just seems too hot. ” For much of their courtship, Jehan Mouhsen and Khaled Almilaji lived apart. She studied medicine in Montenegro. Dr. Almilaji, 35, a Syrian physician well known among workers, was in Turkey, saving lives, he said, by supporting doctors in the Syrian conflict zone. He is a romantic who sent Dr. Mouhsen, 26, “buckets of roses” and surprised her with visits to Montenegro. They married in July, and in August they settled in Rhode Island, where Dr. Almilaji had received a scholarship for a master’s degree in public health at Brown University, studying on a student visa. He was excited to be sharpening skills to help rebuild his country. She was excited because it seemed their days apart were over. Now Dr. Almilaji is stranded in Gaziantep, Turkey, near the Syrian border, after what was supposed to be a visit to take care of personal and professional affairs. His original return visa was not honored. He went to the American Consulate in Istanbul on Jan. 20 to get a new visa to return, and has not heard back. Dr. Mouhsen fled the loneliness of their apartment in Providence to stay with friends in New York City, where she is studying for her medical board exams and wrestling with morning sickness. She is pregnant. “He tells me to eat fruits and vegetables, take care of me and the baby,” she said. Although Dr. Mouhsen has Montenegrin roots, they both grew up in Aleppo, Syria, and plan to return someday. In 2013, Dr. Almilaji’s early detection system found that polio was making a comeback in Syria, and he coordinated a campaign the next year that vaccinated more than a million Syrian children. Though his work was supported by powerful organizations like the United States Agency for International Development, Unicef, the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, there is little they can do to help him now. Early in the civil war, Dr. Almilaji was arrested, tortured and jailed for six months by the regime. But he says he feels even more powerless now that his wife is suffering from an abrupt separation caused by the action of the United States government. “I’ve been arrested, and I’ve been tortured and everything,” he said in a phone conversation from Turkey. “But my wife, she doesn’t have to suffer this. ” | 0fake |
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