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News: Shaking Up Washington: Donald Trump Just Appointed A Cloaked Man As Secretary Of The Hook | Email
Time to say goodbye to politics as usual.
In another stunning game changer that has further upended the political establishment, President-elect Donald Trump this morning announced the nomination of a mysterious cloaked man to serve as his secretary of the Hook.
Yep. Trump promised change, and right away he’s appointing a nameless robed man to lead the Department of the Hook. How’s that for a shock to the system?
The silent man, whose face is completely shrouded within a thick, hooded cloak, is rumored to have topped the shortlist of candidates for secretary of the Hook after emerging alone from a dense forest at night and immediately causing all greenery within the Washington beltway to wilt.
Trump has already lauded his nominee as “a wonderful man with an absolutely tremendous cloak” whom he trusts do an “unbelievable job” discharging the duties of the position, which include abiding by the Hook, interpreting the Covenant of the Hook, and holding aloft the candle whose flame subtracts light from its surroundings.
“The man in the cloak is going to be a fantastic secretary of the Hook. Just fantastic,” said Trump, who added that the secretary will be second in the presidential line of succession. “No one is better qualified to enforce the covenant than this man. His cloak is dark, he was born before Christ, I don’t know his name, he has the Hook now, and he’s ready to fight for us!”
And don’t look now, but the presumptive secretary of the Hook is already making waves. At dawn this morning, he led the Zealots of the Hook in a procession through the streets of Washington, toward the open entrance to the Onyx Pyramid, an edifice by the Lincoln Memorial that residents could not remember ever having existed but that the cloaked man assured Americans in a terse press release “has always been and shall forever be.”
One thing’s for sure: This appointment signals a whole new political era in the nation’s capital. We can’t wait to see how this bold move turns out! | 1real |
Peru's Kuczynski urges people to accept Fujimori pardon and 'turn the page' | LIMA (Reuters) - Peru s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski defended his pardon for Alberto Fujimori on Monday as justified clemency for an ailing man whose authoritarian government in the 1990s helped the country progress, after Peruvians protested for a second day. Addressing Peruvians for the first time since pardoning Fujimori on Christmas Eve, Kuczynski appealed to Peruvians protesting his decision to turn the page and accept it. The pardon has pitched Kuczynski s center-right government into a fresh political crisis less than a week after Congress nearly removed him from office in the wake of a graft scandal. Earlier on Monday, police fired tear gas to disperse crowds in downtown Lima in a second day of unrest, while a third lawmaker announced he was abandoning Kuczynski s political party. Fujimori, who like Kuczynski is 79, is a deeply divisive figure in Peru. While many consider him a corrupt dictator, others credit him with ending a severe economic crisis and quashing a leftist rebellion during his decade in power. The pardon cleared Fujimori of convictions for graft and human rights crimes, 12 years into a 25-year prison sentence. Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker, reiterated that the pardon was a response to fears that Fujimori might die in prison. But - for the first time since running for office a year ago - he also defended Fujimori s decade in power. It s clear his government, which inherited a country submerged in a violent and chaotic crisis at the start of the 1990s, incurred in significant legal transgressions regarding democracy and human rights. But I also think his government contributed to national progress, Kuczynski said in a televised address. The remarks placed Kuczynski more firmly on Fujimori s side of Peru s biggest political faultline, and triggered a fresh wave of criticism of Kuczynski from Fujimori s foes. You ve got to be pretty stingy, President Kuczynski, to not say a word of solidarity for the victims and their loved ones, Gisela Ortiz, a Peruvian human rights activist, said on Twitter after his speech. Just a week ago, Kuczynski fanned fears of a new rise of Fujimori s rightwing movement, denouncing its bid to remove him from office as a legislative coup attempt that threatened Peru s democracy. Many of Fujimori s detractors, who helped Kuczynski win last year s runoff election, joined Kuczynski in calling for lawmakers to defeat the presidential vacancy motion. But it was a rebel faction among Fujimori s supporters in Congress which unexpectedly saved Kuczynski from the vote, fueling speculation that it was part of a deal to trade votes for a pardon for Fujimori. The pardon s for President Kuczynski, it s not for Fujimori, leftist lawmaker Marisa Glave said on local TV channel Canal N. The lawyer who defended Kuczynski before Congress last week, Alberto Borea, said he was opposed to the pardon and did not know it was in the works. Chanting traitor and the pardon has got to go, many Peruvians marching on Monday called for Kucyznski to resign and new elections to be held. So far, three ruling party lawmakers have announced their resignations from Kuczynski s party, which controls about a fifth of congressional seats. The deputy human rights minister has also resigned, a government source said. Fujimori remained at a hospital in Lima, where he was taken from prison late on Sunday to treat a drop in his blood pressure and an abnormal heart beat, according to his doctor. | 0fake |
U.S. Vice President Biden to depart for five-day Middle Eastern trip | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden leaves on a five-day trip to the Middle East late Saturday, but no major breakthroughs on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are expected during his visit, a White House official said on Friday. A senior White House official told reporters Friday that Biden would not make any major recommendations on the Israeli-Palestininan issue but would focus on increasing cooperation on a number of issues, including the fight against the Islamic State and the Syrian conflict. Biden’s trip will include visits to the United Arab Emirates, Israel, West Bank and Jordan. During the trip, Biden will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the White House said. Biden will also meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman, the White House said earlier. | 0fake |
The myth of the ‘anchor baby’ deportation defense | Donald Trump said it; Jeb Bush said it, too.
Frankly, a whole range of people have used the term "anchor baby" this week in public discussions about Trump's immigration-related policy ideas -- ideas that include an end to the nearly 150-year-old practice of granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States.
It's the former, known as "birthright citizenship," which is delineated in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. And as all sorts of public figures have discussed the future of the 14th Amendment this week, the more colloquial -- many say pejorative -- term "anchor baby" has come up over and over again.
But the anchor baby, while potent politically, is a largely mythical idea.
Here's the basic concept: People, namely women, come to the United States illegally and give birth to children, generally for the specific purpose of bolstering legal attempts of the child's parents remain in the United States or even become citizens themselves.
Looser definitions suggest "anchor babies" can simply be intended to help illegal-immigrant parents access taxpayer-financed public education and/or social services through their citizen children -- another political hot button, to be sure. (Even here, the law limits those benefits to the children themselves.)
But usually the debate has been about the residency of the parents, who after all are supposed to be using the child as their "anchor."
This is the definition that has little legal underpinning. For illegal immigrant parents, being the parent of a U.S. citizen child almost never forms the core of a successful defense in an immigration court. In short, if the undocumented parent of a U.S.-born child is caught in the United States, he or she legally faces the very same risk of deportation as any other immigrant.
The only thing that a so-called anchor baby can do to assist either of their undocumented parents involves such a long game that it's not a practical immigration strategy, said Greg Chen, an immigration law expert and director of The American Immigration Lawyers Association, a trade group that also advocates for immigrant-friendly reforms. That long game is this: If and when a U.S. citizen reaches the age of 21, he or she can then apply for a parent to obtain a visa and green card and eventually enter the United States legally.
In order to apply for such an option, the parent of a so-called anchor baby would need to do all of the following.
If a person has lived in the United States unlawfully for a period of more than 180 days but less than one year, there is an automatic three-year bar on that person ever reentering the United States -- and that's before any wait time for a visa. So that's a minimum of 21 years for the child to mature, plus the three-year wait.
And, for the vast majority of these parents, a longer wait also applies. If a person has lived in the United States illegally for a year or more, there is a 10-year ban on that person reentering the United States. So, in that case, there would be the 21-year wait for the child to mature to adulthood, plus the 10-year wait.
All told, the parents of the so-called anchor baby face a 24-to-31-year wait to even enter the United States, much less obtain a visa and green card or become a citizen.
Want proof? See Sections 212(a)(9)(i) and 212 (a)(9)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) -- or spend an afternoon in your nearest, severely backlogged immigration court.
[Immigration Court backlog grows to more than 450,000 cases]
Immigration courts routinely reject claims that an undocumented parent must remain in the United States to care for a U.S. citizen child. The main but rare legal exceptions are for children who are so seriously ill or profoundly disabled that one parent must care for them full-time, or for a child in need of medical care unavailable in their parents' home country.
These parents are given something called "humanitarian parole," Chen explained. And this is very rarely applied to people already living in the United States illegally. It is more often given to the parents of, say, an Afghan war burn victim who want to accompany their child to the United States for medical care. And, even then, humanitarian parole is generally granted for limited period of time.
Alternatively, these parents can apply for something even more rare: an extreme hardship exception, according to Deborah Anker, a clinical professor of law and director of the Harvard University Law School’s immigration and refugee clinical program. Very rarely they can apply for a waiver that may allow them to reenter the United States sooner, Anker said. But if that request is denied, there is no form of appeal available. Decisions are final.
Yes, it is true that some undocumented immigrants come to the United States and have children with or perhaps even because of the mistaken belief that this will strengthen a legal bid to remain in the United States. Mistaken beliefs have spurred previous surges in illegal immigration -- including last year's.
And it is true that some people -- such as breast-feeding mothers, children brought to the United States illegally as children and others -- have benefited from the immigration system equivalent of proprietorial discretion, known as "deferred action."
But with the exception of an Obama administration program known as DACA (limited to an estimated 1.2 million young adults brought to the United States illegally as children) and a second program currently blocked by a federal court that would have granted deferred action to another 300,000 people (mostly the parents of those eligible for DACA), deferred actions typically come with a short and limited timeline. They also do not include a pathway to a visa or legal work in the United States. And these programs did not exist when the concept of an "anchor baby" was politically popularized, so it becomes harder to accept the idea that having an "anchor baby" was the express goal of many people immigrating illegally.
It's also important to note that, as of August 2014, only about 550,000 DACA applications had been approved, according to a Pew research Center analysis of federal data. And even these applicants must wait until their 21st birthday to begin the lengthy process described above to attempt to help an undocumented parent. And "attempt" is the key word here.
And if you're still skeptical, here's the real proof that having a baby in the United States does little to help an undocumented parent remain in the United States, there's this:
In 2011, there were at least 5,000 children in state custody or foster care because an undocumented parent or parents has been deported, according to a study released by the Applied Research Center, a New York-based think tank that focuses on racial and social justice issues. Some estimates put that figure even higher today. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent mandatory reports to the Senate that among other things revealed that during 2013, the agency deported 72,410 people who told federal authorities they have one or more U.S. citizen children.
Each of these children and their parents certainly know the "anchor baby" is not real. | 0fake |
PayPal Founder Blasts "Corrupt Media, Intolerant Left", Defends Trump |
Billionaire venture capitalist and PayPal founder, Peter Thiel spoke at the National Press Club today on his support for Donald Trump.
Most of the media ignored the groundbreaking presser today.
They don’t want Americans to know about this pro-Trump gay conservative from Silicon Valley.
FOX Business Network carried much of the speech live.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel took his pro-Trump message to the heart of the media establishment in a major speech at the National Press Club this morning.
“We’re voting for Trump because we judge the leadership of this country to have failed,” Thiel said to an audience of about 150 members of the press.
“The insiders have been getting it wrong for a long time,” he added. Establishment politicians “are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
During the Q&A session, the moderator inquired about “social blowback” Thiel has received for supporting Trump and dwelled heavily on Thiel’s funding of the Hulk Hogan case that brought down Gawker.
Thiel justified funding the lawsuit against a Gawker that he described as a “singular, sociopathic bully.” Defending illegal revenge porn under the guise of the First Amendment “is an insult to journalists,” he noted.
That comment aroused a scowl in the reporter sitting next to me, who walked out shortly after.
The room was full of about 150 journalists, mostly from mainstream publications. There was a row of cameras filming the event, but only two reporters appeared to be streaming it live through Periscope and Facebook Live. National Press Club Executive Director William C. McCarren treated several members of the press brusquely as they tried to enter the event.
The event highlighted the growing gulf between the establishment and the rest of the country, the mainstream press versus the independent press, and the truth of what’s seen from direct sources and how mainstream reporters often spin it.
At one point during the speech, Thiel directly pointed out the hoaxing and bias within the media. “The Advocate, a magazine which once praised me as a ‘gay innovator,’ published an article saying that as of now I am, and I quote, ‘not a gay man,’ because I don’t agree with their politics.”
When a high-profile, highly intelligent figure like Thiel supports Trump, who cares about the truth?
Source
| 1real |
Digital Tabloids, Narco-memes & The League of Shadows: Boiler Room EP #136 | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Jay Dyer of Jays Analysis, Randy J, Andy Nowicki of the Nameless Podcast and the rest of the boiler gang for the hundred and thirty sixth episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.On this episode of Boiler Room the ACR Brain-Trust is having a fireside-chat regarding the latest grinding of gears in the political, social (engineering) and media machines.Direct Download Episode #136 Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Reference Links, for your consideration and research: | 1real |
SOME FLA. RESIDENTS PLAN ARMED TRICK-OR-TREATING AFTER CREEPY CLOWN THREATS | Home › SOCIETY | US NEWS › SOME FLA. RESIDENTS PLAN ARMED TRICK-OR-TREATING AFTER CREEPY CLOWN THREATS SOME FLA. RESIDENTS PLAN ARMED TRICK-OR-TREATING AFTER CREEPY CLOWN THREATS 0 SHARES [10/20/16] Some residents unnerved by scary clown threats in their communities say they’ll be armed for Halloween trick-or-treating, while authorities warn that widespread clown fears may endanger someone dressing up as a clown as a joke.
There have been numerous clown sightings in Brevard County, and two men were arrested last week in Melbourne for allegedly threatening people while dressed as clowns and holding large bats, sticks or axes, according to a Florida Today reporter .
The incidents have made some residents so nervous that they planned to arm themselves when they go out Halloween night.
“Since I have no gun, I will be carrying a bat around on Halloween night,” said Pam Metz of Titusville.
Kimberly Kersey said she’d carry a gun while taking her sons trick-or-treating in Palm Bay.
“I’ll be carrying for sure,” she said. “I’m terrified of clowns already and if one messes with me or my kids it’ll be to the hospital or morgue they go.”
Police typically increase patrols for Halloween. Some law enforcement officials have urged people to reconsider dressing up as clowns to avoid inadvertently endangering themselves.
“The problem is that someone dressed like a clown could scare someone and there’s a possibility — a possibility — you could end up with someone getting shot,” said Palm Bay Police Lt. Mike Bandish.
Cassandra Closson of West Melbourne gave the same advice to her 15-year-old son and forbade him from dressing as a clown.
“Just not worth any drama,” Closson told Florida Today. Post navigation | 1real |
10 Months, 45 National Parks, 11 Rules - The New York Times | When I was 12, my family piled into a Honda Odyssey and headed west for a summer exploring the national parks. That trip changed my life. I tasted the freedom of the open road and experienced the wonders of America’s wild places. I was hooked. Last August, I set out on an expanded version of that adventure, seeking to spend 10 months visiting all the national parks in the contiguous United States (I made it to 45 of the 47). I hoped the trip, which I chronicled on a blog, chasingcairns. com, would teach me more about wilderness, America … and myself. I knew I would learn from every moment and every mile, but only if I paid attention to what was happening around me. So I adopted a series of daily practices — I called them my “roadtripology rules” — to force myself to be as deliberate as possible about the trip. This might seem paradoxical. Aren’t road trips supposed to be as spontaneous as possible? Of course. My rules sought to enhance spontaneity by making sure I noticed it when it happened. They made a big difference for my trip, and they should work for other travelers as well. I had no room in my shoestring budget for speeding tickets. More important, I wanted to take my time. Speed limits in the national parks are notoriously conservative, often ranging from 10 to 30 m. p. h. in popular areas. Drivers racing along at 55 m. p. h. gawking at El Capitan or Half Dome endanger wildlife and people alike. By following posted speed limits, I detached myself from the compulsive urgency so often associated with road travel. I set my cruise control and avoided the passing lane. In doing so, I experienced the freedom to focus. I no longer worried about catching the taillights up ahead. Instead, I channeled my energy toward appreciating the world around me. Whether cruising through the autumn foliage of the Blue Ridge Parkway or passing beneath towering sequoias in Kings Canyon, I rarely felt the temptation to accelerate. I made peace with my pace, accepting that I would get there when I got there. The parks are full of stories. They include the early struggles to protect the sublime wonders of Yellowstone and Yosemite, and the slower recognition that the quieter beauties of the Everglades and Congaree were also worth preserving. They include controversial actions to dispossess rural farmers of their land in Shenandoah and the challenges of making Mesa Verde’s Puebloan kivas accessible to tourists in a respectful way. To find these stories, I tailored my audiobook and podcast selections to focus on the place or region through which I was traveling. In Arches, that meant listening to Edward Abbey’s tales in “Desert Solitaire” about his seasons working in the park. At Gettysburg, Michael Shaara’s “Killer Angels” honored the ultimate sacrifice of so many soldiers. (I also visited dozens of national historic sites on my trip Gettysburg was one.) I also never missed an opportunity to explore park visitor centers, talk with rangers and watch introductory films. My tour made the labyrinthine passages of Wind Cave in South Dakota tell stories I never would have heard on my own. In the Great Smoky Mountains, a little extra time in the visitor center led me to spectacular waterfalls far from the beaten path. Taking 45 minutes to do this at each park gave me a historical, cultural and ecological foundation unique to that area, and enhanced everything I did there. In the age of Google Maps, the spirit of adventure can be sidelined by blindly following the seemingly omniscient blue line on the glowing screens in front of us. When I permit myself to follow that blue line, I sometimes lose track of where I am and forget the bigger picture. I was not going to let that happen on this trip. From Day 1, my trusty National Geographic Road Atlas rode shotgun. Its colorful pages tempted me with side trips at every turn, and never led me astray. Without that atlas, I would just have headed south after leaving Death Valley for Los Angeles. Instead, the map guided me north toward Manzanar. What I found there surprised me. Formerly a World War II internment camp for this deserted landscape in the Owens Valley was a stark reminder of the stories we often choose to forget. It was one of the most memorable detours of my entire trip, but the blue line of a digital map would have ignored it. I tried to connect with someone every day: a handshake here, a hug there and conversation everywhere. These interactions helped me understand the many reasons people visit and care about the national parks — reasons often quite different from my own. At each park, I listened to personal narratives of solitude, tradition, adventure, family, spirituality. A restaurant manager from Santa Barbara, Calif. sought scenery and serenity in Yosemite. A climber in Joshua Tree came looking for a home and a challenge. No two stories were alike. Though we often think of a park visit as a solitary experience, there is so much to be gained from sharing it with other people. Groups of travelers come and go, but you can find community if you take the time to look, and you should. I never would have found the Chasm of Doom if I hadn’t introduced myself to the climbers camped among the boulders of Hidden Valley. As we squeezed beneath the rock and lowered ourselves into cracks, we experienced a different side of Joshua Tree. Gone were the wide horizons and desert heat. In the Chasm, claustrophobic shadow ruled. I knew I could take years to fully explore the national parks. I didn’t have that kind of time. Instead, I vowed to spend at least two days in every park, observing it in as many ways as I could: rain or shine, dawn to dusk. I chose to take my time, knowing that each moment I lingered would deepen my experience. I made time for the unpredictable. In Saguaro, I watched an unexpected dust storm blow in under the brutal heat of the midday sun. One night at Great Sand Dunes, I surfed dark waves of sand under the brilliant light of the Milky Way. In Glacier, I snowshoed through frosty pines while fresh snow immediately erased my tracks. I did not necessarily seek out these experiences. I just made sure I had time to take them in whenever a park offered them. So much of what we find in the national parks seems visual by default: It’s what we go to see. We’re always on the lookout for something new and sublime. But making the visual our priority can blind us to the depth of multidimensional reality. By employing each of my senses, I expanded my understanding of the world around me. I savored the unadulterated waters of Lake Superior. I felt the sweat on my palms as I gripped the chains on the precipitous hike up Angels Landing in Zion. I listened to the drone of insects in the Everglades. I sniffed the stale, earthy air inside Mammoth Cave. William Least was definitely on to something when he decided to travel the “blue highways” of America. I too found myself drawn to the local roads that take their time meandering. Interstates rush straight ahead, a kind of travel I wanted to avoid. Local roads reached the parks just as effectively, and also encouraged me to visit farm stands up and down the East Coast, to chat with a cafe owner in a small town just outside Crater Lake, and to feel tiny and alone amid the endless valleys of Nevada. Every park has its famous highlights: Mather Overlook in Grand Canyon, Cadillac Mountain in Acadia, Big Room in Carlsbad Caverns. Tourists flock to such places, and are right to do so. They are undeniably glorious. But I wanted also to explore places that don’t make it into many guidebooks. These were often where I found myself confronting what felt like the deeper realities of a park. I spent a night shivering all alone at the bottom of Black Canyon, humbled by the raw power of the Gunnison River beside me. In Grand Teton, I sat silent in the Chapel of the Transfiguration, meditating on its marriage of natural beauty and spirituality. In these moments I felt personally connected with a place. Sharing views from the rim of the Grand Canyon with thousands of other travelers leaves a powerful impression, but I will never forget my solo hike along the Tonto Platform, far below the crowds on the rim. As the shadow of the setting sun spread across the parched sea of blackbrush before me, my footsteps and breath fell into pace with the warm canyon winds. For those nine hours, I knew there was nowhere else in the universe that I should be. I spent much of the last year traveling at 55 m. p. h. and grew accustomed to life at that speed. But I also relished any opportunity to slow down. Early on, I traveled over 500 miles across most of Michigan in just one day. Later, on California’s Lost Coast, I hiked just over five miles in a day. During an extended rock climb in Arches near the end of my trip, I think I traveled a couple hundred feet in eight hours. What do I remember from each of those days? I can taste the fresh vegetables I devoured outside Traverse City, Mich. as I listened to Michael Pollan’s “Botany of Desire. ” I can hear the yelps of seals, the cries of hawks, and the crash of waves on rock and sand alike. I can still feel the dull pain in my knees and back as I shimmied up a tight sandstone chimney toward the top of Off Balance Rock in Arches. Road, Trail Ridge Road and Skyline Drive have been beckoning motorists to their parks since they were built in the 1930s. They form part of a network of roads that allow millions to visit and appreciate public lands. But even the most ardent motorist can benefit from unbuckling that seatbelt and getting away from the car. I found that leaving the confines of my vehicle brought me into contact with the natural forces that shape the parks, processes we need to experience if we want to understand them. The icy snowfields of Mount Rainier and the dizzying heat of Death Valley are muffled by the protections our cars offer, yet they are precisely what make these places so wild. My plan had always been that the last park on my journey would be Yellowstone — the nation’s first. I visited it on my 25th birthday. It will surely be among the most memorable of my entire life, even though no one I met that day knew it was my birthday. It also proved to be the capstone of my trip. That day, I realized that I no longer needed to actively focus on my rules. They were now ingrained in my every decision. I could move spontaneously from experience to experience, living my values with each step. At Grand Prismatic Spring, I swapped stories of the road with a traveling photographer. Near Old Faithful, I had a close call with a grizzly being chased (by a ranger) right at me. I ate lunch overlooking the multihued Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. At Mammoth Hot Springs, I followed a herd of bison as they wandered through the steaming landscape. In the Lamar Valley, I watched a wolf pack settling down after picking over a deer carcass. Before I went to bed, I lounged in the Boiling River, shifting my body to find the optimal blend of frigid and scalding water. To me, it felt like the perfect end to my — or any — adventure. My constant companion on this journey was a 2008 atomic blue Honda Element named Sam. Behind Sam’s boxy exterior, I had a palatial 75 cubic feet of living space (and an “attic” in my Yakima roof box). After combing the internet for design ideas, I settled on a system of interlocking birch boxes to create a solid bedframe. Within the boxes, I organized a wardrobe, a modular kitchen and a mess of camping gear. After my mom and I constructed the boxes, we transformed the stark birch and plastic interior into a home. A pair of plush camping mattresses with a fitted sheet finished off the bed, and blackout panels with bungee curtains added a bit of privacy. Over the next 10 months, Sam proved a stalwart companion. Together, we bounced down more than a few dirt roads, trundled up snowy mountains, slept in parking lots and saw a lot of America. He gave me a home no matter where I was. And 32, 000 miles later, we are still going strong. | 0fake |
33 Suspected of Overdosing on Synthetic Marijuana in Brooklyn - The New York Times | There is a word that local residents and workers use to describe a group of drug users whose presence they say has grown around a busy Brooklyn transit hub: zombies. What was once a few familiar faces has turned into a tribe of strangers, walking around, staggering and looking lost, in the throes, it is believed, of the ill effects of K2, a synthetic drug that officials in New York have been working hard to eradicate. The problem in the neighborhood has gotten to be such that a manager of an urban farm nearby, tired of the smoke wafting onto the property, posted two wooden signs with a simple message: “No Smoking K2. ” On Tuesday, the longstanding problem became a local crisis on this gritty patch, on the border of two developing neighborhoods, and Bushwick. In the area around the subway station at Myrtle Avenue and Broadway, emergency workers transported 33 people who were suspected of overdosing on K2 to hospitals, the police said. The powerful drug, also known as Spice or synthetic marijuana, has grown in popularity in recent years despite public warnings. Eight people were taken from the Stockton Street area to Woodhull Medical Center suffering from “altered mental states,” lethargy and respiratory issues around 9:40 a. m. a spokesman for the Fire Department said. Others were found in the surrounding area. “It’s like a scene out of a zombie movie, a horrible scene,” said Brian Arthur, 38, who watched three people collapse as he made his way to work in the morning and began the episode on Facebook. “This drug truly paralyzed people. ” (Watch the video. Contains vulgar language.) Even hours after the first call came in, a few erratic people could still be seen staggering around the streets under the train tracks. Some fought back against gravity by bracing their arms on parked cars or light poles. A few toppled to the ground. A video that Mr. Arthur streamed on Facebook captured responders helping an unsteady man into an ambulance nearby, another slumped soporifically against a fire hydrant. Pairs of police officers walked the blocks around Broadway and Myrtle Avenue, checking the vital signs of men they found unconscious. Anyone who was unresponsive was loaded onto a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance. K2 has been around for many years, but its pervasiveness and popularity with homeless people caused health officials to warn of a public health crisis last summer. In 2015, New York City had more than 6, 000 emergency room visits involving the drug and two deaths, according to the health department. After months of raids and arrests, and new legislation in the fall that banned synthetic cannabinoids and threatened businesses and owners who sold K2 with closings, hefty fines and jail time, officials announced an 85 percent reduction in emergency room visits in May. Social service providers, however, have said that enforcement in some areas has simply caused some sellers and buyers to move to different communities. Regulars of the area around the transit hub say the use of K2 has bloomed into a larger problem in the last two to three months. “You can smell it,” said Jason Reis, 34, the manager of the Bushwick City Farm, who posted signs in front of the urban green space about a week ago. “The way people are acting. They smoke it openly. And you can see them rolling it. ” Mr. Reis described an influx of people roaming the side streets around the subway station, particularly the quiet Stockton Street block where the farm is located, sitting on benches and stoops or in front of stores, rolling and smoking K2 cigarettes, leaving trash and empty K2 packets with their garish exteriors behind, and even urinating and defecating in public. Mr. Reis said he placed the signs out of concern for the children who frequent the farm to garden and play basketball. “We were just getting a little fed up with it,” he said. The police said they had recently targeted the area for arrests and seizures of K2. Residents said the drug used to be available at convenience stores in the area, but is no longer visible on shelves. City Councilman Robert E. Cornegy Jr. who represents part of the area, said that he had heard from constituents about people “bugging out” and making drug sales as they waited for buses or trains. Dealers, he said, use the bustling intersection, which is shaded by the overhead subway tracks, to provide cover for their illicit activity. “You can assimilate into the hustle and bustle, and that’s part of the problem,” Mr. Cornegy, a Democrat, said. “It’s very difficult to track certain behaviors in an area like that without overpolicing, which nobody wants. ” Nury Rodriguez, 55, a hairstylist at A Cut Above, on Stockton Street, said she had grown accustomed to the group of men congregating on the street in the morning. Usually they loiter and smoke all day. Some “act crazy,” she said. On Tuesday morning, she was surprised to see a few falling to the ground. “It’s very scary because you never see something like that,” Ms. Rodriguez said. “They look like they’re going to die. They can’t help themselves. ” | 0fake |
British government extends Northern Ireland talks deadline | BELFAST (Reuters) - The British government on Monday extended by 24 hours a deadline for Northern Ireland s political parties to re-establish a devolved regional executive and avoid London setting the region s annual budget for the first time in a decade. The pro-British Democratic Unionist Party and the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party made progress in talks on Monday and they will continue talking on Tuesday, the British government s minister for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire said. In the light of this, I believe it is right to defer the assessment on whether to introduce legislation to Parliament this week to enable an executive to be formed, Brokenshire said in a statement. The parties will recommence talks in the morning and I will reassess the position tomorrow night, he said, adding that the British government would consider certain additional requests made by the parties. Brokenshire had earlier indicated that if there was no deal by the end of Monday it would move to pass an annual budget for the region to ensure essential services are funded. A budget set by the British government would be a major step towards direct rule from London for the first time in a decade, which observers have warned could destabilize a delicate political balance in the region. The DUP and Sinn Fein have shared power for the past decade in a system created following a 1998 peace deal which ended three decades of violence in the province. But Sinn Fein in January pulled out complaining it was not being treated as an equal partner. Talks between Sinn Fein and the DUP have stalled in recent weeks, in large part over proposals to improve the rights of Irish language speakers. Ahead of the talks, Sinn Fein regional assembly member Conor Murphy said the government could only be reformed on the basis of equality, rights and respect , which would require concessions from the DUP. While the DUP also said it wanted to see the executive re-established, ahead of the talks it called for London to bring forward the budget to bring a measure of good government to Northern Ireland . Neither party spoke to assembled media on the state of the talks on Monday evening. The outcome of talks was not expected to have an impact on the DUP s agreement to support British Prime Minister Theresa May s government in the British parliament. | 0fake |
