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Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun - The New York Times | NORFOLK, Va. — Huge vertical rulers are sprouting beside low spots in the streets here, so people can judge if the tidal floods that increasingly inundate their roads are too deep to drive through. Five hundred miles down the Atlantic Coast, the only road to Tybee Island, Ga. is disappearing beneath the sea several times a year, cutting the town off from the mainland. And another 500 miles on, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. increased tidal flooding is forcing the city to spend millions fixing battered roads and drains — and, at times, to send out giant vacuum trucks to suck saltwater off the streets. For decades, as the global warming created by human emissions caused land ice to melt and ocean water to expand, scientists warned that the accelerating rise of the sea would eventually imperil the United States’ coastline. Now, those warnings are no longer theoretical: The inundation of the coast has begun. The sea has crept up to the point that a high tide and a brisk wind are all it takes to send water pouring into streets and homes. Federal scientists have documented a sharp jump in this nuisance flooding — often called “ flooding” — along both the East Coast and the Gulf Coast in recent years. The sea is now so near the brim in many places that they believe the problem is likely to worsen quickly. Shifts in the Pacific Ocean mean that the West Coast, partly spared over the past two decades, may be hit hard, too. These tidal floods are often just a foot or two deep, but they can stop traffic, swamp basements, damage cars, kill lawns and forests, and poison wells with salt. Moreover, the high seas interfere with the drainage of storm water. In coastal regions, that compounds the damage from the increasingly heavy rains plaguing the country, like those that recently caused extensive flooding in Louisiana. Scientists say these rains are also a consequence of human greenhouse emissions. “Once impacts become noticeable, they’re going to be upon you quickly,” said William V. Sweet, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Md. who is among the leaders in research on coastal inundation. “It’s not a hundred years off — it’s now. ” Local governments, under pressure from annoyed citizens, are beginning to act. Elections are being won on promises to invest money to protect against flooding. Miami Beach is leading the way, increasing local fees to finance a $400 million plan that includes raising streets, installing pumps and elevating sea walls. In many of the cities, mayors of both parties are sounding an alarm. “I’m a Republican, but I also realize, by any objective analysis, the sea level is rising,” said Jason Buelterman, the mayor of tiny Tybee Island, one of the first Georgia communities to adopt a detailed climate plan. But the local leaders say they cannot tackle this problem alone. They are pleading with state and federal governments for guidance and help, including billions to pay for flood walls, pumps and road improvements that would buy them time. Yet Congress has largely ignored these pleas, and has even tried to block plans by the military to head off future problems at the numerous bases imperiled by a rising sea. A Republican congressman from Colorado, Ken Buck, recently called one military proposal part of a “radical climate change agenda. ” The gridlock in Washington means the United States lacks not only a broad national policy on rise, it has something close to the opposite: The federal government spends billions of taxpayer dollars in ways that add to the risks, by subsidizing local governments and homeowners who build in imperiled locations along the coast. As the problem worsens, experts are warning that national security is on the line. Naval bases, in particular, are threatened they can hardly be moved away from the ocean, yet much of their land is at risk of disappearing within this century. “It’s as if the country was being attacked along every border, simultaneously,” said Andrea Dutton, a climate scientist at the University of Florida and one of the world’s leading experts on rising seas. “It’s a slow, gradual attack, but it threatens the safety and security of the United States. ” One night eight years ago, Karen Speights, a Norfolk resident, was sitting at the dinner table with her mother, eating crab legs dipped in butter and a tangy sauce. She felt a tingle. “Ma!” she cried. “My feet are wet!” Her mother laughed, but then she felt it, too: a house that had not flooded since the family moved there in 1964 was soon awash in saltwater. Ms. Speights initially hoped that flood was a fluke. Instead, it turned out to be the first of three to hit their home in less than a decade. Nowadays, Ms. Speights, an administrative worker at a utility company, is wondering how to get her and her mother out of the neighborhood before the water comes again, without taking too much of a financial hit. And she pays more attention to problems that once seemed remote, like