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U.S. government committed to helping Flint, Michigan, fix water problem: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is committed to helping Flint, Michigan, succeed in fixing the problems with its lead-contaminated water system, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday. “There are significant public health consequences” to the contaminated-water crisis in Flint, Earnest told a White House news briefing. A federal official from the Department of Health and Human Services is in Flint, coordinating the assistance being provided by the federal government, he added. | 0fake |
Rio Olympics: Simone Manuel Makes History in the Pool - The New York Times | RIO DE JANEIRO — Simone Manuel managed to make history and break a record, all in less than a minute. Manuel became the first woman to win an individual event in Olympic swimming on Thursday night. She and Penny Oleksiak of Canada tied for the fastest time, an Olympic record in the women’s freestyle: 52. 70 seconds. “I definitely think it raises some awareness and will get them inspired,” Manuel, 20, said about the significance of her accomplishment. “I mean, the gold medal wasn’t just for me. It was for people that came before me and inspired me to stay in the sport. For people who believe that they can’t do it, I hope I’m an inspiration to others to get out there and try swimming. You might be pretty good at it. ” Manuel is sharing a room with another American swimmer, Katie Ledecky, in the athletes’ village here. She and Oleksiak shaved 0. 01 seconds off the Olympic standard of 52. 71, set earlier in the Rio Games meet by Australia’s Cate Campbell. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom won the bronze in 52. 99. The last time an American won gold in the event was 1984, when Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer also tied and shared the gold medal with a time of 55. 92 seconds. Several black swimmers have won Olympic medals for the United States. The first black woman to make an American Olympic team was Maritza Correia, a member of the freestyle relay team that won silver at the 2004 Athens Games. (Her parents were from Guyana she was born and raised in Puerto Rico.) Lia Neal, a Brooklyn native, won a bronze in a relay at the 2012 London Games and a silver in a relay here at the Rio Games. Anthony Ervin and Cullen Jones, who are black, have won Olympic gold medals. Both Manuel and Oleksiak had to come from behind to take the victory on Thursday night. Manuel was third at the halfway mark, while Oleksiak was seventh at the turn. At the finish, Manuel looked at the scoreboard and seemed surprised and thrilled, covering her mouth with her hand. “I was pretty shocked,” said Manuel, who is from Sugar Land, Tex. and attends Stanford. “My goal coming in was to get on the medal stand after seeing how I swam in prelims and semifinals. But getting a gold medal in my first Olympics, I still can’t describe it but I’m really excited about it. ” In case anybody had doubts, Simone Biles made it official: she’s the best gymnast in the world. The American dominated the women’s competition on her way to a gold medal Thursday. In doing so, she joined Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin and Gabby Douglas as American winners. Aly Raisman (U. S.) won the silver, and Aliya Mustafina (Russia) won bronze. Read about Biles’s gold medal performance here. See the moves she pulled off here. Here’s why Simone Biles is the unbeatable gymnast. Michael Phelps won the 200 individual medley easily, beating not only teammate Ryan Lochte, but an ancient Greek. Leonidas of Rhodes won 12 individual events over four Olympics. At 36, five years older than Phelps, he won his last three golds in 152 B. C. in races of about 200 and 400 meters and in a race. It wasn’t easy, but Phelps surpassed Leonidas, winning his 13th individual gold (and 22nd gold overall and 26th medal). With the victory, Phelps also joined the track and field Olympians Al Oerter and Carl Lewis as the only Americans to win an individual event four times. Phelps was timed in 1 minute 54. 66. He won by over a bodylength, and the time was his ever behind a 1:54. 23 from Beijing. He held up four fingers afterward to indicate his four consecutive victories in the event. Japan’s Kosuke Hagino took the silver. Lochte finished fifth. Read about Phelps’s big victory here. Watch Michael Phelps versus Michael Phelps through the years. In the final judo match of her career, Kayla Harrison won her second straight gold medal, then pondered her future at age 26. With just seconds to go in the gold medal match, Harrison caught Audrey Tcheumeo of France in an armlock to gain the submission. “She dropped to the mat, I saw the arm, I saw the opening and I took it,” Harrison said. Harrison had ripped through her earlier opponents: Zhang Zhehui of China in 42 seconds, Abigel Joo of Hungary in 1:45, and Anamari Velensek in 1:43 on the way to the final. Every match was won by ippon, the highest score a fighter can achieve. Harrison’s gold medal in 2012 was the first ever for the United States in judo. Her gold on Thursday is the second. Harrison said she would retire from judo. “My job is to grow the sport and show my passion for it. ” Asked if she would follow in the footsteps of the most famous former judo player, the Olympic bronze medalist Ronda Rousey, now a mixed martial arts fighter, Harrison demurred: “It’s such a different atmosphere from the Olympic stage. I don’t know if I’m cut out for a world where you get fights by how pretty you are and how you talk. ” But, she acknowledged, “Who doesn’t want to be rich and famous? It is tempting. ” — VICTOR MATHER Fiji wins its first gold: It started in 1956, when five athletes, two sailors, two boxers and a discus thrower traveled to Melbourne for the Olympics. They represented Fiji, the South Pacific nation. None of them won a medal. The result was the same at every subsequent Olympics, including a few forays into the Winter Games. At this year’s soccer competition, Fiji lost its three games, and . But there was hope. Rugby, Fiji’s national sport, was being added to the Games for 2016. Fiji has advanced as far as the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup against much bigger and wealthier countries. And the version being added, rugby sevens, with its faster play and smaller teams, suited a country like Fiji, with a population of only 900, 000. Fiji had been sevens world champions in 1995 and 2005. On Thursday, the Fiji men’s sevens team finally landed the country its first medal. A gold one. Fiji beat its former colonial ruler, Britain, by to win the inaugural men’s rugby sevens competition. Back with an ace: Golf returned to the Games on Thursday for the first time since 1904, and it did not take long for the first Olympic in more than a century. Justin Rose of Britain aced the fourth hole at the Olympic Golf Course. Marcus Fraser of Australia shot an 63 to win the round. Different sports require different body types, right? Volleyball players are usually long and lean. Weight lifters, not so much. So we asked a bunch of Olympians and Paralympians to strip down to their underwear (or whatever they felt comfortable with) so you could try to guess which sport they compete in. How many can you guess correctly? The playing of the United States’ national anthem at Olympic medal ceremonies is bringing tears to the eyes of American athletes here. Elsewhere, the song is having a very different effect. “It is driving me crazy,” said Jason DeBord, a living in Ann Arbor, Mich. “I hit the mute button, or I make dinner, or I just sit there and brace myself. ” DeBord has nothing against displays of patriotism, nor is he simply eager to return to the action. What irritates him is the version of “The Banner” being used at the Olympics. Put bluntly, it has been butchered. Listen to the “other” version of our national anthem. | 0fake |
Why Deep Breathing May Keep Us Calm - The New York Times | For generations, mothers have encouraged children to take long, slow breaths to fight anxiety. A long tradition of meditation likewise uses controlled breathing to induce tranquillity. Now scientists at Stanford University may have uncovered for the first time why taking deep breaths can be so calming. The research, on a tiny group of neurons deep within the brains of mice, also underscores just how intricate and pervasive the links are within our body between breathing, thinking, behaving and feeling. Breathing is one of the body’s most essential and elastic processes. Our breaths occur constantly and rhythmically, much like our hearts’ steady beating. But while we generally cannot change our hearts’ rhythm by choice, we can alter how we breathe, in some cases consciously, as in holding our breath, or with little volition, such as sighing, gasping or yawning. But how the mind and body regulate breathing and vice versa at the cellular level has remained largely mysterious. More than 25 years ago, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles first discovered a small bundle of about 3, 000 interlinked neurons inside the brainstems of animals, including people, that seem to control most aspects of breathing. They dubbed these neurons the breathing pacemaker. In the years since, though, little progress had been made in understanding precisely how those cells work. But recently, a group of scientists at Stanford and other universities, including some of the U. C. L. A. researchers, began using sophisticated new genetics techniques to study individual neurons in the pacemaker. By microscopically tracking different proteins produced by the genes in each cell, the scientists could group the neurons into “types. ” They eventually identified about 65 different types of neurons in the pacemaker, each presumably with a unique responsibility for regulating some aspect of breathing. The scientists confirmed that idea in a remarkable study published last year in Nature, in which they bred mice with a single type of pacemaker cell that could be disabled. When they injected the animals with a virus that killed only those cells, the mice stopped sighing, the researchers discovered. Mice, like people, normally sigh every few minutes, even if we and they are unaware of doing so. Without instructions from these cells, the sighing stopped. But that study, while literally breathtaking, raised new questions about the capabilities of other neurons in the pacemaker. So for the newest study, which was published recently in Science, the researchers carefully disabled yet another type of neuron in mice. Afterward, the animals at first seemed unchanged. They sighed, yawned and otherwise breathed just as before. But when the mice were placed in unfamiliar cages, which normally would incite jittery exploring and lots of nervous sniffing — a form of rapid breathing — the animals instead sat serenely grooming themselves. “They were, for mice, remarkably chill,” says Dr. Mark Krasnow, a professor of biochemistry at Stanford who oversaw the research. To better understand why, the researchers next looked at brain tissue from the mice to determine whether and how the disabled neurons might connect to other parts of the brain. It turned out that the particular neurons in question showed direct biological links to a portion of the brain that is known to be involved in arousal. This area sends signals to multiple other parts of the brain that, together, direct us to wake up, be alert and, sometimes, become anxious or frantic. In the mellow mice, this area of the brain remained quiet. “What we think was going on” was that the disabled neurons normally would detect activity in other neurons within the pacemaker that regulate rapid breathing and sniffing, says Dr. Kevin Yackle, now a faculty fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, who, as a graduate researcher at Stanford, led the study. The disabled neurons would then alert the brain that something potentially worrisome was going on with the mouse since it was sniffing, and the brain should start ramping up the machinery of worry and panic. So a few tentative sniffs could result in a state of anxiety that, in a rapid feedback loop, would make the animal sniff more and become increasingly anxious. Or, without that mechanism, it would remain tranquil, a mouse of Zen. The implication of this work, both Dr. Krasnow and Dr. Yackle say, is that taking deep breaths is calming because it does not activate the neurons that communicate with the brain’s arousal center. Whether deep breathing has its own, separate set of regulatory neurons and whether those neurons talk to parts of the brain involved in soothing and pacifying the body is still unknown, although the scientists plan to continue studying the activity of each of the subtypes of neurons within the pacemaker. This area of research is in its infancy, Dr. Yackle says. It also so far involves mice rather than people, although we are known to have breathing pacemakers that closely resemble those in rodents. But even if preliminary, this research bolsters an ancient axiom, Dr. Krasnow says. “Mothers were probably right all along,” he says, “when they told us to stop and take a deep breath when we got upset. ” | 0fake |
AIG Quadruples Limits for Terrorism Insurance to $1 Billion | « on: Today at 08:36:35 PM » AIG Quadruples Limits for Terrorism Insurance to $1 Billion 26 October 2016 , by Sonali Basak (Bloomberg) - AIG seeks to respond to terrorist attacks worldwide- Insurer has hired more than 600 engineers to manage risk Logged | 1real |
Russian Legislator: Russia Would Use Nuclear Weapons on U.S. or NATO in Eastern Ukraine | Speaking at a security forum in Slovakia on Sunday, a member of the Russian parliament suggested his country’s military would resort to nuclear weapons to repel a U. S. or NATO incursion into Crimea or eastern Ukraine. [“On the issue of NATO expansion on our borders, at some point I heard from the Russian military — and I think they are right — if U. S. forces, NATO forces, are, were, in the Crimea, in eastern Ukraine, Russia is undefendable militarily in case of conflict without using nuclear weapons in the early stage of the conflict,” said parliamentarian Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Nikonov, as quoted by Defense One. He added that Russian military leaders have “discussed Moscow’s willingness to use nuclear weapons” with their counterparts in NATO, during the course of “broader and increasingly contentious conversations about the alliance’s expansion. ” Russia supports, and chronically denies supporting, separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine outright in 2014. Patrick Tucker of Defense One notes these comments are in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s doctrine of allowing the limited use of nuclear weapons against “ aggression utilizing conventional weapons in situations critical to the national security of the Russian Federation. ” That is not mere rhetoric. Newsweek points out that it is actually written down in the official Military Doctrine of Russia. Analysts disagree over what the Russians would actually regard as a crisis serious enough to justify a nuclear first strike, how much their doctrine has truly changed since the Soviet era, and how much it differs in practice from the posture of other nuclear nations, including the United States. Nikonov would certainly be making news by revealing that mere deployment of NATO forces to eastern Ukraine would prompt nuclear retaliation. Nikonov cited the size and power of the NATO alliance, which he described as accounting for “ of the global defense money,” as justification for Russian paranoia about Western encroachments. Conversely, Baltic states look at Russia’s actions in Ukraine and wonder when they might expect a visit from the mysterious unidentified troops that presaged the annexation of Crimea, widely known as Putin’s “little green men. ” The Russians, of course, view the military buildup by those nervous nations as provocative, rather than a response to Russian provocation. Newsweek notes that Nikonov also complained about the strained relationship between Russia and the United States, which he blamed in part on the career destruction of American officials who reach out to Russia with too much enthusiasm. | 0fake |
WOW! DENNIS MILLER NAILS IT: “The GOP is now Chipotle! You’re making your customers sick!” [Video] | This is awesome! No words just enjoy! | 1real |
Turkish opposition journalist sentenced to three years over tweet: agency | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court sentenced a journalist from opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet to three years in prison on Tuesday on a charge of spreading terrorist propaganda over a tweet which the paper briefly posted in May, state media said. The newspaper s online editor, Oguz Guven, was accused of discrediting Ankara s fight against supporters of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the government says orchestrated a coup attempt last year. The tweet had referred to a prosecutor being killed in a road accident with the expression that he had been mowed down by a truck . Cumhuriyet, long a pillar of the secularist establishment, says the tweet was replaced within one minute by one saying the prosecutor died awfully in a truck accident . The prosecutor who died had prepared an indictment against Gulen s network. The cleric denies any involvement in the coup attempt. State-run Anadolu agency said Guven was sentenced to three years and one month in jail. He had been remanded in custody in May but was released in June pending trial. More than a dozen Cumhuriyet correspondents and executives are being tried in a separate case in which prosecutors say the paper was taken over by supporters of Gulen and used to target Erdogan and veil the actions of militant groups. Prosecutors are seeking up to 43 years in jail for the paper s staff, accused of targeting Erdogan through asymmetric war methods. They have denied the charges. Since the failed coup in July 2016, Turkey has jailed more than 50,000 people and closed more than 130 media outlets, raising concerns among Western allies about deteriorating rights and freedoms. | 0fake |
Donald Trump Denounces ’Un-American’ Intelligence Leaks to ‘Fake News’ - Breitbart | President Donald Trump denounced reporting from the New York Times and the Washington Post that said his campaign was communicating with Russia. “Information is being illegally given to the failing New York Times and Washington Post by the intelligence community,” he wrote on Twitter, suggesting that the NSA and the FBI might be responsible. “Just like Russia,” he added. The New York Times cited law enforcement and intelligence agency sources that intercepted communications from people close to Trump during the presidential campaign with Russian intelligence. “The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by ‘intelligence’ like candy,” Trump wrote. “Very !” That news is leading coverage of the president on cable and network news stations, prompting Trump’s reaction on Twitter. “The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred,” Trump wrote. “MSNBC and CNN are unwatchable. Fox and Friends is great!” Trump called the reports “ ” and said they were “merely an attempt to the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign. ” He also praised Bloomberg columnist Eli Lake, for discussing his latest column on Fox News, pointing out that the damaging intelligence leaks were the kind of behavior seen in “banana republics. ” “We trust the NSA and the FBI to use these powers to catch criminals and terrorists but that should not interfere in our politics, and that stuff is interfering right now in our politics,” Lake said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. — @realDonaldTrump referring to this @EliLake segment on @seanhannity last night that was on @foxandfriends this morning pic. twitter. — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) February 15, 2017, Trump reminded the world that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unchecked aggression began during the Obama administration. “Crimea was TAKEN by Russia during the Obama Administration,” he wrote. “Was Obama too soft on Russia?” | 0fake |
MEGYN KELLY Reportedly Not Very Popular With FOX Staff…Book Sales Are “biggest loser since Hillary Clinton’s book [Hard Choices]” | Everybody in the building is sick of it. We absolutely can t stand it anymore, the source said.There are rumors that Kelly may leave for CNN and Vanity Fair reported Thursday that Kelly is also considering a move to ABC. In both cases, she is rumored to be considering salary offers less than the $20 million that Fox has reportedly offered her to stay, in exchange for more advantageous working conditions.HarperCollins which, like Fox News, is owned by Rupert Murdoch s News Corporation paid Kelly a reported $6 million advance.The source told Breitbart News that Kelly s sales figures were disappointing: For someone with a profile, that s a disaster, an unmitigated disaster. It s the biggest loser since Hillary Clinton s book [Hard Choices]. Kelly, the source added, loses a million viewers from O Reilly. She s clearly the weakest link in the lineup. For entire story: Breitbart | 1real |
WEARING A PRO-TRUMP MAGA HAT in Hollywood is Dangerous…This Video Shows Just How Bad It Gets [Video] | THIS IS HORRIBLE LANGUAGE ALERT!Are you wondering how free to be me Hollyweird would react to a Trump hat-wearing person? Well, the video below tells us so much about the intolerance of the supposed tolerant Hollywood crowd:There is a disclaimer to the video by two brave souls Blaire White and her boyfriend Joey: We never did anything remotely inflammatory or investigative to anyone. The point of this video was simply to wear a conservative symbol in a very liberal area.This wasn t so easy Make America great again. That s bullsh*t! one bystander shouted. What do they represent? Make America white again. Blaire White who makes YouTube videos for conservatives, eventually runs into more trouble as a random stranger tosses a glass of wine in her face and runs away. You definitely can t wear a Trump hat in Hollywood, said Joey as the two edit the video later at home.Sadly, White is one of the many conservative voices who have been demonetized by a YouTube run by progressive ideological thought-police.We ve contacted Blaire and hope to hear from her about this. We can t say enough great things about any American willing to get out there and push back against the intolerance of the left. Go Blaire!Read more: BPR | 1real |
In A Bizarre Twist, Jill Stein Could Give The Presidency To Hillary – New Century Times | Share on Facebook
On Tuesday, researchers announced that there’s enough evidence of hacking or foul play to ask for an audit of three state’s voting tabulations: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Donald Trump won those three states by a narrow margin and without them, he would have lost.
There’s a movement to ask the Justice Department to demand the audits, but they might not have to. Help is coming from a surprising source, the Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. She’s calling for a recount in those three states and we can help her get one.
“After a divisive and painful presidential race,” the Green Party candidate said in a statement, “reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many Americans to wonder if our election results are reliable.” It's official: Jill Stein announces plans to file for a recount in PA, MI & WI. From her release: pic.twitter.com/Yh0gcVBPOR
— Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) November 23, 2016
Stein may have a case:
Last Thursday, the activists held a conference call with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias to make their case, according to a source briefed on the call. The academics presented findings showing that in Wisconsin, Clinton received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots. Based on this statistical analysis, Clinton may have been denied as many as 30,000 votes; she lost Wisconsin by 27,000. While it’s important to note the group has not found proof of hacking or manipulation, they are arguing to the campaign that the suspicious pattern merits an independent review — especially in light of the fact that the Obama White House has accused the Russian government of hacking the Democratic National Committee.
Source: NY Magazine
The math would still be tight. Michigan’s count still isn’t complete, but it’s likely that their 16 electoral votes would add to Trump’s 290. If those three states were suddenly to suddenly turn blue (Trump won the three states with a combined vote difference of just over 100,000), Trump would have 260 electoral votes and Clinton would have a total of 278 electoral votes. 270 are needed to win.
Stein wouldn’t end up winning the election, no matter what. It’s hard to imagine what her motive would be, other than transparency and regardless of how you feel about her, that’s laudable.
What she’s lacking so far is money. She needs to raise $2 million by Friday at 4:00 PM Central Time. So far, she’s raised less than 10 percent of that.
Doing something like this may have its downsides, although not too far down. The confidence in the Electoral College is already eroding. There’s no reason at all that three midwestern states should prevent the clear popular winner from becoming President. The biggest risk is that disgruntled Trump supporters could lash out, but they are lashing out as winners, so let’s not let that stop us from taking the time to ensure that our democracy stays intact. | 1real |
When Killer and Victim’s Mother Meet, Paths From Grief, Fear and Guilt Emerge - The New York Times | TOPEKA, Kan. — Timothy Shahid and Joshua Kalina met, went drinking, became friends and then had a falling out that lead to the murder of one of the young men, all in a matter of hours. The victim’s mother, her life suddenly a disordered jumble marked by panic attacks and nightmares, decided to seek out her son’s killer to try to understand what had prompted an act of violence so baffling that even the gunman was at a loss. With the aid of a restorative justice program, which brings together victims and those who have caused them harm, the two ultimately met — each seeking a way out of grief, fear and guilt. Here’s a look at Timothy, Joshua and Joshua’s mother as she becomes involved in the program. (In this related article, read about a meeting between the parents of a college student and the man convicted in the accident that killed their son.) “I probably broke my mom’s heart when I told her that,” Timothy, now 30, said. “The road I was leading, I knew I was going to end up in one of those two places. ” At 14, Timothy and some other boys robbed a pawnshop, and he spent two years in a juvenile facility. By age 16, he was “religiously” carrying a gun that he sometimes used. He did not elaborate. “Hanging out with a group of kids gave me hope,” said Timothy, who was tormented by his adoption, and the parents he never knew. “I didn’t think my biological mother loved me. ” At the time of the shooting, Timothy was working at a telemarketing center. He spent his free hours smoking pot and drinking at least a pint of Hennessy a day. He customized the black 2005 Nissan Altima with special wheel rims, and was methodical about keeping the car looking pristine. Joshua grew up in Topeka with his mother, Judi Bergquist, and was especially close to his older brother. He liked to play practical jokes on those close to him. “He was so funny,” his mother said. He had severe attention deficit disorder and graduated from an alternative high school. Problems with social anxiety prompted him to wear a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap pulled low over his face. Ms. Bergquist said Joshua began hanging out with what she described as a “rougher” group of friends after graduating, so she sent him to Texas to live with her parents. He returned to Topeka about two years later and found work at a service. But persistent money problems forced him to rely on his mother and grandmother. “The day he died, he called me in the late afternoon,” Ms. Bergquist said. “He was extremely upset because my mom had shut off his cellphone and he had a car payment to make. ” He’d screamed at her. A few hours later, she said Joshua drove slowly by her house but didn’t stop. It was the last time she saw him alive. Hours later, Timothy and Joshua met for the first time through a mutual friend. The two seemed to hit it off. “He didn’t come off as a person I couldn’t get along with. I was easy to get along with,” Timothy said. “I rode around with Josh in his car. ” But as the night of April 23, 2007, wore on, their easy conversation deteriorated into bickering, and the two argued loudly while drinking at a bar. “He said something about one of my friends, so I said something about one of his friends,” said Timothy, who called someone to pick him up. “We were going out the door at the same time, still arguing. I actually opened his car door and then I walk off. I just told him to get in the car. That’s when me and his friend, we’re arguing now . .. All I see was him pull out a weapon . .. I thought he had a gun. ” He fired eight times, and a friend of Timothy’s fired twice more before they fled, the police said. Joshua was left in the parking lot with four gunshot wounds in the chest, one in the left hip, two in the buttocks and three in the left hand. “My was it was better him than me,” Timothy said. “I didn’t believe in fighting. I just pulled out my gun. I actually ran up to him when I shot him. I don’t blame alcohol. I knew what I was doing. I just saw something in his hand. ” Joshua was unarmed, police said Timothy’s accomplice was never arrested. During pretrial hearings, Timothy would see Ms. Bergquist in the courtroom, and at one court appearance, he taunted her. “I actually took her son’s photo, and held it up and turned around, and that’s when I laughed at her,” he said. Ms. Bergquist, suffering from memory loss and insomnia, panicked every time she saw a tall man — the loose description of Timothy’s accomplice. “If I saw anybody with that vague description, I would just lose it,” she said. Finally, wanting to avoid a trial, Ms. Bergquist agreed to a plea deal in which Timothy would receive about 20 years. Timothy was impassive: “I didn’t care about life. ” “I knew that Timothy held the answers that I needed. I needed reassurance from Timothy that the other person was never going to bother me,” said Ms. Bergquist. “I needed to feel safe. At the same time, I needed to know if Timothy was working to change his life. I didn’t want this to happen to anyone else. ” The first step toward a meeting came after a prison official showed Timothy an article that Ms. Bergquist had written about Joshua. Ms. Bergquist also contacted Holly Chavez, the restorative justice coordinator at the Kansas Department of Corrections, and asked whether a meeting would be possible. Timothy was also growing more introspective. He was reading the Bible as well as a book that included a passage that seemed written for him: “If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got. ” The solitude of prison forced him to try to figure out who he was. “I had a lot of time,” he said. “You got to deal with a lot of stuff on your own. It made me go back and look at the things in my life. I became Christian. I understood forgiveness — that I took a life that I can never give back. ” What follows is a discussion of the reactions of Timothy and Ms. Bergquist as they worked with Ms. Chavez toward a encounter. The excerpts, which are from separate interviews that took place after the meeting, capture the thinking of those involved. Judi Bergquist, the victim’s mother Holly Chavez, the program coordinator The pivotal moment came when Ms. Bergquist acknowledged that she knew her son was flawed. Timothy, who killed Joshua Ms. Chavez Ms. Bergquist Timothy Ms. Bergquist Timothy Ms. Bergquist Timothy Ms. Bergquist Timothy Ms. Bergquist In April 2016, the two met again — this time at a victims’ awareness event at the prison in front of inmates. “She called me her friend,” Timothy said. “A woman forgiving her son’s killer and calling him her friend. And at the end, she got up and gave me a hug. You just don’t see that too often. ” (In this related article, Zachary Harrison struggles to understand why the parents of the man he killed want to meet him.) | 0fake |
Marco Rubio: Critics of Immigration Bill Were Right | Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Friday that he is indebted to America for welcoming his Cuban immigrant parents, while he continued to back away from his 2013 legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens. | 0fake |
BREAKING! REPUBLICANS PULL VOTE ON BANNING CONFEDERATE FLAG | Dems hammer Republicans on their planned vote to allow the Confederate flag in national parks.House Republican leaders have canceled a planned vote on an amendment that would have reversed previously-passed provisions barring the display of the Confederate flag in national parksThe move comes after Republicans acknowledged they did not have the votes to pass the amendment, and Democrats hammered the GOP for considering the change in the first place. This was an attempt to codify the Obama Administration s own directive to our national cemeteries and it is unfortunate that it has devolved into a political battle. It is our hope that we can have a thoughtful discussion on this matter that is free of politics, a GOP leadership aide said.READ MORE: NATIONAL JOURNAL | 1real |
OBAMA’S FINAL 6 MONTHS…Racist, Desperate, Congressional BLACK Caucus Plans Gun-Control Antics On House Floor: “Be As Disruptive As Possible To Speaker Ryan” | We re still waiting to hear if the White Congressional Caucus will join in oh wait never mind The Congressional Black Caucus is calling on its members to be as disruptive to Speaker Ryan as possible next week when the House returns for business on Tuesday.The Washington Examiner has obtained a memo sent to Democratic offices that states that CBC members are coordinating a day of action on the floor in regards to gun violence. The plan involves members giving speeches throughout the day calling for further federal restrictions on the possession and use of guns. The memo also asks members to be present for a House Rules Committee that afternoon regarding on the terrorism and gun control legislation slated for action on the floor Wednesday. During Votes Members are encouraged to have a picture (not poster board, but a printed piece of paper with an image of a constituent killed by a firearm), the memo stated.Via: Washington Examinerh/t: Weasel Zippers | 1real |
Москва ввела в эксплуатацию систему по борьбе с превышением скорости |
Как пишет Коммерсант, система под названием "Пит-стоп" позволяет инспекторам ДПС оперативно задерживать злостных нарушителей скоростного режима, используя данные с автоматических камер, и направлять материалы в суды.
По данным издания, максимальное наказание, которое применяла ГИБДД за это нарушение с использованием автоматических комплексов ранее составляло 5 тысяч рублей. Теперь же нарушителям грозит лишение прав.
Таким образом, в распоряжении сотрудников ДПС теперь 50 нетбуков с доступом к данным о всех нарушениях, зафиксированных автоматическими камерами (всего по городу их 934). Инспектор оперативно получает данные о водителях, злостно нарушающих скоростной режим в зоне патрулирования экипажа ДПС - речь идет о превышении скорости на 60 километров в час и выше.
Решение о преследовании и задержании нарушителя принимается по расчетному маршруту его движения, построенному системой. Если нарушителя удается задержать - составляется протокол, материалы направляются в суд. Если нет - собственнику автомобиля придет штраф.
26 октября в результате столкновения в Подмосковье микроавтобуса с двумя грузовиками погибли семь человек, еще шестеро получили тяжелые травмы.
