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John McCain Fundraiser BUSTED For Operating A Meth Lab In Her Home (VIDEO) | Senator John McCain got some bad news on Tuesday when the women listed as the RSVP on his re-election fundraisers was arrested on drug charges.According to AZ Central, 34-year-old Emily Pitha, a former member of the staff of retired U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., was one of two people who were arrested after the Maricopa County Sheriff s Department raided her house. When police entered her home they discovered a meth lab, LSD, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, counterfeit money, about $7,000 in cash and a marijuana grow house behind the home.In addition to all of the drugs and cash, two children were in the home (5 and 10). Detective Doug Matteson said: [The kids] had easy access to all of (the) drugs and materials, even the bomb-making materials that were located in the back with the meth lab. A Maricopa County Sheriff s Office spokesman said authorities executed the search warrant after a package containing over 250 grams of raw ecstasy (MDMA) from the Netherlands was delivered to the house.McCain s campaign manager, Ryan O Daniel, released a statement following the raid, saying: We commend the hard work and dedication of our law enforcement officers in their fight to keep our community safe from illegal drugs and associated criminal activity. The campaign immediately terminated any relationship with Ms. Pitha upon learning of her alleged involvement in the operation. It s a bit awkward that McCain s campaign is now embroiled in a drug scandal, when the senator has spent so much time claiming that he is tough on drugs. Perhaps he should tone down the rhetoric if he is not going to bother to properly vet the people associated with him. Just sayin .Watch a news report about the arrest:Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
Trump advisors aim to privatize oil-rich Indian reservations | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves. Now, a group of advisors to President-elect Donald Trump on Native American issues wants to free those resources from what they call a suffocating federal bureaucracy that holds title to 56 million acres of tribal lands, two chairmen of the coalition told Reuters in exclusive interviews. The group proposes to put those lands into private ownership - a politically explosive idea that could upend more than century of policy designed to preserve Indian tribes on U.S.-owned reservations, which are governed by tribal leaders as sovereign nations. The tribes have rights to use the land, but they do not own it. They can drill it and reap the profits, but only under regulations that are far more burdensome than those applied to private property. “We should take tribal land away from public treatment,” said Markwayne Mullin, a Republican U.S. Representative from Oklahoma and a Cherokee tribe member who is co-chairing Trump’s Native American Affairs Coalition. “As long as we can do it without unintended consequences, I think we will have broad support around Indian country.” Trump’s transition team did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The plan dovetails with Trump’s larger aim of slashing regulation to boost energy production. It could deeply divide Native American leaders, who hold a range of opinions on the proper balance between development and conservation. The proposed path to deregulated drilling - privatizing reservations - could prove even more divisive. Many Native Americans view such efforts as a violation of tribal self-determination and culture. “Our spiritual leaders are opposed to the privatization of our lands, which means the commoditization of the nature, water, air we hold sacred,” said Tom Goldtooth, a member of both the Navajo and the Dakota tribes who runs the Indigenous Environmental Network. “Privatization has been the goal since colonization – to strip Native Nations of their sovereignty.” Reservations governed by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs are intended in part to keep Native American lands off the private real estate market, preventing sales to non-Indians. An official at the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not respond to a request for comment. The legal underpinnings for reservations date to treaties made between 1778 and 1871 to end wars between indigenous Indians and European settlers. Tribal governments decide how land and resources are allotted among tribe members. Leaders of Trump’s coalition did not provide details of how they propose to allocate ownership of the land or mineral rights - or to ensure they remained under Indian control. One idea is to limit sales to non-Indian buyers, said Ross Swimmer, a co-chair on Trump’s advisory coalition and an ex-chief of the Cherokee nation who worked on Indian affairs in the Reagan administration. “It has to be done with an eye toward protecting sovereignty,” he said. The Trump-appointed coalition’s proposal comes against a backdrop of broader environmental tensions on Indian reservations, including protests against a petroleum pipeline by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their supporters in North Dakota. On Sunday, amid rising opposition, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday said it had denied a permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline project, citing a need to explore alternate routes. The Trump transition team has expressed support for the pipeline, however, and his administration could revisit the decision once it takes office in January. Tribes and their members could potentially reap vast wealth from more easily tapping resources beneath reservations. The Council of Energy Resource Tribes, a tribal energy consortium, estimated in 2009 that Indian energy resources are worth about $1.5 trillion. In 2008, the Bureau of Indian Affairs testified before Congress that reservations contained about 20 percent of untapped oil and gas reserves in the U.S. Deregulation could also benefit private oil drillers including Devon Energy Corp, Occidental Petroleum, BP and others that have sought to develop leases on reservations through deals with tribal governments. Those companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump’s transition team commissioned the 27-member Native American Affairs Coalition to draw up a list of proposals to guide his Indian policy on issues ranging from energy to health care and education. The backgrounds of the coalition’s leadership are one sign of its pro-drilling bent. At least three of four chair-level members have links to the oil industry. Mullin received about eight percent of his campaign funding over the years from energy companies, while co-chair Sharon Clahchischilliage - a Republican New Mexico State Representative and Navajo tribe member - received about 15 percent from energy firms, according to campaign finance disclosures reviewed by Reuters. Swimmer is a partner at a Native American-focused investment fund that has invested heavily in oil and gas companies, including Energy Transfer Partners – the owner of the pipeline being protested in North Dakota. ETP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The fourth co-chair, Eddie Tullis, a former chairman of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama, is involved in casino gaming, a major industry on reservations. Clahchischilliage and Tullis did not respond to requests for comment. Several tribes, including the Crow Nation in Montana and the Southern Ute in Colorado, have entered into mining and drilling deals that generate much-needed revenue for tribe members and finance health, education and infrastructure projects on their reservations. But a raft of federal permits are required to lease, mortgage, mine, or drill – a bureaucratic thicket that critics say contributes to higher poverty on reservations. As U.S. oil and gas drilling boomed over the past decade, tribes struggled to capitalize. A 2015 report from the Government Accountability Office found that poor management by the Bureau of Indian Affairs hindered energy development and resulted in lost revenue for tribes. “The time it takes to go from lease to production is three times longer on trust lands than on private land,” said Mark Fox, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes in Forth Berthold, North Dakota, which produces about 160,000 barrels of oil per day. “If privatizing has some kind of a meaning that rights are given to private entities over tribal land, then that is worrying,” Fox acknowledged. “But if it has to do with undoing federal burdens that can occur, there might be some justification.” The contingent of Native Americans who fear tribal-land privatization cite precedents of lost sovereignty and culture. The Dawes Act of 1887 offered Indians private lots in exchange for becoming U.S. citizens - resulting in more than 90 million acres passing out of Indian hands between the 1880s and 1930s, said Kevin Washburn, who served as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior from 2012 until he resigned in December 2015. “Privatization of Indian lands during the 1880s is widely viewed as one of the greatest mistakes in federal Indian policy,” said Washburn, a citizen of Oklahoma’s Chickasaw Nation. Congress later adopted the so-called “termination” policy in 1953, designed to assimilate Native Americans into U.S. society. Over the next decade, some 2.5 million acres of land were removed from tribal control, and 12,000 Native Americans lost their tribal affiliation. Mullin and Swimmer said the coalition does not want to repeat past mistakes and will work to preserve tribal control of reservations. They said they also will aim to retain federal support to tribes, which amounts to nearly $20 billion a year, according to a Department of Interior report in 2013. Mullin said the finalized proposal could result in Congressional legislation as early as next year. Washburn said he doubted such a bill could pass, but Gabe Galanda, a Seattle-based lawyer specializing in Indian law, said it could be possible with Republican control of the White House and the U.S. House and Senate. Legal challenges to such a law could also face less favorable treatment from a U.S. Supreme Court with a conservative majority, he said. Trump will soon have the chance to nominate a Supreme Court justice to replace Antonin Scalia, a conservative member who died earlier this year. “With this alignment in the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court,” he said, “we should be concerned about erosion of self determination, if not a return to termination.” | 0fake |
Ann Coulter: A Maniac Is Running Our Foreign Policy! (It’s Not Trump) | If only we were able to deport citizens, we could use Trump’s new policy of excluding those who are “hostile” toward our country to get rid of Judge James Robart. [Judge Robart’s veto of Trump’s travel ban notwithstanding, there is not the slightest question but that the president, in his sole discretion, can choose to admit or exclude any foreigners he likes, based on “the interests of the United States. ” The Clinton administration used the executive branch’s broad power over immigration to send a boy back to a communist dictatorship. The courts were completely powerless to stop him. As explained by the federal appellate court that ruled on Elian Gonzalez’s asylum application: “It is the duty of the Congress and of the executive branch to exercise political will,” and “in no context is the executive branch entitled to more deference than in the context of foreign affairs,” which includes immigration. The court acknowledged that Elian might well be subjected to “” “communist indoctrination” and “political manipulation. ” (Then again, so would enrolling him at Sidwell Friends.) It didn’t matter! Sending little boys back to communist dictatorships was the policy of the Clinton administration. The Obama administration’s immigration policy was to ensure that millions of foreigners would come here and help turn our country into a Mexican version of Pakistan. When Arizona merely tried to enforce the federal immigration laws being ignored by the Obama administration, the entire media erupted in rage at this incursion into the majestic power of the president over immigration. They said it was like living in Nazi Germany! The most reviled section of the act, melodramatically called the “Papers Please” law, was upheld by the Supreme Court. But the other parts, allowing state officials to enforce federal immigration laws, were ruled unconstitutional. A president’s policy choice to ignore immigration laws supersedes a state’s right to enforce them. The court conceded that hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens were arrested in Arizona each year, that they were responsible for “a disproportionate share of serious crime,” and that illegals constituted nearly 6 percent of Arizona’s population. But Arizona was powerless to enforce laws on the books — if those laws happened to be about immigration. The president’s authority over immigration is absolute and exclusive, as part of his authority over foreign policy. To review: — When the president’s immigration policy is to promote international communism: The president wins. — When the president’s immigration policy is to transform America into a different country: The president wins. — But when the president’s immigration policy is to protect Americans: Some judge announces that his authority exceeds that of the president. This is exactly what I warned you about in Adios, America: The Left’s Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole. Nothing Trump does will be met with such massive resistance as his immigration policies. The left used to attack America by spying for Stalin, aiding our enemies, murdering cops and blowing up buildings. But, then liberals realized, it’s so much more effective to just do away with America altogether! Teddy Kennedy gave them their chance with the 1965 immigration act. Since then, we’ve been taking in more than a million immigrants a year, 90 percent from comically primitive cultures. They like the welfare, but have very little interest in adopting the rest of our culture. In many parts of the country, you’re already not living in America. Just a few more years, and the transformation will be complete. There will be a North American landmass known as “the United States,” but it won’t be our country. The only thing that stands between America and oblivion is a total immigration moratorium. We are well past the point of quick fixes — as Judge Robart’s delusional ruling proves. The judiciary, both political parties, the media, Hollywood, corporate America and approximately 1 million lobbying groups are all working frantically to bring the hardest cases to our shores. traitors, who used to honeymoon in Cuba and fight with peasant revolutionaries in Peru, toil away, late into the night, to ensure that genocidal Rwandans can move to America and immediately start collecting food stamps, Medicaid and Social Security. No matter how clearly laws are written, government bureaucrats connive to import people from countries that a majority of Americans would not want to visit, much less become. Federal judges issue lunatic rulings to ensure that there will never be a pause in the transformation of America. Congress could write laws requiring immigrants to pay taxes, learn English, forgo welfare and have good moral character. It could write laws giving the president authority to exclude aliens in the public interest. Except it already has. Those laws were swept away by INS officials, federal judges and Democratic administrations — under ferocious pressure from groups. The country will not be safe until the following outfits are out of business: The ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project the National Immigration Forum the National Immigration Law Center the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights the Office of Migration and Refugee Services the American Immigration Law Foundation the American Immigration Lawyers Association the Border Information and Outreach Service Atlas: DIY the Catholic Legal Immigration Network the Clearinghouse for Immigrant Education the Farmworker Justice Fund Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees the Immigrant Legal Resource Center the International Center for Migration, Ethnicity and Citizenship the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service the National Association for Bilingual Education the National Clearinghouse on Agricultural Guest Worker Issues the National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants the National Coalition for Haitian Rights the National Council of La Raza and the National Farm Worker Ministry. And that’s only a small fraction of the immigration groups assiduously dragging the Third World to our shores — while you were busy working. Look at that list — look at Judge Robart’s ruling! — and ask yourself: Is it possible that anything short of a total immigration moratorium can save this country? Only when there is no immigration to bellyache about will these nuts be forced to think of a new way to destroy America. | 0fake |
Syrian War Report – November 9, 2016: Russian Navy Is Ready to Strike Terrorists in Aleppo | Leave a Reply Click here to get more info on formatting (1) Leave the name field empty if you want to post as Anonymous. It's preferable that you choose a name so it becomes clear who said what. E-mail address is not mandatory either. The website automatically checks for spam. Please refer to our moderation policies for more details. We check to make sure that no comment is mistakenly marked as spam. This takes time and effort, so please be patient until your comment appears. Thanks. (2) 10 replies to a comment are the maximum. (3) Here are formating examples which you can use in your writing:<b>bold text</b> results in bold text <i>italic text</i> results in italic text (You can also combine two formating tags with each other, for example to get bold-italic text.)<em>emphasized text</em> results in emphasized text <strong>strong text</strong> results in strong text <q>a quote text</q> results in a quote text (quotation marks are added automatically) <cite>a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited</cite> results in: a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited <blockquote>a heavier version of quoting a block of text...</blockquote> results in: a heavier version of quoting a block of text that can span several lines. Use these possibilities appropriately. They are meant to help you create and follow the discussions in a better way. They can assist in grasping the content value of a comment more quickly. and last but not least:<a href=''http://link-address.com''>Name of your link</a> results in Name of your link (4) No need to use this special character in between paragraphs: ; You do not need it anymore. Just write as you like and your paragraphs will be separated. The "Live Preview" appears automatically when you start typing below the text area and it will show you how your comment will look like before you send it. (5) If you now think that this is too confusing then just ignore the code above and write as you like. Name: | 1real |
BREAKING: HOUSE INTEL LAUNCHES Investigation Into Leaks: FBI “Better have a good answer” | House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes does not plan on investigating the circumstances surrounding the resignation of former national security adviser Mike Flynn, but will launch a probe into who leaked the story. CATHERINE HERRIDGE REPORTED ON THE SERIOUSNESS OF WHAT HAPPENED TO FLYNN: FLYNN S RESIGNATION LETTER:Nunes, whose committee was tasked to investigate Russia s involvement in cyber attacks during the election, told CNN the panel won t look into President Donald Trump s knowledge of the situation due to executive privilege.The California Republican confirmed to CNN the committee will investigate where the leaks were stemming from.Nunes said it s troubling the call was tapped with the information later being leaked to the media, adding he hopes to receive more information form the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I expect for the FBI to tell me what is going on, and they better have a good answer, he told The Washington Post. The big problem I see here is that you have an American citizen who had his phone calls recorded. Via: BPR | 1real |
Russia's RT America registers as 'foreign agent' in U.S. | MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Kremlin-backed television station RT America registered Monday with the U.S. Department of Justice as a foreign agent in the United States, the outlet s editor in chief said and the Department of Justice confirmed later in the day. U.S. intelligence agencies said in a report in January that the television station, which broadcasts on cable in the United States, is Russia s state-run propaganda machine and that it contributed to the Kremlin s campaign to interfere with last year s presidential election in favor of Republican Party candidate Donald Trump. After that report, the Department of Justice insisted that RT America comply with registration requirements under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). Under the act, RT will be required to disclose financial information. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations of election meddling and said it views the actions against RT as an unfriendly act. But RT s editor in chief, Margarita Simonyan, said on Monday that it would comply with the demand in order to avoid further legal action by the U.S. government. Between a criminal case and registration, we chose the latter. We congratulate American freedom of speech and all those who still believe in it, Simonyan said on Twitter. The Department of Justice confirmed that it received a registration from T&R Productions LLC, which has operated studios for RT, hired and paid U.S.-based employees and produced English-language programming. Americans have a right to know who is acting in the United States to influence the U.S. government or public on behalf of foreign principals, said acting Assistant Attorney General Dana Boente. In October, Twitter announced it would no longer allow advertisements from RT and another Kremlin-backed news organization, citing intelligence that the television station participated in efforts to influence the election. FARA requires foreign governments, political parties and the lobbyists and public relations firms they hire in the United States to register with the Department of Justice. FARA was first passed in 1938 in the lead up to World War Two in an effort to combat German propaganda efforts. Foreign government-owned news organizations, including China Daily, the English-language newspaper owned by China s government, register under FARA. The law applies to companies that are owned or controlled by foreign governments. The United States and Russia are engaged in a back-and-forth over foreign agent registration. Russia s parliament warned on Friday that some U.S. and other foreign media could also be declared foreign agents in response to the actions against RT, requiring them to regularly declare full details of their funds, financing and staffing. U.S. government-sponsored Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), CNN and Germany s Deutsche Welle could all be affected by the retaliatory measures, a senior Russian lawmaker said earlier on Monday. While traveling in Asia, Trump touted the relationship between himself and Russia and posted on Twitter that improved relations with the country would a good thing, not a bad thing. | 0fake |
TOP TEN Clinton Scandals That Wikileaks Exposed And That YOU Need To Know About | 1. Mrs. Clinton had cozy and improper relationship with the mainstream media.2. The State Department paid special attention to Friends of Bill. 3. Mrs. Clinton argued for a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders. 4. The Clinton campaign was in touch with Department of Justice officials regarding the release of her emails.5. The Clinton camp was tipped off to the release of the Benghazi emails.6. Mrs. Clinton admitted sometimes her public and private positions differ.7. Mrs. Clinton s spokesman mocked Catholics and evangelicals as severely backwards. 8. Mrs. Clinton admitted she has a hard time relating to the struggles of the middle class.9. Mrs. Clinton campaign used Benghazi as a distraction from the email scandal.10. The Clinton team strategized on how to delay releasing emails, knowing it was against the law.Via: WT | 1real |
Devastating Wiki Leaks Show Scope Of Clinton Cover-Up [Video] | Leave a reply
On the October 27, 2016 Fox News Special Report Brett Baier digs deep into the latest Wikileaks release. It’s clear two of Hillary Clinton’s top aides were left completely in the dark about the email server. There is evidence of Bill Clinton lining his pockets.
Baier also takes a look at Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud in Florida. SF Source The Right Wing Conspiracy Oct. 2016 Share this: | 1real |
Difficult migration debate looms as African and EU leaders meet | ABIDJAN (Reuters) - European leaders under pressure from a far-right revival at home hope to avoid a difficult debate about immigration when they meet their African counterparts in Ivory Coast from Wednesday. Reports this month of abuses against African migrants in Libya have sparked anger across the continent however, threatening to drive migration to the top of the summit agenda and shine a spotlight on an issue fraught with political risk. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, who head the Franco-German axis at the heart of the European Union, will have its next major political test in mind when they sit down with African Union heads of state. Italy, on the frontline of the campaign to slow illegal migration to Europe, holds elections early next year and the populist 5-Star Movement is leading opinion polls. The anti-immigrant, eurosceptic Northern League is also gaining support. We all have our own interests in not turning this into a migration conference, one EU official said ahead of the meeting to be held in Ivory Coast s commercial capital Abidjan. The summit is meant to focus on development, long the cornerstone of EU policy in Africa and tangentially related to migration. The theme of investing in youth, though, is a nod to the rampant unemployment and poverty that drives many young Africans to leave home in search of a better life. But it now looks increasingly unlikely the EU leaders can avoid hard questions from their African counterparts. Soon after CNN aired grainy images from Libya this month appearing to show migrants being sold as slaves, African governments began recalling diplomats from Tripoli. Protests erupted in France, Senegal and Benin. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara called for Libyan slave traders to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. Libyan authorities have promised to investigate the slavery allegations. But the European Union too has been the target of anger and frustration. They re the ones who blocked the way and left us in the hands of these Libyans, said Cherifou Sahindou, sitting at a make-shift tea stand by a muddy, rubbish-strewn track near a mosque in Abidjan s Yopougon neighborhood. Sahindou and some of the other men around the tea stand said they made it to Libya, but no further. All had heard about the slave markets and all knew someone who had stayed in the water - the local euphemism for death on the migrant trail. Like many African leaders, Ouattara has called for Europe to broaden the legal avenues for migration from the continent using mechanisms such as student and temporary work visas. Europe and Europeans ... should not be afraid, because Africa and the African youth can bring a lot to Europe, he said in an interview with the France 24 news channel this week. But in the current political climate any proposal for more Africans to enter Europe is a non-starter for many EU leaders. Merkel herself is the most high-profile victim of an anti-immigration backlash. At the peak of the migrant influx into Europe in 2015 she declared an open door policy for refugees and asylum seekers, allowing in more than a million migrants. The anti-immigrant far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party campaigned hard against the policy and won some 13 percent of the vote in a September election - complicating Merkel s efforts to form a coalition government and weakening her position as the leading EU advocate within Europe. In an indication of how heated things have become, the mayor of a small town in Germany, who won an award from Merkel for his liberal migrant policies, was stabbed in the neck on Monday in an attack believed to be politically motivated. Other European leaders firmly behind the 28-member bloc are also wary of falling foul to such an explosive issue. If you say, I ve got a right to total access without conditions ... I can t explain that to my middle class, who ve worked, who pay their taxes, Macron said during a rowdy exchange with students in Burkina Faso on Tuesday. What do I tell them? It is those kinds of political calculations that are hindering much-needed policy solutions, said William Swing, head of the International Organization for Migration. The heart of the problem is the very toxic atmosphere that s been fairly widespread for some years now ... That s not just in Europe, he told Reuters. The drivers (of migration) are there and they re not going away. So clearly our policies need to change. European delegates at the summit, however, are expected to pledge aid, repeating often voiced calls for a Marshall Plan for Africa that would create jobs and lift incomes to give would-be migrants a reason to stay at home. The African security sectors charged with clamping down on migrant flows will also get their share of European money. EU support for the Libyan authorities, including Italian assistance for its coastguard, has helped halve the number of migrants arriving in Europe via the Mediterranean this year. Though lauded in Italy, the program, which has led to massive detention centers being created in Libya to hold intercepted migrants, was denounced by the United Nation s human rights chief Zeid Ra ad Al Hussein. Abdoulaye Dosso, another man at the tea stand in Yopougon, said he crossed the Sahara desert, played dead to survive as rebels shot other migrants, and then spent weeks in one such camp awaiting repatriation to Ivory Coast. There have been too many deaths, he said. There must be a change. (This story has been refiled to fix typo in French president s name in paragraph 3) | 0fake |
Maher to Marlow: I Want Dems to Have ’What You Guys Are Drinking, Because You Have Balls, and You Fight Better’ - Breitbart | On Friday’s broadcast of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, host and comedian Bill Maher told Breitbart News Alex Marlow “Thanks for having me [pointing to himself] because you are the head of Breitbart News. I want the Democrats to have a little bit of what you guys are drinking, because you have balls, and you fight better. ” He added, “You’re here on my show. I can’t get Democrats to come here. ” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 0fake |
DONALD TRUMP Calls Meeting With Press…Dresses Down Real Fake News Networks: “Everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed” | They had to know they had it coming Donald Trump scolded media big shots during an off-the-record Trump Tower sitdown on Monday, sources told The Post. It was like a f ing firing squad, one source said of the encounter. Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed, the source said. The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down, the source added.A second source confirmed the fireworks. The meeting took place in a big board room and there were about 30 or 40 people, including the big news anchors from all the networks, the other source said. Trump kept saying, We re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong. He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars, the source said. Trump didn t say [NBC reporter] Katy Tur by name, but talked about an NBC female correspondent who got it wrong, then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary lost who hosted a debate which was Martha Raddatz who was also in the room. The stunned reporters tried to get a word in edgewise to discuss access to a Trump Administration. [CBS Good Morning co-host Gayle] King did not stand up, but asked some question, How do you propose we the media work with you? Chuck Todd asked some pretty pointed questions. David Muir asked How are you going to cope living in DC while your family is in NYC? It was a horrible meeting. Here s a sampling of Trump hitting back at the dishonest media while he was on the campaign trail. Trump did something no other presidential candidate has ever done before, he won the election in a landslide, in spite of the entire fake news empire working together to take him down:Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway told reporters the gathering went well. Excellent meetings with the top executives of the major networks, she said during a gaggle in the lobby of Trump Tower. Pretty unprecedented meeting we put together in two days. The meeting was off the record, meaning the participants agreed not to talk about the substance of the conversations.The hour-long session included top execs from network and cable news channels. Among the attendees were NBC s Deborah Turness, Lester Holt and Chuck Todd, ABC s James Goldston, George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz,Also, CBS Norah O Donnell John Dickerson, Charlie Rose, Christopher Isham and King, Fox News Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace, Suzanne Scott, MSNBC s Phil Griffin and CNN s Jeff Zucker and Erin Burnett. -Via: NYP | 1real |
Pope, at U.S. military cemetery, makes emotional anti-war address | ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis made one of his most emotional anti-war addresses on Thursday, saying during a visit to a U.S. military cemetery that the world seemed to be headed into war perhaps bigger than any before. Francis said a Mass for several thousand people at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in the town of Nettuno, south of the Italian capital, on the day Roman Catholics commemorate their dead. The burial ground is the final resting place for 7,860 American soldiers who died in the liberation of southern Italy and Rome in 1943 and 1944. He walked slowly and alone amid the rows of low white headstones in the shape of crosses and Stars of David, gently resting a white rose on about a dozen and stopping to pray silently before saying the Mass. Please Lord, stop. No more wars. No more of these useless massacres, he said, speaking in hushed tones in an improvised homily. Francis said that remembering the many young people who died in World War Two was even more important today that the world once more is at war and is preparing to go even more forcefully into war. He did not elaborate but appeared to be referring to the possibility of nuclear war. As tensions between the United States and North Korea have increased in recent months, Francis has warned that a nuclear conflict would destroy a good part of humanity. Last April, he said a third country should try to mediate the dispute between Pyongyang and Washington to cool a situation that had become too hot . U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said North Korea will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen if it threatened the United States, will visit South Korea as part of a trip to Asia that starts on Friday. While Trump is in Asia, the pope will be hosting an international seminar at the Vatican that will urge the banning of nuclear weapons. The cemetery Mass was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Italy Lewis Eisenberg and the acting U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Louis Bono. If today is a day of hope, it is also a day of tears, the pope said. Humanity must not forget the tears of mothers and wives who lost husbands and sons in past wars. Humanity has not learned the lesson and seems that it does not want to learn it, he said, asking for prayers for the victims of today s conflicts, especially children. On his way back to the Vatican, Francis stopped to pray at the Ardeatine Caves, where in March, 1944 occupying Nazis killed 335 Italian men and boys as a reprisal for the killing of 33 German policemen by partisans. They were all shot in the back of the neck. The Germans blew up the caves in a vain attempt to try to hide the massacre. Seventy-five of the victims were Jews. He and Rome s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, each read a prayer. After walking past the tombs in the still dark caves, the pope wrote in the visitors book: This is the fruit of war: hate, death, vendetta. Forgive us Lord . (This version of the story was corrected to make clear that visits to cemetery and massacre site were separate events by moving original paragraph 8 to the bottom of the story) | 0fake |
Blatant bias against Trump may hasten the end of mainstream media | By wmw_admin on November 5, 2016 Darrell DeLamaid — Market Watch Nov 3, 2016 Trump supporter at Trump rally tells media covering the event exactly what he thinks of them. Click to enlarge
Whatever else this year’s bizarre and destructive presidential campaign achieves, it may well sound the death knell for legacy news media.
Newspapers have long since been doomed by the digital revolution and the collapse of their economic model. New waves of buyouts and layoffs recently announced by the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal mark another step by print media toward extinction.
Broadcast networks, too, face severe difficulties as new technologies and changes in viewing habits transform the television industry and bring new challenges to news operations. .
But it is the bias of the establishment media so blatantly in favor of the establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton, that may strip these news organizations of their last claim to value — as an objective and authoritative source of information — and hasten their demise.
When Liz Spayd started her new assignment as the public editor of the New York Times last summer. she was taken aback by the deluge of email criticizing the newspaper for “ one-sided reporting ” and “relentless bias against Trump.”
Her inquiries in the newsroom were met “with a roll of the eyes,” Spayd said, and the claim that all sides hate the Times because they are even-handed in their reporting.
“That response may be tempting, but unless the strategy is to become The New Republic gone daily, this perception by many readers strikes me as poison,” Spayd said candidly. “A paper whose journalism appeals to only half the country has a dangerously severed public mission.”
She went on to muse that a fracturing media environment, with people seeking out the news they want to hear, might be pulling the Times to the left, which is where two-thirds of its readers are. This would be bad, she said, because of the stories that would be missed — such as the “surprising” triumph of Donald Trump in capturing the Republican nomination.
“Imagine a country where the greatest, most powerful newsroom in the free world was viewed not as a voice that speaks to all but as one that has taken sides,” she said, before grimly asking, “Or has that already happened?”
Yes, indeed, it has. Behind all the Times’ fawning profiles of Clinton — and the denigrating pieces not only on Trump but also Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders — was a cozy understanding between Times reporters and the Clinton campaign, WikiLeaks has shown us, that getting Clinton elected is something of a collaborative effort.
But it’s not just the Times — though the failing at what remains the nation’s premier newspaper is more egregious — but much of the rest of the establishment media as well. .
Longtime media critic Howard Kurtz, while acknowledging that Trump suffered from numerous self-inflicted wounds, said last week (before the FBI announced it was reopening the investigation into Clinton’s emails) that it looked like the mainstream media was doing a victory lap for defeating Trump, treating the election as if it were already over.
Trump, Kurtz said, has “been hit with the most sustained wave of hostile coverage ever aimed at a major-party presidential nominee.”
In an accompanying video, he added, “There will be a stain on the press for being so openly one-sided in a presidential election, and that will not go away.”
Editors at the Times, the Washington Post and elsewhere justify this hostility because they have determined that Trump is an existential threat to democracy and the worst presidential nominee in history and can’t be treated as an ordinary candidate.
So why do the polls show the worst nominee ever running neck-and-neck with the candidate President Barack Obama has praised as the most qualified person ever to run for president?
Do these editors know something that tens of millions of American voters are missing? Whose job is it really to decide what poses a threat to our democracy — a handful of editors in the corporate media or the voters?
“This election has exposed as never before that there is indeed a media elite, bound together by class and geography, that is utterly clueless about its own biases and filters,” freelance investigative reporter Kenneth Silverstein wrote this week in the Observer.
Silverstein had some unkind words for Trump, describing him as an “addled, reckless, dangerous billionaire.” He added, however, that Trump’s success “may be a sad reflection of the complete breakdown of our political system, but it doesn’t make Trump’s appeal to a significant chunk of the electorate illegitimate.”
The devastation of the industrial heartland, sinking wages, skyrocketing health-care costs, deep-seated economic insecurity fueling an opioid epidemic, and Clinton’s strong bent toward military interventionism “are highly rational reasons for any voter to consider casting a ballot for Trump,” Silverstein said.
He went on to cite leaked emails showing Clinton campaign staff strategizing about how to plant stories with friendly journalists at the Times, Vox and MSNBC, among others, as well as deferential emails in return from journalists.
Silverstein acknowledged that he has an ax to grind because his own negative story for Fusion about a Clinton Foundation project in Colombia came under attack from the Clinton campaign. And this op-ed lambasting the media appeared in the Observer, which is owned and managed by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — but, hey, it wasn’t going to be published by the Times.
There is a long tradition in American politics of blaming the media when your message isn’t getting through. But in this case, as Trump narrows the gap with Clinton in the closing days of the race, it seems more like his message is getting through in spite of the media.