warnings from scientists about the rising sea. “I believe it because we’re living it,” Ms. Speights said as she sat on her sofa, nodding toward the nearby tidal marsh that sent water into her living room. “The water has to be rising if we never flooded, and all of a sudden we’ve flooded three times in eight years. ” Because the land is sinking as the ocean rises, Norfolk and the metropolitan region surrounding it, known as Hampton Roads, are among the parts of the United States. That local factor means, in essence, that the region is a few decades ahead in feeling the effects of rise, and illustrates what people along the rest of the American coast can expect. The biggest problems involve frequent flooding of homes and roads. As the sea rises, hundreds of tidal creeks and marshes that thread through the region are bringing saltwater to people’s doorsteps. This summer, on a driving tour of Norfolk and nearby towns, William A. Stiles Jr. pointed to the telltale signs that the ocean is gradually invading the region. He spotted crusts of dried salt in the streets, and marsh grasses that are taking over suburban yards. He pointed out trees killed by seawater. He stood next to one of the road signs that Norfolk has been forced to install in recent years, essentially huge vertical rulers so people know the depth of floodwaters at intersections. “There’s just more and more visible impacts: water on the street, water that won’t clear from the ditch, these intense rain events, higher tides,” Mr. Stiles said. “It’s beginning to catch the attention of citizens, restaurant owners, business people, politicians. There’s just much more of a conversation, and it’s not just in the politically safe places. It’s everywhere. ” Mr. Stiles, known as Skip, heads a local environmental group, Wetlands Watch. At his suggestion, students at two local universities began looking at the neighborhood where Ms. Speights lives, Chesterfield Heights. It has had little history of flooding, but that is starting to change as the water rises. The plan the students developed has morphed into an ambitious program to safeguard the neighborhood, and another nearby, for decades. The Obama administration recently gave Virginia more than $100 million to carry the plan out. The administration has also enlisted one of the universities, Old Dominion in Norfolk, to spearhead a broad effort at better planning. But the size of that grant illustrates the scope of the problem confronting the region, and the country: protecting a single neighborhood from rising water can easily cost tens of millions of dollars. Sea walls and streets may have to be raised, or movable gates built along waterways so they can be closed at times of high water. While the Obama administration is trying to create a few showcase neighborhoods, there is no sign Congress is prepared to spend the money that cities and states say they need: tens of billions of dollars just to catch up to the current flooding problems, much less get ahead of them. Norfolk alone, a town of 250, 000 people, has a wish list of $1. 2 billion — or about $5, 000 for every man, woman and child in the city. As the national response lags, experts warn that the flooding is putting the country’s defense at risk. Several studies have concluded that Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base, is profoundly threatened by rising seas, as are other coastal bases. The Pentagon has managed to build floodgates and other protective measures at some facilities. But attempts by the military to develop broader climate change plans have met fierce resistance in Congress. That was the case this summer, when an effort by the Pentagon to appoint officers to take charge of climate resilience led to a House vote prohibiting taxpayer money from being spent on the plan. “When we distract our military with a radical climate change agenda, we detract from their main purpose of defending America from enemies” like the Islamic State, said Mr. Buck of Colorado, the Republican congressman who sponsored the measure. His amendment passed the House 216 to 205, though the Senate has yet to agree to it. Many people in Congress, almost all of them Republicans, express doubt about climate science, with some of them promulgating conspiracy theories claiming that researchers have invented the issue to justify greater governmental control over people’s lives. So far, this ideological position has been immune to the rising evidence of harm from climate change. The Obama administration has been pushing federal agencies, including the Pentagon, to take more aggressive steps. But without action in Congress, experts say these efforts fall far short of what is required. “In the country, certainly in the Congress, it hasn’t really resonated — the billions and perhaps trillions of dollars that we would need to spend if we want to live on the coast like we’re living today,” said David W. Titley, a retired rear admiral who was the chief oceanographer of the Navy, and now heads a climate center at Pennsylvania State University. “I haven’t seen any evidence that there is serious