Согласно сообщениям пресс-службы областной полиции. микроавтобус двигался со скоростью не менее 100 километров в час и ехал в опасной близости с грузовиком, который столкнулся на 36-м километре дороги "Дон" с большегрузом.
По уточненным данным, в микроавтобусе Volkswagen находились 12 пассажиров и водитель. Сообщается, что об аварии на 36-м километре трассы М4 «Дон» первые сведения поступили около 06:00. Столкновение произошло на платном участке дороги в районе города Домодедово.
На месте ЧП прибыли сотрудники ДПС. В ликвидации последствий ДТП принимают участие 25 человек и 8 единиц техники, отметили в областном управлении МЧС .
В Иваново двое пьяных инкассаторов перевернулись на бронированном служебном автомобиле , не сумев поставить его в гараж.
Как сообщает "РГ" со ссылкой на региональное УГИБДД, ЧП в произошло вечером 14 сентября.
25-летний водитель, управляя инкассаторским автомобилем "Практик-2964", не справился с управлением и опрокинул машину на проезжую часть.
В результате ДТП пассажир инкассаторского автомобиля, 29-летний мужчина, получил ушиб левой лопаточной области спины.
По данным ГИБДД, водитель и пассажир являются сотрудниками одной из инкассаторских фирм. После смены инкассаторы распивали спиртное, а затем в нетрезвом состоянии поехали ставить бронированный автомобиль в гараж. Однако, не справившись с управлением, собутыльники перевернулись на дороге, так и не доехав до места назначения. В крови водителя обнаружили 0,53 промилле алкоголя.
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Jordan rejects Trump's move on Jerusalem as legally 'null' | AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan on Wednesday rejected the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, calling it legally null because it consolidated Israel s occupation of the eastern sector of the contested city. Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani told state news agency Petra that the announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump violated long-standing U.N. Security Council resolutions that stipulated the non-recognition of the Israeli occupation of the city s eastern sector and the adjacent West Bank. The staunch U.S. ally considered all unilateral moves that seek to create new facts on the ground as null and void , the spokesman added. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said later in a tweet that the move frustrated peace efforts, adding that the status of Jerusalem must be determined in direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis. Jordan rejects the decision and all its implications and will continue to work for an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, Safadi added. Jordan lost East Jerusalem and the West Bank to Israel during the 1967 war and says the city s fate should only be decided at the end of a final settlement. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state. Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital. Jordan s King Abdullah warned of the repercussions of Trump s expected move in talks last week in Washington with top administration officials and warned of a backlash across the Middle East. The king s Hashemite dynasty is the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, making Jordan sensitive to any changes in the status of the city. A government source said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was due to hold talks with the monarch on Thursday in a stepped-up diplomatic offensive to counter Trump s plan. Several protests broke out in areas of Jordan s capital, Amman, inhabited by Palestinian refugees in response to Trump s announcement. Youths chanted anti-American slogans in Amman, while in the Baqaa refugee camp on the city s outskirts, hundreds of youths roamed the streets denouncing Trump and calling on Jordan s government to scrap its 1994 peace treaty with Israel. Down with America. America is the mother of terror, they chanted. Jordanian deputies in a special parliamentary session on Wednesday condemned the move and urged the government to expel the U.S. ambassador and boycott U.S. goods. A dozen activists staged a sit-in near the gates of the U.S. embassy. Many people in Jordan are descendants of Palestinian refugees whose families left after the creation of Israel in 1948. Jordan s powerful mainstream Islamist movement, the country s largest political party and opposition group, said it would stage several major rallies across the country in the next few days and after Friday prayers. | 0fake |
Profits & Profiteers – Big Banks, Price Fixing, Profiteering – 30% Price Hike -Poor Farmers – 1940s | Posted on October 28, 2016 by Andrew Midkiff
Published on Oct 27, 2016 by Historia – Bel99TV The Great Swindle –‘Big business has no shame”– 1940s rationing & monopoly bank control of U.S. economy made farmers over-produce causing large stockpiles of food, and the prices plummeted, farmers became depressed and financially squeezed. “Sales Dollar Arguments”– history repeats… Share this: | 1real |
Duterte berates Canada's Trudeau at end of Philippines summit | MANILA (Reuters) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte attacked Canada’s Justin Trudeau at the end of a summit of Asian and Western nations for raising questions about his war on drugs, a topic skirted by other leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump. At the traditional news conference by the host nation at the end of the summit on Tuesday, Duterte was asked how he had responded to the Canadian prime minister raising the issue of human rights and extra-judicial killings in his anti-drugs drive. “I said I will not explain. It is a personal and official insult,” the Philippines president said in the course of a rambling answer, although he did not refer to Trudeau by name. “I only answer to the Filipino. I will not answer to any other bullshit, especially foreigners. Lay off.” Earlier in the day, Trudeau told a news conference that during his meeting with Duterte “the president was receptive to my comments and it was throughout a very cordial and positive exchange”. Human rights activists had been hoping that leaders at the summit, including Trump, would raise the issue of the thousands of users and small-time pushers killed in the campaign that was launched by Duterte after he took office in mid-2016. His government says the police act in self-defense during drug-busts, but critics say executions are taking place with no accountability. There was no pressure from Trump on the drugs war when he met Duterte on Monday and the U.S. president later said the two had a “great relationship”. A joint statement after the meeting only said the two sides “underscored that human rights and the dignity of human life are essential, and agreed to continue mainstreaming the human rights agenda in their national programs.” Duterte cursed Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, last year for raising concerns about the war on drugs and he subsequently declared that he was breaking ties with the United States, a close ally of the Philippines since World War Two. The relationship appears to have got back on track after the bonhomie between him and Trump. Trudeau also said that he raised the issue of the exodus of Rohingya during a meeting with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, another sensitive topic bypassed by most other leaders, although he did not mention the Muslim minority by name. “This is a tremendous concern to Canada and to many, many countries around the world,” he said. The government in mostly-Buddhist Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and does not recognize the term. Over 600,000 Rohingya have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh since military clearance operations were launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on Aug. 25. The plight of the Rohingya has brought outrage from around the world and the United Nations has called the operations ethnic cleansing. There have been calls for democracy champion Suu Kyi to be stripped of the Nobel peace prize she won in 1991 because she has not condemned the military’s actions. Some countries in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), particularly Muslim-majority Malaysia, have voiced strong concern over the issue recently. However, in keeping with ASEAN’s principle of non-interference in each others’ internal affairs, it appeared to have been put aside at the summit, which brought Southeast Asian nations together with the United States, Russia, Japan, China, India, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Duterte reported that China had agreed at the summit to work on a code of conduct in the South China Sea with ASEAN nations to ease tensions over disputed claims to the busy and resource-rich waterway. The group also signed agreements on protecting migrant labor and fighting terrorism and cybercrime. Trump skipped the plenary session of the summit because of scheduling delays, but he said his marathon trip to Asia had been a “tremendous” success. He told reporters on Air Force One that he had delivered his prepared remarks during a lunch before the summit meeting. Trump said at least $300 billion, possibly triple that figure, of deals had been agreed in the trip. He did not elaborate. “We’ve explained that the United States is open for trade but we want reciprocal, we want fair trade for the United States,” he said. Trade and concern about possible protectionism under Trump’s “America First” agenda have come up during his visit to the region, which included stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam before concluding in the Philippines. After Trump left Manila, a group of Asia-Pacific nations pursuing a separate Beijing-backed trade deal that does not include the United States agreed to “intensify efforts” in 2018 to bring their negotiations to a conclusion. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) appeared to have been given new impetus at the summit by Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, to which China is not party. The two trade deals are not mutually exclusive. ASEAN is joined in the RCEP talks by China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. | 0fake |
Another Win For The NRA: Court Rules That Cities Can’t Protect Themselves From Gun Violence | If you ve ever thought our government is completely run by the National Rifle Association, your mind won t be changed by this article.A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled on Monday that any laws that cities or states pass to protect their citizens from gun violence are unconstitutional.The case was about three business partners in Alameda, California, who wanted to open a gun store, but they were denied a zoning permit. The court ruled in the partners favor, saying that the right to bear arms meant the right to buy arms. If the right of the people to keep and bear arms is to have any force, the people must have a right to acquire the very firearms they are entitled to keep and to bear, wrote Judge Diarmuid F. O Scannlain (a Reagan appointee) for the 2-1 majority, quoting the Second Amendment. One cannot truly enjoy a constitutionally protected right when the state is permitted to snuff out the means by which he exercises it. All of this makes sense until you realize that cities and states can regulate virtually anything else that s sold. If a city chooses not to allow a bar or a massage parlor, that s their right. It should also be the right of a city to help mitigate crime, and if fewer guns do that, they can ban the sale of guns.Unlike gun manufacturers, though, massage parlors and bars don t have massive lobbying arms to control their every move. These graphs are a couple years old, but little has changed. Most of the NRA s bribery money goes straight into the pockets of Congressmen 236 of them Republican and 25 Democrats.You can bet that it was the NRA who propelled this case to a higher court in the first place.Judge Barry G. Silverman, named to the bench by President Bill Clinton, wrote in dissent, describing the case as a mundane zoning dispute dressed up as a Second Amendment challenge. Conspicuously missing from this lawsuit is any honest-to-God resident of Alameda County complaining that he or she cannot lawfully buy a gun nearby, Judge Silverman wrote.The most ridiculous part of this case is that the ordinance that caused the gun store to be turned away doesn t ban gun stores. It simply says they cannot be less than 500 feet from a residence. They wanted to build it 446 feet away.What this means is that as much as Republicans claim to value property rights (and life), when it comes to guns, there are no property rights. If you don t drool over the thought of guns, your right to keep your children away from guns is non-existent because in the United States, it s increasingly becoming guns before people.Featured image by Ethan Miller at Getty Images. | 1real |
British banker took 60g of cocaine while torturing & killing prostitute, court told | British banker took 60g of cocaine while torturing & killing prostitute, court... British banker took 60g of cocaine while torturing & killing prostitute, court told By 0 137
British banker Rurik Jutting took up to 60 grams of cocaine while torturing and killing a prostitute, a Hong Kong court has heard. He is also alleged to have harbored fantasies of returning to the UK to kidnap and abuse teenage girls.
The 30-year-old is on trial for the murder of two Indonesian women in his flat in the former British colony and finance hub.
In a video seen by authorities, Jutting is heard bragging about the massive amount of cocaine he had taken over the course of the three-day torture of his first victim, 23-year-old Sumarti Ningsih.
He told police he derived a “ sense of enjoyment he never had before ” from his actions and knew then that he would kill again.
Read more
Jutting, formerly a banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch who studied at the University of Cambridge, has denied murder but admitted to manslaughter.
He was arrested in 2014 after the bodies of Ningsih and a second Indonesian woman, 26-year-old Seneng Mujiasih, were found in his apartment.
Interview tapes played in the courtroom reveal some of Jutting’s thought processes during the killings.
“ She was unlucky to be the person in my flat when I realized that physically hurting someone when under cocaine was something I gained satisfaction from, ” he said of his first victim.
Medical experts told the court that Jutting appeared to have built up a huge tolerance to cocaine and existed on a daily dose of wine, cocaine and Red Bull.
He also revealed his plans to return to the UK and abduct schoolgirls from an expensive boarding school in Buckinghamshire.
“ They would be, say, 15 years old and I would basically turn these three girls into my sex slaves, it would be good to psychologically play them off against each other, ” he told police.
The trial continues | 1real |
Comment on 4 Fascinating Things Quantum Physics Does In Nature by para kazanmak | 4 Fascinating Things Quantum Physics Does In Nature By Michael Danielson on November 9, 2015 Subscribe
Quantum Physics is a subject that is often discarded by everyday people as too esoteric or too new-agey (depending on which kind of QM you read about) to be useful in everyday life. We have all been introduced to QM as “the science of stuff too small to really matter to everyday life.” But recent developments in biological science have revealed that life itself puts powerful quantum mechanical principles to use as an everyday part of its function. “Quantum Biology” is one of the forefronts of modern science. Quantum Physics in Bird Navigation
We’ve known for decades that many species of birds migrate each year, most famously from north to south as the temperature drops in the temperate zones. But how they navigate during those migrations has always been a mystery. The magnetic field the Earth produces is terribly weak compared to the other forces that act on an animal’s body. Furthermore, biologists knew from studies that birds’ compasses are light-dependent, and that they detect magnetic fields relative to the surface of the planet, not the poles.
It wasn’t until the rule of quantum entanglement developed that we began to develop a theory of how bird compasses worked. Without delving too far into the science, the theory is that bird’s eyes contain a protein that itself contains millions of entangled electrons. When light enters the bird’s eye, it knocks some of those entangled electrons loose, but leaves others attached to the protein molecules.
The “loose” electrons are much more dramatically affected by the Earth’s magnetic field than the bound ones are, but the entanglement means the bound electrons move the same way. The subsequent “wiggling” of the protein that the bound electrons are attached to can be perceived by the bird’s retina and translated by its brain into a “picture” of the magnetic field it’s flying through. Quantum Physics in Photosynthesis
Plants, it seems, use quantum mechanics for one of the most important aspects of life on Earth: turning sunlight into the power that life runs on. The biggest mystery of photosynthesis for as long as we’ve understood it is “how is photosynthesis so efficient?” Our best machines achieve efficiencies of upwards of 30% — photosynthetic transfer of energy is upwards of 99% efficient. There are so many directions a photon could travel once it gets captured by a molecule of chlorophyll that science had no idea how such a high proportion of photons made it to the “reaction center” where they were used in building new molecules.
The answer turns out to be quantum coherence , the ability of a quantum particle to act like a wave until something “decoheres” it. The theory is that photons enter plant cells, are captured by chlorophyll, and rather than traveling in a particle-like manner, they travel as waves , and the “reaction center” has the ability to decohere those waves back into particle (photon) form. Quantum Physics In Your Digestion
Enzymes are catalysts — chemicals that trigger other chemical creations. But for decades, scientists have been unable to determine how enzymes can speed up reactions so much: up to a trillion times faster than they would naturally occur. Recent research has shown that enzymes may be a trigger of quantum coherence — as above — using the “wave side” of the wave-particle quality to cause electrons and even protons to simply “teleport” from one atom to another, bypassing the need for time, heat, and all of the other factors that enable or speed up classical chemical reactions. Quantum Physics In Your Sense of Self
Finally, worthy of a mention in passing is the theory being debated right now by many scientists: that quantum mechanics are fundamental to our consciousness . For centuries, humans have proposed “second processing systems” in the brain or body that run parallel to our normal neuron firings, and that these overlapping systems are what give rise to our ability to mentally separate ourselves from our circumstances — what we call “being conscious.”
Recent evidence has come up that the cytokine in the brain — what we used to think of as the “brain’s skeleton,” holding it all together — is in fact a massive quantum processor. Laced with what the scientists call “microtubules” that vibrate at incredible speeds, the cytokine system appears to be operating on the quantum level as a “trinary” computer — able to hold values of ‘on,’‘off,’ and the quantum superposition of being both on and off at the same time.
What exactly this would enable our “secondary processing system” to accomplish is currently being explored — but the results, if we find them, are bound to change a lot of our fundamental assumptions about what we, as human beings, are capable of.
Featured image courtesy of Cristóbal Alvarado Minic via Flickr. Shared using a Creative Commons license. About Michael Danielson
Michael "Mr. Write" Danielson is a full-time writer based in Shelton, Washington with a live-in research assistant he also happens to be married to and a live-in research dissistant who also happens to be his 7-year-old son. He's politically oriented in the same direction that a vial of Bernie Sanders' tears blessed by Pope Francis in a civil ceremony attended by Noam Chomsky and the entire administrative body of Planned Parenthood then sprinkled over the ghost of FDR by the light of the final episode of Phineas and Ferb playing on a projection TV powered entirely by kombucha and seitan would be oriented. He is not afraid of complex, run-on sentences as long as they get the point across, preferably with a little bit of poetry in. Also, he's really, intensely fond of bleeding-edge quantum physics research, and posts often on Quora about how everyone has economics all wrong. Like, all of it. Connect | 1real |
Yes, Bernie Polls Better Against Trump Than Hillary—but There’s a Catch | Sanders was on ‘Meet the Press’ again Sunday touting his polling advantage against Trump. He’s right, but there’s a key reason Hillary does worse in head-to-head matchups.
On Meet the Press, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to endorse the Republican presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, saying he would disclose his position on the presidency at a later date. On CNN, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he would support Trump because he so strongly opposes Hillary Clinton. And on ABC’s This Week, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said it was time for Bernie Sanders to consider ending his campaign for the Democratic nomination.
In an interview on Meet the Press, Sanders sounded as if had no intention of dropping out anytime soon. Sanders said he believes he still has a chance to win the Democratic nomination by winning the California primary against Clinton.
"Right now,” Sanders said, “in every major poll, national poll and statewide poll done in the last month, six weeks, we are defeating Trump, often by big numbers, and always at a larger margin than Secretary Clinton is."
For example, the most recent poll, the NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, showed Clinton beating Trump by 3 points and Sanders beating Trump by 15 points. That means Sanders bested Clinton’s performance by 12 points. In other polls, Sanders’s lead on Clinton was less but never fell below a margin of 3 points.
Clinton has been scrutinized and attacked as a public figure for a quarter century, but Sanders—even after running for president for a year—is a relatively new figure to voters nationally. It remains to be seen how open voters will be to supporting Sanders once Republicans start airing negative attacks, especially ones that note his identification as a democratic socialist. (According to polls, being a socialist is a less attractive quality for voters than being an atheist.)
“General election polls don’t mean much until the conventions are over and you get to late summer or early fall,” said Kerwin Swint, a political scientist at Kennesaw State University. “A lot of voters don’t look at Sanders as a legitimate threat. It’s almost like he’s an imaginary candidate.”
And it’s worth adding, as Meet the Press host Chuck Todd noted, that Clinton can be expected to poll better against Trump after she officially secures the nomination and many former Sanders supporters come to her side.
Sanders also said he will continue to make the case that his positions are more in line with the Democratic base than Clinton’s.
“Our campaign is about defeating Secretary Clinton on the real issues,” he said. “I want to break up the Wall Street banks. She doesn’t. I want to raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. She wants $12 an hour. I voted against the war in Iraq. She voted for the war in Iraq. I believe we should ban fracking. She does not. I believe we should have a tax on carbon and deal aggressively with climate change. That is not her position. Those are some of the issues that I am campaigning on.”
Sanders is right about Clinton’s Iraq war vote and where she stands on breaking up the banks, a $15 minimum wage, and fracking. But is he also right about their differences on carbon tax and climate change? That claim rates Mostly True.
There’s no doubt that Sanders’s rhetoric on climate change and his plan to deal with it are aggressive and, unlike Clinton, he has advocated for a carbon tax. Clinton does, however, have a climate change plan. While some environmentalists have said it isn’t tough enough, others have given it positive reviews.
Both the Sanders and Clinton campaigns referred us to each candidate’s climate change plan. Sanders’s climate change plan is long and comprehensive. Beyond a tax on carbon, it includes an array of proposals such as banning certain drilling and mining practices; cutting tax subsidies for oil and gas companies; investing in clean energy, alternative fuels, and energy efficiency programs; and improving the national public transit system.
But some are skeptical of Clinton’s “boldness.” Pulitzer Prize-winning website InsideClimate News called Clinton’s plan ambitious but said it “falls short of bold.” The Washington Post’s editorial board said her ideas are “second best.” Environmental news magazine Grist summed up her plan as not bad but “not quite the climate hawkishness we need.” | 0fake |
Trump Caught Paying Women Working On His Campaign MUCH Less Than Men | It s not surprising that Donald Trump would pay his female staffers less than his male staffers. He s sexist, so that s to be expected. What is surprising, though, is just how bad it is. On average, in the U.S., women are paid about $.79 for every dollar men are paid, even for the same work. Trump pays the women working on his campaign about $.65 for every dollar his male staffers make.Now, some will make the argument that we don t necessarily know what his female staffers are doing versus what his male staffers are doing. There s a possibility, those people would say, that the men are getting paid more because they all hold higher, more difficult positions, or they work more hours, or they do better work in general, or all of the above.That s still blatantly sexist.For April, the women on Trump s staff earned about $4,500, while the men earned about $6,100. That s a 35 percent difference, which is egregious, even for him. Supposedly, he believes in equal pay, but says it s too complicated an issue for legislation. Too much can go into whether men and women are really doing the same job or not, he says.So, what, we re supposed to assume that he s paying all his staffers exactly in accordance with the jobs they do, and how well they do them? Please.Whichever way we look at this, Trump s campaign is set up in a traditionally sexist manner, which is at odds with his assertions that he ll be so good for women (and black people, and Latinos, etc.) once he s elected. That, in and of itself, is laughable considering how badly he treats women, and some of the misogynistic comments he s made about women. For him to make that claim while allowing a pay gap that s much worse than even the national gender pay gap is ridiculous.Compare all of that to how Hillary Clinton is treating her staff, and the differences are stark. Of the 15 highest-paid staffers on her campaign, eight were men and seven were women in April. Men earned about $3,760, while women earned about $3,710. There s still a gap there, but it s extremely thin. When it comes to women s equality, Hillary knows she has to set an example with how she runs her campaign.Trump loves talking big. That s his whole game talk big, do what he wants even if it makes him a huge hypocrite. But since he thinks letting women work is a bad idea anyway, then maybe he s not such a hypocrite. Just a disgusting, sexist prick.Featured image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 1real |
Major City SLAPS Greedy CEOs Like Trump With Tax Penalty To Fight Income Inequality | This is HUGE news!The city council of Portland, Oregon just did something awesome that could actually reduce the income inequality gap.As we all know, CEO pay has gotten out of control over the last few decades. Some CEOs even make more than 100 times what their employees make. And some of those CEOs have the gall to whine that providing benefits, better wages, and healthcare to their employees is a waste of money.Well, if these greedy CEOs want to operate in Portland they ll have to pay an extra tax that could inspire other American cities to do the same thing.According to the Institute for Policy Studies,In a 3-1 vote, the council agreed to add a surtax on the city s existing business license tax for firms that pay their CEOs more than 100 times what their typical worker receives. This will be the nation s first tax penalty for extreme CEO-worker pay gaps.On how the tax will be levied and which companies will be affected, Truthout.org spoke to IPS co-editor Sarah Anderson, who explained that the city has already found over 500 companies that will see a rise in their taxes soon.Publicly traded companies with extreme pay gaps will pay a surtax on top of the city s current business license tax. The surtax will be 10 percent of the business tax liability for companies with a CEO-worker pay ratio of more than 100-to-1 and 25 percent for companies with a ratio of more than 250-to-1. The Portland government has identified more than 500 corporations that do enough business in the city to be affected by the surtax, including many that regularly dominate the highest-paid CEO lists, such as Oracle, Honeywell, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and General Electric.So once again, the fight on behalf of workers is centered in Oregon. Earlier this year, Oregon raised the minimum wage to nearly $15 an hour. Meanwhile, Donald Trump s cabinet is stacked with billionaires and his tax plan favors the top one percent.According to a Tax Policy Center chart posted to Twitter by Morning Joe economic wonk Steven Rattner, Trump s tax plan will give the top 0.1 percent a $1.1 million tax cut while the bottom 20 percent only get a cut of $110.Under Trump s plan, the top 0.1% get an avg tax cut of $1.1mm; the bottom 20% get only $110. My @Morning_Joe chart: pic.twitter.com/oQcZuALtPa Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) December 8, 2016And Trump has repeatedly claimed that the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is too high and had named a wealthy CEO and opponent of the fight for a $15 minimum wage as his Labor Secretary.Clearly, Trump intends to widen the income gap and punish workers while giving huge tax giveaways to his wealthy friends.But Portland, Oregon just slapped Trump across the face on behalf of workers everywhere and their strategy could be replicated in other cities across the country.Featured Image: Scott Eisen/Getty Images | 1real |
Flash-Mob Meditations To Occur At Voting Stations During Election | Posted by Madeline | Oct 30, 2016 | 2016 , Daily Blog | 0 | Thanks Therisa!
The Mind Unleashed
On November 8th, 2016, hundreds and possibly thousands flash-mob meditations will commence at the polling stations everywhere across America. Elevate The Vote says that “this is a non-partisan participatory event that is open to everyone. It’s about the fundamental unity of human life that seems to have been so forgotten in this campaign.”
The intention is to “ elevate the consciousness of every U.S. voter on election day, impacting how we feel about ourselves, politics, this election, and each other.” “Meditation gives you an opportunity to come to know your invisible self. It allows you to empty yourself of the endless hyperactivity of your mind, and to attain calmness. It teaches you to be peaceful, to remove stress, to receive answers where confusion previously reigned.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer Image Source
While many will love this concept, some may be a bit skeptical of it having any effect. With that, we can look further at the studies that have been done on synchronized meditations and the measurable effects they did create.
What is known as the Maharishi Effect has actually been studied over 600 times, which was conducted in 33 countries and in over 250 independent research institutions. The evidence overwhelmingly correlates synchronized group prayer and meditation having extremely positive social, political and economic benefits to the world. Positive correlations for numerous health benefits to the individual were also observed and confirmed.
The most well-known study on this effect was done in 1974, which observed three different gatherings of over 7,000 people meditating each morning and evening for three consecutive weeks. The study took place in Fairfield, Iowa (December 17, 1983-January 6, 1984), The Hague, Holland (December 21, 1984-January 13, 1985) and Washington, DC (July 1-July 10, 1985). The results were astounding. According to the Rand Corporation, a think-tank based in California, “acts of global terrorism resulting in fatalities and injuries were reduced by 72%.” Time series analysis was used in this study to rule out possibilities that the reduction in global terrorism was caused by pre-existing trends, drifts in data or cycles. But how was this done then? How did it spread from a small group to a larger one?
Scientists believe this is due to a coherent resonance being created in the Unified Quantum Field by those meditating.
Going a bit further with it, we can think of a laser. Its coherent light is established by what is known in physics as the Field Effect. The Field Effect’s principle, according to the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy is “that it is not necessary to act individually on each individual constituent of a system, but that the system can be handled in one stroke at the collective level.”
The 7,000 people meditating created a Field Effect of harmonious coherence that spread throughout the collective–which in turn helped to reduce acts of terrorism (incoherent, disruptive energy). Synchronized meditation shifts events and timelines in our Quantum Universe. Souce
If you live outside of the U.S. you can also join in by meditating with a global synchronized meditation that begins at 3pm Pacific Time (U.S.). Also, you can add to this movement even if you live in the U.S. by meditating at this time or at a local polling station. If you plan not to vote or already voted, you can also stay at home and meditate that evening. Let us all envision a world at peace, ourselves at peace and all social systems in balance and at peace.
To find out more information about the flash-mob meditations and to see or start one in your local area, visit Elevate The Vote .
Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science and practices health coaching through his website Orgonlight Health . You can follow the Orgonlight Health facebook page or visit the website for more information on how to receive health coaching for yourself, a family member or a friend as well as view other inspiring articles. | 1real |
VIRAL VIDEO: A Must Watch Video Hillary Doesn’t Want You To See! | 1real | |
Oregon Republican Wants To Put Right-Wing Militias On Government Payroll But Only To Defend Republicans | After Friday s right-wing terror attack in Portland, in which two men were stabbed after coming to the aid of a Muslim teen, the nation seemed unsure of how to respond. One Republican responded, though. He says it s the GOP that s at risk and his solution is to hire the right-wing extremists as Republicans personal bodyguards.It took Donald Trump three days, but his handlers finally released their official response to the attack, which was far too little too late, but still better than declaring himself the victim:The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable. The victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. Our prayers are w/ them. President Trump (@POTUS) May 29, 2017The irony is thick there, since Trump has been the leader of the hate and intolerance movement since at least 2011, when he became the leader of the birther movement, which tried to claim that President Obama was not born in the United States.Still, even after the attack, and after Trump s less than heartfelt response, James Buchal, the chair of the GOP Party for Multnomah County, which is home to Portland, said this to the Guardian: I am sort of evolving to the point where I think that it is appropriate for Republicans to continue to go out there, he said. And if they need to have a security force protecting them, that s an appropriate thing too. Asked if this meant Republicans making their own security arrangements rather than relying on city or state police, Buchal said: Yeah. And there are these people arising, like the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters. Asked if he was considering such groups as security providers, Buchal said: Yeah. We re thinking about that. Because there are now belligerent, unstable people who are convinced that Republicans are like Nazis. Both the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters are on the Southern Poverty Law Center s list of anti-government groups. In other words, they are terrorists.While it is true that constituents across the country are p*ssed at the fact that Republicans want to take away their healthcare, that hardly constitutes an existential threat, except perhaps to some careers.The fact is, though, that while the Oregon stabber supported Bernie Sanders, he only did so out of sheer hate for Hillary Clinton, and he s also a racist right-wing nut job and perhaps the only thing preventing him from being in one of those militias, was the fact that no one seemed to like him.Still, for some bizarre reason, snowflake Republicans think they are the ones under attack, so naturally, the only way to deal with that is to hire terrorists to protect them. | 1real |
Megyn Kelly Reveals The Creepy Way Donald Trump Tried To ‘Woo’ Her (IMAGE) | Donald Trump has singled out many people during his campaign, but none have remained a target in Trump s eyes and Twitter feed quite like Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.Trump s issue with Kelly exploded after the first Republican debate, when Kelly understandably called Trump out on his long-winded history of sexist, misogynistic comments toward women. Trump, being the abrasive a**hole that he is, blew the incident way out of proportion and continued to slam Kelly both on and off Twitter for weeks after the debate. Now Kelly is speaking out against Trump, claiming that the business mogul had actually tried to woo her in some incredibly creepy ways which may have influenced why he was so bitter when she called him out.Vanity FairThis month Kelly graces the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, in which the 45-year-old journalist spoke about her interactions with The Donald at length. Kelly said that Trump used to send her press clippings that were signed Donald Trump , and called her numerous times to tell her how much he enjoyed certain segments of her show (ironically, after the debate Trump criticized Kelly s show extensively). Kelly didn t think much of this at first, but when Trump announced he was going to run for president, Kelly said it became more clear. But, Kelly said that Trump s efforts were completely futile. She said: I can t be wooed. I was never going to love him, and I was never going to hate him. I would have crawled over a pile of hot coals to make it to that debate. No one was going to be sitting in for me, reading my questions. And I can say with confidence that neither Bret nor Chris wanted to read my questions for many reasons! Kelly revealed that her decision to focus on Trump s sexist remarks was because she knew Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton would zero in on them if they faced each other in the general election. Part of what Kelly said to Trump was: Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about womens looks. You once told a contestant on celebrity apprentice that it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees.Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president? And how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton who is likely to be the Democratic nominee that you are a part of the war on women? It was one of the most reported moments from the debate, and Kelly received attacks from both Trump AND his loyal followers for holding him accountable. Trump lovers sent her death threats, called her a c t and a hag on social media even Trump s top deputy retweeted gut her. Trump was especially immature about the situation, and he took his disdain for being confronted to new heights when he told CNN s Don Lemon that Kelly had blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever. Then, the Republican frontrunner threatened to boycott Fox and continued to diss Kelly for weeks after the debate only further proving her point about Trump s misogyny.Featured image via Vanity Fair | 1real |
null | A no nation world, there's a novel idea. There would still have to be some order. Now, what should we call it?