This is how former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally, responded to a question this week from ABC’s Martha Raddatz about whether he really believed an election could be rigged against Trump: “I think that without the unending one-sided assault of the news media, Trump would be beating Hillary by 15 points,” Gingrich said. “The news media’s one-sidedness is the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime, and I’m old enough that that’s a fairly long statement.” | 1real |
Eight to 10 Republicans have concerns on healthcare bill: Collins | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight to 10 Republican U.S. senators have serious concerns about Republican healthcare legislation to roll back Obamacare, moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins, who opposes the bill, said on Sunday. The Senate, which is delaying its consideration of the bill while Arizona Republican Senator John McCain recuperates from surgery to remove a blood clot, will take it up as soon as all senators are available, Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican senator, said. McCain’s absence casts doubt on whether the Senate would be able to pass legislation to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement, commonly known as Obamacare. Collins is one of two Republican senators who have already said that they would not even vote to open debate on the latest version of the bill released on Thursday, meaning one more defection from the Republican ranks could kill it.. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin. With the Democrats solidly opposed to the legislation, the Republicans can only pass the bill if all their other members back it and if Republican Vice President Mike Pence casts his tie-breaking vote in favor. A Washington Post-ABC News poll published on Sunday showed Americans preferred Obamacare by a 2-1 margin. Approaching six months in office, Trump’s overall approval rating has dropped to 36 percent from 42 percent in April. While Collins said that she did not know if the legislation would ultimately pass, she said as many as 10 Republicans have doubts about it. “There are about eight to 10 Republican senators who have serious concerns about this bill,” Collins told CNN’s “State of the Union” program, faulting the bill for its major cuts to the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor, which she said would harm rural hospitals and nursing homes. “I don’t know whether it will pass, but I do know this, we should not be making fundamental changes in a vital safety net program that’s been on the books for 50 years - the Medicaid program - without having a single hearing to evaluate what the consequences are going to be,” she added. Republican Senator Rand Paul also reiterated his opposition to the bill, which he described as “terrible” because it retained many of the Obamacare taxes and subsidies. “The current system is terrible,” Paul said on Fox News Sunday. “I don’t think Republicans should put their name on this. It is a bad political strategy and it will not fix the problem.” The bill unwinds Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion over three years, from 2021 to 2024. But it goes beyond repealing Obamacare by imposing drastic cuts to Medicaid that deepen in 2025. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cut Medicaid by nearly $800 billion by 2026, and would cut Medicaid 35 percent come 2036. McCain, who plans to stay in Arizona this week after a procedure to remove a 2-inch (5-cm) blood clot from above his left eye, has expressed concern about the healthcare bill but has not said how he would vote. “We need Senator McCain in more ways than one. As soon as we have a full contingent of senators we will have that vote,” Cornyn, of Texas, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. | 0fake |
Object Lessons: The New Museum Explores Why We Keep Things - The New York Times | We live in a sharing economy of collaborative consumption — services, not stuff. Crowdsourcing, rentals like Airbnb: An interest, exemplified by millennials, in a temporary ownership of goods. Apps, not objects. What, then, to make of objects? In a culture being redefined by the way it consumes, what to make of people who collect things, who keep things? What to make of the personal archives, the private universes, the physical stabs at permanence and immortality that collectors create? “The Keeper,” the New Museum’s summer show, a exhibit that opens on Wednesday, July 20, is a museum blockbuster of a different kind. With over 4, 000 objects representing more than two dozen collectors, including contemporary artists making art conceived by collecting, Massimiliano Gioni, the museum’s artistic director, and his team of curators have mounted a remarkable series of object lessons about what it means to “keep,” the relationship of possession to loss, the madness inherent in love, and the undeniable importance of the individual’s voice in recording and interpreting history and its sweep. “The Keeper” is its own cultural crowdsourcing, including Korbinian Aigner’s still lifes of fruit, painted by Mr. Aigner, a German Catholic priest, while interred in the Dachau concentration camp, where he cultivated apples until his escape. Also on view are 3, 000 photographs of people with their teddy bears, assembled by Ydessa Hendeles, a contemporary Canadian artist. Mr. Aigner’s pomological studies were most likely an act of survival, focusing on the reassuring rationality of during the irrational decimation by the Reich. And, like much of “The Keeper,” Ms. Hendeles’s “Partners (The Teddy Bear Project)” is a kind of unexpected infiltration into ordinary lives, a backstage look at the familiar spectacle of the 20th century as we think we know it. “I don’t want to flatten it by saying it’s a show about collections,” Mr. Gioni said, sitting in the museum recently, concerned that many people associate objects with “luxury objects,” especially in the art world. Mr. Gioni explained that part of his intention for “The Keeper” was to look at ways of collecting and owning things. “It’s not the economic value that makes the value of the object,” he said. “Notions of values are more complicated than keeping score at auction. ” There are no masterpieces in the exhibition, as one would expect of a major museum show. “There’s no hierarchy,” Lisa Phillips, the New Museum’s director, said. “Each has its integrity as a project. ” Yet every piece is a masterwork in its right. The exhibition includes the photographed interiors of “Sociological Record” by Zofia Rydet. In 1978, at 67, she took up photography with the purpose of documenting every household in Poland, as a way to reveal people through the things they lived with. Harry Smith, an American filmmaker and ethnomusicologist, collected string figures, also in the show, made by indigenous peoples around the world. In an interview in 1969, Mr. Smith said, “As far as I know, the string figures are the only universal thing other than singing. ” By design, there are no distinctions between “naïve” and “professional” art, either. Carol Bove’s sculptures and her collaborative installations with the work of Carlo Scarpa, the Italian architect, are well known to the gallery world. Arthur Bispo do Rosário’s tapestries and garments, constructed from discarded clothing and junk in preparation for Judgment Day, are the products of five decades of residency in a psychiatric hospital in Rio de Janeiro. “Every good artist is some sort of an outsider,” Mr. Gioni said. Every collector is some sort of outsider, too, looking in, trying to understand the experience of being here. Ultimately, even what we choose not to keep defines us. The declutter gurus, yard sales and online exchanges — the arcades of unwanted waste — are powerful cultural forces, too. Why do we keep? Beyond preservation — insuring the safety of a thing — keeping can be an act of . “It is about what brings us together as people,” said Ms. Hendeles, who archived images of people posing with teddy bears. Her intention was to create a portrait of the century, much like the photographer August Sander’s documentary project “Face of Our Time” in 1929. The cuddly teddy bear, sometimes ratty with affection, turned out to be an icon of the first order, appearing like a totemic ghost in thousands of images. In one, a Nazi wearing an arm sling holds a bear on his knee. Another shows children who later died in the Holocaust. The toys were considered totems of protection and sympathy in grief, such as the black bear produced in 1912 to memorialize the Titanic’s victims. Ms. Hendeles’s project is displayed in a architectural setting meant to resemble an academic library with steel mezzanines and polished wood vitrines. “It questions the authority of the museum, the past, and what we think we know,” she said, an intention shared by Mr. Gioni’s show. Ms. Hendeles is the only child of two survivors of Auschwitz. “I was touching on unconscious needs that I had, because I didn’t have any family photographs,” she said of the genesis of the project. “I’m keeping other people’s memories. ” One might call “Partners” a family album of man. We keep to tell, too. In a small pocket of the exhibition are objects from the National Museum of Beirut, rescued by Maurice Chehab, its director general of antiquities until the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. Mr. Chehab saved artifacts by encasing them in concrete. But as the surviving objects bear witness, preservation can be a sadly poetic concept. They are disfigured and transformed by conflict, melted by hate. Shinro Ohtake’s scrapbooks are more recent records. Mr. Ohtake, an artist and musician, began in 1977 a series of assemblages that gather the urban residue of his own daily life: clippings from magazines, matchbooks, ticket stubs — the cheeky garbage of an active mind. In its devotional richness, each of Mr. Ohtake’s books has the quality of a contemporary Book of Hours. In an email, he explained that he thought of them as communicating “the potential of the streets of the time, as a site where people lived their lives. ” Mr. Ohtake, living in London in 1977, moved frequently and wanted a medium of expression, like a diary, that would be easy to carry and work on. “Traveling is like a collage of everyday time,” he wrote. Speaking as a musician — Mr. Ohtake has led two bands — he said that he thought “the most extreme noise is silence. ” Objects, then, would be the loudest things you could live with. A video, “The Last Silent Movie,” by Susan Hiller, provides a lilting, unsettling musical air to the fourth floor of “The Keeper. ” Ms. Hiller, an anthropologist who became an artist, compiled audio samples of endangered and extinct languages, playing them in a video on a black screen with transcribed subtitles. The singsong and staccato of the work gives voice to the recognition that collecting can be a requiem. More optimistically in the same exhibition space is a thoughtful conversation: Ms. Bove’s installation of sculptures with works by Mr. Scarpa, known for his modern redesigns of museums. “When I first saw his work, I felt shocked — the strategies that he produced for historical work,” Ms. Bove said recently. “It’s counter to our traditions of museum design, to be neutral. ” Ms. Bove created spatial juxtapositions and interactions that gave the group an intelligent integrity that is a hallmark of a collection greater than the sum of its parts. By its nature, collecting is subjective, even at its most encyclopedic. When collecting strives to become objective, the eccentricity veers into obsession. Oliver Croy, an Austrian artist who discovered 387 homemade building models in a shop in Vienna in 1993, bought them, lived with them in a apartment for several years and is no longer collecting, having skirted its edges. “I did therapy, so I gave up on that,” he said in a telephone interview. The models, built in the 1950s and ’60s by an insurance clerk, Peter Fritz, were given to the Wien Museum in Vienna. In another project, a keeper and the subject of his collection have forged a bond, with a rare on each end. For 62 years, Ye Jinglu sat for an annual studio portrait, the first in 1901. The photographs, shifting imperceptibly in background, costume and the register of Mr. Ye’s advancing age, are a virtuosic portrait of a man’s life. In the last photograph, the dandy of the initial one has softly disappeared, and the world has irrevocably changed. The collection was discovered by Tong Bingxue, a photography collector, in 2007. In his mind, Mr. Tong chased Mr. Ye back into the past. “I repeatedly perused the album,” he wrote in an email, “the man patiently telling me his stories by his appearance. ” Mr. Tong contacted anyone who might have known Mr. Ye, including immediate family. “I leafed gingerly through the album again, the leaps from the Qing dynasty, to the Republic of China, and then, to the new China. ” As he contemplated Mr. Ye’s life, he was able to contemplate his own. He called his relationship to this man “uncuttable. ” Mr. Gioni, the curator, writes in his catalog essay that the desperate need to be extraordinary lies “at the root of human nature. ” Most overtly it lies within the heart of collectors. But he concludes with the realization, “harsh and comforting,” that we are, in fact, just like everybody else. One of Mr. Gioni’s keepers might not agree. Wilson Bentley, born to a family of farmers in Vermont in 1865, was fascinated from childhood by the weather. He attached a microscope to a bellows camera and captured on film the intricate pattern of a single snowflake. As is now generally undisputed, each is unique. And so perhaps, as collectors — despite all that we “share” — are we all. | 0fake |
Elijah Cummings Warned Mike Pence That Michael Flynn Was Lobbying For Turkey MONTHS Ago | Donald Trump swears he had no idea that former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had lobbied for Turkish interests. None at all. Mike Pence says he was also clueless that Flynn had basically been a foreign agent. Hearing that story today was the first I d heard of it, Pence told Fox News Bret Baier on Thursday night.Now, this may come as a shock to you, but they lied. I know, I know. Who d of thought something said by the Trump administration would turn out to be a steaming load of crap. (Insert eye roll here.)Business Insider reports that Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent sent Pence a letter on November 18 requesting more information about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Flynn s lobbying work. Recent news reports have revealed that Lt. Gen. Flynn was receiving classified briefings during the presidential campaign while his consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, Inc., was being paid to lobby the U.S. Government on behalf of a foreign government s interests, Cummings wrote. Lt. Gen. Flynn s General Counsel and Principal, Robert Kelley, confirmed that they were hired by a foreign company to lobby for Turkish interests, stating: They want to keep posted on what we all want to be informed of: the present situation, the transition between President Obama and President-Elect Trump. When asked whether the firm had been hired because of Lt. Gen. Flynn s close ties to President-elect Trump, Mr. Kelley responded, I hope so.' Between August and November of last year, Flynn s consulting firm was hired by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin to lobby the U.S. government for the extradition of Fetullah Gulen a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania who Erdogan believes is responsible for planning last year s attempted coup and generally fomenting dissent inside Turkey. Flynn resigned as Trump s national security adviser after he was busted in shady talks with Russia. He claims he acted alone and it was all harmless, but that seems unlikely to anybody wth even the tiniest shred of common sense. Now, he is at the center of yet another scandal with foreign powers.Cummings said that if Pence had listened to him months ago the administration might have been able to avoid the problems that have occurred with Lt. General Flynn. In addition to being in the press, I warned the Vice President directly three months ago about the conflicts created by Lt. General Flynn s company lobbying on behalf of Turkish interests, Cummings said. If the Vice President had heeded my warnings, it s clear now he could have prevented the problems that occurred with Lt. General Flynn. Republicans in Congress are doing a disservice to the White House and our national security interests by not conducting rigorous and serious oversight of the administration, especially to help catch issues early and address them. Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1real |
DEMOCRAT’S WORST NIGHTMARE: [Video] Sassy Trump Girls Are Giving Americans Easy Way To Switch From Democrat To Republican | We love these ladies! YouTube sensations Diamond and Silk tell 100% FED UP Americans how to ditch the Democrats and switch to the Republican Party.They re not afraid to show their love for Trump, and now they re taking it one step further. They re pulling a trick from the Democrat Party playbook and teaching their viewers how easy it is to switch your party affiliation.Watch here: | 1real |
BEYOND MISSION CREEP: U.S. Planning to Send 1,000 More Ground Troops into Syria | Patrick Henningsen 21st Century WireJust as 21WIRE reported last week the US mainstream media are still black-balling any substantial reporting about US boots on the ground in Syria. Instead, America s media are obsessing over Trump s tax returns, various Russian conspiracy theories, and Michael Flynn s Moscow public speaking engagement in 2015. With this latest Pentagon announcement of an additional 1,000 US troops to Syria, that would bring the total combat deployment to approximately 4,000 inside of Syria.Considering the amount of media coverage and political debate over the 5,000 US military personnel send to Iraq over the last 3 years one must ask why the silence in US media about the stealth build-up for a major battle in Raqqa, Syria.Previously, 21WIRE reported how the United States has sent in combat troops to support YPG fighters (Kurdish People s Protect Units in Syria) much to the dismay of Turkey, and to the annoyance of both Russian and Syrian planners. Turkey has been pressing the US to change its strategy for fighting Islamic State in Syria by abandoning the YPG whom it deems as terrorists (in league with the Kurdish PKK in Turkey).The other aspect of this is being ignored by western media and their legion of panel experts . There are a number of rival factions and militias being backed by the US besides the Syrian Democratic Forces (comprised of Kurdish YPG). the US-led Coalition have substantial investments in Sunni extremist (terrorist) fighting groups allied under the Al Nusra (al Qaeda in Syria) umbrella. Consider how back in late 2015, the US deployed 5o US Special Forces in Syria as human shields arguably to salvage its rebels assets being ravaged by Russian airstrikes.After the Coalition s epic loss when Al Nusra-led brigades were driven out of terrorist stronghold in East Aleppo, one must ask if there an element of this in US positioning around Manbij and Raqqa?With so many stakeholders, the margin for error is extremely thin. The situation is fraught with risks for all parties. NOTE: This is taking place amid a political storm in Washington as the entire Democratic Party, half the Republican Party and the whole of the US mainstream media are all trying to bring down the Trump Administration. If Raqqa is deemed a success, it will effectively give Trump a win. If it is deemed a disaster, then it will be used to fuel the anti-Trump resistance in the US. If the White House is too desperate for a win, then the prospect of a mistake or miscalculation becomes ever riskier. If a major world war is to be triggered it could very well happen here. Clearly, the US and others are planning a massive operation to lay siege to Raqqa, the ISIS stronghold in Syria. However, if the other similar allied operation in Mosul, Iraq is anything to go by, then expect massive civilian casualties in this battle too. The civilian carnage has been mostly censored from mainstream in the US and Europe, the Coalition are afraid of the negative public relations backlash in the event that western public received too much negative news about the haphazard operation in Mosul. After early reports of massive civilian casualties in late 2016, it seems that the Pentagon have given the order to mainstream editorial desks to back off on negative reporting. How else can we explain how hundreds, and possibly thousands, of civilians killed in this month alone has managed to escape any and all media scrutiny?To underline this matter, yesterday, Human Rights Watch issued two new reports accusing Iraqi troops of using indiscriminate shelling into civilian areas in the fight to liberate Mosul from ISIS control.Based these recent reports, it s becoming more clear that US-led Coalition is sacrificing civilians in their objective to target ISIS fighters.To make matters worse, ISIS, like Al Nusra terrorists in Aleppo, have been using Mosul civilians as human shields. The only difference in this comparison is that western media were condemning the Syrian and Russian militaries for their anti-terror operations in Aleppo, while giving a free pass to clear US Coalition atrocities against civilians in Mosul.Forget about any word from the US State Dept. either as they run point on the cover-up: The other conversation which has been deemed off limits by US and western media is the fact that this US deployment inside of Syria is completely illegal under every international law, as well as in total violation of the US Constitution. US were not invited by the Syrian government therefore, like its fellow NATO member Turkey, the US has effectively invaded Syria.US involvement in Syria is now way past mission creep.More on more US troops in Syria from the Washington Post . . Thomas Gibbons-Neff Washington PostThe U.S. military has drawn up early plans that would deploy up to 1,000 more troops into northern Syria in the coming weeks, expanding the American presence in the country ahead of the offensive on the Islamic State s de facto capital of Raqqa, according to U.S. defense officials familiar with the matter.The deployment, if approved by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and President Trump, would potentially double the number of U.S. forces in Syria and increase the potential for direct U.S. combat involvement in a conflict that has been characterized by confusion and competing priorities among disparate forces.Trump, who charged former president Barack Obama with being weak on Syria, gave the Pentagon 30 days to prepare a new plan to counter the Islamic State, and Mattis submitted a broad outline to the White House at the end of February. Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, has been filling in more details for that outline, including by how much to increase the U.S. ground presence in Syria. Votel is set to forward his recommendations to Mattis by the end of the month, and the Pentagon secretary is likely to sign off on them, according to a defense official familiar with the deliberations.While the new contingent of U.S. troops would initially not play a combat role, they would be entering an increasingly complex and dangerous battlefield. In recent weeks, U.S. Army Rangers have been sent to the city of Manbij west of Raqqa to deter Russian, Turkish and Syrian opposition forces all operating in the area, while a Marine artillery battery recently deployed near Raqqa has already come under fire, according to a defense official with direct knowledge of their operations.The moves would also mark a departure from the Obama administration, which resisted committing more ground troops to Syria.The implementation of the proposed plan, however, relies on a number of variables that have yet to be determined, including how much to arm Kurdish and Arab troops on the ground, and what part regional actors, such as Turkey, might have in the Raqqa campaign Continue this story at The Washington PostREAD MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Catalan leader calls for calm ahead of Madrid deadline | MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Sunday called for calm less than 24 hours ahead of a deadline from Spain s central government for him to clarify whether he has declared independence for Catalonia or not. Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence on Tuesday night, only to suspend it seconds later and call for negotiations with Madrid on the region s future. Spain s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has given him until Monday to clarify his position - and then until Thursday to change his mind if he insists on a split - threatening to suspend Catalonia s autonomy if he chooses independence. The (Catalan) Government and I want to reiterate our commitment to peace, civility and serenity, and also to (...) democracy as inspiring the decisions we have to make, Puigdemont said during at a memorial event at Barcelona s Montjuic cemetery. In these difficult hours of hope in Catalonia, let s take a clear attitude against violence (...) in favour of civility, hope, serenity and respect. Though Puigdemont did not indicate how he would reply to Madrid, public Catalan TV broadcaster TV-3 said he would not give a yes or no answer, but a more elaborate response. The Spanish government has said it will take control of Catalonia if Puigdemont give an ambiguous reply. The answer must be without any ambiguity. He must say yes or no , Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido told Cope radio on Saturday. Puigdemont, who is consulting local parties to prepare his answer, faces a dilemma. If he says he did proclaim independence, the central government will step in. If he says he did not, the far-left Catalan party CUP would probably withdraw its support for his minority government. The Catalan government says 90 percent of Catalans voted for a breakaway in an Oct. 1 referendum that central authorities in Madrid declared illegal and most opponents of independence boycotted, reducing turnout to around 43 percent. Under Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, the central government can suspend the political autonomy of a region if it breaks the law. This article, which enables Rajoy to sack the Catalan government and call a regional election, has not been activated since the constitution was adopted in 1978 after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported on Sunday that if article 155 was invoked, the government would replace the Catalan government with a new set-up to manage the region autonomously, which could be run by politicians or technocrats. Within three months, elections would be held. | 0fake |
Links 11/9/16 | Tesco Bank cyber raid ‘unprecedented’, says financial regulator Guardian (Bill B)
2016. A big round of applause for Lambert and those of you who participated in our live blog last evening and into the AM.
I’m leaving some of the links I assembled earlier yesterday as reminders of the punditocracy misreading of the public’s mood. And for the historically minded, today is the anniversary of 18 Brumaire .
Donald Trump is moving to the White House, and liberals put him there Guardian. Circulate this widely (although Trump has actually said he won’t live in the White House, he’ll live in a Trump property. There’s precedent in NYC. Bloomberg never occupied Gracie Mansion and made sure it was regularly rented out for parties). Plutonium Kun:
Check out the hilarious tone deafness of the Guardian putting a plea at the bottom of Frank’s article for readers to help its journalism, after they inflicted 12 months of Clinton hackism on its readers (and anyone following comments btw knows that its readers overwhelmingly saw what was coming). | 1real |
German minister says EU, NATO nations concerned by Trump's NATO remarks | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from NATO and European Union nations are concerned about comments on NATO that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump made in a newspaper interview published on Monday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. “I’ve spoken today not only with EU foreign ministers but NATO foreign ministers as well and can report that the signals are that there’s been no easing of tensions,” Steinmeier told reporters when asked about Trump’s interview with Bild newspaper and the Times of London. In the interview, Trump said he viewed NATO as obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks. | 0fake |
Pope to meet head of Myanmar army, Rohingya refugees: Vatican | VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis will meet the head of Myanmar s army and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, both late additions to a tour of the two countries next week. Human rights monitors and U.N. officials have accused Myanmar s military of atrocities, including mass rape, against the stateless Rohingya during operations that followed insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said on Wednesday that the pope would meet army head Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Nov. 30 in a church residence in Yangon. Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo had talks with the pope in Rome on Saturday and suggested that he add a meeting with the general to the schedule for a trip that is proving to be one of the most politically sensitive since Francis was elected in 2013. Both the pope and the general agreed. Some 600,000 Rohingya refugees, most of them Muslim and from Myanmar s northern Rakhine state, have fled to Bangladesh. Burke said a small group of Rohingya refugees would be present at an inter-religious meeting for peace in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka on Dec 1. Myanmar s government has denied most of the claims of atrocities against the Rohingya, and the army last week said its own investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by troops. The pope will separately meet the country s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the capital Naypyitaw, on Nov. 28 in an encounter that was already on the schedule. Briefing reporters on the trip, Burke gave no details of how the Rohingya who will meet the pope would be chosen. A source in Dhaka said the refugees would be able to tell the pope about their experiences. Both events were not on the original schedule of the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 trip. Bo, the cardinal from Myanmar, has advised the pope not to use the word Rohingya while in Myanmar because it is incendiary in the country where they are not recognized as an ethnic group. Burke said the pope took the advice seriously but added: We will find out together during the trip ... it is not a forbidden word . | 0fake |
‘Portal To Hell’: The Internet Loses It Over Mysterious Red Lights Flashing Inside The White House | Earlier this month, a sinkhole opened up outside of Donald Trump s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and that happened just after the alleged president placed his tiny hands on a glowing globe, along with Saudi Leaders. Then, last night red lights began illuminating from the White House for almost 20 minutes starting at about 8:30 p.m. TV cameras caught footage of the phenomena.Watch:Red lights flashing at the White House. What's going on? We're checking on it .@wsvn pic.twitter.com/8UncIP9uGB Robbin Simmons (@RobbinSimmons7) May 29, 2017We re just glad it didn t happen at 6:66 o clock. It s possible the strobes were sent in Morse code as a scream for help, but on the other hand, Melania might be in New York City so who knows because the Secret Service offered no comment on the cause of the strobing red lights.Here s another view via Fox 5 Atlanta: One Twitter user wondered if the former reality show star stole the orb.@Breaking911 Did Trump steal the orb? pic.twitter.com/SXJ5GtC6Yb Shannon Mugrage (@shannon_mugrage) May 29, 2017 Either Jared and Ivanka are playing laser tag, or Steve Bannon recited an incantation that opened a portal to hell, another Twitter user wrote.Either Jared and Ivanka are playing laser tag, or Steve Bannon recited an incantation that opened a portal to hell. https://t.co/eufNmxa0Jc daniel modell (@dmnyc) May 29, 2017Or it could be Jared Kushner s shredder machine overheating.@Mess_OfMe @cheerymonkey @PiinkyPants1 @FOX35Tom @WhiteHouse It the overheat warning light on Jared's shredder RunBeast (@RunBeast11) May 29, 2017Or maybe Trump ran out of Twinkies.@RobbinSimmons7 @wsvn It's Morse code for 'out of Twinkies' susann g (@Susann_G) May 29, 2017Another possibility: Trump could be playing laser tag.@RobbinSimmons7 @wsvn It's just Trump playing Laser Tag! LOL Joe Batzel #NFB (@RacingNut48) May 29, 2017Or they re busting out some dance moves in the White House.@ucla_007 @RobbinSimmons7 @wsvn Disco Party pic.twitter.com/8wXh4dfn59 M. Wilson (@LWOSmwilson1113) May 29, 2017Trump is tweeting again!@FOX35Tom @WhiteHouse 2) They've fixed it so when Trump starts to tweet, lights warn the staff. #WhiteHouseFlashingLights RonEdens (@RonEdens) May 29, 2017 It has escaped. RED WARNING LIGHTS AT THE WHITE HOUSE MEANS ONE THING:IT HAS ESCAPED pic.twitter.com/O7PZf4kEmf hot weather takes (@paulythegun) May 29, 2017We re hoping this Twitter user is correct and the White House is testing out the Vacancy sign.@FOX35Tom @WhiteHouse @Reince45 @realDonaldTrump #whitehouseflashinglights10) They're testing out the "Vacancy" sign, just in case. RonEdens (@RonEdens) May 29, 2017Or this?@Breaking911 Think we got it pic.twitter.com/HX60LBfEU3 Eddie (@Slapshoted24) May 29, 2017Many Twitter users are saying it s the orb. Not me, but many people are saying that. Believe me.@FOX35Tom @WhiteHouse Shit !!! He is using the Orb pic.twitter.com/GoYj4ROQsq (@justin_C4se) May 29, 2017Another Twitter user speculated that someone fed Steve Bannon after midnight.Flashing red lights at The White House just great. Who fed Bannon after midnight? https://t.co/AKjzmxfDgk Drew Gibson (@SuppressThis) May 29, 2017It s a signal to Putin.The Red Lights at the White House are a signal to Putin indicatin' the extraction point. https://t.co/j7U4AHTOth Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) May 29, 2017Conspiracy site Infowars (I m not linking to them, k? I just can t do it) thinks Twitter users are acting conspiratorial. Because the Internet is totally not mocking Trump s insane administration, right? Infowars says anti-Trumpers have been triggered. Well, Infowars, you seem a bit triggered over people having fun. Also, keep those apologies from Alex Jones coming that he was forced to make after losing in court over the conspiracy theories he circulated.We think it s a sign that Kellyanne Conway is crawling out of her crypt again. IDK Image via screen capture. | 1real |
Trump urges adding anti-Obamacare provision to tax bill: lawmaker | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing Republicans to change their tax-cut bill to include a repeal of the Obamacare mandate that requires individuals to buy health insurance or pay a fine, the House of Representative’s top tax lawmaker said on Friday. House tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady said he has asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to assess Trump’s suggestion and indicated some lawmakers were considering it. Other lawmakers have expressed concern. They said adding such a divisive provision would expose the tax bill to the fierce opposition that doomed Republicans’ efforts in July to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The act was former President Barack Obama’s biggest domestic achievement. It raised taxes on wealthier Americans to fund healthcare benefits for middle- and low-income people, extending coverage to millions of previously uninsured. Democrats have defended it for years from attacks by Republicans, who see it as Washington intruding on Americans’ healthcare. Since Trump took power in January, he has pressed hard to undo much of Obama’s work. So far he has not secured any major legislative accomplishments in Congress, even though Republicans control both the House and the Senate. “The president feels very strongly about including this (the individual mandate repeal) at some step before the final process. He’s told me that twice by phone and once in person,” Brady told an event hosted by the news outlet Politico. “No decisions have been made ... Importing healthcare into a tax reform debate has consequences,” Brady said. Trump broached his idea in a tweet earlier this week, saying it would be “great” to repeal the mandate “and use those savings for further tax cuts.” Some Republican senators, such as Tom Cotton and Rand Paul, also favor this idea. Representative Tom Cole, a senior House Republican, said Friday that adding on a mandate repeal could cost the tax bill votes. “I don’t want to overload the vehicle,” Cole told reporters, adding that including the mandate repeal would probably be a “deal breaker” for Democrats. Brady also said Friday he would offer “substantive improvements” to the tax bill when his committee begins considering the legislation next week. He gave no details. The tax bill released Thursday would cut tax rates for businesses, individuals and families. Republicans hope to pass it through Congress by year’s end. Democrats oppose it as a give-away to the rich and large corporations. | 0fake |
Obama picks centrist high court nominee; Republicans unmoved | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama selected Merrick Garland for the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, choosing a centrist judge meant to win over recalcitrant Senate Republicans whose leaders wasted no time in spurning the Democratic president. A bruising political fight is brewing over the nomination, which also promises to figure in the already contentious campaign for the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. The Republican-led Senate’s leaders have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on any Obama nominee. Garland, 63, was picked to replace long-serving conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. A Chicagoan like Obama, he serves as chief judge of the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is a former prosecutor who in the past has won praise from both Republicans and Democrats. Wasting no time in pressing its case for Senate confirmation, the administration is dispatching Garland to Capitol Hill on Thursday to huddle with Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the senior Judiciary Committee Democrat and then with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Such meetings are aimed at shoring up Senate support for the nominee and generating media coverage. The lifetime appointment to the high court requires Senate confirmation. Obama’s announcement prompted a flood of reaction from private groups that will work to advance or kill the nomination. The UAW, representing automobile, aerospace and some agricultural workers, call Garland “a distinguished, moderate judge with more federal judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in history.” National Rifle Association Executive Director Chris Cox said, “A basic analysis of Merrick Garland’s judicial record shows that he does not respect our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense.” Republicans, hoping a candidate from their party wins the presidential election, are demanding that Obama leave the seat vacant and let his successor, to be sworn in next January, make the selection. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is leading among Republicans for the nomination. Obama’s former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is the front-runner for the Democrats. Obama said Republican senators should give Garland a fair hearing. He said that failing to do so “will not only be an abdication of the Senate’s constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair.” Such a move, he said, would also undermine the reputation of the Supreme Court and faith in the American justice system. “Our democracy will ultimately suffer as well,” Obama added, as he introduced Garland at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. Scalia’s death left the nine-member Supreme Court evenly split with four liberals and four conservative justices. Obama’s nominee could tilt the court to the left for the first time in decades, which could affect rulings on contentious issues including abortion, gun rights, the death penalty and political spending. Obama said the Supreme Court was supposed to be above politics and it should remain so. Obama said that with politics in the United States so polarized, “this is precisely the time when we should play it straight, and treat the process of appointing a Supreme Court justice with the seriousness and care it deserves.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky swiftly reiterated that the Senate will not consider the nomination by the president. A McConnell spokesman said the senator had spoken by phone with Garland and would not hold a “perfunctory meeting” with him. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican, added, “This person will not be confirmed, so there’s no reason going through some motions and pretending like it will happen, because it’s not going to happen.” Some cracks began appearing in McConnell’s strategy of completely shutting out the nominee. A handful of Republican senators including Susan Collins of Maine, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Rob Portman of Ohio said they would be willing to meet with Garland. Collins said the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold confirmation hearings. Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch, whose past support of Garland was cited by Obama, said the pick does not change his view “at this point” that no Obama nominee should be considered. Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is in a tough re-election battle, said, “Should Merrick Garland be nominated again by the next president, I would be happy to carefully consider his nomination.” Garland is the oldest Supreme Court nominee since Republican Richard Nixon in 1971 nominated Lewis Powell, who was 64. Presidents tend to pick nominees younger than that so they can serve for decades and extend a president’s legacy. Obama may reason that the choice of an older nominee might also entice Senate Republicans into considering his selection. Garland would become the fourth Jewish member of the nine-member court. There are five Roman Catholics on the court. Obama considered but passed over Garland when he made two prior Supreme Court appointments. With solid Republican support, the Senate voted in 1997 to confirm Garland to his present job in a bipartisan 76-23 vote after he was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton. Garland is widely viewed as a moderate. He is a former prosecutor who served in the Justice Department under Clinton. He oversaw the prosecution in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case including securing the death penalty for the lead defendant, anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh. In his current post, he is known for narrow, centrist opinions and rhetoric that is measured rather than inflammatory even when in dissent. Standing in between Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during the Rose Garden ceremony, an emotional Garland referred to the Oklahoma City bombing case, saying, “Once again, I saw the importance of assuring victims and families that the justice system could work.” Obama said he fulfilled his constitutional duty by naming a nominee and said it was time for the Senate to do its job. “Presidents do not stop working in the final year of their term. Neither should a senator,” Obama said. Obama, in office since 2009, has already named two justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor, who at 55 became the first Hispanic justice in 2009, and Elena Kagan, who was 50 when she became the fourth woman ever to serve on the court in 2010. Democrats praised his latest choice. “If Merrick Garland can’t get bipartisan support no one can,” Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said. Hillary Clinton called Garland “a brilliant legal mind,” urging the Senate to move ahead with the confirmation process. Trump said it was critical for Republicans to take back the White House to avoid Democrats shaping the Supreme Court for decades to come. | 0fake |
Swiss to return $321 million in stolen funds to Nigeria | ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland will return to Nigeria around $321 million in assets seized from the family of former military ruler Sani Abacha via a deal signed with the World Bank on Monday, the Swiss government said. Transparency International, a corruption watchdog, has accused Abacha of stealing up to $5 billion of public money during the five years he ran the oil-rich country, from 1993 until his death in 1998. In 2014, Nigeria and the Abacha family reached an agreement for the West African country to get back the funds, which had been frozen, in return for dropping a complaint against the former military ruler s son, Abba Abacha. The son was charged by a Swiss court with money-laundering, fraud and forgery in April 2005, after being extradited from Germany, and later spent 561 days in custody. In 2006, Luxembourg ordered that funds held by the younger Abacha be frozen. Now Switzerland, Nigeria and the World Bank have agreed the funds will be repatriated via a project supported and overseen by the World Bank, the Swiss government said. The project will strengthen social security for the poorest sections of the Nigerian population. The agreement also regulates the disbursement of restituted funds in tranches and sets out concrete measures to be taken in the event of misuse or corruption, it added. | 0fake |
Photo Of Hillary Reading About Pence’s Private Email Surfaces, And It’s The Most Heartbreaking Thing You’ll See This Week (TWEETS) | You remember that one company that used to stuff your mailbox full of coasters installation discs every single goddamn day of the week, your only reprieve from the madness being Sunday? Well, America Online finally discovered what it takes to be relevant: apparently Mike Pence uses it.On Thursday, the Indianapolis Star revealed that not only did the Vice President use private email something for which Donald Trump s opponent, Hillary Clinton, was demonized but he conducted state business on an insecure, almost-forgotten service that was presumed dead long ago. Unlike Hillary Clinton s private email server, Pence s AOL account was hacked.Clinton was spotted on a flight from Boston to New York on Friday and a passenger managed to catch the very moment the former Secretary of State saw the USA Today headline about Pence s private email. The passenger sent the photo to friends via Snapchat, and one of them saved it to share with the world:@jdawsey1 Hillary just checking the daily news. "Pence used personal email in office." The irony is palpable. pic.twitter.com/oia1ARiZ0g Pere Noel (@RealSaintNick6) March 3, 2017The what in the fuck? look on Hillary s face is priceless. It s OK, we know what she s going through. We watched the Right froth at the mouth over what Ted Cruz would call a nothingburger if Clinton was a Republican for what seems like forever.It is not against the law to use a private email in Indiana, but officials are expected to retain the exchanges to fulfill public records requests. Documents released via a records request shows us that Pence discussed national security and other matters with his top advisors via his private email, but an unspecified number were withheld because the state considers them confidential and too sensitive to release to the public. Once again, these are from an account that was hacked last summer. The Star notes that the scammer sent an email to his contacts claiming Pence and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and in urgent need of money. He responded not by increasing his security, but by creating a new AOL screen name.We will not be seeing calls to LOCK HIM UP from the Right, nor will we see GOP politicians calling for endless hearings and investigations. Normally, this would be fine but at this point there seems to be one set of rules for Democrats and one for Republicans in an administration that is easily outpacing even the accusations they leveled at Clinton.This photograph serves as a reminder of what Americans who knew better but decided that voting their conscience was more important than literally saving America from a despot and people who are too stupid to operate a fork without adult supervision yet figured out how to vote caused us to lose. We could have had a competent leader who isn t perfect, but she was at least smart enough to warn us about Donald Trump s cozy relationship with Vladimir Putin. And, of course, she isn t a walking human rights crisis.It s heartbreaking.Featured image via Twitter | 1real |
U.S. Senate, Orlando, Donald Trump: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing - The New York Times | (Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. The challenges facing Donald Trump have grown. Filings revealed that the Trump campaign, with just $1. 3 million in cash, is trailing Hillary Clinton by more than $41 million — even as it has made sizable payouts to his family and companies. Mr. Trump said the shortfall showed that his operation was “leaner and more efficient, like our government should be. ” But it also means that he’s leaning on the Republican National Committee for help. Above, protesters gathered outside the Manhattan hotel where Mr. Trump spoke to hundreds of evangelicals. _____ 2. Mrs. Clinton laced into Mr. Trump’s business record and economic policies. In a speech in Ohio, she called him the “king of debt,” said he would “rig the economy for Wall Street again” and warned that his idea of defaulting on American debt could start “a global panic. ” He responded on Twitter, including one tweet that said, “Her judgement has killed thousands, unleashed ISIS and wrecked the economy. ” _____ 3. A compromise on gun sales was proposed a day after four other measures stalled in the Senate. The new bill, restricting sales to terror suspects on the government’s “ ” list, was offered by Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, and Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat. Attorney General Loretta Lynch visited people wounded in the attack nine days ago in Orlando, Fla. while a state senator running for Congress said he would hold a drawing for a rifle to burnish his credentials. _____ 4. So much for an upset. The U. S. men’s soccer team lost to Argentina in the semifinals of the Copa América Centenario. La Albiceleste, as the team is known, was ranked No. 1 by FIFA going into the tournament and features Lionel Messi, perhaps the best player in the world. Argentina will now play the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal match in Chicago between Colombia and Chile. _____ 5. There are those who see grand theater and operatic drama in sports. But the triumph of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers brings another kind of work of art to mind, which you may have heard of in high school. The story of a hero leaving the nest to find his fortune, making gains but suffering, and finally returning home to find it holds everything he ever needed? That’s the classic bildungsroman, our ( ) sports reporter reminds us. _____ 6. “Brits don’t quit. ” That was David Cameron, Britain’s prime minister, making a appeal to voters to choose to remain in the European Union on Thursday. Three years ago, when he promised the referendum, it seemed like a safe way to buy a peace with the wing of his Conservative Party. But now polls suggest the outcome is too close to call. _____ 7. The F. A. A. issued new rules allowing a broad range of businesses to use drones under 55 pounds, but stopped short of allowing package delivery. A lawyer working on behalf of Amazon and Google said that once drones become commonplace, it will be “harder to argue against broader uses — like for delivery. ” _____ 8. If “The Graduate” were written today, the messianic businessman’s “one word” to Dustin Hoffman’s aimless character might be “biometrics” instead of “plastics. ” Some of the biggest U. S. banks are already enabling customers to use face and eye scans, fingerprints or voice analysis to access their accounts. “We believe the password is dying,” an expert on financial crime said. _____ 9. Finally, good news for a peculiar Central Asian antelope. The saiga population is beginning to recover after a mysterious ailment last year killed more than 200, 000 — more than half — of the animals in Kazakhstan. In the herd, numbers rose from 31, 000 to 36, 000 by April. “It’s fantastic news,” a preservationist said. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 0fake |
WHOA: Trump State Campaign Chair BUSTED Shacking Up In Hotel Room With Underage Boy | Donald Trump s Oklahoma campaign chair is a standup guy except when he s laying down with children, that is. On Tuesday, The Oklahoman reported that state Senator Ralph Shortey was busted last Thursday getting a hotel room with an underage teen boy. On March 9 officers of the Moore Police Department were contacted in reference to a welfare check at a local hotel, Lt. Kyle Dudley told the publication. Responding officers found a juvenile male in a hotel room which was also occupied by an adult male. The circumstances surrounding this incident are currently under investigation and no additional information can be released at this time. Police thus far refuse to release a full report on the incident.Shortey (who is best-known for a bill that would ban the use of aborted fetuses in food) registered himself and his underage guest as adults at a Super 8 in Moore for a single night, checking in on March 8 and out on March 9. It says two adults registered, the motel manager says at 12:20 a.m. Responding to a welfare check call, police arrived while the the two were still in the room and took pictures according to an employee at the hotel.No charges have been filed yet, but police are investigating text messages sent between the boy and Shortey, who announced in 2015 that he was proud to be tapped to chair Trump s 2016 campaign in Oklahoma.This is something that must be embarrassing for Shortey, who recently bragged that he had lunch with Donald Trump Jr.:What was Shortey doing with an underage boy in a hotel room after midnight? There s no way to know for certain yet. But let s hope the child was not harmed.Featured image via Facebook | 1real |
SOMEONE IS PRACTICING FOR A ‘GLOBAL BLACKOUT’ OF THE INTERNET, EXPERT SAYS | Home › SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | US NEWS › SOMEONE IS PRACTICING FOR A ‘GLOBAL BLACKOUT’ OF THE INTERNET, EXPERT SAYS SOMEONE IS PRACTICING FOR A ‘GLOBAL BLACKOUT’ OF THE INTERNET, EXPERT SAYS 0 SHARES
[10/27/16] The cyberattack that disrupted a number of major websites including Amazon, PayPal, Twitter and Netflix on Oct. 21 certainly was no accident. In fact, a renowned security guru thinks someone is learning how to take down the Internet.