thought about this: What does a world of three, four, five feet of rise look like?” Deep in a thicket of trees on an island in the Florida Keys, a diesel engine roared to life. Soon a drill bit was chewing through ancient limestone, pulling up evidence from the geological past that might shed light on the future of the planet. On a sultry day in March, Dr. Dutton, the University of Florida scientist, stood watch over the drilling operation, inspecting her samples as they emerged from the ground. She spotted fossilized corals, proof that what is now the dry ground of Lignumvitae Key was once underwater. With taxpayer funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Dutton is chasing what might be the most urgent question in climate science: How fast is the ocean going to rise? “Is it going to happen in decades, or centuries, or a thousand years?” Dr. Dutton asked as she took a break to eat lunch on a tarpaulin spread under the trees. “This will give us an example to say, ‘Well, the last time this happened, here is how long it took. ’” The opponents of climate science in Congress, and the tiny group of climate researchers allied with them, have argued that the concerns of thousands of mainstream scientists about the future are based on unproven computer forecasts. In reality, their concerns are based in large part on mounting evidence of what has happened in the past. Through decades of research, it has become clear that human civilization, roughly 6, 000 years old, developed during an unusually stable period for global sea levels. But over longer spans, coastlines have been much more dynamic. During ice ages, caused by wobbles in the Earth’s orbit, sea levels dropped more than 400 feet as ice piled up on land. But during periods slightly warmer than today, the sea may have risen 70 or more feet above the current level. Dr. Dutton and other leading scientists are focused on the last high point, which occurred between the last two ice ages, about 125, 000 years ago. After years of surveying ancient shorelines around the world, scientists determined that the sea level rose by something like 20 to 30 feet in that era, compared with today. But how long did it take to make that jump? That is the question Dr. Dutton, using improved research techniques, wants to answer. Large parts of the Florida Keys are simply ancient coral reefs that grew during the period of high seas, and were exposed when the levels fell. Trees, roads and houses now sit atop the old reefs. By recovering samples, Dr. Dutton hopes to date a sequence of corals as they grew along with the rising sea, potentially revealing the rate at which the water rose. The research, likely to take years, may supply a figure for how quickly the ocean was able to rise under past conditions, but not necessarily a maximum rate for the coming decades. The release of greenhouse gases from human activity is causing the planet to warm rapidly, perhaps faster than at any other time in the Earth’s history. The ice sheets in both Greenland and West Antarctica are beginning to melt into the sea at an accelerating pace. Scientists had long hoped that any disintegration of the ice sheets would take thousands of years, but recent research suggests the breakup of West Antarctica could occur much faster. In the scenario, this research suggests, the rate of rise could reach a foot per decade by the 22nd century, about 10 times faster than today. In 2013, scientists reached a consensus that three feet was the highest plausible rise by the year 2100. But now some of them are starting to say that six or seven feet may be possible. A rise that large over a span of decades would be an unparalleled national catastrophe, driving millions of people from their homes and most likely requiring the abandonment of entire cities. In essence, by revealing how sensitive the ice sheets have been to past warming, Dr. Dutton’s research may answer the question of whether such a rapid jump is possible. Along those parts of the United States coast that are sinking at a brisk clip, including southern Louisiana and the entire Chesapeake Bay region, including Norfolk, the situation will be worse than average. On the Pacific Coast, a climate pattern that had pushed billions of gallons of water toward Asia is now ending, so that in coming decades the sea is likely to rise quickly off states like Oregon and California. Along the East Coast, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that many communities have already, or will soon, pass a threshold where flooding starts to happen much more often. “When you look at the historical record, there’s no trend saying the flooding is going down,” said Dr. Sweet, the NOAA expert. “The trends are all very clear. They’re going up, and they’re going up in many of these areas in an accelerating fashion. ” Late last year, in Paris, nations reached a landmark global agreement to cut emissions. It is fragile, and might not survive if Donald J. Trump is elected president in November he has pledged to scrap it. But the air is already so full of greenhouse gases that most land ice on the