Travel is one thing, immigration is another. If we were helping other nations instead of impoverishing or bombing them, perhaps they'd be happier staying home. It's corporate influence seeking cheap labor, conglomerate take over of resources, market instability and bankers that are the real issue, not to mention politicians owned by us. Perhaps we should keep our political influence on our side of borders for a change. | 1real |
How a businessman struck a deal with Islamic State to help Assad feed Syrians | RAQQA/DUBAI (Reuters) - While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was accusing the West of turning a blind eye to Islamic State smuggling, a member of his parliament was quietly doing business with the group, farmers and administrators in the militants former stronghold said. The arrangement helped the Syrian government to feed areas still under its control after Islamic State took over the northeastern wheat-growing region during the six-year-old civil war, they said. Traders working for businessman and lawmaker Hossam al-Katerji bought wheat from farmers in Islamic State areas and transported it to Damascus, allowing the group to take a cut, five farmers and two administrators in Raqqa province told Reuters. Katerji s office manager, Mohammed Kassab, confirmed that Katerji Group was providing Syrian government territories with wheat from the northeast of Syria through Islamic State territory but denied any contact with Islamic State. It is not clear how much Assad knew of the wheat trading. Cooperation over wheat between a figure from Syria s establishment, which is backed by Shi ite power Iran, and the hardline Sunni Islamic State would mark a new ironic twist in a war that has deepened regional Sunni-Shi ite divisions. Reuters contacted Katerji s office six times to request comment but was not given access to him. His office manager Kassab, asked how the company managed to buy and transport the wheat without any contact with Islamic State, said: It was not easy, the situation was very difficult. When asked for details he said only that it was a long explanation. He did not return further calls or messages. Damascus, under U.S. and EU sanctions over the conflict and alleged oil trading with Islamic State, strongly denies any business links with the hardline Islamist militants, arguing that the United States is responsible for their rise to power. The self-declared caliphate they set up across large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014 has all but collapsed after Western-backed forces drove them out of their Iraqi stronghold, Mosul and surrounded them in Raqqa, where they are now confined to a small area. Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian forces are attacking them elsewhere, such as Deir al Zor on Syria s eastern border, where Kassab says he was speaking from, in a continuing struggle for the upper hand between world powers. Five farmers in Raqqa described how they sold wheat to Katerji s traders during Islamic State rule in interviews at the building housing the Raqqa Civil Council, formed to take over once the city is retaken. The operation was organized, said Mahmoud al-Hadi, who owns agricultural land near Raqqa and who, like the other farmers, had come to the council s cement offices to seek help. I would sell to small traders who sent the wheat to big traders who sent it on to Katerji and the regime through two or three traders, he said. He and the other farmers said they all had to pay Islamic State a 10 percent tax, or zakat, and sold all of their season s supplies to Katerji s traders under the multi-layered scheme. Local officials said Katerji s traders bought up wheat from Raqqa and Deir al-Zor and gave Islamic State 20 percent. If a truck is carrying 100 sacks, they (Islamic State) would keep 20 and give the rest to the trucker, said Awas Ali, a deputy of the Tabqa joint leadership council, a similar, post-Islamic State local body allied to the Kurdish-led forces now attacking Raqqa. Ali said he learned of the details of the arrangement with Katerji by speaking with Islamic State prisoners and others who worked in the group s tax collection and road tolling systems. Katerji s trucks were well known and the logo on them was clear and they were not harassed at all, Ali said, adding that Katerji s people were active during the last buying season, which lasts from May to August. The farmers also said the trucks were identifiable as Katerji s. The truck drivers were even allowed to smoke cigarettes as they passed through the checkpoints, something Islamic State enforcers punished with whippings elsewhere, Ali and several other sources said. I would sell an entire season s supplies to Katerji s traders, said farmer Ali Shanaan. They are known traders. The checkpoints stopped the trucks and Daesh would take a cut and let them pass, he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The wheat was transported via the New bridge over the Euphrates River to a road leading out of Raqqa, the farmers and local officials said. Control of the bridge is now unclear as the militants in Raqqa come close to defeat. Raqqa-based lawyer Abdullah al-Aryan, who said he had been a consultant for some of Katerji s traders, said Katerji s trucks brought goods into Islamic State territory as well as wheat out. Food used to come from areas controlled by the government. Medicine and food, he said. Islamic State rule involved shooting or beheading perceived opponents in public squares, imposing its own extreme version of sharia, Islamic law, and then providing basic goods such as bread and setting up ministries and taxation. Several farmers said they saw Islamic State documents which were stamped at checkpoints to allow the wheat trucks to pass. They belonged to the department which imposes taxes. Islamic State may have exported some of the wheat. Local officials and farmers said the militants, as well as a rebel group, had sold the contents of grain silos in the northeast to traders across the Turkish border. Assad has accused his enemies, including Turkey and Western countries, of supporting the group, something they deny. In an interview in March with a Chinese news agency, published by Syrian state news agency SANA, Assad said: As for the other side, which is the United States, at least during the Obama administration, it dealt with Daesh through overlooking its smuggling of Syrian oil to Turkey, and in that way Daesh was able to procure money in order to recruit terrorists from all over the world. Asked whether Syrian companies were dealing with Islamic State to secure wheat, Internal Trade and Consumer Protection Minister Abdullah al-Gharbi said in August: No, not at all. Speaking to Reuters at a Damascus trade fair, he added: This doesn t exist at all. We are importing wheat from Russian companies in addition to our local crop and this talk is completely unacceptable. The wheat buying season ended in August and IS has lost control of the wheat-growing areas, either to government forces or the Syrian Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces. Assad has traditionally relied on a close-knit set of businessmen most notably Rami Makhlouf, his maternal cousin, to help keep Syria s economy afloat. Makhlouf is subject to international sanctions and relies on various associates to do business. Katerji is a household name around Raqqa and elsewhere. Farmer Hadi likened him to a late Greek shipping tycoon, Aristotle Onassis. Katerji is the Onassis of Syria, he said. Katerji s facebook profile page shows him shaking hands with Assad and he regularly posts pictures of the president, who he describes as a beacon of light for pan-Arabism, patriotism and loyalty . He is member of parliament for Aleppo, a key battleground recovered by the government late last year, and is part of a new business class that has risen to prominence during the war. The United States and EU have imposed a range of measures targeted both at the government and some of the many armed groups operating in Syria, but foodstuffs are not restricted. U.S. and European sanctions on banking and asset freezes have, however, made it difficult for most trading houses to do business with Assad s government and made local supplies increasingly vital. Flat bread is a subsidized staple for Syrians, who have suffered under a conflict estimated to have killed several hundred thousand people and forced millions to flee their homes. The government needs around 1.5 million tonnes annually to feed the areas it controls and keep Syrians on Assad s side. Syria s bread-basket provinces of Hasaka, Raqqa and Deir al-Zor account for nearly 70 percent of total wheat production. While the government looks set to retake much of Deir al-Zor province soon, Hasaka is mostly under the control of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, who are also likely to hold sway in Raqqa along with Arab allied groups. Ali, from the Tabqa council, predicted that would not stop the wheat trade. People like Katerji, with a lot of money and power, their activities will never be completely frozen, he said. It is just going to disappear from one area and go to another. | 0fake |
Christo, Trump and the Art World’s Biggest Protest Yet - The New York Times | With one dramatic no, a major artist has just escalated the culture world’s war against Donald J. Trump. For more than 20 years, the artist Christo has worked tirelessly and spent $15 million of his own money to create a vast public artwork in Colorado that would draw thousands of tourists and rival the ambition of “The Gates,” the saffron transformation of Central Park that made him and his collaborator and wife, two of the most artists of their generation. But Christo said this week that he had decided to walk away from the Colorado project — a silvery canopy suspended temporarily over 42 miles of the Arkansas River — because the terrain, federally owned, has a new landlord he refuses to have anything to do with: President Trump. His decision is by far the most visible — and costly — protest of the new administration from within the art world, whose dependence on and sometimes politically conservative collectors has tended to inhibit galleries, museums and artists from the kind of public disavowal of Mr. Trump expressed by some other segments of the creative world. Last week, the artist Richard Prince fired an opening salvo, returning a $36, 000 payment for an artwork depicting Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, owned by her family. The Christo project, titled “Over the River,” conceived with his wife, who died in 2009, has been fiercely opposed in state and federal court by a group of Coloradans who contend that it will endanger wildlife and cause other problems in Bighorn Sheep Canyon. Almost six miles of fabric panels were to be erected over the river for two weeks, at a cost that could have exceeded $50 million. Christo, who sells artwork depicting his proposed projects to pay for them completely on his own, has prevailed in every court battle and is awaiting a decision by a federal appeals court that would represent a final stand by opponents. But in an interview on Tuesday, he said that even if he won the case, he would no longer go forward with the work. “I came from a Communist country,” said Christo, 81, who was born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff in Bulgaria and moved to New York with in 1964, becoming an American citizen in 1973. “I use my own money and my own work and my own plans because I like to be totally free. And here now, the federal government is our landlord. They own the land. I can’t do a project that benefits this landlord. ” Asked to elaborate on his views of the new president, he said only, “The decision speaks for itself. ” He added, “My decision process was that, like many others, I never believed that Trump would be elected. ” The establishment art world is slowly beginning to become more vocal about Mr. Trump, invoking the power of past protest movements, like the Art Workers Coalition, whose Moratorium of Art to End the War in Vietnam pressured museums to close for a day in October 1969, and led the next year to an Art Strike Against Racism, War and Oppression, which drew picketers to the Metropolitan Museum of Art because it declined to shut its doors. In late November, more than 150 prominent artists, curators and gallery workers picketed in front of the Puck Building in Downtown Manhattan, owned by the family of Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and now a senior adviser to President Trump. Under the banner of a continuing and protest movement called Dear Ivanka, critics of the President have directed almost daily condemnations of his actions and policies to his daughter, a prominent art collector. And on Inauguration Day, dozens of galleries — and a few public art institutions — closed in cities across the country as a part of a movement, J20, that plans to broaden protest activities in the coming months to address issues like racism, immigration and gentrification. Aesthetic refusal as a form of protest does not have universal support in the art world. Some see it as ineffective, a defeatist position that denies the power of expression itself to effect change. “I would argue that this project, on a river that traverses both red and blue states, could draw attention to the importance of federal land management and stewardship of the environment,” said Tom Eccles, the executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and former director of the Public Art Fund in New York. “If anything, Christo’s projects promote a sense of collective wonder, something we need more than ever right now. ” Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the White House, said it had no comment. Christo, whose work usually involves monumental wrapping or draping, a kind of beautifying abstraction of architecture or landscape, is known not only for “The Gates,” but also for highly visible projects like “Wrapped Reichstag,” in Berlin, realized in 1995 after more than 20 years of planning and proposals. Last year, “The Floating Piers,” a walkway of fabric atop 220, 000 interlocking polyethylene cubes on Lake Iseo in the Lombardy region of Italy, drew 1. 2 million visitors. The Colorado project would have been the largest work Christo had ever attempted in America. In interviews, he spoke about how the idea came about in 1985, during a project in which he and had wrapped the Pont Neuf in Paris. “We looked up at the fabric, and it was so beautiful, silvery and shimmering in the reflected light of the river, and we smiled at each other,” he said. The two inspected dozens of rivers and selected a length of the Arkansas, partly because it was a popular rafting spot, and the canopied fabric, stretched over steel wire cables anchored on the banks, would be best seen from beneath, on the water itself. The project, expected to take more than two years to construct, was to remain in place for two weeks, during an August, before, like all of Christo and ’s projects, being dismantled. In court, Christo argued that he had taken every step possible to prevent damage to the river, land around it, or animal or plant life. The group that has opposed him, Rags Over the Arkansas River, or ROAR, has argued that the federal Bureau of Land Management, in approving the project, failed to take sufficiently into account its possible threat to bighorn sheep and the impact on traffic on U. S. Highway 50 through the canyon. On Wednesday, Joan Anzelmo, a spokeswoman for ROAR, said it was “ecstatic” to hear of the decision, no matter what the artist’s reasons. “This means local people will now be protected,” she said, “as well as wildlife, birds and fish. ” In the interview on Tuesday, Christo said the patience required in seeking approval for his projects has always been an element of the spirit of the projects themselves. He needs to feel passion about them, in the same way that a more traditional painter or sculptor does, he added. But in this case, “that pleasure is gone” because of the nature of the new administration. “I am not excited about the project anymore,” he said. “Why should I spend more money on something I don’t want to do?” | 0fake |
House Republicans Begin Process To Withdraw America From The United Nations | Since 1945, the United States has been a crucial member of the United Nations, and a leader on the world stage. If Republicans have their way, however, that will end.Republicans in Congress have been whining about the United Nations for decades, and now that Donald Trump has taken over the White House, they are starting the process to force American withdrawal from the peacekeeping organization.Why?Because Trump and Republicans are mad that the United Nations condemned Israel for building illegal settlements on Palestinian land. In other words, Republicans are whining because they think the United Nations works for the United States instead of the entire world. Just as Trump thinks everything is about him, Republicans think international relations should be all about the United States.So, GOP Rep. Michael Rogers has filed The American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2017 to formally withdraw the United States from the United Nations, which would effectively create a power vacuum within the international body that the Russians and Chinese will seek to fill.Without American influence, which we have had since the organization s founding, we will be left behind as the world moves on without us. Either that, or international cooperation will collapse entirely and throw the world into chaos as nations follow the United States and adopt isolationist policies that will ultimately lead to global wars. The United Nations was created to prevent such large scale conflicts in the first place, which is why we have avoided a World War III.The bill specifically directs Trump to terminate all membership by the United States in the United Nations, and in any organ, specialized agency, commission, or other formally affiliated body of the United Nations. And that means the United States would also be withdrawing from the World Bank, the International Court of Justice, the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the International Atomic Energy Agency, among many others.Not only would America be going it alone, withdrawal would affect our ability to keep wannabe nuclear powers like Iran in check without starting a war. Our withdrawal from international financial institutions could have a devastating effect on the world economy, including our own.The United Nations would also have to move headquarters out of the United States, which would be a humiliating loss of international prestige.For decades, the world has looked to the United States for leadership and cooperation. But Republicans apparently want America to withdraw from the world stage a move that would erase all the progress made over the last seven decades, and tarnish our reputation forever.This cannot be allowed to happen. This country has worked too hard to bring democracy and peace to the world to quit now. We should be leaders on the world stage, not isolationists.Featured image via Wikimedia | 1real |
10 Signs That The Global Elite’s Ship Is Sinking | 10 Signs That The Global Elite's Ship Is Sinking Nov 16, 2016 9 0
Times are continuing to shift in a big way and humanity’s rise over the darkness that has plagued our planet for a very long time is gathering momentum by the day. Remember, the elite’s modus operandi is to crush any form of hope or belief that things can or will get better. Truth prevails though and we are seeing the old world order crumble. 2017 is sure to be an exciting year. Continue to dream big. The cabal is being flipped upside down. June 23rd, 2016 : Britain votes to leave the European Union. While some are choosing to see this as an extremist act whose focus was on securing the border from immigrants, there is a much bigger picture to that event. While it must be said that the immigration issue is in the minds of some who were pro-Brexit (and thus needs to be humanely and compassionately addressed), the bigger issue was that Britain reclaimed it’s sovereignty back from the imperialistic banking and political cabal. As it has been reported in The Telegraph, a mainstream media outlet in the UK, the CIA and the U.S. State Department have been heavily involved in the creation of the European Union from the very beginning. As Professor Alan Sked said in the article : Voters in Britain’s referendum need to understand that the European Union was about building a federal superstate from day one. July 22nd, 2016 : Wikileaks releases over 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Convention and shows the deep collusion between the Clinton Campaign and the DNC itself. These revelations ultimately helped force the resignations of the top 4 positions within the DNC. October 8th, 2016 : Shortly after Wikileaks began dumping the PodestaFiles, emails were revealed that John Podesta, the Clinton campaign chairman, was receiving emails about UFO/E.T. disclosure as well as free energy technology , whose emails came from former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell. These are highly significant in the fact that it is admitted by Mitchell that such technologies do exist and that even the Vatican knows of them. Once these technologies are known about on an even wider scale, the lies and corruption of the oil industry will fall apart and humanity can then reclaim it’s freedom. October 10th, 2016: Turkey defies the banking cabal and signs the Turkish Stream gas pipeline deal with Russia. Because Russia is in opposition to the cabal, or NWO, as some would prefer, this is a massive financial and geopolitical game-changer. October 20th, 2016: The Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte visits China with 200 Filipino businessmen to mend ties with China. He also announces his separation from the U.S. (which is a blow to the cabal) and seeks an alliance with not only China, but Russia too. The BRICS Alliance continues to grow. October 30th, 2016: Iceland’s Prime Minister steps down as the activist, anti-establishment party, known as The Pirate Party, comes in second in national elections and jumps it’s number of parliament seats from 3 to 10. As more people around the world herald the call for true freedom, political parties reflecting such ideals will continue to prevail. The Pirate Party is in over 40 countries around the world currently, and the movement continues to grow. November 4th, 2016: Wikileaks emails reveal the Podesta brothers were invited to a “spirit cooking dinner” and involved eating sperm and menstrual blood. While some surely laughed this off, keep in mind that former FBI special agent Ted Gunderson spent several years investigating and exposing this information to the public, before being murdered. We must also keep in mind that former BBC star Jimmy Savile was revealed to being involved in a massive, elite-ridden pedophile ring. The pedophilia and ritualistic claims against many of the elites is well known around the world and is a very serious issue. The fact that even a small bit of this came out in the Wikileaks revelations is significant and a sign of the times. So much more is coming . November 8th, 2016: It was revealed by Neil Keenan that several globalists/cabalists, including Mark Carney of the Bank of England, Janet Yellen of the Federal Reserve, the Rothschilds, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and others were involved in a deal to steal 1 million metric tons of Gold from the global collateral accounts . As of this writing, the deal has been stopped and it very beneficial to humanity. While this story might not make much sense to many readers, understand that the global collateral accounts are the cabal’s biggest financial secret on this planet. It is the reason JFK was killed and it also relates to 9/11 . November 13th, 2016: The European countries of Moldova and Bulgaria elect new presidents, both of whom are pro-Russia. This is yet another major setback for the globalists plans of creating a superstate out of Europe. Watch for even more countries to begin aligning with Russia. November 15th, 2016: More than 200 rallies around the U.S. take place to protest the North Dakota pipeline that is being attempted to form. The world is continuing to awaken and sees the lunacy of oil and gas for energy. Clean solutions already exist.
What are some other stories that you believe are signs that the elite’s ship is sinking? Some believe that the election of Donald Trump is a sign. Do you agree or disagree with that? Share with us in the comments section what events you feel should be included in the upcoming Part 2 of this ongoing story. If we agree, we’ll post it in Part 2.
Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science and does health coaching through his website Orgonlight Health . You can follow the Orgonlight Health facebook page or visit the website for more information and other inspiring articles. | 1real |
PRESIDENT TRUMP To CBS This Morning: “I have no relationship with Barack Obama” [VIDEO] | Here is a bit of the transcript of their discussion via CBS:JOHN DICKERSON: Did President Obama give you any advice that was helpful? That you think, wow, he really was DONALD TRUMP: Well, he was very nice to me. But after that, we ve had some difficulties. So it doesn t matter. You know, words are less important to me than deeds. And you you saw what happened with surveillance. And everybody saw what happened with surveillance JOHN DICKERSON: Difficulties how?PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: and I thought that well, you saw what happened with surveillance. And I think that was inappropriate, but that s the way JOHN DICKERSON: What does that mean, sir?PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You can figure that out yourself.JOHN DICKERSON: Well, I the reason I ask is you said he was you called him sick and bad .PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Look, you can figure it out yourself. He was very nice to me with words, but and when I was with him but after that, there has been no relationship. "Words are less important to me than deeds." President Trump on why he now has "no relationship" w former President Obama. #WHThisMorning pic.twitter.com/16UimVudb3 CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) May 1, 2017JOHN DICKERSON: Every president makes the Oval Office theirs. What have you done to make this yours?PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, a lot of things. We had these incredible flags including the American flags. And they were in different rooms. And they were always being pushed around because they didn t have enough room. And I said, How beautiful, the base, the flags, Army, Navy, Marine Corps. I mean, just so beautiful. Just so beautiful. The Coast Guard flag over here.And I said, Well, let s see how they look in the Oval Office. So the flags were up. The picture of Thomas Jefferson I put up. The picture of Andrew Jackson I put up because they said his campaign and my campaign tended to mirror each other. So we did a lot of actually we did a lot of work. It s it s a much it s a much different look than it was previously. | 1real |
U.N. seeking to evacuate aid workers from Yemen: sources tell Reuters | GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations is trying to evacuate at least 140 aid workers from the Yemeni capital amid fighting that has cut off the airport road, but is awaiting approval from the Saudi-led coalition, U.N. and other aid officials said on Sunday. Coalition aircraft bombed Houthi positions in Sanaa overnight, residents and local media said, aiming to shore up supporters of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh as they battle the Houthi group, which is aligned with Iran. It was the fourth day of clashes in which dozens have been killed, the Red Cross said. There is a plane on stand-by in Djibouti for 140 international staff, a U.N. official in Sanaa told Reuters. About half were from non-governmental organizations, he said. Fighting is moving toward the airport and the situation is very tense. We can t even evacuate staff, he said. United Nations staff have been confined to their living quarters in Sanaa since clashes erupted on Thursday, he said. Shells were falling near the UN compound in Sanaa on Siteen Street on Sunday, with one source on the scene saying stray bullets had hit the compound. The compound is empty as staff had been told to stay at home and not report to work. Another aid worker with an independent agency in Yemen, who declined to be identified, said the U.N. was planning to evacuate as many as 180 U.N. and other aid workers, but U.N. officials considered the airport road was not safe enough. Russell Geekie, a U.N. humanitarian spokesman in New York, said the U.N. planned to reduce the number of non-essential staff in Sanaa, but they could not yet safely move, and exact numbers were unclear due to the fluidity of the situation. We re very concerned by the clashes in Sanaa city, which have reportedly resulted in civilian deaths and have negative implications for the humanitarian response, Geekie said in an emailed response to Reuters. At present, fighting is restricting movement within the city, including on the airport road. The airport remains closed with Sanaa residents holed up in their homes. Clearance to land at Sanaa airport has yet to be received from the coalition, who control the skies over the Houthi-controlled capital, aid workers said. Saleh said on Saturday he was ready to turn a new page in ties with the coalition fighting in Yemen if it stopped attacks on Yemeni citizens, in a move that could pave the way to end nearly three years of war. The apparent shift in position came as Saleh s supporters battled Houthi fighters in Hadda, a district in southern Sanaa where members of Saleh s family, including his nephew Tareq, live. In Geneva, spokeswoman Elodie Schindler of the International Committee of the Red Cross said: In light of the current chaotic situation, the ICRC is looking to downsize staff presence in Yemen to a core team . | 0fake |
WATCH: BLACK FEMALE TRUMP EXECUTIVE Reads POWERFUL Letter She Wrote To Dispel LIES Being Told About Trump Family | The video Hillary and the Left will not want America to see Today, I was compelled to sit down and write this letter. Not to anyone in particular, maybe even just for myself. But as a black, female executive at the Trump Organization, I can no longer remain silent about the repeated and reprehensible attempts to align my boss and his family with racist, hate mongering groups, campaigns and messaging. As the daughter of man born in Birmingham, Alabama, who rose against all odds to become one of the most established and respected doctor s at Yale University, there is no amount to money in the world that could buy my loyalty to a family that subscribed to such intolerant and bigoted ideologies. Here is Lynne Patton reading the powerful letter she penned to dispel the lies about Donald J. Trump, as well as his family: From LinkedIn:Lynn Patton, Chief of Staff to Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump & Donald Trump Jr. (May 2009 Present): Oversee primary assistants for the Trump adult children & all internal operations for the 25th Floor, Trump Tower. Provide personal assistance to Eric F. Trump, Donald J. Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump, including calendar, travel, expenses, purchases, event coordination, contact/engagements, as well as home & business responsibilities, in conjunction with two (2) other primary assistants. Handle celebrity talent acquisition/bookings and work in tandem with the Executive Director of The Eric Trump Foundation to oversee all operations, volunteers, events, outreach, vendors & corporate partnerships; Acquire celebrity donations & experiences for The Eric Trump Foundation On-Line Charity Buzz Auction & The Eric Trump Foundation Annual Golf Invitational Live Auction; Responsible for organizing, executing and overseeing all ETF operations, philanthropic events/golf tournaments, social media & websites; Identify and develop viable partnerships and research projects for ETF in conjunction with the ETF Executive Director and St. Jude Children s Research Hospital. | 1real |
ARIZONA BIKERS ARE ABOUT To Become Violent “Dreamers” Worst Nightmare At Upcoming Phoenix Trump Rally | The Left has been itching for a fight the only problem is, they ve been itching for a fight against Trump supporters who re outnumbered so they can t fight back. They may be biting off a bit more than they can chew this time around A group of bikers said it plans to protect supporters from possible violence at a Donald Trump rally scheduled to be held in Phoenix on Saturday. We re going to stand between them and any protesters that come onto the property and hopefully protect them from any bodily harm, should it get to that point, Cindy Perrin with Lions Guard Arizona said.The rally is expected to begin Saturday about 4 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the Arizona State Fairgrounds near 19th Avenue and McDowell Road.The protest will be held at nearby Encanto Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.Perrin said the biker group, made up mostly of retired police officers, such as herself, and veterans, will be wearing American flag bandanas so they are easy to identify. If they have any problems, they ll be able to locate us and ask us for help, she said.Perrin said her group is not expecting things to take a violent turn outside of Trump s rally, unlike several events the presumptive Republican presidential nominee hosted in California. We re not expecting it to get to that point in Arizona, she said.The bikers will not be the only group attempting to keep things calm on Saturday. Arizona Department of Public Safety Capt. Damon Cecil said his organization has reached out to groups both for and against Trump. Most of those groups not all, but most of those groups we have talked to their leadership and got assurances their protests were going to be peaceful, he said.Protest organizers are also hoping things remain civil. My message to the folks that want to protest is: You know what? Why don t you pick up a clipboard, let s get some voter registrations and get some more families registered to vote who will vote against Trump come November, Tony Navarette with Promise Arizona said.DREAM Act advocate Carmen Cornejo said protesters who act violently are doing nothing more than falling into line with Trump s rhetoric. I invite all young people to not react with violence to the provocations and the incendiary comments of Mr. Trump, she said. Via: KTAR | 1real |
Wealthy Man Passes Away, Leaves Millions To Open Ohio Animal Shelter | The news cycle has been filled with bad news lately, and it s wearing on us all. We have an income gap that keeps getting wider, a horrible reality star on his way to possibly becoming president, mass shootings, terrorist attacks and all sorts of other awful stuff that makes us shake our heads when we turn on the news. So, it s always nice when we can bring you news that will warm your hearts and make you smile and the following story will do just that.David Robert Wetzell (known as Bob ), of Urbana, Ohio passed away and left his entire estate to establish an Animal Welfare League in Champaign County. According to the executor of his estate, Ronald Tompkins, Wetzell left instructions for him to liquidate his estate worth about $3 million and build the shelter, but with very specific guidelines.Wetzell left instructions in his will for Tompkins to sell his assets and use the money to establish the shelter and purchase a secluded farm in Champaign County. It is to be used as an animal preserve, pet cemetery, dog training facility and rehabilitation home for unwanted pets.The new shelter will be modeled after Animal Welfare League of Clark County in Springfield which was established in 1959 and currently houses 90 cats and 45 dogs. Libby Adams who runs the Clark County shelter with her husband said: I know it will take a while to build up to what we have. It s not going to happen overnight. Ours took a few years to get to what we have now Bob was very fond and proud of our organization. He would come down on occasion. He was a member of our league for as long as I can remember and supported us. She said that he often told her that he wanted to open one up when he was alive, but he didn t know how to go about getting it started.Wetzell had no human family members except a few distant cousins, but he was survived by six cats, a 20-year-old parakeet, a dog and seven chickens. Tompkins kept the dog and found homes for his other pets.It is awesome that Wetzell did something like this with his estate. There are so many animals that need a home, and this sounds like it is going to be a pet paradise. I wish there were more people in the world like him. Featured image via Facebook | 1real |
ALERT – New Bill Clinton Mistress Confirmed, Hillary Camp Panics… | ALERT – New Bill Clinton Mistress Confirmed, Hillary Camp Panics… Oct 28, 2016 Previous post The identity of one of Bill Clinton’s long-time mistresses was just revealed. The former president’s Secret Service detail nicknamed the mistress “Energizer” because of the way Bill always “perked up” and seemed revitalized after her visits. Julie McMahon has been outed by the press as Bill Clinton’s “Energizer,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Energizer Bunny. This mother of three and socialite has publicly denied being one of Clinton’s lovers, but a plethora of purported evidence is now unfolding online in an effort to refute McMahon’s claims of innocence, as per Bizpac Review . McMahon reportedly lives just a few minutes away from Bill and Hillary Clinton’s home in New York, which is called Whitehaven. If the Clintons were Republicans, the liberal mainstream media would be calling them racists over the chosen name of their luxurious estate. Always, Julia McMahon would arrive at Whitehaven via SUV. She would only stay a few hours sometimes, but other times she would spend an entire week at the Clinton residence. Julia McMahon reportedly met both Bill and Hillary in 1998 when he was president. Although the Clinton campaign has tried to label McMahon a friend to both of the Clintons, she only visited or spent the night at the house when Hillary wasn’t home, the Daily Mail reports. Sometimes, McMahon allegedly arrived just mere minutes after the departure of the former first lady. The Secret Service agents on the Clinton Whitehaven detail were reportedly not ever privy to the woman’s name, but they were allegedly under strict orders not to approach or stop her when she arrived. Every member of a president’s family is protected by a Secret Service detail. The Secret Service reportedly uses the same letter to assign a codename to protectees. Bill Clinton’s Secret Service name is reportedly “Eagle” and Hillary’s is “Evergreen.” The Secret Service may have run out of “E” codenames over the years thanks to all of Bill’s lady friends. Author Ron Kessler revealed the name of the Energizer mistress in his new book, The First Family Detail: Secret | 1real |
STEVE BANNON JUST MADE A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT About What He’ll Be Doing After Leaving The White House…And It’s Very Bad News For The Left | Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon left the White House today and has already returned as Executive Chairman of Breitbart News, where he will continue to go to war for President Trump.Unfortunately for the Left, Steve Bannon will continue to go to war for Trump against his opponents, he just won t be conducting the war from the White House anymore. There are very few conservatives in America who really know how to beat the left at their own game. Conservatives need someone like Steve Bannon more than ever right now. Fortunately for us, he doesn t plan to walk away from the fight. Josh Caplan reports that Bannon will continue his fight for Trump from the outside after his exit from the White House today.FULL STATEMENT: Bannon says he s going to war for Trump after White House exit pic.twitter.com/e61m6bb74O Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) August 18, 2017 If there s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America, Bannon told Bloomberg News Friday in his first public comments after his departure was announced.Bannon led the evening editorial meeting at Breitbart, where he resumed his role as executive chairman, the website said in a statement. A person who was on the call said Bannon called on the group to hunker down and work like never before to advance conservative causes. Bloomberg The populist-nationalist movement got a lot stronger today, said Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow. Breitbart gained an executive chairman with his finger on the pulse of the Trump agenda. Breitbart News CEO and President Larry Solov agreed. Breitbart s pace of global expansion will only accelerate with Steve back, said Solov. The sky s the limit. Bannon joined the Trump campaign on August 17, 2016 nearly one year ago to the day of his return to Breitbart. He submitted his intention to leave the White House on August 7 of this year. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve s last day, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Friday afternoon. We are grateful for his service and wish him the best. Breitbart | 1real |
Troops and strays, the only signs of life in ruined Marawi | MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Reuters) - With vehicles crushed and overturned and buildings reduced to skeletons of mangled steel and rubble, the Philippine city of Marawi resembles the aftermath of a war that lasted years, rather than months. Except for small clusters of troops dotted amid the ruins and skinny cats and dogs scavenging for food, the heart of Marawi is a ghost town, all but destroyed by the Philippines biggest and fiercest urban battle in recent history. Hundreds of rebels claiming allegiance to Islamic State seized large areas of the city of 200,000 people in May and clung on through unrelenting government air strikes and artillery bombardments, right until the last remaining gunmen were killed three days ago. The military escorted media on Wednesday through the ravaged streets of the once picturesque lakeside town, showing for the first time the front lines of a devastating conflict that has stoked fears of Islamic State s extremist agenda taking root in the region. The scale of the damage was stark as a convoy of vans carrying reporters and cameramen followed an army truck through one district after another, stopping off at key intersections recently cleared of unexploded munitions and booby traps. Wide boulevards in the city were lined by crumbling homes and shop fronts missing higher floors, with fragments of chairs, children s toys and household appliances wedged into piles of crumbled concrete. Tattered pieces of clothing poking above banks of rubble provided the only color in the mass of gutted grey buildings blackened by smoke. Vans, pickup trucks and cars were turned over, coated in rust or torn apart by bomb blasts. The militants planning, stockpiling of weapons and their combat capability stunned government forces, who had to fight street by street to take back the city and were often pinned down by snipers and homemade bombs. At first our forces cannot press them, they moved from one building to the next. Our concept was to restrict them - it took time, but we constricted them, said Lieutenant Colonel Sam Yunque, a special forces commander deployed in Marawi since the beginning of the conflict. We innovated to suppress their techniques. They were not better than us, that s why they lost. The Philippines announced the end of combat operations in Marawi City on Monday after troops killed 42 remaining militants, including some foreign fighters. More than 1,100 people, including 165 troops and 45 civilians, died in the conflict. The government has said the rest were militants. Senior officers said they took pains to protect the multitude of mosques in what is the only designated Islamic City in the mainly Catholic Philippines. Although many escaped the pounding of daily air strikes, domes and walls were peppered with holes from heavy machine gun fire as troops sought to flush out rebels hiding within. Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis praised Filipino soldiers for defeating the militants without attracting allegations of human rights violations. The United States provided critical tactical intelligence in the Marawi combat operation, deploying surveillance planes and drones, thermal imaging and eavesdropping equipment. The walls were blasted away at Marawi s police headquarters where the armory was looted, and in the adjacent jail where more than 100 prisoners were freed. Close by, a mosque minaret had fallen into a mash of metal and rock. Behind it was a lone, leafless tree with only a few branches left. The militants smashed through thick layers of concrete to turn drainage channels into trenches, doubling as tunnels for fighters to move between buildings and elude surveillance drones and army snipers. Rebel-held buildings were covered with graffiti, including one of an arrow through a heart, with the message I love ISIS , an acronym for Islamic State. But there was no love for the rebel alliance among the hundreds of jubilant soldiers at send-off ceremonies held this week as troops gradually return home. Colonel Corleto Vinluan, the commander of joint special operations, described the enemy as rats . He said the military had gained valuable experience in urban combat and chose a strategy that took time, but ultimately paid off. We couldn t just enter the area, it was very big, we did not know where the leaders were, we had to surround them and the area became smaller. It was that time when we really took control, Vinluan told Reuters. We didn t expect they ll last that long, their ammunition their firearms and their food. We learned a lot from this event, we adjusted our strategies. They were tough fighters, some of them, but not all. | 0fake |
Hostility grows towards Syrian refugees in Lebanon | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Abu Yazan has rarely stepped out of his apartment in northern Lebanon since he was beaten up on the street in June. The 32-year-old father from Syria was leaving a pharmacy around midnight, when two strangers came up to him asking for a light. Then they asked if he was Syrian. They both got off the motorcycle and beat me, said Abu Yazan, who lives near the port city of Tripoli. The second guy took off his belt and hit me with it on my back, my head. I couldn t do anything. His wife cried for help but onlookers did nothing. For six years, tensions have simmered as 1.5 million Syrians poured into Lebanon, equal to around a quarter of its population. Refugees have faced waves of hostility since the conflict in neighboring Syria took hold. But the debate over their presence has taken a harder edge in recent months, fueled by political leaders who say Lebanon has lost patience with the social and financial burden of the refugee crisis. As they press demands for refugees to return to Syria, Lebanese politicians have warned of rising public anger. Like Abu Yazan, other refugees say they have hidden in their homes or camps for fear of assault, arrest, or humiliation. In recent months, most of Lebanon s main parties have united in pushing for repatriation, a difficult demand as war has ravaged much of Syria. Rights groups have warned against forced return, and refugees often say they fear conscription into the Syrian army. Calls for refugees to return come as the Syrian government shores up its rule over the main urban centers and ceasefire deals have eased fighting with rebels in parts of western Syria. The United Nations refugee agency has not seen a growing trend of reported attacks against Syrians, but has voiced concern about mounting tensions. Reports of attacks remain isolated incidents, spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled said, but refugees do feel more anxious and afraid. Tensions escalated in June after Lebanon s army arrested hundreds of Syrians in a raid on refugee camps near the border, during which suicide bombers attacked soldiers. When four detainees later died in custody, the military said it was from chronic illness. Activists and refugees challenged this account, some blaming the deaths on torture. In this climate, a video circulated widely on social media of three Lebanese men beating up a refugee on the street. Authorities detained the attackers. Syrians in Lebanon say they have faced widespread harassment. Some of those Reuters interviewed said they felt it deteriorate in recent weeks, but others described it as just part of their daily existence as refugees. I don t dare walk down the street, said one refugee living amid makeshift tents in the Akkar region, who declined to be named because of security fears. I get swear words. Abu Yazan, who came to Lebanon five years ago, said many people had since extended sympathy to his family, but hostility from strangers and the recent assault scarred him. The attackers threatened to shoot him if they saw him again. We hear a lot of talk. You Syrians have robbed us. Go back to your country, he said. When we came to Lebanon, it wasn t by choice. We were fleeing a war. We considered them our people, our brothers. Many Lebanese worry refugees threaten the country s security and burden its sluggish economy, which has been hard-hit by Syria s war. Others say refugees take jobs or strain Lebanon s already dysfunctional public services. The Lebanese government has long avoided setting up official refugee camps. So, many Syrians live in tented settlements, languishing in poverty and facing restrictions on legal residence or work. During a mass last month, the head of Lebanon s Maronite Christian church, Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, urged politicians to work on returning Syrians to their own country. The patriarch accused refugees of snatching (the Lebanese people s) daily bread from their mouths, throwing them into a state of poverty and deprivation. Nasser Yassin, a researcher of refugee policy at the American University of Beirut, said Lebanese communities were growing weary of hosting large numbers of refugees. While resentment existed before, things have changed drastically in the last couple of weeks ... mostly fueled by politicians and other leaders , he said. Yassin warned against politicians fanning the flames by inflating the actual burden of the refugee crisis. Imagine that things go out of control, that s a recipe for civil war, he said. It is an ominous warning in a country whose own 15-year war involved Palestinian refugees. Politicians fret that any long-term presence of mainly Sunni Syrian refugees could destabilize Lebanon by shifting its delicate sectarian balance. Syria s conflict has inflamed political rivalries and sectarian divisions that have far from healed since Lebanon s 1975-1990 war. The United Nations, security forces, and local officials have all mobilized to ease tensions, said Ziad El Sayegh, senior national policy adviser for Lebanon s ministry of displaced. Rights groups and activists have criticized Lebanon for ignoring the crisis in its early years with no national policy to handle the influx of people. The ministry was now developing a policy to coordinate the work of state agencies, he said. The socio-economic strains have crossed the limit, Sayegh added. All of Lebanon wants returns. There is no dispute over that. Syrians should go back with the help of the United Nations under the right safety guarantees, he said - an issue that has deeply divided Lebanon s political blocs. Shi ite Hezbollah and its allies, who side with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have pressed the Lebanese state to work with Damascus, which their critics strongly oppose. Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, allied to Sunni Saudi Arabia, and others insist the United Nations must oversee any repatriation. Iranian-backed Hezbollah has played a major role in driving Sunni militants from the border, and has sent thousands of its fighters into Syria to support Assad s government. Under evacuation deals that Hezbollah has brokered, thousands of refugees have left Lebanon s northeast border region for Syria since July. Rights groups fear refugees went back because they felt under pressure in Lebanon. The United Nations says it is still early for safe returns. It took no part in those local deals and raised concerns they did not meet legal standards and humanitarian principles . Still, the thousands who have gone back represent a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of Lebanon s refugee crisis. | 0fake |
New Poll Shows 40 Percent Of Trump Supporters Think Minorities Have Too Much Influence | When Hillary Clinton called out half of Trump supporters for harboring deplorable behaviors which include, but are not limited to the following: racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia the GOP threw a hissy fit. How dare Clinton call out the Trump base, which does lean more in the direction of white supremacy than any other campaign base of support.The media crucified her, and called it her 47 percent moment. But, as the facts have shown, she wasn t wrong.In fact, a new poll backs up her claim. Langer Research Associates, with the help of ABC News, found that four in 10 Trump supporters believe minorities have too much influence in America, while 1 in 5 said whites don t have enough influence.Certainly not half of Trump supporters, but close enough (and too close for comfort).Not surprisingly, those who hold the view that minorities have too much influence are also less educated, more conservative, and are die-hard Trump supporters:Holding these pro-Trump views - that is, seeing too little influence for whites and men and too much influence for minorities and women - peaks among strong conservatives and core Trump supporters, those who wanted him to win the GOPpresidential nomination. It s also more prevalent among conservatives overall, people who disapprove of Obama s job performance or feel they ve gotten worse off financially under his presidency, men and older, less-educated and less well-off Americans.Who would have thought that white Americans who hate the first black president would think blacks, Hispanics and Latinos have too much influence.These findings follow a disturbing trend among Trump supporters.No wonder Trump loves the poorly educated they eat up his racist message and proudly expound it wherever they can.Just how many deplorables make up the Trump base of support teeters back and forth. it can be as much as 67 percent, and it can be as low as 40 percent. But the fact remains that a sizable amount, an influential amount, exist, and they are voting this year.Featured image via John Moore/Getty Images | 1real |
Obama to Send Aide to Fidel Castro’s Funeral - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — President Obama will not send a formal delegation to Cuba to attend the funeral of the former Cuban strongman Fidel Castro, but instead will dispatch a top White House aide. Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, will attend the funeral, as will Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the top American diplomat in Cuba, to represent the United States, said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. The administration decided that the relationship between the two countries remained “quite complicated,” Mr. Earnest said. “There are many aspects of the U. S. relationship that were characterized by a lot of conflict and turmoil, not just during the Castro regime. ” Mr. Earnest said the administration continued to have significant concerns about the Cuban government, including its poor protection of basic human rights. “So, we believe that this was an appropriate way for the United States to show our commitment to an ongoing relationship with the Cuban people,” Mr. Earnest said. Although he is not a diplomat, Mr. Rhodes was the central White House interlocutor during negotiations with the Cuban government over the recent opening of relations between the two countries, and he was scheduled to be in Cuba this week for more meetings anyway, Mr. Earnest said. Donald J. Trump warned Monday that the push to build ties with Cuba after decades of animosity could be quickly wiped away, despite growing business and commercial ties between the countries. “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the people and the U. S. as a whole, I will terminate deal,” he said on Twitter. Mr. Trump’s message threatened to end one of Mr. Obama’s signature foreign policy initiatives, an effort to overturn decades of enmity. Mr. Obama has relaxed restrictions on commerce, trade and financial transactions with Cuba, but he has not been able to overturn an embargo put in place by Congress. Mr. Obama has sought to strike a difficult balance between ending the countries’ animosity and acknowledging the island government’s faults. He has seen the decades of American efforts to undermine and even overthrow Cuba’s government as being not only unsuccessful but also harmful to the United States’ image in the region. By reducing the temperature of the language against Cuba, Mr. Obama believes that the world is more likely to focus more on Cuba’s own difficulties on economic change and human rights, Mr. Earnest said. But Republicans were sharply critical on Saturday, the day after Mr. Castro’s death, of a White House statement that noted that it was an occasion for Americans to “extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people” while doing little to castigate the former leader’s record of brutality. A few hours after the White House released its statement, a statement from Mr. Trump’s transition team called Mr. Castro a “brutal dictator” who had oppressed his own people for decades and left a legacy of “firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights. ” | 0fake |
CBS HIT JOB On New Tax Bill Backfires When Accountant Meets With Middle Class Taxpayers…Winning! [Video] | For weeks and weeks we ve heard the propaganda and DNC talking points about how President Trump was going to trick Americans with the tax cuts. Well, CBS News just lost one of their false narratives today.Despite their earnest efforts, they were forced to broadcast financial results from three families they used as representative examples of the Trump tax plan.The weeks-long media spin ran into the wall of reality: We asked an accountant to crunch the numbers for three working families to see how much they could be saving. Tony Dokoupil reports. It s safe to say that all three families were surprised at their savings. They were like so many other Americans who bought into the gloom and doom narrative with tax reform.HERE S ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW BRAINWASHED PEOPLE ARE AGAINST TRUMP S TAX PLAN:Liberal college students don t care much for Donald Trump s new tax plan unless of course they re told that Bernie Sanders came up with it They can t help it They ve been taught Trump=bad Bernie=good so they know nothing else Maybe this will teach them to think for themselves Ya think?President Donald Trump s proposal for comprehensive tax reform was almost immediately dismissed as heartless and impractical by his political opponents.But what would some of those opponents think if they were told the same plan was being proposed by someone they adore Senator Bernie Sanders?To find out, we headed to George Washington University to ask students their opinions on Trump s new tax plan. WIthout much explanation, the students immediately made clear their distaste for the plan. It s not the most efficient, nor beneficial to the general populus, said one student when asked her opinion of Trump s plan. It s better for the upper class than anyone else, added another.After watching student after student express their disapproval of the plan, we then asked those same students what they thought of Senator Bernie Sanders new tax plan.Immediately, they expressed excitement and support after hearing the details of the plan.The only problem for them? There was no tax plan for Senator Sanders. The plan they loved was actually President Trump s.Read more: Campus Reform | 1real |
WHOA! Medical Expert Watching Debate Exposes ANOTHER Telltale Sign Hillary Likely Has PARKINSON’S DISEASE [VIDEO] | How many more symptoms need to be uncovered before Hillary comes clean? Why would anyone want to take on the position of Commander In Chief if they aren t even well enough to walk without assistance? In the tunnel to Clinton s vehicle after the debate, Secret Service used pointer flash lights pointing at the ground in front of Clinton s feet (watch carefully) in order to guide Hillary through the tunnel to/into her vehicle.Hillary entered the opposite (hidden side) of vehicle so the camera cannot see her entry.Pointer or Laser lights are used for Parkinson s patients. Dr. Ted Noel discussed pointers used for Parkinson s patients in a recent video:No lasers were used to assist Trump into or around his vehicle by secret service:Via: Gateway Pundit | 1real |
Gannett Abandons Effort to Buy the Newspaper Publisher Tronc - The New York Times | For a deal that took six months of battling back and forth, the message of its collapse was cursory. In a brief telephone conversation early Tuesday morning, Robert J. Dickey, the chief executive of the Gannett Company, told his counterpart at the company formerly known as Tribune Publishing that Gannett, the nation’s largest chain of newspapers, was dropping its $680 takeover bid — weeks after a price had been agreed upon. A deal would have merged the publisher of USA Today with the owner of The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune. It was intended to build a scale large enough to cut costs and eke out profits in an industry struggling with shrinking advertising revenue and declining circulations. Over the six months when the two companies sparred over a deal, the advertising market for newspapers was deteriorating. Last week, the banks that would have financed a purchase balked. Now, the two newspaper chains will seek their own diverging paths to meeting the challenges of shrinking advertising revenue and declining circulations. Yet for the acquisitive Gannett, few other newspaper chains offer as much opportunity as the company now known as Tronc. And the former Tribune Publishing is pursuing a approach to journalism that has led some in the industry to scratch their heads. This account of how the deal fell apart is based on interviews with a number of people close to the negotiations. They were not authorized to speak publicly about confidential discussions. The talks between Gannett and Tronc had a rocky start. Tronc rejected two bids after Gannett first approached it with an offer in April. By August, a higher price brought Tronc back to the negotiating table, but all the while its advisers were skeptical that Gannett could come up with the financing. But by the two sides shook hands on an $18. deal. Gannett had enlisted Jefferies, SunTrust Banks and PNC Financial Services to help finance the deal. The almost $1 billion required would have been one of the most expensive leveraged loans signed this year. Then, last week, Gannett announced layoffs for 2 percent of its work force and quarterly results that showed its print advertising revenue had plummeted. The report raised concerns among both SunTrust and PNC’s internal committees that financing a newspaper merger was too risky, so they balked. Representatives from Jefferies and PNC declined to comment. A SunTrust spokeswoman did not respond to requests seeking comment. In its statement Tuesday morning, Tronc said, “It is unfortunate that Gannett’s lenders made their decision to terminate their role in the transaction without the benefit of Tronc’s financials or any future projections. ” Tronc’s results on Tuesday also showed declines in advertising revenue. Though two of Gannett’s banks walked, a third, Jefferies, was still committed. And other potential lenders had reached out to Gannett to see if they could help get a deal done. As recently as Saturday morning, Tronc was under the impression that Gannett still wanted to pursue the combination. But when Gannett’s board met Monday night, it was clear that the will to persist with a transaction had faded. Tronc had pushed Gannett to agree to a deal that was the pinnacle of what the company could pay — and as their industry deteriorated, Gannett no longer wanted to pay it. In a statement on Tuesday, Gannett said that it “had a number of financing options available and determined to terminate discussions with Tronc after considering both accretion to shareholders and whether the terms make sense for the company. ” Shares of Tronc tumbled more than 20 percent on Tuesday, before closing down more than 12 percent. Shares of Gannett declined 2. 3 percent. Its stock price has declined more than 50 percent since it made its acquisition proposal public in April. For the newspaper industry broadly, the collapse of the deal was another indication of the financial uncertainty facing it. An acquisition of Tronc would have been an aggressive bet by Gannett, which has traditionally bought newspapers in small or midsize markets. A deal for the owner of newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune could have helped Gannett attract more lucrative national advertising and achieve savings by combining some operations. Gannett’s deal making has been watched closely in a media industry that is desperately trying to find new sources of revenue as print advertising income continues to decline. Part of its strategy has been to offset advertising declines by acquiring more papers and the revenue that comes with them. “What Gannett’s trying to do is aggregate as many eyeballs as they can to become big enough to be the last one standing,” said Alan D. Mutter, who teaches media economics at the University of California, Berkeley and writes about the media on the blog Reflections of a Newsosaur. Earlier this year, Gannett acquired the Journal Media Group for about $280 million, adding 15 daily newspapers including The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It also recently bought the North Jersey Media Group, which owns The Record of Bergen County, N. J. But as it has spread across the United States, Gannett has garnered a reputation as a brutal stripping out excess and sometimes cutting to the bone in a quest for profit. Over the years, it has bought newspapers, then consolidated printing operations at regional presses and shuttered redundant facilities. It has moved newspaper production to central hubs, sold off real estate and laid off thousands of employees. When asked about Gannett’s appetite for acquisitions during its earnings call last Thursday, Mr. Dickey, the chief executive of Gannett, said the company was “committed to the strategy of building out our local footprint. ” There are a dwindling number of potential targets left that could give Gannett greater scale. Lee Enterprises, which owns more than 40 daily newspapers, including The St. Louis has a market capitalization of about $150 million, less than half the size of Tronc. Both A. H. Belo Corporation, which publishes The Dallas Morning News, and the McClatchy Company, publisher of The Miami Herald and The Fresno Bee, are even smaller. For Tronc, the collapse of the deal gives the company a chance to see through some of the investments it has made in technology. Michael W. Ferro Jr. a technology entrepreneur who in February took a $44 million stake in Tribune Publishing and became its executive chairman, has promoted a approach with concepts like artificial intelligence and new bureaus for The Los Angeles Times in cities like Lagos, Nigeria, and Hong Kong that he has insisted will increase the value of the company beyond Gannett’s offer. In June, Mr. Ferro changed the company’s name to Tronc, which stands for Tribune Online Content, and moved the stock listing to the Nasdaq stock market from the New York Stock Exchange to make it seem more like a technology . On Tuesday, Justin Dearborn, Tronc’s chief executive, noted “the distractions” the company has faced in pursuing a sale to Gannett. He added, “While we are in the early stages of executing our strategy, we remain confident in the strength of our core brands and assets and committed to our plans. ” | 0fake |
U.N. says fighting stops in Sanaa, Saleh funeral expected | GENEVA (Reuters) - Yemen s capital Sanaa was quiet on Tuesday after five days of fighting that culminated in the death of ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and U.N. and Red Cross flights have landed at the airport, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Street battles in the capital had stopped despite 25 air strikes overnight, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said. The funeral of Saleh was expected later on Tuesday. He was killed by his erstwhile Houthi allies on Monday, two days after announcing he was switching sides in the war to oppose them. His family s allies have battled the Houthis since last week, a dramatic turn in a conflict that had been largely stalemated for much of the past three years. The United Nations says a food shortage caused by warring parties blocking supplies has created the world s worst humanitarian crisis. Millions of people could die in one of the worst famines of modern times. People are now emerging from their houses after five days being locked down basically as prisoners, McGoldrick told a regular U.N. briefing, speaking by phone from Sanaa. They are now seeking safety, moving their families in case things erupt again and at the same time seeking medical treatment and trying to pacify very terrified kids who have endured five days of relentless shelling, shooting and ground fire and air strikes. The air strikes overnight struck government buildings, palaces and bridges, and people were now bracing themselves in case of more fighting or air strikes, McGoldrick said, describing the situation as very uncertain times . We know the Saudi-led coalition has sent some messages to the people in Sanaa to stay away from Houthi installations for fear of air strikes, so we are trying to wait and see when things become slightly more clear and we can move around more freely. A Saudi-led military coalition has been fighting on behalf of a government based in the south against the Houthis, a Shi ite movement backed by Iran that had teamed up with Saleh and controlled much of the country including the capital. So far about 125 people are known to have died in the latest fighting in the capital with 200 injured, but aid workers are likely to have a better idea of the death toll later on Tuesday, McGoldrick said. McGoldrick had no details of Saleh s funeral later on Tuesday and did not know if it would coincide or clash with an event planned by the Houthis to celebrate his killing. He said there had been a report that there would be a ceremony around the main mosque, and the U.N. mission should avoid the area because of traffic. | 0fake |
Eight Pro-Second Amendment Smackdowns from NRA Annual Meetings - Breitbart | During the Leadership Forum, speakers ranging from President Donald Trump to Sheriff David Clarke and NRA senior VP Wayne LaPierre put smackdown after smackdown on gun controllers and their surrogates in the media. [LaPierre made clear there would be no apologies for the smackdowns. Rather, he pointed out that one of the things the American people love about the NRA is the fact that the group speaks truth. LaPierre said: For the last quarter of a century, in poll after poll, whether it’s Gallup or NBC or The Wall Street Journal, Americans have said they view the NRA more favorably than both chambers of congress or either national political party … . The majority of Americans admire and trust the NRA because we always say out loud what we believe. We speak the truth, even when it may be hard, and we fight like hell to defend it. In light of the NRA’s voice for truth, Breitbart News pulled together eight Amendment smackdowns, along with a bonus smackdown at the end. Most of the smackdowns require no commentary. Colonel Allen West — West said, “Here I stand as a son of Atlanta, a native Georgian, and a board member of the oldest civil rights organization that this country has ever known: the National Rifle Association. ” Sheriff David Clarke — Clarke said: “We won a huge battle last November but we did not win the war. You see, our fight for freedom continues in earnest. You see, these rat bastards on the left never give up … for them defeat is never final, election defeats don’t matter. It’s simply a time to regroup and continue their assault on our constitution, the rule of law, liberty, and American exceptionalism. ” Chris Cox — Cox recounted a conversation he had with President Trump after the inauguration, saying, “[It got so] ridiculous that the media, they were even lying about the number of people who watched [[President Trump’s] inauguration. I told him that the only number that mattered was the number of people that watched Hillary Clinton’s inauguration — ZERO!” Senator Ted Cruz — Cruz said, “When the election results came in we heard a piercing wail of agony, as mainstream media reporters shrieked in horror because the American people had risen up and defied Washington, defied the mainstream media, defied pundits, and said, ‘We will defend our constitution and we will defend our freedom. ’” Wayne LaPierre — After listing the mainstream media’s failure to report the truth regarding the devious goals of Democrats and gun control groups around the country, LaPierre asked, “When did the media stop being journalists and start becoming PR flacks for the destruction our country?” President Donald Trump — After recounting the way he ran and won on the Second Amendment with the NRA’s endorsement, President Trump laughingly told the thousands of attendees at the Leadership Forum to be ready to be wooed by Democrats, “I have a feeling that in the next election you’ll be swamped with candidates, but you’re not going to be wasting your time. You’ll have plenty of those Democrats coming over and you’ll say, ‘No Thanks’ or ‘No Sir’ — ‘No Ma’am’ perhaps ‘Ma’am’ — it may be Pocahontas, remember that. ” Amid applause Trump said, “You came through for me and I am going to come through for you. ” Chris Cox — Cox stressed that while Trump’s election changed everything for gun owners, it changed nothing for the media and Hollywood, And he made clear it didn’t change gun controllers’ determination either, saying, “Michael Bloomberg, he’s still short, rich, and angry. ” Colonel Allen West — “The oldest civil right, the oldest individual right, the thing that enables us to be this great independent country, is that we will not become subjects, we will not let anyone take away our guns we will not allow anyone to subjugate us under a tyrannical rule. ” BONUS SMACKDOWN — LaPierre said, “Bernie Sanders was not ‘a movement,’ as fawning media called his campaign. Bernie is a political predator of young voters who were lied to by school teachers and college professors” — LaPierre said young voters were told “free, free, free, for me,” but “no one told the truth about how all that stuff was going to be paid for. ” Nevertheless, LaPierre made clear that the media was in on the play because socialism would have aided in the goal of disarming and enslaving the American people. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 0fake |
Trump raises about $90 million in August | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump raised about $90 million in August in his campaign for the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, his campaign said on Wednesday. The fundraising totals, first reported by Fox News, did not include a breakdown of how much of the total the New York real estate mogul contributed to his own campaign. Trump said at a rally on Tuesday that he himself contributed a lot of the money to his campaign in August. Republican ex-defense secretary Cohen backs Hillary Clinton Live Blog: Mexico's Pena Nieto replaces finance minister after Trump visit Trump campaign reverses ban on credentials for some media outlets Clinton, who raised $143 million in the same time period, has consistently outraised Trump, allowing her to spend more widely on expensive television advertisements. Clinton has also built a vastly larger campaign payroll, spending millions more than Trump to hire staff around the country that will be the backbone of her efforts to get people to turn out and vote. In July, Trump took in $80 million. Trump, a former reality TV star who has never held elected office, has already defied precedent in campaign spending. During the primary, he was outspent by many of his Republican rivals but was able to leverage free media coverage to secure the party’s presidential nomination. But Republican supporters have warned that he may not be able to replicate the winning formula in the general election, when turning out less-engaged voters is a key piece of victory. Trump did not begin fundraising with intensity until June. Clinton began August with $58 million, compared to Trump who started the month with $38 million. | 0fake |
Wasserman Schultz on Sanders' response to Nevada chaos: 'Anything but acceptable' | The election in 232 photos, 43 numbers and 131 quotes, from the two candidates at the center of it all. | 0fake |
Comey Letter Hurts GOP As Hillary Clinton Raised $11.3 Million Online In 72 Hours | The letter from James Comey about the Hillary Clinton email scandal has motivated Democrats, as the Clinton campaign says they raised $11.3 million online in the last 72 hours.