That expert predicted several weeks earlier that it would happen.
“Over the past year or two, someone has been probing the defenses of the companies that run critical pieces of the Internet,” Bruce Schneier wrote on September 13. “These probes take the form of precisely calibrated attacks designed to determine exactly how well these companies can defend themselves, and what would be required to take them down.”
Internet infrastructure companies noticed a big upswing in attacks in recent months, Schneier wrote. Those attacks, in fact, were similar to the one that knocked out the company Dyn, which provides critical services to Amazon and the other companies that went down. On Oct. 21, hackers launched a massive distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack on Dyn, overwhelming the system and causing it to crash.
“If you want to take a network off the Internet, the easiest way to do it is with a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS),” Schneier wrote on his blog and at LawFareBlog.com. “… Basically it means blasting so much data at the site that it’s overwhelmed. These attacks are not new: hackers do this to sites they don’t like, and criminals have done it as a method of extortion. There is an entire industry, with an arsenal of technologies, devoted to DDoS defense. But largely it’s a matter of bandwidth. If the attacker has a bigger fire hose of data than the defender has, the attacker wins.” Post navigation | 1real |
US Tells Russia That Time For 'Apocalypse Equation' Is Now | Report on the phone call held between President’s Putin and Obama says that was discussed that the much feared time for the “Apocalypse Equation” may be now, not later.
The “Apocalypse Equation” refers to report authored by one of the most secretive women in US intelligence circles named Audrey Tomason who is Obama’s Director for Counterterrorism suggesting that it would be more humane for our world to undergo a “planned and controlled genocide” rather than to see it descend into the abyss of chaos it is now entering.
The Apocalypse Equation, (technically called a "stochastic equation," because it describes the relationship of probability to time) shows what nuclear weapons ultimately mean for "civilization." If each of a large number of nuclear missiles existing today has even a small probability of being launched, over time the probability of a launch (APocalypse) approaches certainty. The more missiles, the shorter the time before a launch. Unless nuclear weapons are deactivated, and nonviolent means developed to take the place of military violence for achieving justice and peace, civilization is doomed .
WATCH THE VIDEO:
Disclose TV SOURCE | 1real |
RNC chairman: 'We're going to embrace whoever the nominee is' | "I think it's pretty clear we're going to embrace whoever the nominee is. I embrace all of these candidates," he told CNN's Alisyn Camerota Wednesday on "New Day." "Whoever the nominee ends up becoming they're going to join the biggest RNC operation we've put together."
Priebus said the GOP is still pretty divided in its support.
"It's a big party. And there are some of our major donors I saw standing behind Donald Trump. People are competing. And people are endorsing different candidates," he said.
Priebus said he was not surprised by Trump's success in Nevada with Hispanic voters because the Republican Party has been working for the past several years to connect with Hispanic voters.
"We have been obviously working very hard in expanding the Republican Party in Hispanic communities. We're in the middle of hiring 1,300 people right now many of which are going to be in Hispanic neighborhoods," he said. "What I have in mind is making sure that we've got a party that doesn't show up in Hispanic and black communities and Asian communities three months before an election and expect that the brand is going to sell. It won't." Priebus also dismissed a Washington Post editorial taking him to task for not rebuking Trump over controversial statements. "That is the stupidest editorial that I have ever seen," he said. "That I'm called out for not beating up the front-runner of the GOP ... It's ridiculous." "That's not my job. My job is to put forward the fairest process that we can put forward. To not put my hand on the scale. To allow our delegates to make the choices that they want to make. And then accept the decision that the delegates make," he said. | 0fake |
Despite carbon ruling, White House says U.S. can meet climate deal goals | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House promised on Wednesday that it would be able to uphold U.S. commitments to an international climate change agreement, as a court ruling heightened concerns about the stability of the global carbon reduction pact reached last year. Shares of coal companies reflected the uncertainty the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. After jumping nearly 7 percent early in the session, the Thomson Reuters U.S. coal index was down 3 percent in afternoon trading. The court dealt a serious blow to the Obama administration’s climate change agenda on Tuesday when it took the unusual step to delay implementation of the Clean Power Plan until legal challenges to the regulation are completed. A centerpiece of the Obama administration’s climate change policy, the Clean Power Plan was designed to lower carbon emissions from U.S. power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels. The decision to temporarily block the rule came after the United States entered into a landmark agreement in December with countries around the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While the Clean Power Plan was expected to be the main tool for the United States to fulfill its part of the pact, White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters in a briefing that it was only one part of the nation’s response to climate change. The long-term extension of the tax credits for renewable energy last year will continue to provide momentum that will transition the power sector toward cleaner sources of energy, Schultz said. “The inclusion of those tax credits is going to have more impact over the short term than the Clean Power Plan,” he said. But French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll quoted outgoing Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as saying after a cabinet meeting that the decision was “not good news,” even if the debate will continue in the United States. Claudia Salerno, a Venezuelan diplomat who leads the country’s delegation at U.N. climate talks, described the ruling as “truly damaging” to the outcome of the pact in a Twitter message late on Tuesday. | 0fake |
null | That's a good point.
But there is also the economic truth that you specialize in your strengths. | 1real |
Manafort associate Gates hires new defense team in Russia probe case | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A longtime associate of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has hired a new team of lawyers to defend himself against charges brought in a probe looking at alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election, a spokesman said on Thursday. Richard Gates and Manafort were charged with money laundering, conspiracy against the United States and other counts earlier this week as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russia interference. Gates and Manafort have pleaded not guilty in the case. Gates hired a new legal team comprised of attorney Walter Mack of the law firm of Doar Rieck Kaley and Mack in New York and attorney Shan Wu of Wu, Grohovsky and Whipple in Washington, his spokesman said in a statement. | 0fake |
America's shrimp imports being injected with dangerous chemicals - just to add weight | America's shrimp imports being injected with dangerous chemicals - just to add weight
Sunday, October 30, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes Tags: shrimp imports , chemical injections , food fraud (NaturalNews) It seems that the more advanced human civilization becomes, the less we learn about what is and isn't good for our bodies. That's the only way to explain why many commercial food operations are so toxic and hazardous to our health.The UK's Daily Mail is reporting on a commercial shrimp operation in Vietnam where workers have been videotaped injecting them with disgusting gel-like substances in order to make them appear bigger and fresher before they are sold and exported.The video shows factory workers injecting tiger prawns (shrimp) in the head, tail and midsection with a gel substance to make them heavier before they are sold.Vietnam is the largest source of imported shrimp for many countries.The video footage was shot by a Vietnamese television station earlier this year. Since surfacing, it has gone viral online on social media sites like Facebook, with many people expressing disgust and outrage.The substance is often used in food as a thickening agent, in particular for icing. But many people who have watched the video are labeling the Vietnamese factory and its workers as "shameless" and dishonest in their attempt to make the shrimp appear bigger and more meaty. In addition, the practice makes one wonder what else is being done to shrimp or other food products, not just in Vietnam, but throughout the region. 'All local shrimp suppliers do this' Environmental protection organization Greenpeace recently released a report titled, "Dodgy Prawns," as an aid for importers of shrimp to find sources that are harvested without using slave labor, methods that are destructive or harmful to ocean ecosystems, or that utilize toxic chemicals.The guide recommended shrimp harvested in and around Australia, but also "ecologically certified" black tiger prawns from Vietnam. The organization also warned against all imported vannamei, which very often is sourced from Vietnam, because of concern about mangrove destruction, pollution and the use of invasive species. Natural Blaze , in reporting on the story , noted that workers at the Vietnam shrimp preparation factory in question said they injected the shrimp there because "all local shrimp suppliers do this."The site noted further that the largest suppliers of shrimp products in Vietnam import more than half of their raw materials for processing from other countries, including China, which has a well-deserved reputation for unclean, unsanitary food production.In the U.S., about 100 million pounds of shrimp – or about 8 percent of the amount of shrimp Americans consume annually – comes from Vietnam, which in turn gets most of its shrimp from China, where food regulation is a cruel joke. Added weight means additional profits Natural Blaze reported that after about $150 million worth of shrimp was imported into the U.S. from China between January and October 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an import alert in December of that year. The alert warned importers of the "presence of new animals' drugs and/or unsafe food additives" in seafood originating in China, and that included shrimp.The Daily Mail said that workers were injecting the shrimp with a substance known as carboxymethyl cellulose, or CMC. Many say it is not considered harmful because it dissolves in water and becomes a smooth liquid before it is then pumped into the shrimp.But obviously CMC is not a naturally-occurring element either, which means shrimp that it is injected into are no longer organic and natural . And the substance has been linked to diarrhea, abdominal cramps, eye pain and irritation, and lingering changes in vision, Natural Blaze noted.And yet its use in food continues. That's because wholesalers and retailers see a bigger profit margin in artificially inflating the size of shrimp that is then sold by weight. And even if retailers aren't doing the injecting, they are knowingly selling a product that has been injected at the source. Sources: | 1real |
A MUST WATCH: The Islamization Of Our Schools [Video] | A short excerpt from CAN s upcoming documentary Exposed: The Islamization of Our Schools .This documentary-in-progress uncovers the ongoing, accelerating indoctrination of U.S. students to Islam, using U.S. taxpayer money. | 1real |
Macron determined to engage Germany in debate on Europe reforms | FRANKFURT (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he is determined to engage Germany in a debate that he wants to push forward on European reforms, despite a cool initial response from Chancellor Angela Merkel. I believe that, if you have a vision, you shouldn t go to the doctor but you should open a debate, Macron said in Frankfurt, where he was due to meet Merkel and attend the opening of an annual book fair. Macron s visit is his first to Germany since Merkel narrowly won an election last month, losing votes to a far-right party that drew support from people angered by an influx of more than a million migrants over the past two years. The 39-year-old French president, in a speech two days after the German vote, set out an ambitious vision for Europe, calling for tighter cooperation on defense and immigration, and for a common euro zone budget. Merkel, still to begin what promise to be difficult talks on building a new coalition government, has cautioned that reforming the euro zone should not be the top priority and the debate should be more inclusive. Macron was taking part in a panel discussion at Frankfurt s Goethe University with Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the Green politician best known for his role in the Paris student protests of 1968, and Gilles Kepel, a political scientist and expert on the Middle East. | 0fake |
Trump tells Vietnam prime minister he hopes ties will grow stronger | HANOI (Reuters) - In a telephone call, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump told Vietnam’s prime minister he wanted to further strengthen fast-warming ties between the two countries, the government of the Southeast Asian nation said on Thursday. Vietnam has advanced ties with the United States to a new level under the Obama administration as it faces down communist neighbor China’s challenge to its territorial claims in the busy waterway of the South China Sea. During Wednesday’s conversation, Vietnamese premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc congratulated Trump on his election win and stressed the importance of maintaining friendship and cooperation. “President-elect Trump spoke highly of the achievements of Vietnam, as well as the positive developments in bilateral ties,” Vietnam’s government said on its news website. “He also asserted his wish to cooperate with Vietnam to accelerate the relationship between the two countries.” Trump has had conversations with several leaders of countries locked in maritime disputes with China, among them Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan. His trade platform runs counter to Vietnam’s interests, however, with his opposition to a Trans-Pacific Partnership proving a major setback for Southeast Asia’s biggest exporter to the United States. Trump and Phuc discussed ways to promote economic ties, trade and investment, the government added. In a statement, Trump’s transition team confirmed the conversation, saying the two men “discussed a range of shared interests and agreed to work together to continue strengthening the relationship between the two nations”. Just days after Trump’s win, Phuc told parliament that ratification of the TPP would be shelved because of political changes in the United States, but Vietnam still wanted good relations with Washington. In a separate development, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer, the Mustin, visited Cam Ranh international port on Thursday in a routine technical stop, the U.S. embassy said. The ship’s visit was “an example of the depth of our comprehensive partnership and the importance of strengthening our civilian and military ties,” said U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius. Vietnam has expressed support for the United States to maintain its security presence in Asia. Washington fully lifted a U.S. lethal arms embargo on Vietnam in May, allowing closer defense links and some joint military exercises. | 0fake |
OBAMA WILL GIVE AWAY FREE INTERNET (To Those He Deems Worthy) : “The internet is not a luxury” | Don t turn off your paid internet service quite yet. If you have a job and contribute to our tax base, you won t qualify. You also have to be living in cities the Obama regime considers worthy of free internet service. Those cities have likely provided some form of support for Obama s radical agenda for America.Because internet service is a human right or something like that Calling the Internet a 21st century necessity, President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled a program to bring faster Internet connections to more low-income households, particularly to help students living in public and assisted housing stay ahead in school.Under ConnectHome, the public, private and nonprofit sectors have pledged to work together to provide high-speed connections and digital devices to more families at lower cost.More than 90 percent of households headed by a college graduate have Internet access, Obama said. But fewer than half of low-income households have similar access.In this day and age, Obama said the digital divide puts these individuals at a disadvantage by limiting their educational and economic opportunities because the Internet is increasingly needed to find a job, finish homework or keep in touch with family and friends. In this digital age, when you can apply for a job, take a course, pay your bills with a tap of your phone, the Internet is not a luxury. It s a necessity, Obama said in Durant, Oklahoma, on the first day of a two-day visit to the state. You cannot connect with today s economy without having access to the Internet, he said.ConnectHome is similar to ConnectEd, a federal program that Obama said is on track to wire 99 percent of K-12 classrooms and libraries with high-speed Internet by the end of 2017.ConnectHome will begin in 27 cities and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, which is headquartered in Durant. With about 200,000 members spread across much of southeastern Oklahoma, the Choctaw Nation is the nation s third-largest Native American tribe.The Choctaw Nation was also among the administration s first Promise Zones, a designation that makes it eligible for tax incentives and grants to help fight poverty.The only federal money expected to be spent on ConnectHome is a $50,000 Agriculture Department grant to the Choctaw Nation, officials said.The 27 cities the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development selected for ConnectHome are: Albany, Georgia; Atlanta; Baltimore; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Boston; Camden, New Jersey; Cleveland; Denver; Durham, North Carolina; Fresno, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Little Rock, Arkansas; Los Angeles; Macon, Georgia; Memphis, Tennessee; Meriden, Connecticut; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; New York; Newark, New Jersey; Philadelphia; Rockford, Illinois; San Antonio; Seattle; Springfield, Massachusetts; Tampa, Florida; and the District of Columbia.Obama was spending the night in Oklahoma and on Thursday continuing a weeklong focus on making the criminal justice system fairer.He planned to meet Thursday with law enforcement officials and inmates during a historic tour of the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution, a medium-security facility west of Oklahoma City that holds about 1,300 male offenders. I will be the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, Obama said in a speech Tuesday to the NAACP meeting in Philadelphia. | 1real |
Donald Trump Says He’s Not Surprised by Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes Speech - The New York Times | Donald J. Trump dismissed Meryl Streep as “a Hillary lover” early Monday morning after the actress, in a speech at the Golden Globes award ceremony, denounced him as a bully who disrespected and humiliated others. Mr. Trump, in a brief telephone interview, said he had not seen Ms. Streep’s remarks or other parts of the Globes ceremony, which were broadcast on NBC, but he added that he was “not surprised” that he had come under attack from “liberal movie people. ” [ Read Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes speech ] The Globes were the last Hollywood event before Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, a transfer of power that many in the entertainment industry have bemoaned. While comments at the Globes were relatively restrained, Ms. Streep, one of the most outspoken progressives in the film world, mounted a powerful critique of Mr. Trump’s abilities as a performer, complimenting in a backhanded way a style of showmanship that she all but called insidious. “There was one performance this year that stunned me — it sank its hooks in my heart,” Ms. Streep said. “Not because it was good there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth. “It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter,” she said, referring to a speech by Mr. Trump in 2015 when he shuddered and flailed his arms, seeming to mock a disabled reporter for The New York Times. “It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head, because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life. ” Mr. Trump, as he has done many times before, grew heated in the interview as he flatly denied that he had intended to make fun of the Times reporter, Serge F. Kovaleski. “I was never mocking anyone,” Mr. Trump said. “I was calling into question a reporter who had gotten nervous because he had changed his story,” arguing that the reporter had been trying to back away from an article he wrote in September 2001 about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and elsewhere that month. “People keep saying I intended to mock the reporter’s disability, as if Meryl Streep and others could read my mind, and I did no such thing,” he said in the interview. “And remember, Meryl Streep introduced Hillary Clinton at her convention, and a lot of these people supported Hillary,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Ms. Streep’s remarks at the Democratic National Convention last summer on behalf of his opponent, Mrs. Clinton. Later Monday morning, Mr. Trump, in a series of tweets, called Ms. Streep “one of the most actresses in Hollywood,” and “a Hillary flunky who lost big. ” He also reiterated his argument that he had not mocked the reporter “but simply showed him ‘groveling. ’” Ms. Streep’s artful denunciation of Mr. Trump — whom she never mentioned by name — drew applause from many other actors at the Globes ceremony, but also attacks online from the ’s allies, like Sean Hannity, as well as some Republicans, like Meghan McCain, who are critical of Mr. Trump but see Hollywood liberals as only emboldening his supporters. Ms. Streep’s speech did not seem intended to win people over — she spoke dismissively of football and mixed martial arts at one point — but rather to voice frustration and anger before Mr. Trump’s inauguration. “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 kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing,” she said in her remarks. “Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose. ” Mr. Trump said that, Ms. Streep and her allies aside, he was confident that celebrities and others would turn out in strong numbers for his inauguration. “We are going to have an unbelievable, perhaps turnout for the inauguration, and there will be plenty of movie and entertainment stars,” Mr. Trump said. “All the dress shops are sold out in Washington. It’s hard to find a great dress for this inauguration. ” | 0fake |
Senate Formally Takes Up Gorsuch Nomination, and Braces for Turmoil - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday began formal debate on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, hurtling toward a blistering partisan conflict this week over the selection itself, the chamber’s future rules and the decaying standards of civility among lawmakers. The consideration of Judge Gorsuch began as the Republican majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, took a procedural step to end debate this week on President Trump’s nominee. Mr. McConnell’s maneuver will set in motion a series of critical votes expected to take place on Thursday and Friday. With an almost certain Democratic filibuster of the nomination, the Senate is to vote first on whether to end debate and proceed to an vote. If the filibuster holds, meaning fewer than 60 senators vote to proceed to a full vote on the nominee, Republicans have said they will pursue the nuclear option: changing longstanding rules to elevate Judge Gorsuch on a simple majority vote. That would allow Judge Gorsuch to be confirmed on Friday. Yet, if the ultimate outcome has seemed preordained for weeks, lawmakers nonetheless felt compelled on Tuesday to frame the confrontation on their terms: Republicans have argued that the responsibility for their own prospective vote — upending Senate tradition to bypass the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations — actually lies with Democrats. Many have refrained from even uttering the phrase “nuclear option” when pressed, despite its common use in the Capitol, for apparent fear of associating with an act of procedural aggression. At the same time, Democrats have operated on two tracks: They have sought to present their opponents as hypocrites by reminding the public about Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the seat last year, whom Republicans refused to even consider during a presidential election year. But the minority party has insisted that its resistance to Judge Gorsuch is not about retribution, citing his record on workers’ rights and his degree of independence from Mr. Trump, among other concerns. They have argued that the nomination should be withdrawn if the judge cannot earn 60 votes. “We lost one, they lost one,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, told reporters, predicting a successful blockade. “We should now get in a room and come up with a compromise. ” Mr. McConnell said he would have no choice but to change the rules if faced with a filibuster. “Americans will be watching. History will be watching,” he said, urging Democrats to abandon their plans. “And the future of the Senate will hang on their choice. ” The posturing came one day after Judge Gorsuch was approved 11 to 9 by the Judiciary Committee in a vote. Both sides have pointed repeatedly to examples of escalating obstructionism in recent years, from Democratic attempts to block judicial nominees under President George W. Bush to a proliferation of Republican filibusters under Mr. Obama. Most senators seemed to agree that they were participating in a low moment for the chamber, even as they appeared resigned to the conclusion. Grim reflection has grown more common than usual, which is saying something. “There’s a reason they call it the nuclear option,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said. “There’s fallout. ” He alluded to Republican criticism of the Democrats’ choice in 2013, when they held the Senate majority, to bar filibusters on lower judgeships and executive branch nominees. “There is no equivalence,” Mr. Blumenthal said. Asked what was happening to an institution many lawmakers still revere, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, stared gravely at a group of reporters in the basement of the Capitol. “Partisanship. Partisanship. Partisanship. Partisanship,” he said. (The word returned occasionally later in his remarks.) Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, suggested there were still sporadic conversations underway between senators about a possible deal to avert the coming maelstrom. “But nothing promising,” he said. | 0fake |
TOP TEN Most “Ethically Challenged” Clinton E-mails | The party s over or is it? Hillary Clinton and her aides will need to decide whether to lie or tell the truth to the FBI about her e-mail and official business. This puts them in a position of choosing between being honest about those emails, or lying to the FBI, which is a crime, said Matthew G. Whitaker, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 2004 to 2009. He is presently executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) in Washington, D.C.Federal agents are preparing to schedule interviews with Clinton s longtime and closest aides about her use of the private email and server throughout her tenure as the nation s chief diplomat from 2009 to 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.Despite Clinton s repeated denial she ever sent or received classified information via her private email, federal investigators said more than 2,000 of the 55,000 pages of emails she turned over to the Department of State did include classified material. More than 20 of those emails contained information so sensitive and classified members of Congress were not allowed to read them.Whitaker s group made public its list of what it judges to be the top 10 most ethically challenged Hillary emails March 10, 2016:Nepotism: Clinton intervened Aug. 22, 2012, on behalf of her son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, in an effort to secure State Department assistance for one of his business associates with ties to a Clinton Foundation donor. FACT filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on this issue. Favoring Insiders: Clinton impressed billionaire donor George Soros with his easy access to her, according to a May 12, 2012, email to her from Neera Tanden, veteran Clinton adviser and president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. Above The Law: Clinton told aide Jake Sullivan in a June 17, 2011, email to disregard classification security regulations and send information for a speech via a non-secure email system, which forced the aide to either break the law or disobey an order. Special Interests: In a July 26, 2010, email exchange with Clinton, Sullivan forwarded a message from Jeffrey Farrow, an influential lobbyist for a Pacific island government. The exchange raises red flags about whether Farrow had made requests, according to FACT. Selling Access: A Dec. 10, 2009, email discussed attempts by Clinton campaign and foundation donor Brian Greenspun to set up a meeting between Clinton and a top Israeli official who had been trying to meet with [Clinton] to no avail. The email suggests certain campaign and foundation donors had a privileged back door to Clinton. Conflicts Of Interest: Clinton pushed for the State Department to work with the Clinton Foundation and the Red Cross on a project in Haiti. The Jan. 19, 2010, email from Clinton to Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills indicates a clear conflict of interest, according to FACT. Helping Political Allies: Mark Penn, Clinton s 2008 presidential campaign pollster and long-time political adviser, complained about not having timely access on a corporate event in China. His complaints were apparently resolved after a Feb. 22, 2010, email from Clinton aide Kris Balderston that set up a telephone call with Clinton. Trading Favors: Barely a week after the Penn complaint, Balderston reported in a March 2 email to Clinton that major corporations, including Boeing, CITI and Blackstone, agreed to provide financial support for the event. Even the appearance of this sort of favor trading, involving the public, private and political sectors, is a bad ethics practice, according to FACT. Abuse Of Position: A Sept. 15, 2011, email forwarded to Clinton, Sullivan and aide Huma Abedin listed multiple State Department officials attending the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative conference despite having no official role. Robert Hormats, a department official, was also a speaker at a dinner co-hosted by the Goldman Sachs Wall Street investment firm that later paid Clinton $675,000 for three speeches. The dinner focused on investing in women, Clinton s favorite Clinton Foundation project. Duping Obama: In a Sept. 20, 2011, email to Clinton, Mills forwarded a draft of President Barack Obama s planned remarks to the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative. FACT contends that Clinton doesn t appear to have routinely received copies of the President s draft speeches, and it sends bad ethical signals to treat a speech given to her family s organization differently. Read more: biz pac | 1real |
Whitney Houston, Cher, Tina Turner and Donna Summer: The Musicals - The New York Times | Fans of shimmery miniskirts, choruses and beefcake backup dancers are in for a treat, as theater producers are turning to some of pop music’s biggest divas for their latest musical projects (and potential cash cows). News this month of a coming Tina Turner is making it clear that producers “Believe” demand for such shows is “Strong Enough. ” (Couldn’t help it, Cher.) Here’s a look at four new shows — three of them still in development — that act as if the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s never ended. Prediction: The costumes for the “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” number are going to be everything. WHAT IS IT? The American premiere of the stage adaptation of “The Bodyguard,” the 1992 film in which Houston, who died in 2012 at 48, made her movie debut, playing a pop star who falls for her protector. Essentially a revue framed around a romantic thriller script, the musical was a hit in London when it opened four years ago. But the production now at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey “doesn’t exactly make you want to rush out and dance with somebody,” Charles Isherwood wrote in his New York Times review. WHAT YOU’LL SING Some 15 Houston classics, including “I Will Always Love You,” “Saving All My Love,” “I Have Nothing” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” SEE IT At Paper Mill Playhouse through Sunday, then on tour in the United States and other countries. WHAT IS IT? Billed as “The Cher Show,” this musical about that dynamic pop star (and frequent critic of Donald J. Trump on Twitter) aims, according to a casting notice, to “represent Cher at different moments of her life — starting as a teenager who falls for Sonny Bono (Babe) a successful music star navigating the challenges of the entertainment industry (Lady) and the lady we know today with a fascinating wealth of life experience, successes and failures (Star). ” Other characters apparently include the costume designer Bob Mackie, the movie mogul David Geffen and, mysteriously, Sigmund Freud. The show, with a book by Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys”) will get help from Jeffrey Seller, the producer of “Hamilton. ” WHAT YOU’LL SING Probably “I Got You Babe,” “If I Could Turn Back Time,” “Believe” and other songs made popular by Cher and her former husband and singing partner, Sonny, although a final song list was not announced. SEE IT The show will receive a series of staged readings — good luck trying to score a seat — from Monday through Jan. 14 in New York. WHAT IS IT? The story of the life of this disco queen will hustle to the stage in a . A workshop held this year in New York, with direction by the Tony Des McAnuff and choreography by Sergio Trujillo, featured three actresses playing Summer at different stages of her life. (She died in 2012, at 63.) In a possible nod to Summer’s popularity in gay clubs of the ’70s, actresses in the workshop to play some male roles. WHAT YOU’LL SING Over 20 of Summer’s hits, including “Bad Girls,” “Heaven Knows” and “Love to Love You Baby,” if the workshop was any indication. (“I can’t get that cake song out of my head, even though the lyrics are ridiculous, and it goes on forever,” a workshop attendee told Michael Riedel, the theater columnist for The New York Post, about Summer’s dance hit version of “Macarthur Park. ”) SEE IT Performances start in November at La Jolla Playhouse in California. WHAT IS IT? The playwright Katori Hall (“The Mountaintop”) and the director Phyllida Lloyd (“Mamma Mia! ”) are collaborating with Ms. Turner, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, on a musical now being called “Tina. ” According to a report in The Daily Mail, Ms. Turner spent over a year in conversations with Ms. Hall about her “hardscrabble upbringing her marriage to fellow musician Ike Turner and how she fled from the abuse and beatings he inflicted on her. ” The actress Adrienne Warren (“Shuffle Along”) led a workshop of the show this month in London. WHAT YOU’LL SING “Proud Mary,” “Private Dancer” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It” seem likely, but there is no final song list. SEE IT The producers are aiming to open in London in 2018. | 0fake |
U.S. governors, hackers, academics team up to secure elections | (Reuters) - Hackers are joining forces with U.S. governors and academics in a new group aimed at preventing the manipulation of voter machines and computer systems to sway the outcome of future U.S. elections, a source familiar with the project said on Monday. The anti-hacking coalition’s members include organizers of last summer’s Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas, the National Governors Association and the Center for Internet Security, said the source, who asked not to be identified ahead of a formal announcement due to be made on Tuesday. The Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank and several universities are also part of the project, the source said. The coalition will be unveiled as Def Con organizers release a report describing vulnerabilities in voting machines and related technology that were uncovered in July. Hackers pulled apart voting machines and election computers at the three-day event, uncovering security bugs that organizers said could be exploited by people trying to manipulate election results. People at the Las Vegas conference learned to hack voting machines within minutes or just a few hours, according to a copy of the organizers’ report due for release on Tuesday and seen ahead of time by Reuters. Concerns about election hacking have surged in the United States since late last year, when news surfaced that top U.S. intelligence agencies had determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered computer hacks of Democratic Party emails to help Republican Donald Trump win the Nov. 8 election. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said that Russian hackers targeted 21 U.S. state election systems in the 2016 presidential race and a small number were breached, although some states have disputed they were hacked. There was no evidence that any votes had been manipulated. Several congressional committees are investigating and special counsel Robert Mueller is leading a separate probe into the Russia matter, including whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow. Russia has denied the accusations. As one possible counter-measure, organizers of the Def Con hacking conference have recommended that U.S. states reduce the amount of non-American parts and software used in their voting machines, according to the group’s report. “Via a supply chain originating overseas, voting equipment and software can be compromised at the earliest of stages in manufacturing process,” the report says. Further details on the members of the anti-hacking coalition were not immediately available. | 0fake |
Re: What Is Causing The Strange Noises In The Sky That Are Being Heard All Over The World? | Archives Michael’s Latest Video What Is Causing The Strange Noises In The Sky That Are Being Heard All Over The World? By Michael Snyder, on March 22nd, 2012
During the second half of 2011, a lot of people all over the planet started reporting hearing really strange noises coming from the sky. In some instances the noises produced a loud rumbling such as a train, a thunderstorm or the slamming of a heavy door would make. In other instances, the noises sounded more like “groaning”. In yet other instances the noises sounded almost as if a trumpet was playing. Dozens of videos went up on YouTube purporting to document this phenomenon, but the truth is that you can fake almost anything on a YouTube video and many dismissed these strange “strange sounds” as an Internet hoax. However, now entire towns in the northern part of the United States are hearing strange noises in the sky and the mainstream media is reporting on it. In fact, one U.S. town is planning to spend thousands of dollars to hire an engineering firm to investigate where these strange sounds are coming from. At this point a lot of theories about these strange noises are being floated, but so far scientists have not been able to give us a definitive explanation for the source of these strange noises. So exactly what in the world is going on?