RACIST OBAMA BASHES WHITEY As The “Old Boys Network”…”Give Women and Minorities A Chance” [Video] | OH MY GOSH! Obama bashes the old boys network and says they need to give women and minorities a chance to lead . What the heck is wrong with this president? He must really detest white male Americans! Unreal! | 1real |
WATCH: Black Protesters Drove David Duke Out Of His Own Racist Protest | David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, finally got what he deserved when he was forced out of a racist protest on Saturday in New Orleans, Louisiana.The protest Duke attended was to counter the Take Em Down NOLA protest, which was calling for the removal of a Confederate statue of Andrew Jackson but fortunately, Duke was stopped when a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters chased him away. Sadly, this confrontation didn t occur before Duke could share some of his white supremacist rhetoric with the crowd. Duke preached: I tell you one thing. It was built by the forefathers of the European Americans who created this country and who gave us our constitution. Who gave us our freedoms and they should not lose their rights and liberty in their own country. They should not have their statues taken down. They should not lose their culture of this society. I am here to defend our American heritage. Our Louisiana heritage and our New Orleans heritage. But it didn t take long before protesters surrounded Duke, and started calling him out. A crowd gathered and chanted things like Racist, fascist, anti-gay! and Right-wing bigot go away! These protesters refused to let up until they had forced Duke out of Jackson Square completely.TwitterYou can watch the video of Duke being driven out by protesters below:David Duke is yet another racist white man who serves as a major threat to this country. Duke is not only one of Donald Trump s most racist, loyal supporters, but he is now running for Senate in Louisiana after being inspired by the support that Donald Trump s hateful rhetoric has received from racist voters.Trump has created an environment where racists like Duke believe they can thrive, and it s becoming more and more critical that we continue to shut down white supremacy whenever we see it. These protesters did an amazing job in the face of hate, and hopefully Duke will be even just a little bit discouraged.Featured image Twitter and screenshot | 1real |
Election Shows Many South Africans Losing Faith in ‘Pompous’ A.N.C. - The New York Times | CHANTELLE, South Africa — A week before South Africa’s local elections on Wednesday, the Zithas held a family meeting inside their entertainment room to decide how to vote. Loyal backers of the African National Congress in every election since the end of apartheid, the family decided it was time for a change. Now, on a leisurely Sunday morning, as his wife and daughter got ready for church, Danny Zitha, 61, a former high school teacher, said the A. N. C. had left him disillusioned because of its corruption, arrogance and incompetence. He will never go back, he said. “Not at all, as long as I’m alive, sorry,” he said, adding with a laugh, “Maybe after death. ” The A. N. C. which was the party of Nelson Mandela and helped free South Africa from rule, suffered its worst losses ever at the polls in the municipal elections last week. Unrivaled for the past two decades, the party lost control of two cities, including the capital, Pretoria, in what many believe is a profound change in how race and the legacy of apartheid influence South African politics. The party’s decline was especially steep in the biggest cities, with many black, voters in places like Chantelle, a suburb of Pretoria, turning against it. years after the end of apartheid, such voters appeared more concerned with mundane matters like good governance and taxes than with the party’s heroic liberation past. The emergence of real alternatives for voters, and possibly the growing accountability of political parties, are positive steps for South Africa’s democracy, analysts and even A. N. C. officials have said. In Pretoria, the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, defeated the A. N. C. by two percentage points. The A. N. C. ’s share of the vote fell to 41 percent from 55 percent in the last local elections, in 2011. In the voting district including Chantelle, once an community that is now about 90 percent black, the A. N. C. ’s share of the vote plummeted to 40 percent from 69 percent in 2011. In many ways, the shifting dynamics inside Chantelle reflect larger forces — a growing black middle class in a rapidly urbanizing country — that are detrimental to the A. N. C. which, especially under President Jacob G. Zuma, has relied on patronage to maintain power. As the election results began trickling in last week, A. N. C. officials said they would engage in “introspection. ” But examples from the rest of the continent are not encouraging: Few liberation movements that assumed power have been able to transform themselves with the changing times and needs. Mr. Zitha and his wife, who is also a high school teacher, moved to Chantelle from Mamelodi, an impoverished township, in 1994. They were one of the first black families in an area that had been restricted to whites under apartheid. Now, Mr. Zitha points to his immediate neighbors on his block of detached homes: a government worker and a prison warden on one side a government worker, a lawyer and a high school teacher on the other side — all solid members of the black . Sensible cars like Toyotas are parked in his garage and those of his neighbors, though some can also be spotted in Chantelle. “It’s a popular car here, even though I feel it’s quite heavy to maintain a for a person like myself,” Mr. Zitha said. ”You’re just pretending to be what you’re not supposed to be. ” In all the previous national and local elections since 1994, Mr. Zitha, his wife and their two older children, after they came of age, voted for the A. N. C. Even so, Mr. Zitha became increasingly dissatisfied with the party’s stewardship of the economy, its upkeep of Chantelle and its culture of corruption under Mr. Zuma. “They’re driving 4x4s, Range Rovers, all those fancy cars,” he said of A. N. C. officials. “Those guys are pompous. They’re just working for themselves and their close relatives. ” Perhaps not surprisingly, it was the Zithas’ youngest child who began questioning the family’s loyalty to the A. N. C. Tshegofatso Zitha, 21, an electrical engineering student, is a “” as black South Africans born after the end of apartheid are called. When she was 15, Ms. Zitha recalled, she learned in school about rape, and began worrying about the large, open field next to her street. Criminals often hid in that field, robbing people of their cellphones. Burglars broke into the Zithas’ house five times over the years. Finding the local A. N. C. official unresponsive, she and some other young women in the area began to carry whistles. “I thought it wasn’t fair because we voted the A. N. C. into leadership here, but we had to find other ways to stay safe,” Ms. Zitha said. She also looked at the adjacent ward, which had been led for some time by the Democratic Alliance. “That place, it’s clean, it’s safe,” she said. “That’s what we want. ” Voting for the first time in 2014, Ms. Zitha backed the Economic Freedom Fighters, a leftist group that finished third in last week’s voting. The rest of her family voted that year for the A. N. C. She waited until before going to work on her parents and older siblings. “I wanted to see if the A. N. C. would do anything that would benefit any of us in any way,” she said. “So I asked my family, ‘Do you see any difference?’ And they said, ‘No. ’” And so by the time the family got together before the latest election, the Zithas had made up their minds. Mr. Zitha was particularly upset, because he thought the local A. N. C. government had failed to provide good services despite rising property taxes. “Look at it — this is too much,” he said, holding a monthly bill for about $80 in taxes and municipal fees. The Zithas decided to vote for the Economic Freedom Fighters, though they also liked the Democratic Alliance, as did many of their neighbors. One of them, Bongo Matjila, 58, who is also a high school teacher, drove by in his Ford pickup. “We’re friends, we’re brothers, even though we voted for different parties,” Mr. Zitha said, as the two neighbors bantered in his driveway. “We’ve got a common enemy” Mr. Matjila said. “Yeah, if the enemy is this man, we must try hard to get him out of the city,” Mr. Zitha said. “And we got him out. ” An hour later, just a few blocks away, a black Mercedes van pulled into a driveway, containing three A. N. C. supporters active in ward politics. All were from families with deep ties to the A. N. C. and they said they would never quit the party. “I’m used to eating pap,” said one of them, Mogomotsi Mogomotsi, 21, who owns a construction and supply company, referring to the ground corn that is South Africa’s staple. Goms Matabane, 24, who was wearing an A. N. C. baseball cap, said he was extremely disappointed by the election results. “But I’m not really surprised,” he added, “because I’ve been hearing a lot of people saying they’ve lost faith in the A. N. C. ” | 0fake |
The Very Scary Reason Trump’s Evangelicals Don’t Care About Cuts To Programs For Those In Need | As our current administration continues to prove that it has no actual concern for the working class, it s hard to image why Trump is supported by anyone other than the rich. The White House s current budget proposals put support for the poor, sick, and elderly on the chopping block in favor of tax breaks for the wealthy. Besides being economically unjust, wouldn t these slashes in services be against the Christian obligation to charity? Why do evangelicals stand strong in their support for Trump?The fact that Trump is a seemingly odd choice for political leadership among evangelicals has been debated since he first announced his bid to run. The prevailing explanation for their support is that evangelicals merely tolerate Trump because they care about fighting abortion/LGBTQ and therefore the preservation of their religious freedom.But why the support for tax cuts over the assistance for those in need? According to an article by Religion Dispatches, it s about more than just toleration. The huge budget cuts are part of the religious right keeping up their understanding of a biblical worldview and are an important part of its agenda.According to sphere sovereignty a theory of how the Bible rules every aspect of life God has given authority to men in government, but this authority has very limited roles. This view holds that man s role in civil government only allows for property protection and criminal punishment. According to this view, it is the families job to help the poor, with some secondary help from the church. If tax money is used to help the poor it is seen as tyrannically exceeding the biblical authority of the government and is considered stealing.This arcane position is held and popularized in some mainstream evangelical circles and articulated by radio host David Barton. It s also taught in Christian school curricula and promoted in books and conferences.This view is the basis for many new administration policies, and the reason many of Trump s appointees are trying to shut down the agencies they are in charge of. Even the Department of Education is being led by a person who strongly believes that it s the families responsibility to educate children and that civil government should stay out of it.Trump himself probably doesn t hold these theoretical views, but Mike Pence sure does, and he s already making sure the biblical worldview is the basis for Trump s policies.Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
DRAIN OBAMA’S RADICAL SWAMP! Rep Chaffetz Calls Out OBAMA APPOINTED Fed Gov Ethics Director Over UNETHICAL Public Criticisms Of Trump | IT S TIME TO DRAIN OBAMA S SWAMP! Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the head of the House Oversight Committee, criticized the director of the federal Office of Government Ethics on Thursday over his criticism of Donald Trump s plan to address conflicts of interest. And he threatened to subpoena the official, Walter Shaub, if he refuses to participate in an official interview. He seems to be acting prematurely at best, without doing investigations or thorough looks, Chaffetz said in an interview. He s rendering opinions publicly that really cause you to scratch your head. We need the Office of Government Ethics to act ethically. Ironically, that s not what they re doing. Shaub, an appointee of President Barack Obama, has been a frequent critics of the incoming administration s ethics plans, peaking Wednesday when he called Trump s newly unveiled conflicts of interest policy meaningless. The public rebuke of Trump s business arrangements came during a press conference at the Brookings Institution that included the outspoken former White House ethics lawyers for Obama and former President George W. Bush. In his remarks, Shaub said the president-elect stepping back from running his positions is meaningless from a conflict of interest perspective. The plan does not comport with the tradition of our presidents over the last 40 years, he added.Chaffetz said Shaub has refused since the election to agree to a meeting to discuss matters related to OGE s public remarks about Trump, as well as the Republican-led panel s plans to pass language reauthorizing the office. If Shaub continues to resist, Chaffetz said he d issue a subpoena if we have to. He is coming in. This is not going to be an optional exercise, Chaffetz said, adding that he expected a meeting within a few weeks.Shaub s 5-year term expires in January 2018. We need a fair person behind the plate that s going to call balls and strikes, Chaffetz said. What they re supposed to do is help work with somebody to comply with the ethics requirements. But when you talk publicly about private conversations, that s not ethical. And when you refuse to come in and talk to the committee when you re doing reauthorization, when you start tweeting and issuing press statements on things you never looked at, that shouldn t be the case at all. This isn t Chaffetz s first time challenging Shaub. In late 2015, the Republican accused the Obama appointee of giving Hillary Clinton a pass on conflict-of-interest laws over speaking fees she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, were supposed to disclose. But Chaffetz said he s grown more frustrated with Shaub since the November election and also singled out the OGE s use of its official Twitter account to issue a bizarre series of posts in Trump s own staccato style congratulating the president-elect for making major changes to his business arrangements.For entire story: POLITICO | 1real |
Neil Gorsuch on Abortion: Roe v. Wade Is a Precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court - Breitbart | During his Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Tuesday, federal judge Neil Gorsuch was repeatedly asked about his stand on abortion and whether he would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade High Court ruling that found women had the right to privacy in medical and reproductive matters, which in practice made abortion on demand legal in the United States. [Sen. Chuck Grassley ( ) chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding the hearings, asked Gorsuch about the case. “I think the case most people are thinking about right now and the case that every nominee gets asked about [is] Roe v. Wade,” Grassely asked. “Can you tell me whether Roe was decided correctly?” “It is a precedent of the United States Supreme Court,” Gorsuch said. “It was reaffirmed in Casey in 1992, and in several other cases. So a good judge will consider it as precedent of the United States Supreme Court, worthy as treatment of precedent like any other,” he added. The Supreme Court ruled in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 that states can put certain restrictions on abortion as long as those restrictions don’t create “undue burden” for women seeking to have an abortion. Sen. Lindsey Graham ( . C.) asked Gorsuch if President Donald Trump ever asked him if he would overturn Roe v. Wade. “I would have walked out the door,” Gorsuch said. Sen. Dianne Feinstein ( ) asked Gorsuch if he thought Roe v. Wade amounted to a “super precedent” law, a term referring to a law that has be upheld so many times it could be difficult to undo. Gorsuch did not directly answer the question. During the past three days of questioning, Gorsuch has repeatedly said that he has to be cautious about commenting on specific issues that could come before him if he is confirmed as an associate justice on the court. Gorsuch has also said, correctly, that legal abortion is currently “the law of the land. ” “As wrong as Roe is, Judge Gorsuch is correct that it is currently the law of the land,” said Ken Klulkowski, senior legal editor for Breitbart News. “This does not mean that if given the opportunity that he would not vote to overrule Roe. ” “Judge Gorsuch’s statement is completely consistent with ’ hopes and President Trump’s campaign promise,” Klukowski said. Although Democrats are resisting Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination, none opposed his nomination to be a federal appellate judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, where he has served for ten years. | 0fake |
Bahrain calls for freezing Qatar out of GCC | DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain will not attend December s summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council if Qatar does not change its policies and Qatar should have its membership in the six-nation group suspended, Bahrain s foreign minister said. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of financing terrorism. Doha denies the charges and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty and rein in its support for reform. If the situation remains as it is we won t attend this summit, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said on Twitter, referring to the GCC meeting in Kuwait. The right step to preserve the GCC is to freeze Qatar s membership in the council, he said. Founded as a bulwark against neighbours Iraq and Iran, the Western-backed GCC is a loose association of the six Gulf Arab countries. Qatar has pursued policies aimed at the security of member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council ... Qatar has proved that it does not respect the charters, treaties and ties established by the GCC, Saudi state TV channel quoted Bahrain s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as saying on Monday. Bahrain believes Qatar is fomenting unrest in the island kingdom by supporting protests and even sporadic shooting and bombing attacks aimed at security forces. In an interview with U.S. broadcaster CBS News broadcast on Sunday, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said he wanted an end to the dispute and warned against any military escalation. | 0fake |
Donald Trump Reveals The First Thing He’d Do If America Puts Him In The White House (IMAGES) | Republican front runner Donald Trump has revealed a truly insidious First Day in the White House. His number 1 priority? Removing Gun-Free Zones from schools.To much of the world, schools being gun-free is standard. The entire developed world has achieved consensus on the simple logic that deadly weapons and children don t mix. It seems only the Republican Party of the United States and their followers reject this logic. As a result, the U.S. leads the developed world in deaths by gun per capita and school shootings, by a distance which is as horrifying as it is embarrassing.As we can see from the data compiled by Quartz, the United States suffered almost the same number of mass killings in schools between 2000 and 2010 than 36 other nations combined. This figure becomes yet more astonishing when they point out the fact that:In 2010, the US was home to a population of approximately 309 million. The populations of these other countries totaled 3.8 billion.Yet, speaking to an audience in Burlington, Vermont on Thursday night Trump announced: I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools you have to and on military bases on my first day. It gets signed my first day, You know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? he asked. That s bait. Trump timed the announcement to coincide with the President s Town Hall meeting on gun violence, which was airing on CNN. President Obama, having been consistently thwarted in his efforts at bipartisan cooperation on gun control, will now use executive powers to implement a raft of measures to protect American citizens from out-of-control gun violence.Donald Trump and the Republican Party just failed a very big test. Given the choice to operate with political courage in the interests of the American people, or with political opportunism in the interests of themselves and their donors, Trump and the GOP picked the latter. In doing so, they put American lives in peril, and proved themselves unworthy of a place in the White House.Featured Image via Flickr | 1real |
5 Ways to Be a Better Tourist - The New York Times | American tourists are numerous, relatively affluent and culturally distinct enough that tour guides in other lands often receive special training to know how best to accommodate them. But the guide trainers say there are some basic ways that Americans can be better guests when taking tours abroad. Generally, that means being open to new experiences and asking more questions about the culture you’re visiting rather than talking about your own. There are specific steps, too. Learn a few of the most common words or phrases. “Hello,” “excuse me,” “thank you” and “goodbye” are common courtesies that you should learn and use in the local language. Even if you mispronounce the words, it’s the gesture that counts. Watch your body language. Customs vary widely, but how and whether you point or beckon can potentially offend, and in the Muslim world the left hand is reserved for bathroom hygiene. Some societies keep eyes downcast as a sign of respect, especially with elders, making an American’s direct gaze feel awkward to tour guides. Do your homework ahead of time about such things before visiting a country or culturally distinct region for the first time. Dress appropriately for the society or site you are visiting. If you are unsure, do a little research beforehand, taking cues from the way the locals dress. In many places, women would do well to carry a large scarf to cover the head or shoulders, if necessary — particularly in sites of religious significance. Be a considerate photographer. Don’t monopolize the best vantage points, or cause the tour to fall behind schedule as you play Ansel Adams. And limit use of selfie sticks, which can be particularly annoying. Leave a “little something. ” Even in countries where tipping is not part of the culture, it is widely known that Americans do tip. To not do so could be perceived as a specific slight. And many workers, especially in areas, count on it. | 0fake |
BREAKING: SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE CAVES: VOTES TO REMOVE CONFEDERATE FLAG FROM STATEHOUSE GROUNDS…BECAUSE IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FLAG, YA KNOW | Another successful cleansing of our history like it or not what s next?Just a reminder of something Michelle Obama said in 2008 on the campaign trail in Puerto Rico: MICHELLE OBAMA: Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we re going to have to move into a different place as a nation. Change our traditions and change our history. What did she mean by that?Changing history means not just telling the same old tall tales of the free market system and the Founders. No, it s the history according to progressives. And it s not merely spinning the old facts; it s taking current events and molding them to fit the progressive agenda and, in this case, completely ignoring history. HERE S A BACKWARDS TIMELINE OF WHAT HAPPENED TODAY VIA THE POST AND COURIER:Members of the South Carolina Senate have voted 37-3 to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds.Sen. Lee Bright, R-Roebuck, objected to giving the bill automatic third reading, which is usually a procedural vote, on Tuesday. For the bill to be sent to the House, it will need a two-thirds vote.Monday s three nay votes were from Bright, and Sens. Harvey Peeler and Danny Verdin. Plus, for the bill to be amended on third reading, it would need a three-fifths vote.Senate is scheduled to return Tuesday at 10 a.m.3:20 p.m. update: The senate has voted to table amendments that would have pushed the vote on the Confederate flag issue to a statewide referendum (36-3), allow the flag to flown on Statehouse grounds on Confederate Memorial Day (22-17) or replace the current flag with the First National Flag of the Confederate States of America (34-6). Now, various senators are taking turns speaking about the issue. No one has yet made a motion to vote on the bill that would remove the Confederate battle from the Statehouse grounds.1:50 p.m. update: After a short break, the Senate returned to debate the fate of the Statehouse s Confederate battle flag just after 1:15 p.m.Roebuck Republican Sen. Lee Bright s amendment has already died on a 36-3 vote. It would have placed the fate of the flag in the hands of voters.The Senate has now moved to discuss an amendment by Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Laurens. It would allow for the flag to be flown at the Confederate Soldier Monument on Confederate Memorial Day, which is May 10. Verdin has the floor.COLUMBIA It s been a morning of impassioned speeches in the South Carolina Senate, as lawmakers brace for discussion on a bill that will determine the fate of the Confederate battle flag on the Statehouse s grounds.The Senate is on recess until 1 p.m. Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman said the heads of both the GOP and Democratic Caucus asked for body to break for a recess so that the caucuses could meet. But lawmakers are still planning on discussing the bill today. My intent is to give it second reading today and my intent would be to give it third reading tomorrow, Leatherman said. Will the Senate do that? Don t know. But we ll try to head in that direction. If the bill follows Leatherman s planned track, it ll be before the House for a vote on Wednesday. Only one amendment has been proposed in the Senate so far.Roebuck Republican Sen. Lee Bright s amendment would place the fate of the banner in the hands of voters. When the bill crosses the hall, it ll likely be met with an amendment by Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, who said he d like to see the battle flag replaced with Bonnie Blue.Meanwhile, members from both sides of the aisle have made speeches calling for the flag s removal this morning, including Pickens Republican Sen. Larry Martin, who said his view on the flag changed after the shooting that took the lives of nine churchgoers in Charleston on June 17.Martin said he looked at the flag as if it was given some sort of official status, because it flies on the capitol s grounds. That doesn t represent all of the people of South Carolina, Martin said. It isn t part of our future. It s part of our past. A two-thirds vote in each chamber is needed to do anything with any monument on the capitol s grounds, including the battle flag which is part of the Confederate Soldier Monument. That vote threshold has been met, according to a survey by The Post and Courier.Outside the Statehouse, dozens of protesters began to arrive Monday morning. Some called for the flag to come down. Others, such as Nelson Waller in his rebel flag tie, said the state was giving in to Northern liberals and civil rights activists. Waller carried a sign that read Keep the flag. Dump Nikki! Two decades ago, he carried a Dump Beasley sign after then-Gov. David Beasley made an unsuccessful attempt to get the Confederate flag off the Statehouse dome. | 1real |
White House close to naming nominees for U.S. SEC: senior official | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is very close to naming its nominees for the top U.S. securities regulator, a senior official said on Friday, which could lead the current three-member Securities and Exchange Commission to reach its full five-member complement in the near future. The official said there are currently nominees in the “pipeline” and undergoing the security clearance review that typically takes two months. The senior White House official spoke on condition of anonymity. | 0fake |
ARCHITECT OF MASS VOTER FRAUD: Hollywood Producer Tells Stunning Story Of How Obama Stole Election In 2008 | The Clintons were the original birthers, Viviano told WND in an interview in Los Angeles. Everybody who has called this a conspiracy from the Republicans or the tea party, they need to know who started it the Democrats, she said. It was Hillary and Bill, and it percolated up from there, said Viviano, who had access to the campaign through a documentary she produced on the claims of delegates that Obama and the Democratic National Committee were stealing the nomination from Hillary.Viviano said that she was on a conference phone call during the primary season in the spring of 2008 in which she heard Bill Clinton refer to Obama as ineligible for the presidency.In the course of the phone conversation with Hillary delegates, she recalled, Bill Clinton spoke of Obama as the non-citizen. In the world we were in, with [Hillary s] super-delegates and delegates, it just was, He s not legit that s the end of it, period, end of story. It wasn t up for discussion, Viviano said.Michele Thomas, a Hillary campaigner from Los Angeles, confirmed to WND that she learned from many people who were close to Hillary that Obama was not eligible to be president. Thomas led a nationwide petition drive among delegates to force a vote on Hillary s nomination at the convention after then-DNC Chairman Howard Dean announced her name would not be put into nomination and Obama would be declared the winner by unanimous acclamation.Viviano said that it was understood that Bill Clinton would eventually go public with his contention that Obama was ineligible for the presidency. He, I believe, was frothing at the mouth to tell the truth about Obama, she said.In the meantime, she recalled, the former president would make ironic references in public in which he teetered on revealing he position. He would go on camera, Viviano said, and jokingly make comments about, you know, Is Obama qualified to be president? Well, if he s 35 and a wink, wink, United States citizen, I guess he s qualified. She claimed, however, that Bill Clinton s intention to unequivocally state to the public that Obama was ineligible was stopped in its tracks by the murder of a close friend of the Clintons, Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney, just two weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Denver.Gwatney was killed Aug. 13, 2008, when a 50-year-old man entered Democratic Party headquarters in Little Rock and shot him three times. Police killed the murderer after a chase, and investigators found no motive.The Clintons said in a statement that they were stunned and shaken by the killing of their cherished friend and confidante. Viviano said a campaign staffer who was close to Hillary, whose name she requested be withheld for security reasons, told her Gwatney s murder was a message to Bill Clinton. I was told by this person that that was Shut up, Bill, or you re next, she said.The campaign adviser, according to Viviano, said that despite the intimidation and threats, Bill Clinton was prepared to speak out about Obama s eligibility And then, Viviano said, paraphrasing the staffer, they went in and said, OK, it s your daughter, now, we ll go after. And then Bill never said anything. Others in the campaign who believe Gwatney s murder was a message to the Clintons think it had to do with the fact that Gwatney was resisting an effort by the Obama campaign and the party to intimidate Hillary delegates into voting for Obama.But Viviano argues that California delegates also were rebelling, and she says her source told her the same story two years later.Since the 2008 campaign, Clinton has insisted publicly that Obama is eligible for the White House.He weighed in on the issue in an April 2011 interview with ABC s Good Morning America, when Donald Trump was urging Obama to release his long-form birth certificate to the public. If I were them, I d be really careful riding that birther horse too much, Clinton said. Everyone knows it s ludicrous. WNDWatch Bettina tell Jerome Corsi her story here:Watch the clips rom the groundbreaking documentary We Will Not be Silenced, and WND investigative reporter Jerome Corsi s ongoing investigation of Barack Obama. Democrats explain how massive voter fraud was committed to ensure a win for Barack Obama: | 1real |
THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: ISIS Gets Stunning WAKE UP CALL From General “Mad Dog” Mattis On Day One | President Trump has mentioned in the past that he would like to see ISIS completely wiped out within 30 days of taking office. If Mattis first day on the job was any indication, the president may just get his wish.In Iraq, Mattis continued to crush ISIS forces. One of the strikes, taking place in the city of Rutbah, eliminated a tactical unit, two weapons caches, a mortar and a vehicle. Strikes in the city of Beiji also demolished a unit and a vehicle, while another strike in Kisik blew up a building and a tactical unit.To cap it all off, Mattis oversaw two strikes against Mosul, the ISIS region capital in Iraq, which annihilated two units, a tank, a factory that manufactures car bombs, and three fighting positions.CNN Analyst retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling defends Obama s strategy and calls Trump s plan to defeat ISIS, A sophomoric approach to national security policy. Suggests that he might want to take a look at other countries to see how they defeat terrorism:Here s a video of Trump s new Secretary of Defense General James Mad dog Mattis reporting for duty on his first day:#SecDef James Mattis arrives at the #Pentagon on his first full day of office in #WashingtonDC, January 21, 2017. pic.twitter.com/KtOuwbTlQJ U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) January 21, 2017 | 1real |
KRAUTHAMMER: Jeb Bush had a breakout performance in the Fox News debate | Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer said after Thursday night's Fox News Republican debate that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) might have come away a big winner.
Speaking with Fox moderator Megyn Kelly shortly after the debate ended, Krauthammer said the former Florida governor turned in a strong performance — possibly the best of the night out of all the candidates on stage.
"I thought it was, interestingly, the best night that Jeb had in all of the debates," Krauthammer said. "And I might even say I think he might have had the best night of the group in this debate."
"He was very strong. He had one moment where he kind of flipped back to Marco Rubio on the question of immigration," he said.
Krauthammer was referring to a back-and-forth between Bush and Rubio on supporting a path to citizenship on for immigrants living in the country illegally.
Rubio said that Bush used to support a path to citizenship — to which Bush said, "So did you."
Bush then continued: "I think it's important for people in elected office to try to force consensus to solve problems. There's never going to be a perfect bill. ... You shouldn't cut and run. You should stick with it. ... He cut and run."
He was referring to the 2013 immigration bill that Rubio co-sponsored.