Lisa Lerer of the AP reported: Clinton campaign says they've raised $11.3M online in last 72 hrs – the most $s since Clinton became nominee at the convention
— Lisa Lerer (@llerer) November 1, 2016
The Comey letter was supposed to boost Trump and depress Democratic turnout, but the opposite appears to be happening. James Comey’s interference in the presidential election has motivated Clinton supporters to work harder, give more money, and get to the polls, which in not what Republicans wanted at all.
Democrats have seen through Comey’s letter and the Republican spin. The October surprise has failed. Instead, it has made Hillary Clinton even stronger while giving her campaign more resources to use to close out the presidential election.
As a political tactic, the Comey letter is harming Republicans.
Republicans have thrown everything that they can think of at Hillary Clinton, and nothing has stopped her. Hillary Clinton and her supporters continue to grow stronger, while Donald Trump is marching back into reality television star C-list celebrity obscurity. | 1real |
Trump acknowledges he is under investigation in Russia probe | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump acknowledged on Friday he is under investigation in a probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential race and possible collusion by his campaign - and seemed to assail the Justice Department official overseeing the inquiry. Robert Mueller, the special counsel named by the department to investigate the Russia matter, is now examining whether Trump or others sought to obstruct the probe, a person familiar with the inquiry said on Thursday. “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt,” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to his May 9 dismissal of James Comey. Trump did not identify “the man” but appeared to be questioning the integrity of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department’s No. 2 official who appointed Mueller on May 17, supervises the probe and wrote a memo to Trump critical of Comey that preceded Comey’s firing. Hours later, a source close to Trump’s outside legal team said Trump did not intend his tweet to be confirmation of the investigation but rather was reacting to a Washington Post story on Wednesday about the probe. The source spoke on condition of anonymity. Rosenstein has said privately he may need to recuse himself from matters relating to the Russia probe because he could become a witness in the investigation, ABC News reported on Friday. ABC said Rosenstein told Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand she would have authority over the probe if he were to step aside. The Democratic National Committee called on Rosenstein to recuse himself from the Russia matter, but it said authority over the investigation should be given to Mueller and not another Trump appointee. While the Republican Trump administration initially said Rosenstein’s letter was the reason the president fired Comey on May 9, Trump later said he did so because of the “Russia thing.” Comey told a Senate panel last week he believed Trump fired him to undermine the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Russia probe. Comey testified that Trump directed him in February to drop an FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn relating to the Russia matter. Comey testified it would be up to Mueller to decide whether Trump’s action amounted to obstruction of justice, an act that could be cited in any effort in the Republican-led Congress to impeach him and remove him from office. The Russia issue has cast a shadow over Trump’s five months in office. In another indication of the seriousness of the probe, Michael Cohen, a personal attorney to Trump, said he has retained attorney Stephen Ryan, a former assistant U.S. attorney, to represent him in the ongoing probes. Cohen has received a subpoena from one of the congressional committees looking into the Russia issue. Rosenstein has authority over the inquiry because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself on March 2 after revelations of previously undisclosed meetings with Russia’s ambassador to Washington while he was a Trump campaign adviser. Brand was confirmed as the No. 3 Justice Department official on a 52-46 vote in the Senate on May 18, with Democrats lining up against her. From 2011 until her confirmation, she was a lawyer for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business lobbying group’s legal arm, which played a major role in marshaling legal opposition to environmental and labor regulations championed by Democratic former President Barack Obama. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Senate Intelligence Committee member, said she was “increasingly concerned” Trump would try to fire not only Mueller, but also Rosenstein. “The message the president is sending through his tweets is that he believes the rule of law doesn’t apply to him and that anyone who thinks otherwise will be fired,” Feinstein said. A Trump confidant said this week the president had considered firing Mueller. Rosenstein, who would be responsible for actually dismissing Mueller, told U.S. lawmakers he would fire him only with good cause. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Russia interfered in the presidential race to try to help Trump win, in part by hacking and releasing emails damaging to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Moscow has denied any interference. The White House denies any collusion. Trump kept up his criticism of the investigations, writing on Twitter, “After 7 months of investigations & committee hearings about my ‘collusion with the Russians,’ nobody has been able to show any proof. Sad!” | 0fake |
DESPERATE TO STOP THE FLOW OF MUSLIM REFUGEES INTO SWEDEN, Swedish Citizens Devise A Controversial Scheme | The liberals find this plan to be disgusting until their neighborhoods become the next victim of violent muslim immigrant gangs of course Anti-immigration campaigners in Gullberg in southern Sweden are plotting to build a pig farm next to an asylum centre in a last-ditch effort to deter would-be Muslim immigrants, who might find the animals offensive.More illegal immigrants on the run in Sweden (03 May 15) Swedish Syrian warms hearts over phone return (08 Apr 15) It was a long journey and some of my friends died (30 Mar 15)Plans for a new immigration centre in Gullberg have already been strongly opposed by local residents and on Wednesday it was reported that a group of campaigners had sent a letter to the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) pledging to breed pigs nearby in order to deter Muslims from seeking asylum in the town.The note, signed by what described itself as the interest group for Gullberg s survival said that it was trying to create a probably impossible situation for some religious people, especially Muslims , according to Sveriges Radio.Local politician Henry Sandahl from Sweden s Countryside Party (Markbygdspartiet) told the broadcaster that he agreed with the sentiment of the letter. You know that Muslims are not friends with pigs, he said.But Swedish religious experts have been quick to criticize the campaigners. This is nonsense and shows just how very little they know about Islam, said ke Sander, Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg. It is one thing when Muslims try to stay away from pork, alcohol or gambling but there is nothing [in the Koran] that says you cannot be near pigs. This is a last-ditch effort when they [the campaigners] have no arguments left, he told the TT news agency.Others turned to social media to voice their disgust at the campaign.Carl G ransson, a lawyer and former Moderate party politician suggested on Twitter that building a gigantic rubbish dump next to the asylum centre instead, designed to blow smelly winds in the direction of the angry residents. Monstrous and a total fail , wrote Johan Arenius, a political press secretary for the Christian Democrat party based in rebro in central Sweden.Sweden became the first European country in 2013 to grant automatic residency to Syrian refugees and has since seen asylum requests rise to record levels, which are still expected to reach about 90,000 in 2015.To cope with an increasing flow of refugees, the Swedish Migration Board announced in March that it was more than tripling the maximum number of residents allowed at asylum centres from 200 to 650.Via: The Local seh/t Refugee Resettlement Watch | 1real |
Russian lawmaker Kerimov detained by French police in tax evasion case | NICE, France (Reuters) - Russian businessman and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov was arrested by French police at Nice airport on Monday evening in connection with a tax evasion case, an official at the French prosecutor s office said on Tuesday. Kerimov is ranked by Forbes magazine as Russia s 21st wealthiest businessman, with a net worth of $6.3 billion. His family controls Russia s largest gold producer Polyus. He is being held for questioning in a case related to laundering of tax fraud proceeds, the official said. Representatives for Kerimov could not immediately be reached for comment. Polyus declined to comment. A source said the investigation centers on the purchase of several luxury residences on the French Riviera via shell companies, something that would have enabled Kerimov to reduce taxes owed to the French state. The source added Kerimov would be held in custody for at least another 24 hours. Russia s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by Interfax news agency that Kerimov held a diplomatic passport and had immunity. It said it had informed the French authorities. Kerimov does have a diplomatic passport, but that does not protect him from prosecution, the French official said. The French foreign ministry could not immediately confirm it had been in contact with Moscow. A French diplomatic source said immunity was given by governments to people on diplomatic lists or if they had been mandated with a specific mission in the country. | 0fake |
Meet The CA Sheriff Who Won’t Be Bullied By Obama And Illegal Immigrant Activists Who Believe The Laws Don’t Apply To Lawbreakers | If you have a system that rewards you for being a victim, it s subject to abuse. Sheriff Donny YoungbloodThat kind of stance has won him enemies in California s immigrant-rights movement and frequent comparisons to Joe Arpaio, the brash Arizona sheriff notorious for his workplace raids and ID checks.Youngblood, 64, said he isn t trying to make headlines. The Vietnam War veteran, who grew up working in the potato sheds around Bakersfield, said he s happier hiking or riding his quarter horse, Sparky.He lives in the same modest suburban neighborhood where he grew up, on Bakersfield s now heavily Latino Eastside, and bristles at accusations that his policies encourage racial profiling, pointing out that a third of his deputies are Latino.As he drove through town on a recent morning, past oil derricks, gated golf courses and strip malls lined with Mexican restaurants and carnicerias, Youngblood outlined his philosophy on immigration.The federal government should start enforcing immigration laws or write new ones, he said. He criticized President Obama s new deportation policies, which say most immigrants who have not committed serious crimes and have fewer than three minor crimes on their records should not be priorities for removal. You re in this country illegally and we re going to give you three bites of the apple? That s three victims! Youngblood said. If you commit crimes, you oughta go. Youngblood s defiant views have made him a rare voice of dissent in what has become the nation s most welcoming state for people in the country illegally.At a time when the Democrat-controlled Legislature has moved to allow such immigrants to drive, practice law and pay in-state college tuition passing 26 immigrant-friendly laws last year alone, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures Youngblood is an outlier.He has largely refused to sign paperwork that immigrant crime victims need to apply for U visas, which allow some victims to stay in the country lawfully. As president of the Major County Sheriffs Assn., a national advocacy group, he has asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to share data with police so patrol officers can determine whether the person they stop may be in the country illegally.Youngblood said his department began following the Trust Act last year on the advice of county attorneys. But he said he reserves the right to violate it. If ICE calls me and says, You have someone there who has committed this heinous crime, and we really need you to hold them, I m probably going to hold them, he said.Youngblood s approach has been celebrated by those who believe, as he does, that Obama has been too lax on immigration enforcement.And it has made him the target of activists who accuse him of setting his own immigration policy and of sowing fear among the estimated 66,000 immigrants in this rural county illegally. People are scared, said Lorena Lara, an immigrant who was brought to the country illegally by her farmworker father and who now works for a community organizing group called Faith in Action Kern County. They re afraid to call the police because they think they might be deported. Immigrant advocates have been pushing for more protections and political representation in the Central Valley since Cesar Chavez launched the modern immigrant-rights movement in the grape fields here half a century ago. In recent years, Kern County has been the scene of tense standoffs between protesters on opposing sides of the immigration debate, including a well-publicized shouting match outside the Bakersfield office of Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy in 2013.The majority of Kern County residents are Latino, but it wasn t until the 1990s that a Latino was elected to the Bakersfield City Council or the Kern County Board of Supervisors. (Political scientists point out that Latinos make up only about a third of registered voters and tend to turn out for elections at much lower rates than their white counterparts.)Youngblood says his views are in line with the conservative voters who have put him in office three times since 2006. Their ideas about immigration and government couldn t be more different than the electorate in Los Angeles, he added, even though Kern borders Los Angeles County. We are right-of-the-center on things, he said. I always say Kern is a county that ought to be in Arizona. Not far from Youngblood s home, Jose and his wife live in a run-down gray bungalow. There s a large portrait of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the living room and a dirt yard out front. On a recent evening, as the couple cleaned up after a long day in the fields, a locomotive screeched on nearby tracks.The couple came here from Mexico nine years ago to find work. Jose, who didn t want to give his full name because he said he fears retaliation from the sheriff, now earns $9 an hour picking almonds and oranges. He made $9 a day as a bus driver back home.Jose said that in 2013 he and his wife were attacked by armed robbers while they slept. The thieves stole everything of value and beat Jose for an hour, shattering his ribs.Organizers with the United Farm Workers encouraged Jose to apply for a U visa, saying he had a slam-dunk case. The crime was sufficiently severe, they said, and he had cooperated with the sheriff s deputies who responded to the 911 call.To apply for the visa, immigrants must present a declaration from the law enforcement agency that investigated the crime saying that they were or will be helpful.The Bakersfield Police Department, like most agencies in the nation, has a policy of signing all U visa declarations. Youngblood doesn t.Out of 160 requests between 2012 and 2014, he signed just four, according to Sheriff s Department records. I think he has something personal against Latinos, said Jose, who prays that Youngblood will find it in his heart to reconsider. We are at his mercy, he said.Youngblood said he hasn t signed most declarations because he doesn t believe in the premise of the law. If you have a system that rewards you for being a victim, it s subject to abuse, he said.The sheriff s stance has won him supporters, such as Ellen Fluhart, 70, a retired rancher who lives in the northeastern part of the county. She said Youngblood s decision not to sign U visa petitions is his prerogative. Fluhart said Youngblood s views are refreshing in a state where politicians have passed bills that she says encourage unlawful immigration. They broke the law, Fluhart said. They shouldn t be rewarded. Tensions between law enforcement and immigrant laborers in this community go back decades, said Gonzalo Santos, a sociologist at Cal State Bakersfield. In the 1930s, sheriff s officials deputized farm owners so they could use their badges to shut down labor protests, Santos said. Some farmworkers were killed.Now the department is intervening in immigration matters, said Santos, who called Youngblood a rogue sheriff. Youngblood argues that Brown and the Legislature were interfering when they passed the Trust Act. Conflicting state and federal mandates put sheriffs like him in the crosshairs, he said. It s unfair, because the law is so unclear, Youngblood said. Really what we re looking for is clear law, clear direction. Via: LA Times | 1real |
“Scary Stories In 5 Words” are terrifying tales for people short on time | Next Prev Swipe left/right “Scary Stories In 5 Words” are terrifying tales for people short on time Want to read something scary this Halloween but don’t have enough time for an actual book? Then the #ScaryStoriesIn5Words is just for you. Here are twelve of the spookiest.
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— Steven Deng (@stevendengg) October 28, 2016
2. | 1real |
HOW OBAMA Is Putting Terrorist Boots On The Ground | Every American should be demanding answers about why Barack Hussein Obama is in such a hurry to empty Gitmo before he leaves office. Illegal alien prisoners are being released at an unprecedented rate. Our borders are being left wide open by a President who s demanded our US Border Agents stand down. Visas are being given to people coming here with the sole intention of harming innocent Americans. Law enforcement has been ridiculed and weakened by a spiteful racist and his willing accomplices in the media. What do we need to do to alert the Kim Kardashian followers our United States of America is intentionally being destroyed by a radical in the White House?National Security: The Pentagon has cleared the release of 17 more terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison. President Obama puts jihadist boots on the ground before mobilizing U.S. troops in the Middle East.A congressional aide told Fox News on Thursday that the White House s strategy in the decision this week to set free more terrorist prisoners from the Gitmo facility in U.S.-controlled territory in Cuba is to get the number of detainees there to as low as they can get, even if it means a good deal of risk. The underlying reason is that closing Gitmo was a major Obama campaign promise in 2008, and he doesn t want to leave office with it still open.But the promise was to close it in 2009. Upon taking office, however, Obama found himself faced with the fact that Gitmo was a rather brilliant idea that the Bush administration came up with to prevent captured terrorists from exploiting the U.S. legal system.The spectacle of U.S. courts setting terrorists free, after trials in which the jihadists American legal teams might actually get access to and make public sensitive classified information, was not anything for which Obama wanted to be blamed. He seems amenable, however, to his successor having nowhere to hold captured terrorists.Release of the 17 supposedly low-level combatants, many of them from Yemen, where war rages, brings the number of Gitmo prisoners down to 90. We were told that Osama bin Laden s cook, Ibrahim al-Qosi, released by Obama from Gitmo in 2012, was low-level, but now he cooks up terrorist operations as a celebrity leader of al-Qaida in Yemen.The Pentagon is going along with this politicized emptying of the Guantanamo Bay holding facility. And the decision coming right after an Islamic State-inspired Christmas party attack within the homeland, which slaughtered 14 innocent Americans, suggests the U.S. military leadership has become a group of puppets.A major reason for former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel s forced departure as Obama s defense secretary last year after a brief tenure, let s not forget, was his hesitation in approving Gitmo releases.In last week s GOP presidential debate, it was a woman who promised that she would immediately reverse Obama s emasculation of the Pentagon. Carly Fiorina pledged to bring back the warrior class Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn t want to hear. Obama calls Gitmo a sad chapter in American history, but it was almost comic when the worst complaint Shaker Aamer, released from Gitmo in October after nearly 14 years, could tell of in a British TV interview was they just suck all your feelings out of you, adding that torture is not about beating. Torture is not about hanging from the ceiling with handcuffs and all that all that presumably being three square halal meals a day, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.Curiously, The Most Transparent Administration in History is now imposing new, severe restrictions on journalist access to Guantanamo Bay, with no more visits to the two detention centers where most detainees are housed, and no more interviews of guards and staff. Outgoing U.S. Southern Command chief Marine Gen. John Kelly told AP that the reason was: We really did have to get some organization to what was going on down there. After all these years?Under Obama, information on the frequency of prisoners assaulting guards and conducting hunger strikes has stopped being made public.It isn t torture or mistreatment that the Obama administration is hiding from the world s eyes within the walls of Guantanamo Bay; it s that what we have down there is a luxury resort to house terrorists, and that the president is incrementally releasing those soldiers of jihad back onto the battlefield after America has spent years fattening them up. Via: IBD | 1real |
U.S. Flying Bombers Above Disputed South China Sea Irks ’Vigilant’ Beijing | The U. S. military confirmed a military exercise by Air Force Lancer bombers over the South China Sea Thursday, a move that prompted Beijing, which illegally claims most of the sea, to remind Washington that it remains “vigilant” before U. S. exercises. [“China always maintains vigilance and effective monitoring of the relevant country’s military activities in the South China Sea,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. “China’s military will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and regional peace and stability. ” The Chinese government typically responds to American exercises in the region rapidly. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including the sovereign territories of Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, and the waters off the coast of Indonesia. The Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague ruled last year that China’s claims on the Spratly and Paracel Islands — sovereign territory of Vietnam and the Philippines — were not valid, and China must cease its construction of military facilities in the region. China vowed to ignore the ruling and any other such international legal resolution. The United States has participated in challenging these illegal territorial claims through a variety of measures, from Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) within 12 nautical miles of the territory China claims, and military exercises both unilateral and joint with allied nations in the region. U. S. Pacific Command described the exercise on Thursday as part of a greater “continuous bomber presence” program, which included the participation of the bombers and the USS Sterett. According to an extensive report in the Japan Times, the mission lasted ten hours and was launched out of U. S. territory in Guam. The goal of the operation was to improve coordination between the ship and the bombers “by refining joint tactics, techniques and procedures while simultaneously strengthening their ability to seamlessly integrate their operations,” Pacific Command said. The statement explicitly did not refer to the operation as an FONOP. The report also did not address recent reports suggesting that the Chinese government has continued to expand its military presence in the region. The Pentagon recently submitted a report to Congress detailing advances in the militarizing of the Spratly Island chain. “China’s Spratly Islands outpost expansion effort is currently focused on building out the capabilities of its three largest outposts — Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs — after completion of its four smaller outposts early in 2016,” the report read, according to the South China Morning Post. “Once all these facilities are complete, China will have the capacity to house up to three regiments of fighters in the Spratly Islands. ” Among the new facilities are 24 “ hangars, positions and other infrastructure” on the reefs mentioned. The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the report. “China pursues the path of peaceful development and a national defense policy. China’s defense development is aimed at safeguarding state independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying said this week, according to the Global Times. As the report also mentioned potential Chinese expansion into Pakistan, Hua chided the United States and claimed cooperation with the Pakistani government “is not targeted at any third party. ” | 0fake |
U.N. chief says statesmanship needed on North Korea, takes digs at Trump | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Tuesday for statesmanship to avoid war with North Korea and criticized world leaders who stoke resentment over refugees for political gain, two digs at U.S. President Donald Trump. In his first address to the annual 193-member U.N. General Assembly since taking office in January, Guterres said the crisis over North Korea s nuclear and ballistic missile program must be solved through a political process. This is the time for statesmanship, said the former prime minister of Portugal. We must not sleepwalk our way into war. Trump has warned North Korea that military action was an option for the United States as Pyongyang has carried out a series of tests toward developing the ability to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile. The U.N. Security Council has unanimously imposed nine rounds of sanctions on North Korea since 2006 and Guterres appealed for the 15-member body to maintain its unity on North Korea. Guterres, a former head of the U.N. refugee agency, also spoke of being pained to see the way refugees and migrants have been stereotyped and scapegoated - and to see political figures stoke resentment in search of electoral gain. Shortly after taking office in January, Trump moved to put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee program, bar Syrian refugees indefinitely and impose a 90-day suspension on people from six predominantly Muslim countries. He says the move is needed to prevent terrorist attacks. I myself am a migrant, as many of you are. But no-one expected me to risk my life on a leaky boat or cross a desert in the back of a truck to find employment outside my country of birth, he said. Safe migration cannot be limited to the global elite. Guterres also warned of the dangers of climate change and urged world leaders to implement the 2015 Paris climate agreement to reduce emissions with ever greater ambition. Trump, who campaigned in the 2016 presidential election on an America First platform, has said the United States would withdraw from the accord. Trump said it would harm U.S. industries, cost U.S. jobs, weaken American national sovereignty and put the country at a permanent disadvantage to other nations. It is high time to get off the path of suicidal emissions. We know enough today to act. The science is unassailable, Guterres said. On counterterrorism, Guterres said he plans to convene next year the first gathering of heads of counterterrorism agencies of U.N. member states to forge a new international counterterrorism partnership. | 0fake |
WOW! Soon-To-Be Former GOP Congressman Jason Chaffetz Has Surprising New Job | Fox News Channel (FNC) has signed soon-to-be former Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) to a contributor role.He will offer political analysis across FNC and Fox Business Network s (FBN) daytime and primetime programming, starting on July 1st.Prior to joining FNC, Chaffetz represented Utah s Third Congressional District beginning in November 2008. In May, he announced that he would resign from Congress effective June 30th.During his time as congressman, he served as the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and was a member of the House Judiciary Committee. He also served on the Homeland Security Committee.Chaffetz had an integral role in many government investigations, including the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal, the Benghazi terrorist attack, the IRS targeting scandal and the Secret Service investigation.Watch Chaffetz s recent appearance on Sunday Morning Futures, during which he explained why Congress needs to be a watchdog over special counsel Robert Mueller as he conducts his Russia investigation. FOX Insider | 1real |
FACEBOOK USER ARRESTED FOR “Offensive” Posts About Syrian Refugees: “social media abuse will not be tolerated” | Only months ago, Obama s Attorney General, Loretta Lynch warned Americans the U.S.Department of Justice intends to criminally prosecute and even imprison Americans who they determine are guilty of using speech that edges towards violence against Muslims. For anyone who thinks our new tyrannical government has no ability to arrest you for comments you make on Facebook think again. Scotland police have said the arrest of a man responsible for a series of offensive Facebook posts about Syrian refugees resettled on the Isle of Bute should send a clear message that such social media abuse will not be tolerated.Following a report of a series of alleged offensive online posts relating to Syrian refugees living in Rothesay on Bute, Police Scotland confirmed on Tuesday that a 40-year-old man, understood to be from the Inverclyde area, had been arrested under the Communications Act.Twelve Syrian families arrived in the seaside town in early December, as Scotland welcomed one third of the thousand refugees David Cameron agreed to take from camps bordering Syria before the end of last year.Following the arrest, Insp Ewan Wilson from Dunoon police office said: I hope that the arrest of this individual sends a clear message that Police Scotland will not tolerate any form of activity which could incite hatred and provoke offensive comments on social media. Via: The Guardian | 1real |
Italy’s earthquakes leave 15,000 homeless, ‘soul of the country’ damaged | VIDEOS Italy’s earthquakes leave 15,000 homeless, ‘soul of the country’ damaged Given the strength of Sunday’s new quake, experts said it was remarkable that it had not resulted in any more fatalities By Extinction Protocol - November 2, 2016
Italian authorities said on Monday they were taking care of more than 15,000 people left homeless by the country’s most powerful earthquake in nearly 40 years. Although Sunday’s 6.6 -magnitude tremor did not result in any deaths, the third powerful quake in just over two months has left thousands of homes in ruins or structurally unsafe and emptied a string of villages and small towns across the country’s mountainous central regions. The majority of residents of the devastated villages and towns have taken refuge with friends and family as they anxiously await a green light to return to their homes.
But the national civil protection agency said on Monday it was providing assistance to 15,000 people affected by Sunday’s quake, which was so powerful it caused cracks in buildings in Rome, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) away from the epicenter near the Umbrian town of Norcia. Some 4,000 people from the worst-hit area around Norcia have been sent to hotels on the Adriatic coast with another 500 taken by bus to the inland Lake Trasimeno. More than 10,000 are being put up in converted sports halls and other temporary facilities, including tents, across Umbria and the neighboring Marche region, the protection agency said.