This phenomenon made national news again this week because of what has been going on in Clintonville, Wisconsin. Hundreds of residents of Clintonville reported hearing incredibly loud noises coming from the sky for several nights in a row. Even CBS News is reporting on what is happening in Clintonville….
Since Sunday, the residents have been disturbed by “booming” noises loud enough to wake them from their sleep.
Last night, hundreds of people attended a public meeting to get to the bottom of booms. But they aren’t any closer to the truth.
One resident told CBS News, “The last few days we’ve been having (a) booming shaking noise.”
Another resident said, “(For) a lot of people the house is rattling, you can feel the ground rattling, and it’s booming all the time. It’s kind of like, what’s going on? You don’t know what’s happening.”
So what is causing these noises that are so loud that even the ground is shaking?
According to Fox News , the town has investigated every possible explanation that they can think of for these strange noises….
City officials say they have investigated every possible human cause. They checked water, sewer and gas lines, contacted the military about any exercises in the area, reviewed permits for mining explosives and inspected a dam next to City Hall. They even tested methane levels at the landfill in case the gas was spontaneously exploding.
So far no explanation has been found. So Clintonville has decided to spend $7,000 to hire an engineering firm to investigate the cause of these strange noises.
According to geologists, the town does not sit on any fault lines and the ground beneath the town is very solid. Some geologists are claiming that “ micro-quakes ” could have been responsible, but others find this explanation to be very unsatisfying.
For many town residents, solving the mystery is not as important as getting these strange noises to stop so that they can get some sleep.
The following comes from the recent Fox News article mentioned above….
“My husband thought it was cool, but I don’t think so. This is not a joke,” said Jolene Van Beek, who awoke early Sunday to a loud boom that shook her house. “I don’t know what it is, but I just want it to stop.”
But Clintonville is not the only town in Wisconsin where strange sounds are being reported.
Mysterious noises are also being reported in a town called Montello which is 80 miles away from Clintonville.
Posted below is a local news report that discusses the strange noises that are being reported in Clintonville and Montello….
These strange sounds have made the mainstream news up in Canada as well.
Recently, strange noises caused such a violent shaking that they actually brought down a barn on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
Geologists say that no earthquake occurred at the time that the barn collapsed.
So what caused the barn to collapse?
That is a very good question.
And this is not just a North American phenomenon.
If you go on to YouTube and you do a search for “strange sounds” or “strange noises” you will find dozens of videos from all over the world. Yes, there are definitely a few videos that appear to be hoaxes, but is that true with all of them?
The evidence for this phenomenon is mounting and it is getting really hard to deny that there really are large numbers people all over the globe that swear that they are hearing really strange sounds coming from the sky.
So exactly what in the world is going on?
Well, there are a lot of theories floating around on the Internet. The following are some of the most prominent theories about what is causing these strange noises: electromagnetic noise, earthquakes, “fracking”, rock bursts, venting of high-pressure gas that has been trapped underground, meteor showers, HAARP or directed energy weapons, and some believe that all of this is just a giant publicity stunt.
Perhaps the biggest reason why these strange noises have so many people alarmed is because humans generally have a great fear of the unknown.
If the cause of these strange noises is revealed, the hysteria will die down.
But if these strange noises continue (or even become more intense) and there continues to be no scientific explanation for them, then the hysteria may turn into full-blown panic.
What is clear is that our planet is becoming increasingly unstable. As I have documented previously, earthquakes are becoming more frequent and more powerful. The “ Ring of Fire ” is becoming a lot more active and we have been seeing a disturbing amount of volcanic activity lately.
So could earth changes have anything to do with these strange noises?
We just don’t know at this point.
Most of the time when I write an article I like to have some answers. But I do not know what is causing these strange sounds.
So what do you think about these strange noises?
Do you believe that you know why they are happening?
Have you heard strange sounds coming from the sky where you live?
Please feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below….
It is necessary to determine the origin of these sounds: natural or artificial. I think these sounds are artificial, for nature as it is not natural. But I admit that I could be wrong. ScoutMotto
I don’t doubt that some of the videos are valid, however I heard one from I think Hungary where amidst the groaning sounds, there was a piece of music played backward for a couple seconds. I sampled the soundtrack, played it backward in Goldwave, and it sounded like a short percussion piece. Hard to take that one seriously, which causes doubt to be cast on others of like style. But, I’m not writing it all off just yet. Guido Heraldsofthemorn
The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 is an example of the destruction of the world at the end of time, see Matthew 24 and the book The Great Controversy. Here is a paragraph from the book Great Controversy that tells of signs and wonders before the destruction.
“Signs and wonders appeared, foreboding disaster and doom. In the midst of the night an unnatural light shone over the temple and the altar. Upon the clouds at sunset were pictured chariots and men of war gathering for battle. The priests ministering by night in the sanctuary were terrified by mysterious sounds; the earth trembled, and a multitude of voices were heard crying: “Let us depart hence.” The great eastern gate, which was so heavy that it could hardly be shut by a score of men, and which was secured by immense bars of iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid stone, opened at midnight, without visible agency.”—Milman, The History of the Jews, book 13. – {GC 29.3}
Could these sounds that are being heard be part of the signs and wonders before the end? Mike Ayala
Greetings,
You have no idea how unstable the earth really is! Humanity is going to have a wake-up call one day that is going to make the movie 2012 look patheticly simplistic and relatively uneventful in comparison.
The problem stems from the release of heat as rock falls through magma: the volume of the rock decreases as it melts, and at the same time it releases enough heat energy to melt many times its original volume – some suggest enough heat to melt 88-times the original volume. (You should gasp about now.) Up to the present we have enjoyed relative stability, a sort of sliding equillibrium, but that is changing at an increasingly rapid exponential rate which can be quantified by examining the increasing rate of “Great” earthquakes (8-plus) over the last 100 years which is startling to say the least.
Some parts of the crust will be affected more than other, but all will feel the pain. The worst economic collapse ever will be remembered as the “good old days” in comparison to the run-away stage of this process. The recognition of this process gives new meaning to the prophecy, “There will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”
The noises and shakings noted in the article probably do not have anything to do with this crust-contraction phenonenon, but there is coming a day when all who dwell on the earth will fear for the things they see and experience coming upon the earth. Hence, the most important preparation one can make is to prepare to meet God. For some it will be a time of exceeding joy; For the rest it will be the time of judgement and eternal torment and regret.
Send me an email, and I will get you more information about this topic.
God bless and protect you all.
Mike Ayala JR
So, Mike, how do we contact you, then? Or can you point us to the source of your information? Thanks! Mike Ayala
Hi JR,
The easiest way is to call and order a copy of a recent lecture given at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa at the February Creation Science Investigation conference on 20120218. They are not a lot of money. The particular lecture covering this topic was:
Earthquakes Kevin Lea 2/18/12
This one was a real eye-opener. I knew about the exponential increase in great earthquakes, but the magma details and the Pacific Ocean abberation/collapse/indentation were new to me.
Another great presentation given at the same conference was by John Sanford:
Genetic Entropy Dr. John Sanford 2/18/12
This one is about how the human gene pool is decayng at an astounding rate of conservatively 100-200 mutations per generation plus transcription errors in every cell division and what is the significance of these two factors. It does not paint a pretty picture.
The bottom line is that we have no hope in this present world: All that we take for granted and hold dear will perish. We need to have our hope firmly rooted on the Rock of Jesus Christ who will regenerate our bodies and renew our minds and make a new heaven and earth in which righteousness will dwell.
God bless and protect you and your family.
Mike Ayala Ken West
yes I would like to read more about this subject. Would appreciate what info. you have. Thanks
Hollow earth theory coming alive. Underground civilizations in which all of our gold and other PMs are transfered to are having underground wars that are heating up, similar to the quakes on the east coast in VA to NY MB92083
Just saw on Fox news (Gretta V.S.) that the mystery was solved. They said it was caused by a minor (1.something) earthquake. This only applied to the WI incident. Blustery Day
And of course you never change the channel. Fox is not reliable. They tell you what they want you to believe. PandaStar
and that is different from any other news or network? Curtis
In October of 2011, my wife and I were on our way to Lake Tahoe on highway 88 coming down the mountain toward highway 50 when we suddenly heard within our car (windows up), a sound so loud that it sounded as if a freight train was right next to our vehicle. This is an area that is pristine. There are no trains around. It was unexplainable. mondobeyondo
There is still a lot more about our planet that we don’t know, than what we do know. Just like any arrogant teenager, we think we “know it all”… mark
The only sounds that we hear on our ranch at his time of year are frogs and the creek that runs by our house. Oh yes, we can’t forget about the dogs, the coyotes, owls at night,cows,birds, a car or truck once in a while and sometimes a chain saw. Let’s not forget the sound of the wind in the trees or the rain hitting the roof. I guess we have not heard the groans of the earth yet. Gary2
All the strange sounds are coming from all the echo from Rush in conservatives empty heads.
And yet another study showing conservatives to be dumb.
Don’t Drink and Vote: New Study Says Alcohol (And General Thoughtlessness) Makes People More Conservative
Getting drunk is known to cause erratic, irrational, and, overall, thoughtless behavior — public urination, bar fights, tears in the streets. Now, go ahead and add political conservatism to that list.
A new study, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, tested whether low-effort thought promotes political conservatism, and part of the study measured alcohol’s effects on political positions. Researchers found that the higher the blood alcohol content, the more conservative the views on sex, education, and political identification became.
Researchers hypothesized that drinking turns people Republican because political conservatism arises in the absence of deliberate thought. People with a lot on their minds, under time constraints, or told to respond in a cursory manner, rather than think deeply and use “recognition memory — an indicator of effortful thought — were also more conservative.
“Together these data suggest that political conservatism may be a process consequence of low-effort thought,” the study concluded.
The less you think (or more you drink), the more conservative you become? Shocker! Cheers to the right-wing. Guido
That doesn’t sound subjective at all… DownWithLibs
So, you WERE dropped on your head when you were born…only explanation!!!! Justa Guy
I don’t know about groans of the earth, but I think I’m hearing groans of the blog right about now… Drunk Gary2
In other words DRINK UP and PARTY ON DUDE!
P.S. – This explains why Berkeley and other party spots are such bastions of conservatism. Those damn conservatives are having too much fun. Its time for liberals to lighten up an tie one on. Guido
I don’t think this is inexplicable. Years ago, in the 1980s, San Francisco’s boat people all reported loud, unusual noises coming from the bay. Theories ran wild, including Soviet subs, until scientists figured out it was the toadfish mating call.
There are also lots of stories over the years about inexplicable humming in certain towns and areas. http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91912&page=1#.T2v9XdlVXTc Here’s an article on the Kokomo Hum. I don’t know if there’s any similarity, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Perhaps the region sits on a nice piece of rock that can resonate like a tuning fork when it gets the right signal. Perhaps it is geological activity-we have seen a lot of earthquake activity in recent years. Who knows? Guido
I watched one of the videos. It reminded me of the gag at the end of Red State where the kids fool the extremist church holdouts with trumpets played over an old fire department horn and convince them it’s the end of the world… Gary2wannabe
Meeshall has been farting. Kannibal
In Fresno, CA, this is a daily occurrence. The sound happens suddenly without any build up. It is extremely loud like 10 Jets, and shakes my walls and windows. Sometimes it suddenly just stops without fading away like a jet normally would. Sometimes it rumbles the sky for minutes at a time. I’ll be outside sometimes when it happens and look up in the sky but there is never anything there. Clear skies and no airplanes.
I once heard a rumble at around 2am and ran outside to see if I could spot anything. What I saw was in the sky to the southwest. It was about 14 red lights it the formation of a boomerang and you couldn’t see between them. The space they took up was about the size of a football field. It was traveling very slowly as if it were slowly descending continuing southwest. I have never seen anything like this in my life. It sent a chill down my spine and I called out for my wife. She ran out and started freaking out. I know this sounds crazy but maybe it was just our government playing with there new toys. GunRights4US
Clearly God’s pissed, and rightfully so. Sodom and Gomoarah had nothing on modern man in terms of pure evil. Man has an appointment to keep, whether he likes it or not. John
You are about the only one who is closer to the truth than anyone could ever imagine… David M
Maybe it’s an SSTO. Single Stage To Orbit spacecraft. Being run by our government making runs to orbit.
It would have powerful engines to accelerate to orbit and would leave a long thunderous noise trail. Including sonic booms, that would shake the Earth, as it got up to a minimum of several thousand miles an hour.
Someone should compare the sounds to a Shuttle launch. Ripplewind
Mother Earth is preparing for war against us. Andrew Kind
God is shaking what can be shaken before His Son returns. karen
It’s Mother Earth giving you warning signs, but of course most will say it’s all a joke. And for christains it’s the same as in the bible… And the trumpets shall sound, you are being given a warning of things to come real soon. even the goverment knows this, they just don’t want you to know, that’s why a new executive order just came into effect 16 Mar 2012 National Defence Resources Preparedness they own everything you have now right down to a chicken in your yard. There is a great video out called 5 reasons why America will have the worst riots in the world, awesome truth!!! Anna
On January 23rd I heard the noises , the deep and high trumpet/ groaning type, not the boom, but I was terrified, it was omnidirectional, not point of origin. When I compared what I heard to the sound of some of the Shofar videos , my hair stood on end. It was nearly identical, only on a much grander scale. Could be a deception, we are warned, Let no man deceive you, could be the real deal as well. Only God know and that is enough for me, He says 365 times in His Word, do not fear, so I have to trust Him. Walk with Christ and He will keep you fearless. Emily
I do not say this lightly or with humor, Mother Earth is in pain and we are hearing her sorrow. Please remember, YAHWEH brought forth all life from Earth and she cries out for her children. JR
Could it be the sound of our economy imploding under the feckless administration of Jimmy Carter Obama?
Some people are talking about a coming magnetic poleshift (nothing new, has happened before), maybe the magnetic field are making those sounds? Intresting article Michael. Sunshine
Yes, curious on magnetic shifting for possibility. Consider that one of the things said to be saturating the atmosphere through SRM, Solar Radiation Management is aluminum particles. Now, as far as I know, aluminum is NON magnetic. Disrupting the electromagnetic waves of the sunlight could be a factor in “climate change” since the sun plays a very big part in natural weather patterns. Could interfering with magnetic waves also cause strange noise? Now, why go to this great effort with such great risk? It could cause extreme weather patterns including melting the north pole.
HAARP, the Aurora spy plane, fracking, and Biblical end of age signs? jason
In january of this year i herd a noise coming out of the sky. I live in the wisconsin dells and at that time i could sweare a T-rex was going to come charging out of the woods at any moment. it was a little unsettling to see videos on youtube that show the same sound all over the world. at first i passed the sound off to be some kind of amplification to the mile away freeway but at 3 am the freeway is not that active. so what the hell is it? Newman Noggs
Auroras can cause strange sounds from a distance, but usually they crackle, not boom. I would look for evidence of electromagnetic activity: increased ground voltage, St. Elmo’s fire, etc. From what I’ve read this is not a new phenomenon. Look up Seneca Guns. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/booms.php Billy
Note to Gary2: You are indeed an idiot. MB92083
I’ll second that! He’s a nice guy, but delusional and brainwashed. Benjik
I’m thoroughly convinced Gary2 is actually an extreme right-winger dead-set at portraying liberals/progressives to be extremely foolish and misinformed. That’s the only rational explanation….. Proftel
Because only in the Northern Hemisphere?
? Jim
It is the US gov playing with thier reversed engineered alien stealth spacecraft. I have also heard (with my sister) what sounded like a large flying spacecraft right over our heads with NOTHING around but sky. It was NOT a natural phenominum as soulded “man” made.
Remember, the Gov tells us 10% of what we really should be knowing. Rosenkreuz
How do you know what a large flying spacecraft sounds like? Denali
It’s our Founding Fathers turning over in their graves. bruce smith
Be Warned.. GOD is giving everyone a chance.. Signs and wonders are to allow people that have doubted in HIM to wake up.. When HE does return soon, it will be to gather the followers of HIS SONS teachings home with HIM..After that earth will be a living hell.. laura4basics
I would never accuse people of making this up or of creating a hoax for attention. I will suggest looking up Tesla Technology GMA215
The so-called “experts” have now announced that the noises in WI are from a “swarm” of “mini-earthquakes.” Yeah. Sure they are. Saq
It’s called the government. Possibly drilling more underground tunnels??!! babygirlway
Thursday morning I woke up at around 5:00 a.m. hearing some sort of loud pounding noise coming from outside. It was repetitive. Our windows were open because it has been unusually warm for March in the Indianapolis area. So warm in fact that I had my large, remote control fan on next to my bed that I purchased last summer to help with my middle aged night sweats. LOL. Anyway, I had enough time to wake up and hear the noise above the fan, turn off the fan and still hear it going….it woke my husband up as well. It was not a construction noise. I never did figure out what it was. Did anyone else in the Indy area hear it? Benjik
Something I have wondered about for years and never received a valid explanation on is what are the effects of pumping billions of barrels of oil out of the Earth with nothing to replace it? Wouldn’t that internally effect the general mass of our planet? How does that void effect the Earths rotation, gravitational properties, points of axis, etc? Think of the old “spinning egg” science experiment. When the internal properties of an egg are altered (boiled vs. raw), it has a direct effect on how it reacts to spinning it on a hard surface. Could this may be happening on a global scale? Any feedback would be appreciated. OldManNoal
FINALLY SOMEONE IS ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS!!! you’re onto something MASSIVE Benjik Marilynn
The other night I had difficulty sleeping. I can always hear the “hum,” although it varies in volume, but I just ignore it. This time it was accompanied by an occasional groaning sound. It wasn’t very loud and I know it wasn’t a vehicle driving by or an airplane because it didn’t increase and diminish. Just a few seconds of a low “groaning,” then five to 10 seconds later it repeated about five or six times.
The next day I read about the noises in Wisconsin. My guess is that it has something to do with military testing, perhaps some sort of sound wave experiment. This much is not theoretical: The government is ALWAYS engaged in experimentation of all sorts—chemical, biological, nuclear, electro-magnetic, geo-engineering, mind control, etc.—and they have no ethical qualms about testing this crap on human populations.
yes,it is all in the new book, MAYDAY IN JOPLIN Gary2
I figured out what the noises are…Gog and Magog are tusseling over who gets to kick the beasts ass. mackie
Sounds are the results of vibrations. And vibrations can be a result from many different events. Such as ‘space quakes’, which are the magnetic field lines which do compasses our earth and out into space. When we recieve a solar flare from the sun, these magnetic field lines are push or moved, and when two of these magnetic field lines touch each other they cause what is called a space quake. A space quake is a loud vibrating sound which is from the sky, and can be felt through the air, ground, and can even rattle your house. Another thing which can influence as well our earth is a heavy object such as a dwarf star, or planet x, or even a comet. These will either pull or push our orbital cycle, or even casue the earth to real to and fro like a drunkerd. Even thirdly, the earth’s core could be heating up, just like the rest of the planets in our solar system due to the sun’s output which has changed so much and is effecting all the planets. A warmer core would cause the increase of rotation of the earth. There is also the “fluff” in space as well which is effecting the sun, and everything else. There is so many things which we are not taught, but the information is out there for the learning if one wishes to go out and research it. We are blessed to have such a great resource through the internet. In life It is always a cause and effect. A.S.
Michael, you already gave one reason, which is the most likely one: HAARP. It is the U.S. using HAARP for whatever selfish purposes, like attempting to subvert countries like China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, etc, to trade between themselves with their own currencies. The U.S. did it before and they will do it again. Jes
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/what-are-the-strange-noises-in-the-sky-being-heard-all-over-the-world Booming Sounds could this be the result? – Here’s an excerpt on what really happened at the time of the Great Deluge (Noah’s Flood). It was a cataclysmic. – Geologists have recognized that these ridges are fracture lines on the earth’s crust. They have estimated some 200 million years ago the continents were joined together as one piece, and they have named this supercontinent Pangea. A model of the Pangea was presented in the section, Creation Mysteries. Since then Pangea broke up as a result of the earth’s Crust breaking up into pieces, or plates, which have since been drifting from each other or drifting towards each other. Thus the Americas are moving at a rate of an inch from Europe and Africa per year. The present separation is about 3,000 miles. The major mountain chains of the world such as the Alps and the Himalayas were formed by the collision of plates bearing these continental masses against each other. In other areas the collision caused one plate to go under the other as in the case of the Pacific plate moving under western edge of the US continent. This process is still continuing, hence the periodic earthquakes in California… Read more here… http://www.biblediscoveries.com/content/view/17/34/ Yeshua(Jesus) did say: Matityahu (Matthew) 24:37-41 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage….. The End will be cataclysmic just as was the Beginning. Tesla2011
Haha, its sad billions or millions of earthlings have no clue. Its clear, what this is and I would only say this, the earth magnetic pole shifts and the layers of earth are all being testes and purposley being manipulated by mad scientist. Ofcourse, already its sounds mad bc, you ppl can’t belive it or the science of mechaniscim. This object is the one and only worlds most dangerous weapon…
That’s High frequency Auroa Atmosphere Reasearc Program. The man, who created is the worlds genuis of all centuries. His name is Nikola Tesla and is the inventor of the electromagnetic transmitter gha would be later deveolped as a top notch weapon. Guido
I suggested earlier the noise could be large rock formations underground resonating from earth movements. Beneath Wisconsin and other states in the region is a massive granite formation called the Superior Upland Shield. The US Navy exploits the resonating qualities of the shield to transmit Extreme Low Frequency communications with submerged submarines. They’re broadcasting at about 8 watts. The ELF transmitters are slow, but they can use the planet itself to transmit their signals to subs underwater in any ocean. Perhaps this sheild, or some other piece of rock can pick up earth movements and magnify them into those peculiar sounds. One of the ELF antenna arrays is located at Clam Lake, WI, which is only 20 miles’ drive from Clintonville, WI. I have no proof, but the idea is no less plausible than other ideas I’ve heard… Bruce
The Bible says in Romans 8 that “all of nature groans ( waiting for the return of Jesus) and in Matthew 24 that ALL these things…earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, a decline in morals (and I am quite certain, even strange sounds)…when you see ALL these things beginning to happen “look up for your redemption isn’t too far off”…time to get your heart right with God. BluButterfly
I keep hearing a lot of really far out theories, and I find them all fascinating. However, the best answer is sometimes the simplest and most obvious. Has anyone ever tried correlating these strange noises to the increasing solar activity? Recently we have been seeing lots of solar flares, suspots, etc and they are definitely affecting the high incidence of Northern Lights in the past year. Some geologists (in Finnland and Germany) are saying the sun has not been this magnetically active in over 1000 years. One of the best sites to read about and track this solar activity is http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/index.html . I am trying to find out if anyone has cross referenced the dates of high solar activity, the dates of solar storms, and the areas where the magnetic flares have reached the earth. Josh
Everyone bringing religion into this is dumb. Truthfully im a christain but seriously science proves more than a bible can prove thats jsut fact. You people say the world wil lend and it doesnt why because all you have is a book backign you up. Thats incredibly outdated. Time to stop believeing in fairytail and start believeing in facts. Ducrider900
Before you call other contributors here “dumb”, it might behoove you to learn how to spell, and how to string a few cogent words together – it’s called using grammar to communicate. Too bad it’s no longer taught in the government schools…you and your pathetic attempt at communication are collectively, exdhibit one of this sad fact.. hippiekarl
What’s ‘dumb’ is calling theories that have become dogmas through nothing more than repetition ‘proofs’ or ‘facts’. ‘Science’, painted into a corner by its mutually-contradictory ‘facts’, can’t even explain such things as why sea-water is salty (the ratio on this planet of sodium to chlorine doesn’t allow the oceans’ current salinity), or why (if iron was always on the surface of the Earth) the Bronze Age preceeded the Iron Age…or why the world’s highest mountains are the youngest, and are covered–beneath their ice–with sea sediment. ‘Science’ (which gets together and VOTES on what the ‘facts’ are) is full of hubris but short on ‘the truth’, which it periodically changes, changes back, and changes again. Physics is not a democracy, and majority-belief is NOT the benchmark of ‘fact’ or ‘truth’. Max
I live in Wisconsin and the local news reports had residents claiming the booms came from the ground, not the sky. Regardless, why do these tremors occur mostly at night? We had a massive chemtrail blitz last Oct and then again late Jan (that we could see) which was very unsettling. So the idea of a sound weapon makes sense somewhat — I think the government is messing with us for not rolling over on the Union destruction plan. Chopper
Well finally someone is getting very close to the truth…. Mackie…. I think everybody should read what he is saying… Magnetic flux lines… I personally think everybody should do some reading …. Fast! Lol. JJ
Except hallucinations are generally not recordable. These sounds are recordable. JC Vaughan
I tell you, Krypton is merely shifting in its orbit. James
The Bible gives information on the end times, and if you check out Daniel and the New Testament, especially Revelations. You will see most of the things we are experiencing now, are in there with more things to come. harold hutchison
god said that in the last days he would shake the earth he said there would be signs in the earth and from beaneath the earth, also signs in the sun the moon just look around and see what is going on, it also says the whole creation groans in pain wanting to be delivered from the curse that is on it, people like to make fun of the bible but that will soon come to a end, the bible says its a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god unprepared, gods son paid a terrible price for our sins and i urge everone to make sure you are ready before its to late . h. hutch Renee
Glad I came upon this, I heard a almost deep noise, not loud from inside my house, the windows were open, my dog heard it and cocked his head at it, the next day my mom was bruching her hair and litterly, no shiz, her hair started rising, I tryed brushing it out and noticed it was litterly lifting, yesterday I also was so hyper it was crazy, like magnitized. This is a rather interesting article, our alignment with Jupiter, being maybe alittle closer causing a magnetic shift? It sounding almost like blades, its gotta be our Magnetic field, also it feels like July, we could be sliding in location perhaps? Stephanie White
Now to me that is interesting – that your dog heard it. From everything I have read, no animals appear to hear it – or react to it. jeremy archer
I went out on the night of the hurricane last August. It was 10pm and the wind had not really kicked up yet. It was raining but I did not wear a hat and I had no umbrella. It was quite warm so the rain on my head did not bother me. I walked from 99th and Broadway along 100th st to Central Park. As I entered the park I followed a path over a little bridge and down to a lake. There were a few ducks at the edge of the pond that stood and gazed at me. It was very quiet; hardly any traffic was passing down Central Park West. All I could hear was a torrent of water coming down the hill that passed under the bridge. I stood and looked at the reflection of the street lights on the lake. After some time, I walked back up the hill over the bridge and walked along 100th st. Just before I got to Manhattan Ave I started to hear a low groaning sound, like some old man breathing. I could not tell if the sound was coming from the sky or from below me. I crossed the street to see if I could still hear it, since the sound was not loud. I stood under a tree and the volume was the same. I walked over to Columbus Ave and turned south. There is an entrance there to a new building and 3 doormen were standing outside talking. I asked them if they could hear any sound. One of them ignored me but the other 2 said they could hear it. I was not sure if they really did or if they were just humoring me. We talked for a minute and one of the doormen offered to show me a book he was reading. When I entered the building, due to the absence of any exterior noise from the rain and traffic I was able to hear the sound much more clearly and at that moment I felt that the sound was coming from beneath me. The doorman made no comment on the fact that the sound was any more audible. I did not mention the sound to him again but I did wonder why he did not mention the increase in the volume. He showed me his book and I left the building and continued walking south to 97th st, where I turned and walked west for about half a block, listening intently to the sound that I felt sure now was coming from beneath my feet. Then the sound stopped, so I turned and walked back to see if I could pick it up again but I could not. I returned home to 99th st without hearing the sound again. drezdin
Mid-michigan… Heard strange sound last night which sounded most similar to a helicopter, or an uneven, overloaded washer during spin cycle. no copter in sight and sound did not at all seem to get closer nor further away, but did weaken for a few seconds at times while also intensifying for a few seconds periodically as well. lasted from at least midnight until 7am at which time my wife could still hear it several miles away upon arrival at work. we live in apt. complex and two neighbors (one next door, one downstairs) were out on their balconies and either could not hear or were ignoring (hard to imagine) the sound because their conversations didn’t even give mention of the noise from what I could tell ( which wasn’t much bcuz the noise was LOUD and ANNOYING and OMINOUS!! Thank You Jesus for CHOOSING me before I even was, and pulling me out of the wilderness after 37yrs. threescore and 3days! (Baptized 12/9/11 immersed in water in Jesus’ name for the remission of my sins, and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, evidenced by the initial outward sign of speaking in tongues 12/20/11).