"What I found ironic here is it was kind of a reversal of that moment in one of the earlier debates when there was a tangle between Rubio and Bush and Rubio turned it very strongly against Bush," Krauthammer said. "So I thought this was one debate where Bush did very well." | 0fake |
Germany’s Islamist Scene Growing: Security Chief | BERLIN (AFP) — Germany’s domestic security chief warned Sunday that the country’s radical Islamist scene is not only growing, but becoming more decentralised, posing greater challenges to surveillance operations. [In an interview with national news agency DPA, Maassen also defended security officials under fire after it emerged that Berlin truck attack suspect Anis Amri had slipped through their net, saying they had done everything they could. Overall, the number of Salafists — or fundamentalist Sunni Muslims — in Germany has risen to more than 9, 700, sharply up from 3, 800 people in 2011, said Maassen. “It’s of great concern to us that this scene is not only growing, but it is also very diversified. There is not just one, two, three or four people who have a say,” he warned. “Rather, there are many people who dominate this Salafist scene. And all these people have to be watched. ” While in the past, there were a few people who wielded influence, today, there are many small clusters formed by individuals. “So you can no longer talk about a Salafist scene as a whole, but you have to deal with many hotspots. That makes things more difficult for us, because we can no longer just watch a few people. We have to monitor many groups,” he said. In a defence of security officials under pressure for failing to stop Amri, Maassen said that although officers had watched the Tunisian over a long period of time, they found no evidence to arrest him. “I believe that the security forces, in particular the police, have done everything in their power to assess the danger posed by Amri. But it is also clear that we live under the rule of law, and the legal framework must be respected,” he said. Amri, 24, who was shot dead by Italian police days after ramming a truck into a crowded Christmas market, had been under surveillance since March. But German police dropped their watch in September thinking he was a drug dealer. Public anger also mounted as the rejected asylum seeker and known radical Islamist should have been deported long ago. In the wake of the attack, Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted that “the Amri case raises questions” and ordered a sweeping review of Germany’s security apparatus. | 0fake |
Top Trump Adviser: UK/U.S. Deal Could Be Ready in ’Six Months’ | Donald Trump expects to be in a position to offer the United Kingdom a free trade deal within the “first six months or the first year” of his administration, says Anthony Scaramucci, the noted entrepreneur and host of the Wall Street Week programme who will serve as the incoming president’s Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs. [Speaking to ITV News, the SkyBridge Capital founder confirmed that the current plan is to “get in the White House and get the president inaugurated and then take the steps necessary to make sure the UK is at the front of the line, as opposed to at the back the line, on trade deals”. Scaramucci’s reference to “the back of the line” was a call back to outgoing president Barack Obama threatening that the British would be at the back of the queue for a trade deal if they voted to leave the European Union (EU) which does not allow its members to strike trade deals on their own. Obama’s use of the word “queue” which is uncommon in raised suspicions that he had been fed lines by the former prime minister, David Cameron, and Scaramucci’s decision to use the more traditional “line” may have been significant. Scaramucci’s positive comments come shortly after the himself pledged to get a trade deal “done quickly and done properly” after Brexit in an interview with The Times of London, while congratulation the British public on their decision to leave an EU which is “basically a vehicle for Germany“. “We see the unique, special relationship bond and love that these countries and people have for each other,” Scaramucci told ITN, echoing sentiments expressed by Trump himself. “I’m a big fan of the UK” said the Republican leader, reminiscing about his Scottish mother’s pride in the Queen. Asked how he thought the would get on with the EU in office, Scaramucci was upbeat. “Way better than the EU thinks. I know him very, very well, and I understand exactly what he’s thinking, and I understand his kindness and his gregarious nature and his charm — he really wants to get along with the rest of the world. ” Earlier in the week, however, Scaramucci warned attendees of the ongoing Davos conference in Switzerland that “the European leadership and the European elites … had better pay much closer attention to the working class families and the middle class”. He also reiterated the ’s view that European NATO members must start “paying their bills” and refocus their efforts on “radical Islamic terrorism” rather than the former Soviet Union. | 0fake |
In Washington Pizzeria Attack, Fake News Brought Real Guns - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Edgar M. Welch, a father of two from Salisbury, N. C. recently read online that Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in northwest Washington, was harboring young children as sex slaves as part of a ring led by Hillary Clinton. The articles making those allegations were widespread across the web, appearing on sites including Facebook and Twitter. Apparently concerned, Mr. Welch drove about six hours on Sunday from his home to Comet Ping Pong to see the situation for himself, according to court documents. Not long after arriving at the pizzeria, the police said, he fired from an rifle. The police arrested him. They found a rifle and a handgun in the restaurant. No one was hurt. In an arraignment on Monday, a heavily tattooed Mr. Welch, wearing a white jumpsuit and shackles, was ordered held. According to the criminal complaint, he told the authorities that he was armed to help rescue children but that he surrendered peacefully after finding no evidence that “children were being harbored in the restaurant. ” He was charged with four counts, including felony assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a gun without a license outside a home or business. Unbeknown to Mr. Welch, what he had been reading online were fake news articles about Comet Ping Pong, which have swollen in number over time. The false articles against the pizzeria began appearing on social networks and websites in late October, not long before the presidential election, with the restaurant identified as being the headquarters for a ring. The articles were soon exposed as false by publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post and the website Snopes. But the debunking did not squash the conspiracy theories about Comet Ping Pong — instead, it led to the opposite. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been flooded with more attacks against the pizzeria as believers in the conspiracy became more zealous. Within hours of the publication of one of the debunking articles, a post on Twitter by Representative Steven Smith of the 15th District of Georgia — not a real lawmaker and not a real district — warned that what was fake was the information being peddled by the mainstream media. It was retweeted dozens of times. On YouTube, a takedown of the Times article was viewed nearly 250, 000 times and passed around on Twitter and Facebook. A surge of new fake articles amplified the original pieces, now linking the ring — known as Pizzagate — to a global pedophilia ring reaching Britain. “We should all condemn the efforts of certain people to spread malicious and utterly false accusations about Comet Ping Pong,” James Alefantis, the owner of Comet Ping Pong, said in a statement on Sunday. Mr. Alefantis, who has repeatedly refuted the fake news articles, has closed the pizzeria for a few days. He has prominent Democratic friends and previously communicated with Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, which he has said may have made him a target. The shooting underscores the stubborn lasting power of fake news and how hard it is to stamp out. Debunking false news articles can sometimes stoke the outrage of the believers, leading fake news purveyors to feed that appetite with more misinformation. Efforts by social media companies to control the spread of these stories are limited, and shutting one online discussion thread down simply pushes the fake news creators to move to another space online. “The reason why it’s so hard to stop fake news is that the facts don’t change people’s minds,” said Leslie Harris, a former president of the Center for Democracy Technology, a nonprofit that promotes free speech and open internet policies. When users are caught abusing the terms of one media platform, they simply go to another, she said. The viral nature of the misinformation was illustrated again late Sunday, not long after the police arrested Mr. Welch and called Pizzagate a “fictitious online conspiracy theory” in their report. Some individuals on Twitter said Mr. Welch was an actor used by the mainstream media to divert attention from the alleged crimes at Comet Ping Pong. Followers of a shuttered Reddit thread on Pizzagate dissected the episode on a new online network called Voat. The storm of fake news has swept up not only Comet Ping Pong, but its neighboring businesses. Conspiracy theorists have linked symbols that some local businesses on the same street as Comet Ping Pong used in their logos to symbols of pedophilia code. At Terasol, a French restaurant across the street from Comet Ping Pong, the owner, Sabrina Ousmaal, said she received daily phone threats and her business’s Facebook page had been filled with false accusations, including, “You guys mind explaining the pedophilia symbol removed from your website then?” She added that the symbol was not on her restaurant but on the store of a nearby shop and was a swirl within a triangle. Ms. Ousmaal said she and her husband had called the police and the F. B. I. but had received little guidance. “I am appalled and horrified,” Ms. Ousmaal said of the shooting on Sunday. “Nothing has been done. This is not free speech. This is a hate crime. ” Tech companies and government leaders have been struggling to solve the problem of fake news, with Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, earlier promising to work on technology tools to slow the gusher of false digital information. In a news briefing on Monday, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said free speech rights pose a challenge for media platforms to prevent misinformation from leading to episodes like the gunman at Comet Ping Pong. “Many of the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley didn’t develop this technology to make it easier for hate to be propagated online their idea was to build a community where people could more effectively communicate and engage in commerce,” Mr. Earnest said. “If you do administer a platform that is used extensively to propagate hate and to inspire acts of violence, well, I think most people are going to be less likely to use the platform. ” For purveyors of fake news who have continued pushing the Pizzagate theory even after the facts have been debunked, whether Comet Ping Pong is even engaged in a pedophilia ring is beyond the point. Jeffrey Marty, a lawyer from Florida, said in a phone interview that he was the man posing as Representative Steven Smith from Georgia’s fictional 15th District. He said that he was frustrated with the way the mainstream media covered the election and that he believes that most of his 24, 000 followers know that his account is a parody. Mr. Marty, who has tweeted links to fake news stories and repeatedly said the mainstream media needs to investigate Pizzagate, declined to say whether he actually believed the Comet Ping Pong allegations. “I just think you need to investigate. There are clues everywhere,” he said. “But I don’t agree with what happened at the restaurant. ” Mr. Welch has long supported family values, his friends said Monday. He briefly volunteered at the Locke Township Fire Department in Salisbury, according to the chief, Rusty Alexander. Friends described Mr. Welch as a doting father who loved the outdoors. While he had been arrested while driving impaired in 2013 and was sentenced to probation, the shooting on Sunday was out of character, his friends said. “That’s not at all the person I know,” Louis Bodak, whose son Matthew is a good friend of Mr. Welch’s, said about the shooting. Mr. Welch is scheduled to appear in court again on Thursday. | 0fake |
House intelligence panel will interview Kushner on Tuesday | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Intelligence Committee said on Friday it will interview White House adviser Jared Kushner on Tuesday as part of its investigation into allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election. | 0fake |
Trump Administration Just Pressured Argentina Into Not Honoring Jimmy Carter With An Award | The Trump administration explicitly requested that Argentine President Mauricio Macri delay honoring former Democratic President Jimmy Carter with an award. Marci planned to award Carter the Order of the Liberator General San Martin, the highest distinction in that country to a foreign person, but pressure from the Trump administration caused the honor to be delayed.Carter, who has been a critic of Trump s administration, was set to be honored by Argentina with the award which is the equivalent to America s Medal of Freedom.The Buenos Aires Herald reports:The Mauricio Macri administration reverted a decision to award former US president Jimmy Carter the Order of the Liberator General San Mart n the maximum distinction that the country can give to a foreign personality , under the pressure from US President Donald Trump s administration, CNN web site reported this week.The official tribute, which had already been approved by the foreign ministry and was published in the Official Gazette, was cancelled after receiving a specific request by the US government, which would have suggested it would be better to delay it. Carter was to be given the award for his work in promoting human rights during Argentina s last military dictatorship.According to CNN, an Argentinean official spoke on condition of anonymity and said the decision not to carry out the official delivery to Jimmy Carter was to avoid conflicts and to talk about matters of mutual interest between the two countries.CNN reports:The council that studies who to grant the distinction in the Chancellery of Argentina had approved the distinction to the former president for his work for peace and for his contribution to human rights during the dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla when Carter was president of the United States.Trump has never been kind to his critics. Carter, on the other hand, is just a soul who, since leaving office, does charitable work for the needy. Carter just has an unfavorable view of Donald Trump and that is apparently too much for the alleged president to handle.Photo by Jessica McGowan via Getty. | 1real |
Trump, Republicans set timeframe for introducing Obamacare replacement | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress said on Thursday that they will soon unveil plans to repeal and replace Obamacare, providing a timeframe for a legislative goal they have struggled with for weeks. Republicans, who control the White House, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, have long vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act but have had difficulty agreeing on a detailed plan for replacing the signature domestic policy of former Democratic President Barack Obama. But announcements from Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan claimed progress. “We’re doing Obamacare, we’re in the final stages,” Trump told a news conference. “So we will be submitting sometime in early March, mid-March.” Earlier Thursday, Ryan told reporters on Capitol Hill that House Republicans would introduce legislation to repeal and replace Obama’s program after a 10-day recess that begins on Friday. “After the House returns following the Presidents Day break, we intend to introduce legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare,” Ryan said at a press conference. Presidents Day is on Monday and the House returns on Feb. 27. Ryan spoke shortly after many House Republicans huddled in a closed session with newly-installed U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to discuss their options to change the 2010 law. The session was part pep talk and part laying out of talking points that can be delivered to constituents during the recess. A 19-page “policy brief” was distributed to lawmakers, and it included some details of the emerging House Republican healthcare strategy. In the weeks ahead, Republicans intend to repeal the penalties for Obamacare’s mandate requiring individuals to get coverage and employers to provide it, the policy brief said. The House Republican replacement plan for Obamacare will include an age-based monthly tax credit that Americans who do not get health insurance through their employer can use to buy health insurance and take from job to job, the brief said. House Republicans plan to unwind the expansion of the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor that happened under Obamacare, and eventually cap federal Medicaid payments to states, the document said. And they plan to repeal cuts that Obamacare made in payments to hospitals treating large numbers of uninsured. Lawmakers left the meeting saying there was plenty more work ahead on thorny issues. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said there is “a range of options” for giving states more say over Medicaid. He also said there were options to offset the cost of a Republican plan, such as capping the tax exclusion for employer-based healthcare plans. | 0fake |
Comment on Johnson & Johnson Ordered To Pay $72 Million In Another Ovarian Cancer Case Caused By Baby Powder by JOHNSON & JOHNSON ORDERED TO PAY $72 MILLION IN ANOTHER OVARIAN CANCER CASE CAUSED BY BABY POWDER – View Point | advertisement - learn more
This is one out of several cases raising concerns about the health consequences of using regular talcum powder use. Approximately 1,000 more cases have been filed in Missouri state court, and another 200 in New Jersey, but this may well be the tip of the iceberg.
As Global News reports: “The jury ruling ended the trial that began Sept. 26 in the case brought by Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012. The suit accused Johnson & Johnson of “negligent conduct” in making and marketing its baby powder.”
Unfortunately, a statement from Carol Goodrich, a spokeswoman with Johnson & Johnson, said in the statement to Global: “We deeply sympathize with the woman and families impacted by ovarian cancer…We will appeal today’s verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder.” advertisement - learn more Obviously, if these are the decisions being made by a court of law, there is ample amounts of science and evidence suggesting the baby powder was indeed the cause. Earlier in the year, a decision was made last by a Missouri state jury that awarded the family of Jacqueline Fox $10-million of actual damages and $62 million of punitive damages. In this case, we saw the exact same response from the company as the case noted above. These cases show how people are using something they thought was perfectly safe, but clearly wasn’t. One of the most painful revelations, as Bloomberg notes, is that: In the 1990s, even as the company acknowledged concerns in the health community, it considered increasing its marketing efforts to black and Hispanic women, who were already buying the product in high numbers. Fox was black. The jury foreman, Krista Smith, says internal documents provided the most incriminating evidence: ‘It was really clear they were hiding something.’ She wanted to award the Fox family even more. Imerys Talc America, the biggest talc supplier in the country and the sole source of the powder for J&J, was also named as a defendant. The company wasn’t found liable. The ‘scientific evidence’ to which she refers clearly have not withstood the scrutiny of either this trial or concerned members of the public; it also fails to account for who funded the research. Her remark also makes plain a disturbing trend amongst big corporations, which is the blind trust of their employees. Many clearly believe what they are told about the products they represent, without questioning or doing their own independent research. Scientific fraud induced by major corporations in this field is no secret, and various medical experts around the world have been speaking out against it for decades. Dr. Richard Horton, current Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet , one of the largest medical journals in the world, has publicly and unequivocally called out the scientific community for this negligence and outright fraud: The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. ( source ) The sheer volume of statements from very credible people, along with the documents and evidence, attesting to this disturbing trend, is simply overwhelming. (You can find more information and view more examples/statements in an article we recently published about anti-depressant drugs here .) Yet the unfortunate reality is that employees of these big corporations stand behind their products, working under the assurances of corporately-funded science which, obviously, has profit in mind rather than safety. This is a widespread and alarming problem, and it’s great to see more people raise their voice against these shady practices. Dr. Marcia Angell, a physician and longtime Editor-in-Chief of the New England Medical Journal (NEMJ), is another such professional to do so: It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. ( source ) It’s no secret that many household products are toxic to our health. Science has been confirming their dangers for years now (not that many of us needed this confirmation); these products are literally littered with a number of hazardous harmful chemicals. Researchers in the UK, for example, found that domestic products such as anti-insect sprays, deodorants, cleaning products, cosmetics, and more contain a number of cancer causing chemicals. The researchers, from the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, who concluded that these types of everyday household products maybe be contributing to 100,000 deaths every single year in Europe, warn that the public remains unaware of these risks. Another example of an insider speaking out against the industry is Foster Gamble, the direct descendant of one of the founders of Procter & Gamble (a company similar to Johnson & Johnson). He himself explains that he was groomed for the establishment, but his ethical concerns prompted him to change direction. To the left you will see a picture of him with Gerald Ford. Foster decided to leave the business and instead raise awareness about many issues, including the hazards associated with everyday household products that the corporations like his father’s manufacture. He’s had an interesting life to say the least, and you can watch a documentary he released a few years ago here .
The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.
You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.
"If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune | 1real |
FDA Department Gets Order From White House Saying All Office TVs Must Be Programmed To Fox News Only | A little over 100 days into America s experiment in dystopian rule took a predictably sad turn: The Trump administration, apparently tired of allowing people to watch non-propaganda, have begun ordering government agencies to only allow Fox News to be played in government buildings. Fox News, of course, has operated as little more than a full-time state news agency for the Trump administration.The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), operating within the FDA, was given this message after employees asked why all of their monitors had inexplicably been changed to Fox News:I wanted to let everyone know that the reason for the change from CNN to FOX.The reason for the change is that a decision from the current administration adminstrative officials has requested that all monitors, under our control, on the White Oak Campus, display FOX news.Sorry for the inconvenience, but I am unable to change any of the monitors to any other news source at this time.Reporter Julia Reinstein confirmed the email from a source within the research center.Someone at CBER sent me the email which told staff TVs had been switched to Fox News by order of the admin pic.twitter.com/rsCzpOtdpv Julia Reinstein (@juliareinstein) May 5, 2017Reinstein got a picture confirming that the TVs within an office filled with serious scientists and researchers trying to do their jobs really were streaming Fox News.Here's Fox News on the TVs at CBER, same day an email went out to staff saying it had been switched from CNN to Fox by order of Trump admin pic.twitter.com/uVPx8jekIk Julia Reinstein (@juliareinstein) May 5, 2017Fox News has weathered its own scandals recently by doubling, then tripling down on unwavering support of Donald Trump. Its years of anti-Obama hysterics have given way to a Trump promotional operation that is breathtaking to watch. The mental gymnastics the network pulls in order to defend Trump s (largely unsuccessful) first 100 days has become the stuff of legend, including what may be one of the most unintentionally hilarious tweets ever published.Jobless rate after first 3 months: Trump vs. Obama vs. Bush vs. Clinton. pic.twitter.com/EUTEseJyTj Fox News (@FoxNews) April 29, 2017Unsurprisingly, all of this favorable coverage has pleased Trump, who is reportedly obsessed with what people are saying about him on cable news. On the same day the White House ordered CBER to start playing Fox News, Trump took time out of his schedule to praise Fox News morning show Fox and Friends for its ratings.Congratulations to @foxandfriends on its unbelievable ratings hike. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2017We are actively monitoring other governmental agencies to see if similar orders emerge. It seems highly unlikely that Trump would target just CBER with an order to watch Fox News. We ll update when we have more.Featured image via Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Post-Election To-Do List | Posted on November 7, 2016 by DavidSwanson
1. Stop the efforts to ram through the Trans-Pacific Partnership during the lame duck.
2. Stop the efforts to ram through a supplemental war spending bill for assorted future wars during the lame duck.
3. Stop the efforts to repeal the right to sue Saudi Arabia and other nations for their wars and lesser acts of terrorism during the lame duck.
4. Build a nonpartisan movement to effect real change.
5. Ban bribery, fund elections, make registration automatic, make election day a holiday, end gerrymandering, eliminate the electoral college, create the right to vote, create public hand counting of paper ballots at every polling place, create ranked choice voting.
6. End the wars, end the weapons dealing, close the bases, and shift military spending to human and environmental needs.
7. Tax billionaires.
8. End mass incarceration and the death penalty and the militarization of police.
9. Create single-payer healthcare.
10. Support the rule of law, diplomacy, and aid.
11. Invest in serious effort to avoid climate catastrophe.
12. Apologize to the world for having elected President Clinton or Trump.
1. Build a movement that includes all the Democrats eager to get active.
2. Build a movement that includes a focus on rights of refugees / immigrants
3. Build a movement that resists racist violence at home.
4. Demand a swift end to NAFTA and NATO.
5. Oppose all the horrible nominations for high offices.
6. Break up the media cartel.
7. If win came through voter suppression, seek prosecution immediately.
8. If win came through fraudulent counting, launch massive campaign to compel Democrats to admit it and protest it.
1. Build a movement that includes all the Republicans and Libertarians eager to get active.
2. Build a movement that includes a focus on rights of refugees / immigrants
3. Build a movement that resists racist violence directed at nations abroad.
4. Demand serious action on climate change.
5. Oppose all the horrible nominations for high offices.
6. Break up the media cartel.
7. If win came through fraudulent counting, support Trump’s noisy denunciation, and if it did not, then reject Trump’s noisy denunciation.
1. Support the independent media that made this possible.
2. Support all the wonderful nominees for higher office.
3. Help people in other countries turn their disastrous political systems around too.
4. Volunteer for public service. This entry was posted in General . Bookmark the permalink . Vote as if your life depended upon it, because it does. → WillDippel
Here is a look at one of the most ironic emails released from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman’s computer by Wikileaks: | 1real |
Merkel reassures EU over lack of Berlin coalition deal | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had reassured her European Union counterparts during a summit on Friday that Germany continued to have a government committed to the EU despite delays in forming a new coalition. Speaking to reporters in Brussels, she said it was important to her that the EU continued to develop. Merkel s first attempt to form a new coalition after September s election failed last weekend, disappointing EU partners who were hoping for a fully functioning German government by December to help make deals. As the acting government, we are fulfilling all our European obligations, Merkel said. We are conducting the consultations we need with our parliament in order to be capable of taking the necessary decisions. | 0fake |
Trump Has Extremely Inappropriate Reaction To Being Contradicted By His Own National Security Adviser | The majority of America has already noticed and figured it out a long time ago that Donald Trump doesn t have a measured, steady reaction to anything. Widely known for his lack of mental and emotional stability, America s new failing president continues to horrify the nation (and the world) with his over-the-top, inappropriate reactions to even the most straightforward issues and disagreements. How Trump treats members of his own team is a perfect example of this.Last month, Trump made a controversial remark when he insisted that South Korea should pay for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a missile defense system that would help keep North Korea at bay. As Trump frequently talks out of his a** and makes statements that have no basis in reality, he was quickly contradicted by his own National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster. In a public statement, McMaster stepped in and quickly assured the Korean government that the cost of THAAD would be taken care of by the United States. Apparently, Trump didn t take that too well.According to Bloomberg, it s just been revealed that Trump lost his sh*t over this and tore his own adviser a new one over the phone. Bloomberg reported: Trump was livid, according to three White House officials, after reading in the Wall Street Journal that McMaster had called his South Korean counterpart to assure him that the president s threat to make that country pay for a new missile defense system was not official policy. These officials say Trump screamed at McMaster on a phone call, accusing him of undercutting efforts to get South Korea to pay its fair share. Trump, as usual, was having a highly inappropriate reaction to his fragile ego being bruised. Apparently, this isn t even the first and only time something like this has happened. Bloomberg stated that in private, Trump calls McMaster the general undermining my policy and appears regretful that he appointed him.The lack of trust and in-fighting we ve seen in the Trump administration as well as Trump s lack of respect for the advisers HE appointed is unprecedented on so many levels. This administration continues to be an embarrassment to this country, and most of us can t wait until this nightmare is over.Featured image via Pool / Getty Images | 1real |
U.S. transfers four Guantanamo inmates in waning hours of Obama tenure | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sent four detainees from the Guantanamo Bay military prison to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Thursday, marking President Barack Obama’s final prisoner transfers from a facility whose continued existence he said would be judged harshly by history. With Republican Donald Trump to be sworn in as president on Friday and vowing to keep the prison open, Democrat Obama whittled down the inmate population there to only 41, far short of fulfilling his promise to close the jail dating back to his 2008 presidential campaign. In a parting shot on an issue seen tarnishing his legacy, Obama said U.S. lawmakers who have thwarted his efforts to shut the prison at the U.S. naval base in Cuba “have abdicated their responsibility to the American people.” “History will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism and those of us who fail to bring it to a responsible end,” he said in a letter to the Republican-controlled Congress. “Once again, I encourage the Congress to close the facility.” Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said: “We are extremely concerned that President-elect Trump will make good on his threat to subject more people to indefinite detention without charge or trial.” The offshore prison was opened by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects rounded up overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Under Bush, it came to symbolize harsh detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture. The latest transfers included three detainees sent to the UAE, including the last Russian held at the prison, and an Afghan and a Yemeni, U.S. officials said. A Saudi prisoner was sent home. It marked the completion of Obama’s final flurry of releases. Trump said during the election campaign that he not only wants to keep the prison open but “load it up with some bad dudes.” Obama pressed ahead, however, moving out most of the prisoners on a list of low-level detainees deemed by parole-style inter-agency reviews to be safe for transfer. There were 242 prisoners when he took office. His efforts were blocked by mostly Republican opposition in Congress, which barred him from moving prisoners to the U.S. mainland. Pentagon foot-dragging has also been blamed. Obama lamented that his opponents had “placed politics above the ongoing costs to taxpayers, our relationships with our allies and the threat posed to U.S. national security.” Trump said this month that all those held at Guantanamo should stay. “These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield,” he tweeted. However, the Obama administration has insisted that intelligence shows only a very small percentage of the prisoners it has released have returned to militant activities. Among the three sent to the UAE was Ravil Mingazov, reported to be an ethnic Tatar and Russian army veteran captured in Pakistan in 2002. Also sent to UAE were Haji Wali Muhammed and Yassim Qasim Mohammed Ismail Qasim, while Jabran al Qahtani was flown to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said. Of the prisoners left at Guantanamo, 10 face charges in military commissions, including people accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks. About two dozen have not been charged but have been deemed too dangerous to release. A handful of inmates previously cleared for transfer will remain after the administration was unable to make arrangements in time for relocation. Lawyers for two of those detainees, an Algerian and a Moroccan, mounted last-ditch court challenges seeking their repatriation but the Justice Department objected. | 0fake |
Supreme Court may take action on state assault weapon bans | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court may weigh in this week on gun control, an issue smoldering again following the June 12 Orlando massacre, with the justices due to decide whether to hear a challenge by gun rights advocates to assault weapon bans in two states. The Connecticut and New York laws prohibit semiautomatic weapons like the one used by the gunman who fatally shot 49 people at a gay night club in Orlando in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The Supreme Court will announce as soon as Monday whether it will hear the challenge brought by gun rights groups and individual firearms owners asserting that the laws violate the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantee of the right to bear arms. The court has not decided a major gun case since 2010. If they take up the matter, the justices would hear arguments in their next term, which begins in October. A decision not to hear the challenge would leave in place lower-court rulings upholding the laws. The court’s action in another recent appeal indicated it may be disinclined to take up the matter. The justices in December opted not to hear a challenge to a Highland Park, Illinois ordinance banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. A national assault weapons ban expired in 2004. Congressional Republicans, backed by the influential National Rifle Association gun rights lobby, beat back efforts to restore it. Some states and municipalities have enacted their own bans. In their petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, those challenging the Connecticut law said the type of weapons banned by the state are used in self-defense, hunting and recreational shooting. Connecticut said its law targets firearms disproportionately used in gun crime, “particularly the most heinous forms of gun violence.” It said people in Connecticut still can legally own more than 1,000 types of handguns, rifles and shotguns. There is a longstanding legal debate over the scope of Second Amendment rights. In the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case, the Supreme Court held for the first time that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual’s right to bear arms, but the ruling applied only to firearms kept in the home for self-defense. That ruling did not involve a state law, applying only to federal regulations. Two years later, in the case McDonald v. City of Chicago, the court held that the Heller ruling covered individual gun rights in states. | 0fake |
HASTA LA VISTA Arnold! Guy Whose Affair With Housekeeper Produced Son, Destroyed 25 Yr. Marriage Says Trump Has Too Much “Baggage”…. Quits Celebrity Apprentice | Arnold Schwarzenegger, who replaced Donald Trump as host of Celebrity Apprentice, is calling it quits:In remarks Friday, the former California governor cited President Trump, who has repeatedly mocked the ratings of his reality TV replacement, as his reason. Even if asked [to do it again] I would decline, Schwarzenegger told Empire . I learned a lot, I had a great time, it was a really great opportunity. But under the circumstances I don t want to do it again. With Trump being involved in the show people have a bad taste and don t want to participate as a spectator or sponsor or in any other way support the show. It s a very divisive period right now and I think the show got caught up in all that division. NYT s TV reporter John Koblin made the announcement on Twitter:Arnold Schwarzenegger told NBC he's leaving "The Celebrity Apprentice." Here's his statement: pic.twitter.com/HXS6w1vqlb John Koblin (@koblin) March 3, 2017While Schwarzenegger is blaming Trump, Twitter users are blaming the ratings:Or the bad ratings? Booga 7 (@commonsensemom2) March 3, 2017https://twitter.com/SJCLawStudent25/status/837742613318914049One Twitter user suggested that it might be a good time for Ivanka to take her father s phone away LOL!.@IvankaTrump You should probably take Dad's phone away. https://t.co/uHfczRBtJh Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) March 3, 2017 Twitchy | 1real |