A further 1,100 people are still in Adriatic coast hotels as a result of the August 24th Amatrice earthquake, which left nearly 300 dead. Given the strength of Sunday’s new quake, experts said it was remarkable that it had not resulted in any more fatalities. With many roads blocked by landslips or huge boulders dislodged by the quake, civil protection chief Fabrizio Curcio and reconstruction supremo Vasco Errani were surveying the damage by helicopter. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has vowed that every damaged house will be rebuilt and that communities he described as part of “the soul of the country” would not be abandoned. But after the trauma of three major quakes in such quick succession, the future of the already sparsely populated affected areas looks bleak. “At the moment I don’t see any possible future,’ evacuated Norcia resident Antonella Ridolfi told AFP. “Everything here will have to be rebuilt. There is nothing really solid left in the center. We have always bounced back after other earthquakes but we’ve never had to deal with one as strong as this.” – The Local | 1real |
COMEDY GOLD! Bernie Sanders Has HILARIOUS Meltdown Over Repeal Of Obamacare: “If You Are Old..If You’re 55-60 Yrs Of Age And Don’t Have Health Insurance, You Will Die!” [VIDEO] | Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) could not say on Wednesday where he got the information that thousands will die if Obamacare is repealed.Sanders made the claim while speaking with CNN s Jake Tapper but could not provide any specific sources that backed his assertion, instead referring to studies that have been done. You ve said if this repeal and replace plan goes forward that thousands of Americans will die, Tapper said to Sanders. Where do you get that estimate from? I get that estimate from the fact that studies have been done that people who do not have health insurance, who do not go to the doctor when they should, who do not go to the hospital when they need to go, in fact die, Sanders said. And thousands of people die every year because they don t have health insurance. And if you throw 24 million people off of health insurance, there is no doubt that many thousands of people will die. Jake Tapper then goes on to ask Bernie Sanders about the disastrous results of Obamacare, making insurance unaffordable for so many Americans. Tapper tells Sanders, In many states Obamacare is in dire straights. The governor of Minnesota, a liberal Democrat said the Affordable Care Act is unaffordable . To his credit, Tapper continues with his line of questioning and actually shocks Sanders when he asks him, Don t the Democrats own this bill that in so many states is failing? No, I think what the American, look, what you re saying is true, Sanders replied. No one, certainly not me, that the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, has many serious problems. Deductibles are too high, premiums are too high, we still have too many people who don t have any health insurance, Sanders said. It s too complicated, it s too bureaucratic. WFBYEAH Okay Bernie whatever you say Watch: | 1real |
Exclusive: Special counsel Mueller to probe ex-Trump aide Flynn's Turkey ties | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible ties between the Trump election campaign and Russia, is expanding his probe to assume control of a grand jury investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, three sources told Reuters. The move means Mueller’s politically charged inquiry will now look into Flynn’s paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman in 2016, in addition to contacts between Russian officials and Flynn and other Trump associates during and after the Nov. 8 presidential election. Federal prosecutors in Virginia are investigating a deal between Flynn and Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin as part of a grand jury criminal probe, according to a subpoena seen by Reuters. Alptekin’s company, Netherlands-based Inovo BV, paid Flynn’s consultancy $530,000 between September and November to produce a documentary and research on Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish cleric living in the United States. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan blames Gulen for a failed coup last July. Alptekin, an ally of Erdogan, told Reuters he hired Flynn to provide research on how Gulen is “poisoning the atmosphere” between Turkey and the United States. Gulen has denied any role in the coup and dismisses Turkey’s allegations that he heads a terrorist organization. The grand jury in Virginia has issued subpoenas to some of Flynn’s business associates involved in the work for Inovo, two people familiar with the probe say. The subpoena seen by Reuters seeks bank records, documents and communications related to Flynn, his company, Flynn Intel Group, Alptekin and Inovo. Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not respond to questions about Flynn’s work for Inovo or Mueller’s investigation. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. Alptekin declined to comment when asked about the investigation into Flynn and whether he or anyone he knows has been subpoenaed. Mueller’s move to take over the Virginia grand jury’s criminal investigation highlights his broad powers as special counsel. Reuters could not determine when the grand jury was first convened, but its existence has been previously reported. Until now the investigation has been led by Brandon van Grack, an espionage prosecutor in the Justice Department, and federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of Virginia. It is not clear whether Van Grack and others who have been working on the case will continue to do so. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller, a former FBI director, on May 17 to oversee an investigation into any links or collusion between Russia and individuals associated with the Trump campaign. Rosenstein also gave him authority to pursue “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.” Some members of Congress have asked the Justice Department to define the scope of Mueller’s inquiry. Mueller’s appointment followed an uproar over Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, who had been investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Democrats and some of the president’s fellow Republicans had demanded an independent probe of whether Russia tried to sway the outcome of November’s election in favor of Trump and against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump, who has said there was no coordination between his campaign and Russia, has decried the investigation as a “witch hunt.” One of Trump’s most trusted aides during the election campaign, Flynn had a long career in the military. He set up the Flynn Intel Group, an Alexandria, Virginia-based intelligence consultancy, after President Barack Obama dismissed him as head of the military’s Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. Mueller, who takes over leadership of an FBI investigation that began last July, can present evidence to grand juries and hear testimony from witnesses. Trump fired Flynn in February after it became clear that he had falsely characterized the nature of phone conversations he had with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak in December, just after the Obama administration imposed new sanctions on Russia for what U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded was a Kremlin-led effort through computer hacking, fake news and propaganda to boost Trump’s chances of winning the White House. Flynn’s work for Inovo came under scrutiny after he published a commentary on a political news website on Election Day calling Gulen a “radical Islamist” who should be extradited to Turkey. Along with the editorial, the Flynn Intel Group also produced a 75-page report on Gulen based mainly on news reports and some video footage for a documentary that was never made, according to three people familiar with the project. Alptekin, who is chairman of the Turkey-U.S. Business Council, told Reuters he was satisfied with Flynn’s research because it had helped him understand how Gulen’s network operates in the United States. He said the $530,000 payment to Flynn’s firm came “mostly” from his personal funds. The rest came from Inovo’s corporate revenues, Alptekin said. On Nov. 18, the day after Flynn was appointed Trump’s national security adviser, Trump transition team lawyer William McGinley raised concerns on a call with the Flynn Intel Group and others involved in the Inovo project over who had paid for Flynn’s commentary, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation. Flynn did not participate in that call, they said. At the time of the call, Flynn had not disclosed that his work for Alptekin meant he was being paid to represent Turkish interests during the election campaign. Flynn Intel Group had said in a September 2016 filing that it was lobbying for Inovo but did not disclose its Turkish links. In March, Flynn retroactively registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. In a letter accompanying the March filing, Flynn’s lawyer, Kelner, said the disclosure was being made because Flynn’s work for Inovo “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey,” which he noted was seeking to extradite Gulen. The House of Representatives intelligence committee, which is also investigating Russian interference in the election, subpoenaed records from Flynn on Wednesday. The Senate’s intelligence committee, which has a separate probe under way, has also served subpoenas on Flynn and two of his businesses, and earlier this week Flynn indicated that he would start turning over relevant materials. | 0fake |
BRAVE FBI AGENTS Come Forward On Clinton Email Scandal: “Comey thought this was going to go away” | FBI agents say the bureau is alarmed over Director James Comey s decision to not suggest that the Justice Department prosecute Hillary Clinton over her mishandling of classified information.According to an interview transcript given to The Daily Caller, provided by an intermediary who spoke to two federal agents with the bureau last Friday, agents are frustrated by Comey s leadership. This is a textbook case where a grand jury should have been convened, but was not. That is appalling, an FBI special agent who has worked public corruption and criminal cases said of the decision. We talk about it in the office and don t know how Comey can keep going. The agent was also surprised that the bureau did not bother to search Clinton s house during the investigation. We didn t search their house. We always search the house. The search should not just have been for private electronics, which contained classified material, but even for printouts of such material, he said. There should have been a complete search of their residence, the agent pointed out. That the FBI did not seize devices is unbelievable. The FBI even seizes devices that have been set on fire. Another special agent for the bureau who worked counter-terrorism and criminal cases said he is offended by Comey s saying: we and I ve been an investigator. After graduating from law school, Comey became a law clerk to a U.S. District Judge in Manhattan and later became an associate in a law firm in the city. After becoming a U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Comey s career moved through the U.S. Attorney s Office until he became Deputy Attorney General during the George W. Bush administration.After Bush left office, Comey entered the private sector and became general counsel and Senior Vice President for Lockheed Martin, among other private sector posts. President Barack Obama appointed him to FBI director in 2013 replacing out going-director Robert Mueller. Comey was never an investigator or special agent. The special agents are trained investigators and they are insulted that Comey included them in collective we statements in his testimony to imply that the SAs agreed that there was nothing there to prosecute, the second agent said. All the trained investigators agree that there is a lot to prosecuted but he stood in the way. He added, The idea that [the Clinton/e-mail case] didn t go to a grand jury is ridiculous. According to Washington D.C. attorney Joe DiGenova, more FBI agents will be talking about the problems at bureau and specifically the handling of the Clinton case by Comey when Congress comes back into session and decides to force them to testify by subpoena.DiGenova told WMAL radio s Drive at Five last week, People are starting to talk. They re calling their former friends outside the bureau asking for help. We were asked today to provide legal representation to people inside the bureau and agreed to do so and to former agents who want to come forward and talk. Comey thought this was going to go away. Read more: Daily Caller | 1real |
What do Americans really think about abortion? The answer may surprise you. | An anti-abortion protester stands with a sign at Boulder County Justice Center, in Boulder, Colo., Friday, March 27. A recent survey on abortion policy shows that despite what media coverage, politicians, and frequent protests would have the public believe, plenty of Americans have nuanced opinions on the issue of abortion.
Abortion is one of the most polarizing issues in the United States today, but public opinion may not be as black and white as it seems.
In a Vox survey on abortion policy published earlier this month, careful questioning of more than 1,000 respondents suggests that plenty of Americans identify neither as only "pro-choice" nor as only "pro-life." On the contrary, 21 percent said they were neither, while 18 percent said they were both.
The poll’s findings unearth the nuances in public opinion often neglected when the media, politicians, and other opinion surveys frame the abortion debate as purely two-sided. The poll could also open up discussion about the issue in ways that – as Fordham University ethicist Charles Camosy put it – involves critical thinking, and takes into account the importance of precise language and constructive engagement when tackling such sensitive subjects as the life of an unborn child and a woman’s rights concerning her body.
“We’ve framed our abortion debate all wrong. It isn’t black and white – it’s thousands of different shades of gray that exist somewhere in the middle,” Vox senior editor Sarah Kliff wrote. “This matters because by ignoring that gray space, we miss something important: there are abortion policies that a majority of Americans could agree on.”
The majority of respondents, for instance, said that they would want to hear from elected officials of both genders talking about the issue. Nearly 70 percent would not want a woman to feel ashamed to admit if she had an abortion. But when asked about abortion being completely illegal or legal, and given various options in between, the largest percentage (34) chose this answer: "Abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, abuse, or if the woman’s health is at risk."
A big challenge to moving the abortion debate forward is overcoming the stereotypes that have evolved as a result of years of framing the discussion in binary terms such as "pro-life" versus "pro-choice," or "liberal" versus "conservative," according to Mr. Camosy, who teaches Christian ethics at Fordham in the Bronx and wrote, “ Beyond the Abortion Wars: A Way Forward for a New Generation.”
“It is no secret that popular media have a real struggle communicating complexity,” Camosy wrote. “Thus they struggle not only to accurately describe what Americans think about abortion, but also the complex reasons many women have abortions … the reality for women is far messier and cannot be captured by a headline or Tweet.”
In other words, there’s room for discussion beyond yes or no, pro or anti. And that may be a lesson applicable to other issues, such as immigration, that appear to have divided the nation.
In an op-ed for news magazine The Week, for example, journalist Damon Linker pointed out that looking at only two sides of the immigration debate tends to lead exactly where it has gone so far: Nowhere. A viable policy, he wrote, is one that is based neither solely on moral grounds, which would give anyone who shows up at the border full citizenship, nor on the tenets of exclusivism, which would oppose the ideals of the US Constitution.
“What we're left with, then, is a position situated somewhere between the universalists and the tribalists,” Mr. Linker wrote. “We need a tightly controlled border, but with relatively liberal quotas for legal immigration, some allowances made for humanitarian refugees, and a path to citizenship for those already here. We can and should debate precisely how liberal those quotas should be, how many refugees to let in, and how arduous to make the path to citizenship.”
The path to useful policies thus lies in how we approach an issue, Camosy wrote. In the abortion debate, he added, that means avoiding using words and phrases – “radical feminist,” “war on women,” “anti-science,” or “heretic” – that lead to rhetorical victories at the cost of understanding.
Promoting meaningful discussion also requires humility and, instead of assuming the other side has a secret personal agenda, giving them the courtesy of listening to their arguments.
Such practices, Camosy wrote, “often reveals that many of us are ultimately after very similar things (such as women being able to choose to keep their baby) and we simply need to be able to talk in an open and coherent way about the best plan for getting there.” | 0fake |
November 8 Is (Finally) Here: An Abridged Election Day Resource Guide | By Common Dreams After a national election season that many called “interminable” and where the trending phrase to describe the contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump became... | 1real |
Opposition stays away as Kenyatta warns against 'destructive division' | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta opened parliament on Tuesday by warning against divisive and destructive politics, while opposition lawmakers boycotted the legislature and rallied to demand the resignation of election officials. Kenya held parliamentary, presidential and local elections on Aug. 8, but the Supreme Court nullified the presidential results three weeks later, citing irregularities in the tallying process. New elections are scheduled for Oct. 17. While calling for unity and respect for the constitution, Kenyatta delivered a thinly veiled warning to the opposition lawmakers who had chosen to stay away from parliament. My government will not tolerate anyone intent on disrupting our hard-won peace and stability. Under no circumstances must Kenyans ever allow our free competitive processes to become a threat to the peace and security of our nation, he said, to foot-stamping and cheering from ruling party legislators. We shall continue to encourage vibrant democratic competition, we shall not allow destructive division. As he spoke, opposition leaders held a rally in Kibera, the capital s largest slum, rejecting the Oct. 17 date unless officials on the election board, whom they blame for mishandling the polls, resign. Now we are putting it squarely to you that the Supreme Court of this country has found you incompetent, said Kalonzo Musyoka, running mate of Kenyatta s presidential rival Raila Odinga. The surprise election annulment initially raised fears of short-term political turmoil in Kenya, the region s richest nation and a staunch Western ally in a region roiled by conflict. But it also raised hopes among frustrated opposition supporters, who believe the last three elections have been stolen from them, that the east African nation s tarnished courts could deliver them justice. That hope helped tamp down protests that threatened to spark the kind of violence that followed disputed 2007 elections, when around 1,200 people were killed in ethnic bloodletting. In a separate development, a ruling party lawmaker and a former opposition senator appeared in a Nairobi court, charged with incitement to violence over speeches they had made in the past week. Both were freed on a 300,000 Kenya shilling ($3,000) bond. A government body monitoring hate speech says that it has seen a spike since the Supreme Court ruling. More than three times as many incidents were reported in the week following the ruling than during the whole 10-week election campaign, it said. | 0fake |
PM May is driving Britain to cliff-edge Brexit: Labour leader | BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) - A cliff-edge Brexit is at risk of becoming a reality under Prime Minister Theresa May, the leader of Britain s main opposition party said on Wednesday, adding only Labour could win a good deal with the European Union. A cliff-edge Brexit is at risk of becoming a reality, Jeremy Corbyn told hundreds of party members at the annual Labour conference in the southern English town of Brighton. | 0fake |
‘Tehran’ Tom Cotton Throws Tantrum After White House Exposes Him As Clueless Obstructionist | The Republican senator who gained infamy last year by attempting to sabotage a historic nuclear deal with Iran is back at it again this time by trying to derail a crucial appropriations bill so America is forced to violate the agreement.Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton got the moniker Tehran Tom after he and many of his Republican colleagues in the senate sent a brazenly out of line letter directly to the Iranian capitol in an effort to convince the country to stop negotiating with President Obama. The plan not only backfired (the Iranians delighted in mocking the Republicans), but it led to a major backlash from across the country. Politics may be getting nasty, but it seems betraying your country to score a cheap shot against the president still crosses a major line.Unable to understand when he has lost, Cotton has since been working behind the scenes to undermine the agreement any way he can. This week, he and his loyal band of obstructionists introduced an amendment intentionally meant to rankle relations between the two countries. Cotton had tried to bar the purchase of heavy water produced in Iran. Heavy water is a component of making nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. Part of the deal with Iran involved the country handing over its stock of heavy water (to show they were serious about ending their nuclear program) but Cotton doesn t want America to take it. Why? Because then the deal would actually work.Needless to say, the White House was furious. At a press conference, Press Secretary Josh Earnest let Cotton have it: So it is clear what the intent of his amendment is. Senator Cotton is certainly no expert when it comes to heavy water. I m confident that he couldn t differentiate heavy water from sparkling water. His focus is on undermining the effective implementation of this agreement that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Cotton is fast becoming a single-issue politician. The time and energy he pours into trying to hurt Iran-United States relation borders on pathological. Even many of his colleagues, some of whom signed his letter in 2015, have given up thinking they can stop this agreement. Not Tehran Tom. He keeps plugging away.On Twitter, Cotton did not take the news of his White House dress down well. He suggested that he, a sitting United States Senator, isn t aware the existence of sparkling water because he was in the military a claim many found dubious.As for you @PressSec , you re right, I don t know much about sparkling water. It isn t served in Army, unlike in your ritzy West Wing. Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) April 27, 2016Maybe Cotton can get some of his lobbyist friends to send him a few bottles.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 1real |
Trump, without evidence, cites Ukraine ties to ex-rival Clinton | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. election and raised questions, without offering evidence, about Ukrainian support for his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton. In a pair of early morning tweets, Trump also said U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had “taken a very weak position” toward the Democratic presidential nominee and cited “Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - quietly working to boost Clinton’.” Trump did not elaborate or offer evidence about any role Ukraine may have played in the 2016 election. The Republican president’s first six months in office have been shadowed by investigations into possible Russian interference in the election and possible ties between his campaign and Moscow. The Ukrainian president’s spokesman did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington denied Kiev had tried to influence the U.S. election. “We stand by our words that the government of Ukraine didn’t help any candidate in (the) election. Ukraine is proud of bipartisan support in the U.S.,” the embassy posted on Twitter. Ukraine’s permanent representative to the Council of Europe, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Twitter: “Trump writes that we interfered in the elections in the USA, while Putin says that we threaten Russia. There was a time when we were peaceful buckwheat sowers who kept themselves to themselves.” The U.S. intelligence community determined that Russia attempted to interfere in the White House race. Moscow has denied it and Trump has said his campaign did not collude with Russia. The allegations are being investigated by U.S. congressional committees and a federal special counsel. In the run-up to the November election, the FBI probed Clinton’s handling of email as U.S. secretary of state under Democratic President Barack Obama but ultimately said no criminal charges were warranted. | 0fake |
Is the United States of America a Liberal Democracy, or Liberal Oligarchy? | 21st Century Wire says Does the American ideal of a egalitarian meritocracy really live up to the reality? Did it ever?The world s political and financial elite are currently operating in an epoch which features the greatest wealth gap in human history, and in a financial environment which is the most unrestrained in modern times all controlled by a relatively small tribe of hereditary elites.It s high time to question and reexamine the post-modern concept of democracy Liberal Democracy is a system of governance conditioned not only by political liberties such as free and fair elections, universal suffrage, and rights to run for office, but also by constitutional liberties such as the rule of law, respect for minorities, freedom of speech, religion and assembly, private property rights, and most importantly, a wide separation of powers. The founding pillar of liberal democracy, therefore, is its citizens ability to influence the government s policy formulation through the exercise of the aforementioned political and constitutional liberties. In other words, while a flawless correspondence between government policy formulation and majority preferences is idealistic, government responsiveness to citizens interests and concerns, in the process of policy formulation, is of central importance when evaluating democratic governance.Petar Djolic Global ResearchErgo, by embracing the Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite Theory s perspective, this paper will illustrate how the U.S. system of governance, while providing constitutional, that is, civil liberties to its citizens, espouses more focused and more powerful interests over more diffused and less powerful interests. This inevitably results in the U.S. political system being a liberal oligarchy rather than liberal democracy as it is presumed by many (see Dahl, 1971, 1985, 2006; Tocqueville, 2000; Monroe, 1979; Key, 1961 and famously Lincoln, 1989).First, the paper will review the Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite Theory while highlighting some of their most prominent advocates. Next, by briefly reflecting upon the definition of the oligarchs and the elites, the paper will place the concept of political influence that corporate power exerts in context. Subsequently, the paper will survey an eminent empirical study that found a vast discrepancy in the U.S. government s responsiveness to the majority preferences as opposed to the preferences of the elites. Last, the essay will illustrate how studies confirming an ostensibly desirable degree of government s responsiveness to the preferences of average citizens neglect the reflection of those preferences to those of wealthy citizens. The Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite TheoryPolitical theory, The Iron Law of Oligarchy, was first proposed by Robert Michels in his book Political Parties (1999) and later developed into The Elite Theory by scholars such as C. Wright Mills, Elmer Eric Schattschneider, G. William Domhoff, etc. Opposing pluralism, the theory focuses on the disparity between the political influence exerted by the oligarchs or the elites, actors that control considerable concentrations of wealth, as opposed to that of the average citizen. This school of political thought argues that the U.S. system of governance espouses more focused and more powerful interests over more diffused and less powerful interests. That is, the advocates of the Elite Theory stress that, in the case of the United States government policy formulation, influence is conditioned by affluence. Mills (1959), in his magnum opus, The Power Elite, offered a comprehensive description of how U.S. political, economic, military and social elites have dominated key issues in public policy formulation. Similarly, in The Semisovereign People, Schattschneider asserted that the realm of the pressure system is actually fairly small: the range of organized, identifiable, known groups is amazingly narrow; there is nothing remotely universal about it (1960: 30).Schattschneider continues by arguing that business or upper-class bias of the pressure system shows up everywhere (ibid: 30), therefore, the notion that the pressure system is automatically representative of the whole community is a myth (ibid: 36).Instead, Schattschneider posits,the system is skewed, loaded and unbalanced in favor of a fraction of a minority (ibid: 36).G. William Domhoff made a significant contributed to the elite theory with his book, Who Rules America: The Triumph of the Corporate Rich. Domhoff (2013) presented a detailed depiction of how operating through various organizations such as think-tanks, opinion shaping apparatus and lobby groups enable elites to control key issues within policy formulation.Oligarchs and The ElitesAccording to Aristotle (1996), oligarchs are citizens who control and command an extensive concentration of wealth who always happen to be the few . Similarly, people who, due to their strategic positions in powerful organizations, have the ability to influence political outcomes, are classified by most scholars as economic and political elites (Higley, 2006). Therefore, the terms oligarchs and elites are often used interchangeably. These individuals can affect the basic stability of political regimes, the overall arrangements and workings of political institutions, and the key policies of the government (Higley and Burton, 2006: 7). Typically, elites and oligarchs consist of the top directors and executives of the major corporations. Nonetheless, they can belong to other essential sectors of the society such as political, military and administrative (Keller, 1963). By owning a wealth-producing property, these individuals make large-scale investment and, therefore, employment decisions, which ultimately regulates the United States economy (Higley and Pakulski, 2012). Therefore, a large percentage of American economic assets are disproportionately controlled by a rather small number of corporations.Empirical StudyOver time, a variety of diverse actors that seem to have influence on U.S. policy formulation have been identified. Coincidentally, normative concerns that the U.S. political system is vastly influenced by capital driven individuals and groups have been growing. Until recently, however, providing empirical evidence that supported these concerns proved to be very difficult, almost impossible. Nonetheless, several, fairly recent empirical studies have demonstrated that, in the case of the United States, the policy making process is influenced, to a great degree, by more focused and more powerful interests compared to more diffused, less powerful interests (see Gilens and Page, 2014; Winters and Page, 2009; Page, Kalla and Broockman, 2015; Jacobs and Page, 2005; Bartels and Seawright, 2013; etc). However, due to its limited scope, this paper will survey only one of these studies.By employing an imposing data set drawn from a heterogeneous set of policy initiatives, 1,923 in total, Gilens and Page demonstrated that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence (2014: pp. 565).By comparing policy preferences of American citizens at the 50th income percentile to that of American citizens at the 90th income percentile, Gilens and Page (2014) found that the United States policy formulation is conditioned by the preferences of the latter group far more than it is conditioned by the preferences of the former group. In fact, the influence that the medium voter exerts on the U.S. policy formulation is near zero (Gilens and Page, 2014: pp. 576). By including the data that dates all the way back to 1980 the authors illustrated that such state of affairs has been a long-term trend, making it harder for ordinary citizens to comprehend, let alone reverse. However, ordinary citizens, might often be observed to win , that is, to get their preferred policy outcomes, even if they had no independent effect whatsoever on policy making, if elites, with whom they often agree with, actually prevail as policy formulation is not a zero-sum game (Gilens and Page, 2014: pp. 570). Nevertheless, it is crucial to point out that this correlation is erroneous in terms of causal impact and, consequently, provides a false sense of political equality. In other words, the results obtained by the authors demonstrate how the relatively high level of government s responsiveness to the preferences of average and low income citizens is nothing more than a reflection of the preferences shared by wealthy citizens. However, by incorporation a multivariate analysis of different test groups, Gilens and Page (2014), illustrated how the influence of average citizens preferences drops rapidly once their preferences differ to that of wealthy citizens.The ideal of political equality that average American citizens, as well as many scholars, hold dear, stands in stark contrast to the immense representational biases demonstrated by Gilens and Page. While acknowledging that a perfect political equality has a particularly idealistic character, the enormous dichotomy in the system s responsiveness to citizens at different income levels reinforces doubt associated with the presumed liberal democratic character of American society and leads this paper to conclude that the U.S. is, contrary to popular belief, a liberal oligarchy as opposed to liberal democracy.By embracing the Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite Theory s perspective, this paper illustrated how the U.S. system of governance, while providing constitutional, that is, civil liberties to its citizens, espouses more focused and more powerful interests over more diffused and less powerful interests. This inevitably results in the U.S. political system being a liberal oligarchy rather than liberal democracy as it is presumed by many. First, the paper reviewed the Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite Theory and highlighted some of their most prominent advocates. Next, by briefly reflecting upon the definition of the oligarchs and the elites, the paper placed the concept of corporate power and political influence it exerts in context. Subsequently, the paper surveyed an eminent empirical study that found a vast discrepancy in the U.S. government s responsiveness to the majority preferences as opposed to the preferences of the elites. Last, the paper illustrated how studies confirming ostensibly desirable levels of government s responsiveness to the preferences of the average citizen neglect the reflection of those preferences to those of wealthy citizens .Continue this article and see all footnotes at Global ResearchREAD MORE NWO NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire NWO Files | 1real |