One baptism. One God. One Name. Be One..with Christ, in Christ, of Christ. Forever. Amen. Apostolic Pentecostal and rapture ready! Paladin
I’m responsible for the strange loud noises in Clinton……well, actually it was that | 1real |
Michael Oliver – Here Is The Big Picture For Gold After The Takedown | 11 Views November 13, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News
On the heels of a remarkable week where the world witnessed the greatest political upset in history and subsequent chaos in global markets, today King World News is pleased to present an extremely important update on the war in the gold market from Michael Oliver at MSA. Oliver allowed KWN exclusively to share this key report with our global audience after last week’s takedown in the gold market.
By Michael Oliver, MSA (Momentum Structural Analysis) November 13 ( King World New s) – Gold: If one seeks to capture large trends, then measure large… If one does not have a long-term map to watch as the trend unfolds, then it’s all too easy to run when some bullets fly. And they always fly… Continue reading the Michael Oliver piece below… Advertisement To hear which company investors & institutions around the globe are flocking to that has one of the best gold & silver purchase & storage platforms in the world click on the logo:
How We Got To Where We Are Today MSA projected a blow-off type move in gold, commencing in September 2009, based on price and momentum concurrence and especially its relative performance breakouts vs. global stocks, (report was entitled “Gold is Speaking!”) Momentum then broke out over a three point downtrend, noted by the first red line.
During that rise a very large price selloff occurred in early 2010 that no doubt shook teeth and generated widespread doubt. Big as the drop was, it did not negate any long-term structural factors on momentum. Nothing reversed that bull view on our part until momentum broke down in early 2012 (second red structure was violated – a line defined by many points along the line) at around price of $1700 (see middle of second chart above).
Then after the top in 2011/2012 and after momentum had already begun to cave, there came a hair curling rally in late summer 2012. But for annual momentum it was a laughable and uneventful rally. It did not alter the major downside that had already been signaled by momentum early that year. Therefore MSA was not impressed. Many no doubt went long thinking the gold bull was on again. Not!
The Gold Bull Market Breakout Then with momentum basing action that was optimally clear and massive, gold’s momentum broke out upside as price moved up into the mid-$1100s in February 2016. The massive flat red line on momentum was blasted through (see breakout on far right hand side of chart two above.
MSA remains resolutely bullish and asserts that a long-term annual momentum uptrend is underway . Exit if you must, based on your own level of risk tolerance (each investor and asset manager is different, after all), or if your time scale of participation is short-term.
MSA defines trends, often intermediate and short-term ones in many markets, but in the case of gold we argue that a long-term vista must dominate at this point in time, due to massive shifts underway in other asset categories. Implications of those shifts going forward are quite large, such that gold is likely to be at the forefront of world attention in the coming few years .
The Dream Of Investors But remember that the long-held dream of investors to capture and profit from large trends (like the three massive but simple trends shown on the prior page) can never be accomplished if one allows short-term or even intermediate-term trend indicators to have more gravitas than the ongoing long-term trend factors . In some markets that’s a reasonable approach, but at this point in time, with the annual trend dynamics underway, we caution about “trading” gold .
This annual bull signal is simply too young, has not reached any levels of upside excess, and the downturn on long-term momentum charts in the current selloff is not negating that which was screamed by gold’s annual momentum breakout in February. ***KWN has just released one of Art Cashin’s greatest audio interviews ever discussing the gold market at length, including the recent takedown in gold, what to surprises to expect in key markets as Trump becomes president, and what impact massive public works projects will have on the United States, inflation, gold, bonds, and much more. and you can listen to this extraordinary interview by CLICKING HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
***KWN has now released the extraordinary KWN audio interview with whistleblower Andrew Maguire, where he discusses the gold and silver smash, at what price the large sovereign wholesale bids are located, and much more, and you can listen to it by CLICKING HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
***ALSO JUST RELEASED: Whistleblower Andrew Maguire – This Is What The Commercials Banksters Are Up To In The Gold Market CLICK HERE.
© 2015 by King World News®. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. However, linking directly to the articles is permitted and encouraged. About author | 1real |
North Korea calls for a halt to 'brutal' sanctions | GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korea called on Friday for a halt to what it called “brutal sanctions”, saying the measures - imposed after its latest nuclear test - constituted genocide. “Today the U.S.-led racket of brutal sanctions and pressure against the DPRK constitutes contemporary human rights violation and genocide,” the North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva said in a statement. The sanctions regime “threatens and impedes the enjoyment by the people of DPRK of their human rights in all sectors”, it said. The call for an immediate end to the sanctions comes as U.S. President Donald Trump sets off on a trip to Asia - including China, South Korea and Japan - looking for help to pressure North Korea to stand down from the nuclear crisis. The global community has been ramping up the pressure on the isolated country after it conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test so far, on Sept. 3. Last month the United States unilaterally imposed sanctions on seven North Korean individuals and three entities over what it called serious human rights abuses, including forced labor. In September the U.N. Security Council strengthened its sanctions, including export bans as well as asset freezes and travel bans on various officials, North Korea’s response follows a U.N. expert last month saying international sanctions may be hurting key economic sectors and hampering the human rights of Pyongyang’s citizens. The sanctions meant that “some unprincipled countries have blocked the delivery of medical equipment and medicines”, the North Korean mission said on Friday, with the supplies destined for children and mothers in the country. “All types of anti-human rights and inhumane sanctions against the DPRK should be terminated immediately and thoroughly,” it said. | 0fake |
HE WAS SO CLOSE: We Were “Obamerica”…We Were More Tolerant…More Guilty…The End Of The 1st And 2nd Amendments Were Only A Clever Campaign Away…And Then America Woke Up | Obama and his supporters loved talking about history. His victory was historic. They were on the right side of history. History was an inevitable arc that bent their way.The tidal force of demographics had made the old America irrelevant. Any progressive policy agenda was now possible because we were no longer America. We Were Obamerica. A hip, happening place full of smiling gay couples, Muslim women in hijab and transgender actors. We were all going to live in a New York City coffee house, work at Green Jobs and live in the post-national future.The past was gone. We were falling into the gorgeous wonderful future of dot com instant deliveries and outsourced everything. We would become more tolerant and guilty. The future was Amazon and Disney. It was hot and cold running social justice. The Bill of Rights was done. Ending the First and Second Amendments was just a clever campaign away. Narratives on news sites drove everything.Presidents were elected by Saturday Night Live skits. John Oliver, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee were our journalists. Safe spaces were everywhere and you better watch your micro-aggressions, buddy. No more coal would be mined. No more anything would be made.The end of men was here. The end of the dead white men of the literary canon. The end of white people. The end of binary gender and marriage. The end of reason. The end of art. The end of 2 + 2 equaling 4. This was Common Core time. It was time to pardon an endless line of drug dealers. To kill cops and praise criminals. To be forced to buy worthless health insurance for wealth redistribution to those who voted their way to wealth.This was Obama s America. And there was no going back. We were rushing through endless goal posts of social transformation. The military fell. Then the police. Now it looks as quaint as anything from the 50s, the 70s or the 80s. A brief moment of foolishness that already appears odd and awkward. And then one day nostalgic. It wasn t the future. It s already the past. It s history.Scalia died. Hillary Clinton was bound to win. And she would define the Supreme Court. Down-ticket races would give her a friendly Senate. And then perhaps even the House.But there is no right side of history. There is only the side we choose. The Obama era was permanent. It was history.Now it is history.Its shocking ascendancy has been paired with an equally shocking descent. The Obama era is done. It s gone. It s over. It was wiped from the pages of history in one night that left Congress and the White House in Republican hands.It would have been bad enough if Jeb Bush had succeeded Obama. That would have been inconvenient, but not a repudiation. Instead Obama s legacy was dashed to pieces. His frantic efforts to campaign for Hillary did no good. The public did not vocally reject him. What they did was even worse. They brushed past him. They sidelined him. They gave him passable approval ratings while dismissing his biggest accomplishments. They forgot him. They made it clear that he did not matter.And that is in its own way far more brutal and wounding. They didn t just destroy the Obama era. Instead they dismissed it as if it never existed.Obama didn t make history after all. He wasn t a teleprompter demi-god standing athwart of history. He was Carter and Ford. He was there to be forgotten. He didn t change the world. He wasn t the messiah. He was merely a mortal. Just another politician who will sag and age. Who will, in the end, be photographed like Bill Clinton, lonely and lost in a world that has passed him by.The Obama era ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. With a national consensus that maybe he didn t really matter so much after all. And those to whom he mattered the most were his enemies determined to undo everything he did.Obama once thought that he belonged to the ages. Now he belongs in the rubbish bin.By Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. | 1real |
South Korea's president says will continue phasing out nuclear power | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea s President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday the government will continue to phase out nuclear-generated electricity, following a public opinion survey that dealt a blow to his plans to do so. We will completely stop all plans for the construction of new nuclear reactors like the government previously stated, Moon said in a statement distributed to reporters by his office. The government will also step up usage of natural gas and renewables in order to maintain its stance of phasing out nuclear-generated power. Moon s statement came after a public opinion survey on Friday found a majority of almost 60 percent in favor of resuming the stalled construction of two reactors. The president asked his supporters on Sunday to respect the outcome of the survey, which he called a wise and intelligent response. Completing the two reactors could mean a reversal of a strategy to slowly reduce nuclear energy s share of the power mix, and also significantly eat into the liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand of the world s second-largest consumer of the fuel. With the two reactors set to be completed in October 2021 and October 2022, according to state-run nuclear operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Moon said safety standards for nuclear plants would be ramped up. Moon also reiterated his plan to shut down the Wolsong No. 1 nuclear reactor, the nation s second-oldest, once the government confirms stability in energy supplies. The 697-megawatt reactor in southeastern South Korea was taken offline in 2012 after reaching its 30-year lifespan, but the regulator approved a restart a few years ago until 2022. South Korea has 24 nuclear reactors, supplying a third of its electricity. | 0fake |
White House looking at ethics rule to weaken special investigation: sources | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is exploring whether it can use an obscure ethics rule to undermine the special counsel investigation into ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russia, two people familiar with White House thinking said on Friday. Trump has said that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s hiring of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation “hurts our country terribly.” Within hours of Mueller’s appointment on Wednesday, the White House began reviewing the Code of Federal Regulations, which restricts newly hired government lawyers from investigating their prior law firm’s clients for one year after their hiring, the sources said. An executive order signed by Trump in January extended that period to two years. Mueller’s former law firm, WilmerHale, represents Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who met with a Russian bank executive in December, and the president’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who is a subject of a federal investigation. Legal experts said the ethics rule can be waived by the Justice Department, which appointed Mueller. He did not represent Kushner or Manafort directly at his former law firm. If the department did not grant a waiver, Mueller would be barred from investigating Kushner or Manafort, and this could greatly diminish the scope of the probe, experts said. The Justice Department is already reviewing Mueller’s background as well as any potential conflicts of interest, said department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores. Even if the Justice Department granted a waiver, the White House would consider using the ethics rule to create doubt about Mueller’s ability to do his job fairly, the sources said. Administration legal advisers have been asked to determine if there is a basis for this. Under this strategy, the sources said the administration would raise the issue in press conferences and public statements. Moreover, the White House has not ruled out the possibility of using the rule to challenge Mueller’s findings in court, should the investigation lead to prosecution. But the administration is now mainly focused on placing a cloud over his reputation for independence, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Kathleen Clark, a professor of legal ethics at Washington University School of Law, said the Justice Department can grant a waiver if concerns about bias are minimal. She said subjects of the investigation could later argue that its results cannot be trusted, but she believes the argument would not stand up in court. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether it is reviewing the ethics rule in order to undermine Mueller’s credibility. Mueller’s former colleagues at WilmerHale, James Quarles and Aaron Zebley, are expected to join his investigation, according to a spokeswoman for the law firm. Neither Quarles nor Zebley represented Kushner or Manafort. Mueller will now lead the ongoing Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into Trump’s associates and senior Russian officials. Unlike Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel appointed by a three-judge panel to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton’s real estate holdings in the 1990s, Mueller depends on the Justice Department for funding and he reports to Rosenstein, who was appointed by Trump. When he announced Mueller’s appointment this week, Rosenstein said Mueller will have “all appropriate resources to conduct a thorough and complete investigation.” | 0fake |
Damaged New Zealand fuel pipeline to be restarted Sunday: New Zealand Refining | SYDNEY (Reuters) - A damaged pipeline that resulted in a fuel shortage across New Zealand and grounded hundreds of flights will be restarted on Sunday after repairs were completed, officials said. This is a significant milestone, New Zealand Refining Co Ltd said in a statement on its website on Saturday. It said it expected to be delivering jet fuel to Auckland Airport between Monday and Wednesday. Repairs were completed late on Friday. More than 100 flights were canceled over the past three days and many more delayed, disrupting the plans of thousands of travelers. The government called in the military to help truck in supplies of fuel just days before a general election. Damage to the 170 km (105 miles) fuel line, which supplies almost all of the fuel for New Zealand s largest city, was believed to have been caused by a digger. Refining NZ Chief Executive Sjoerd Post later told New Zealand media that full capacity would probably not return until early next year. We are in a start-up process ... so we re going carefully, Post told Fairfax Media. He said the pipeline would operate at 80 per cent capacity until further tests were carried out over the next few months. The New Zealand government set up a commission to oversee the response to the crisis amid concerns raised by tourism industry officials about the impact on the international reputation of the South Pacific island nation. Tourism has soared to record levels of more than 3.4 million visitors a year to New Zealand. | 0fake |
Review: Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, at Home in ‘Bright Lights’ - The New York Times | Perhaps the documentary “Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds” would seem less poignant and compelling had its subjects not just died, or had they not died, stunningly, within a day of each other. But the movie’s plucky intimacy shines through that fog. It’s a portrait, not a tribute — though as the documentary reminds us, every portrait is in some way a tribute to something. The film, directed by the actor Fisher Stevens and Alexis Bloom, debuts on HBO Saturday night after the cable network moved up its premiere from March. That decision is hard to begrudge. As this movie makes evident, these two were no strangers to making headlines. Ms. Reynolds was well known to one generation for, in part, the tabloid bonanza surrounding her when her husband Eddie Fisher skipped out with her best friend, Elizabeth Taylor. Several other generations have grown up surrounded by all things Princess Leia, memorably played by Ms. Fisher in the “Star Wars” films. “Bright Lights” finds mother and daughter living in separate houses in what they call “the compound. ” Ms. Fisher takes a soufflé out of her oven and carries it on a tray down the path to her mother’s house. “I usually come to her,” Ms. Fisher says. She pauses. “I always come to her. ” Who wouldn’t? She’s Debbie Reynolds, movie star and cabaret performer. Ms. Reynolds rose to fame with cheery, wholesome roles, and even in her 80s could turn on that pert sunniness in a split second, so smoothly you’d never know it was an act — except that this is a documentary, and it includes the footage of just before this light clicks on. “It’s not my best day,” she sighs, sounding weary and a little as she and Mr. Stevens discuss where exactly the camera will be. And then — bing! — there she is, as perky as a kindergarten teacher. Because the gently quirky celebrity documentary is an enjoyable if standardized format, the potency of “Bright Lights” sneaks up on you. If it were just about its subjects’ huge, starry lives, that really would be enough for a documentary. But it also smartly, and subtly, pushes its audience to ask two of modern pop society’s central, uncomfortable questions: First, are famous people “real” people? And second, am I becoming my mother? By the time Mr. Stevens and Ms. Bloom start filming, this almost cosmic between mother and daughter seems to have resolved itself to a wry but balanced mutual orbit. Though both women seem a little reluctant to admit it, the similarities between them abound. Ms. Fisher’s house is decorated eclectically, with memorabilia and silly knickknacks everywhere. Ms. Reynolds’s collection is far more orderly: She was among Hollywood’s great archivists and had hoped to open a museum, but instead is resigned to auctioning off many of her pieces, including Marilyn Monroe’s famous dress from “The Seven Year Itch” and a pair of Judy Garland’s shoes from “The Wizard of Oz. ” “I like my ghosts,” she tells her daughter. Ms. Fisher is brainy and salty and hilarious, and she’s frank and eloquent in describing being bipolar. We see both archival and footage of Ms. Fisher in manic phases, and she’s articulate, artful even, about her . “One mood is the meal the next mood is the check,” she says. But she too knows how to flip the switch. She refers to her appearances at fan conventions as “the lap dance,” but engages with her fans nonetheless. A woman cries. Little girls in their Princess Leia costumes beam. Their heroine gamely poses for photo after photo, signing every manner of memorabilia. It’s not so different, really, from her mother’s cabaret act. That nightclub act comes up several times in “Bright Lights,” including footage of a Carrie being summoned to the stage to sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water. ” Her bold alto voice and sassy almost, but don’t quite, belie that she’s a barely cooperative teenager desperate to rebel. Ms. Fisher says she rejected singing more or less to spite her mother. Six or so years after that nightclub performance, she married Paul Simon. You know. The guy who wrote “Bridge Over Troubled Water. ” It’s all so Hollywood, so poetic, so dramatic. Despite their extraordinary circumstances, much of the family banter among Ms. Reynolds her son, Todd Fisher and Ms. Fisher seems like ordinary talk. Adult siblings agonize over an aging parent’s finances and . Mother and daughter have the same shoes. Brother and sister exchange knowing “well, that’s Mom” shrugs. There’s no people like show people, but Hollywood families are, somehow, still just families. | 0fake |
Hilarious: What “Small Talk” Among Friends Looks Like at The Moment | Pinterest
Robert Gehl reports that Newt Gingrich has accused Fox News’ Megyn Kelly of being “fascinated” by sex, and not caring at all about public policy in a shocking and startling interview.
The former Speaker of the House said Kelly showed “bias” for mentioning the groping allegations against Donald Trump.
Kelly responded by saying her fascination is not of “sex,” but of who was going to end up in the White House. Kelly has a history with Trump – getting into a shouting match with the Republican candidate over comments he made about women during a primary debate.
What set Gingrich off was Kelly’s mention of the leaked “sex boasts” tapes, where Trump is heard to say he grabs women by the genitals.
Gingrich attacked, saying the media was obsessed with spending time on the unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct, which Trump has denied. “You are fascinated with sex and you don’t care about public policy,” he said.
“I’m not fascinated by sex, but I’m fascinated about sexual predators,” Kelly said.
The bias the media has against Trump – especially focusing on sex – is historic.
“This is a scale of bias worthy of Pravda and Izvestia, ” Gingrich said.
Take a look at the awesome video: | 1real |
Two Major Breaking Allegations Against Michael Flynn And What Trump Knew | In a day filled with breaking news stories, this one is going almost unnoticed. A new report makes the bombshell (what s not a bombshell today?) allegation that Michael Flynn, who as at the time Donald Trump s National Security Advisor, convinced Trump to change a tactic in the War on Terror because Flynn was on Turkey s payroll.It all started even before Trump took office.The decision came 10 days before Donald Trump had been sworn in as president, in a conversation with President Barack Obama s national security adviser, Susan Rice, who had explained the Pentagon s plan to retake the Islamic State s de facto capital of Raqqa with Syrian Kurdish forces whom the Pentagon considered the U.S. s most effective military partners. Obama s national security team had decided to ask for Trump s sign-off, since the plan would all but certainly be executed after Trump had become president.Flynn didn t hesitate. According to timelines distributed by members of Congress in the weeks since, Flynn told Rice to hold off, a move that would delay the military operation for months.If Flynn explained his answer, that s not recorded, and it s not known whether he consulted anyone else on the transition team before rendering his verdict. But his position was consistent with the wishes of Turkey, which had long opposed the United States partnering with the Kurdish forces and which was his undeclared client.Flynn happened to have been paid more than $500,000 to represent Turkey. After Trump fired Flynn, he did finally go forward with the Raqqa plan.This story comes as a near-footnote to a breaking story from the New York Times that says that the Trump administration knew that Flynn was under investigation with the FBI before Trump even took office. Trump still hired Flynn and only fired him after it became public knowledge that Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail from Russia.It s no wonder that Trump has been pushing so hard to have the investigation into Flynn stopped, and it s no wonder he tried to blame President Obama s vetting of Flynn (Obama fired Flynn). To paraphrase the famous Watergate saying, we are only beginning to find out what Trump knew and now, when he knew it, and at best it s sloppy. At worst, we could be dealing with impeachment or treason. The defense of the United States should never be determined by the highest bidder.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images. | 1real |
Kentucky Woman Brutally Beaten By Man For Looking Too ‘Masculine’ While Onlookers Do NOTHING | Ever since the Supreme Court effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, a few things have happened. The number of anti-LGBT hate crimes has seemed to rise, the Christian Right has gone on the offensive (and, in the process, has been very offensive), and Republicans just can t stop talking about men kissing and the possibility of penises in women s restrooms. A Kentucky woman was a victim of one of the aforementioned hate crimes on Thursday simply because a man thought she looked too masculine and that s not even the worst part.Brittany Nicole Wallace wrote on her Facebook timeline that a man assaulted her because she looks like a dike. She recounted the horrifying experience:He told me that he would beat me like the man I want to be. He said, people like me make him hate the world . He started by hitting me over and over in the face until he got me down. After I was down he began to kick me in the stomach, side, and face. Anyone that knows me knows that I tried my best to fight back. The truth is he was bigger and stronger than me.Then it gets heartbreaking. Despite a number of onlookers, not a single person stepped in to help. Not a single person had the decency to recognize that a man beating a woman even after she was on the ground is wrong:I believe that if I had long hair and dressed more feminine this would not have happened to me. The sad part is that no one would come help me either. Several people stood around and watched this happen to me. Again, I truly believe that if I had a more feminine appearance someone would have helped.Despite the attack, Wallace says that it has strengthened her resolve to fight against this kind of hatred:This has not only physically but mentally and emotionally damaged me. I will do everything I can to try to put a stop to this hate and violence. I love people and try to help people all the time. All I ask if you read this is to please stop the hate, and help people when you see them getting hurt verbally, emotionally and physically!She even included photos of her injuries:This sort of hatred needs to stop. Unfortunately, half the country follows a party whose entire platform is built on hatred, whose frontrunner practices almost every form of bigotry possible. Unfortunately, with Right-Wing media and politicians constantly reminding their poorly educated followers of the alleged evils of the LGBT community. Even more unfortunately, we can expect this sort of thing if Republicans manage to win not only the Presidency, but seats in the Senate and House.We can t allow this to continue. Vote BLUE in November not just for the Oval Office, but for every office both local and national. Let s start undoing the damage done by the Republican Party.Featured image via Facebook | 1real |
HILLARY’S RIGHT-HAND WOMAN: HUMA ABEDIN’S Job At A Radical Muslim Journal Calls Into Question Security Clearance For State Department | Huma Abedin is no champion for female equality with her record of working closely with a radical Muslim Journal. Her family is known to be connected to some shady characters in the Muslim world BUT this hits home:Hillary Clinton s top campaign aide, and the woman who might be the future White House chief of staff to the first female US president, for a decade edited a radical Muslim publication that opposed women s rights and blamed the US for 9/11.One of Clinton s biggest accomplishments listed on her campaign Web site is her support for the UN women s conference in Bejing in 1995, when she famously declared, Women s rights are human rights. Her speech has emerged as a focal point of her campaign, featured prominently in last month s Morgan Freeman-narrated convention video introducing her as the Democratic nominee.However, soon after that historic and transformational 1995 event, as Clinton recently described it, her top aide Huma Abedin published articles in a Saudi journal taking Clinton s feminist platform apart, piece by piece. At the time, Abedin was assistant editor of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs working under her mother, who remains editor-in-chief. She was also working in the White House as an intern for then-First Lady Clinton.Headlined Women s Rights are Islamic Rights, a 1996 article argues that single moms, working moms and gay couples with children should not be recognized as families. It also states that more revealing dress ushered in by women s liberation directly translates into unwanted results of sexual promiscuity and irresponsibility and indirectly promote violence against women. In other words, sexually liberated women are just asking to be raped.Read more: NYP | 1real |
Why You Should Drink Carrot Juice Daily? How to Make Your Own? | 2 cups carrots, roughly chopped 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled 3⁄4 cup ice cubes
Directions:
Add all ingredients and blend it.
Enjoy. Health Benefits of Drinking Carrot Juice Prevents Cancer
Eating antioxidant-rich foods helps in fighting against these free radicals and thereby preventing the possibilities of the development of cancerous cells. Studies reveal that carrots juice is great sources of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin B, which collectively help in the fight against free radicals. Protects Brain Health
Carrots and carrot juice benefits brain health by helping to prevent against Alzheimer’s disease, improving memory, and defending against other types of cognitive decline. This is due to carrot’s ability to lower oxidative stress in the brain that can weaken nerve signaling capacity. Increases Metabolism
Phosphorous in carrot juice boosts the body’s metabolic rate, ensures optimal use of energy in the body, and decreases pain after a workout. Carrot juice contains a large amount of vitamin B complex, which helps in breaking down glucose, fat, and protein. It helps in building muscle and increasing metabolism, thus helping in weight loss. Cleanses The Liver
Carrot juice can cleanse and detoxifies the liver. The regular consumption of this tasty juice can help in releasing toxins from the liver. The bloodstream cannot rid the body of toxins and bile through the kidneys. They have to be ejected from the skin. Carrot juice aids this process and ensures that the harmful bile is removed from the body. Prevents Aging
The beta-carotenoid in carrots instantly turns into vitamin A once it enters the body. Therefore, drinking carrot juice can help in reducing cell degeneration, and it can also slow down the aging process. Control Cholesterol & Blood Sugar
Carrot juice works like a miracle in maintaining cholesterol and blood sugar levels, thanks to its potassium content. It is low in calories, and sugar content, and the essential vitamins and minerals present in it collectively work to prevent diabetes. Treats Macular Degeneration
Drinking carrot juice regularly can help elderly people avoid the risks of macular degeneration. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, which splits itself via an enzymatic reaction that leads to the formation of provitamin A. Strengthens the Bones
The vitamin K present in carrot juice contributes in the protein building process of the body. Aside from that, it also supports the binding of calcium, that can result in faster healing, especially if you have broken bones.
Sources: | 1real |
Re: The McAuliffe — FBI — Clinton payoff story just got a whole lot worse | — The Dishonorable DJT (@AceofSpadesHQ) October 27, 2016
Remember that WSJ story we told you about on Sunday that reported on a Gov. Terry McAuliffe super PAC that donated to the wife of a senior FBI official who just happened to take over Hillary Clinton’s email investigation?