Bengals CB Adam Pacman Jones to Cops During Arrest: ’I Hope You Die Tomorrow’ - Breitbart | LANGUAGE WARNING] TMZ Sports released video of Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones’ arrest from earlier this month, and the had some harsh words for his arresting officers. Jones was booked on misdemeanor charges of assault, disorderly conduct and obstructing official business, but picked up another charge of resisting arrest, as well as a felony charge of harassment with a bodily substance for spitting on a jail nurse. In the video from the police car, Jones can be heard telling the officer, “Suck my d***. ” “I hope you die tomorrow,” he later added. Jones continued to berate the cop, calling him a “b****” and “n****. ” He is due back in court February 10. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 0fake |
Zimbabwe to start compiling new voter register next week | HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe on Friday said Zimbabwe will begin compiling a new voter register next week ahead of the 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections, in which the 93-year-old is seeking to extend his 37-year hold on power. Mugabe said in an official government notice that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would start registering voters on Sept. 14 and would end the process on Jan. 15. Opposition parties have been demanding a new roll for voters and have previously accused Mugabe s ruling ZANU-PF party of manipulating the existing register. ZANU-PF denies these accusations. Mugabe also told the central committee of his ZANU-PF on Friday that his party should galvanize supporters to register anew. He said Western powers were behind the last month s reunification of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change but added that the opposition would still be defeated by ZANU-PF in next year s votes. We know of course they are creatures of the West whose sole purpose is to dislodge ZANU-PF from power. But really, they come together as a bundle then one blow against a bundle will set the bundle in pieces, Mugabe said to applause from ZANU-PF members. | 0fake |
Help refugees wherever they come from, Austria's Kurz says | BERLIN (Reuters) - Austria s new Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, called for an end to failed attempts to achieve a quota system for distributing asylum seekers around the European Union and urged new efforts to help refugees in their country of origin. When he was foreign minister, Kurz, a conservative now governing in coalition with the far-right Freedom Party, was a strong critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel s decision to open Germany s borders to more than a million fleeing migrants in 2015. Since becoming Chancellor this week, he has aligned himself with central European neighbors like Hungary and the Czech Republic in opposing German-backed proposals to distribute asylum seekers around EU member states. Forcing states to take refugees doesn t take Europe any further. The discussion makes no sense, he told Germany s Bild am Sonntag newspaper. Migrants who set off for Europe don t want to go to Bulgaria or Hungary. They want to go to Germany, Austria or Sweden. Instead of doubling down on what he termed a failed policy, Kurz called for the EU to support, perhaps militarily , efforts to help migrants in their countries of origin or in neighboring states. If that isn t possible, then they should be helped in safe areas on their own continent, he said. The EU should support that, perhaps even organize it, and back it militarily. It was not clear from the interview extracts, published by the newspaper, what kind of military support he envisaged. But European leaders have on occasion suggested the EU contribute to peacekeeping operations to stabilize conflicts in Africa. The question of how to deal with streams of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa also divides Merkel s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) as they prepare for talks on forming a new government. Hard-line members of Merkel s conservative camp demand tight absolute caps on the numbers of refugees allowed to enter Germany each year, while a senior SPD official on Saturday suggested local authorities around Europe be paid to house refugees. | 0fake |
Swedish court orders Bombardier employee to be released from custody | STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - An employee of Canadian aircraft and train maker Bombardier facing bribery charges in Sweden is to be released immediately from custody, his lawyer said on Wednesday. A 37-year-old Russian man was arrested in March on suspicion that he and several others at the company had bribed an Azerbaijani official to secure a contract worth around $340 million. The Stockholm district court has ordered the man - who denied the allegations - to be released immediately, his lawyer said. Our interpretation is that he will be completely acquitted, or that he is guilty only of a minor part of the accusation and, if so, has already served his time, the employee s lawyer Cristina Bergner told Reuters. The district court could not immediately be reached for comment. The prosecutor had demanded a sentence of five years in prison. The trial has concluded and sentencing is set for Oct. 11. In their March statement, Swedish prosecutors alleged Bombardier had won the tender in question after competitors that had offered better prices were disqualified by Azerbaijan s rail authority. The Canadian firm said in August it took the allegations very seriously as they ran counter to its values and high standards, and it supported an investigation into the facts. | 0fake |
Hillary Clinton, NYC mayor assailed for racially charged joke | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A comic gag turned into a gaffe for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, triggering a storm of social media comment accusing them of being insensitive to African-Americans. Clinton on Saturday took the stage with de Blasio at the Inner Circle, an annual media roast of city and state politicians that traditionally ends with New York’s mayor delivering a snarky rebuttal in the form of a rehearsed skit, often with the help of Broadway cast members. This year Leslie Odom Jr., who is black and plays Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway show “Hamilton,” participated in the skit in which Clinton teased de Blasio about his delay in endorsing her bid for the White House. “Sorry, Hillary, I was running on C.P. Time,” de Blasio said, referring to the phrase “colored people’s time,” an in-joke used to indicate chronic lateness but also viewed as a negative stereotype. “I don’t like jokes like that,” Odom said, apparently as part of the skit. Clinton then delivered the punchline: “‘Cautious politician time,’” she said. “I’ve been there.” The joke set off angry reaction on social media with commentators criticizing Clinton, who has strong support from black voters, and de Blasio, whose wife Chirlane McCray is African-American, for insensitivity. Despite opinion polls showing Clinton has overwhelming support among African Americans heading into New York state’s Democratic primary next Tuesday, some supporters worry her challenger Bernie Sanders has begun making inroads. De Blasio, who was Clinton’s campaign manager in her successful election to the U.S. Senate in 2000, defended the joke in an appearance on CNN on Monday. “It was clearly a staged show,” he said. “I think people are missing the point here.” In a statement on Monday, the mayor’s office said, “Let’s be clear, in an evening of satire, the only person this was meant to mock was the mayor himself - period. Certainly no one intended to offend anyone.” In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, Clinton distanced herself from the skit. “Well, look, it was Mayor de Blasio’s skit,” she was quoted as saying. “He has addressed it, and I will really defer to him because it is something that he’s already talked about.” | 0fake |
JUDICIARY MEMBER: Why was FBI’s Case on Clinton Labelled ‘Special’ Status? [Video] | I am immediately calling for an investigation into the special treatment that the FBI gave Hillary Clinton. Rep. Gaetz: "I am immediately calling for an investigation into the special treatment that the FBI gave Hillary Clinton." #IngrahamAngle pic.twitter.com/EHkQfyeWDK Fox News (@FoxNews) November 22, 2017Ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Goetz is calling for an investigation into why Hillary Clinton s FBI case was labelled special by the FBI s Andrew McCabe:The Hill reports:Shortly before last year s election, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe wrote an email on his official government account stating that the Hillary Clinton email probe had been given special status, according to documents released Wednesday.McCabe s Oct. 23, 2016, email to press officials in the FBI said the probe was under the control of a small group of high-ranking people at the FBI s headquarters in Washington. As I now know the decision was made to investigate it at HQ with a small team, McCabe wrote in the email. He said he had no input when the Clinton email investigation started in summer 2015, while he was serving as assistant director in charge of the FBI s Washington office. [The Washington office] provided some personnel for the effort but it was referred to as a special and I was not given any details about it, he wrote.FBI officials on Wednesday night refused to answer what McCabe meant by calling the Clinton email probe a special or why it was restricted to a small team at headquarters when it began. We don t have anything to add to the documents that were released, bureau spokeswoman Carol Cratty wrote The Hill.The note was contained in more than 70 pages of emails the FBI released on its public records site known as The Vault.The emails chronicled McCabe s efforts to address a separate controversy involving his wife s 2015 campaign for political office.McCabe s references to a special status for the Clinton probe are likely to be used as ammunition by Republican lawmakers critical of former FBI Director James Comey s handling of the Clinton investigation.Remember that the DOJ s Loretta Lynch also wanted Clinton s case to be called an incident and not an investigation. It looks like all intel agencies were doing all they could to protect Clinton. Was it to save themselves from exposure in the Uranium One case or something else? | 1real |
Factbox: Trump to meet heads of Carlyle Group, Marvel, World Jewish Congress | (Reuters) - Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump resumed holding meetings at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, following the Christmas holiday as he prepared to take over the White House from Democrat Barack Obama on Jan. 20. Below is a list of meetings for Wednesday, according to Trump’s transition team. *Co-CEO, founder and director of Carlyle Group * CEO of Marvel Entertainment, a unit of Walt Disney Co * Co-owner of Runway Vineyards * Under consideration for agriculture secretary * Former U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety under President George W. Bush * Under consideration for agriculture secretary * Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush * Will discuss health care reform * President of the World Jewish Congress | 0fake |
N.J. Transit Changes Rules for Trains Arriving at Hoboken Station - The New York Times | In the wake of the fatal train crash in Hoboken last week, New Jersey Transit ordered on Wednesday that a second crew member must stand watch as the engineer pulls a train into that busy terminal. The railroad issued an immediate mandate that the conductor must move to the driving cab of the train to serve as a second set of eyes and ears during the last segment of trips into Hoboken and Atlantic City. On the train that crashed at Hoboken Terminal last Thursday morning, killing one person and injuring more than 100 others, the engineer was alone in the driving cab and the conductor was in his normal position farther back among the passengers. That train was speeding toward the terminal before it plowed through the bumper at the end of the line and jumped onto the platform, witnesses and elected officials said. As the front car of the train rose up, it brought the roof over the platform crashing down, causing the instant death of a woman who was passing by. The cause of the crash has not been determined. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday that they were extracting data and video from recorders they retrieved from the train’s driving cab. They said that the engineer told them he did not remember the crash but that he was rested when he started his shift that morning. No trains have run to or from Hoboken Terminal since the crash, and New Jersey Transit has not said when it will reopen. A spokeswoman for the railroad declined to comment on the new directive, so it was unclear if it was a reaction to what has been learned about the circumstances of the crash. But it is no small change in the railroad’s practices. The conductor’s role is to mind the passengers, ushering them on and off the train and collecting tickets. The conductor plays no part in the operation of the train. That is left to the engineer, who is like a captain of a ship. This change in procedures is akin to requiring that the first mate stand next to a ship’s captain and point out any route markers or potential hazards as the ship comes into port. The bulletin says the “conductor and the engineer are to focus exclusively on the railroad, calling signal, checking the route and ensuring that the train is operated safely in compliance. ” It applies to trains arriving in Hoboken and at the terminal in Atlantic City, both of which have platforms at the ends of the rails, creating the potential for trains to crash into people. The new rule’s implementation on Wednesday afternoon came as a surprise to Stephen Burkert, the general chairman of a union that represents New Jersey Transit conductors. “They’re looking to have a safer railroad, which I fully agree with,” Mr. Burkert said. “Safety is always first for my members and the riding public. ” But, he added, the rules will require more work for conductors. “What it technically does is put more job responsibility on the conductor, besides what they had to do yesterday,” he said. “You have effectively doubled the work responsibilities for the conductor. ” | 0fake |
A MUST SEE! THE BALTIMORE RIOT STORY IN ONE BIG PICTURE | 1real | |
CLASSLESS HOLLYWOOD LIB ADDRESSES THOUSANDS AT COMMENCEMENT SPEECH…Drops “F-Bomb” In Whiny Opening Line | Just another whiny radical leftist keeping it classy. Birds of a feather Robert De Niro delivered the commencement speech to graduates of NYU s Tisch School of the Arts on Friday, opening up his remarks with a blunt warning: You re f***ed. The Oscar-winning actor grinned as he told the film, art, and media graduates at the Theater at Madison Square Garden that while those with degrees in law and business used reason and logic and common sense to research a career, the art school graduates would have to keep working to find steady employment. You discovered a talent, developed an ambition and recognized your passion, De Niro said, according to the Associated Press. When you feel that, you can t fight it. Just go with it. When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense. You re an artist yeah, you re f***ed, the actor continued. The good news is that s not a bad place to start. De Niro, who won an Academy Award for both 1975 s The Godfather: Part II and 1981 s Raging Bull, also offered up some tips on how to make it in Hollywood, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He warned the graduates about facing a lifetime of rejection, but said you don t want to block the pain too much. Rejection might sting, but my feeling is that often, it has very little to do with you. When you re auditioning or pitching, the director or producer or investor may have someone different in mind, that s just how it is. That happened recently when I was auditioning for the role of Martin Luther King in Selma! Which was too bad because I could ve played the hell out of that part. I felt it was written for me! But the director had something different in mind, and she was right. It seems the director is always right.The Oscar-winner also told graduates to use the word Next to move from project to project. You didn t get that part? Next! You ll get the next one or the next one after that, he said. I know you re going to make it. Break a leg. Next! According to the New York Daily News, most of the graduates in attendance laughed off the actor s blunt advice. He was just being honest, 22-year-old graduate Jamie Jensen told the paper. We were all just laughing. It s so true in a way we all joke about it. You know it going in to art school. But Jensen s mother did not exactly approve of De Niro s colorful language. It was right at the beginning first line, Maria Jensen told the paper of the actor s many uses of expletives. You don t really want to use the F-bomb in front of thousands of people. That s just my take. Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
Massive marine park declared in Antarctic Ocean | This undated handout photo received from the Antarctic Ocean Alliance on October 28, 2016 shows a Adelie penguin on pack ice in the Ross Sea in Antarctica. © AFP
International leaders have joined hands to create the world’s largest marine park in the Antarctic Ocean. The European Union and 24 countries have reached a momentous agreement to open the Ross Sea Park.
The deal was sealed in Hobart, Australia after prolonged negotiations run by the United Nation’s Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
The Ross Sea marine park will cover an area of 1.55 million square kilometers and is to be protected from commercial fishing for 35 years.
The preserved area covers more than 12 percent of the Southern Ocean and is home to more than 10,000 species. Scientists and activists consider the deal a historic milestone after decades of global efforts in marine preservation.
The Ross Sea is seen as one of the world's most ecologically important oceans for its unique qualities. Scientists believe that the marine park can be a platform for a deeper understanding of climate change impacts.
The 25-member commission comprised of Russia, China, the US and the EU had to have unanimous support for the decision. Loading ... | 1real |
POPE TAKES COMMUNIST CRUCIFIX GIFT HOME: Says He Was Not Offended By It [VIDEO] | Well, as a Catholic the act of the Pope of my church accepting a gruesome hammer and sickle with Christ affixed to the front was wholly offensive Pope Francis has said he wasn t offended by the communist crucifix given to him by Bolivian president Evo Morales during his South American pilgrimage.Morales surprised the pontiff with the unusual gift, a crucifix attached to a hammer and sickle, when Francis arrived in La Paz on Wednesday.The crucifix was a replica of one designed by a Jesuit priest, the Reverend Lu s Espinal, who was tortured and killed by Bolivian paramilitary squads in 1980. Francis prayed at the site of Espinal s assassination upon his arrival in Bolivia.The modified crucifix immediately raised eyebrows, with some questioning whether Morales, whose socialist and anti-church rhetoric is well-known, was trying to score a political point with a questionable, and possibly sacrilegious, melding of faith and ideology.Francis, an Argentine Jesuit, said Espinal was well-known among his fellow Jesuits as a proponent of the Marxist strain of liberation theology. The Vatican opposed it, fearing that Marxists were using liberation theology s preferential option for the poor as a call for armed revolution against oppressive rightwing regimes that were in power in much of Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s.During a news conference en route home to Rome on Sunday, Francis said he interpreted Morales gift through the prism of Espinal s Marxist bent and viewed it as protest art.After taking into consideration the time in which he lived, Francis said: I understand this work. For me it wasn t an offense. Francis added that he brought the crucifix home with him.Via: The Guardian | 1real |
OBAMA FEAR MONGERING: Republican Party Becoming “Unrecognizable” | Leave it to Obama to take to fear mongering to try and convince voters to vote for socialism What a putz!President Obama would much rather critique the Republican presidential race than the Democratic contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, arguing that the GOP is headed way beyond the political mainstream. To me, the relevant contrast is not between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, but (the) relevant contrast is between Bernie and Hillary and Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and the vision that they re portraying for the country, Obama told Politico in an interview.Voters need to pay attention to the degree to which the Republican rhetoric and Republican vision has moved not just to the right but has moved to a place that is unrecognizable, Obama said.Obama told Politico the gap between Democrats and Republicans on everything from tax policy to immigration to foreign policy is as wide as he has seen.There were real differences with GOP nominee John McCain during the 2008 election, Obama said, but John McCain didn t deny climate science. John McCain didn t call for banning Muslims from the United States. You know, John McCain was a conservative, but he was well within, you know, the mainstream of not just the Republican Party but within our political dialogue. Via: USA Today | 1real |
Man Who Shot Christina Grimmie, a Singer on ‘The Voice,’ Is Identified - The New York Times | The police on Saturday identified the man who shot and killed Christina Grimmie, a former cast member of the reality TV singing competition “The Voice” and a viral YouTube star, as a man from St. Petersburg, Fla. The man, Kevin James Loibl, shot Ms. Grimmie in a premeditated attack, the police said, and then killed himself moments later. The shooting happened after a performance by Ms. Grimmie on Friday night in Orlando, and no motive was announced. The authorities said there was no indication the two knew each other. Ms. Grimmie, 22, had performed with the band Before You Exit at a popular Orlando music venue, The Plaza Live, and was signing autographs for fans and selling merchandise shortly before 10:30 p. m. when the gunman walked up to her and opened fire, the Orlando Police Department said in a statement. John Mina, the chief of the Orlando Police Department, said Mr. Loibl had traveled to Orlando with two handguns, several loaded magazines and a hunting knife. Police officials were examining his telephone and computer to try to determine a motive. A note on the door of Mr. Loibl’s house in St. Petersburg expressed “the deepest sorrow” to Ms. Grimmie’s family, friends and fans and said there would be no other comment, The Associated Press reported. A spokeswoman for Ms. Grimmie, Heather Weiss, said, “It is with a heavy heart that we can confirm that Christina has passed and went home to be with the Lord. ” The Police Department said in a statement that “Christina was a talented young artist, and we know that her fans and supporters want as much information as possible. ” “We will continue to update as the investigation unfolds,” it added. When the shooting began, the singer’s brother Marcus Grimmie quickly tackled Mr. Loibl, who shot himself in the ensuing struggle. The police credited Mr. Grimmie with bringing the attack to a swift end and protecting fans. There were about 120 people present at the time of the shooting, Chief Mina said. “Her brother Marcus is a hero and possibly saved countless other lives,” the Police Department said. It said Mr. Grimmie had not been injured in the altercation. Ms. Grimmie was “critically injured” when police officers arrived at the venue on Friday night and died of her injuries at a hospital at about 3 a. m. Saturday, according to a police statement. Ms. Grimmie rose to fame on YouTube as a teenager, performing covers of songs by contemporary artists like Miley Cyrus, Celine Dion and Usher that garnered millions of views. Her profile grew in 2014 when she competed on the sixth season of the popular NBC singing competition “The Voice. ” She finished third, winning the praise of its celebrity hosts, a broader fan base and a deal with Island Records. Ms. Grimmie’s manager, Brian Teefey, described her as “like a second daughter” and said he was horrified by her death. “All I wanted to do was assist her in achieving her musical dreams while protecting her from the pitfalls associated with the business,” Mr. Teefey said. “I never could have imagined this horrific event being one of the pitfalls needing to be avoided. ” On Saturday, her fans and friends in the music industry posted messages of shock and mourning on social media. “I’m stunned and disgusted and heartbroken that we lost that sweet little girl,” Blake Shelton, a host of “The Voice,” wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning. Adam Levine, another of the show’s hosts and Ms. Grimmie’s mentor, wrote on Instagram before her death was confirmed, “I’m sad, shocked and confused. ” “This just isn’t fair,” he added. | 0fake |
Senate proposal on encryption gives judges broad powers | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has begun circulating long-awaited draft legislation that would give federal judges clear authority to order technology companies like Apple to help law enforcement officials access encrypted data, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The proposal from Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, does not spell out how companies must provide access or the circumstances under which they could be ordered to help. It also does not create specific penalties for noncompliance, leaving that determination to judges, the sources said. Previous legislative efforts have focused on requiring technology products to have a built-in “back door” for law enforcement. The latest approach would not mandate any specific technology, but rather would require companies to figure out how to access the data. Congress has tried and failed for years to pass legislation that could prevent criminals and spies from “going dark,” or hiding from law enforcement by using encrypted computer and communications services. The latest effort died when the Obama administration signaled last fall that it would not support it. But Apple’s high-profile showdown with the government over a federal magistrate judge’s order that it unlock an iPhone connected to the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, has reopened the debate. Apple and the Justice Department are set to face off in court on Tuesday. “The going-dark issue has been gathering momentum (in Congress) like a train coming down the tracks, but it still seemed for a while like it was going to be a long time before it got to the station,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Reuters in an interview. “But it arrived with a fury with this lawsuit.” Apple and many of its allies argue that the court is over-reaching its authority in the San Bernardino case and that Congress should ultimately resolve the encryption debate. President Obama warned a tech conference earlier this month against “fetishizing” phones and made it clear that he supports law enforcement efforts to gain access to encrypted information. Administration officials have reviewed the legislation from Burr and Feinstein and offered suggested edits, the sources said, signaling that the White House may now be more open to a legislative approach. Still, the Burr-Feinstein effort is expected to face a steep climb in a gridlocked Congress wary about tackling such a complex and controversial issue during an election year. “We have previously been quite skeptical of legislative handling of this particular matter,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters last month after the Apple case began. “I don’t know at this point whether or not (conversations with lawmakers) will result in a piece of legislation that we will embrace.” In an attempt to break the congressional stalemate on encryption, Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Representative Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced legislation earlier this month to form a national encryption commission to further study the issue. That effort has been criticized by some privacy advocates who believe its composition would be skewed to favor law enforcement. Others have complained that it would give Congress an excuse to continue postponing action on encryption. | 0fake |
JUDGE RULES: Obama White House Showed ‘Bad Faith’ In Global-Warming Case | A judge just told us all what we ve known for 7 years the Obama administration lies like a rug to cover up or to further their agenda. This is the third time a judge has slapped down the Obama White House for their lack of transparency liars all! The funny thing is that the judge said he s troubled by all this lying and misleading the court yes, we are too ;0The White House showed bad faith in how it handled an open-records request for global warming data, a federal court ruled Monday, issuing yet another stinging rebuke to the administration for showing a lack of transparency.For President Obama, who vowed to run the most transparent government in U.S. history, Judge Amit P. Mehta s ruling granting legal discovery in an open-records case the third time this year a judge has ordered discovery is an embarrassing black eye.In this most recent case, the Competitive Enterprise Institute was trying to force the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to release documents backing up Director John C. Holdren s finding that global warming was making winters colder a claim disputed by climate scientists. Mr. Holdren s staffers first claimed they couldn t find many documents, then tried to hide their release, saying they were all internal or were similar to what was already public.But each of those claims turned out not to be true. At some point, the government s inconsistent representations about the scope and completeness of its searches must give way to the truth-seeking function of the adversarial process, including the tools available through discovery. This case has crossed that threshold, the judge wrote.Discovery is considered exceedingly rare in Freedom of Information Act cases, because the government is given the benefit of the doubt in claiming it tried to search for and release documents. But in three cases so far this year, judges have said called the Obama administration s efforts into question, finding severe oversights that suggest bad faith. Both of the other cases involve the State Department s handling of former Secretary Hillary Clinton s emails.In the OSTP case, conservative activists were trying to get a look at how the agency director, John P. Holdren came to the conclusion that global warming was causing more severe winters a finding that scientists generally dispute.The OSTP repeatedly botched its efforts to search for and produce the chain of work for Mr. Holdren s conclusions. Initially the office said it found just 11 pages of documents, none of which included drafts of the director s final conclusions. Later, the office admitted it found 47 pages of drafts, but tried to withhold them, claiming they were protected from release because they were only seen within the administration. Both of those impressions turned out to be mistaken, Judge Mehta said.OSTP then said there were 52 total pages of drafts, only one person outside the administration saw a draft and that document was similar to what the OSTP had already produced. All three of those impressions also turned out to be mistaken, Judge Mehta wrote, adding in a footnote that he was troubled by the government s statements that misled the court.Read more: WT | 1real |
The Truth About the #Syrianboy Viral Photo. Its really a story of two boys. #OmranDaqneesh | Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Security Question: What is 15 + 14 ? Please leave these two fields as-is: IMPORTANT! To be able to proceed, you need to solve the following simple math (so we know that you are a human) :-) Doom and Bloom | 1real |
West Virginia primary takes backseat to Trump's battle with Republicans | For much of the year, Washington has been upstaged by the drama of far-flung primary elections, but as West Virginia becomes the latest state to vote for presidential nominees on Tuesday, the nation’s gaze has swung back to the capital.
Such is the intrigue surrounding a crunch meeting between Donald Trump and House speaker Paul Ryan, slated for Capitol Hill this Thursday, that the absence of the usual electioneering on the trail this week has barely been missed.
Neither the two Democrats nor the sole Republican in the race have visited West Virginia since last Thursday, even though Trump still needs delegates to secure the nomination and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are still, in theory, fighting to be the Democratic candidate.
Instead, attention has shifted to whether Trump can win over skeptics before an expected showdown with Clinton in November’s general election. Ryan’s concern about party unity, and the meeting with Trump to discuss it, has even led to speculation that an independent candidate could yet emerge to offer an alternative for disaffected Republicans.
But such a hypothetical may be unrealistic, or an exercise in wishful thinking at this late stage in the primary – akin to the hopes of Sanders supporters, who cling to the belief that a victory in West Virginia will reinvigorate his campaign despite Clinton’s 300-delegate lead, and huge advantage in superdelegates.
For some leading lights in the #NeverTrump movement, it is never too late to hope. William Kristol, a prominent conservative commentator who is seeking to encourage plausible alternative candidates to come forward, remains hopeful that one might.
Last Thursday, he met with former Republican nominee Mitt Romney at a hotel in Washington to discuss options. Romney has said he is not interested in running again, but his involvement underlines the seriousness of the effort.
Kristol told the Guardian this week that he still believes there is a 50/50 chance someone of sufficient caliber could yet emerge to run against Trump and Clinton this cycle. He said that he and like-minded Republicans “should know in a month whether [there is] a serious national candidate”.
Aside from finding a plausible candidate, the biggest obstacle is making sure that voters are able to select them. Ballot access is far a from trivial issue for an independent or third-party candidate seeking to appear alongside Trump and Clinton in November.
One important hurdle has already in passed by, uncleared, in Texas, where potential candidates had to find 80,000 signatures by this Monday – a mountain made even higher by rules stating the signatories had to be those of voters who had not already taken part on the state’s primary in March
In North Carolina, another delegate-rich state where any serious candidate would want to be included in November, there is a similar deadline next month requiring 90,000 signatures.
Kristol believes such rules could be challenged in court if they appear to be obstructing the democratic will. “Once there’s a candidate, a legal challenge to Texas and North Carolina as unconstitutionally early deadlines (as in the successful cases in the 1980s) has a decent chance of winning,” he said.
But what tends to attract less attention is that a third-party candidate need not necessarily have to have a viable shot at winning the national election outright to play a crucial role in determining who gets to the White House.
Under the constitution, if no presidential candidate emerges from the election with a clear majority of 270 electoral college votes, then Congress gets to decide.
“If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the president from the three presidential candidates who received the most electoral votes,” according to the 12th amendment.
“Each state delegation has one vote. The Senate would elect the vice-president from the two vice-presidential candidates with the most electoral votes,” it continues. “Each senator would cast one vote for vice president. If the House of Representatives fails to elect a president by inauguration day, the vice-president elect serves as acting president until the deadlock is resolved in the House.”
Another scenario, perhaps even more extreme, could see a major new candidate emerge who associated themselves with an existing third party campaign to circumvent the ballot rules.
Some on the left have speculated, for example, that should Sanders feel sufficiently betrayed by the Democratic party process, he could join with the Green party, which has been fighting to obtain ballot access for months for its likely nominee Jill Stein. Though Sanders insists this will never happen in his case – he has pledged to support the Democratic nominee if it is not him, and the Greens seem happy with Stein – could this hypothetical model work on the right instead?
Again, this looks unlikely, not least because the strongest equivalent force, the Libertarian party is far removed ideologically from establishment Republicans like Ryan and Romney. The Libertarians have said they expect to be on the ballot in all 50 states in November.
But the biggest reason that some of the right have not given up on the idea of finding an alternative to Trump is the growing realisation of just how much his policies differ from those of Republicans in Washington.
If anything, Ryan’s warning last week to Trump understates the ideological gulf between them. On issues from free trade to social security, the two most powerful figures in the party occupy polar opposite positions.
“I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan’s agenda,” Trump said in defiance of Ryan’s criticism last week. “Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people. They have been treated so badly for so long that it is about time for politicians to put them first!”
Recent Trump comments on the possibility of renegotiating US national debt – a cataclysmic default scenario as far as many in the financial markets are concerned – only widen the divide and make it easier for other candidates, including Clinton, to seek funding from traditional donors in corporate America and on Wall Street.
Ryan’s offer on Monday to stand aside as chairman of the party convention in Cleveland, should Trump request it, may further increase the speaker’s tactical flexibility if, by some miracle, there was still to be a contested nomination within the party.
More realistically however, Ryan’s reluctance to immediately throw his support behind Trump is likely to have less to do with the 2016 presidential race and more to do with his concerns for the 2016 congressional elections and, perhaps, even the 2020 presidential race.
With a divisive figure at the top of the party ticket in November, many Republicans fear they could lose control of the Senate and even the House. By playing hard to get, Ryan makes it easier for those in tightly-contested districts to distance themselves from Trump. But he also holds out the prospect of the party regrouping around a less divisive figure next time if it loses the White House to Clinton.