Factbox: Wall Street's take on possible impact of U.S. elections | (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump are in a tight race ahead of the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Following is a weekly roundup of financial market analysts’ views on the U.S. elections and the likely implications of a Trump or Clinton win on financial markets. MORE COVERAGE: bit.ly/2dOgcoE SEE RELATED FACTBOX: reut.rs/2d9cl4q DAVID KOSTIN, U.S. PORTFOLIO STRATEGY RESEARCH, GOLDMAN SACHS “A so-called ‘wave election’ would occur if one party registers large congressional seat gains and has the potential to implement policy changes... Following six prior ‘wave elections,’ S&P 500 typically fell during the subsequent 1 and 3 months. Our strategies: buy health care equipment and services/sell pharma and biotech; own firms with high government sales; (and) own high overseas cash.” “Whether it’s Hillary or Trump, the U.S. is unlikely to break out of secular stagnation. With respect to the election, our focus will remain on the impact that the next U.S. president will likely have on fiscal and monetary policies, as well as the global growth outlook. Unfortunately, we don’t see either candidate as likely to purse a true ‘pro-growth’ agenda that will break the U.S. economy out of its current malaise.” Interest rates: “We see rising upside risk for longer-term U.S. rates, regardless of the outcome in November. The biggest upside risk for a sustained increase in longer-term rates is rising risk premiums.” Credit growth: “With Trump’s negative comments regarding Dodd-Frank, our sense is a Trump victory could jumpstart lending. We believe a Hillary win would create even stiffer headwinds and more regulation for the financial services industry.” Sector recommendations: - Buy on Clinton win, sell on Trump win: alternative energy, housing and REITs, hospitals and managed care, exporters and companies with international exposure - Buy on Trump win, sell on Clinton win: exploration and production, banks, big pharma and biotechnology, high tax rate companies - Potential upside in either scenario: infrastructure companies, cash repatriation companies, defense, gun manufacturers Infrastructure spending: “In a rare example of bipartisan support, both candidates have discussed the need to repair crumbling infrastructure... The correlation between infrastructure spending and equity returns has deteriorated in recent years, but candidates’ outsized plans could still be a tailwind for infrastructure-levered stocks.” Names “overweight”-rated Eaton Corp and “equal-weight”-rated Pentair preferred plays, given both companies’ leverage to infrastructure investments and attractive relative valuation. Utilities and clean energy sector: “Hillary Clinton has been an outspoken advocate of renewable energy and improving resiliency of the electric grid, while Donald Trump has made numerous statements in support of fossil fuels. We see a Trump presidency as largely maintaining the current level of utility infrastructure spend, while a Clinton presidency could result in meaningful upside, particularly in clean energy. Thus, from the standpoint of long-term growth, we see a positive risk/reward for utilities going into the election.” Market moves: “In this presidential election, there is no social mandate coming from economic dislocation, nor a likelihood of any party receiving a super majority that would cause major legislative change. As a result, any election-based (market) movement – before and after – should prove temporary. Clearly, there is a lot of rhetoric, but that does not equal legislative success.” Global markets: “We analyzed equity returns before and after the U.S. election. The Hang Seng tends to do well one month before the election and then performs till the end of the year. The Nikkei 225 tends to do well one month afterwards. Interestingly, the VIX consistently rises one and three months before the election while the dollar tends to strengthen. Bonds tend to do better after the election result going into the year-end.” Clinton win: “If elected, we believe that Hillary Clinton would push for expanded trade deals, including a revised or modified TPP-like agreement, albeit these deals would likely include increased protections for US workers, as well as expanded provisions for trade adjustment assistance.” Trump win: “Donald Trump, if elected, is likely to actively oppose any expansion of trade, and he plans to withdraw from TPP, direct the Secretary of Commerce and Treasury to identify violations of trade agreements and unfair trade practices, renegotiate NAFTA, and ‘use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes’.” CHRIS KRUEGER, COWEN WASHINGTON RESEARCH GROUP, COWEN AND COMPANY Trump win (GOP Sweep): Positive for consumer discretionary, energy, industrials, IT, telecom and materials sectors; negative for healthcare; neutral for consumer staples, financials and utilities Clinton win with GOP House: Positive for industrials, IT, materials and utilities sectors; negative for energy and telecom sectors; neutral for consumer discretionary and staples, financials and healthcare Clinton win with a Democratic House: Positive for industrials, IT and materials sectors; negative for energy, financials, health care and telecom sectors; neutral for consumer discretionary and staples, and utilities | 0fake |
Trump team considering new non-nuclear sanctions on Iran: FT | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s transition team is examining proposals for new non-nuclear sanctions on Iran, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing congressional sources who have been in contact with the president-elect’s team. Officials with Trump’s team have been in touch with fellow Republicans in Congress, where they hold the majority, to discuss possible sanctions separate from last year’s Iran nuclear deal that could focus on its ballistic missile program or human rights, the sources told the FT. “They (Trump team members) are already looking closely at their options — and that very much includes non-nuclear sanctions,” a congressional official told the media outlet. The deal that was reached last year between Iran, the United States and five other world powers lifted some sanctions against Tehran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program. On the campaign trail, Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, vowed to tear up the agreement with Iran and negotiate a better one. He also criticized sanctions that blocked U.S. companies from Iran and noted the difficulty of discarding a deal with U.N. backing. The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a 10-year extension of sanctions against Iran that lawmakers and the Obama administration have said would not violate the nuclear agreement reached last year with Iran. On Friday, Iran threatened retaliation, saying the vote breached the deal. The measure, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month, now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law. That would delay potentially tougher actions until next year. Several Republican U.S. lawmakers already have introduced proposals for additional sanctions on Iran separate from the nuclear pact or plan to do so. “The big difference next year is that we will go from a White House that did everything it could to block these bills to a White House that will be in favor and maybe even sponsor some of these proposals,” a congressional source told the Financial Times. | 0fake |
Trump’s Disastrously-Misspelled Terrorist Attack List Earns Him A Smackdown From The DICTIONARY (TWEETS) | When Trump s White House released a list of terrorist attacks they say the media did not cover, one thing was clear: the dictionary is the Trump administration s worst enemy. Attacker was spelled attaker, the list referenced a country called Denmakr, San Bernardino was missing an r, and so on. Eventually, the Merriam-Webster dictionary caught wind of the error-ridden list and offered some advice. Reminder that our app has voice search, so you can look a word up even if you re not sure how it s spelled, the Dictionary tweeted, adding a link to their ( there in Trumpspeak) app.Reminder that our app has voice search, so you can look a word up even if you're not sure how it's spelled. https://t.co/gAH5JjwU32 https://t.co/oyxk2zwpWO Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 7, 2017This one was more subtle than the more recent times that the Dictionary has smacked Trump around like when he tweeted about unpresidented acts or when Sean Spicer couldn t define betrayal but it was clear what Merriam-Webster was saying, and people couldn t be happier with the shade that was thrown:@MerriamWebster ????Was that an attak? Krista Ritzman Reed (@smokelvr) February 7, 2017.@MerriamWebster pic.twitter.com/xzHNf1kLTH Alt-Thin Brown (@jteeDC) February 7, 2017@MerriamWebster you guys are certainly winning at internet. pic.twitter.com/eesiHbOscx Wendy Lady (@NerdRage42) February 7, 2017@MerriamWebster Whatever this company pays you, oh Twitter person, it isn't enough. I never thought I would enjoy following a dictionary so. CLLynch (@lynchauthor) February 7, 2017@MerriamWebster oh, dictionary, you're so salty. Paging Mrs. Herman (@THerman23) February 7, 2017@MerriamWebster I've never loved a dictionary so much. Lee Koh (@eunleekoh) February 7, 2017@MerriamWebster @noropthony Burn level, EPIC! Epic: 2 a : extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope Tracy JSM (@Trinityapp) February 7, 2017@MerriamWebster our country is going to be saved by Merriam-Webster. Kendra Kendall (@kikuandjuju) February 7, 2017@MerriamWebster on that low-key spelling shade ?? goldee-loxs? (@goldee_loxs) February 7, 2017Merriam-Webster later announced they added shade to the dictionary We added shade to the dictionary. https://t.co/dbxSsggzLo pic.twitter.com/4bpkoJVvAF Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 7, 2017 followed by side-eye. 'Side-eye' is now in the dictionary. Our earliest example of it in use comes from 1797. (GIF by @GIPHY Studios.) https://t.co/ClvewjDi0K pic.twitter.com/3bhMrce7F0 Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 8, 2017They even re-added a new (old), fun term to call Donald Trump:Yes like snollygoster, "a shrewd & unprincipled person, especially an unprincipled politician." Just added it back. https://t.co/DsYIshSZDU https://t.co/lv5HKPyNum Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 7, 2017But they were clear that of the 1,000 new words added to the dictionary, unpresidented is not one of them:@MerriamWebster Is unpresidented one of them? Caitlin Luce Baker (@Cait_onthe_Luce) February 7, 2017No. https://t.co/F62W8BBmHl Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 7, 2017Trump s team is built from the absolute worst our country has to offer: white supremacists, warmongers, corporate warlords, and the absolute dumbest people one could ever imagine.In just a few weeks, Donald Trump has managed to make a mockery of almost every aspect of our government, appointing a slew of unqualified people to positions they should never be near and even getting tricked into making a white supremacist one of the most powerful men in the country.Take the time to laugh, but be sure to resist the snollygoster in the White House in every way you can for the next four years or, of course, until he is ultimately impeached for being completely and utterly incompetent.Featured image via Getty Images (Pool)/screengrab | 1real |
Trump gains ground on Clinton: Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The race for the Oval Office tightened significantly in the past week, as several swing states that Republican Donald Trump must win shifted from favoring Democrat Hillary Clinton to toss-ups, according to the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project. The two presidential candidates are now tied in Florida and North Carolina, and Clinton’s lead in Michigan has narrowed so much that the state is too close to call. Ohio remains a dead heat and Pennsylvania is now tilting to Clinton. While Clinton remains the odds-on favorite to win Tuesday’s election, Trump now has a plausible route to victory, especially if there is a sharp fall in turnout among African-Americans from the levels of the 2012 election. Still, Trump must win both Florida and North Carolina to have a good chance of winning the White House. Clinton could lose both states and still win. The States of the Nation project estimates Clinton’s odds of winning the needed 270 Electoral College votes at about 90 percent, down from 95 percent last week. If the election had been held on Wednesday, the project estimates, she would have had 256 solid electoral votes and an estimated final tally of about 302 votes, to 236 for Trump. Last week, she had 278 solid votes and a final tally of 320 votes, to 218 for Trump. By any measure, however, Trump has had a good run in the past week. He has seen his support grow in 24 states while losing ground in 11. Conversely, Clinton’s support grew in 13 states while shrinking in 22. Trump’s gains came in a period in which he had few new controversies to fend off, while Clinton faced renewed scrutiny of her email practices. Most respondents to the latest survey were asked about their support for the candidates after FBI Director James Comey announced last Friday the agency was examining newly discovered emails that might pertain to Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Comey had concluded in July at the end of a year-long FBI probe of the email issue that there were no grounds to bring any charges against Clinton. His brief letter to Congress last week said the new trove of emails might or might not be significant. Trump and other Republicans seized on the news to question Clinton’s credibility, while Democrats complained it could unfairly influence voters so close to the election. The States of the Nation project is a survey of about 15,000 people every week in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. State by state results are available by visiting here It is unclear if the FBI inquiry upset the balance in the race. But many national polls have found the race tightening in recent days. Polling averages last week showed Clinton with a lead of between 4 and 7 points. Those averages now show her lead at just 2 to 3 points. Last week, the project had her leading 47 percent to 40 percent. This week, it dropped to 45 percent to 42 percent. In the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, Clinton led Trump by 6 percentage points among likely voters, the same margin as before the FBI announcement. There are other reasons for the Clinton campaign to worry. Among voters who have cast early ballots, she leads Trump by about 8 points. At the same point in the 2012 race, President Barack Obama had a lead of 11 points among early voters over Republican rival Mitt Romney. Obama’s gap narrowed, however, to 6 points just before Election Day, according to the States of the Nation project and separate Reuters/Ipsos polling. In Florida, where the candidates are tied at 47 percent, Clinton leads by 8 points among early voters. In 2012, Obama led by about 15 points. In Ohio, where the race also is tied, she leads by about 20 points among early voters. At this point in 2012, Obama led by about 30 points. It is not clear why Clinton’s early voting support has fallen short of Obama’s. The shift could indicate a broader cross-section of voters is casting early ballots than in 2012. But the drop might also foreshadow lower-than-expected turnout among the core Democratic constituencies who propelled Obama to victory in 2008 and 2012. Clinton’s success is built on holding together those blocs of voters. She does not, for example, enjoy the same support among African-Americans as Obama, the first black U.S. president. Diminished support among blacks, coupled with a large drop in black turnout, would hurt the Democrat. If black Democratic turnout drops by 15 points nationally, for example, Clinton’s odds of winning drop to about 72 percent, by a projected margin of just 32 Electoral College votes. A drop of 20 points would reduce the odds of a Clinton victory to little more than a coin toss, according to the project. Even a 10-point drop in black Democratic turnout coupled with a 5-point increase among white Republicans would flip the race to Trump, the project found. The good news for Clinton is that about 60 percent of likely Hispanic voters are supporting her, similar to the numbers Obama enjoyed in 2012. A 10-point increase in Hispanic turnout would go a long way toward offsetting a 10-point decrease in black turnout, according to the project. The outlook is not all gloom for Clinton. She has made the race close in Arizona, a longtime Republican stronghold. She has also regained the lead in Pennsylvania and is leading in Nevada. | 0fake |
Spain sacks Catalan government after independence declaration | BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - The Madrid government sacked Catalonia s president and dismissed its parliament on Friday, hours after the region declared itself an independent nation in Spain s gravest political crisis since the return of democracy four decades ago. A new regional election will be held in Catalonia on Dec. 21, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a televised address on a day of high drama. As well as removing Carles Puigdemont as head of the autonomous region, he also fired its police chief and said central government ministries would take over the Catalan administration. Spain is living through a sad day, Rajoy said. We believe it is urgent to listen to Catalan citizens, to all of them, so that they can decide their future and nobody can act outside the law on their behalf. As he spoke, thousands of independence supporters packed the Sant Jaume Square in front of the Catalan regional headquarters in Barcelona, their earlier joyful mood somewhat dampened by Rajoy s actions. In a stunning show of defiance of Madrid, the Catalan parliament had voted in the afternoon to make a unilateral declaration of independence. Despite the emotions and celebrations inside and outside the building, it was a futile gesture as shortly afterwards the Spanish Senate in Madrid approved the imposition of direct rule. Several European countries, including France and Germany, and the United States also rejected the independence declaration and said they supported Rajoy s efforts to preserve Spain s unity. The crisis has now reached a new and possibly dangerous level as independence supporters have called for a campaign of disobedience. Immediately after news of the vote, Spanish shares and bonds were sold off, reflecting business concern over the turmoil. Catalonia held an independence referendum on Oct. 1 which was declared illegal by Madrid and marred by heavy-handed national police tactics to stop it. Although the referendum endorsed independence, it drew only a 43 percent turnout as Catalans who oppose independence largely boycotted it. The independence push has caused deep resentment around Spain. The chaos has also prompted a flight of business from Catalonia and alarmed European leaders who fear the crisis could fan separatist sentiment around the continent. Catalonia is one of Spain s most prosperous regions and already has a high degree of autonomy. But it has a litany of historic grievances, exacerbated during the 1939-1975 Franco dictatorship, when its culture and politics were suppressed. In Barcelona, Jordi Mercade, a 32-year-old engineer celebrating with friends, said he had mixed feelings about the day s events. It s a day for history but many of us here also know we are not independent. They have the force. We are proud to having declared independence but we know this is not something definitive. It is not certain whether the new election can resolve the crisis, as it could increase the numbers of independence supporters in parliament. Also unclear is how Rajoy s other measures will work on the ground, because of the reactions of civil servants and the regional police, know as the Mossos d Esquadra, who are reported to be divided in their loyalties. The main secessionist group, the Catalan National Assembly, called on civil servants not to follow orders from the Spanish government and urged them to follow peaceful resistance . Tensions are likely to rise significantly over the coming days, Antonio Barroso of Teneo Intelligence said in a note. Demonstrators might try to prevent the police from removing Catalan ministers from their offices if the central government decides to do so. This increases the risk of violent clashes with the police. SHORT-LIVED LIBERTY A big crowd of independence supporters gathered outside the regional parliament in Barcelona, shouting Liberty in Catalan and singing traditional songs as the independence vote went through. Among them was Monica Sanz, 44, a university lecturer who wore a Catalan flag around her neck. We tried all peaceful means. Moderate people have reached this point because it was impossible to make an agreement with Spain, she said. The motion, passed after a passionate debate from advocates and opponents of independence, said Catalonia constituted an independent, sovereign and social democratic state. Lawmakers from members of three national parties - the People s Party, the Socialists and Ciudadanos - walked out before the vote. Members of the pro-independence parties and the far-left Podemos then voted 70-10 in favour, in a secret ballot aimed at hindering any attempt by Madrid to lay criminal charges on them. The soon-to-be-sacked Puigdemont left the chamber to shouts of President! and mayors who had come from outlying areas brandished their ceremonial batons and sang the Catalan anthem Els Segadors (The Reapers). Catalonia is and will be a land of freedom. In times of difficulty and in times of celebration. Now more than ever , Puigdemont said on Twitter. But within an hour, the upper house of Spain s parliament in Madrid authorized Rajoy s government to rule Catalonia directly. Spain s constitutional court started a review of the vote for prosecutors to decide if its constituted rebellion. In Brussels, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said the independence vote changed nothing and the EU would only deal with the central government. Spain s IBEX fell as much 2.1 percent to a four-day low during the day, 10-year government bond yields hit a day high, and the euro dipped against the dollar on Friday after the Catalan independence declaration. The region contributes about a fifth of Spain s economy, the fourth-largest in the eurozone. JP Morgan said that due to the uncertainty, it was lowering its forecast for Spain s GDP for the last quarter of 2017 and first of 2018 to below the 3.5 per cent seen so far this year. | 0fake |
JUST IN! SURPRISE GUEST Shows Up At Nationals Park To Watch GOP Congressional Baseball Game For Charity [VIDEO] | Shortly after 7 a.m. on Wednesday, the police say, James T. Hodgkinson, of Belleville, Ill., opened fire on a baseball field in Alexandria, Va., just steps from the Y.M.C.A., spraying bullets at members of the Republican congressional team practicing there.Four people were shot in the assault, including Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority whip and third-ranking Republican in the House. An ensuing firefight with the police took Mr. Hodgkinson s life.The suspect s brother said Mr. Hodgkinson was a critic of Mr. Trump, upset over last fall s election and intent on bringing his protest to Washington. But his more immediate motive for the attack remained unclear late Wednesday, even as investigators surrounded Mr. Hodgkinson s home on the outskirts of Belleville, a town of 40,000 across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. I know he wasn t happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff, his brother, Michael Hodgkinson, said in a phone interview after he received the news on Wednesday. NYTRepresentative Steve Scalise (R-LA), a husband and father of 2 young children is still listed in critical condition, simply because his political views didn t align with those of the radical Democrat Party to which the shooter belonged.Brave members of the GOP were determined not to allow what happened to stop them from playing in tonight s game. They took a knee before the game and prayed for their friend and colleague Steve Scalise:The congressional players who witnessed the shootings by the liberal Democrat terrorist yesterday, got a surprise visit from Ivanka Trump at the game tonight. Watch MI Republican Rep. Mike Bishop (#8) who was on the field when Rep. Steve Scalise was shot, pose for a picture with Ivanka Trump:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/875493467471962112President Trump also took time to address the players and to send his love, thoughts and prayers to Steve Scalise and his family:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/875507877535993861President Trump and First Lady Melania visited Steve Scalise in the hospital last night: | 1real |
ALERT: Former Soros Associate Just Warned This Is Going To Send The World Into Total Chaos | 31 Views November 07, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News
As investors await the outcome of tomorrow’s election, a former associate of George Soros just warned King World News about what is going “to send the world into total chaos .”
Victor Sperandeo manages over $3 billion, has been in the business 45 years, and has worked with famous individuals such as Leon Cooperman and George Soros. Below is what Sperandeo had to say .
Victor Sperandeo: “The days of low interest rates are over. This is very important for people to understand, Eric. There will be no more lowering of interest rates and QEs… IMPORTANT: To find out which company the richest man in China has invested in, one that Rick Rule and Sprott Asset Management are pounding the table on that is quickly being recognized as one of the greatest investment opportunities in the world – CLICK HERE OR BELOW: Sponsored
Victor Sperandeo continues: “There is still some leftover QE. England and the EU still have some but once that is over, that’s it. That game is finished. It didn’t work. So they are now going to fiscal policy and infrastructure spending because they believe this will keep them in power.
With that said, last week Larry Summers said the Fed has to give up their independence. He said the Treasury has to effectively sell to the Fed and the Fed will print the money and return it to the Treasury. And so he backed up what Rosenberg was saying about the multi-trillion dollar scheme. Eric, this is pure printing of money, but t he theory is that because people don’t directly get that money, it won’t create hyperinflation. But when this begins, this will be the beginning of when serious inflation will come back.
The Beginning Of The End Of The U.S. Dollar I don’t believe this will work in the United States if Trump wins. If Hillary wins it is 100 percent guaranteed that it is going to be implemented. If this does happen you will get a huge amount of government spending that is going to juice the economy. But it will be the prelude to hyperinflation. So that is going to be the coming world event that will be the beginning of the end for the U.S. dollar.
And if you remember, gold was the hedge against serious inflation in the 1970s (see remarkable chart below).
In fact, from 1970 to 1980 gold compounded at a staggering 31.5 percent a year! I have never seen anything compound over a 10-year period at that rate. That’s astronomical. Just to put that in perspective, if gold went to $10,000 today it would only have compounded 22 percent over that same time frame.
A World In Total Chaos And yet when you look at what is happening today, we have a global depression with the banking system blowing up. Look at Deutsche Bank, it has $46 trillion in derivatives and the bank is only valued at $18 billion. That is insane (laughter). Regardless, gold will act as a hedge and the price of gold will skyrocket because paper will be printed to the point where it’s worthless. And as the hyperinflation unfolds, it will send the world into total chaos and people need to be prepared for that.”
Look At What Is Unfolding In China And Other Key Regions Right Now | 1real |
Can The American People Defeat The Oligarchy That Rules Them? | Can The American People Defeat The Oligarchy That Rules Them?
Paul Craig Roberts
I am surprised that Hillary and the presstitutes haven’t blamesd Putin for FBI director Comey’s reopening of the Hillary email case. But they have done the next best thing for Hillary. They have made Comey the issue, not Hillary.
According to US Senator Harry Reid and the presstitutes, we don’t need to worry about Hillary’s crimes. After all, she is only a political woman feathering her nest, like political men have been doing for ages. Why all this misogynist talk about Hillary? It is Comey’s alleged crime that is important. This woman-hating Republican violated the Hatch Act by telling Congress that the investigation he said was closed was reopened. A very strange interpretation of the Hatch Act. It is OK to tell that a candidate for president is cleared duing an election but not to say that a candidate is under investigation.
Comey violated the Hatch Act when he, on orders from the corrupt Obama Attorney General, announced Hillary clean, and thereby used the prestige of federal clearance of Hillary’s violation of national security protocols to boost her standing in the election polls.
Actually, Hillary’s standing in the polls is based on the pollsters over-weighting Hillary supporters in the polls. It is easy to produce a favorite if you overweight their supporters in the poll questions. If you look at the crowds attending the two candidate’s public appearances, it is clear that the American people prefer Donald Trump, who is opposed to war with Russia and China. The election settles no greater issue.
This has the ruling American Oligarcy, for which Hillary is the total servant, concerned. What are they going to do about Trump? Will his fate be the same as John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, George Wallace? Time will tell. Or will a hotal maid appear at the last minute in the way that the Oligarchy got rid of Dominic Strauss-Kahn?
All of the American and Western feminists, progressives, and left-wing remnant fell for the obvious frame-up of Strauss-Kahn. After Strauss-Kahn was blocked from the Presidency of France and resigned as Director of the IMF, the New York authorities had to drop all charges against Strauss-Kahn. But Washington had succeeded in putting its French vassal in the presidency of France.
This is how the American Oligarchy desroys those it suspects might not serve its interests. The corrupt self-sereving Oligarchy makes sure that it owns the government and the media, the think tanks and increasingly all of the major universities, and, of course, through the presstitutes, Amerians’ minds.
The Oligarhs are now hard-pressed to rescue Hillary as US president, so let’s see if the Oligarchs can once again deceive the insouciant American people.
While we wait, let’s concern outselves with another important issue. The Clinton crime syndicate in the closing years of the 20th century allowed a small handful of mega-corporations to consolidate the US media in a few hands. This vast increase in the power of the Oligarchy was accomplished despite US anti-trust law and the American tradition of a dispersed and independent media.
But really, what does federal law mean to the One Percent. Nothing whatsoever. They are immune to it. Hillary’s crimes might cost her the election, but she won’t go to jail.
Not content with 90% control of the US media, the Oligarchy wants more concentration and more control. Looks like they will be getting it, thanks to the totally corrupt US government.
The Federal Trade Commission is supposed to enforce US anti-trust law. Instead, the corrupt federal agency routinely violates US anti-trust law by permitting monopoly concentrations of business interests.
Because of the failure of the federal government to enforce federal law, we now have “banks too big to fail,” unregulated Internet monopoly, and the evisceration of a dispersed and independent media.
There formerly was a field of economics known as anti-trust. Ph.D. candidates specialized in and wrote dissertations about public control of monopoly power. I assume that this field of
economics, like the America of my youth, no longer exists.