Yeah … it just got a whole lot worse. Apparently Hillary Clinton herself was the one who raised the money for the super PAC that set off this entire chain of events in the first place! Alana Goodman of the Daily Mail reports: EXCLUSIVE: Clinton headlined fundraiser for McAuliffe group before it gave $500K to wife of FBI boss https://t.co/zOdL6yo8a2
Not only that, but Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook used to work for the McAuliffe’s super PAC:
Virginia election records show that Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook, a former McAuliffe aide, was also on the Common Good VA payroll before he joined her presidential campaign
Another coincidence? Again, nothing to see here…move along, anoint her president and let's be done with it. Unreal. #tcot #lnyhbt https://t.co/pthO0dqqNr | 1real |
Gorsuch, London, Republican Party: Your Thursday Evening Briefing - The New York Times | (Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. The House vote on the health care bill was delayed amid a swirl of Republican deal making and White House wrangling, but the Senate passed a measure to dismantle landmark internet privacy protections. Exactly when the health care vote will occur is not yet clear. The current version of the compromise bill strips away minimum requirements for coverage, like maternity care, hospitalization and prescriptions. Here are the changes made to the bill so far. And here is an easy way to see how it differs from Obamacare. The Daily podcast looks at why the Republicans are so divided. _____ 2. In the other major fight on Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats signaled a willingness to filibuster Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch. The judge, who emerged largely unscathed from 20 hours of Senate questioning over two days, appeared to be short of the eight Democratic votes he’ll need to proceed to a final confirmation vote. If the Democrats dig in, the Republican majority could change the rules to allow a simple majority vote to move the confirmation forward. _____ 3. The Islamic State claimed the deadly attack outside the British Parliament. The suspect, who was shot and killed, was identified as a man of Pakistani descent who had a long criminal history but no terrorism convictions. The four people he killed and dozens he injured came from around the world, and included a Utah man who’d been traveling with his wife. London fell back on its famed resolve. “It takes a lot to shake a Londoner,” one woman said. “The Blitz spirit lives on. ” _____ 4. A suspect in the some of the scores of bomb threats against Jewish community centers was arrested: a Jewish teenager in Israel. The authorities said the youth, a dual . S. citizen, used “advanced camouflage technologies” to mask the origin of his calls. His lawyer said he has a brain tumor. _____ 5. “He was particularly offended by black men who are with white women. His intent was to kill as many black men here in New York in particular. ” That was a prosecutor, explaining the case against this Army veteran, James Harris Jackson, who is facing murder charges in the fatal stabbing of a New Yorker, Timothy Caughman. A relative of Mr. Caughman wanted people to know that he lived a full life. _____ 6. Good news from California: Using NASA data, we compared this year’s snowpack in the Sierra Nevada with that of 2015, when the state was in the grip of drought. After a very wet winter, the totals have been remarkably big. And bad news from the Arctic, which has less sea ice at winter’s end than ever before in nearly four decades of satellite measurements. The extent of ice cover — a record low for the third straight year — is another indicator of the effects of global warming. _____ 7. “If my father were alive, I would not be spending the day in the bazaar. ” That’s one of the nearly 4 million boys and girls in Afghanistan who won’t be at school on Thursday, the first day of the new school year, because of violence, displacement and poverty. Another such child is above. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban captured the strategic district of Sangin in Helmand Province. More British and American Marines died in Sangin than in any of the country’s roughly 400 other districts. _____ 8. When couples divorce, who gets to keep the pets? Courts are shifting from treating them as property. Above, Charlene Lima, a Rhode Island state representative who has introduced legislation to encourage the legal system to act in the best interests of the animals. Alaska already has such a law. A particularly contentious legal fight in San Diego over Gigi the dog lasted two years, cost $150, 000 and involved a “bonding study” by an animal behaviorist. _____ 9. John Mayer knows he messed up. As the finished a new album this month, he reflected on his 2010 undoing. (In comments to two magazines, he called his penis David Duke, and used a racial epithet, among other highlights.) “What has to happen for a guy to believe that he’s totally and be that far out of touch?” he said. “My GPS was shattered, just shattered. ” _____ 10. In other navigational fails, Stephen Colbert lamented that he missed a sex scandal involving a rear admiral named Bruce Loveless amid the cacophony of news from Washington. “What has happened to us as a nation?” he grumbled. Indeed, there’s just so much news that keeping up can be overwhelming — not to mention going the extra mile to see events from alternative perspectives. So we’re making it easier, with a collection of political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen. Have a great night. _____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 0fake |
Obama: dark Trump vision 'doesn't really jibe' with facts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The dark vision of America under siege described by Donald Trump in his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination does not mesh with reality, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday. Obama noted that the “birds were chirping and the sun was out” for most Americans after Trump’s Thursday night speech, which expounded on the threats to America from illegal immigrants, Islamic State militants, and race-related violence. “This idea that America is somehow on the verge of collapse, this vision of violence and chaos everywhere, doesn’t really jibe with the experience of most people,” Obama said at a White House news conference after meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. Obama said the violent crime rate in America has been lower during his 7-1/2 years in office than any time during the last three or four decades, despite an “uptick” in murders in some cities this year, and the recent high-profile killings of black men and police officers. The timing of Obama’s quickly arranged short meeting with Pena Nieto presented both leaders with a convenient platform from which to criticize Trump. Just three weeks ago, Obama - who has six months left in the White House - invited the Mexican president to visit one last time before the U.S. president leaves on Jan. 20. Trump has pledged to build a wall at the Mexico border to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs, and to force Mexico to pay for it. The New York businessman has also promised to slap tariffs on some U.S. products made in Mexico, and seek radical changes or even discard the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Pena Nieto was first to mention Trump, but said he respected both Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and would work with constructively and in good faith with whoever wins the Nov. 8 election. In March, Pena Nieto likened Trump’s “strident tone” to the ascent of dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. But he said on Friday that he had never pointed the finger at any of the candidates, saying that anything he had said had been taken out of context. And he stressed that the two nations’ futures were closely bound. “The closeness between the United States and Mexico is more than a relationship between governments. It’s a solid and unbreakable relationship between millions of people who live in both nations,” Pena Nieto said. Obama said the rate of illegal immigration is down from past decades, and praised Mexico for helping to address a flood of migrants fleeing Central America and for work on drug trafficking. “A Mexico that has a healthy economy, a Mexico that can help us build stability and security in Central America, that’s going to do a lot more to solve any migration crisis or drug trafficking problem than a wall,” Obama said. Obama and Pena Nieto praised the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal as addressing some of the criticisms of NAFTA. Both Trump and Clinton have said they oppose the TPP, which has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Congress. “There are going to be different visions about where we should go as a country,” Obama said, running down a list of economic issues facing the nation. “But we’re not going to make good decisions based on fears that don’t have a basis in fact,” he said. | 0fake |
Bill O’Reilly Writes INFURIATING Blog Post On Las Vegas Massacre – It’s Absolutely Vile | Like increasing numbers of heartless people on the right, Bill O Reilly has weighed in on the Las Vegas massacre with one of the worst things you can say about any mass shooting. The former Fox News host is an avid 2nd Amendment fan, meaning he believes that guns are more important than people s lives, and he reminded us that he feels that way in an absolutely disgusting blog post today. The NRA and its supporters want easy access to weapons, while the left wants them banned, he says. Sorry, but easy access to weapons is a big part of the problem. Stephen Paddock had multiple firearms and clips, and over 100 rounds of ammunition. In videos of the shooting you can hear the rapid fire of assault weapons. Guns are already too easy to get.The fact that Paddock managed to kill over 50 people and wound more than 500 more from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay, which has no balconies or patios, is proof positive that more guns is not the answer. All the good guys with guns in the world would not have stopped that. But the above isn t what makes Billo the Clown so repugnant right now. It s what he said afterward, about the price of freedom, that s so vile: This is the price of freedom. Violent nuts are allowed to roam free until they do damage, no matter how threatening they are.The Second Amendment is clear that Americans have a right to arm themselves for protection. Even the loons. Three words come to mind: FUCK. OFF. ASSHOLE. The 2nd Amendment makes clear no such thing. All we can conclude from this is that NRA-types like him no longer value American lives. If they did, they d be calling up all their Congresspeople (like we all should be doing right now) and demanding a thorough review of current federal laws regarding gun ownership to determine how best to prevent things like this in the future. They d be calling their state lawmakers (again, like we all should be doing) and demanding their states do the same thing.The House is supposed to vote on a law that loosens regulations on silencers today. How bad would it have been if Paddock had managed to silence his weapon? It would have taken longer for people to figure out what was happening and even more would have died. But conservatives, both Republican and Democrat, are saying, Oh, we have to protect the hearing of hunters and sport shooters. Really? This target shooter knows there are squillions of other ways to do that. Protecting people s hearing, is a ridiculous and tone-deaf rationalization for what they re about to do. Lives lost in senseless massacres like this should never be the price of freedom. Any freedom.The time to debate gun laws is after gun violence.The time to debate climate change is after hurricanes.The time is now.#Resist Alt Sarah H. Sanders (@AltUSPressSec) October 2, 2017And Bill O Reilly can go rot.Featured image via Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images | 1real |
U.S. stance on auto industry sows more doubt about NAFTA overhaul | ARLINGTON, Va. (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Friday demanded that U.S.-made content account for half the value of the cars and trucks sold under the North American Free Trade Agreement, raising further doubts about any potential deal to renew the pact. Three sources briefed on the protectionist U.S. proposal, which is in line with President Donald Trump’s goal of shrinking a trade deficit with Mexico and stemming the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, said it also seeks sharply higher North American automotive content overall. The proposal was made during contentious talks in Washington, in the fourth of seven planned rounds of negotiations to overhaul the treaty. Some Mexican sources denounced it as “absurd,” but Juan Carlos Baker, Mexico’s deputy economy minister, put a brave face on the state of NAFTA negotiations at the halfway point. “There’s no question there are some difficult proposals,” Baker told reporters at Mexico’s embassy in Washington. He said Mexico will consider all of them, though he said, “It’s clear to us that there are certain things that are proposals that go against the country’s objectives.” Trump, who claims that the original 1994 pact has been a disaster for the United States, is threatening to walk away from the agreement unless major changes are made. Washington’s auto industry gambit came hot on the heels of its demand that NAFTA also contain a so-called sunset clause. That could mean any new deal expires in five years, an idea that Canada and Mexico also strongly oppose. Although sources briefed on the talks describe the mood as sour, Mexican and Canadian politicians say there is no question of leaving the table for now. A collapse of NAFTA would wreak havoc throughout the North American economy, disrupting highly integrated manufacturing supply chains and agricultural exports with steep tariffs that would snap back into place. Trade among the three countries has more than quadrupled since 1994 to over $1.2 trillion annually. Sources close to the talks said Washington wants to increase the North American content requirement for trucks, autos and large engines to 85 percent from 62.5 percent over a period of years. That is in addition to its insistence that 50 percent of the products used in vehicle be U.S.-made within the first year of a signed deal. The proposal also requires that steel, aluminum, copper, plastics, electronics and other parts be sourced from North America for vehicles to qualify for NAFTA tariff-free status. Trump has made clear he prefers bilateral trade deals, and skeptics wonder whether the U.S. demands are part of an “America First” strategy designed to ensure the current talks fail. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has listed the demand for a greater use of U.S.-made products for vehicles among a number of “poison pill” proposals that it said would torpedo the talks. {nL4N1ML4JW] The chamber says the proposal would cost jobs, since automakers and parts suppliers would likely forgo NAFTA benefits and simply pay the 2.5 percent U.S. tariff for imported cars and many parts. Unifor, the union which represents most of Canada’s auto workers, said the U.S. proposals were deliberately untenable. “Frankly, I think this is a bully move by the American government,” Unifor President Jerry Dias said in a statement. Trump officials say current rules are too lax and allow auto companies to bring in too many cheap parts from China and other low-wage Asian countries. Mexico is heavily dependent on the United States and NAFTA for its economic viability, and uncertainty over the outcome of the talks helped push the Mexican peso to near five-month lows this week. Canadian officials said it was too soon to write off the deal-making process. They noted that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo were due to meet in Washington on Tuesday to take stock of the negotiations. Separately, U.S. negotiators on Friday formally asked Canada to address a bilateral dispute over dairy pricing, a request the Canadians are set to resist, sources familiar with the talks said. | 0fake |
London life laid bare in rubbish along the Thames | LONDON (Reuters) - Bones, a moldy hot water bottle, a pair of rusty pliers and a pristine pair of women s pants are among the eclectic cast-offs Reuters photographer Stefan Wermuth has found along the River Thames. Wermuth spent two months collecting items along the riverside to give a snapshot of the litter that finds its way into the waterway that runs through the heart of London. For the photo essay, click on: reut.rs/2yyarEZ A gold-plated watch, a letter in Lithuanian in a bottle and a mobile phone were also retrieved from along the shores of the river, which has undergone extensive cleanups since the Natural History Museum declared the Thames biologically dead in 1957. Today, marine life including seals, porpoises and dolphins have been spotted swimming alongside fish and a hard drive that Wermuth found littering the murky waters. Pollution remains a problem. In March, Thames Water was handed a record 20 million pound ($26 million) fine for pumping sewage into the river. The water company apologized for its failings and said it was working to improve rivers. London municipal authorities say 4,000 plastic bottles were removed from the river over a one-month period alone last year, demonstrating the scale of the waste problem. The impact of pollution on marine life in the Thames has in recent years prompted campaigns to encourage Londoners to make sure their rubbish goes in the bin - rather than the water. | 0fake |
Exclusive-Rep. Kevin Brady: ’It Is Clear We Don’t Have the Votes’ to Pass Ryancare - Breitbart | The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee told Breitbart News Thursday evening he is looking for a compromise that will allow Speaker Paul Ryan (R. )’s American Health Care Act to move forward for a vote on the House floor. [“We are listening to our colleagues, from those who are the most conservative to those who are the most moderate, about what are the final solutions that we need to achieve, so we can reach consensus,” said Rep. Kevin Brady (R. ) whose committee approved the RyanCare bill March 9. Brady is one of the committee chairmen who approved the “manager’s amendments” Monday, which made modest changes to the bill. Thursday’s vote on the bill was canceled by Ryan after a bloc of conservatives, led by the House Freedom Caucus, secured north of 25 “no” votes. With 237 GOP congressman, Ryan cannot lose more 22 votes to reach the 216 votes required for passage. The Ryancare bill is still a work in progress, Brady said. “While it’s clear we do not have the votes, no one is walking away from the table — that means our members here in the House and certainly not in the White House as well, so let’s stay at the table,” he said. “There are a number of new solutions to try to reach that common ground let’s just keep working towards it,” he said. Breitbart News spoke to the chairman less than 100 feet from Ryan’s office, where the speaker was meeting with members of the House Freedom Caucus and senior aides to President Donald Trump. | 0fake |
Trump’s Healthcare Bill Would Force This Mom To Pay Her 3-Year-Old Son’s Entire $231,000 Medical Bill | If you want to know just how bad Donald Trump s healthcare bill would be for this country, just ask Ali Chandra.Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Chandra was able to get health insurance for her three-year-old son, who has a pre-existing condition known as heterotaxy syndrome, a defect he was born with. Heterotaxy syndrome literally means different arrangements, Chandra explained to CNN on Sunday. Ethan was born with nine heart defects nine congenital heart defects. He has two left lungs, five or so spleens of dubious function, and his liver and his gallbladder are down the middle of his body along with his heart, and then his stomach is on the right side instead of the left side. Here s the video via YouTube.Any human being, especially parents, should sympathize with Chandra and what she and her family are going through.But their situation would be much worse if the Trumpcare bill passes Congress and is signed into law. The protections guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, would vanish. And that could mean financial ruin for Chandra and her family, and the loss of the care Ethan needs.You see, without insurance and the protections Obamacare provides, Chandra would have to pay $231,000 instead of just $500 for the medical care Ethan has received. She even posted the bill on Twitter and proceeded to explain what s at stake.It seems fitting that, with the #TrumpCare debate raging, I got this bill in the mail today from Ethan s most recent open heart surgery. pic.twitter.com/pyUE2UxbWW Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017I ll save you some math; without insurance we would owe $231,115 for 10 hours in the OR, 1 week in the CICU and 1 week on the cardiac floor. pic.twitter.com/CQ9OjOsFX8 Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017He s had four of these surgeries, some more involved than others. The one before this had him in the CICU for three weeks. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017So far, Ethan s care has gone over the $1 million mark. Trump s healthcare bill would put lifetime caps on benefits, which means insurance companies would be able to deny coverage to Ethan after reaching a fixed dollar amount. That means no healthcare for Ethan unless his family goes broke to save him.That s not only cruel, it s inhumane, especially since Republicans claim to be pro-life. And Ethan s medical care is not done yet.We re hopeful that going forwards he ll need fewer and smaller surgeries, but this was not the last time they ll open his chest. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017The surgeon who created what we call Ethan s Picasso heart, shaping 4 chambers from the 2 he was born with, is several states away. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017We also regularly see a local cardiologist, and electrophysiologist for his pacemaker, a pediatrician, & immunology for his polysplenia. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017He takes 5 different prescription medications multiple times a day. All of this adds up. None of this would be possible without insurance. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017And I want you to go look at that number again. Nearly a quarter million dollars for one surgery. Reinstate lifetime caps and he s out. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017He blew past the million dollar mark long ago; I haven t even mentioned the ER trips for sepsis workups every time his temp goes above 100.4 Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017Or the surprise admissions that sometimes follow those ER visits when his body just isn t strong enough to fight a common virus at home. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017Donald Trump and the Republican Party should be fighting to save this boy s life, not trying to kill him by taking away his healthcare.Furthermore, the astronomical price of Ethan s healthcare is morally wrong considering what similar medical care costs in other developed nations, especially those with socialized systems. According to Twitter users who commented on Chandra s post, Ethan s medical bills in nations such as Sweden and England would be far less.In Sweden max $130/year for healthcare and another $260/year for meds. My breast cancer costed me about $700 incl hysterektomi op Annika Dahlberg (@LoveMyLotus) June 24, 2017NHS has huge problems but it does work. I have three 1st hand examples of how serious, prolonged, excellent care costs ZERO. Richard Ingham Evans (@Ringham7) June 24, 2017Indeed, in 2015, a British couple unexpectedly had to have their baby delivered in an American hospital and end up being slapped with a $200,000 medical bill for something that would have been free at a National Health Service hospital or only $15,000 at a private facility in the UK.So whether provided by the government or by private hospitals, healthcare is far less expensive in other nations and is provided to all.That s what we need in America. Instead, Republicans are working on stripping healthcare away from millions of people.But Chandra is determined to fight for her son s life even if Republicans wont.A lifetime cap on benefits is the same as saying, Sorry, you re not worth keeping alive anymore. You re just too expensive. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017Look my son in the eyes and tell him that he s fought so hard to be here but sorry, you re just not worth it anymore. I dare you. pic.twitter.com/IgdQOounyB Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
Heiress To Disney Empire Knows GOP Scammed Us – SHREDS Them For Tax Bill | Abigail Disney is an heiress with brass ovaries who will profit from the GOP tax scam bill but isn t into f-cking poor people over. Ms. Disney penned an op-ed for USA Today in which she rips the GOP a new one because she has always been cognizant of income and wealth inequality. In other words, she is not Donald Trump, Paul Ryan or Bob Corker. Or Mitch McConnell. She is Abigail Disney, dammit. Since the election of Ronald Reagan, the gap between rich and poor has grown dramatically and trickle down economics has turned out to cause more of a trickle up, she writes. But nothing has brought the problem of inequality into sharper focus for me than the current proposals by Republicans to overhaul the tax system. Disney says that this proposal will be burdensome to the middle class while decreasing the responsibility of the wealthy to contribute to the common good. And then she dropped a truth bomb. (We like truth bombs.)Republicans insist this plan will cut taxes for the middle class, but the truth is that any meager savings will be offset by losses elsewhere in deductions no longer allowed, loss of Medicaid and Medicare coverage, and less funding for education, all of which are on the chopping block in order to provide a tax cut for a few very wealthy people like me. There is even a tax break to private jet owners. This bill will give me this tax cut while also killing health insurance for over 13 million people, Disney wrote. It will let me pass over $20 million to my children, tax-free. And all my friends with private jets? They get a tax cut too. With a suffocating education system, a dying infrastructure and a national debt that will be at least $1.5 trillion bigger, that social mobility will be far out of reach for people like you, Disney continued. But I will be able to stay comfortably right where I am. Does that strike you as fair? No, it does not, thankyouverymuch. But given how this bill was written, I think it s looking a lot like a nightmare from Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney wrote. Have I made you angry yet? I really hope I ve made you angry. You should be. No one who votes for this tax bill will be voting with your life in mind. But you will pay for it. Watch:This Disney heiress is taking a stand against the GOP tax bill even though she s going to benefit from it pic.twitter.com/E5bmcI83mU NowThis (@nowthisnews) December 20, 2017 If democracy is just a bunch of people advocating for their own self-interest instead of the interests of the greater good, then we re not a democracy, we re anarchy, Disney added. We need to start voting and acting as citizens as though the common good matters more than our own personal well-being. This isn t tax reform. It s a heist.Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images for Burda Media. | 1real |
U.S. policy on Iran won't harm its oil industry: minister | LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump s revised hardline policy towards Iran will have little impact on Tehran s ambition to develop its vital oil industry and attract foreign investment, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday. The Islamic Republic hopes to signs 10 new deals with foreign companies to develop oil and gas fields by March 2018, Amir Zamaninia, Iran s deputy oil minister for trade and international affairs, told the Oil & Money conference in London. Trump s decision last Friday not to certify that Iran was complying with last year s international deal on its nuclear power development program will not detract from Tehran s plans, he said. I don t think any of us, or any of our partners have been surprised by this statement. Our expectations of policy formulation from Washington have been very measured, he said. The (U.S.) statement and policy ... has little or no effect and implication on our future plan in the oil industry, Zamaninia said. Iran is negotiating 28 contracts with foreign companies, including many of Europe s top oil companies, under a new development contract, he added. France s Total (TOTF.PA) became in July the first Western oil major to re-enter Iran following the lifting of international sanctions with an agreement to develop the giant South Pars offshore gas field. Total s chief executive officer said in an interview with International Oil Daily the company will wait to see the impact of Trump s decision and that it will try to continue with it if the United States imposes unilateral sanctions. We have signed a contract in Iran. If we can move forward, we ll move forward. If we cannot, we will have to stop, Patrick Pouyanne said. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has also signed an agreement with Iran for the possible development of oil and gas fields. Iran, which holds the world s largest gas reserves, plans to boost its gas production to 1.1 billion cubic meters per day by 2021 from the current 800 million bcm per day, Zamaninia said. The OPEC member also aims to raise its oil production capacity to 4.7 million barrels per day by 2021 from the current 3.8 million bpd, he said. He said that the major oilfields - Azadegan, Yadavaran, Abteymour and Mansouri - have potential to increase output by 2 million bpd combined. | 0fake |
Let’s Be Clear – A Vote For Warmonger Hillary Clinton Is A Vote For World War 3 | By Michael Snyder, End of the American Dream .
If you want to see war without end, vote for Hillary Clinton. It is tremendously ironic that Hillary Clinton and the mainstream media have attempted to portray Donald Trump as “dangerous” and “temperamental”, because it is Clinton that actually has a long history of being emotionally unstable. She has a temper that is absolutely legendary, and she has been cussing out the men and women in her security detail for decades . Hillary Clinton played a key role in starting the civil war in Syria, thanks to her Libya is a post-apocalyptic wasteland today, and now she is picking a fight with the Russians before she has even won the election. Of all the candidates there were running for president this election cycle, there was nobody that was even close to as dangerous as Hillary Clinton, and if she wins the election I am fully convinced that World War 3 will begin before her time in the White House is over.
Someone that shares this opinion with me is Donald Trump. According to Reuters , Trump recently stated that we are “going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton”…
On Syria’s civil war, Trump said Clinton could drag the United States into a world war with a more aggressive posture toward resolving the conflict.
Clinton has called for the establishment of a no-fly zone and “safe zones” on the ground to protect non-combatants. Some analysts fear that protecting those zones could bring the United States into direct conflict with Russian fighter jets.
“What we should do is focus on ISIS. We should not be focusing on Syria,” said Trump as he dined on fried eggs and sausage at his Trump National Doral golf resort. “You’re going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton.”
In order to have a no-fly zone in Syria, you would have to enforce it.
And in order to enforce it, you would have to be willing to shoot at the Russians.
According to National Intelligence Director James Clapper , that could have dire consequences…
Russia could shoot down a U.S. aircraft if a no-fly zone were imposed over Syria, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t put it past them to shoot down an American aircraft if they felt that was threatening to their forces on the ground,” Clapper said, speaking with CBS’ Charlie Rose at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York about several national security issues.
Of course Clapper is not alone in that assessment. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Francis Dunford, says that imposing a no-fly zone over all of Syria “would require us to go to war” …
“Right now, Senator, for us to control all of the airspace in Syria it would require us to go to war, against Syria and Russia,… That’s a pretty fundamental decision that certainly I’m not going to make.” ( Senate Armed Services Committee, September 22, 2016, emphasis added)
But Hillary Clinton is unwavering in her position that this is what she wants.
You see, the truth is that Hillary Clinton wants to win the war that she started in Syria. Back in 2011, she spearheaded an effort along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to try to use the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East as an opportunity to try to overthrow President Assad in Syria. If it wasn’t for her meddling, millions of refugees would not be pouring into Europe and elsewhere, and there would be no “humanitarian crisis” in Syria at all.
Thanks to Russian intervention, the war in Syria is not too far from being over, but the Obama administration is desperate to keep it going. They understand that if Assad is victorious that all of their efforts for the last five years have been wasted, and that is why they are so determined to keep Aleppo from falling. Without Aleppo, many of the jihadist rebels that the Obama administration has been supporting won’t have anywhere to hide.
So the Obama administration has actually been considering direct strikes against the Syrian military, and the Russians have already said that they will not allow this to happen . If Obama is insane enough to order airstrikes against Syrian forces and the Russians start shooting back, that could set off a chain of events that could rapidly spiral completely out of control.
One recent survey found that current American leadership has a 1 percent approval rating in Russia right now, and the Russians dislike Hillary Clinton even more than they dislike Barack Obama. The Russians know that if Hillary Clinton is elected that it is quite likely that they will have to fight a war with us, and that is why they desperately want Donald Trump to win in November. You can see this outlook reflected in comments that Russian President Vladimir Putin recently made about the two candidates …
“Mrs. Clinton has chosen to take up a very aggressive stance against our country, against Russia. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, calls for cooperation – at least when it comes to the international fight against terrorism,” Putin said.
“Naturally we welcome those who would like to cooperate with us. And we consider it wrong, that we always have to be in conflict with one another, creating existential threats for each other and for the whole world,” Putin noted.
Anyone that watched the three presidential debates could see that Hillary Clinton is absolutely seething with animosity for Russia. The thought of her finger on the nuclear trigger is almost too terrible to contemplate, but it may soon become a reality.
And even now, the Obama administration and our NATO allies are shifting forces into position for a confrontation with Moscow. This week it is being reported that NATO troops will soon be sent to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania … Nine hundred US troops are to be sent to eastern Europe next year as America’s troubled relationship with Russia enters new, uncertain territory. A US-led battle group of NATO allied soldiers will be sent to Poland as part of the multi-nation operation. British forces will lead one of the four battle groups in Estonia, Canada will spearhead the presence in Latvia and Germany will be present in Lithuania.
In addition, Infowars is reporting that U.S. Marines will soon be stationed in Norway near the border with Russia…
After accepting a Pentagon proposal, Norway will host US Marines at a base near the Russian border as Russia deploys nuclear-capable ships to Kaliningrad.
A rotating force of approximately 330 Marines will be stationed at an airfield in the city of Vaernes, just outside Trondheim, beginning in January. Norway and Russia share an 122-mile border in the Arctic.
“The US initiative to augment their training and exercises in Norway by locating a Marine Corps Rotational Force in Norway is highly welcome and will have positive implications for our already strong bilateral relationship,” said Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide.
Most Americans aren’t aware of any of this, nor do they really care about our relationship with Russia.
But in Russia things are completely different. The possibility of war with the United States is the biggest news story over there these days , and feverish preparations are being made for a potential nuclear confrontation …
Russian authorities have stepped up nuclear-war survival measures amid a showdown with Washington, dusting off Soviet-era civil-defense plans and upgrading bomb shelters in the biggest cities.
At the Kremlin’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Cold War is back.
The country recently held its biggest civil defense drills since the collapse of the U.S.S.R., with what officials said were 40 million people rehearsing a response to chemical and nuclear threats.