It may lack the immediacy of the primary election cliffhanger, but this is the more likely longer-run drama beginning to play out in Washington.
| 0fake |
Chinese media upbeat on U.S. ties ahead of Trump visit | BEIJING (Reuters) - China and the United States have common interests but the relationship needs careful handling, Chinese state-run media said on Wednesday ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing. North Korea and trade are expected to dominate Trump’s trip, with the U.S. leader likely to push Chinese President Xi Jinping to do more to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs and address China’s large trade surplus with the United States. The ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said in a commentary that as China becomes strong, it won’t repeat “old fashioned zero-sum thinking” in handling ties, but will work with the United States to construct a cooperative and mutually profitable relationship with no conflict. “In realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and protecting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, China and the United States have common interests,” it said. “The two sides should respect one another’s interests, maintain close communication and consultation, and make unremitting efforts to promote a thorough resolution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.” Trump heads to China later on Wednesday after visiting Japan and South Korea in the first legs of his marathon Asian tour. Trump’s attempt to make a surprise visit to the heavily fortified border separating North Korea and South Korea was aborted on Wednesday after dense fog prevented his helicopter from landing at the doorstep of the North Korean nuclear standoff. The China Daily, in an editorial which preceded the announcement of the abortive Trump trip to the border, said Trump not going to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) and North Korea not recently carrying out any nuclear or missile tests was a “hopeful sign that both prefer to find a peaceful solution to their predicaments”. China has promised a “state visit plus” for Trump, and while having not released any details, Beijing is attaching great importance to the visit. Trump is expected to go to the Forbidden City, possibly guided by Xi. “Such hospitality is rarely seen in modern China,” influential tabloid the Global Times, published by the People’s Daily, said in its editorial. “Beijing’s enthusiasm reflects the most positive part of the attitude that the diversified world holds toward the U.S., and the realistic international outlook of the rising China.” | 0fake |
Obama knocks Trump, voices optimism | WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama took aim on Tuesday at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and accused critics of playing into the hands of Islamic State in a speech meant to cement his legacy and set a positive tone for his final year in office. Obama, delivering his last annual State of the Union speech to Congress as president, called for leaders to “fix” U.S. politics and criticized candidates such as Trump for using anti-Muslim rhetoric that betrayed American values. “When politicians insult Muslims ... that doesn’t make us safer,” he said, drawing applause from the crowd in the House of Representatives chamber. “It’s just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals.” Trump, whom Obama did not mention by name in his speech, is leading the Republican field ahead of the Nov. 8 election to pick the next president. The billionaire businessman, citing national security concerns, has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, ideas the White House strongly opposes. Obama sought to contrast his more optimistic view of America’s future with those of the Republican candidates trying to replace him. He said it was “fiction” to describe the country as being in economic decline. While acknowledging that al Qaeda and Islamic State posed a direct threat to Americans, he said comparing the effort to defeat the militants who control swaths of Iraq and Syria to World War Three gave the group just what it wanted. “Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages: they pose an enormous danger to civilians; they have to be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence,” Obama said. Republicans say the president’s strategy to defeat Islamic State is flawed and insufficient. “His policies aren’t working. He didn’t have an answer for how to defeat ISIS,” Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement after the speech, using an acronym for Islamic State. Obama’s address to lawmakers, Cabinet members and Supreme Court justices was one of his last remaining chances to capture the attention of millions of Americans before the November election. The next president will take office in January 2017. Trump, in a posting on Twitter, called the speech “boring” and lacking in substance. “New leadership fast!” But South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who delivered the Republican response to Obama’s address, took her own jab at Trump and other less moderate candidates in her party. “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation,” said Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants. “No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country,” she said. Obama’s address came as 10 sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats were taken into Iranian custody. Iran told the United States the crew members would be “promptly” returned, U.S. officials said. The event gave Republicans further fodder to criticize Obama’s nuclear deal with Tehran. Obama did not address the issue in his speech. The White House expects the situation to be resolved quickly. Obama, who is constitutionally barred from a third term, stuck to themes he hopes will define his legacy, including last year’s nuclear pact with Tehran. He noted areas where compromise was possible with Republicans in Congress including criminal justice reform, trade and poverty reduction. He called for lawmakers to ratify a Pacific trade pact, advance tighter gun laws and lift an embargo on Cuba. The president also said he regretted not having been able to elevate U.S. political discourse during his time in office. “It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency - that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” he said. To help “fix” U.S. politics, Obama pressed for an end to “gerrymandering,” the practice of drawing voting districts in ways that gives advantage to a particular party; reducing the influence of “dark money” or political spending in which funding sources do not have to be disclosed; and making voting easier. Obama also said he had tasked Vice President Joe Biden, whose son died last year of cancer, to lead an effort to find a cure for the disease. The president noted some outstanding promises from his own 2008 campaign. He pledged to continue to work to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and called on Congress to lift the embargo on the Communist-ruled island nation. Obama, whose 2008 victory was driven partially by his opposition to the Iraq war, said the United States could not serve as policeman of the world. “We also can’t try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis, even if it’s done with the best of intentions,” he said. “It’s the lesson of Vietnam; it’s the lesson of Iraq; and we should have learned it by now.” Obama is eager for a Democrat to win the White House to preserve his legacy, but anger over his policies and fears about security threats have helped push non-traditional candidates to the fore in the Republican and, to a lesser extent, the Democratic races to succeed him. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas are at the top of the Republican field, while self-described “socialist” Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is giving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tough competition in early voting states for the Democratic primary contest. | 0fake |
Syria's Assad meets once dissident footballers in Damascus | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met two former dissident footballers who returned to the national team for its World Cup qualifying campaign after years in exile, photographs posted by his office showed on Monday. Syria s football team outdid expectations in its campaign to qualify for the World Cup finals, reaching a play-off against Australia on Oct. 10 that they lost 2-1. The photographs published on the presidency s social media feed showed him apparently in amicable conversation with Firas al-Khatib and Omar al-Soma, players who were both pictured with the Syrian opposition flag early in the conflict. Other photographs showed Assad posing with the whole team and signing a player s jacket. Syria s war, which began with demonstrations against Assad in 2011, has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and left more than half the population homeless. The army has gained momentum over the past two years, with military support from Russia and Iran. The government says its policy is to pardon any Syrians who joined the opposition unless they have blood on their hands . However, many exiles have said they fear arrest if they return. The football team s unexpectedly strong performance in the qualifiers was hailed by many government supporters as a unifying moment for the country. But some opposition supporters identified the team with Assad s government, and declined to back it. | 0fake |
Of Horse v. Duck, Mutton Busting and Other Confirmation Diversions - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — In the seventh hour of questioning this week — after a practiced bit from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” but before the meditation on horses — the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch veered, somehow, to the matter of mutton busting. Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, wanted to hear about the Denver rodeo. And Judge Gorsuch, elusive all week as Democrats have strained to pinpoint his judicial leanings, turned instantly expansive. “Mutton busting, as you know, comes sort of like bronco busting for adults,” he began on Tuesday. “You take a poor little kid, you find a sheep and you attach the one to the other and see how long they can hold on. ” He went on. “ … You know, it usually works fine when the sheep has got a lot of wool and you tell them to hold on — I tell my kids hold on you know? Really get in there, right? Get around it … ” The Democrats stared blankly. “ … Because if you sit upright, you go flying right off, right? So, you want to get in. But the problem when you get in is that you’re so locked in that you don’t want to let go, right? And so, then the poor clown has to come and knock you off the sheep. ” Judge Gorsuch smiled. “We can talk mutton busting all day,” he said. They may as well have. As Judge Gorsuch glided through the third day of his hearings on Wednesday, suffering few slips and answering no question he did not wish to, Senate Republicans were eager to assist. There is a rich tradition of Republicans and Democrats making life easier on their preferred nominees, tossing congressional pool noodles to a judge who might flounder, at least somewhat, under questioning from the other party. But this year, Republicans have elevated the practice to high art — supplying extra cushioning for a nominee who does not appear to need it and adding a measure of levity to a process that virtually all inside the Capitol agree will end with a confirmation. On matters fraught and frivolous, Senate allies have coaxed Judge Gorsuch to the safest of verbal eager to defuse Democratic lines of attack with whimsy and digressions. “Do you think your writings reflect a attitude against regulations?” Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah asked on Wednesday. “No, Senator,” the judge said. “I don’t either. ” In other moments, they have urged Judge Gorsuch to remind the public that no one, even the president, is above the law, or to make clear that his rulings in workers’ rights cases — an area of concern for Democrats — were rendered only in service of the law. More memorable were the flourishes that strayed far from judicial doctrine: “Would you tell me where your favorite fishing stream is?” “Is it true that you have been endorsed by John Elway?” “Jury duty. Have you ever been called up?” That question, from Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, earned an audible laugh from Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota. “No, I just thought it was very odd questions for this, but it’s great,” Mr. Franken said, as eyes turned his way. “I’m sorry I laughed. I just — it caught me. ” Moments later, after Judge Gorsuch’s answer (he has served) Mr. Franken chimed in again. “That was a great question,” he said flatly. “Thanks, Al,” Mr. Flake said. “Appreciate it. ” Yet it was Mr. Flake’s earlier curiosity — sparked by his teenage son, he said, and a internet meme — that attracted more attention: Would Judge Gorsuch rather fight “100 horses or one duck?” Judge Gorsuch took no position on Horse v. Duck, demonstrating his unflinching commitment to avoiding declarative statements about matters that could one day come before the court. But he did not hesitate during another exchange, with Mr. Cruz, who seemed to revel in inside jokes and winking asides during his allotted 30 minutes of questioning. “What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything?” Mr. Cruz asked at the top of his allotted time. “” Judge Gorsuch said. (The pair explained at some length that this was a reference from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. ”) Mr. Cruz later asked about the jump shot of Justice Byron R. White, Judge Gorsuch’s legal mentor, a former football star who was also known to swing elbows on the basketball court. Then there was the rodeo. “As a Texan,” Mr. Cruz said, gazing admiringly at Judge Gorsuch for much of his testimony, “I think everyone’s life can be rendered richer by going to the rodeo. ” Mr. Franken, the next lawmaker up after the nominee’s explanation of mutton busting, wondered aloud about animal abuse laws in Colorado. But most Democrats seemed to accept their colleagues’ gambit during the proceedings, at least grudgingly. Beginning his second round of questioning on Wednesday, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, summarized what the Judiciary Committee had learned from Republicans’ questions so far: “We know your love of and rodeos and family. ” “I know that senatorial assignment,” he added. “I’ve been there myself. ” | 0fake |
Crossing the Line in Democracy | 14 Shares
12 0 0 2 (Taksim Square - Gezi Park Protests, İstanbul. Credit: Alan Hilditch / flickr)
Democracy grants people the right to protest, to show their opinion on matters that affect their lives and their nation’s. Protesting is a universally acknowledged fact belonging to the modern world. It serves to give voice to those who are disturbed by the faulty policies, drawbacks and negligence of their governments and who wish to raise public awareness on these matters. Demonstrations, rallies, strikes, pickets, boycotts and so on are all ways of protesting. As long as they are within the limits defined by the “law,” protests and acts of similar nature are in essence an indisputable part of democracy, freedom of opinion and expression.
However, in some cases protesting is exploited and used as a means of opposing democracy itself. Protests that give way to riots are now methods of staging coups to shut down administrations and overthrow democratically elected governments.
Legitimacy of Protests and Feasibility of Demands
Democratic protests are welcomed by societies and addressed by governments to the extent that their demands are tangible, justified and feasible . Protests lacking those qualities are most likely to fail in having their demands met.
The anti-government movement in Bulgaria in 2013-14 confirmed the validity of these qualities. The protests took place in three separate cycles. January and February witnessed rallies that objected to the high prices of electricity and demanded the government resign. They were successful as the requests were sensible. A later demonstration was against a government officer, and resulted in his resignation. Yet another cycle of protests called for a change of the system, along with some other illegal demands and faced defeat after turning into riots that were not supported by the overall society.
MORE... Gruesome Video Shows Turkish Soldiers Execute Female Kurdish PKK Fighters by Shooting in Their Heads 2 bombers, stopped by police, blew themselves up in Turkey Dispute over Kurds and Coup attempt threatens U.S.-Turkey alliance The attempted coup d’état made Turkey band together The Gezi Park protests in Turkey in the same year followed the same pattern. Set in motion with a good willed and environmentalist approach, it was likely to succeed considering its solid and feasible calls and legitimate ways at first. The government heeded the nature lovers’ voices and took a positive step by postponing a construction project that required the destruction of Gezi Park. Yet the humanist approach of young people changed course in the wake of provocations of separatist and terrorist gangs and turned into a totally different nature. Demonstrations that began in Gezi Park in Istanbul and that demanded the preservation of Gezi Park as a recreational area spread to other cities of the country and transformed into armed and bloody uprising imposing the fall of government. It was a quite clear coup d’etat attempt that did not refrain from using violent methods and openly rejected the validity of a democratically elected government. The protests were contradictory considering people took to streets using their democratic rights, but then appealed to non-democratic methods to lay their claims ignoring the will of the nation.
Though justified at the beginning, these two cases of protests demonstrate that they are open to hostile manipulations and may lose their legitimacy if left at the hands of ill-minded people. Recently some dark powers have been using this latest technique to manage countries’ internal affairs as they see fit and stage coups to overthrow governments. They bring in professional teams of brutal killers amidst peaceful protests, which then lead to violent anti-democratic clashes. These protests sometimes end up in civil wars where fellows of the same nation kill one another. It all happens in the wake of a government’s non-yielding to some dark power’s demands and a democratically elected government faces anti-democratic attempts.
Methods of Provocations and OTPOR
Such dramatic outcomes come by the employment of social media. Social media becomes an instrument for organizing, stirring and agitating the masses that are presumed to join the demonstrations. Various provocative organizations undertake the organization of some agents and provocateurs who take part in demonstrations by inciting them to get violent. These illegal “subcontractors” organize the public relations part of the riots and channel intellectual circles of the country such as its authors, academicians, journalists and members of non-governmental institutions to act against democratically elected government in the name of democracy and to lead the public.
One of the most common groups among these “ professional revolutionary organizations ” is a Serbia-based resistance organization,OTPOR . Independent observers state that OTPOR organizes coup attempts and civil disturbance by providing training and logistic support for the US-backed dissident organizations in many countries such as the former Yugoslavia, Serbia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Egypt, Brazil, and Turkey. There is a consensus that the CIA has been creating riots and social disturbances in fifty countries OTPOR its offshoot CANVAS…
A relevant source puts forward the following interesting findings OTPOR :
The (OTPOR 's ) fist-logo, would turn up 11 years later in the streets of Cairo , illustrating further the preposterous, foreign-backed nature of the Egyptian uprisings... Serbia’s OTPOR would continue receiving funds from the West and become a “CIA-coup college” of sorts under the name of CANVAS (Center for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies ).
The research article penned by Carl Gibson and Steve Horn and published on “Occupy.com” deals with the international financial, intelligence and political connections of OTPOR and features the following information based on WikiLeaks documents:
Serbia’s Srdja Popovic is known by many as a leading architect of regime changes in Eastern Europe and elsewhere since the late-1990s , and as one of the co-founders of OTPOR… Popovic and OTPOR's offshoot CANVAS have also maintained close ties with a Goldman Sachs executive and the private intelligence firm Stratfor as well as the U.S. government …
Such examples are easy to find. The internal public opinion on OTPOR is that it is being employed as leverage to overthrow those governments which conflict with the interests of the U.S. No wonder some media organizations that act on behalf of the US administration speak highly of OTPOR at every turn. Moreover, the British media rigorously advocates that the executives of OTPOR have nothing to do with the organization of coups.
Likewise, some Turkish media organizations disseminated similar statements during the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations. The attempt to occupy the Prime Minister’s residence by armed groups, which is an act of rebellion against the state and treason by law, was orchestrated by OTPOR, according to reports. Yet the media deliberately defined it as “the exercise of legitimate, democratic rights, and freedom of expression by the people,” and thus desired to create misapprehension to display the members of the Marxist and separatist terrorist organizations who are far from representing even a slightest portion of the nation as the representatives of the nation. These media organs called the nation’s security forces who risked their lives to preserve public order and people’s lives as ‘the so-called enemies of freedom and democracy.’
In truth, such mass demonstrations that aim to topple governments, divide countries and organize bloody conflicts - and even civil wars - can no longer be called innocent rallies, but subtle projects of deep states and shadow organizations to take over countries from within. | 1real |
Eleven injured in car crash near London museum, terrorism ruled out | LONDON (Reuters) - Eleven people were injured on Saturday when a car collided with pedestrians near London s Natural History Museum, in one of the capital s busiest tourist areas, but police doused concerns it was a terrorist attack, saying it was a road traffic incident. Police said it was believed the car had mounted the pavement outside the popular attraction in west London and collided with a number of pedestrians. Officers had arrested a man aged in his 40s at the scene and he was now being questioned on suspicion of dangerous driving after being taken to hospital for treatment. Britain has suffered five attacks blamed on terrorism so far this year, three of which involved vehicles, and the incident in an area packed with tourists at the weekend had prompted concerns that the collision had been a deliberate act. The incident is entirely a road traffic investigation and is not a terrorist-related incident, a police statement said. London s ambulance service said they had treated 11 people, mostly for head and leg injuries, with nine taken to hospital. Police said none of the injuries were life-threatening or life-changing and the majority of those hospitalized had now been discharged. Unverified footage from the scene showed a man being pinned to the ground near a crashed black Toyota car. Oliver Cheshire, a model who is the fianc of British pop singer Pixie Lott, told the Daily Mail newspaper he was one of those who had helped detain the man. He said three female passengers in the car told him it was a private-hire taxi. He was driving down the pavement and hit 11 to 12 people. Then the guy was screaming, he told the paper. He looked at me and I was really in shock. I got out of my car and grabbed him three of us grabbed him and someone phoned the police. Cheshire later wrote on Twitter: Thanks for messaging everybody. I m ok. Thank you to the men who helped me pin him down and the police for coming so quickly. Neither police nor Transport for London, which runs most of the city s transport system, would comment on the status of the vehicle. My thanks to the first responders at this incident this afternoon and the actions of members of the public. My thoughts are with the injured, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Twitter. Britain is on its second highest security alert level, meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. In March, a man drove a car into pedestrians on London s Westminster Bridge killing four before stabbing a police officer to death in the grounds of parliament. Three Islamist militants drove into people on London Bridge in June before stabbing people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight. The same month, a van was driven into worshippers near a mosque in north London which left one man dead. | 0fake |
What's wrong with the planet? Saudi Arabia to be reelected to UN Human Rights Council | Wed, 26 Oct 2016 21:49 UTC © Naif Rahma / Reuters As the death toll in Yemen surpasses 10,000, Saudi Arabia, one of the principal parties in the conflict, is poised to be reelected to the UN human rights body. Saudi airstrikes are responsible for the majority of the nearly 4,000 civilian deaths in Yemen. A secret ballot vote at the UN General Assembly on Friday will select the 14 members of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), or a third of its 47 members. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, China, and Japan are running for the four seats from the Asia-Pacific region, and are all expected to secure seats. Riyadh's term at the UNHRC would be the third in a row, and its presence at the body has been increasingly puzzling to human rights groups, given its record of twisting arms at the UN to hush up its rights abuses. In June, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon publicly admitted that Saudi Arabia threatened to withdraw funding from numerous programs due to an upcoming report on violations of children's rights. The report would list the Arab kingdom among violators over the toll its military campaign and blockade of Yemen has taken on children. The threat resulted in Saudi Arabia's removal from the blacklist, even though Riyadh's tactics had been exposed. "The report describes horrors no child should have to face," Ban Ki-moon told reporters at the time. "At the same time, I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund many UN programs." "It is unacceptable for UN member states to exert undue pressure," the secretary-general added, pledging to review the removal of the Saudis from the list. This incident of Saudi Arabia working against UN human rights efforts is far from being isolated. In Yemen, the kingdom used control of air traffic to prevent foreign journalists, employees of international aid organizations, and UN officials from visiting the war-torn country and reporting on the situation there. In September, it used diplomatic pressure against the Netherlands after it introduced a resolution at the UNHRC that would launch an independent investigation into airstrikes on Yemen. The Dutch proposal failed and an Arab version was passed, one which entrusted the probe to the exiled Yemeni government, which the Saudis want to put back into power through its military actions. Domestically, Riyadh's policies often run against those of the UN human rights body. Seven petitions to allow special rapporteurs for the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to investigate abuses in Saudi Arabia remain pending , some for over a decade. The kingdom was also reported to persecute its own subjects who cooperate with UN investigations. For instance, human rights defender Mohammed al-Qahtani, who contributed to several UNHRC reports, was accused of things like "distorting the reputation of the country" and "provoking international organizations to adopt stances against the kingdom." He is currently serving a lengthy prison term. While far from being the only authoritarian regime with a seat at the UNHRC, Saudi Arabia maintains some of the most restrictive domestic policies. Homosexuality and conversion from Islam to another religion are punishable by death. Sentences include corporal punishment, as highlighted by the case of blogger Raif Badawi who is to be flogged 1,000 times while serving a 10-year sentence for "insulting Islam." Saudi Arabia is also one of the world's most enthusiastic executors. The number of beheadings spiked under King Salman with 157 executions reported in 2015, and 124 between January and September 2016. Comment: Once again it seems to be all about the money Saudi Arabia brings to the UN, kind of like 'hush money'. | 1real |
PITTSBURGH POLICE OFFICERS Boycotting Race Baiting Diva Beyoncé’s Concert May Be FORCED To Work | The worst thing is the number of white people and people with ties to law enforcement officers will pay to see one of the most influential, openly anti-white, anti-cop entertainers in America There are reportedly several Pittsburgh police officers refusing to work security for Beyonc s May 31 concert at Heinz Field, due to what they call the singer s anti-police lyrics in her latest Black Lives Matter-themed album, Lemonade. But city officials may force those officers to provide security for the show. There are police officers that have expressed that they do not want to support an artist that they don t like what she has to say, said Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of the Police Lodge No. 1. It s up to them what they want to do with their off-duty time. Concert venues, like Heinz Field, usually ask city officials to provide off-duty police officers to work security or direct traffic at an event. The choice to work these events is usually each police officer s to make.However, a memorandum to officers from the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police says the city may appoint between 29 to 35 officers to work at the concert if they don t recruit enough volunteers.Click HERE for Beyonc s racist, cop-hating video.Swartzwelder said the city s plan would be in direct breach of the contract agreement between the city of Pittsburgh and the police department. Such a move would force the Fraternal Order of the Police to file an unfair labor practice complaint on behalf of its member officers.Last February, the Miami Fraternal Order of Police announced a boycott of Beyonc s concert where her Formation world tour would be kicking off. Similar calls to boycott Beyonc were lodged from Tampa, Florida to Texas.Earlier this month, members from several police organizations, including the Pasadena Police Department and the Coalition for Police and Sheriffs, held a protest near Beyonc s concert in Houston, Texas.Already aware of the criticisms of her music, Beyonc upped the ante last month and decided to sell Boycott Beyonc merchandise, including T-shirts, cellphone cases, and hats.Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
Gatestone Institute: 423 New Mosques, 500 Closed Churches in London | The Gatestone Institute reports Sunday on the striking rate of closures of churches in the United Kingdom’s capital city, a trend mirrored elsewhere in Europe, and the blooming number of mosques that have been established in their stead. [Reporting on the change in religious observation in London, the Gatestone Institute writes: “London is more Islamic than many Muslim countries put together” according to Maulana Syed Raza Rizvi, one of the Islamic preachers who now lead “Londonistan” as the journalist Melanie Phillips has called the English capital. No, Rizvi is not a extremist. Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate for Literature, was less generous he called the UK “a cesspit for Islamists”. “Terrorists can not stand London multiculturalism” London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said after the recent deadly terror attack at Westminster. The opposite is true: British multiculturalists are feeding Islamic fundamentalism. Above all, Londonistan, with its new 423 mosques, is built on the sad ruins of English Christianity. The Hyatt United Church was bought by the Egyptian community to be converted to a mosque. St Peter’s Church has been converted into the Madina Mosque. The Brick Lane Mosque was built on a former Methodist church. Not only buildings are converted, but also people. The number of converts to Islam has doubled often they embrace radical Islam, as with Khalid Masood, the terrorist who struck Westminster. The Daily Mail published photographs of a church and a mosque a few meters from each other in the heart of London. At the Church of San Giorgio, designed to accommodate 1, 230 worshipers, only 12 people gathered to celebrate Mass. At the Church of Santa Maria, there were 20. The nearby Brune Street Estate mosque has a different problem: overcrowding. Its small room and can contain only 100. On Friday, the faithful must pour into the street to pray. Given the current trends, Christianity in England is becoming a relic, while Islam will be the religion of the future. Read more at The Gatestone Institute | 0fake |
No Need for Holmes. Obama Sheds Light on a Winston Churchill Mystery. - The New York Times | HANOVER, Germany — It has been, perhaps, one of the most enduring mysteries of President Obama’s tenure: What really happened to the bust of Winston Churchill that was once displayed in the Oval Office? With just months left in his term, Mr. Obama’s first comments on the matter, in Europe last week, may have finally cleared up the truth of a tale that has persisted for more than seven years. For conservatives in both America and Britain, the disappearance of the bust from its place of honor soon after the end of George W. Bush’s presidency was evidence of a liberal snub by Mr. Obama. In their view, he clearly did not fully appreciate the greatness of the British prime minister, who served during and after World War II. (The bust was replaced, White House officials said at the time, with one of Abraham Lincoln.) The conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, the onetime Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a current Republican presidential candidate, are among those who have chastised Mr. Obama over the years for returning the bust to the British. Less than a month after Mr. Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, a British newspaper bluntly accused him of sending “Sir Winston Churchill packing. ” Not true, the White House insisted at the time, offering various explanations. William Allman, the White House curator, said in a 2010 interview with CBS News that the bust, on loan to Mr. Bush by Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, “was already scheduled to go back” before Mr. Obama took office. The bust was returned “as a matter of course” by the new administration along with other art that had been on loan to Mr. Bush for display during his term in office, White House officials said. Dan Pfeiffer, the president’s communications director at the time, blasted Mr. Krauthammer, calling his charge about the disappearing bust “100 percent false” and saying that “news outlets have debunked this claim time and again. ” In a blog post labeled a “fact check” on the White House website, Mr. Pfeiffer wrote: “The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room. ” Mr. Pfeiffer later apologized to Mr. Krauthammer after admitting that the bust outside the Treaty Room was, in fact, a different Churchill bust, given to President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s. Still, Mr. Pfeiffer insisted, the return of the Oval Office bust was “not something that President Obama or his administration chose to do” and was not “a symbol of President Obama’s failure to appreciate the special relationship. ” But late last week, Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, renewed the charge, writing in a British tabloid that the Oval Office bust had been “banished” and suggesting that it could be “a symbol of the president’s ancestral dislike of the British Empire — of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender. ” Countering such charges is typically left to a president’s aides. But asked at a news conference Friday about the mayor’s comments, Mr. Obama seemed to relish the chance to set everyone straight, once and for all, about the fate of the Churchill bust. The president started by explaining that when it came to Churchill, “I love the guy. ” He offered as proof the Churchill bust that sits outside the Treaty Room, the president’s private office on the second floor of the White House residence, not far from the first family’s living quarters. “I see it every day, including on weekends, when I’m going into that office to watch a basketball game,” he said. “The primary image I see is a bust of Winston Churchill. It’s there voluntarily, because I can do anything on the second floor. I love Winston Churchill. ” But then Mr. Obama went on to explain what had happened to the bust lent by Mr. Blair, the one that critics had accused him of summarily sending back to the British. It was, Mr. Obama said, his decision to return that Churchill to his native land, because he wanted to replace it with a bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “There are only so many tables where you can put busts. Otherwise, it starts looking a little cluttered,” the president explained. “And I thought it was appropriate, and I suspect most people here in the United Kingdom might agree, that as the first president, it might be appropriate to have a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King in my office. ” He added that the choice of Dr. King was “to remind me of all the hard work of a lot of people who would somehow allow me to have the privilege of holding this office. ” That appears to contradict the longstanding denials by White House officials, including Mr. Pfeiffer, that neither Mr. Obama nor anyone else in his administration had chosen to dispatch Churchill’s likeness in favor of someone else’s. By Mr. Obama’s admission, he made the decision to replace the Churchill bust with one of Dr. King. “I think people should know my thinking there,” Mr. Obama told the reporters in London. Mystery solved. Except for one thing: The version of events in which Lincoln had replaced Churchill was mentioned in most stories about the issue (including in this paper). Mr. Pfeiffer included news reports about it in his 2012 blog post attacking Mr. Krauthammer. “The A. P. reported that President Obama ‘replaced the Oval Office fixture with a bust of one of his American heroes, President Abraham Lincoln,’ ” he wrote. Mr. Pfeiffer no longer works for Mr. Obama he is now vice president of communications and policy for GoFundMe, a website that helps its users raise money for causes. Current White House officials said the Churchill bust had been replaced with one of Dr. King, but the Oval Office still has a Lincoln bust as well, perhaps leading to the confusion. After all, one White House official noted, Mr. Obama did say the Oval Office could get a little cluttered. | 0fake |
After Russian Ban, I.O.C. President Addresses Antidoping Efforts - The New York Times | The president of the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday addressed problems with global antidoping efforts, which are led by officials from his organization. Tacitly acknowledging that the current structure was rife with conflicts, he ordered a complete rethinking of it. “We want to make the antidoping system independent from sports organizations,” the I. O. C. ’s president, Thomas Bach, said at a meeting of global sports officials in Switzerland. “The antidoping system has some deficiencies. ” A New York Times investigation this month found that the World Agency, the global watchdog for sports doping, was hampered by politics and possible conflicts of interest. For years, the agency’s leadership failed to pursue allegations of widespread cheating in Russia. Many within WADA had varying views on the organization’s core purpose, some seeing it as more of a passive coordinator than a proactive policing authority. The organization is jointly funded by national governments and sports organizations, including the I. O. C. Its decision makers are government and Olympic officials, people who might not be inclined to reveal doping transgressions that could mar the integrity of the Games or discredit athletes from their countries. “We’re not going to turn to people and say, ‘These are the rules obey them,’” the agency’s current president, Craig Reedie, told The Times. Mr. Reedie, who is also an I. O. C. vice president, said WADA had not investigated tips from inside Russia because the agency did not have explicit authority to do so until 2015. Mr. Bach, designating WADA as the leader in the global antidoping effort, said, “Everybody has to understand better who is doing what and who is responsible for what. ” Mr. Bach called on WADA to strengthen its investigative abilities. Last week, in the wake of the Times report, WADA announced that it was hiring a director of intelligence and investigations, Günter Younger, who currently leads the cybercrime unit in a division of the German criminal police. Mr. Bach said an Olympic summit meeting set for Oct. 8 would focus broadly on how to improve the antidoping system, and he called on WADA to convene an international meeting on the topic next year. Mr. Bach also expressed support for last week’s decision by the International Association of Athletics Federations, the ruling body of track and field, to bar Russian track and field athletes from the Rio Olympics. He openly questioned the integrity of athletes from Russia and Kenya, another country where antidoping efforts have been found lacking. But Mr. Bach suggested amending a key detail of the ruling against Russian athletes while emphasizing that specific sports federations had supreme control. The I. A. A. F. said Friday that only Russian track and field athletes who had been living outside the country and subjected to rigorous drug testing could petition to compete in Rio — and for a neutral team, not for Russia. Mr. Bach said, however, that Russian athletes who cleared that high hurdle could possibly compete under the Russian flag, and he defended the integrity of Russian Olympic officials. “The Russian Olympic Committee is not suspended,” he said, calling the organization ”very helpful in clearing up the difficult situation in Russia. ” After the announcement, the I. A. A. F. reiterated its belief that any Russian athletes who were cleared to compete “on an exceptional basis” should not compete on behalf of Russia. The organization said it planned to work with Olympic officials “to ensure the decision is respected and implemented in full. ” Russia has been accused of a doping program extending across sports, although most investigations have been limited to track and field. Russian sports officials have apologized for doping problems but denied state involvement. In a statement on Tuesday, the Russian sports ministry expressed support for the I. O. C. ’s decision. As recently as this month, WADA said, Russian sports officials helped athletes evade drug testing, and federal customs agents and members of Russia’s Federal Security Service tampered with doping samples and intimidated drug testers. Responding to an outcry from athletes wanting broader inquiries, Mr. Bach on Tuesday called on the 27 other organizations overseeing summer Olympic sports — from gymnastics to weight lifting — to individually scrutinize athletes from Russia and Kenya and assess their ability to compete in Rio in six weeks. The allegations against Russia and Kenya, he said, “put very serious doubts on the presumption of innocence for athletes coming from these countries. ” The I. A. A. F. noted on Tuesday that a majority of athletes from Kenya competed in track and field. The organization said that Kenya’s runners were subject to rigorous testing and that their doping samples had been examined in Qatar and Stockholm in recent months. (Africa’s only testing lab was decertified this year.) “This does not mean we can guarantee that all Kenyan athletes are clean,” an I. A. A. F. spokeswoman said. “We cannot give such guarantees for any country’s athletes. But we can be confident that an effective testing regime is in place. ” Any athlete who may take issue with a sports federation’s decision can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, Mr. Bach noted. He said he had learned that Russian athletes or the Russian Olympic Committee would probably file an appeal regarding the track and field decision. “That is the good right of everybody,” he said. WADA disciplined the national antidoping programs in Russia and Kenya in the wake of news media reports that called their integrity into question. For a country to be declared noncompliant by WADA means little, but depriving a nation’s antidoping operation of WADA’s endorsement is a strong signal to the I. O. C. and sports federations. Russia’s sports ministry said Tuesday that its track and field athletes were prepared to undergo a minimum of three extra drug tests before the Olympics. But last week, Rune Andersen, a former WADA official and the current chairman of the I. A. A. F. committee that is monitoring Russia, expressed skepticism about athletes’ ability to prove definitively that they were untainted by a possible doping program. The former antidoping lab director in Russia has described a sophisticated system whereby athletes on drugs avoided testing positive. “Two or five or 100 negative tests do not mean an athlete is clean,” Mr. Andersen said. “History has shown that is not the case. ” | 0fake |