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2016/10/22/just-what-the-hell-does-the-federal-trade-commission-antitrust-division-do-anymore/
The post Can The American People Defeat The Oligarchy That Rules Them? appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org . | 1real |
WOW! HILLARY’S GOT GOVERNOR OF IOWA Shakin’ In His Boots: Here’s Why He’s Afraid Of A Clinton Loss There [Video] | Wow!Hillary s got the governor of Iowa shaking in his boots..Asked by Tucker Carlson if he s worried about a Clinton loss: She s vindictive! | 1real |
Liz Warren Launches Book Hours Before Being Tossed from Sen Floor | In an extraordinary coincidence, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D. .) announced the release of her new book This Fight Is Our Fight Tuesday, the same day she gave the remarks about General Jeff Sessions which led the presiding officer of the senate to rule her out of order and senators to vote to restrict her speaking privileges in the Sessions debate. [The hardcover of the book and its Kindle version, along woth two versions of her previous book A Fighting Chance, now hold the top four slots in Amazon’s Congressional Bestsellers List. Timeline of Feb. 7 events: 3:09 p. m.: Warren’s publisher Henry Holt retweeted out the news about the book and added that it would release the book April 18. Just announced! Elizabeth Warren’s new book, THIS FIGHT IS OUR FIGHT, is on April 18th. https: . — Henry Holt (@HenryHolt) February 7, 2017, 4:40 p. m.: Warren posted about the book on her campaign’s Facebook page: Washington works great for the rich and the powerful, but it’s not working for everyone else. And it’s not because of some inevitable force of nature, like gravity — it’s because of decades of deliberate policy choices to help those at the top. Our middle class is on the ropes, and Donald Trump is looking to deliver the knockout punch. At this moment in history, it’s time to fight back. That’s why I’m glad to announce that my 11th book, This Fight is Our Fight, will be out in April. 6:57 p. m.: Warren began her remarks regarding Jeff Sessions, then a Republican senator from Alabama, and his pending confirmation to lead the Department of Justice. Roughly 15 minutes into her speech, presiding officer Sen. Steven Daines (R. .) warned Warren that when she quoted Sen. Edward Kennedy saying in 1986 that Sessions was a “disgrace to the Justice Department,” she was in violation of Senate Rule XIX. The rule forbids senators demeaning the character of fellow senators, regardless of whether they are speaking in their voice or quoting someone else. After Daines warned Warren about her referring to Sessions as a disgrace, the Massachusetts senator began to read from a letter from Coretta Scott King. In the 1986 letter, King wrote that Sessions used his power as a federal prosecutor to keep black citizens from voting. 7:46 p. m.: Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R. .) made a point of order that Warren had violated Rule XIX, which Daines agreed to, but Warren appealed the ruling to the whole Senate. 7:47 p. m.: Daines ordered Warren to take her seat. 8:01 p. m.: McConnell called senators to the floor. 8:42 p. m.: Senators voted to sustain the ruling of the chair that Warren violated Rule XIX. 9:32 p. m.: Senators voted to restrict Warren from rejoining the debate over the Sessions confirmation. 9:50 p. m.: Warren called into MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show. 10:52 p. m.: On her official Senate Facebook page, Warren posted: “During the debate on whether to make Jeff Sessions the next Attorney General, I tried to read a letter from Coretta Scott King on the floor of the Senate. The letter, from 30 years ago, urged the Senate to reject the nomination of Jeff Sessions to a federal judgeship. The Republicans took away my right to read this letter on the floor — so I’m right outside, reading it now. ” Then, she read the letter on Facebook Live. 11:06 p. m.: Elizabeth for Massachusetts sent out a fundraising email with her version of what happened on the Senate floor and a text of the King letter. 11:19 p. m.: Warren called into CNN Tonight host Don Lemon. The next day, Henry Holt retweeted its own tweet that kicked off the January launch of its own Coretta Scott King book, My Life, My Love, My Legacy, which featured the very same letter Warren read from the Senate floor. Seems King and Warren share a publisher Henry Holt is an imprint of MacMillan, King’s publisher. Coretta Scott King’s writings resonated as her 1986 letter to Congress . Read it here: https: . @washingtonpost pic. twitter. — Henry Holt (@HenryHolt) January 11, 2017, Then, in case somebody missed the point, Henry Holt retweeted a post from the Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe, Arizona: She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted. pic. twitter. — Changing Hands (@changinghands) February 8, 2017, | 0fake |
U.S. court strikes down two Republican-drawn Texas congressional districts | AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. court struck down two Republican-drawn U.S. congressional districts in Texas on Tuesday, saying they were discriminatory and ordering a remedy ahead of elections in 2018, court papers showed. In the case that has been contested in federal courts for about six years, a three-judge panel at U.S. District Court in San Antonio ruled lawmakers drew up the districts to undermine the influence of racial minority voters, who plaintiffs argued typically show more support for Democrats than Republicans. The court also said that the maps laying them out must either be fixed by the state or the courts. The court said the 27th and 35th congressional districts were drawn in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act. Texas has 36 districts, with Republicans holding 25 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Democrats 11. The court also faulted the state’s legislature for not heeding previous judicial plans and for making inadequate fixes to the maps drawn in 2011. “The discriminatory taint was not removed by the Legislature’s enactment of the Court’s interim plans,” the judges said in their decision. Texas Democrats saw the decision as a victory. “Republicans initiated a deceitful legal strategy to deliberately silence Texans from having a voice in their own government. Today, the Court unanimously agreed,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the court did rule in Texas’ favor in finding that one contested district, District 23, was lawful. However, Paxton said in a statement the state has been abiding by the law and prior court guidance and he intended to ask the U.S. Supreme Court whether Texas “had discriminatory intent when relying on the district court.” In court, lawyers for Texas argued that the boundaries were drawn for Republican partisan advantage, which they said is legal. They dismissed claims the districts were drawn illegally with the intention to disenfranchise racial and ethnic groups. | 0fake |
Germany's Seehofer invites Trump to Bavaria: source | MUNICH (Reuters) - Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer has invited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to visit the southern German state, possibly as soon as February for the Munich Security Conference, a source familiar with the invitation said. Seehofer, who heads the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), extended the invitation in a letter of congratulations to Trump after his victory, said the source. The Feb. 17-19 conference, a forum for debate about international security, often draws senior officials from around the world. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. It was not immediately clear when a sitting U.S. president last participated in the event, and the security conference organizers could not immediately be reached for comment. Seehofer’s CSU and Merkel’s CDU, which form a bloc in the German parliament, have been at odds over Merkel’s migrant policy, which saw nearly 900,000 people enter Germany last year, an issue likely to play a major role in elections in September. During the U.S. election campaign Trump called Merkel’s refugee policy a “disaster” that had boosted crime rates. Statistics compiled by the German Interior Ministry showed the number of crimes reported in 2015 - excluding visa and other immigration violations - remained essentially unchanged from the previous year at 5.9 million. Seehofer told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper in an interview published on Thursday that his party would only participate in a coalition government in 2017 that agreed to its demand for an upper limit on migration. Merkel, who on Sunday announced her decision to run for a fourth term, has rejected setting an upper limit for migration. | 0fake |
HILLARY RODHAM NIXON: A CANDIDATE WITH MORE BAGGAGE THAN A SAMSONITE FACTORY | The irony here isn t lost on us. Hillary is being compared to the President she wanted to take down. Nixon s got nothing on this criminal who wiped her server clean after e-mails were requested from her. John Fund questions the Democrat s strategy to support a Nixonian type candidate with more baggage than a Samsonite factory She s secretive, scandal-plagued, and seemingly inevitable. Ever since Hillary Clinton s e-mail scandal broke, comparisons between her secretive style and that of Richard Nixon, whom she ironically pursued as a young lawyer on the House impeachment committee, have been frequent. But with the revelation that she wiped her private e-mail server clean after her records were requested by the State Department last year, the comparisons are becoming more concrete. Washington wags note that even Nixon never destroyed the tapes, but Hillary has permanently erased her e-mails.Exactly what would a Hillary presidency look like, and could it plunge the nation into another round of debilitating Clinton scandals? That s a question Democrats should ask themselves before they hand the nomination over to her. Many Democrats have reservations about Hillary s cozy relations with Wall Street, her 2002 vote for the Iraq War, and the Clinton couple s flexibility on issues. They love winning. They re both masters of it, Hillary maybe even more than Bill. But that s not the same as having a belief system, noted the liberal Rolling Stone magazine. But some Democrats also want Hillary to be challenged on her Nixonian penchant for slipperiness and questionable fundraising.A strong primary challenge has provided clues as to how she would run in a general election something Democrats should know. After all, the first Clinton presidency was good for the Clintons, but not for the Democratic party, which lost both houses of Congress along with a majority of the nation s governorships and during a time of economic prosperity and peace.Read more: National Review | 1real |
Uncertain Afghanistan looks to Trump for decisions on troops, aid | KABUL (Reuters) - With so much riding on American support, Afghanistan is waiting anxiously to see if President-elect Donald Trump matches his maverick image and reverses policy or keeps to a path that has cost billions and committed thousands of troops to propping up a fragile ally. Much to the private annoyance of officials in Kabul, America’s longest war barely featured in the election campaign, but few were expecting the billionaire property developer to beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “It’s been a complete surprise,” said one senior Afghan official closely involved in national security issues. “I think everyone was expecting the opposite result. “It (Afghanistan) wasn’t a priority in the campaign, that’s obvious. No one talked about Afghanistan at all. At least with Mrs. Clinton, though, you knew more or less what you were getting.” Afghanistan will nonetheless present the incoming Trump administration with one of its most intractable foreign policy challenges. The United States has spent some $115 billion in aid for Afghanistan, but 15 years after the hardline Islamist Taliban were toppled after the Sept. 11 attacks, a third of the country is out of government control and security forces are struggling. As recently as last week two U.S. service members were killed fighting the Taliban near the northern city of Kunduz, and expectations that Afghan security forces could survive without extensive foreign assistance have proved illusory. Faced with a mounting Taliban insurgency, Obama dropped his original aim of pulling out of Afghanistan entirely. In July, he decided to keep 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, shelving earlier plans to bring the numbers down to 5,500 and leaving it to his successor to decide how to move forward. Before the election, U.S. officials told partners that Afghanistan, whose war-ruined economy depends heavily on billions of dollars in foreign aid, will not be neglected by the new administration and that ties will remain strong and close. “You can be assured that Afghanistan will remain at the highest levels of our foreign policy agenda,” Ambassador Michael McKinley told an election day party at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, before the final results of the ballot were in. However, Trump’s “America First” doctrine has left many wondering if he will be willing to continue spending billions of dollars funding Afghanistan, particularly given his declaration that: “We’re getting out of the nation-building business”. Among Afghans who use social media, a sense that the incoming president is opposed to their old enemy Pakistan made some hope his election would be good for Afghanistan, but there is little to go on for those trying to parse his public remarks. So far, he has shown little interest in Afghanistan, although his most recent comments suggested he favored keeping troop numbers at around 5,500, the level they were intended to reach by the end of the year before Obama shelved the plan and set the number at 8,400. But in other comments, he has described America’s involvement in Afghanistan as “a terrible mistake” and appeared to set conditions on the U.S. commitment to NATO, which leads the Resolute Support advise-and-assist mission in Afghanistan. Security officials in Kabul say the threat that Islamic State militants could build their presence in Afghanistan should act as an incentive to keep a U.S. force in place, although they admit they remain in the dark about Trump’s intentions. “As Trump promised during his campaign that he would eliminate Daesh (Islamic State), we don’t think he would withdraw American forces from Afghanistan as Daesh is a new threat for Afghanistan and the region,” said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “But we are still in a state of uncertainty and we will wait and see what Trump has for Afghanistan,” he added. The decision will be vital for a country that is likely to depend on American support for years to come. “The United States will almost certainly continue to be the leading source of both military and civilian reconstruction aid to Afghanistan for years to come,” the latest report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a Congressional oversight body, said only last month. In an interview with CNN television last year, Trump himself appeared to accept that it was too late to pull U.S. forces out. “And at this point, you probably have to stay because that thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave,” he said, in the interview in October, 2015. | 0fake |
EPA abandons changes to U.S. biofuel program after lawmaker pressure | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has backed off a series of proposed changes to the nation’s biofuels policy after a massive backlash from corn-state lawmakers worried the moves would undercut ethanol demand, according to a letter from the agency to lawmakers seen by Reuters. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in the letter dated Oct. 19 that the agency will keep renewable fuel volume mandates for next year at or above proposed levels, reversing a previous move to open the door to cuts. The move marks a big win for the biofuels industry and lawmakers from corn-states like Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, while dealing a blow to merchant refiners like PBF Energy Inc and Valero Energy Corp who hoped the administration of President Donald Trump would help provide regulatory relief. The White House issued a statement hours after the Pruitt letter was delivered to lawmakers expressing the president’s support for maintaining the renewable fuel plan. “President Donald J. Trump promised rural America that he would protect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and has never wavered from that promise,” the White House statement said. Trump’s second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses in early 2016 gave credibility to his candidacy and he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state in the Nov. 8 election. It was the first time a Republican had won Iowa since George W. Bush in 2004 and provided Trump a key takeaway. The letter could end uncertainty about the future of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard that has roiled commodity and energy markets for months. The program, which requires refineries to blend increasing amounts of ethanol and other biofuels into the nation’s fuel supply or buy credits from those who do, appeared on the verge of a massive overhaul. The most popular form of program credits hit two-month highs on Friday on the EPA news, traders said.. The so-called D6 credits sunk to 68 cents last month as EPA considered cost-cutting measures, but prices have rebounded in recent weeks and approached 90 cents on Friday, traders said. Pruitt said the EPA would not pursue another idea floated by EPA leadership that would have allowed exported ethanol to be counted toward those volume quotas. Pruitt also said the EPA did not believe a proposal to shift the biofuels blending obligation away from refiners was appropriate. That plan is backed by representatives of a handful of independent refining companies who have warned the cost of the program will bankrupt plants and cost thousands of jobs. Those ideas would have eased the burden on some in the refining industry, who have argued that biofuels compete with petroleum, and that the blending responsibility costs them hundreds of millions of dollars a year. But Midwestern lawmakers, including Republicans Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, had vocally opposed all those ideas, calling them a betrayal of the administration’s promises to support the corn belt. They were concerned the moves would undercut domestic demand for ethanol, a key industry in the region that has supported corn growers. “It’s a great day for Iowa and a great day for rural America. Administrator Pruitt should be commended for following through on President Trump’s commitment to biofuels,” Grassley said in a statement. In the letter, Pruitt said the EPA was prepared to work with Congress to examine the possibility of a waiver that would allow the sale of E15 gasoline, containing 15 percent ethanol, year-round - something currently not permitted during the summer due to concerns about smog. Renewable Fuels Association President and Chief Executive Bob Dinneen said in a response to the letter on Friday morning that the U.S. ethanol industry was “grateful for Administrator Pruitt’s epiphany on the road to the RFS.” The program disproportionately hurts mid-sized refiners and mom-and-pop gas stations that are the backbone of the nation’s energy infrastructure and needs to reformed, said Greg Blair, a spokesman for the Fueling American Jobs Coalition, a group of merchant refiners formed to seek changes in the program. “If the administration follows the course set out in Administrator Pruitt’s letter, manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states – jobs President Trump promised to protect – will be at risk,” Blair said. | 0fake |
Jimmy Carter Might Be The ONLY Former President To Show Up For Trump’s Pathetic Inauguration | Trump s inauguration is becoming one of the biggest jokes in presidential history, and it hasn t even happened yet.The president-elect has yet to convince any real talent to perform at his ceremony, with even B-List celebrities turning down invites. The biggest name on Trump s list of possibilities was renowned Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli, but according to The New York Post, because of backlash from fans on social media, he has also declined to perform.A source told the Post: Bocelli said there was no way he d take the gig . . . he was getting too much heat and he said no. With no real talent showing up, other than The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Rockettes and America s Got Talent singer Jackie Evancho, it s sad enough, but now it looks like former presidents are also resisting the event. So far, and we re less than a month away from this debacle, it looks like Jimmy Carter is the only former president who has confirmed that he will be in attendance.Politico reports:Carter, who endorsed Clinton, announced at his Sunday school class in Georgia earlier this month that he would attend the inauguration.Following tradition, all former presidents are invited to attend the ceremony on Jan. 20 when Trump will be sworn in. But not all living presidents have consistently attended the inaugurations of their successors.President Barack Obama in 2009 enjoyed the presence of all four living presidents both Bushes, Carter and Clinton at his first inauguration, but the Bushes skipped Obama s second event in 2013, citing George H.W. Bush s compromised health.Since Trump s election, the Clinton family have been virtually out of the public eye and because of the nasty events leading up to the election, this is not surprising. After the way Hillary has been treated by Trump and his supporters, it would make sense for former president Bill Clinton to decline to be in attendance, though some say this would be petty on their behalf and would make Hillary look bad if she didn t show up. A spokesman for Bill Clinton declined to comment to Politico regarding whether they would be there or not.Neither of the two Bushes endorsed Donald Trump, most likely due to the brutal way Trump mocked fellow Republican candidate Jeb Bush, and while George Sr. has already announced that he would not be at the ceremony, Bush s spokesman, Freddy Ford said that George W. Bush was still weighing his options and would probably not make a decision until January.Trump s inaugural committee did not respond to Politico s request for comment, but it doesn t appear as if anyone wants to celebrate his so-called massive victory. As Trump himself would say, things are looking pretty SAD! Featured image via Getty/Zach Gibson | 1real |
I Envy You | Here's something interesting from The Unz Review... Recipient Name Recipient Email =>
I envy you, American citizens. I do not care about your military might, nor for your supreme currency, the US dollar. I envy your chance to deal on 11/8 a decisive blow to the rule of the Masters of Discourse. Though the Masters control the entirety of world media, and they decide what people may think and say from Canada to Hong Kong, only you, American citizens, can defeat them. This is a great chance, a unique opportunity not to be missed.
The Masters of Discourse can be defeated. They are not stronger than any ruler of past. Trump has a great quality making him fit for the task: he is impervious to labels and libels. He had been called everything in the book: anti-Semite, racist, women hater, you name it. And he still survived that flak. Such people are very rare.
We know he is against the Masters because every newspaper is against him. I never saw a similar onslaught but once, in Russia in 1996. Then President Yeltsin, an old drunkard who had brought Russia to collapse, had to run for his second term. His popularity was next to zero. Two per cent of Russians intended to vote for him. And then the oligarchs turned on their propaganda machine. Yeltsin’s competitor Gennady Zyuganov, a mild church-going post-communist, had been presented like a Hitler of his days. All the Russian media of the day belonged to oligarchs, and all of it participated in the onslaught. Zyuganov surrendered.
Perhaps he won the election, but he congratulated Yeltsin with his victory. It was said that he was threatened with assassination unless… Others say he was bribed. I do not exclude both explanations, but for sure the might of united media can crush a timid man.
In the days of the Jewish Temple, there was a Magrepha, a wind instrument able to produce diverse and frightening sounds. There is no agreement among the scholars about what sort of thing it was. Whenever it sounded, people were scared.
The media of our days is a new Magrepha. If all of its outputs are united, they produce a terrible roar.
Yes, the onslaught of the media upon Trump had been exceedingly unfair, but he survived it. What is even more important, you survived it. It does not matter what the polls say: they say what the newspapers tell them to say. Even people answer the polls according to the media prognoses: they are shy of saying they would vote for a man who … But at the moment of actual vote, they do what they know is right for them. Not for transgenders, not for Muslim brokers, not even for single mothers, but for themselves.
You have a very good chance to win, and to defeat the witch and her supporters. We learned that the British people voted for Brexit, though all the media said that proposal had no chance. But we also learned from Brexit, that nothing is over until it is over. The Masters of Discourse will try every trick to steal the elections, and only their fear of armed rising may finally force them to acknowledge their inevitable defeat.
We know that in 2015, when Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, was afraid of losing the elections, he revealed that the American intelligence has some superior software which allows them to falsify the elections. Perhaps, but he won despite this magical software, despite Obama’s wrath.
Even in Israel, that favorite son of the Masters, the Masters are hated. The New York Times is always speaking good about Israel, but still Israelis do not like the newspaper. Nobody likes them, nobody likes an old aunt who tries to tell us what we can say and what we can’t. If Netanyahu could win, Trump can win twice.
After the first debate of Trump and Clinton, people said: She won! But we shall vote for him. This was a very encouraging sign. Indeed every woman worth its salt would win an argument with her husband or son-in-law, let alone a pretender. That is the way we are made. The story of sirens enforces the belief that if you listen to a woman, she will bewitch you. Sirens actually ate the bewitched sailors; our womenfolk do not go to such extremes, but they can cause us a lot of trouble.
Trump seems to be almost pure of heart and deed, as even extremely prejudiced media could not find anything really incriminating about him but bragging about having his way with women. I shall not recount so many proven accusations against Hillary. All of that can be found in the emails revealed by Julian Assange and his great Wikileaks team. The media kept mum about it, but the secrets can’t be kept forever.
There are many practical things Donald Trump will be able to fix. He can return industries home, he can return American GIs home from four ends of the world, he can improve lot of working men. But he surely will set all of us free from the annoying bondage of the Masters. Just for that reason, go and vote, for yourself and for millions of us who aren’t entitled to.
Israel Shamir can be reached at | 1real |
Amber Heard Won’t Be Jailed Over Bringing 2 Dogs to Australia - The New York Times | SYDNEY, Australia — The actress Amber Heard avoided jail time after a court appearance on Monday over allegations that she had illegally brought two dogs into Australia last year, violating the country’s quarantine laws, while visiting her husband, the actor Johnny Depp. Ms. Heard pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland to providing false information on her incoming passenger card after she and the dogs had landed on the Gold Coast on April 21, 2015, to visit Mr. Depp. He was there filming the fifth movie in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. Prosecutors dropped more serious charges against Ms. Heard that claimed that she had illegally imported the dogs, Yorkshire terriers named Pistol and Boo, which could have resulted in a jail term and a fine of 20, 000 Australian dollars, or about $15, 350. The couple also produced a video acknowledging their transgression and urging others to obey the law, which is intended to prevent the spread of rabies and other diseases. Ms. Heard acknowledged that she had disembarked from her private jet without declaring the dogs, which arrived with her. Her lawyer, Jeremy Kirk, said Ms. Heard, 29, thought that Mr. Depp’s staff had handled the paperwork for the pets. She was and exhausted, he said. Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard appeared in the local courthouse, where hers was just one of more than 200 cases listed for the day. Fans, some with dogs dressed for the occasion, lined the sidewalk hoping to see the celebrities. In court, the couple handed over their video. “Australia is a wonderful island with a treasure trove of unique animals, plants and people,” Ms. Heard said. The dogs came to the attention of the authorities after a groomer posted photographs of them on social media in May. By then, they had been in the country for around three weeks. The agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, told Mr. Depp that unless the dogs were taken out of the country within 72 hours, they would be euthanized. Like many countries, Australia requires that animals be placed in quarantine upon arrival. “If we start letting movie stars — even though they have been the sexiest man alive twice — to come into our nation” with pets, said Mr. Joyce, now the deputy prime minister, “then why don’t we just break the laws for everybody?” The dogs, he said, should return to the United States. The couple returned to California but publicly criticized the Australian government as being overly zealous, setting off a controversy that the local news media called the “War on Terrier. ” | 0fake |
Scott Walker, Rick Perry show limits of super PACs | On this day in 1973, J. Fred Buzhardt, a lawyer defending President Richard Nixon in the Watergate case, revealed that a key White House tape had an 18... | 0fake |
Syrian refugee with FOUR WIVES and 23 CHILDREN ‘claims £320,000 a year in benefits’ | By CHARLIE BAYLISS
The migrant, known only as Ghazia A, fled Syria last year along with his family.
He has since resettled in Germany with his four wives and 22 of his children. One of his daughters has since moved to Saudi Arabia where she has married.
The family could be receiving more than £320,000 a year in benefits according to a financial manager on the Employers’ Association website.
There is no official confirmation on this figure.
Under Islamic tradition, the 49-year-old can have up to four wives – as long as he can support them financially.
Germany does not legally recognise polygamy, meaning that Ghazia A was forced to choose a “main wife” so the rest of the family could claim benefits. The other three wives are categorised as “friends” of the Syrian migrant.
But a local official in the town of Montabaur described the situation as an “exemption”.
Ghazia A now lives with his “main” wife Twasif and their five children in Montabaur, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate – while the other three wives and children have been moved into neighbouring communities up to 31 miles away.
The man used to work in a garage and car hire service in his homeland but has not worked since resettling in Germany.
He expressed an interest in working again but noted his commitments to his family made this difficult.
He told German | 1real |
Obama’s Gas-Guzzling Motorcade To Paris Climate Talks Had A Huge Price Tag For The American Taxpayer | Are you sitting down? The phony baloney Climate Change Summit put on by our Dictator In Chief costs the American taxpayers close to $2 MILLION DOLLARS. Someone needs to shut this grifter down!Car service, hotels, and accommodations for the president and other administration officials to attend climate change talks in Paris are costing taxpayers nearly $2 million, according to government contracts.The COP21 meeting of global leaders, which President Obama said is a powerful rebuke to terrorists, began on Monday. Representatives from 195 countries traveled to Paris, burning 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide for the United Nations conference that is seeking to reduce global emissions.The tab for Obama s motorcade alone totals $784,825. The State Department issued a $407,868 contract to Biribin Limousines, an international chauffeur service, for vehicles for the president s security detail. No Sustainability Included, the document states under a section for contract clauses.Numerous other contracts for passenger vehicle rentals, including $9,042 for accompanying press, totaled $376,957.Taxpayers were also billed $100,216 to book hotel accommodations for the president s stay. Hotel rooms and cell phones for the U.S. Secret Service traveling with the president cost $16,642 and $4,034, respectively.A number of cabinet secretaries are also in Paris for the United Nations conference, including IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, whose car service tab is $5,400.Secretary of State John Kerry s car service totaled $76,435, with three separate contracts worth $38,684, $15,789, and $21,962.Car service for Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is costing $19,080, and two contracts worth $10,153 and $10,737 were issued for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack s chauffeur service.Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is also attending the conference, with hotel accommodations at the Tuileries Finances in Paris costing $36,091, and her car service totaling $13,903.In all, costs associated with the climate change summit totaled $1,805,282.Read more: WFB | 1real |
Clinton ‘appalled’ by effort to recoup veterans’ bonuses | ‹ › Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. Clinton ‘appalled’ by effort to recoup veterans’ bonuses By Arnaldo Rodgers on October 26, 2016 veteran
By Cristiano Lima
Hillary Clinton slammed the California National Guard and Pentagon on Monday for reportedly demanding soldiers who fought in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade ago to return enlistment bonuses they received for their service.
“I am appalled that National Guard officials are attempting to recoup money from soldiers who accepted bonuses a decade ago,” the Democratic nominee said in a statement released Monday night in response to the reports, which first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
“These troops deserve our support and our deepest gratitude; they served admirably and upheld their part of the bargain,” she said. “It is unacceptable to now subject them and their families to undue financial burdens thanks to to mismanagement from the California National Guard and rigid bureaucracy on the part of the Pentagon.”
Read the Full Article at www.politico.com >>>> Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on October 26, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments
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27 Photos That Prove The Earth Is in Serious Danger & It’s Time To Be Worried Now | We Are Change
Often times we are blind to what is happening around us. Just because we cannot see the effects of pollution and over-stripping the Earth of her resources in our own backyards, doesn’t mean that it isn’t a very serious concern. Closing our eyes to these issues is not going to help the problems go away. The world used to be an absolutely beautiful place, but that beauty is slowly being pushed out by the trash of mankind. We are consuming more than what this Earth can handle and pretty soon the Earth will no longer be able to sustain mankind. Here are 27 pictures that will open your eyes to the serious danger that our very existence is in.
H/T Jill Stein & Unreal-Lists
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| 1real |
In Trump Era, Censorship May Start in the Newsroom - The New York Times | This is how the muzzling starts: not with a boot on your neck, but with the fear of one that runs so deep that you muzzle yourself. Maybe it’s the story you decide against doing because it’s liable to provoke a president to put the power of his office behind his attempt to destroy your reputation by falsely calling your journalism “fake. ” Maybe it’s the line you hold back from your script or your article because it could trigger a federal leak investigation into you and your sources (so, yeah, jail). Or, maybe it’s the commentary you spike because you’re a publicly supported news channel and you worry it will cost your station its federal financing. In that last case, your fear would be existential — a matter of your very survival — and your motivation to could prove overwhelming. We no longer have to imagine it. We got a example last week in San Antonio, where a PBS station sat atop the slippery slope toward censorship and then promptly started down it. It’s a single television station in a single state in a very big country. And the right thing ultimately happened. But only after a very wrong thing happened. The editorial misfire bears retelling because it showed the most likely way that the new administration’s attempts to shut down the free press could succeed, just as it shows how those attempts can be stopped. The story began with a Jan. 24 speech that Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, gave on the House floor regarding what he described as the unfair way the national media was covering President Trump. He said for instance that the media ignored highs in consumer confidence, which of course it did not. And he ended with an admonition for his constituents: “Better to get your news directly from the president. In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth. ” His remarks caught the notice, and the ire, of a longtime San journalist and commentator, Rick Casey, who hosts a weekly public affairs program “Texas Week” on KLRN. He ends each week’s show with his own commentary, which also runs in The San Antonio . Mr. Casey has been able to work for “40 years as a professional smart ass,” he told me, because “I’m not really a bomb thrower — I’ve watched politicians for so many years that I know how to be strong about something without being unfriendly. ” But Mr. Smith’s comments bothered him enough that he wrote up a stemwinder of a closing commentary. “Smith’s proposal is quite innovative for America,” it went. “We’ve never really tried getting all our news from our top elected official. It has been tried elsewhere, however. North Korea comes to mind. ” All set to go, the commentary was mentioned in a Facebook promotion for the show, which in turn caught the eye of Mr. Smith’s office, which called the station to inquire about the segment. Forty minutes before the show aired, the station’s president and chief executive, Arthur Rojas Emerson, left a message for Mr. Casey saying he was pulling the commentary and replacing it with an older one. Mr. Casey told me he missed the call, but saw what happened with his own eyes. At a meeting the next Monday, Mr. Casey said, Mr. Emerson expressed concern “that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was under attack and that this would add to it. ” The Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides financing for public stations, including KLRN, and Mr. Trump’s election has heightened fears that its financing will be cut. It also happens that Mr. Emerson had left journalism for several years to run his own advertising firm and that Mr. Smith had at one point been a client. Mr. Casey says he asked Mr. Emerson if he’d be willing to come on the program and discuss it all, but Mr. Emerson declined. And that seemed to be that. But as we’re learning this year, journalism has a safety net in the people who appreciate it, and the people who work in it. First, when Mr. Casey’s commentary ran as planned in The San Antonio astute readers noticed it was different than the previous night’s televised commentary. The story of what happened began traveling around San Antonio journalism circles, making its way to the columnist Gilbert Garcia, who shared the details last Friday. Another titan of Texas journalism, Evan Smith, who The Texas Tribune and regularly appears on Mr. Casey’s program, noticed Mr. Garcia’s column while he was in Washington. “I had a hot coffee in my hand and I came very close to dropping it,” Mr. Smith told me. “Holding people accountable in public life is so fundamentally important that this idea that somehow we’re going to stop doing that because we’re worried about what the government’s going to do to us, I so unbelievably reject that. ” As it happened, Evan Smith was in Washington for a meeting of the PBS national board, on which he sits, and “I certainly got into the board room and talked to people in the system. ” He also called Mr. Emerson, and told him “I didn’t see why The Tribune or I should continue to be associated with this show or this station. ” By late last week, Mr. Emerson had agreed to let Mr. Casey’s original segment run this Friday, as long as it included a new “commentary” label that will run with his opinion segments. When I caught up with Mr. Emerson this week he acknowledged making “a mistake” that should not tarnish a career spent mostly in broadcast news, starting in a $1. job as a cameraman. “I had to make a decision in what was about 20 minutes,” he said. He acknowledged that “clearly we always worry about funding for public television,” but said that wasn’t the “principal reason” for his decision to hold back the commentary. “We have to protect the neutrality of the station — somebody could have looked at it as slander,” he said. The “commentary” label, he said, would take care of it. Mr. Casey is satisfied with the result. But he acknowledged that it was a close call and that he was uniquely qualified to push back in a way others might not be. “I’m lucky to be in the position of being 70 years old, and not in the position of being 45,” he said, meaning that job security was not the same issue. “There’s no level of heroism here. ” In a week in which Congress is calling for a leak investigation into stories in The Washington Post, The New York Times and CNN that led to Michael T. Flynn’s forced resignation as national security adviser, heroism is what’s called for. Hopefully there’s enough of it to go around. | 0fake |
HILLARY APPROVED? BILL CLINTON Ditched Secret Service On Several Trips To Exotic Locations On PEDOPHILE PLANE | We all know Bill Clinton is a sexual predator. The big question now is, how much Hillary knew about his disgusting sexual trysts with his good buddy, Jeffrey Epstein who apparently had a thing for underage girls? Bill Clinton spent enough time aboard disgraced Wall Street mogul Jeffrey Epstein s Lolita Express airplane that he should be eligible for frequent flyer miles, according to a shocking new report that reveals how often the former U.S. president road along with with the convicted sex offender.Flight logs reviewed by Fox News show Clinton took 26 trips aboard Epstein s Boeing 727 jet, more than double the 11 flights previously known. Epstein s jet was reportedly set up with a bed where guests had group sex with young girls. One of them, Virginia Giuffre, has claimed she was lured into joining Epstein s harem when she was just 15 years old and was then known as Virginia Roberts. The former teen prostitute has said she was used as a sex slave. Roberts, 32, has claimed she saw Clinton in 2002 on an Epstein junket to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.But according to Fox, flight logs don t show the former president aboard a flight headed there. St. Thomas has a landing strip long enough to accommodate the jet. The logs do show the former president jetting to such exotic locales as Brunei, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the Azores, Africa, Belgium, China, New York, and Belgium all on Epstein s plane. Traveling with Epstein was New York socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, whom Roberts has accused of pimping her out. If nothing else, Clinton brought protection. Flight logs filed with the Federal Aviation Administration show Clinton brought as many as 10 U.S. Secret Service agents along with him on some trips. But a journey to Asia in 2002 didn t list any Secret Service protection. As a former president, Clinton still gets a taxpayer-funded security detail for life. The cable network reported that Clinton would have been required to file an official form to leave his protective forces behind, although the Secret Service hasn t responded to formal document requests. Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, and served just 18 months in jail for the offense despite outrage from victims advocates.The Palm Beach, Florida police and the FBI both investigated charges that Epstein consorted with underage girls used for prostitution. Court documents show that police found a clear indication that Epstein s staff was frequently working to schedule multiple young girls between the ages of 12 and 16 years old literally every day, often two or three times per day. One victim said under oath that Epstein molested her at least 50 times, beginning when she was 13. She said she and other girls were lured to Epstein s home with promises of hundreds of dollars for modeling or for massaging him.Read more: Daily Mail | 1real |
U.N. chief Guterres condemns racism, xenophobia: Twitter post | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that “Racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia” were “poisoning our societies,” after violence erupted between left- and right-wing groups in Virginia following a white supremacist rally on Saturday. “We must stand up against them. Every time. Everywhere,” Guterres said in a Twitter post. | 0fake |
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