I know that I have been writing about this over and over , but the truth is that we are on a path to war with Russia, and the election of Hillary Clinton would greatly accelerate the march toward war. | 1real |
Republican 2016 platform calls for reinstating 1933 banking law | CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The U.S. Republican Party on Monday approved a new policy platform that calls for reinstating the 1933 Glass-Steagall law requiring the separation of commercial and investment banking, an addition White House hopeful Donald Trump’s campaign said it backed. Trump, who will formally accept the Republican presidential nomination in Cleveland this week, has vowed to dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that was passed under President Barack Obama following the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The language in the Republican platform offered further details on Trump’s regulatory policies. Trump, who has sought to cast himself as a populist, has accused presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton of being too close to Wall Street. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, signed the legislation that repealed Glass-Steagall in 1999. “The Obama-Clinton years have passed legislation that has been favorable to the big banks, which is why you see all the Wall Street money going to her,” Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, told reporters on Monday. “They know she’s their champion, and they are supporting her fully.” Some U.S. lawmakers in both parties support a modern Glass-Steagall to keep banks from becoming “too big to fail,” or so big their collapse would destabilize the financial system. The Democratic Party’s 2016 platform, which has not been approved, calls for an updated version. Republicans universally despise Dodd-Frank, which their platform calls “Democrats’ legislative Godzilla.” But senior congressional Republicans back other alternatives. “Glass-Steagall is dumb politics and dumb economics,” said Tony Fratto, who worked in the administration of Republican President George W. Bush. “Returning to Glass-Steagall would be destructive and unworkable.” Clinton has said she would break up banks based on risk, not size, and frequently focuses on the risks posed by non-bank institutions. Manafort listed the Glass-Steagall language among platform points he said “reflect the issues that Mr. Trump has raised during the course of the campaign,” including building a wall at the border with Mexico and calling for tougher trade deals. The platform also calls for control of national parks and other lands to be handed over to states, an effort by the party’s conservative wing that got national attention during a 2014 standoff involving a Nevada cattle rancher. | 0fake |
Storm That Roared Through the South Sweeps Into the Northeast - The New York Times | The storm that devastated parts of the South over the weekend swept into the Northeast with strong gusts of wind and heavy rain, knocking down power lines and tree branches, flooding some coastal towns and disrupting transit across the region. By Tuesday morning, the worst of the storm had passed. The damage was significantly less than the storm’s southern passage, which left at least 20 people dead, including 15 in Georgia. On the Jersey Shore, flooding closed some roads in places like Wildwood, Atlantic City and Sea Bright. Photographs and videos shared on social media showed water pooling in and outside of the Hoboken Terminal. On the South Shore of Long Island, rain flooded the streets in Freeport and Lindenhurst. Some New Jersey school districts were closed or delayed opening on Tuesday because of the weather. In New York, small sections of the Belt Parkway, Van Wyck Expressway and Expressway were flooded briefly. Power failures were reported in parts of Long Island, New Jersey, Staten Island and Queens. Wind speeds of more than 60 miles per hour in New Jersey and about 40 m. p. h. in New York prompted warnings from city officials on Monday, but the wind tapered significantly by Tuesday morning. The storm surge caused water to rise about feet in New York, which officials described as mild. About 70 to 80 trees were blown down, said Nancy Silvestri, a spokeswoman for the New York City Emergency Management Department. “There are no major impacts from either last night’s high tide period or this morning,” Ms. Silvestri said. Residents from around the region spoke about the inconveniences and less about damage: The memory of hurricane Sandy, which caused a storm surge of more than 10 feet in places and left behind significantly more destruction, loomed larger. Sam Patel, owner of a Welsh Farms convenience store in Asbury Park, N. J. said the electricity went out a few times Monday night but came back on within five minutes. The wind also ripped off a piece of his storm gutter, which he refastened with tape. “All day the gusts were just like the classic hurricane type,” he said. “You could hear the rattling of the gutters, the hissing. ” What spared the area, he said, was that the rain was not particularly heavy. In Monmouth Beach, N. J. some flooded streets were blocked off with orange traffic cones. Tattered flags shook on flagpoles in a wind that had yet to fully dissipate on Tuesday morning. Toppled trash cans dotted main commercial streets. In Lindenhurst, Long Island, high tide peaked around 7:20 a. m. The canal used for crabbing and swimming in the summertime had overflowed into the road. Curbs disappeared under the pooled water. The six inches of floodwater did not reach the levels left by Hurricane Sandy, when “you could go kayaking in the streets,” said Darren Greene, 13, waiting for a bus to take him to school. He was not entirely confident about when, or if, the bus would come. The road had been blocked off just past the stop. Michael Gandolfi, his wife and their son were stuck at home in Lindenhurst with about a foot of water in front of their house. So Mr. Gandolfi, 37, planned to use the day to play with his boats. In the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, small bodies of water covered roads. But the delivery crews, workers and early risers navigating the streets before dawn on Tuesday were not fazed. Alongside the loading docks of a Fairway Market grocery store, a pool of water formed the width of the street and about 50 yards long. “It’s like this any time it rains hard,” a Fairway employee said. A couple of drivers used a swath of the dry curb to pass, while a motorist in a vehicle charged through the pool of water. Bruce Sullivan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, described the storm on Monday as a “strong nor’easter,” because of the high winds and heavy rain. The storm had deposited between an inch and an inch and a half of rain by Tuesday morning. Passengers at the region’s three major airports had faced long delays and cancellations on Monday. The weather forced the suspension of AirTrain service at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday buses ran in its place. New Jersey Transit and Amtrak temporarily suspended service along some lines on Monday because of downed power lines. Two systems contributed to the storm, Mr. Sullivan said. One, from the south, was weakening as another moved in from off the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula. | 0fake |
Online School Enriches Affiliated Companies if Not Its Students - The New York Times | COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, an online charter school based here, graduated 2, 371 students last spring. At the commencement ceremony, a student speaker triumphantly told her classmates that the group was “the graduating high school class in the nation. ” What she did not say was this: Despite the huge number of graduates — this year, the school is on track to graduate 2, 300 — more students drop out of the Electronic Classroom or fail to finish high school within four years than at any other school in the country, according to federal data. For every 100 students who graduate on time, 80 do not. Even as the national graduation rate has hit a record high of 82 percent, publicly funded online schools like the Electronic Classroom have become the new dropout factories. These schools take on students with unorthodox needs — like serious medical problems or experiences with bullying — that traditional districts may find difficult to meet. But with no physical classrooms and high ratios, they cannot provide support in person. “If you’re disconnected or struggling or you haven’t done well in school before, it’s going to be tough to succeed in this environment,” said Robert Balfanz, the director of the Everyone Graduates Center, a nonprofit research and advocacy group in Baltimore. Virtual schools have experienced explosive growth nationwide in recent years, financed mostly by state money. But according to a report released on Tuesday by America’s Promise Alliance, a consortium of education advocacy groups, the average graduation rate at online schools is 40 percent. Few states have as many students in as Ohio. Online charter schools here are educating one out of every 26 high school students, yet their graduation rates are worse than those in the state’s most impoverished cities, including Cleveland and Youngstown. With 17, 000 pupils, most in high school, the Electronic Classroom is the largest online school in the state. Students and teachers work from home on computers, communicating by email or on the school’s web platform at distances that can be hundreds of miles apart. In 2014, the school’s graduation rate did not even reach 39 percent. Because of this poor record, as well as concerns about student performance on standardized tests, the school is now under “corrective action” by a state regulator, which is determining its next steps. But while some students may not have found success at the school, the Electronic Classroom has richly rewarded private companies affiliated with its founder, William Lager, a software executive. When students enroll in the Electronic Classroom or in other online charters, a proportion of the state money allotted for each pupil is redirected from traditional school districts to the cyberschools. At the Electronic Classroom, which Mr. Lager founded in 2000, the money has been used to help enrich companies that he leads. Those companies provide school services, including instructional materials and public relations. For example, in the 2014 fiscal year, the last year for which federal tax filings were available, the school paid the companies associated with Mr. Lager nearly $23 million, or about of the nearly $115 million in government funds it took in. Critics say the companies associated with Mr. Lager have not delivered much value. “I don’t begrudge people making money if they really can build a better mousetrap,” said Stephen Dyer, a former Ohio state legislator and the education policy fellow at Innovation Ohio, a Columbus think tank that is sharply critical of online charter schools. “It’s clear that Mr. Lager has not done a service over all to kids, and certainly not appreciably better than even the most struggling school districts in the state,” Mr. Dyer added. “But he’s becoming incredibly wealthy doing a very mediocre job for kids. ” Mr. Lager declined requests for an interview. In an emailed statement on Tuesday, he did not respond to questions about his affiliated companies but said the Electronic Classroom’s graduation rate did not accurately measure the school’s performance. In the statement, he said many students arrived at the school already and have trouble making up the course credits in time to graduate. “Holding a school accountable for such students is like charging a relief pitcher with a loss when they enter a game three runs behind and wiping out the record of the starting pitcher,” his statement said. The statement added that the school “should be judged based on an accountability system that successfully controls for the academic effects of demographic factors such as poverty, special needs and mobility. ” In an interview, Rick Teeters, the superintendent of the Electronic Classroom, said many of the students were older than was typical for their grade, while others faced serious life challenges, including pregnancy or poverty. Mr. Lager is correct in noting that the student body at the Electronic Classroom is highly mobile last year more than half the school’s students enrolled for less than the full school year. And of those who dropped out of high school, half were forced to withdraw after being reported truant. Also, according to state data, 19 percent of the students have disabilities, higher than the state average. But the proportion of students who come from families — just under 72 percent — is lower than in Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton. Close to of the school’s students are white. In a book in 2002, “The Kids That ECOT Taught,” Mr. Lager wrote that “the dropout rate is the most critical issue facing our public education system but it is only the first of many problems that can be solved by . ” Through the Electronic Classroom, he wrote, he planned to make public education more efficient and effective. He added, “No business could suffer results that any school in Columbus Public delivers and not be driven out of business. ” Peggy Lehner, a Republican state senator who sponsored a charter school reform bill that passed the legislature last fall, said the problem was the school, not the students. “When you take on a difficult student, you’re basically saying, ‘We feel that our model can help this child be successful,’ ” she said. “And if you can’t help them be successful, at some point you have to say your model isn’t working, and if your model is not working, perhaps public dollars shouldn’t be going to pay for it. ” Some of those public dollars are being paid to IQ Innovations and Altair Learning Management, companies associated with Mr. Lager. Altair has had a contract with the school since 2000, a school spokesman, Neil Clark, said. According to federal filings, it received $4. 2 million in 2014. Mr. Lager is the company’s chief executive. Mr. Clark said Altair provided “a variety of services,” including a program of instruction, strategic planning, public relations, financial reporting and budgeting. In filings with the Ohio secretary of state, Mr. Lager is listed as a registered agent for IQ Innovations in campaign finance records, he was listed as the company’s chief executive as recently as 2015. IQ Innovations received $18. 7 million from the school in 2014. Mr. Clark said IQ Innovations had provided the school with grading software and digital curriculum materials since 2008. He said that neither Altair nor IQ Innovations was required to go through a competitive bidding process. At the school’s headquarters, in a former mall set at the back of a parking lot here, attendance clerks sit in a windowless room, tracking how often students log in to the network. Those who do not log in for 30 days are reported as truant. Guidance counselors carry caseloads of up to 500 students each, and the schoolwide ratio is 30 to one. For some students, the Electronic Classroom can provide a release valve from the pressures or frustrations of a traditional school. Several students assembled by the school to talk to a reporter said they had experienced bullying or boredom before enrolling. “Without the bullying, I was able to focus,” said Sydney DeBerry, 20, who left a private school to enroll in the Electronic Classroom, which she graduated from in 2014. “That was a big distraction, not only to my work but to my individuality. ” Students who made it to graduation said was crucial. “Contrary to popular opinion, you cannot just log on once a week and get by and still pass your classes,” said Dianna Norwood, 19, who graduated last year and is now a student at Ohio State University. But other students complained that the school could make it difficult to succeed. Alliyah Graham, 19, said she had sought out the Electronic Classroom during her junior year because she felt isolated as one of a few girls at a mostly white public school in a Cincinnati suburb. It took three weeks for the Electronic Classroom to enter her in its system, she said. Then it assigned her to classes she had already passed at her previous school. When she ran into technical problems, she said, “I really just had to wing it. ” Ms. Graham, who hopes to pursue a career in medicine, has also been disappointed by the quality of assignments. She showed a reporter a digital work sheet for a senior English class, in which students were asked to read a passage and then fill in boxes, circles and trapezoids, noting the “main idea,” a “” or “questions you have. ” “I feel like I did this kind of work in middle school,” Ms. Graham said. When she turns in assignments, she said, feedback from teachers is minimal. “Good job!” they write. “Keep going!” She hopes to graduate this spring. Her cousin, Makyla Woods, 19, moved to Cincinnati from Georgia last year, as a senior, to live with her father. Since Ms. Graham was already enrolled in the Electronic Classroom, Ms. Woods decided to give it a try. But she soon moved out from her father’s apartment, took a job at McDonald’s and stopped doing assignments. “I just got lazy doing work on the computer,” she said. | 0fake |
Watch This Bible-Waving ‘Christian’ Lady March Through Target Ranting About Devil Rape (VIDEO) | The GOP was right. Thanks to Target s decision to let transgender people use the bathroom in which they feel most comfortable, all sorts of weirdos are showing up. No, we re not talking about people going into the ladies room to pee. Recently, a creepy new trend has been spreading through the Christian Right like chlamydia through a Texas school that teaches abstinence-only sex education. Christians have been marching through Target stores across the nation whole screaming about how evil it is to allow human beings to go to the bathroom without feeling out of place.In one video, a Bible-waving mother marches through a Target store with her husband and children in tow to let people know what she views as the truth about Target s evil bathroom policy: Attention Target customers: Do not be deceived. Target would have you believe that they love mothers and children. This is a deception. This is not love, and they ve proven it by opening their bathrooms to perverted men. I am a mother of 12, she announces with her Bible raised in the air, and I am very disgusted by this wicked practice. Target does not protect mothers and children. Mothers, get your children out of this store, she commanded. Mother, have enough decency to get out of this store. It s a dangerous place. She added that Target s inclusive policy is hateful toward families, children, and mothers. Then things got REALLY crazy: America, when are you going to wake up? When are you going to stand up for the right things, America? Are you going to let the Devil rape your children, America? It s time to stand up and have a voice instead of bowing to the homosexual perverted agenda that s taking over this nation? You need to run and flee this place. I wouldn t spend a penny of my money here. This is wicked. This is confusion. This is twisted. This is abominable in the sight of God. Transgender people have been using public bathrooms for an untold length of time. It s never been an issue until Republicans decided it was more important of an issue than poverty, our crumbling infrastructure, educating our children, or even remembering to put the toilet seat down (sorry honey). What is most unfortunate is that this woman took her children along with her on this insane and hateful escapade. It is unknown how much damage she is doing to her children by teaching them nothing but hatred.Republicans were right: creeps are flooding into Target. Just not the creeps they meant.Watch the video below:Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
McCain, Rubio win Republican nod in U.S. Senate races | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. senators John McCain and Marco Rubio won their party’s nominations on Tuesday to seek re-election in Arizona and Florida in November, as both of the high profile politicians defeated insurgent challengers. McCain, the 2008 failed Republican presidential candidate, now faces a spirited challenge in Arizona from Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2011 and wants to move to the Senate. McCain has said this year’s race could be the toughest of a political career spanning more than three decades. In advancing to the general election, the 80-year-old McCain handily beat ex-state Senator Kelli Ward, 47, a conservative Tea Party activist and a follower of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Like McCain, Rubio also is girding for a potentially tough challenge on Nov. 8. Also in Florida, U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz overcame a challenger - and the embarrassment of being stripped last month of her job as head of the Democratic National Committee - and will get a shot at a seventh House term in the Nov. 8 general elections. She beat law professor Tim Canova, an outspoken Wall Street critic aligned with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. The non-traditional campaigns of Trump and Sanders, who exceeded expectations in his failed Democratic White House bid, spurred speculation that other insurgent politicians could make an impact this year. But that didn’t happen in either of the closely watched nominating races in Florida and Arizona. Rubio, who abandoned his presidential campaign in March, cleared the initial hurdle in his battle for a second six-year term in the U.S. Senate. He defeated novice politician Carlos Beruff, a millionaire homebuilder, who embraced Trump. U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, a Democrat, won his party’s Senate nomination on Tuesday, and is expected to give g Rubio a tough fight, especially if Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Trump in Florida. There is speculation that Rubio might still harbor presidential ambitions after media reports this week that he had refused to commit to serving all six years of a Senate term if he were re-elected. Trump has endorsed McCain and Rubio in their re-election bids even though he has rocky relations with both. How McCain and Rubio fare could have a big say in whether Republicans can defy expectations and maintain majority control of the Senate after November’s election. “The balance of the Senate and the outcome of the presidential election are all hanging on Florida,” Rubio predicted in a fundraising appeal late on Tuesday. Trump offended McCain and many other Republicans last year by suggesting the maverick senator was anything but a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War after his airplane was shot down during a bombing mission. In March, Trump ended Rubio’s presidential run by trouncing him in the Florida primary to cap a race in which the New York businessman taunted the first-term senator as “little Marco.” Rubio fired back, insulting Trump on everything from his hair color and the size of his hands to misspelled words in tweets. During their re-election efforts, both McCain and Rubio have offered support for Trump as the party’s White House nominee and steered clear of attacks on that might antagonize Trump’s core supporters. But they have tiptoed around Trump, mainly out of concern that his provocative comments on illegal immigration, Muslims and U.S. support for NATO could alienate moderate and independent voters in their states. (This version of the story corrects McCain’s failed presidential bid in second paragraph to 2008, from 2012) | 0fake |
Republican Ryan rejects Trump warning of riots in presidential race | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday rejected a warning by Donald Trump of riots if the businessman does not win the Republican presidential nomination for the Nov. 8 election. Asked about Republican front-runner Trump’s warning, Ryan told reporters that “nobody should say such things.” He added: “To even address or hint to violence is unacceptable.” Ryan, who will oversee Republicans’ convention in July to pick the party’s presidential candidate, said he does not think he will have to denounce Trump as a candidate. | 0fake |
Trump Says ‘Illegals’ Are Here To Chop Up Teen Girls With Knives Because Shooting Them Isn’t Painful Enough | Holy f*ckballs, Trump s rallies are lit these days. If you re one of the minority of Americans who hates brown folks and happens to live in a sparsely-populated state with a high number of uneducated bigots who will go along with anything as long as someone lets you say the n-word a lot and does something about all those brownish folks who don t speak no English, you have a home anywhere The Donald speaks these days.Lately, Trump has gone from zero to demanding personal loyalty from children and effectively resurrecting Jews drink baby blood and poison the well frighteningly quickly and Tuesday night in Youngstown, Ohio was no different than any other night in Trump s America.Trump told the crowd of vapid mouthbreathers who all look like their name is Shelly all about the dangers the animals from down south pose while some guy held up photos of what appears to be a mobile meth lab. Seriously, this rally was off the chains:Predators and criminal aliens who poison our communities with drugs and prey on innocent young people these beautiful, beautiful innocent young people will find no safe haven anywhere in our country.And you ve seen the stories about some of these animals. They don t want to use guns because it s too fast, it s not painful enough. So they take a young, beautiful girls 16, 15 and others they slice they slice them and dice them with a knife because they want them to go through excruciating pain before they die. And these are the animals that we ve been protecting for so long, Trump told the crowd apparently unaware that ICE arrests of people who have not committed a crime have actually doubled under Donald Trump.We can t even find any examples of illegals kidnapping 15 and 16 year-old girls for the express purpose of cutting them up with knives just to drink in their sweet, sweet pain. It s almost like he s just making up something absofuckinglutely horrifying just to pander to a base of racist fools who are too stupid to figure out the snake oil they bought from him is just snake oil even after he told them it s snake oil.Watch it below:Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Suicide bomber kills 50 in Nigeria in mosque attack | YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people in northeastern Nigeria on Tuesday in an attack on a mosque which bore the hallmarks of a faction of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The bombing in Mubi in Adamawa state was one of the deadliest in Nigeria s northeast since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015 pledging to end Boko Haram s eight-year insurgency and attacks by the group on civilian and military targets. It brought to at least 278 the number of people killed in 2017, according to calculations by Reuters. There was no claim of responsibility. Some of the dead were in pieces beyond recognition, said Bayi Muhammad, a worshipper who escaped the blast because he was late for early morning prayers. Abubakar Othman, a police spokesman in Adamawa state, said the death toll was at least 50, but added that the tally could rise. Eight people were critically injured and more than 30 others hurt but in stable condition, said Idris Garga, the northeast regional coordinator for Nigeria s national emergency agency. Boko Haram held territory in Adamawa state in 2014. Troops pushed them out in early 2015, and the town of Mubi had itself been relatively peaceful until Tuesday s bombing. In a statement on Tuesday, Nigeria s president said the attack was very cruel and gave assurances his government would do everything required to secure the state from Boko Haram. The militant group often mounts suicide attacks in public places such as mosques and markets. Last December, two schoolgirl suicide bombers killed 56 people and wounded dozens more at a market in Adamawa. The mosque blast bears the hallmarks of a faction led by Abubakar Shekau, which forces women and girls to carry out suicide bombings. The attacks often leave only the bomber dead. Boko Haram has waged an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria since 2009 in its attempt to create an Islamic state in the region. It has killed more than 20,000 and forced around 2 million people to flee their homes. The group split in 2016 and the faction under Shekau is based in the Sambisa forest on the border with Cameroon and Chad and mainly targets civilians with suicide bombers. The other faction is based in the Lake Chad region and led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi. It mainly attacks military forces after quietly building up its strength over the past year. Most attacks focus on Borno state, the birthplace of the insurgency. The group held land around the size of Belgium in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states until early 2015 but was forced out by Nigeria s army and troops from neighboring countries. | 0fake |
HOUSE TAKES Measures To Impeach IRS Chief After Stubborn Refusal To Cooperate…Who Do These People Think They Are? The IRS? | Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday the House will vote on whether to impeach Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen, and he indicated members won t be pressured to vote one way or the other.The entire House Republican conference is to meet behind closed doors next week to discuss the issue, but conservatives led by Representative John Fleming of Louisiana say the process of introducing a privileged resolution to force the vote will begin before that.Ryan, who has previously hedged on whether the House should take such action, said on Wednesday that he won t stop it. The House hasn t impeached a cabinet official since the mid-1870s and has never impeached an executive branch official, such as Koskinen, who doesn t hold cabinet rank. Any House action would be largely symbolic, because the effort is expected to be blocked in the Senate if it passes the House. Read more: Newsmax.com The IRS is refusing to recant the targeting criteria it used to single out tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny, according to court filings made public Wednesday that show the tax agency still struggling with the fallout from the scandal.At least three tea party groups are still awaiting approval from the IRS more than three years after agents publicly admitted they d asked inappropriate questions and put the groups through unreasonable delays in obtaining tax-exempt status. Last month the IRS told both Congress and a federal judge that it would start processing the outstanding applications but the agency has refused to say how or when, leaving the groups themselves struggling to make sense of things. Making matters ever more difficult, the IRS specifically refused in court papers to reject further use of the criteria it used to single out tea party and conservative groups in the first place. Despite all the representations made by the IRS about having changed its ways, it still asserts that the viewpoint-based Targeting Criteria are relevant for making a determination of tax-exempt status, Edward Greim, the lawyer representing tea party groups in a class-action lawsuit, told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.Read more: WT | 1real |
China names new commanders for army, air force in reshuffle | BEIJING (Reuters) - China has appointed new commanders of its army and air force in a reshuffle ahead of next month s Communist Party congress, as President Xi Jinping brings new blood into the military s top ranks amid an ambitious modernization program. China s armed forces, the world s largest, are ramping up their capabilities with new equipment like aircraft carriers and stealth fighters as the country pursues a more assertive stance in the disputed East and South China Seas and seeks to project power far from home shores. The new army chief, Han Weiguo, is not a high-profile figure but has risen rapidly, with three promotions since 2015. He was also commanding officer in charge of a military parade in Inner Mongolia in July overseen by Xi to mark 90 years since the founding of the People s Liberation Army. Han had previously served as head of the central theater command, a military district that includes Beijing and a large swathe of central China. His new position was announced by state media on Friday. The army has been less of a focus of the military modernization, with more resources poured into the air force and navy that have increasingly been carrying out drills in distant regions. The new air force chief, Ding Laihang, announced by the Defence Ministry on the same day, is also a relatively low-profile figure, who ran air force operations for China s northern theater command before his promotion. New navy chief Shen Jinlong took up his position in January. Sources with ties to the leadership say he is close to Xi. All three men could be promoted to the Central Military Commission headed by Xi, which is in overall charge of the People s Liberation Army, when the party holds its once-in-five-years congress in Bejing next month. Another promotion was announced in August, with previous army commander Li Zuocheng being made the new chief of the Joint Staff Department of the People s Liberation Army. Li has had a much higher profile, as one of the few senior military officers with combat experience, having fought Vietnam in a brief border war in 1979. Last year he was glowingly profiled in the official Beijing Daily, which described his time fighting the Vietnamese, accompanied by black-and-white pictures of the then 26-year-old in a trench and pointing to a map. It was not clear what had happened to Fang Fenghui, the chief of the Joint Staff Department before Li. At a news briefing on Thursday, Defence Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang declined to comment on Fang, who turns 67 next year, usually around the age at which Chinese officials retire. | 0fake |
Camera shows Vietnamese suspect's 'aggressive' attack on Kim Jong Nam: police | KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Vietnamese woman accused of killing the half-brother of North Korea s leader was captured on camera making an aggressive attack on him, two days after a similar act on another person, a police investigator told a Malaysian court on Tuesday. Doan Thi Huong, 28, is charged along with Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian woman, with killing Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with VX, a chemical poison banned by the United Nations, at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. There was a stark difference in Huong s movements in two closed circuit television recordings made in the airport s third level departure hall, said police official Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz. The first recording on Feb. 11 showed Huong approach an unidentified member of the public from behind to wipe something on the person s face in a soft manner , he said. She then appeared to apologize, placing her hands together and bowing her head, before retreating slowly, added Wan Azirul, a member of the airport district s Criminal Investigations Department. But a similar act carried out on Kim Jong Nam was quite rough and seemed more like an attack, Wan Azirul said. For me, the act seemed aggressive. Other differences I saw were in her movements - compared to before, the accused Doan moved in a quick and rushed manner, he said, using Huong s first name. The women have pleaded not guilty, saying they thought they were involved in some sort of prank for a reality TV show. They face the death penalty if convicted. Chemical weapons expert Raja Subramaniam said degradation products of VX were found on Huong s fingernails but not on the rest of her hands. Traces of VX were found on the clothes worn by both accused women, Subramaniam said in court last week. On Tuesday, Subramaniam also declared impossible a theory that the VX was created by combining together two non-poisonous chemicals, saying it would have required large amounts of heat in order to work. Experts had earlier suggested the women had each been given a non-lethal substance that formed a deadly combination after being smeared on the victim s face. Hisyam Teh, Huong s lawyer, argued during cross-examination that she could not have known that she was handling VX. No sane person, having been made aware that a liquid was VX, basically the deadliest of all nerve agents, would put out his hand for VX to get administered, he added. The trial will resume on Wednesday. | 0fake |
The most important line in Obama's new National Security Strategy | On Friday, the White House released its 2015 National Security Strategy, an official document defining the administration's approach to international politics. A lot of the document is pretty uninformative; the ratio of substance to platitudes ("our economy is the largest, most open, and most innovative in the world") is low. But this sentence, pretty early on in the report, is actually a pithy but insightful encapsulation of President Barack Obama's core approach to foreign policy:
This cuts to the core of what can often confuse people about Obama's approach to the world. Though he's constantly intervening in foreign crises — toppling Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, bombing al-Qaeda in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, and so on — he's also deeply invested in reducing America's involvement in major wars like Iraq and Afghanistan.
To understand this approach, you have to look at each half of the above sentence in turn. Each reflects a core tenet of the way the Obama administration approaches the world.
Let's focus on the first half of the sentence: "there are no global problems that can be solved without the United States." That's meant pretty literally. On basically every major world crisis — containing the fallout from the global financial crisis, rolling back climate change, combating ISIS, punishing Russian expansionism, or curing Ebola — the United States has played a major role in organizing the international response.
That's because Obama, like basically every president since the Cold War began, has bought into what's now called the "bipartisan consensus" on foreign policy. To most people, the consensus is basically invisible. That's because almost no one on either side of the aisle bothers to debate its basic premises. But nonetheless, it's defined American foreign policy for decades. It rests on basically three ideas:
If these statements sound banal, it's because, for the most part, they are. Foreign policy intellectuals on both the left and the right regularly criticize these ideas, but no one with serious power in the US government does (at least in public).
You see this pretty clearly in Obama's actions. Bombing ISIS, organizing a coalition to end Libya's civil war, and sending US troops to West Africa to help stop the spread Ebola are all premised on the assumption that the world's problems are also America's.
The general consensus on principles obviously doesn't translate into bipartisan agreements on specific policy issues. That's where the second part of the sentence comes in: there are "few [global problems] that can be solved by the United States alone."
This is a pretty unmistakable reference to the Bush administration. Obama rode to power as a critic of the Iraq war; a core part of his administration's strategic doctrine is to avoid Bush's aggressive, unilateral uses of American power. If Bush pushed the hawkish bounds of the bipartisan consensus, Obama is at times — though not always — somewhere on the dovish end.
In some cases, that means avoiding military action and trusting in multilateral diplomacy and deterrence to resolve conflicts (Iran, East Asia). In others, it means relying on non-military means of punishing bad actors (Iran again, Russia). In others still, it means marshaling global coalitions, but limiting America's up-front military role as much as possible and consistent with the mission's objectives (Libya, ISIS).
Obama's approach to each of these global crises is shaped by a keen desire to avoid Bush-style protracted wars. Even in cases where Obama really does act unilaterally, such as with targeted killings or the Afghanistan surge, he tries to put limits on those actions to keep them from escalating beyond control.
You might think this approach is too cautious — or, for many critics of the consensus, too aggressive still. But one thing it's not is "withdrawing from the world" or "abandoning America's allies," as some critics have alleged.
By virtually every statistical measure imaginable, the United States is the world's leading power, and deeply entangled in political conflicts around the world. Obama has done nothing to change that. His approach may or may not be to your liking on specific issues but, as the NSS reinforces, the broad strokes of his approach are pretty consistent with what America has been doing in the world for decades. | 0fake |
Ninety percent of Raqqa retaken from Islamic State - U.S. military | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Tuesday that it could only confirm that about 90 percent of the Syrian city of Raqqa had been retaken from Islamic State militants, even as U.S.-backed forces declared victory there. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, said the fighting was over and it was clearing Raqqa s stadium of mines and any remaining militants. A formal declaration of victory in Raqqa, Islamic State s de facto capital in Syria, will soon be made once the city has been cleared of mines and any possible Islamic State sleeper cells, said SDF spokesman Talal Selo. The fall of Raqqa, where Islamic State staged euphoric parades after its string of lightning victories in 2014, is a potent symbol of the jihadist movement s collapsing fortunes. Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, said that about 100 fighters still remained in Raqqa and he expected the SDF to face resistance from remnants of militant group. We are aware of the reports that ISIS has been defeated in Raqqa, Dillon said, using an acronym for Islamic State. However, clearance operations continue and we expect our Syrian Democratic Force partners to hit pockets of resistance as the final parts of the city is cleared, Dillon said. He said that in the past few days, about 1,300 civilians had been assisted to safety by the SDF and about 350 Islamic State fighters had surrendered in Raqqa. Even as the SDF made gains in Raqqa, Dillon said Islamic State fighters still remained in the middle Euphrates River valley. Islamic State has lost much of its territory in Syria and Iraq this year, including its most prized possession, Mosul. In Syria, it has been forced back into a strip of the Euphrates valley and surrounding desert. | 0fake |
Islamic State set up Libyan desert army after losing Sirte: prosecutor | TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Islamic State militants in Libya set up a desert army composed of at least three brigades after they lost their stronghold of Sirte last year, a senior prosecutor said on Thursday. Hundreds of militants are believed to have escaped from Sirte before or during the seven-month campaign to oust the jihadist group from the coastal city, which it took control of in 2015. Sheltering in desert camps, fugitive militants have become emboldened in recent weeks, occasionally setting up checkpoints on roads to the south and east of Sirte and claiming two deadly attacks against local forces. The United States, which provided air support for the Sirte campaign, has conducted three sets of air strikes targeting the camps - one in January, one on Sept. 22, and one on Tuesday. After the first strikes some wounded militants had been arrested and some materials seized, Sadiq Al-Sour, head of investigations for the Attorney General s office, said at a news conference in Tripoli. Investigators learned that Islamic State had established a desert army led by Libyan militant Al-Mahdi Salem Dangou, also known as Abu Barakat, Sour said. The force includes three brigades operating under Dangou, each with its own commander. This army was established after the liberation of the city of Sirte... Now they are in the Libyan desert, said Sour. Separately, Sour said authorities had arrested a senior Islamic State commander who supervised the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt in Sirte in February 2015. He gave details on the incident and indicated their place of burial, Sour said. We are seeking with military authorities in the central region to discover where the bodies are, and hopefully we will find them, despite the time that has passed. Egypt launched air strikes in Libya a day after Islamic State released a video showing the Copts being beheaded on a beach. Sour said that in the past, Islamic State had used established routes to bring foreign fighters into Libya from neighboring countries including Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria. The largest number of fighters had been brought in from Sudan and transited through the Libyan city of Ajdabiya, about 350 km (218 miles) east of Sirte, he said. | 0fake |
Gov. Sarah Palin Slams Colin Kaepernick’s Donation to Meals On Wheels as Shameless ’Political Stunt’ - Breitbart | Calling it a shameless, “political stunt,” former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s website is not impressed with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s $50K donation to the Meals On Wheels program. [Palin’s website slammed Kaepernick’s donation saying, “SERIOUSLY? Colin Kaepernick Just Pulled ANOTHER Political Stunt. ” Along with its knock against Kaepernick, the article written by website contributor Mary Kate Knorr noted that Donald Trump did not defund the Meals On Wheels program, gossip site TMZ reported. The player, who spent the past NFL season protesting against the country by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem, recently declared himself a free agent but has thus far been unable to find a new team to continue his pro football career. The Palin article specifically cited the player’s protests. “His last stunt cost him the respect of most NFL officials, as teams across the country have chosen not to offer Kaepernick a contract following his stunt last year,” the piece insisted. Kaepernick did make his donation after liberals and the media began claiming that President Trump’s budget plan defunded the charitable program that feeds tens of thousands of needy Americans. But, despite the media’s claims that Trump was taking money away from the program, a closer examination of the president’s budget revealed he wasn’t actually proposing any cuts to the program at all. Ultimately, after TMZ highlighted the Palin article, for an unexplained reason the piece was pulled down from the former governor’s website. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0fake |
GRANDSTANDING DEM SENATOR SCOLDED By Intel Chair for Interrupting Deputy AG Rosenstein [Video] | Sen. Richard Burr (R., NC.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, scolded Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) for not allowing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to answer her questions during a committee hearing on Wednesday. Harris repeatedly interrupted the Deputy AG Rude, Rude, Rude!Harris was asking Rosenstein about the authority of former FBI Director Robert Mueller in his current role as special counsel to investigate interference by Russia in the 2016 presidential election. Rosenstein started to answer the question several times before Harris cut him off over and over leading Burr to intervene: Will the senator suspend. The chair is going to exercise it s right to allow the witnesses to answer the question. And the committee is on notice to provide the witnesses the courtesy, which has not been extended all the way across, extend the courtesy for questions to get answered. Political demagogue Harris then blurted out that Rosenstein is known for joking about his ability to filibuster .Prior to Burr s comments, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) asked the chairman to intervene after Harris repeatedly interrupted Rosenstein as he started to answer her questions.We reported on Ms. Harris yesterday she s rude, rude, rude! | 1real |
China pushes Hong Kong not to 'shirk duty' to enact contentious security law | HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese official admonished Hong Kong on Thursday for failing to introduce a national security law, ramping up pressure on the former British colony to enact the contentious Article 23 that critics say will further choke its freedoms. The global financial hub has been ruled under a one country, two systems principle since it returned to China in 1997, guaranteeing freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including an independent judiciary and freedom of expression. Those freedoms are outlined in its mini-constitution, the Basic Law , a document that also demands the city pass its own laws preventing treason, secession and subversion against Communist Party rulers in Beijing. Hong Kong leaders have in the past decade put off passing Article 23, possibly their most sensitive political task, especially as tensions ran high after the months-long pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014. But Beijing officials have not forgotten, and on Thursday Li Fei, who chairs the Basic Law Committee under the Chinese parliament s standing committee, said it was a duty that cannot be shirked . I believe we can all see the harmful effects from this legal vacuum, he said in a speech in Hong Kong. I d like to emphasize, (Hong Kong should) safeguard national sovereignty and security through legislation and strict implementation of the law. An earlier planned national security law for Hong Kong was shelved in 2003 after an estimated 500,000 people marched against it. In his hour-long speech, live-streamed in some schools and at times directed at students, Li also lashed out at a nascent independence movement, which has gone largely underground after most of its figureheads were charged for what the government called a riot in 2016. Their behavior is absurd, the nature of it is illegal, and emotionally speaking it s absolutely impermissible, he said. We must resist and oppose them without any hesitation. Li s remarks came after Chinese President Xi Jinping took what some saw as a harder line on Hong Kong s future during his visit in July to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1997 handover. Xi warned then that any attempt to endanger Chinese sovereignty and security, challenge China s power, or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration or sabotage would be acts that cross the red line and were absolutely impermissible . The city s new leader, Carrie Lam, bent on mending the damaged trust between Beijing and the Hong Kong public, has repeatedly said the timing is not right to introduce security laws, just three years after the youth-led demonstrations directly challenged Beijing s authority. Even without any new local laws, some Hong Kong lawyers, diplomats and activists believe Beijing may make its own attempt to outlaw independence debates through a formal interpretation of the Basic Law, or extending national laws to cover Hong Kong. Such moves would have to be followed by Hong Kong s courts, deepening fears over the strength of Hong Kong s vaunted rule of law and freedom of speech. Some experts note that Beijing has lowered the threshold for such action after its preemptive interpretation of the Basic Law last year, which effectively disqualified lawmakers who did not take their oaths properly. It also ruled last month to outlaw mockery of the national anthem and decided the law would be extended to Hong Kong, which will take effect after it s been put to the city s legislature. | 0fake |