WHY WAS THIS YOUNG MAN SPONSORED BY CAIR INVITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE | It s Hard To Know Who Obama Hates More America, Israel Or Our Police Officers Barry doesn t have time to attend the funerals of any of the cops who ve been murdered in his race war, but he s got time to meet with a CAIR sponsored victim of alleged police brutality following a violent protest, supposedly at the hands of Israel police officers. He s always got time for the victim, especially if the radical muslim organization, CAIR has anything to do with using the victim s status to promote their radical cause. A White House official confirmed that the Obama administration s national security team recently met with a teenager who garnered international headlines after a video of him being beaten by Israeli police during a protest in East Jerusalem emerged on the Internet.Tariq Khdeir, a fifteen-year-old Tampa resident of Palestinian decent, was hosted at the White House for continuing meetings with the Obama administration, which says that it is continuing to monitor the case.Khdeir was filmed being beaten and arrested by Israeli police last summer during a riot in a Palestinian neighborhood over the death of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, Tariq s cousin.A White House official confirmed late Monday to the Washington Free Beacon that Khdeir and his family were hosted at the White House for meetings. The confirmation came following initial reports of the April 15 meeting by CNN. The U.S. government has remained closely engaged with Tariq and his family since his return from Jerusalem, a White House official told the Free Beacon. As part of the follow-up on pending issues related to his case, National Security Council staff met with the Abu Khdeir family recently. While Tariq Khdeir was originally accused of participating in the riot which came amid a series of similar riots in Jerusalem last summer he was cleared of all charges in January.Khdeir s cousin Muhammad was the victim of an apparent revenge killing in the wake of the abduction and slaughter of three Israeli teens by Palestinian terrorists.Anti-Israel activists touted the video of Khdeir s beating as proof of widespread Israeli aggression and malfeasance in East Jerusalem. Organizations such as the Council of America-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have featured Khdeir as a speaker at various anti-Israel conferences.The family is reportedly seeking assurances that Khdeir will not be subjected to retaliation by Israel should he return to Jerusalem.The Obama administration is reportedly miffed with Israel over the incident and believes the government has not taken such incidents seriously, according to CNN. Based on numerous conversations with administration officials on background, there is a widespread belief within the Obama administration that the Israeli government does not take these incidents against American citizens with the seriousness U.S. officials believe they merit, CNN reported. Unless there is video evidence that excessive force was used, as in the case of Tariq Khdeir, Israeli government officials inevitably conclude that the action taken was justified and in keeping with national security needs, officials say, according to the report.Via: Washington Free Beacon | 1real |
Donald Trump Says Drugs Are ‘Big Factor’ in Urban Violence - The New York Times | PITTSBURGH — Donald J. Trump said Thursday that drugs were to blame for the violence roiling cities across the nation. Mr. Trump used the first roughly 10 minutes of his remarks to energy executives at a shale industry conference here to address the current unrest — including in Charlotte, N. C. after an man was fatally shot by the police — before turning more broadly to the plight of the nation’s largely black urban areas. “And if you’re not aware, drugs are a very, very big factor in what you’re watching on television at night,” Mr. Trump said. Some interpreted the Republican nominee’s remarks as specifically addressing the violent demonstrations in Charlotte, or at least the protests that have sprung up around the country this year in response to police shootings. But Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, said he was not referring to Charlotte or the broader protest movement, which is often led by . “He wasn’t talking about Charlotte specifically,” Ms. Conway said. “As he has done in many different venues on many different occasions, he is addressing a major concern that authorities and moms all across the country are raising with him, which is indiscriminate drug use and opiate addiction. ” Before turning to the topic at hand — energy — Mr. Trump said he first wanted to address “the turmoil unfolding right now in our country. ” “We have some real problems, and we do have a wounded country,” he said. “Many Americans are watching the unrest in Charlotte unfolding right before their eyes on the TV screens. Others are witnessing the chaos and the violence firsthand. ” He also worried aloud whether the protests and unrest had diminished the nation’s international standing. “Our country looks bad to the world, especially when we are supposed to be the world’s leader — how can we lead when we can’t even control our own cities?” Mr. Trump said. “We honor and recognize the right for all Americans to peacefully assemble and protest and demonstrate. But there is no right to engage in violent disruption or to threaten the public safety and peace of others. ” Earlier, in an interview on “Fox Friends,” Mr. Trump addressed his call on Wednesday to broaden the use of policing to other cities across the nation. Asked about the policy, which is loathed by many and whose legality has been questioned, Mr. Trump said he was specifically referring to the use of increased in Chicago — a city that has been besieged by crime and gun violence. But he also asserted his general support for the policy — ”They’ll stop, they’ll frisk, and they’ll take the gun away, and they won’t have anything to shoot with,” Mr. Trump said on Fox — and he reiterated that support during his speech here on Thursday. “Look at the example we had in New York of Mayor Rudy Giuliani,” Mr. Trump said, saying that the policies, which were instituted during Mr. Giuliani’s tenure as mayor, had helped curb murder and other crimes in the city. “Think of how many families these policies saved from the worst heartache imaginable. ” But Mr. Trump, whose support among voters is still in the single digits in most polls, also tried to strike a more inclusive, conciliatory note, speaking of the “ residents who live in these communities” and “suffer the most as a result of these riots. ” He called for more law enforcement, more community engagement and “more effective policing. ” “Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the violent disrupter, but to make life more comfortable for the parent trying to raise their kids in peace, to walk their children to school and to get their children great educations,” he said. “For every one violent protester, there are thousands of moms and dads and kids in that same community who just want to be able to sleep — really to sleep safely at night. To be able to walk on the streets. To be able to go to the grocery store. ” Later, Mr. Trump stopped by Geno’s, the famous Philadelphia cheesesteak place, to sample the city’s signature sandwich. Turning to the assembled cameras and reporters, Mr. Trump repeatedly pressed, “Who wants one?” “I think I’m going to get one for Hillary,” he joked. A man in the crowd shouted back: “Then she’ll choke on it!” | 0fake |
Comey Sources Are Speaking Out; He Was Fired For Two Reasons And They Are Both Frightening (VIDEO) | Days after testifying in front of Congress and after requesting more resources for the Russian investigation, FBI Director James Comey was fired on Tuesday night, effective immediately.The Trump administration is blaming Comey s handling of the Hillary Clinton emails, which makes no sense whatsoever because Trump loved Comey s handling of the emails in October. Trump tried to make the case that he fired Comey for being mean to Hillary Clinton, but even the most rabid Trump supporters have to acknowledge that his Lock Her Up, slogan is completely incompatible with Trump s given rationale.It doesn t take a tin foil conspiracy theorist to imagine that the real reason for the Comey firing is that he was getting too close to the truth in investigating Trump s Russia connections. NPR imagines even more scenarios, like the fact that Comey was becoming too big and was stepping on poor little Donnie s ego. It s becoming more and more likely though, that there were just two reasons Comey was fired and both of them should scare the hell out of you.According to two sources that CNN is calling close to Comey, the two reasons Comey was fired were:#2 confirms everything we ve been assuming since the news broke Tuesday night. #1, though, while not at all surprising, is almost more frightening. Trump had to have approached Comey at some point, demanding his loyalty. That s third-rate Banana Republic dictator crap. It makes one wonder just how many people have had to make an oath of loyalty, not to the Constitution, but to Trump. Maybe it s just the people who might have damaging goods on the administration or maybe it s every single person in his administration, which could explain why hundreds of jobs still remain unfilled within the Executive Branch.Loyalty oaths or no loyalty oaths, the Trump administration s charade when it comes to the handling is quickly coming unraveled. It likely won t be long before Comey, and not just sources close to him, are speaking out and perhaps speaking to Congress.Featured image via Zach Gibson/Getty Images | 1real |
WATCH: Watergate Reporter Says Trump Lies And Denies Facts More Than Richard Nixon Ever Did | Donald Trump hasn t even been sworn in yet and he s already beating Richard Nixon when it comes to being a liar.Forty-four years have passed since the Watergate scandal dominated the news. Carl Bernstein was one of the Washington Post reporters who broke the scandal wide open.Throughout his presidency, Richard Nixon repeatedly lied and misled people. And when Watergate happened, he tried to cover it up by any means necessary. In the end, Nixon was forced to resign because he was going to be impeached. He remains the only president who has ever resigned the office and the Watergate scandal became the scandal by which other political scandals are judged.Well, Donald Trump has spent the last few days defending Russia and desperately trying to cover up the fact that Russia hacked into our election to help Trump win. He doesn t believe the CIA assessment concluding that Russia interfered and claimed on Fox News Sunday that Democrats are pushing a lie to taint his great victory. In short, Trump threw American intelligence agencies under the bus to defend Putin and accused Democrats of making up a scandal. This is something that Richard Nixon would do. But unlike Trump, Nixon didn t deny facts at every turn, nor did he lie every time he spoke.Trump does exactly that on Twitter every day, launching attacks and smear campaigns against anyone who criticizes him or runs a story he doesn t like. Trump also exaggerates his supposed accomplishments like the Carrier deal, which is nothing more than a windfall for Carrier at taxpayer expense while jobs are slashed anyway.Carl Bernstein knows this first-hand, which is why he declared Trump a bigger liar than Nixon during an appearance on CNN. Trump lives and thrives in a fact-free environment, Bernstein said. No president, including Richard Nixon, has been so ignorant of fact and disdains fact in the way that this president-elect does. And it has something to do with the growing sense of authoritarianism that he and his presidency are projecting and the danger of it is obvious and he s trying to make the conduct of the press the issue, not his own conduct. Bernstein used Trump s Carrier deal as an example of his lies and Trump s attack against a steelworkers union leader as an example of Trump denying facts and lashing out at anyone who dares to call him out. He doesn t go to a fact-based argument, he goes to an emotion-base argument, Bernstein pointed out. What we have seen throughout the campaign is pathological disdain for the truth. Jeffrey Lord, of course, whined about Bernstein s analysis, but Berstein stood by what he said and doubled down. We now have a president-elect who, in terms of truthfulness Richard Nixon was nothing, in terms of lying, compared to what we have seen from Donald Trump. Here s the video via YouTube.Donald Trump is more unfit to be president than Richard Nixon. We could very well be looking at the most scandal-ridden administration in American history and it hasn t even taken over yet. At this rate, Trump might as well resign now before he becomes the first president to lose an impeachment trial.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
U.S. embassy in Zimbabwe tells staff to stay home due to 'political uncertainty' | (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador in Zimbabwe has instructed all employees to remain home on Wednesday due to ongoing political uncertainty, the embassy said in a statement on its website amid speculation about a coup. U.S. citizens in Zimbabwe are encouraged to shelter in place until further notice, the statement said, adding the embassy would be closed to the public on Wednesday. Soldiers deployed across the Zimbabwe capital Harare and seized the state broadcaster on Wednesday after 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe s ruling ZANU-PF party accused the head of the military of treason. | 0fake |
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The Internet Just Ripped Trump APART For Firing ‘God Damned American Hero’ Sally Yates | Acting Attorney General Sally Yates refused to back Donald Trump and his bigoted Muslim Ban. In a move that will surprise no one ever, Trump flew into a rage and fired her. Now, the internet is ripping him apart.In a brave act of defiance, Yates announced on Monday that The Department of Justice would not enforce his executive order as long as she was attorney general.Read the message Sally Yates left for Justice Department lawyers before she was fired: https://t.co/c8IE9NfUQX pic.twitter.com/NhECBjKJkp Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 31, 2017Trump went full on fascist and fired Yates for her insubordination, sending a clear message to all federal employees: obey me, or else. In a scathing statement issued by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Yates was basically branded a traitor. The statement accused her of having betrayed the DOJ and described her as an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on immigration. Tonight, the statement read, President Trump has relieved Ms. Yates of her duties. Instantly, people began referring to Yates firing as the Monday Night Massacre. This is a reference to when Richard Nixon ordered a special prosecutor be fired for refusing to stop looking into the Watergate scandal. As a result, two of the DOJ s top leaders resigned rather obey the shameful order. That night in 1973 became known as the Saturday Night Massacre. #MondayNIghtMassacre #TrumpFiresYates #FiredForSupportingTheConstitution Thank you @SallyQYates for your bravery. pic.twitter.com/wmFiEDFOE4 Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) January 31, 2017#mondaynightmassacre: took Nixon 5 years, Trump- 8 days Janet Reitman (@janetreitman) January 31, 2017Trump now finds himself being absolutely shredded in the court of public opinion yet again while Yates is being hailed a hero for standing strong against his bully tactics.Someone updated Sally Yates Wikipedia page pic.twitter.com/BkPynP3h3w Tim Perone (@timperone) January 31, 2017Sally Yates lived her oath like MLK. Trump treats his oath as multiple choice. pic.twitter.com/vWT8MH85JT D Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) January 31, 2017Sally Yates pic.twitter.com/mVKVAEh2H6 Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) January 31, 2017Footage of Sally Yates leaving her office. #ThankYouSally pic.twitter.com/oZL57jeD1j Amarnath Amarasingam (@AmarAmarasingam) January 31, 2017Featured image via Pete Marovich/Getty Images | 1real |
Review: In ‘Fatima,’ a Muslim Mother Working in France Hits Her Limit - The New York Times | “If my daughter is a success, my happiness is complete,” declares the title character of “Fatima,” a small miracle of a film from the French director Philippe Faucon. Divorced from her husband, whom she followed to France and with whom she is still friendly, Fatima (Soria Zeroual) is a North African woman raising two teenage girls in Lyon. The oldest, Nesrine (Zita Hanrot) 18, is a medical student, and the younger, Souad ( Aïche) is a sullen, sexy rebel ashamed of her mother for working as a housecleaner. Souad sneers that Fatima is “a useless ” and “a living rag. ” But her mother, however stung, endures the abuse and chooses her words carefully when firing back. Fatima loves her daughter despite her insolence. Steeped in North African Muslim culture, Fatima has traditional notions of what she calls “respectable” female behavior that don’t apply in France, and she is upset when Souad insists on baring her shoulders. If the movie, loosely based on two books by Fatima Elayoubi, tells a familiar story of immigrants struggling to make something of themselves in an alien culture (Fatima speaks some French but reads only Arabic) it does so in a tone that is kindhearted but clearheaded, and the performances are and believable. (Mr. Faucon picked Ms. Zeroual, a nonprofessional actress, to play Fatima.) It makes you feel the intense pressures facing Fatima and her family from all sides. When a young man flirts with Nesrine on a train, she politely but with a tinge of regret explains that she has to study. Some of those pressures come from gossipy female neighbors who are envious, and judgmental. One Moroccan woman fumes that Nesrine didn’t greet her at a bus stop, an incident that Nesrine, lost in her thoughts of school, doesn’t recall. While on the job 12 or more hours a day, Fatima is treated with barely disguised contempt by female employers who brusquely order her around and who, she rightly senses, suspect her of petty theft. Nesrine nearly cracks under the strain of her studies, which require her to absorb complex medical terminology. She worries most about not disappointing Fatima, who is sacrificing everything to pay for her schooling. Nesrine simply can’t afford to fail. Eventually Fatima, exhausted, falls down stairs with her cleaning equipment and takes a paid medical leave. But when the time is used up, she complains of continuing shoulder pains, although tests indicate she has recovered. She has simply reached her limit. To bolster her morale, Fatima has been keeping a bedside journal, written in Arabic. As she reads aloud from it to a sympathetic doctor, her reflections on hardship, sacrifice and life’s unfairness have the tone of a humble manifesto. “Be proud of all the Fatimas who clean working women’s houses,” she reads, and her words resound with the determination and quiet nobility of a woman who, however downtrodden, knows her own worth. “Fatima” is not rated. It is in French and Arabic, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 19 minutes. | 0fake |
President Trump’s Moving Pentagon Speech and Commemoration of 9-11 Attacks with White House Ceremony [Video] | President Trump and First Lady Melania commemorate the 9-11 terror attacks at a ceremony this morning on the 16 anniversary of a day that would change America forever. The Pentagon speech is below the White house videos.The full White House ceremony starts at the :26 mark:President Trump gave a speech at the Pentagon:A heartfelt moment of remembrance from President Trump He spoke of what was a normal morning all over America that turned into horror for the nation. Then America was under attack It was the worst attack since Pearl Harbor | 1real |
Ann Coulter: Give Me Your Tired Arguments... | Everything said about President Trump’s “Muslim ban” is a lie — including that it’s a Muslim ban. [The New York Times wore out its thesaurus denouncing the order: “cruelty … injury … suffering … bigoted, cowardly, … breathtaking … inflammatory … callousness and indifference” — and that’s from a single editorial! Amid the hysteria over this prudent pause in refugee admissions from seven countries whose principal export is dynamite vests, it has been indignantly claimed that it’s illegal for our immigration policies to discriminate on the basis of religion. This is often said by journalists who are only in America because of immigration policies that discriminated on the basis of religion. For much of the last Soviet Jews were given nearly automatic entry to the U. S. as “refugees. ” Entering as a refugee confers all sorts of benefits unavailable to other immigrants, including loads of welfare programs, health insurance, job placement services, English language classes, and the opportunity to apply for U. S. citizenship after only five years. Most important, though, Soviet Jews were not required to satisfy the United Nations definition of a “refugee,” to wit: someone fleeing persecution based on race, religion or national origin. They just had to prove they were Jewish. This may have been good policy, but let’s not pretend the Jewish exception was not based on religion. If a temporary pause on refugee admissions from seven countries constitutes “targeting” Muslims, then our immigration policy “targeted” Christians for discrimination for about 30 years. Never heard a peep from the ACLU about religious discrimination back then! According to the considered opinion of the Cato Institute’s David J. Bier, writing in the New York Times, Trump’s executive order is “illegal” because the 1965 immigration act “banned all discrimination against immigrants on the basis of national origin. ” In 1966, one year after the 1965 immigration act, immigrants from Cuba suddenly got special immigration privileges. In 1986, immigrants from Ireland did. People from Vietnam and Indochina got special immigration rights for 20 years after the end of the Vietnam War. The 1965 law, quite obviously, did not prohibit discrimination based on national origin. (I was wondering why the Times would sully its pages with the legal opinion of a Grove City College B. A. like Bier! Any “expert” in a storm, I guess.) In fact, ethnic discrimination is practically the hallmark of America’s immigration policy — in addition to our perverse obsession with admitting the entire Third World. Commenting on these ethnic boondoggles back in 1996, Sen. Orrin Hatch said: “We have made a mockery” of refugee law, “because of politics and pressure. ” We let in one ethnic group out of compassion, then they form an ethnic power bloc to demand that all their fellow countrymen be let in, too. As the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, described “diversity” in Der Spiegel: “In multiracial societies, you don’t vote in accordance with your economic interests and social interests, you vote in accordance with race and religion. ” That’s our immigration policy — plus a healthy dose of Emma Lazarus’ insane idea that all countries of the world should send their losers to us. (Thanks, Emma!) Americans are weary of taking in these pricey Third World immigrants, who show their gratitude by periodically erupting in maniacal violence — in, for example, San Bernardino, Orlando, New York City, Fort Hood, Boston, Chattanooga, Bowling Green and St. Cloud. The Muslim immigrants currently being showcased by the left are not likely to change any minds. The Times could produce only 11 cases of temporarily blocked immigrants that the newspaper would even dare mention. (Imagine what the others are like!) For purposes of argument, I will accept the Times’ glowing descriptions of these Muslim immigrants as brilliant scientists on the verge of curing cancer. (Two of the Times’ 11 cases actually involved cancer researchers.) Point one: If the Times thinks that brilliance is a desirable characteristic in an immigrant, why can’t we demand that of all our immigrants? To the contrary! Our immigration policy is more likely to turn away the brilliant scientist — in order to make room for an Afghani goat herder, whose kid runs a coffee stand until deciding to bomb the New York City subway one day. (That was Najibullah Zazi, my featured “Immigrant of the Week,” on May 1, 2012.) Point two: I happened to notice that even the stellar Muslim immigrants dug up by the Times seem to bring a lot of elderly and sickly relatives with them. Guess who gets to support them? House Speaker Paul Ryan’s driving obsession (besides being the Koch brothers’ lickspittle) is “entitlement reform,” i. e. cutting benefits or raising the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare. I have another idea. How about we stop bringing in immigrants who immediately access government programs, who bring in elderly parents who immediately access government programs, or who run vast criminal enterprises, stealing millions of dollars from government programs? (I illustrated the popularity of government scams with immigrants in Adios, America! by culling all the news stories about these crimes over a period and listing the perps’ names.) Point three: Contrary to emotional blather about the horrors refugees are fleeing, a lot are just coming to visit their kids or to get free health care. One of the Times’ baby seals — an Iraqi with diabetes and “a respiratory ailment” — was returning from performing his responsibilities as an elected official in Kirkuk. That’s not exactly fleeing the Holocaust. While it’s fantastic news that most Muslim refugees aren’t terrorists, the downside is: They’re not refugees, they’re not brilliant, they don’t have a constitutional right to come here, and they’re very, very expensive. Until politicians can give us more government services for less money, they need to stop bringing in the poor of the world on our dime. | 0fake |
As Trump Collapses, Clinton Donations SURGE | As Donald Trump s support has crumbled in the past month, donations to Hillary Clinton s presidential campaign have been surging. In the most recent reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), Clinton has just reported her best month yet of fundraising.The campaign ended July with $58.5 million on hand, up from $44.4 million on June 30, according to its report released by the Federal Election Commission on Saturday. Its $52.3 million raised and $38.2 million spent were both the highest of any month this cycle.Even more positive for Clinton, most of those donors were first time small-dollar donors, of the sort that have been so important to other candidates like Senator Bernie Sanders and President Obama. 58% of the money Clinton raised in July was under $200. Before, those donors represented 31% of her base.Clinton has spent most of the money on campaign ads in swing states, while Trump only announced plans for a meager advertising buy in the last week. He did not advertise during the Olympics, which most experts believe is a crucial time to reach prospective voters who aren t news junkies. Clinton bought time for an ad which highlighted Trump s habit of outsourcing the manufacturing of his clothing lines to other countries.According to the RealClearPolitics current average of polling, Clinton has a 5.7% lead against Trump nationally. He hasn t had the lead in a single national poll since the week of July 22, when the Republican National Convention was underway.Since then Trump has been involved in a series of controversies, including his repeated attack on the family of a fallen U.S. soldier. Allegations of underhanded dealings and connections to the Russian government eventually led to the ouster of his top campaign official, Paul Manafort. Trump has brought in the head of the bigoted website Breitbart.com, Stephen Bannon, to run his campaign in an emergency shakeup.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Paul Ryan Gets Called Out At Town Hall And Gives THE DUMBEST Reason For Supporting Trump (VIDEO) | House Speaker Paul Ryan was put on the spot last night during CNN s town hall, when a Republican attendee asked him a question that most of us would love to know how can anyone, Republican or not, justify standing by Donald Trump after all the horrible things he s said and done?Student Zachary Marcone, who stressed that he himself was a Republican but would NOT be voting for Trump, confronted Ryan by pointing out Trump s bigotry. Marcone said: It concerns me when the Republican leadership is supporting somebody who s blatantly racist and has said Islamophobic statements, wants to shut down our borders. Can you tell me, how can you morally justify your support for this kind of candidate, somebody who could be very destructive to our country? Ryan couldn t actually give Marcone a moral justification for why he continued to support Trump even though he d condemned several of the Islamophobic things Trump has said in the past. Basically accepting Marcone s description of Trump as a racist Islamophobic candidate, Ryan s only response was that carrying out the Republican party s agenda was more important to him than protecting America. Ryan fired back with notable irritation in his voice: That basically means you re going to help elect Hillary Clinton. And I don t think Hillary Clinton s going to support any of the things that you stand for, if you re a Republican. So according to the Speaker of the House, subjecting America to a blatantly racist and Islamophobic idiot isn t as bad as having Clinton leading the country even though she is far more qualified to do so and Ryan admitted that several of Trump s proposals were wrong and don t reflect the view of fellow conservatives and Republicans. Ryan said: She represents a third Obama term. I don t think that s good for America; I think that s the wrong direction. So, yes, things have been said that I, too, disagree with. Then I ll make that point, then, but I m going to go fight for the principles and these solutions that I believe in. And the candidate that I think is so much more likely to put those into law, because I know Hillary Clinton won t do that. It is a binary choice. It is either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. You don t get a third option. It s one or the other and I know where I want to go. You can watch Ryan expose how much the GOP doesn t give a damn about America below:Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
CONSERVATIVE Women DESTROY Crybaby, Safe Space Feminists Over Women’s March Against Trump’s Inauguration…And It’s HILARIOUS! | Anyone who is sick and tired of social justice warriors using the feminist movement to push every leftist agenda known to modern man will definitely enjoy reading these:https://twitter.com/peddoc63/status/820284848925511682Go nuts! Don't take accountability. Instead, simply blame all of your failures and mistakes on straight white males. #RulesForWomensMarch Brittany Pettibone (@BrittPettibone) January 14, 2017It wouldn t be a proper feminist march against Trump without has been celebrities like Rosie and Madonna:#RulesForWomensMarch I would be wonderful if you continued your march all the way to Canada..Make sure Rosie is leading your pack #MAGA TRM (@trm10trm) January 14, 2017Loudly announce your support of slaughtering offspring in utero while screaming about gun control. #RulesForWomensMarch Leah the Boss (@LeahRBoss) January 14, 2017#RulesForWomensMarchWhile marching for the protection of your daughters make sure to avoid topics like Chicago, Uranium One, Bill Clinton Star (@starmlw) January 14, 2017Be insanely critical of any man you come into contact with. Unless he's dressed as a woman and peeing beside you. #RulesForWomensMarch Leah the Boss (@LeahRBoss) January 14, 2017#RulesForWomensMarchNo speaking out of turn. From any body part. pic.twitter.com/uBNdOtSefY Lizzy Lou Who (@_wintergirl93) January 14, 2017https://twitter.com/andieiamwhoiam/status/820143718011465728#RulesForWomensMarch Real women don't need/have time for a 'march' we're too busy raising our children and working RealFeminist2.0 (@els1023) January 14, 2017Since you wanna keep the govt out of your uterus let's keep govt money out of it too.. BYOB..Buy Your Own Birth-Control #RulesForWomensMarch LiLBitOfSass (@xmssweetnessx) January 14, 2017#RulesForWomensMarch be hypocritical when you cry about rape but don't believe in a woman's right to carry a gun to prevent rape. ChristinaBistes (@PlainUnamerican) January 14, 2017#RulesForWomensMarchBe sure to swoon over the elitist celebrities that haven't contributed a dime to women/child causes but expect you to Star (@starmlw) January 14, 2017Remember to respect the 53% of fabulous white women who voted Trump. #MAGA #RulesForWomensMarch StupidKant (@stupid_kant) January 14, 2017Body positive marchers must bring a doctor s note to clear them for physical activity. No exceptions. #RulesForWomensMarch Liars Never Win (@liars_never_win) January 14, 2017Pick up your George Soros pay, but only 80% of what the men marchers make, after the march, not before. #RulesForWomensMarch Paulsy (@Paulsy01) January 14, 2017Please don t look the celebrities in the eyes without prior permission #RulesForWomensMarch Liars Never Win (@liars_never_win) January 14, 2017#RulesForWomensMarch1 Burn Trump effigies 2 exibit hormonal rage3 Forget to blame 6 mil Obama Dems who stayed home instead of voting HRC Surfin with the Dude (@petite_lk_dude) January 14, 2017Showers are not provided or encouraged #RulesForWomensMarch Liars Never Win (@liars_never_win) January 14, 2017 | 1real |
WATCH: Louisiana Governor Slams Giuliani For Criticizing His Response To Trump Visit | Rudy Giuliani threw a hissy fit over Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards reaction to Donald Trump visiting the flood damage in his state, and Edwards called him out for it.On Friday, the former New York mayor who now forgets about 9/11 posted a statement on Twitter whining about Bel Edwards asking the Republican nominee to do something to help the victims of the flooding instead of just showing up to do a photo-op.Instead of following Gov. Bel Edwards s advice, Trump proceeded to get that photo-op, which consisted of him handing out play-doh instead of real supplies such as food and water.But Giuliani criticized Bel Edwards for making such a request and said that reaction towards President Obama is not the same negative reaction President Bush received after Hurricane Katrina.Giuliani said that Trump showed true leadership by going to the flood ravaged state and then plugged his book in the same breath.Then he bragged about being the mayor of NYC during the September 11th attacks.Here s the full post via Twitter.Giuliani statement on Louisiana s governor criticizing Trump trip: During the September 11 attacks, I welcomed pic.twitter.com/wFDRW5qhyi Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) August 19, 2016On Sunday, Bel Edwards fired back by telling CNN s Dana Bash that there is not a double standard here. I believe Mayor Giuliani got it completely wrong. I have not been critical of Mr. Trump s visit. I have tried not to comment because I don t want to get tied up in the politics of whether it s the president, whether it s Hillary Clinton or whether it s Donald Trump. I have tried not to comment. And the comments that I have made have been very reserved. So I think he was off base there with that comment. So I think he was off base there with that comment. Bel Edwards went on to point out that the reason President Obama has not visited Baton Rouge yet is because he asked him to come next week instead.Here s the video via CNN.But Edwards explained why President Obama was right not to visit yet during an interview with Rachel Maddow on Thursday. It is a major ordeal, they free up the interstate for him. We have to take hundreds of local first responders, police officers, sheriffs, deputies and state troopers to provide security for that type of visit. I would just as soon have those people engaged in the response rather than trying to secure the president. So I d ask him to wait, if he would, another couple weeks. So President Obama s presence would have been a major distraction and would have kept first responders from doing their jobs to help those in need.But that doesn t mean President Obama has done nothing like Republicans would have us believe. Gov. Edwards said on that point: I do want you to know, and your viewers to know, that within hours of me making a request for a federal declaration I got it from the president. He called me. I want you to know that I ve been speaking to Valerie Jarrett just about every day. He dispatched the FEMA administrator to meet with me for an entire day. Today I had the Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. We ve also had the four-star general who runs all of the guard for the country here today. And that s in addition to FEMA workers who have been embedded in the state in preparation for the relief effort.President Bush was not so much criticized for not visiting as much as he was criticized for not being prepared and not doing enough to help the victims in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a storm that took the lives of nearly 2,000 people. FEMA was completely disorganized under Bush s watch. But President Obama has been on top of this latest disaster in Louisiana since the beginning.So Giuliani is out of line for criticizing President Obama. And he is out of line for criticizing Bel Edwards for making a reasonable request of Trump. Louisiana needs help, not photo-ops. Trump visited a Republican dominated area to make it look like he was universally welcomed in the state when it is clear that he wasn t. President Obama s presence would have only hindered the rescue and recovery effort. And you know Republicans would have whined about that if he had visited.Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
White House continues to cooperate with special counsel -official | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Charges brought against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager and other officials on Monday would not change the White House’s cooperation with the special counsel investigating alleged Russian intervention in the 2016 election, a White House official said. “The White House continues to cooperate,” the official said. | 0fake |
CBO Report: New Ryancare Saves Less than Previous Version, 24 Million Still Lose Insurance by 2026 - Breitbart | A new Congressional Budget Office report for Speaker Paul Ryan’s revised American Health Care Act reveals that 24 million people would still lose insurance by 2026 and the plan saves less money than the previous version. [In the revised version of Speaker Ryan’s bill, 14 million people would lose coverage in 2018, and 24 million would lose coverage by 2026. These figures are similar to the CBO’s previous report on the Republican leadership’s bill. Speaker Ryan’s revised bill, however, saves less money than the previous version. The current version would save $150 billion between 2017 and 2026, compared to the original bill that would have saved $337 billion. The changes to the bill were part of a “manager’s amendment” offered by GOP leaders to win more House Republican votes. The new CBO report was revealed amidst rancor between conservatives frustrated by the Republican leadership’s inability to repeal Obamacare. Speaker Ryan canceled Thursday’s vote on Ryancare because House leadership lacked the votes to pass the bill. could be altered again, which might change the CBO score. | 0fake |
Steve Pieczenik: U.S. Intelligence Waging Coup Against Corrupt Clintons » REGATED | Former United States Department of State official Steve Pieczenik Steve Pieczenik: U.S. Intelligence Waging Coup Against Corrupt Clintons Jon Hall November 1, 2016
Rumors and allegations that Bill and Hillary Clinton belong to a high-level pedophile ring have surfaced on the Internet. Without much credence or proof behind the claims, I initially dismissed them. The rumors only persisted and grew and now Steve Pieczenik has now come forward with stunning claims that add fuel to this fire.
Pieczenik served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Henry Kissinger is well-versed in foreign policy, international crisis management, and psychological warfare. He also served under presidential administrations as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush’s White House. In other words Steve Pieczenik — with his proven history of experience — is the real deal. Pieczenik claims that the Clintons and their close associates have successfully pulled off a coup via corruption.
He explains that total corruption and co-option were the two strategies behind this coup. Pieczenik says Bill and Hillary Clinton co-opted many central facets of our government — the White House, the judiciary, the CIA, the FBI. As far as I’m concerned, this idea is well beyond some lunatic conspiracy theory but increasingly likely.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch is obviously in the pocket of the Clintons, intervening and obstructing FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton’s private home server and e-mails at every turn. James Comey, who was on the board of directors at HSBC bank, a bank that gave $81 million to the Clinton Foundation, is also the current head of the FBI. Pieczenik goes further to explain that the U.S. Intelligence community has started a counter-coup against the Clintons, providing information to Julian Assange and Wikileaks.
We can finally stop blaming Russians. Pieczenik states clearly that US intelligence offered data to Julian Assange. This counter-coup is working against Hillary Clinton and her campaign and seeks to indict major players in her alleged corrupt scheme. Steve Pieczenik ends the video and tells us “the second American revolution” is happening.
Pieczenik claims both Clintons are frequent travelers on the Lolita Express — billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane. The Lolita Express flies to Epstein’s private island where the elite duo can ‘have sex with minors’ says Pieczenik. He claims the NYPD has a record of the Clintons and close associates that could potentially implicate them in pedophilia.
Pieczenik tells that officials will charge Hillary Clinton with multiple crimes including obstruction of justice and other charges. He says that Bill Clinton may also suffer criminal charges. He explains the US Intelligence is aware of Clinton’s shady and illicit misdeeds and that these trips on the Lolita Express were supposedly frequent. The following two tabs change content below. Latest Posts Jon Hall Jon Hall is a reformed two-time Obama voter with a degree in Digital Media. He covers US politics, corruption, tech interests and more. Latest posts by Jon Hall ( see all ) | 1real |
Uganda ruling party seeks to scrap age limit to extend president's rule | KAMPALA (Reuters) - Legislators from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni s party on Tuesday agreed to introduce a law to remove an age limit from the country s constitution, potentially allowing him to extend his rule, two lawmakers told Reuters. The East African country s existing constitution bars anyone over 75 from standing as a presidential candidate. Museveni, 73, is already one of Africa s longest-serving rulers and has been in charge for more than three decades. The next elections are due in 2021. Oil-rich Uganda is a staunch Western ally and receives substantial aid and support for its security forces, partly for sending troops to Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission. When he first came to power, Museveni was lauded for helping restore stability after two murderous dictators known to use torture and extrajudicial executions widely, and for directing the suppression of a brutal insurgency known for mutilating civilians and kidnapping children. But over the years, criticism has mounted over the suppression of the political opposition, widespread corruption and a poor human rights record. Simeo Nsubuga, a legislator from Museveni s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, told Reuters the move to amend the constitution was agreed in a special meeting of the party s House members. We agreed that a private member should come up with a constitutional amendment bill to remove the age limit, Nsubuga said, adding the bill would be introduced on the floor next week. In July, Uganda s deputy attorney general said cabinet was planning to introduce similar legislation. Most Ugandan laws are introduced by the government via cabinet ministers. But Kafuuzi Jackson Karugaba, another NRM legislator, told Reuters they had decided to take the option of a private member s bill because cabinet was moving too slowly. In 2005, NRM legislators changed the constitution and removed a limit of two five-year terms, allowing Museveni to extend his reign. Independent observers said that last year s presidential election lacked transparency and that the poll body lacked credibility. The ageing leader has himself not stated whether he intends to seek another term, and officials have said the proposed constitutional change was not specifically to benefit the incumbent but all of Uganda s future leaders. | 0fake |
BREAKING: Dartmouth Tells College Republicans Auditorium “not open to presidential candidates” For Trump Event…But Okay For Hillary Event Tomorrow | In your face progressivism They re not even attempting to hide it anymore. I m starting to believe these radical colleges and universities are wearing their glaring hypocrisy like a badge of honor Despite refusing to grant permission to the College Republicans to host presidential candidate Donald Trump in the school s largest auditorium in September, on the grounds that the space was not open to presidential candidates, Dartmouth College is now permitting Hillary Clinton to speak in the location this Tuesday.Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school located in rural New Hampshire, has hosted many Republican and Democratic presidential candidates this election cycle in a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces across campus. Over Dartmouth s summer term, Hillary Clinton drew a crowd of around 850 spectators at an outdoor venue. This is a prime example of the school attempting to insert their bias onto the student population. -Trump Campaign Tweet ThisMichelle Knesbach, a junior at Dartmouth and president of the school s College Republicans chapter, told Campus Reform that the College Republicans began to invite candidates to campus after New Hampshire s First in the Nation event, where members of the group had the opportunity to meet the candidates and their staff in person. We discussed opportunities for Donald Trump to come up to Dartmouth. We got to the point where it looked like we had a date set for September 30, Knesbach stated.While previous candidates had drawn sizable crowds when they visited Dartmouth, students and Trump staffers anticipated the need for a much larger space than the other candidates had used. The only space that could fit the anticipated 800 people, Spaulding Auditorium, is located in Dartmouth s Hopkins Center for the Arts, a large building that is home to a number of performance spaces and many of the school s arts programs.Knesbach explained that, knowing that Donald Trump was going to get a huge crowd, I asked for Spaulding Auditorium in an email to Laura LaMontagne, an events facilitator, around mid-August. I was told that it was a possibility, and we looked at availability. We were initially told, via email, that there might be a possibility of using Spaulding. Shortly thereafter, Knesbach and the College Republicans Vice President Charles Springer decided to expedite the process by going to see LaMontagne in person. Springer recalled that when they arrived to meet with her, they were joined by another college events staff member named Jim, who Campus Reform believes to be Jim Alberghini, the school s events manager. We were initially talking about using Spaulding as a venue for Trump, Knesbach said, Then they explained to us that Spaulding was managed by the Hopkins Center and generally only used for Hopkins Center events. Springer corroborated this statement saying, [t]hey said that there were only very, very rare exceptions to this and that large expenses and bureaucratic drama were required to make the auditorium available for any event not run by the Hopkins Center. Knesbach explained that the administrators listed examples illustrating that they never allow presidential candidates to use the space. They told us that candidates like Howard Dean and Barack Obama could have filled up Spaulding but were not given the opportunity to use it, Knesback said. Candidates never get Spaulding. They said that word for word, Springer reiterated.A series of email exchanges between Knesbach, college administrators, and the Trump campaign followed the in-person conversation. We told the Trump campaign that we could not secure Spaulding for a candidate event. Then they said that they couldn t visit because there was no indoor venue available that could seat at least 800 people, said Knesbach, I told the college via email that the Trump campaign required an indoor venue that could hold 800, and they replied that they could only offer us an outdoor location. As no space could be agreed upon, the Trump campaign decided to cancel its visit to Dartmouth College, choosing another New Hampshire location instead.This past Friday, Dartmouth College Democrats sent a campus-wide email advertising another campus visit by Hillary Clinton. Knesbach and Springer said they were taken aback when they learned of the event s location: Spaulding Auditorium.Despite the Clinton campaign claiming the speaking engagement to be an official campaign event, as evidenced by the screenshot above, Dartmouth s Director of Media Relations , Diana Lawrence, told Campus Reform that, Spaulding is not available for rent by anyone, including political candidates. It is, however, available for use (through reservation) by campus groups holding College-sponsored events. Hillary Clinton s visit on Tuesday is an event sponsored by the Tuck School of Business as part of their presidential candidates speakers series. Lawrence also pointed out that during the 2012 presidential election cycle Spaulding Auditorium was host to a Republican presidential debate; however thus far during the current election cycle no candidates have been granted access to the space.George Pataki, the former Republican governor of New York, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham have already spoken at Dartmouth as part of the America s Economic Future series, co-sponsored by the Tuck School of Business and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center. Neither spoke at Spaulding Auditorium.A spokesperson for the Trump campaign told Campus Reform that the claims made by the College Republicans are completely accurate and that the campaign was told Spaulding Auditorium would be off limits to all presidential candidates this election cycle. The spokesperson added that the Trump campaign believes this is a prime example of the school attempting to insert their bias onto the student population. Via: Campus Reform | 1real |
Comment on Eric Trump: A candidate under investigation is ‘unthinkable’ by Debbie Menon | 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 VNN on November 4, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Civil Liberties , Corruption , Election 2016 , Foreign Lobbies , Foreign Policy , Government , Legislation , Police State , Politics . 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 | 1real |
AT&T-Time Warner Merger To Expand Corporate, State Control Of Media | World Socialist Web Site
AT&T, the telecommunications and cable TV colossus, announced Saturday that it has struck a deal to acquire the pay TV and entertainment giant Time Warner. The merger, if approved by the Justice Department and US regulatory agencies under the next administration, will create a corporate entity with unprecedented control over both the distribution and content of news and entertainment. It will also mark an even more direct integration of the media and the telecomm industry with the state.
AT&T, the largest US telecom group by market value, already controls huge segments of the telephone, pay-TV and wireless markets. Its $48.5 billion purchase of the satellite provider DirecTV last year made it the biggest pay-TV provider in the country, ahead of Comcast. It is the second-largest wireless provider, behind Verizon.
Time Warner is the parent company of such cable TV staples as HBO, Cinemax, CNN and the other Turner System channels: TBS, TNT and Turner Sports. It also owns the Warner Brothers film and TV studio.
The Washington Post on Sunday characterized the deal as a “seismic shift” in the “media and technology world,” one that “could turn the legacy carrier [AT&T] into a media titan the likes of which the United States has never seen.” The newspaper cited Craig Moffett, an industry analyst at Moffett-Nathanson, as saying there was no precedent for a telecom company the size of AT&T seeking to acquire a content company such as Time Warner.
“A [telecom company] owning content is something that was expressly prohibited for a century” by the government, Moffett told the Post .
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, in keeping with his anti-establishment pose, said Saturday that the merger would lead to “too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” and that, if elected, he would block it.
The Clinton campaign declined to comment on Saturday. Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine, speaking on the NBC News program “Meet the Press” on Sunday, said he had “concerns” about the merger, but he declined to take a clear position, saying he had not seen the details.
AT&T, like the other major telecom and Internet companies, has collaborated with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its blanket, illegal surveillance of telephone and electronic communications. NSA documents released last year by Edward Snowden show that AT&T has played a particularly reactionary role.
As the New York Times put it in an August 15, 2015 article reporting the Snowden leaks: “The National Security Agency’s ability to spy on vast quantities of Internet traffic passing through the United States has relied on its extraordinary, decades-long partnership with a single company: the telecom giant AT&T.”
The article went on to cite an NSA document describing the relationship between AT&T and the spy agency as “highly collaborative,” and quoted other documents praising the company’s “extreme willingness to help” and calling their mutual dealings “a partnership, not a contractual relationship.”
The Times noted that AT&T installed surveillance equipment in at least 17 of its Internet hubs based in the US, provided technical assistance enabling the NSA to wiretap all Internet communications at the United Nations headquarters, a client of AT&T, and gave the NSA access to billions of emails.
If the merger goes through, this quasi-state entity will be in a position to directly control the content of much of the news and entertainment accessed by the public via television, the movies and smart phones. The announcement of the merger agreement is itself an intensification of a process of telecom and media convergence and consolidation that has been underway for years, and has accelerated under the Obama administration.
In 2009, the cable provider Comcast announced its acquisition for $30 billion of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, which owns both the National Broadcasting Company network and Universal Studios. The Obama Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission ultimately approved the merger.
Other recent mergers involving telecoms and content producers include, in addition to AT&T’s 2015 purchase of DirecTV: Verizon Communications’ acquisition of the Huffington Post , Yahoo and AOL; Lionsgate’s deal to buy the pay-TV channel Starz; Verizon’s agreement announced in the spring to buy DreamWorks Animation; and Charter Communications’ acquisition of the cable provider Time Warner Cable, approved this year.
The AT&T-Time Warner announcement will itself trigger a further restructuring and consolidation of the industry, as rival corporate giants scramble to compete within a changing environment that has seen the growth of digital and streaming companies such as Netflix and Hulu at the expense of the traditional cable and satellite providers.
The Financial Times wrote on Saturday that “the mooted deal could fire the starting gun on a round of media and technology consolidation.” Referring to a new series of mergers and acquisitions, the Wall Street Journal on Sunday quoted a “top media executive” as saying that an AT&T-Time Warner deal would “certainly kick off the dance.”
The scale of the buyout agreed unanimously by the boards of both companies is massive. AT&T is to pay Time Warner a reported $85.4 billion in cash and stocks, at a price of $107.50 per Time Warner share. This is significantly higher than the current market price of Time Warner shares, which rose 8 percent to more than $89 Friday on rumors of the merger deal.
In addition, AT&T is to take on Time Warner’s debt, pushing the actual cost of the deal to more than $107 billion. The merged company would have a total debt of $150 billion, making inevitable a campaign of cost-cutting and job reduction.
The unprecedented degree of monopolization of the telecom and media industries is the outcome of the policy of deregulation, launched in the late 1970s by the Democratic Carter administration and intensified by every administration, Republican or Democratic, since then. In 1982, the original AT&T, colloquially known as “Ma Bell,” was broken up into seven separate and competing regional “Baby Bell” companies.
This was sold to the public as a means of ending the tightly regulated AT&T monopoly over telephone service and unleashing the “competitive forces” of the market, where increased competition would supposedly lower consumer prices and improve service. What ensued was a protracted process of mergers and disinvestments involving the destruction of hundreds of thousands of jobs, which drove up stock prices at the expense of both employees and the consuming public.
Dallas-based Southwestern Bell was among the most aggressive of the “Baby Bells” in expanding by means of acquisitions and ruthless cost-cutting, eventually evolving into the new AT&T. Now, the outcome of deregulation has revealed itself to be a degree of monopolization and concentrated economic power beyond anything previously seen. | 1real |
Palestinian billionaire Masri back in Jordan after release in Saudi Arabia: family source | AMMAN (Reuters) - Palestinian billionaire Sabih al-Masri, Jordan s most powerful businessman, returned to Amman on Tuesday after his release in Saudi Arabia secured when he agreed to pay an unspecified amount of money, sources close to the matter said. Masri was detained for questioning last week over his alleged links with Saudi business partners among royals, ministers and officials who were rounded up last month in an unprecedented anti-corruption purge. Masri, chairman of Amman-based Arab Bank, Jordan s largest lender, was taken into custody just before he was planning to leave Saudi Arabia after chairing meetings of Saudi companies he owns, informed sources said. He is at his home now in Amman, said a family source. Masri later held meetings in the bank with senior officials. Arab Bank shares, which account for almost a quarter of the $24 billion market capitalization of the Amman exchange, ended 1.48 percent higher as investors reacted favorably to the news of his return. Masri has since taking the helm at Arab Bank in 2012 helped boost confidence in one of the Arab world s largest private financial institutions. The bank, first established in Jerusalem in 1930 and one of the major Middle East financial institutions, has a balance sheet of more than $45 billion and has earned a reputation of resilience in the face of regional political turmoil. Masri, a Saudi citizen, said from his home in Riyadh on Sunday after his release that the Saudi authorities had accorded him all respect . [L8N1OH05J] Saudi officials have not commented on his detention. Jordanian authorities privately said King Abdullah intervened to secure his release. A source familiar with the matter said Masri was freed after reaching a settlement to return an unspecified amount of money. There was no comment from the Masri family. There is no way Masri has been freed without agreeing to some settlement. The Saudis are telling anyone who has made huge sums of money that they have to pay back some of that wealth, the source said. Another source said Riyadh saw these settlements not as blackmail but an obligation to reimburse money taken illegally from the world s top oil producer over several decades. Saudi authorities have already succeeded in reaching financial settlements with dozens of royal family members, senior officials and wealthy businessmen in the crackdown spearheaded by powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Around 200 people in total have been questioned in the crackdown, authorities said last month. Saudi authorities estimate they could eventually recover around $100 billion of illicitly held funds. They have been working on reaching agreements with suspects detained at Riyadh s luxurious Ritz Carlton hotel, asking them to hand over assets and cash in return for their freedom. Masri s detention unnerved business circles in Jordan and the Palestinian Territories as well as many Arab magnates across the Middle East who have made fortunes in Saudi Arabia, according to several investors who asked not to be named. His multi-billion-dollar investments in hotels and banking in Jordan represent a cornerstone of the economy of the kingdom and he is by far the biggest investor in Palestinian areas. A member of a prominent merchant family from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Masri amassed a fortune by joining with influential Saudi royals in a catering business to supply troops during the U.S.-led military operation to retake Kuwait from Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. Confidants said Masri had been warned not to travel to the Saudi capital after mass arrests of Saudi royals, ministers and businessmen in early November. Officials and businessmen had warned of the reverberations of the crisis on an aid-strapped Jordanian economy already plagued by high debts. Saudi Arabia is a major donor. | 0fake |
Dear GOP: Hire me and I’ll give you the debate of your dreams | I write to you in your capacity as debate negotiator for Republican presidential candidates. I understand you may have an opening for a moderator for your Feb. 26 debate. Please consider this letter my application for the job.
I applaud Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus’s decision to suspend NBC as a debate host because of the “mean” and “gotcha” questions CNBC asked at last week’s debate. I feel passionately that a debate is neither the time nor the place for hard questions, and as debate moderator I will rigorously adhere to gentle and affectionate questioning.
I also share Donald Trump’s outrage that Telemundo, a Spanish-language outlet, would be allowed to co-host the February debate even though a Telemundo journalist had the gall to challenge Trump about the rapists and criminals he says Mexico sends to America. Let me assure you that, as debate moderator, I would not challenge Trump or any other candidate on this or any factual matter. I do not even speak Spanish, a claim that had the enthusiastic concurrence of my high school Spanish teacher, Señora Sopanoff.
Furthermore, I have read your draft letter proposing requirements for future debate moderators, and I wholeheartedly and unreservedly commit to abide by every one of them. Specifically, I pledge to meet the following demands you listed:
● Not to allow the temperature in the room to exceed 67 degrees at any time.
● Not to ask any candidate to raise his/her hand at any time.
● Not to ask yes/no questions.
● Not to engage in any “lightning round” questioning.
● Not to allow any camera angles that show the candidates using notes.
● Not to show an empty lectern if a candidate is late in returning from a bathroom break.
● Not to show any “reaction shots” of audience members or of me, the moderator.
● Not to broadcast any graphics or biographical information without the express pre-approval of the candidates.
Additionally, per your list of requirements, I promise:
● To allow all candidates to make opening and closing statements of at least 30 seconds each.
● To allow the candidates unlimited time to rebut one another whenever their names are mentioned.
● To ask an equal number of questions of each candidate, and to guarantee that each candidate receives an equal amount of response time.
As a further inducement to hire me as your moderator, I will go beyond the above-mentioned requirements cited in your letter. You also posed questions about standards for inclusion in the debate, debate length, use of “gong/buzzer/bell,” debate format, stage design, and the type and size of the audience and clothing worn by audience members.
In order to guarantee that this debate will be the thoroughly enjoyable experience for the candidates that we all want it to be, I plan to allow all 15 candidates to debate on the stage at the same time and not to cut off candidates if they exceed their time limits. At the same time, I pledge to hold the overall debate length to 30 minutes, including opening and closing statements, in order to minimize time for gaffes and unscripted remarks. To avoid unhelpful reactions from the audience, I promise to have no audience. I will pipe in artificial applause of precisely the same pre-agreed length and decibel level for all candidates after all answers.
I will submit my questions in advance for pre-approval by the campaigns. No questions will be asked about women, racial minorities or any other issue that might cast the Republican Party in an unfavorable light. There will be no questions about any candidate’s past statements or actions, including but not limited to: bankruptcies, financial difficulties, missed votes and inconsistencies. Candidates will not be required to perform math or to provide supporting evidence for claims. Candidates will be seated in Barcaloungers. If candidates feel overheated, the moderator will fan them while they answer and provide them with their choice of lemon or cucumber ice water. I will begin each question with the phrase “Mother, may I,” and I will address candidates as “Your Excellency,” “Your Eminence” or another honorific approved by the campaigns.
I hope this application meets with your approval. I believe the format outlined above will, after the CNBC debate debacle, truly Make Republicans Look Great Again and return journalists to their proper role as palace courtiers. I am hopeful that I can convince my colleagues at washingtonpost.com to live-stream the debate. Though I cannot promise you that any network will broadcast the debate, I believe this should not be a major impediment. Under the requirements you proposed, very few people will be watching anyway.