Pujols Hits Slam for 600th HR, Leads Angels Past Twins 7-2 | ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Albert Pujols hit a grand slam for his 600th homer, becoming the ninth member of the club during the fourth inning of the Los Angeles Angels’ victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night. [Pujols reached the milestone in theatrical style, putting a low pitch from Ervin Santana ( ) into Angel Stadium’s short porch for his 14th grand slam. The Anaheim crowd roared while fireworks soared overhead for the ’s ninth homer of the season and his 155th for the Angels. Pujols moved to the West Coast nearly six years ago after 11 spectacular seasons in St. Louis. Andrelton Simmons and Kole Calhoun hit homers in the third inning for the Angels. Max Kepler homered for Minnesota. Matt Shoemaker ( ) pitched ball into the seventh inning for his fourth victory in his last five starts. Pujols staked the Angels to a lead with his ninth homer this season. After going three straight games without a homer since hitting No. 599 on Tuesday, Pujols became the player to reach the club — and the first to join it with a slam. Santana had yielded just one earned run in 29 innings on the road this season before struggling at Angel Stadium, where he was Pujols’ teammate during the 2012 season after the slugger signed as a free agent and before Santana was traded to Kansas City. Santana dropped to in his four career starts against the franchise that signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2000 and employed him for 13 years. He still ranks fifth in Angels history with 223 games started and seventh with 96 victories. After Minnesota took a lead in the first inning on Kepler’s RBI single, Shoemaker found his groove and largely limited the Minnesota lineup that scored 11 runs on Friday. The Angels went ahead in the third when Simmons delivered a shot to left for his sixth homer and Calhoun added a shot to right for his eighth. Pujols came up next with a chance to give the Angels homers — but he struck out on three pitches. An inning later, Pujols made history. TROUT OUT, Mike Trout will get the cast off of his left hand Sunday, and he begins rehabilitation Monday on his injured left thumb. He’s still expected to be out for at least five more weeks, and he says he won’t stop sliding headfirst after injuring himself doing just that in Miami. “I just think I have to have more control when I dive headfirst,” Trout said. “They say ( ) doesn’t slow you down, but it feels like it slows you down. ” TRAINER’S ROOM, Angels: OF Cameron Maybin hasn’t swung the bat since going on the disabled list with a bruised side muscle. Manager Mike Scioscia isn’t sure whether Maybin will be ready to return on Friday as previously hoped. … Reliever Cam Bedrosian (groin) had a solid rehab appearance and could be ready to return Tuesday. UP NEXT, Twins: Jose Berrios ( 2. 70 ERA) makes his fifth start of the season in the series finale. Angels: Ricky Nolasco ( 5. 07 ERA) faces the Twins for the first time since they traded him and Alex Meyer to Los Angeles at the 2016 trade deadline. Nolasco and Meyer are both in the Angels’ rotation. | 0fake |
Congress approves Trump's aid and debt deal with Democrats | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed a bill on Friday extending the government debt limit for three months and providing about $15 billion in hurricane-related aid, bringing his surprising deal with Democratic congressional leaders this week to completion. The bill, approved in a 316-90 vote by the U.S. House of Representatives, had drawn criticism from some conservative members of Congress. But the Senate passed it on Thursday and the Republican president signed it soon after arriving at Camp David, Maryland, for the weekend. Despite controversy, lawmakers had rushed to approve the legislation, which provides $15.25 billion for emergency disaster aid, before government aid ran out at week’s end as Americans deal with two deadly hurricanes including Irma, a potentially catastrophic storm poised to strike Florida on Sunday. Hurricane Harvey, which came ashore on Aug. 25 as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, killed about 60 people, displaced more than 1 million, and the state governor has said it caused up to $180 billion in damage. The bill raised questions about the relationship between Trump, a political outsider who took office in January, and Republican Party regulars. He has frequently criticized Senate leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, and his deal on Wednesday with Democratic congressional leaders Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi was an especially troublesome shock for conservative members. Conservatives’ souring relations with the administration are likely to remain a factor as Congress and the White House now face a Dec. 8 deadline on the debt limit and government spending. Asked about Trump working so closely with Democrats on the legislation, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: “I think that the president’s focus was doing what was best for the American people. I think the last thing we want to do is play partisan politics when we have people in places like Texas and Louisiana that need financial support through the federal government.” A White House statement issued after Trump signed the bill said: “The President appreciates Congress putting aside partisan politics and acting quickly to ensure that first responders, local officials, and Federal emergency management personnel have the resources they need.” Before the vote, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney had pleaded the White House’s case to Republican lawmakers at a Friday morning meeting. It was not well received by some. “There’s a lot of disappointment in the decision the president made and the way our leadership was treated,” said House Republican Representative Hal Rogers, describing a sense of “animosity” at the meeting. “That’s a sore spot. It’s not a happy camp.” “There was some hissing and I don’t know if there was some booing, but there were some groans,” Republican Representative Mark Walker said. Mulvaney told the representatives now was not the time to discuss Washington fiscal problems because of the hurricanes. Conservatives reminded him that during his days as one of the most conservative members of Congress, he had been a strong advocate for threatening government shutdowns in order to win concessions on spending. “It got a little warm for him a few times,” Walker said. More moderate Republicans welcomed the bipartisan approach. “If we can reach across the aisle, we can get things done and not be held hostage by 30 or 40 people,” said Representative Peter King. “You can’t just have one party govern.” The bill’s $15.25 billion in emergency funding includes $7.4 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $450 million for the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program and $7.4 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Some conservative groups had objected to coupling a debt-limit increase with the emergency funds, but McConnell moved ahead at Trump’s urging. Walker said Mnuchin gave conservatives little hope that the Trump administration would fight to include the spending restrictions they want to see in the next debt ceiling increase in December. In Wednesday’s meeting with congressional leaders, Trump had sought to work out a deal to attach to the disaster funding two short-term, three-month measures to fund the federal government at current levels and extended its borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling. Current government funding was set to expire at the end of the month, with a possible government shutdown looming, and the U.S. Treasury had asked Congress to raise the debt limit immediately. Some House Republicans balked at attaching the two crucial fiscal measures to the bill and called it a win for Democrats. Republicans had wanted to raise the debt ceiling for a longer period that would have extended past the 2018 midterm elections. Republican Senator Ben Sasse said on Thursday the deal makes Schumer “the most powerful man in America for the month of December.” The three-month term of the debt limit and spending deal could give Democrats a better chance of winning higher government spending levels in December. Republicans fear that having to deal with spending and debt again so soon will distract them from other issues, such as tax reform. | 0fake |
Shots Fired in Indiana at Truck Flying ’Make America Great Again Flag’ | Indiana State Police are reporting that a truck flying a “Make America Great Again” flag was fired upon while traveling down just outside Indianapolis. [Bullet holes were seen in a 2001 Dodge truck Tuesday after another motorist took offense at the Donald flag flying from its bed. The truck was also flying an American flag, police say. Officials think that the shots were fired from another vehicle, a newer model, white, Chevy Malibu, sporting a Louisiana license plate, according to Fox News. The driver of the truck told police that the male driver of the Malibu drove up beside him in the eastbound lane, and waved a handgun out the window at him. The driver of the Malibu then reportedly fired several shots. Fortunately, no one was injured. The driver of the Malibu is described as an man about 23 years of age. His passenger was also a younger black man who had a sleeve tattoo on his right arm. Anyone who may have witnessed the exchange or have information about the incident should call the Indiana State Police at . Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0fake |
'Trump dossier' on Russia links now part of special counsel's probe: sources | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The special counsel investigating whether Russia tried to sway the 2016 U.S. election has taken over FBI inquiries into a former British spy s dossier of allegations of Russian financial and personal links to President Donald Trump s campaign and associates, sources familiar with the inquiry told Reuters. A report compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele identified Russian businessmen and others whom U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded are Russian intelligence officers or working on behalf of the Russian government. A spokesman for special counsel Robert Mueller declined comment. The FBI also declined comment. Three sources with knowledge of Mueller s probe said his investigators have assumed control of multiple inquiries into allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump, a Republican. Russia has repeatedly denied any meddling in the election. Two officials familiar with the investigations said that both Mueller s team and the Senate Intelligence Committee are seeking any evidence that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort or others who had financial dealings with Russia might have helped Kremlin intelligence agencies target email hacking and social media postings undermining Trump s election opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. On Wednesday, the Senate panel s chairman Richard Burr told reporters that the issue of whether Trump s campaign colluded with Russia remains an open question. We have not come to any determination on collusion, Burr said. Trump, who has called allegations of campaign collusion with Moscow a hoax, has faced questions about the matter since he took office in January. Trump was told by former FBI director James Comey that Steele s report contained salacious material about the businessman-turned-president. Burr said on Wednesday that the Senate panel had made several attempts to contact Steele and to meet him and those offers have gone unaccepted. The committee cannot really decide the credibility of the dossier without understanding things like who paid for it, who are your sources and sub-sources, Burr said. Burr said the panel wanted to finish its investigation by the end of the year. Although several news organizations, including Reuters, were briefed on Steele s dossier before the election in November, most decided not to report on the material because its inflammatory and sometimes salacious content could not be verified. In a report published in January four U.S. intelligence agencies said they took the dossier s allegations seriously. Separately, three Russian businessmen, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan have sued Washington investigations firm Fusion GPS and its founder, Glenn Simpson, with allegations that they were libeled in Steele s dossier. A spokeswoman for Simpson and Fusion GPS declined to comment on the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington. The lawsuit said that Steele s reports were gravely damaging to the businessmen because they accused them of criminal conduct and alleged cooperation with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 presidential election. The information on Trump collected by Steele, whom officials say was one of MI6 s most respected Russia hands, was laid out last year in political opposition research initially financed by supporters of one of Trump s Republican primary election opponents. After Trump won the Republican nomination in July, backers of Clinton picked up the support of Steele s work. The lawsuit said the dossier s allegations are false in implying an improper ongoing relationship between the businessmen, the Alfa Group financial company in which they were investors and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that a Russian government official acted as middleman in such contacts. | 0fake |
In travel ban case, U.S. judges focus on discrimination, Trump's powers | SEATTLE (Reuters) - U.S. appeals court judges on Monday questioned the lawyer defending President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban about whether it discriminates against Muslims and pressed challengers to explain why the court should not defer to Trump’s presidential powers to set the policy. The three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel was the second court in a week to review Trump’s directive banning people entering the United States from six Muslim-majority countries. Opponents - including the state of Hawaii and civil rights groups - say that both Trump’s first ban and later revised ban discriminate against Muslims. The government argues that the text of the order does not mention any specific religion and is needed to protect the country against attacks. In addressing the Justice Department at the hearing in Seattle, 9th Circuit Judge Richard Paez pointed out that many of Trump’s statements about Muslims came “during the midst of a highly contentious (election) campaign.” He asked if that should be taken into account when deciding how much weight they should be given in reviewing the travel ban’s constitutionality. Neal Katyal, an attorney for Hawaii which is opposing the ban, said the evidence goes beyond Trump’s campaign statements. “The government has not engaged in mass, dragnet exclusions in the past 50 years,” Katyal said. “This is something new and unusual in which you’re saying this whole class of people, some of whom are dangerous, we can ban them all.” The Justice Department argues Trump issued his order solely to protect national security. Outside the Seattle courtroom a group of protesters gathered carrying signs with slogans including, “The ban is still racist” and “No ban, no wall.” Paez asked if an executive order detaining Japanese-Americans during the World War Two would pass muster under the government’s current logic. Acting U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, arguing on behalf of the Trump administration, said that the order from the 1940s, which is now viewed as a low point in U.S. civil rights history, would not be constitutional. If Trump’s executive order was the same as the one involving Japanese-Americans, Wall said: “I wouldn’t be standing here, and the U.S. would not be defending it.” Judge Michael Daly Hawkins asked challengers to Trump’s ban about the wide latitude held by U.S. presidents to decide who can enter the country. “Why shouldn’t we be deferential to what the president says?” Hawkins said. “That is the million dollar question,” said Katyal. A reasonable person would see Trump’s statements as evidence of discriminatory intent, Katyal said. In Washington, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at a news briefing that the executive order is “fully lawful and will be upheld. We believe that.” The panel, made up entirely of judges appointed by Democratic former President Bill Clinton, reviewed a Hawaii judge’s ruling that blocked parts of the Republican president’s revised travel order. The March order was Trump’s second effort to craft travel restrictions. The first, issued on Jan. 27, led to chaos and protests at airports before it was blocked by courts. The second order was intended to overcome the legal problems posed by the original ban, but it was also suspended by judges before it could take effect on March 16. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii blocked 90-day entry restrictions on people from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, as well as part of the order that suspended entry of refugee applicants for 120 days. As part of that ruling, Watson cited Trump’s campaign statements on Muslims as evidence that his executive order was discriminatory. The 9th Circuit previously blocked Trump’s first executive order. Last week the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia reviewed a Maryland judge’s ruling that blocked the 90-day entry restrictions. That court is largely made up of Democrats, and the judges’ questioning appeared to break along partisan lines. A ruling has not yet been released. Trump’s attempt to limit travel was one of his first major acts in office. The fate of the ban is one indication of whether the Republican can carry out his promises to be tough on immigration and national security. The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to be the ultimate decider, but the high court is not expected to take up the issue for several months. | 0fake |
Pope Francis Delivers A Major Slap In The Face To Wealthy Donors And The GOP (VIDEO) | Pope Francis has delivered a strong message to corporate types who exploit people for profit and attempt to cleanse their souls by donating to the church, telling them: we don t want your blood money.During his general audience in Vatican City on Wednesday, in which he railed against the exploitation of working people by feckless employers, the Pope said: The people of God and the church don t need dirty money. They need hearts that are open to the mercy of God. It is far from the Pope s first intervention on the matter of unrestrained and crony Capitalism that has come to define (at least) the last thirty years of human history. Last Summer, the Pope referred to the global dominance of Capitalism s 1% as the new colonialism in a speech in Bolivia pointing to the removal of liberty, human rights and opportunity created by gross inequality and the resulting centralization of wealth and power. He continued: In this third world war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing, a form of genocide is taking place, and it must end. Throughout his time as Pontiff, Pope Francis has continued to exercise the message of New Testament Jesus. A personal show of compassion, and a determination to enable poor and vulnerable people to make the best possible lives for themselves, and the widest possible contribution to their communities.What is so interesting about this though, is that the political party that considers itself the party of God on earth, the Republican Party, asset there delivering the opposite message.Somewhere along the line, Young Republicans confused Atlas Shrugged with the Bible and it s radical right-wing author Ayn Rand for Jesus. Republicans don t worship Jesus, they worship Ayn Rand. Republicans don t preach the gospel, they preach The Fountainhead. Instead of restraining the power of big business to hold unique influence over public and personal life, the Republican party has devoted itself to the opposite.Things have come to such a head, that Republican leaders are now openly denouncing the Pope and his interpretation of the Bible, rather than taking instruction from his leadership and questioning their own. In doing so, they are by their own definition, committing the sin of Pride and we all know what pride comes before. A Fall.You can see how The Young Turks handled Pope Francis assault on crony capitalism in the video below: Featured image via Flickr Creative Commons | 1real |
Different this time? Trump candidacy could weigh on Fed thinking | SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s rise to de-facto Republican nominee for president poses an unusually high level of uncertainty for investors and businesses, potentially weighing on the economy and the Federal Reserve’s plan to raise interest rates this year. Uncertainty is always present in elections and the Fed has hiked rates during past campaign seasons. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/1rD6A1u) But the possibility of the firebrand New York real estate mogul occupying the White House presents a step up in risk because of the unconventional policies he has proposed and a lack of detail on how they will be achieved, economists say. Promising to “make America great again”, Trump has raised fears of a trade war by saying he would slap steep tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports. He has also vowed to deport all 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, and suggested, though later retracted, a partial default on U.S. debt. Fed officials say they avoid discussion of domestic politics at rate-setting meetings. Transcripts from previous election-year policy discussions show that political uncertainty is a factor in their thinking, though there is no clear pattern of a loosening or tightening bias in the run-up to elections. In recent comments, some Fed officials have acknowledged that campaign rhetoric could spill over into the economy. “If consumers, because of political rhetoric, are slowing their spending or just pausing a little bit, or capex is slowing down...that I’ve got to take into account,” Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan told Reuters last Thursday. Asked his view of Trump’s policy proposals, he said, “If I have one, you’ll never know what that is. I will never allow that to seep into my work.” Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said that it was fair to say the election “could be a factor in this year’s economy.” The Fed kept rates on hold at 0.25-0.5 percent last month and signaled it was in no rush to raise them again soon, citing slowing economic activity despite an improved labor market. Fed policymakers in March forecast two rate hikes this year after raising them last December for the first time in nearly a decade. A Reuters poll of economists released on Thursday showed they have pushed back their expectations for the Fed to raise interest rates again to September from June. Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed policymakers have often cited uncertainty over the economic, financial and policy outlook as a factor in their interest-rate decisions. The VIX measure of stock-market volatility is one approach to measuring uncertainty; querying influential business owners is another. The exact mix of measures the Fed uses is not known. Stanford University professor Nick Bloom’s economic policy uncertainty index, which he presented to Yellen and economists at recently as April last year, is another approach that the Fed considers. The index analyzes newspaper coverage of policy-related economic uncertainty and divergence between economic forecasters’ predictions on the U.S. outlook among other factors. “When uncertainty is high, firms put on pause hiring and investment decisions,” Bloom said in an interview. “If Trump looks like a serious contender and is still making ‘Mexican Wall’ and ‘Trade Rape’ comments we will have the mother of all policy uncertainty spikes running up to the election.” Trump has said he would build a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border and accused China of “raping” the U.S. with unfair trade policies. A rise in the index, Bloom said, would foreshadow declines in production, investment, and employment. Policymakers pay close attention to financial market volatility as well as economic data. The Fed delayed an expected hike last September after China’s sharp economic slowdown caused stock market drops and a tightening in financial conditions. A strong Trump candidacy could similarly upset markets, economists say. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed Trump running nearly even with Democrat Hillary Clinton among likely U.S. voters, a dramatic turnaround since he became his party’s presumptive nominee. Traders see a 36.5 percent chance of a Republican taking the presidency, according to futures prices on the Iowa Electronic Market. “If Trump gains in the polls and the market reacts poorly, that (market turmoil) would be a good argument for the Fed to stay on hold,” said Cornerstone Macro economist Roberto Perli, a former Fed board staffer. China and Mexico are the second and third largest trading partners of the United States, respectively. “The trade stuff is anti-growth and harmful to the U.S. outlook,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of conservative think tank the American Action Forum and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “He’s an utterly unpredictable political element at this point,” added Holtz-Eakin, who was also chief economic policy adviser to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Trump, who says his policies will boost U.S. jobs and business interests, has said he likes low rates, but has also said he would replace Yellen when her term expires in 2018 if he wins the presidency. So far there’s little indication Bloom’s uncertainty index is about to spike. It fell to a reading of 98.39 in April, just above where it was in November ahead of the Fed’s well-telegraphed rate hike. Other readings of uncertainty, like the VIX, look similarly benign. Voters go to the polls on Nov. 8. Historically, Bloom’s index jumps just ahead of tight presidential ballots, as well as during times of other policy uncertainty, such as the U.S. debt ceiling debate in 2011. A surge of 90 points in the index could presage a one percent decline in production and declines in employment and investment of about a half a percent each, based on Bloom’s models. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Graphic showing past Fed rate moves in election years tmsnrt.rs/1rD6A1u) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> | 0fake |
DISNEY OWNED ABC SHOW “Scandal” Shows Actress Having Abortion While “Silent Night” Plays And Narrator Says: “Family doesn’t complete you…it destroys you” [VIDEO] UPDATE: ‘Scandal’ Producer Sits On Planned Parenthood Board | Family doesn t complete you it destroys you? Wow way to promote families Disney There s nothing like a one-hour promotion of Planned Parenthood (baby parts harvester for profit) from the corporation who owes their success to live children. Anyone who supports the Disney Corporation should be asking them how they can market their amusement parks to live children, calling their parks the The happiest place on earth, when they openly glorify the killing of children on national TV? Feel free to leave a comment by clicking this LINKWell, now that we ve gotten that out the way, we thought you might like to know who produces the show, Scandal:The Planned Parenthood abortion business ultimately praised the episode and actors on the show defended the decision to show the killing of an unborn baby in an abortion during the Christmas song.That the abortion giant loved the episode is no surprise given its content, but it s also no surprise since Scandal s creator and producer is on the board of directors of one of its affiliates. As LifeNews blogger Ryan Bomberger pointed out on Twitter, Scandal creator Shonda Rimes sits on the baord of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles: The abortion episode was a natural for Rhimes: she previously showed her fondness for abortion by featuring it in her hit show, Grey s Anatomy. In real life, she sits on the board of Planned Parenthood s Los Angeles affiliate; this is a curious decision for a black woman the organization was founded on racist principles, Donohue continued. Why the need to play Silent Night while the kid is killed? Rhimes is angry it s payback time. She went to a Catholic high school where she was disciplined for wearing too-short skirts. She never got over it. Hence, her juvenile rebelliousness. The composite picture isn t pretty it s a mess, he said.Rhimes has three daughters and no husband and she talked about that in an interview. I have never wanted to get married. I love having boyfriends. I love dating. I do not want a husband in my house, she said.Rhimes is no stranger to popular television programs. She is the is the creator and currently executive producer and head writer of Grey s Anatomy and Rhimes created and produced the Grey s Anatomy spin-off series Private Practice Then, in 2011, ABC ordered Rhimes s pilot script Scandal to series. Unfortunately, it appears Rhimes is committed to pushing her pro-abortion agenda in them.In an interview with Time last year, Rhimes said that televisions shows should tackle abortion because it is a polarizing issue: Because it is such a hot button issue, because people are debating it, it should be discussed. And I m not sure why it s not being discussed. ACTION: Click here to tell ABC to stop promoting abortion.Thursday night s episode of Shonda Rhimes s ABC series Scandal was an hour-long advertisement for Planned Parenthood so much so that the organization released a statement praising Rhimes and the episode immediately after it aired.In the fifth-season episode, titled Baby, It s Cold Outside, main character Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), wife of the Republican U.S. President, undergoes an abortion while the Christmas hymn Silent Night plays in the background. Concurrently, Republican Senator Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) successfully filibusters a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood, allowing it to keep its funding.https://youtu.be/vnd7OxpRxN8The episode was so overtly pro-Planned Parenthood that the organization issued a statement immediately after it aired to praise Rhimes and the show for proving that when women are telling our stories, the world will pause and watch :Tonight, the millions of people who tune into Scandal every Thursday night learned that our rights to reproductive health care are under attack. Never one to shy away from critical issues, Shonda Rhimes used her platform to tell the world that if Planned Parenthood lost funding for contraception counseling, STI testing, cancer screenings, and safe, legal abortion millions of people would suffer. And this episode wasn t the first time one of Rhimes characters had an abortion, yet tonight we saw one of our favorite characters make the deeply personal decision that one in three women have made in their lifetime. We applaud Shonda Rhimes tonight and every Thursday night for proving that when women are telling our stories, the world will pause and watch. We just hope those in Congress and throughout the nation who are steadfast on rolling the clock back on reproductive health care access are taking note.After getting the abortion, Olivia returns to the White House, where she sips on some red wine while the classical piece Ave Maria plays in the background.In its own statement, Media Research Center blasted the episode:Hollywood s liberal values permeate movies and television. Last night s episode of ABC s Scandal was pretty much an hour-long advertisement for Planned Parenthood. In the most disturbing scene, the main character has an abortion to Silent Night (a hymn celebrating the birth of Jesus) playing in the background. This is Hollywood s moral depravity on full display.#IStandWithMellie #IStandWithPlannedParenthood kerry washington (@kerrywashington) November 20, 2015Actress Kerry Washington tweeted her support of Planned Parenthood last night, using the hashtags #IStandWithPlannedParenthood and #IStandWithMellie, in reference to Bellamy Young s character who was filibustering in the Senate against defunding Planned Parenthood.Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
STUNNING: First Lady Melania Trump Welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu [Video] | President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu planned this trip within hours of Trump s inauguration in January, with the hope of repairing the damage done by the former administration to the countries relations.It s so wonderful to see a President and First Lady that we can be proud of show so much decorum and hospitality to our allies.Watch @POTUS and @FLOTUS greet Prime Minister @Netanyahu and his wife Sara as they arrive at The White House. pic.twitter.com/rhI4LeZXf5 Fox News (@FoxNews) February 15, 2017(Source: Daily Mail, Fox News) | 1real |
GERMANY’S DEFENSE MINISTER Refuses To Wear Hijab During Saudi Arabia Visit…Says Trump’s Election Proves Political Correctness Has Been Rejected | Germany s defense minister refused to wear a traditional head covering during her visit with a Saudi Arabian prince, arguing that women have as much right as men do to wear whatever they choose.Ursula von der Leyen declined to wear a hijab a veil traditionally worn by Muslim women or an abaya, a full-length robe, when she met with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud in the Saudi capital of Riyadh last Wednesday, according to Sputnik International news. The right to choose your own clothing is a right shared by men and women alike. It annoys me, when women are to be pushed into the Abaya, Das Bild reported Leyen as saying.According to reports, the woman pictured below, was arrested last week in Saudi Arabia for posting a picture of herself without a burka on social media:Woman who got death threats for posting photo not wearing a hijab arrested in Saudi Arabia https://t.co/2R3vD18UKA pic.twitter.com/c3oaYn8zA4 Muslim World Today (@MWTorg) December 14, 2016When pictures of Leyen, minus a hijab, hit social media, some Saudis went on Twitter to blast her. NYPThis Egyptian Infantry and Air Force veteran applauds her decision to ditch the hijab:Salute Defence Minister #leyen who represents a free nation, Not like our shameful Minister,We here kneeling for #Saudi, Long live Germany pic.twitter.com/x80APnzOcB Belal E. (@irresistibleOne) December 14, 2016 The German Defense Minister: not wearing the hijab in Saudi was deliberate. This is an insult to Saudi Arabia, read one tweet.Leyen, decked out in a crisp dark pantsuit, said she respects the customs and traditions of the country. [In Germany] one is free to choose his or her attire accordingly, Sputnik reported.The incident comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently called for a ban on wearing burkas in her country. | 1real |
UK Child Protection Services workers are ‘afraid’ to challenge the ages of Muslim invaders for fear of ending up in court | BNI Store Oct 27 2016 UK Child Protection Services workers are ‘afraid’ to challenge the ages of Muslim invaders for fear of ending up in court Industry insiders reveal they often meet obviously adult-aged Muslim invaders posing as children who are permitted to stay in the country because challenging them can put their career at risk. The revelations came after the arrivals of Muslim “child” economic freeloaders from Calais – who apparently are much older than the teenage years they had claimed. UK Express (h/t Terry D) Britain was once again divided over the issue with Conservative MP David Davies suggesting they should be made to undergo dental tests to establish their age. His comments were met with fury by the British Dental Association (BDA) which said tests were “invasive” – a statement which was backed by the Home Office. But, speaking to Express Online a social worker who asked not to be named has revealed the REAL struggles faced by those in the industry. According to the specialist THREE professionals are assigned to the first meeting with a migrant who claims to be a child. And senior child protection officers are at their wits’ end. He said: “So a social worker is assigned the case. The social worker attends the assessment and because the asylum seeker is claiming to be under 17 (to come under the children’s Act) an appropriate adult is also in attendance and so is an interpreter. “Usually they enter the room and they see this asylum seeker is well over 17. It is that obvious. “After they have done the process three times all three social workers have to come to a consensus on the estimated age of the asylum seeker – so let’s says all three say this asylum seeker is well over 17 or 18 years old. You would think that would be the end of the process, but not so. “They tell their managers of their decisions and then the manager tells them ‘If that’s your decision then okay but the asylum seeker will now be assigned a solicitor to challenge your opinion and you are likely to be cross examined in court’. After this phase of the investigation is complete, if a social worker chooses to challenge the age, they are reportedly met with anger and abuse. Many, he claims, have received calls calling them “racist” and have had complaints made against them. Those put in this position have said they “cannot afford” to fight it. One said: “I just sign and say he’s under 17 years because it’s not worth the hassle.” Social workers and child protection experts have called the system “broken” in Britain. Aid workers in Calais recently admitted to the press child migrants ARE lying about their age to get to the front of the queue to Britain – and are shredding their real documents. RELATED STORIES: | 1real |
Too Many Favorite Shows? Take Them In at High Speed - The New York Times | So much media, so little time. Consumers face a dizzying array of entertainment choices that include streaming video such as Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Netflix cable channels and apps from outlets like HBO and Showtime YouTube and as many as 28, 000 podcasts. With them all offering uncountable hours of addictive programming, how is a listener or viewer supposed to keep up? For some, the answer is speed watching or speed listening — taking in the content at accelerated speeds, sometimes two times as fast as normal. While speed viewing does save time — devotees say it can save hours over the season of a series — others raise concerns that it undermines the rhythm of a production and can dilute some creative elements. Jan Rezab said in an article in Forbes last year that his viewing eventually progressed from 1. 2 times to two times as fast. “As you continue to speed watch, higher speeds get easier and easier to comprehend,” he wrote. “I’ve been speed watching for the last 2 years, and I now feel comfortable watching at 2x the normal viewing speed. ” He watches some even faster. Be prepared to jump through a few hoops if you want to speed up your content, though. While some players make it easy to change your playback speed, others make it more difficult. On YouTube, it lives under settings. On Apple’s native podcast app, it’s right next to the play button, and other podcast players have a similar function. Audible, the major audiobook app, offers the option as well. Netflix, Hulu and HBO, however, don’t offer higher speeds on their players, but there are workarounds available. It’s possible to speed up online video through a Google Chrome extension, and an media player called VLC will play many formats of digital media. Some boxes like TiVo allow playback of recorded programs. It’s not clear how widely the practice has been adopted. In an informal poll on Twitter, David Chen, a host and producer of the movie and television podcast “Slashfilmcast,” asked, “Do you ever listen to podcasts or watch at a faster speed than intended?” Of 1, 505 responses, 79 percent chose the response “No, it’s an abomination,” while 16 percent said they did so for podcasts, and a total of 5 percent said they did so for films, television and podcasts. On a recent episode of the podcast, Mr. Chen and his Jeff Cannata and Devindra Hardawar, took up the question of speed viewing. A listener asked, “In this increasingly world, I wonder, how much of a crime against culture I am committing by speeding through these shows?” The podcast hosts seemed aghast. “How dare you,” Mr. Cannata, said, adding that the practice “cheapens your entertainment. ” Mr. Hardawar said speed viewing did not allow time to soak in what was happening. “I feel like you are not even actually watching it,” he said. “You’re consuming it. You’re not actually like absorbing it or letting it work on you in a creative way. So yeah, this is bad. This is bad. ” Speed viewing waters down the emotional impacts of a movie, Peter Markham, senior at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, said in an interview last week. “If you were watching a play by Pinter, for example, the pause could carry the greatest meaning,” he said. “I can’t imagine watching a movie at twice the speed. ” Renan L. Borelli, 31, who is director of audience growth and engagement at MTV News and who has a commute from Park Slope in Brooklyn to the West Village in Manhattan, is a big fan of podcasts. He listens to as many as three or four a day and subscribes to about 30. Mr. Borelli estimated he could save about five to 10 minutes per podcast. “Even if it’s a couple of minutes, it’s a help,” he said in an interview, noting that he has “many gigabytes” of podcasts stored on his phone. Nicholas Quah, who writes Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts, said in an email that it was unclear how widespread speed listening was, but that anecdotally, it appeared to be “an established behavior” among listeners. He said he saw no harm in it. He wrote, “Speed listening might be more offensive to folks who make highly produced, preciously crafted and podcasts (vs. a loose conversational one, like the Slate gabfests) but what we’re actually confronting here is that tension in the relationship between artist and consumer: Which is more important, the artist intent or the consumer’s preference?” Mr. Chen, of “Slashfilmcast,” said in an email that speed listening was a consumer’s way of saying: “I don’t care how you wanted me to experience this work you’ve created. I just care about the information exchanged. ” Lost are elements of dramatic or comedic timing and intentional silences, he said. “It becomes a fundamentally different experience that disregards what the creator intended” at an accelerated speed, he wrote. He said the practice was like trying to eat twice as many meals as normal to avoid missing any culinary treats. “Sure, you might actually be consuming more, but you’re probably having a worse, more grotesque experience,” he wrote. “And you’re certainly not doing it in a way that the chef intended. ” | 0fake |
THESE LIVES MATTERED: Americans Furious As New Orleans Joins Left’s Effort To Erase History | It s a sad day in New Orleans Cultural Marxism has won The mayor of New Orleans wanted treasured cultural monuments removed and he got what he wished for at the expense of the citizens of the city: We will no longer allow the Confederacy to literally be put on a pedestal in the heart of our city. New Orleans Mayor Mitch LandrieuThe City of New Orleans removed the first of four Confederate monuments this morning in an effort to appease those who believe the monuments represent racism or pretty much anything else they object to. By erasing our past, do we change anything?Some on Twitter are saying: New Orleans starts taking down Confederate statues, like ISIS did in the Middle East removing the history of our lives. It s not that we can compare religious persecution to a cleansing of history but it does have some similarities.Emotions are running high because this involves a time in our history that brother fought brother and died Should we forget the struggle and refuse to honor those who fought and died? Isn t it true that we should always remember history and learn from it?We should also honor the soldiers who fought and died No matter what!A LETTER FROM A PATRIOT WHO MAKES THE CASE FOR KEEPING THE MONUMENTS:By William McMichaelAny Longhorn will proudly declare that The University of Texas is more than an academic institution. The University is a beacon a promise that Texas will continue to produce citizens who care about its future. However, the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue from the Main Mall demonstrates that the university values its current students more than it does its future ones.I believe that society does well to relegate the memory of the Confederacy to museums. Its legacy haunts the United States in ways that many will never understand. Recent events demonstrate that our nation may never fully heal from the wounds that the Civil War inflicted. However, removing a statue does not equate to progress particularly when other symbols of Confederacy continue to stand on the South Mall.In fact, the crowd of students and professors that gathered to witness the statute s removal serves as clear evidence that the University worries more about public appearances than it does encouraging future generations to remember the achievements of the past. Much like the university, the Main Mall serves as more than a beautiful area of the campus. The university commissioned the mall as a memorial to the reconciliation of the North and South. Less than 50 years after the end of the Civil War, sons of Union and Confederate soldiers fought together on the fields of France during World War I. Their parents had taught them to hate each other, yet they persevered together to defeat a common enemy.The South Mall s designers arranged the statues in such a way that the sun set on the faces of the Confederacy, a sign that the era of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Albert Sidney Johnston would no longer govern Texas. However, the sun rises on the faces of men who stood as symbols of Texas hope for a progressive future: President Woodrow Wilson, Gov. Jim Hogg, and Senator John Reagan a former Confederate sympathizer who encouraged Texas to rejoin the Union.The statues look center toward a statute of George Washington, the preeminent founder who warned of the dangers of national division. The Littlefield Fountain bears a Latin inscription that translates to read: Short is the life given, but the memory of a life nobly surrendered is everything. Ultimately, the South Mall reminds viewers not to honor the errors of the past, but rather that Texas can triumph in spite of its past. Yet rather than explain the Main Mall s history and purpose to the public, the University allowed errant voices to rule the day. As a result, future generations will likely forget the Main Mall s importance altogether. The moral of the story will be no more.Longhorns, do not continue wasting time by fretting over appearances. Fight for worthwhile causes, and remember your history. It will make you better, and thereby prompt you to change the world.McMichael lives in Waco. He graduated with his bachelor s degree from the University of Texas in 2014. | 1real |
WOW! WHAT JOHN KASICH Just Asked Cruz And Trump To Do Proves He’s Got An Ego The Size Of Texas | John Kasich is delusional! He s also full of himself! It s unbelievable that he came in fourth in a three man race but still insists on continuing his run for president. Give it up! Donald Trump and Ted Cruz should suspend their campaigns and consolidate behind John Kasich, John Kasich suggested this morning during an appearance on Meet the Press. Ted Cruz s campaign is repeatedly called for you to get out, host Chuck Todd said. Saying a vote for you is a vote for Donald Trump. If you thought your position in this race strengthened Trump, would you get out? Chuck, I m beating Hillary by 11 points, Kasich replied. I m the only one that can win in the fall. And as you noticed the narrative over the last week has been what is wrong with the party. Kasich s the guy that can win the general. Some people have said Kasich would be the best president. Get out for what? he continued. If I d gotten out Trump would be the nominee, he would have won Ohio. And frankly, we ll win some districts in Wisconsin. We will move to Pennsylvania where I m basically in a statistical tie with Trump. And when we go to New York and everywhere else, we re going to pick up delegates, Kasich predicted. It s absurd, it s absurd. You know, if you really want, let them consolidate behind me because frankly I m the one that can win in the fall. And I m the one that can get the crossover votes. Via: Breitbart | 1real |
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