Read more from Dana Milbank’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. | 0fake |
Militants attack checkpoint in Somalia's Puntland, seven dead | BOSASO, Somalia (Reuters) - Islamist al Shabaab militants attacked a checkpoint in Somalia s semi-autonomous Puntland region, killing at least seven people in the early hours of Monday, police said. The fighters then ambushed officers rushing in to help colleagues on the outskirts of the city of Bosaso, an officer at the scene told Reuters. Al Shabaab said it took the checkpoint then left, though the police said they fought off the assault. Al Shabaab has launched a string of attacks on Somalia s capital Mogadishu and other areas controlled by the federal government in a bid to oust the Western-backed authorities and impose the group s interpretation of Islamic law. Attacks are relatively rare in Puntland, which has its own government and security forces patrolling its territory on the northeastern tip of the Horn of Africa, jutting out into the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. At about 1 a.m., many well-armed al Shabaab fighters attacked us from all directions in an attempt to capture the checkpoint, police captain Abdifatah Mohamed said. Three police and four civilians died and at least 13 others were wounded in the clashes, he said over the phone from the checkpoint. Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab s military operation spokesman, said its fighters killed seven soldiers and wounded 11 others. We captured the Bosaso checkpoint and left this morning. We also ambushed a police reinforcement, he said. Puntland is also home to a splinter group of al Shabaab that has sworn allegiance to Islamic State. Security sources say a small contingent of foreign fighters is based there. | 0fake |
The Lost Footage of Marilyn Monroe - The New York Times | It happened one night in the late summer of 1954. Jules Schulback, a New York furrier and taker of home movies, heard that Marilyn Monroe would be on the Upper East Side of Manhattan filming scenes again for her new picture, “The Seven Year Itch. ” Two days earlier, Mr. Schulback had taken footage of her with his Bolex movie camera around the corner from his townhouse apartment. So he grabbed the camera — the one usually used for family picnics and parades and the stuff of everyday life — and headed over to the subway grate in front of Wright’s Food shop, just down the street from the movie theater on Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street. Though it was around 1 a. m. a large crowd had already gathered, mostly newspaper photographers and curious men waiting to see Marilyn. The movie studio and the director, Billy Wilder, had counted on this, inviting the press and the public to drum up buzz for the new movie, which starred Ms. Monroe as “the Girl Upstairs,” who entices a executive, played by Tom Ewell, while his wife is away with the kids for the summer. In the famous street scene, the two are leaving the movies as Ms. Monroe pauses over a grate to enjoy the breeze from the subway as it blows up her dress on a hot summer night. “Isn’t it delicious?” she purrs. The breeze came from a large fan under the grate operated by the film’s special effects chief. The night — Sept. 15 — was actually quite chilly. But the stunt worked. It became known as “the shot seen around the world. ” But there was a dark subtext to the comedy. Gathered at that late hour were hundreds of gawkers, almost all men, who catcalled and yelled things like, “Higher! Higher!” as Ms. Monroe’s dress blew up over her head. For two hours, the men watched from surrounding buildings and from the street. “Unfortunately, one of them was her husband, Joe DiMaggio,” Mr. Wilder is quoted as saying in his biography, “Nobody’s Perfect. ” “And he didn’t like what he saw, or what everyone else was seeing. ” Mr. DiMaggio hadn’t planned on visiting the set that night, and was waiting for his wife at the St. Regis Hotel, where the couple were staying. But the columnist Walter Winchell had persuaded him to come along. Ms. Monroe was not happy her husband had shown up. But he was even more unhappy and angrily stormed off. Later that night the couple had a screaming fight in their room. The next morning, her hairdresser covered up Ms. Monroe’s bruises with makeup. Three weeks later, Ms. Monroe filed for divorce. Mr. Wilder never used the Lexington Avenue footage and reshot the scene on a closed lot in Hollywood, though photographs of that night appeared everywhere. Except for some brief, grainy shots from a newsreel covering the divorce, footage from that night was never screened. “The footage immediately disappeared,” Mr. Wilder said in the biography. “But one day I’m sure some film scholar will dig it up. ” The story of the night Marilyn Monroe’s white dress blew up was well known among Jules Schulback’s children, and even among his grandchildren. His granddaughter Bonnie Siegler said he bragged from time to time about his personal film shoot with Marilyn. “He was a real raconteur,” said Ms. Siegler, a graphic designer who runs her own company, Eight and a Half. “I didn’t know if the story was real. ” But even though she had never seen it, she often told people that her grandfather had footage of Marilyn Monroe on the subway grate. Ms. Siegler’s older sister, Rayna Dineen, said her grandfather, whom they called Opi (a German term of endearment) was rarely without his camera. “He would be filming everywhere, all the time. ” There were reels of vacations, family picnics, birthday parties and bar mitzvahs. He had even filmed a day in the life of his daughters, depicting them waking up, brushing their teeth and going to school. “But the Marilyn story was one of his favorite stories to tell,” Ms. Dineen said. It was just one of dozens of amazing tales. Mr. Schulback had a long, technicolorful life, one so filled with drama that his Monroe story sometimes seemed like a footnote. In 1938, Mr. Schulback had argued with his family in Germany that Adolf Hitler was much more dangerous than anyone thought. According to Ms. Siegler, his family believed that Hitler’s hate speech was simply rhetoric, and that he wouldn’t act on anything he was saying. Mr. Schulback, 25 at the time, urged them to pack their bags and leave Berlin with him. But they resisted, opting to wait and see how things developed, never imagining the horror that awaited them and millions of other European Jews. Mr. Schulback was not taking any chances. In 1938, Jews immigrating to the United States needed a sponsor, someone to take financial responsibility for them. Mr. Schulback sold everything he had, bought an expensive suit, booked passage on the Queen Mary, reserved a room at the Plaza and headed to America to find a sponsor for him and his wife, Edith, and their daughter Helen, who was then a toddler. “He was like: ‘I’m your lost, rich relative. I won’t be a burden.’ But he had no money. He played it,” Ms. Siegler said. He secured a signature, then returned to collect his family, but was stopped trying to enter Nazi Germany by a suspicious border guard. Knowing the Germans were big fans of the 1934 Clark Gable hit, “It Happened One Night,” Mr. Schulback told the guard he was the distributor for Mr. Gable’s new movie. He claimed that if he couldn’t enter the country, neither would the film. “The guy was like, ‘Oh, we love Clark Gable,’ and waved him through,” Ms. Siegler said. Mr. Schulback grabbed Edith and Helen, again imploring his other relatives to leave, and escaped back to the United States with a few suitcases, claiming to the Nazi immigration officers that his family was going on vacation. The date was Nov. 8, the day before Kristallnacht. In Berlin, he had been a furrier, and his shop was destroyed that night. His remaining family — four sisters, parents and — would all perish in the Holocaust. The United States was good to Mr. Schulback. He and his family lived a happy, successful life in New York, much of it preserved in his home movies. As a child, Ms. Siegler loved going to her grandfather’s Upper East Side apartment not just because of his great stories and sense of humor, but also because he lived opposite the New York Doll Hospital. From his apartment window, she could see the buckets of doll eyes and doll arms. “It was really intense,” she said. When Edith had a stroke in the 1970s, she was given only a few weeks to live. But Mr. Schulback, always a man of action, refused to let his wife die in the hospital and took her home. The couple moved into the apartment of a building around the corner, and Mr. Schulback became her nurse. “Half her body was paralyzed, she couldn’t speak,” Ms. Siegler said. “But he loved her and took care of her for 26 years until she finally died. ” After 35 years in that same apartment, Mr. Schulback — who had been president of the 61st Street Block Association — was forced to leave. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation had bought the townhouse where he lived and the one behind it and wanted to reconfigure the property. So Ms. Siegler and her husband, Jeff Scher, helped move her grandfather to a new place on the other side of Central Park. In 2004, in the arduous packing up of Mr. Schulback’s home, the couple came across a big stash of film. It was stored in a back room that the family called “Opi’s fur room,” where Mr. Schulback had once assembled garments from animal pelts for his business. “No one ever wanted to go back there,” Ms. Siegler said. “But when we went in, we found this plastic bag filled with just tons of film, home movies, bought movies and everything mixed together. ” Ms. Siegler’s husband, an experimental filmmaker, couldn’t wait to screen the films. He was particularly interested in seeing whether Marilyn and the subway grate footage actually existed. “It was like this family myth,” Mr. Scher said. “So long rumored and never confirmed. ” The same was true for its source material. For decades, innuendo swirled around the Lexington Avenue shoot for “The Seven Year Itch. ” Ms. Monroe and Mr. DiMaggio had married that January and had already had a bumpy ride, the Yankee Clipper enraged by her exhibitionism and by rumors of infidelity, according to Lois W. Banner, the author of the 2012 biography “Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox. ” “She was having an affair with her musical director at the time, and everyone knew about it in the business,” said Dr. Banner, a professor emeritus of history and gender studies at the University of Southern California. So before he even arrived on set, there was tension. “DiMaggio,” Dr. Banner said, “was not happy with Marilyn. ” There are several theories as to why the footage from that night was never used. Some believe the Manhattan shoot was done purely as a publicity stunt, which was made even more sensational when Mr. DiMaggio showed up. Some biographers say the enthusiastic crowd was just too noisy, making the film unusable. A third theory was that the footage was too risqué and Ms. Monroe wanted to shoot a more demure version, so as not to further infuriate her husband. There was even talk at the time that she wasn’t wearing any underwear. Mr. Wilder tried to put those rumors to rest in his biography. She had put on not just one, but two sets of underwear, he said. Dr. Banner said all three reasons quite likely played into the final decision to reshoot. “But the photographs of that night had gone viral by the time the film was being put together,” she said, “and played a great role in her fame. ” The scene used in the finished film is incredibly brief and tame. The image many people have of that moment comes from the press shots and publicity stills in New York, and not from the finished movie. Back in the pelt room of Mr. Schulback’s apartment, Mr. Scher excitedly gathered up the old metal film canisters. None were labeled, Mr. Scher recalled. Some of the film was off the reel and sitting there like big balls of spaghetti, as if there had been a projector mishap years ago. Later that night in his studio in the couple’s apartment on West 16th Street, Mr. Scher slowly and carefully wound the film, since some of it was very brittle and in danger of breaking. He did a few repairs and then began looking at it using a light box, spooling it from reel to reel by hand. There were about 50 rolls of film and around 75 rolls of 8 millimeter. There were the family outings and parades. The birthdays and bar mitzvahs. And there, amid the mundane scenes of precious everyday life, was Marilyn Monroe, in crisp, colorful Kodachrome. “This stuff just popped out,” Mr. Scher said. “It was real! Preserved like the home movies are, too. Just these moments in time. ” Mr. Scher could clearly see the actress’s dress billowing up. “Like a parachute with a pair of legs attached,” he said. “It was startling. Like seeing a myth materialize. ” It was a shadow version of lost footage amid home movies of a family that almost certainly wouldn’t have existed had the Schulbacks stayed in Germany. Mr. Scher called out to his wife: “It’s really here!” They watched all 3 minutes 17 seconds in amazement. “There was something so magical about it,” Ms. Siegler said. “For years I didn’t know if it was real. I certainly didn’t believe it wholeheartedly. And there it was. It was like the end of the story. ” The film starts with a intertitle that reads “World Premiere,” Mr. Schulback’s little inside joke. And then there is Marilyn Monroe, in a white terry robe, coming down the stoop of a building at 164 East 61st Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues. It was the earlier scene — before the subway grate footage — that Mr. Schulback had shot. Cameramen and press photographers are gathered outside as the actress smiles and waves. Cut to Ms. Monroe in a window wearing a slip and her hair. Mr. Ewell walks down the street and into the building. The film cuts inexplicably to 30 seconds of what must be a Shriners parade in Manhattan, then jumps to another intertitle, which reads “Our Baby. ” And suddenly, there is Ms. Monroe again, this time on the subway grate in that famously fluttering white dress, holding a matching white clutch in her right hand and a scarf in her left. Mr. Schulback was incredibly close, filming right behind Mr. Wilder’s shoulder, stopping to wind his camera every 25 seconds. Now and then, a silhouette of the director’s arm intrudes into Mr. Schulback’s shot. At one point Mr. Wilder, in a fedora, passes across the frame. Ms. Monroe gets into position and yawns, while the cinematographer sets up the camera. Through a gap in the film crew, Mr. Schulback captures just her face, looking off to the left, serious and unsmiling. Then Mr. Ewell is there, chatting with Ms. Monroe, who pushes him into position. The dress flutters again, Ms. Monroe holds it down, bending slightly, smiling and talking to Mr. Ewell, but it flutters up some more and she laughs, her head thrown back. It blows up again, but she doesn’t push it down this time, and it flies up over her head, clearly revealing two pairs of underwear that, because of the bright lights, do not protect Ms. Monroe’s modesty quite as much as she might have liked. Then, as suddenly as she appeared, Marilyn is gone, and the film reverts to mode: Edith Schulback walking on the grass at a family outing in the country. It’s like being shaken from some crazy dream, back to reality. Interest in that moment in film history from more than 50 years ago endures. The new movie musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, “La La Land,” makes brief filmic reference to it in the opening number, with a young dancer’s yellow dress blowing up. And a Snickers commercial from the Super Bowl last year stars Willem Dafoe, Eugene Levy and a Monroe on the famous set. “It’s that iconic image,” said Dr. Banner, the Monroe biographer. “People are still fascinated by the context in which it all happened. ” After screening the film with her husband, Ms. Siegler immediately told her grandfather that she had found the footage. “I was so excited about it — more for the reason that his story was true. ” She shrugged. “But he never had any doubts. ” Mr. Schulback moved in 2005 and died six months later. Ms. Siegler and Mr. Scher made a print and screened it for about 100 people in 2004 at the upstate home of their friends Kurt Andersen and his wife, Anne Kreamer. The two couples had started a small film festival for neighbors and friends, hanging a sheet on the side of a barn and serving popcorn, ice pops and beer. The people in the audience that summer night had no idea what they were in for. “That scene is one of the most iconic scenes in American cinema,” said Mr. Andersen, an author, radio host and a founder of Spy magazine. “So to have film of it actually being shot, it’s like watching the Zapruder film. It’s just extraordinary. ” The crowd that evening sat in silence as Marilyn Monroe’s dress blew up on the side of the barn. “People were ” Mr. Andersen said. “They were like, ‘What did I just see? ’” That was the only time anyone outside the family had seen the film. Until now. | 0fake |
Factbox: What it will take for Trump to meet his immigration goals | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump has outlined a ten-point plan on his transition website for dealing with illegal immigration. Here is a look at what it would take to accomplish each of the ten goals. BUILD A WALL ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER: Trump has the legal authorization to build fences under the “Secure Fence Act” passed in 2006, but Congress would have to approve considerably more funding to wall off the entire southern border, which spans nearly 2,000 miles. There are also logistical challenges. Some areas of the border are privately owned, and the geography of some stretches would make construction extremely difficult. Trump previously said he would make Mexico pay for the wall, but that policy is not included on his post-election web site. END CATCH-AND-RELEASE: To end the practice known as “catch and release,” under which immigrants are released pending court hearings, Trump could unilaterally shift policies, but full implementation would require significantly more detention space to hold migrants before they can see a judge. There is currently a 500,000-case backlog in U.S. immigration courts and recent court decisions prohibit him from detaining children with their parents for longer than 20 days. ZERO TOLERANCE FOR CRIMINAL ALIENS: The Obama administration currently prioritizes immigrants convicted of serious crimes for deportation. But Trump could try to expand the definition of who is classified as a criminal alien or attempt to speed up removals of people who have been ordered deported. In any case, more funding for courts and personnel involved in apprehensions would likely be necessary. BLOCKING FUNDING FOR SANCTUARY CITIES: Trump has threatened to cut off funding for so-called sanctuary cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, where local law enforcement refuse to report undocumented immigrants they encounter to federal authorities. While Trump has the authority to cut some kinds of funding to the cities, mayors of those cities have said they will not be pressured to report migrants to federal agents. CANCEL UNCONSTITUTIONAL EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND ENFORCE ALL IMMIGRATION LAWS: Trump has the authority to undo executive orders like DACA, which has provided temporary relief from deportation to more than 700,000 immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. Enforcing all immigration laws would require Trump to deport an estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. That would require large increases in funding from Congress to grow the current workforce of immigration agents and judges to be able to lawfully handle 11 million deportations. Locating so many immigrants, many in the country for years with deep family ties, would be logistically challenging and could spark public backlash. SUSPEND THE ISSUANCE OF VISAS TO ANY PLACE WHERE ADEQUATE SCREENING CANNOT OCCUR: Similar to the “Muslim ban” Trump proposed during his campaign, this policy would be aimed at visa seekers from war-torn countries such as Syria and Iraq where many refugees and asylum seekers have sought to escape. Under current law, Trump could unilaterally suspend visas for any individuals or groups or people deemed “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” The policy could face challenges in court, however, if it appears to discriminate against any one religion. ENSURE THAT OTHER COUNTRIES TAKE THEIR PEOPLE BACK WHEN WE ORDER THEM DEPORTED: The Obama administration has wrestled with the issue of forcing recalcitrant countries to take back people the United States is seeking to deport. Trump could ramp up diplomatic pressure on countries such as China, the country that has refused to repatriate the largest number of people ordered deported from the United States, but that could have wider diplomatic ramifications. FINALLY COMPLETE THE BIOMETRIC ENTRY-EXIT VISA TRACKING SYSTEM: Although mandated by law since Bill Clinton was president, the United States has yet to develop a system to track foreign visitors and determine if they leave the country when their visas expire. Getting a program up and running would require significant funding to collect and store biometric data such as fingerprints for every visa holder who enters and leaves the United States, and some experts have said the system is not practical. TURN OFF THE JOBS AND BENEFITS MAGNET: Trump would need congressional approval to mandate a national database known as E-Verify that allows employers to check the immigration status of potential hires. Until such a system is in place, it is difficult to penalize employers who unknowingly hire undocumented immigrants using fake social security numbers. REFORM LEGAL IMMIGRATION TO SERVE THE BEST INTERESTS OF AMERICA AND ITS WORKERS: The Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department could increase investigations of employers suspected of abusing visa programs such as H-1B that allow companies to hire foreign workers, often for a lower cost than what they would pay Americans. But Trump could face backlash from industries that rely on the program, including the technology sector, if he goes too far in revoking visas. | 0fake |
WOW! FORMER AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA Lists Failures Of OBAMA in Syria [VIDEO] | 1real | |
MARINE ARRESTED FOR Complaining About Government On Facebook Is Suing Government [VIDEO] | This is some pretty surreal stuff In the four years since the start of Operation Vigilant Eagle, the government has steadily ramped up its campaign to silence dissidents, especially those with military backgrounds.The case of 26-year-old decorated Marine Brandon Raub who was targeted because of his Facebook posts, interrogated by government agents about his views on government corruption, arrested with no warning, labeled mentally ill for subscribing to so-called conspiratorial views about the government, detained against his will in a psych ward for standing by his views, and isolated from his family, friends and attorneys is a prime example of the government s war on veterans.Raub s case exposes the seedy underbelly of a governmental system that is targeting Americans especially military veterans for expressing their discontent over America s rapid transition to a police state. Via: Conservative Post | 1real |
Stuff in the News That No One Is Talking About Because of the Election | Email This Week in the News
You wouldn’t know it by watching the news, but there are actually important things going on in the world that have nothing to do with the Presidential election. Today, we’ll talk about some of these non-election-related events on Survival Saturday, like the Dakota access pipeline, Russia, Venezuela, and our dystopian future.
For election coverage, go on over to my other website, DaisyLuther.com , which is all Hillary, all the time, right up until the election. (My goal there is to cover the stuff that the MSM is trying to sweep under the rug about their darling.) The Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Are Being Brutally Attacked by Law Enforcement
Have you been aware of the ongoing protests by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe about a pipeline being forcibly built across their watershed via eminent domain? They have been joined by other tribes to form a coalition of water protectors who say that the pipeline is a violation of a treaty established between the Sioux and the federal government. ( Here are the important things to know about the protest . Trust me, you’ll want to read this.)
Everyone who was paying attention breathed a sigh of relief when the US Government for once took a stand on behalf of the little guys back in September.
“The federal government ordered a halt to work on a $3.8 billion four-state oil pipeline in the Upper Midwest on Friday, handing a temporary victory to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and other opponents of the project…
…The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it wouldn’t authorize construction near Lake Oahe, a culturally important location to the tribe, until the agency determines if it needs to reconsider its previous approvals under the National Environmental Policy Act.” ( source )
Unfortunately, the government’s willingness to do the right thing was short-lived. Work has resumed on the pipeline and all hell is breaking loose – but not by who you might think. Protestors have been non-violent, but law enforcement has been absolutely brutal. They’ve beaten up on young people, old people, and independent journalists covering the story. Hundreds have been arrested.
These people are protecting their water sources and their way of life, and they are being brutalized by our own government. The story you’re getting on the mainstream is that the water protectors are standing there and that the police are standing there and that it is a relatively calm affair.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. The AntiMedia (who would get a major journalism award if real journalists got such awards) has provided truthful coverage, and it is ugly. Every single person who is against government overreach should be supporting the water protectors. Right now, this affects some people up in North Dakota. But what about when someone wants to build something across your land? What about when someone wants to seize your home? What about when Agenda 21 comes to your back yard?
Here’s what really happened at the Dakota Access Pipeline protests . It’s on film. It’s ugly. You owe it to your fellow human beings to witness this and be outraged. Go here to learn what you can do to help . With all of this “progress,” is humanity at risk of becoming obsolete?
Thousands of jobs each year are being turned over to computers as humans demand higher wages and better benefits for unskilled labor. We’ve all ended up on the endless loop of talking to customer service robots on the phone or going to a checkout counter and discovering it is push button and digital.
Is this all part of a greater plan to make the bulk of humanity utterly dependent on the whims of a few?
I don’t watch a lot of documentaries, but last night my daughter and I watched Obsolete . This film is available for free on Amazon , and it isn’t one of those dry, boring ones that keep you shifting in your seat in order to stay awake. It’s fascinating from the moment you hit play. When it was over, we sat there in silence for at least a minute, aghast that we could see the whole thing happening around us right now.
I can’t recommend this highly enough. Everyone should watch it. Let me quote Morpheus (from the Matrix ) for a moment here. “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.”
This documentary is the red pill. Take it if you want to survive the future that is coming for us all.
Watch Obsolete then come back over here and let’s talk about it. I think this will spark a very interesting conversation. How will you prepare for a future in which humanity is largely obsolete? Meanwhile in Venezuela…
Things are still awful there, although there hasn’t been as much news coverage. Basically, this is how life is now for Venezuelans, and recovering from this collapse could take decades.
Currently, the people of the country are revolting against the unpopular president, Nicholas Maduro. A campaign had begun for a recall election in order to replace Maduro, but authorities halted the process. The electoral council cited fraud when faced with huge numbers of signatures on a petition. Thousands of demonstrators filled the streets. Source: Federico Parra /AFP/Getty Images
NPR reports :
The demonstrators were protesting “what they call a sharp turn towards authoritarianism. The Maduro government has jailed opposition leaders, stripped Congress of its powers and cracked down on the press.”
As for Maduro, he has blatantly threatened to jail anyone who tries to remove him from power, via elections or legal means, ironically citing the Venezuelan constitution :
“If they launch a supposed political trial, which is not in our constitution, the state prosecution service must bring legal action in the courts and put in jail anyone who violates the constitution, even if they are members of Congress.”
What’s more, in a conversation with the American DEA, Maduro’s nephew says that Venezuela is at war with the US, which is news to most Americans. Efrain Campo was busted doing a quick cocaine deal in order to make money for the Venezuelan First Family. He was caught attempting to smuggle $5 million of Columbian cocaine into the US. The Charlotte Observer reported :
Efrain Campo…was recorded saying “we’re at war” with the Americans and laughing about sending opposition leaders to jail, according to the transcript, which was filed in federal district court in New York.
“We need the money,” Campo said, according to the transcript. “Why? Because the Americans are hitting us hard with money. Do you understand? The opposition . . . is getting an infusion of a lot of money.”
…The defense has sought to paint Campo and his cousin as victims of a U.S. political plot against the Venezuelan government and has asserted that they didn’t have the knowledge or capability to pull off such a complicated transaction. We’re irritating the snot out of Russia…
Lately, the Powers That Shouldn’t Be (great phrase borrowed from my friend Mel at Truthstream Media ) have been going out of their way to paint Russia and Vladimir Putin as the biggest threat to America. A bigger threat, even, than Hillary Clinton, and boy, that’s a stretch. I’m pretty sure you can put all of these recent headlines together and get a picture of where this is headed. ( Hint .) There are many more, but I don’t want this post to be a lengthy novel about idiocy. | 1real |
Iraq expects to restore Kirkuk output Sunday: oil ministry official | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq won t be able to restore Kirkuk s oil output to last week s levels before Sunday because of missing equipment at two fields, an oil ministry official told Reuters on Thursday. The official accused the Kurdish authorities previously in control of Kirkuk of removing equipment at the Bai Hasan and Avana oil fields, north west of the city. | 0fake |
IRANIAN NAVY FIRES WARNING SHOTS ON AND SEIZES CARGO SHIP; U.S. NAVY SENDS DESTROYER | Lots of confusing reports on this but we have the latest info. that s telling us more details.Iranian patrol vessels fired warning shots across the bridge of a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel that was traversing the Strait of Hormuz in Iranian territorial waters, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the cargo ship s master had initially refused an Iranian order to move further into Iranian waters, but after the warning shots were fired the MV Maersk Tigris complied.The cargo ship, which had more than 30 people aboard, was directed to waters near Larak Island, he said. It is inappropriate for the Iranians to have fired warning shots across the ship s bridge in those circumstances, Warren said, adding that it was too early to know whether the Iranian intervention amounted to a violation of the freedom of navigation through a waterway heavily used by international shipping.Warren said the cargo ship has been boarded by Iranians, but no one has been injured and no Americans are involved. The Iranian vessels, numbering five or six, were with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, he said.Warren said the cargo ship issued a distress call and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, based in the area, sent a U.S. destroyer, the USS Farragut, and a Navy maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft to the area of the incident to monitor the situation.The incident began at about 4:05 a.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time, Warren said.The spokesman said the U.S. government has certain obligations to defend the interests of the Marshall Islands, but he was uncertain how those obligations apply in this situation.Read more: AP | 1real |
Redstone’s Lawyers Argue That His Mental Health Is Irrelevant in Dispute - The New York Times | In an unexpected twist in an already tumultuous legal fight, lawyers for Sumner M. Redstone argued in court filings on Friday that the competency of the ailing mogul did not matter in the dispute over his $40 billion media empire. Regardless of whether or not Mr. Redstone had the mental capacity to oust two longtime confidants from the trust that will control his companies after he dies or is declared incompetent, the outcome would have been the same, his lawyers said. According to the filing, at least four of the seven trustees have supported and validated Mr. Redstone’s decision two weeks ago to oust Philippe P. Dauman, the chairman and chief of Viacom, and George S. Abrams, a longtime Viacom director, from the trust and the board of National Amusements, the private theater chain company through which Mr. Redstone controls Viacom and CBS. “Plaintiffs miscalculated not only Sumner’s resolve, but also the commitment of their fellow trustees to do the right thing,” Mr. Redstone’s lawyers said in the document, filed in Norfolk Probate and Family Court in Massachusetts. The revelation that a majority of trustees have ratified Mr. Redstone’s decision could present a significant blow to Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams in the corporate battle they are waging for control of Mr. Redstone’s vast corporate holdings. It also presents a major victory for Shari Redstone, Mr. Redstone’s once ostracized, recently reconciled daughter, who has opposed Mr. Dauman’s leadership of Viacom. Les Fagen, a lawyer for Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams, said in a statement that “many undisclosed facts that will emerge concerning the conduct of Shari and her representatives. ” Mr. Fagen added that Friday’s court filings revealed that some trustees “have not seen Sumner for as long as ‘many years. ’” The court filing depicts Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams as partaking in a monthslong scheme, starting in the beginning of 2016, to betray Mr. Redstone out of the fear that Mr. Dauman would be fired. The document asserted that Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams, along with another trustee, retained a Boston law firm in late January for advice on what recourse they had if Mr. Redstone ousted them from the trust. The advice from the law firm was that the three men could avoid or contest their dismissal if they could prove that Mr. Redstone was incompetent and that he was manipulated by Ms. Redstone. “Road map in hand, plaintiffs no longer felt accountable even to Sumner as Viacom’s controlling shareholder,” the document states. The dismissals of Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams from the trust and the National Amusements board were viewed by industry observers as a harbinger of the firing of the Viacom board and, ultimately, the removal of Mr. Dauman as chief executive. Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams filed suit in Massachusetts, where the trust was settled, seeking to immediately block the moves. The suit challenges Mr. Redstone’s mental capacity, depicting him as suffering “profound physical and mental illness” and being subject to the undue influence of Ms. Redstone. It asserts that Mr. Redstone cannot read, write, do arithmetic or speak coherently. For their part, lawyers for Mr. Redstone filed a separate petition requesting that a Los Angeles court validate his decision. On Tuesday morning, Judge George F. Phelan of the Norfolk County Probate and Family Court in Massachusetts is scheduled to oversee a hearing on the motion by Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams to expedite the proceedings in the case. In the court filings on Friday, lawyers for Mr. Redstone asked that the judge reject the request to expedite proceedings and said that they planned to move to dismiss the case. They cited the agreement by a majority of the trustees to ratify the decision to oust Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams from the trust. Mr. Redstone’s lawyers also argued that the case should be heard by a judge in Los Angeles, where Mr. Redstone lives and took the action to remove Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams from the trust. The question of Mr. Redstone’s mental capacity remains in dispute. Mr. Redstone’s lawyers argued that the trust outlined specific procedures to determine incapacity and that those had not been activated at the time when Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams were dismissed. They cited the results of two recent exams by a geriatric psychiatrist hired by Mr. Redstone that concluded he had “legal mental capacity” and was not under the influence of others. On Thursday, Mr. Fagen said that the exam had been conducted by a “paid medical consultant and does not answer the question of whether Sumner Redstone had sufficient capacity. ” | 0fake |
Let’s Be Clear – A Vote For Warmonger Hillary Clinton Is A Vote For World War 3 | Let’s Be Clear – A Vote For Warmonger Hillary Clinton Is A Vote For World War 3
By Michael Snyder
If you want to see war without end, vote for Hillary Clinton. It is tremendously ironic that Hillary Clinton and the mainstream media have attempted to portray Donald Trump as “dangerous” and “temperamental”, because it is Clinton that actually has a long history of being emotionally unstable. She has a temper that is absolutely legendary, and she has been cussing out the men and women in her security detail for decades . Hillary Clinton played a key role in starting the civil war in Syria, thanks to her Libya is a post-apocalyptic wasteland today, and now she is picking a fight with the Russians before she has even won the election. Of all the candidates there were running for president this election cycle, there was nobody that was even close to as dangerous as Hillary Clinton, and if she wins the election I am fully convinced that World War 3 will begin before her time in the White House is over.
Someone that shares this opinion with me is Donald Trump. According to Reuters , Trump recently stated that we are “going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton”…
On Syria’s civil war, Trump said Clinton could drag the United States into a world war with a more aggressive posture toward resolving the conflict.
Clinton has called for the establishment of a no-fly zone and “safe zones” on the ground to protect non-combatants. Some analysts fear that protecting those zones could bring the United States into direct conflict with Russian fighter jets.
“What we should do is focus on ISIS. We should not be focusing on Syria,” said Trump as he dined on fried eggs and sausage at his Trump National Doral golf resort. “You’re going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton.”
In order to have a no-fly zone in Syria, you would have to enforce it.
And in order to enforce it, you would have to be willing to shoot at the Russians.
According to National Intelligence Director James Clapper , that could have dire consequences…
Russia could shoot down a U.S. aircraft if a no-fly zone were imposed over Syria, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t put it past them to shoot down an American aircraft if they felt that was threatening to their forces on the ground,” Clapper said, speaking with CBS’ Charlie Rose at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York about several national security issues.
Of course Clapper is not alone in that assessment. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Francis Dunford, says that imposing a no-fly zone over all of Syria “would require us to go to war” …
“Right now, Senator, for us to control all of the airspace in Syria it would require us to go to war, against Syria and Russia,… That’s a pretty fundamental decision that certainly I’m not going to make.” ( Senate Armed Services Committee, September 22, 2016, emphasis added)
But Hillary Clinton is unwavering in her position that this is what she wants.
You see, the truth is that Hillary Clinton wants to win the war that she started in Syria. Back in 2011, she spearheaded an effort along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to try to use the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East as an opportunity to try to overthrow President Assad in Syria. If it wasn’t for her meddling, millions of refugees would not be pouring into Europe and elsewhere, and there would be no “humanitarian crisis” in Syria at all.
Thanks to Russian intervention, the war in Syria is not too far from being over, but the Obama administration is desperate to keep it going. They understand that if Assad is victorious that all of their efforts for the last five years have been wasted, and that is why they are so determined to keep Aleppo from falling. Without Aleppo, many of the jihadist rebels that the Obama administration has been supporting won’t have anywhere to hide.
So the Obama administration has actually been considering direct strikes against the Syrian military, and the Russians have already said that they will not allow this to happen . If Obama is insane enough to order airstrikes against Syrian forces and the Russians start shooting back, that could set off a chain of events that could rapidly spiral completely out of control.
One recent survey found that current American leadership has a 1 percent approval rating in Russia right now, and the Russians dislike Hillary Clinton even more than they dislike Barack Obama. The Russians know that if Hillary Clinton is elected that it is quite likely that they will have to fight a war with us, and that is why they desperately want Donald Trump to win in November. You can see this outlook reflected in comments that Russian President Vladimir Putin recently made about the two candidates …
“Mrs. Clinton has chosen to take up a very aggressive stance against our country, against Russia. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, calls for cooperation – at least when it comes to the international fight against terrorism,” Putin said.
“Naturally we welcome those who would like to cooperate with us. And we consider it wrong, that we always have to be in conflict with one another, creating existential threats for each other and for the whole world,” Putin noted.
Anyone that watched the three presidential debates could see that Hillary Clinton is absolutely seething with animosity for Russia. The thought of her finger on the nuclear trigger is almost too terrible to contemplate, but it may soon become a reality.
And even now, the Obama administration and our NATO allies are shifting forces into position for a confrontation with Moscow. This week it is being reported that NATO troops will soon be sent to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania … Nine hundred US troops are to be sent to eastern Europe next year as America’s troubled relationship with Russia enters new, uncertain territory. A US-led battle group of NATO allied soldiers will be sent to Poland as part of the multi-nation operation. British forces will lead one of the four battle groups in Estonia, Canada will spearhead the presence in Latvia and Germany will be present in Lithuania.
In addition, Infowars is reporting that U.S. Marines will soon be stationed in Norway near the border with Russia…
After accepting a Pentagon proposal, Norway will host US Marines at a base near the Russian border as Russia deploys nuclear-capable ships to Kaliningrad.
A rotating force of approximately 330 Marines will be stationed at an airfield in the city of Vaernes, just outside Trondheim, beginning in January. Norway and Russia share an 122-mile border in the Arctic.
“The US initiative to augment their training and exercises in Norway by locating a Marine Corps Rotational Force in Norway is highly welcome and will have positive implications for our already strong bilateral relationship,” said Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide.
Most Americans aren’t aware of any of this, nor do they really care about our relationship with Russia.
But in Russia things are completely different. The possibility of war with the United States is the biggest news story over there these days , and feverish preparations are being made for a potential nuclear confrontation …
Russian authorities have stepped up nuclear-war survival measures amid a showdown with Washington, dusting off Soviet-era civil-defense plans and upgrading bomb shelters in the biggest cities.
At the Kremlin’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Cold War is back.
The country recently held its biggest civil defense drills since the collapse of the U.S.S.R., with what officials said were 40 million people rehearsing a response to chemical and nuclear threats.
I know that I have been writing about this over and over , but the truth is that we are on a path to war with Russia, and the election of Hillary Clinton would greatly accelerate the march toward war.
In my controversial new book , I expressed my belief that war with Russia is coming, but at the time that I wrote it I didn’t know how the election would turn out.
At this point it looks like Clinton is very likely to win on November 8th, and that would be absolutely disastrous for our relationship with Russia.
If you are reading this and you are considering voting for Hillary Clinton, please don’t do it . We simply cannot afford to have an emotionally unstable warmonger with a violent temper in the White House at this critical time.
If the American people do choose Hillary Clinton this November, I believe that it will be a choice that they will bitterly, bitterly regret in future years. | 1real |
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