planet has started to melt. So even if the deal survives, it will, at best, slow the rise of the sea and perhaps limit the ultimate increase. Many climate scientists, including Dr. Dutton, believe a rise of at least 15 or 20 feet has already become inevitable, over an unknown period. As Brad Tuckman walked the piece of land in Fort Lauderdale where he is building a grand new house, he pointed toward the canal that wraps around three sides of the property. It is scenic, with yachts plying the water, yet as the sea has risen, street flooding in the area has become a recurring nuisance. So before starting construction, Mr. Tuckman said he spent nearly a dollars to raise the sea wall and truck in dirt to elevate the land. “The predictions of what’s going to happen over the next 20, 30, 40 years — it’s real,” said Mr. Tuckman, the founder of a company offering creative services to the retail industry. In South Florida, among the parts of the country for flooding, people are not waiting for state or federal help. Those who can afford it are starting to act on their own. A company, Coastal Risk Consulting, has cropped up to advise them, and is offering its services nationally. Cities and counties in the region have formed an alliance and enlisted professors to help them figure out what to do. They are hiring “chief resilience officers,” an idea pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, which is paying some of the salary cost. In Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale, as well as in older Northern cities like Boston and New York, tidal marshes and creeks were filled in a century or more ago to make new land, and it is in these areas — “back bays,” as some of these spots are called — where the flooding is happening first. That is because they remain the lowest spots in the landscape, vulnerable to the rising water nearby. Old drain pipes empty into the tidal creeks, and at high tide the water can back up through these pipes, bubbling into the streets seemingly from nowhere. In Miami Beach, the city engineer, Bruce A. Mowry, has come up with a plan for combating the flooding. He rips up problematic streets, raises them with extra dirt and repaves them, installing new drains and giant pumps that can push water back into the bay. The approach has already been shown to work in several neighborhoods. A controversy has erupted about whether Miami Beach is polluting Biscayne Bay with the water, but the city is pushing ahead. Miami Beach plans to spend at least $400 million on its plan by 2018, raising the money through fees imposed on homes and businesses. The huge county government for the region, County, is developing its own resilience strategy, one likely to cost billions. It has committed to rebuilding some of its decaying infrastructure, like a sewage plant, in a way that safeguards against rise and storm surges. “I don’t see doom and gloom here I see opportunity,” said Harvey Ruvin, the clerk of courts for County, who has been a leading voice on the environment in Florida for a and who recently led a county task force on rise. “We’re talking about the most robust possible jobs program you can think of, and one that can’t be outsourced. ” Many of the Republican mayors in the region are on the same page as Democrats in requesting national and state action on climate change, as well as pushing local steps. James C. Cason, the Republican mayor of Coral Gables, has convened informational sessions that draw hundreds of residents, and he has received no complaints for his stance. “I hope in coming years when we have to spend a lot of money, the citizens will still support it,” Mr. Cason said in an interview. Still, his city, and others in South Florida, have some hard decisions to make. Some property owners cannot afford to raise their sea walls, putting their neighborhoods at increased risk of flooding. Will they be held legally responsible when floods do occur? A strict policy could force some people from their homes. Conversely, should public money be spent to do the work, even if it largely benefits private property? Just for streets, storm drains and the like, South Florida governments will need to raise billions, and they have yet to figure out how. Moreover, if the rise of the sea accelerates as much as some scientists fear, it is doubtful the cities will be able to keep up. The region has one mayor, Philip K. Stoddard of South Miami, who is a scientist himself — he studies animal communication at Florida International University — and has been a close reader of scientific papers about climate change since the 1990s. “I remember lying in bed at night thinking, ‘I hope this isn’t real,’” Dr. Stoddard, a Democrat, recalled. “I hope other data comes in that contradicts it. It took me several years to get my head around it and say, ‘Oh, God, it is real. ’” Now he is focused on easing the pain for South Miami, with a $50 million system of sewer pipes to replace septic tanks threatened by the rising water table. “You can play it really badly and let unpleasant things happen earlier,” he said. “Or you can push them off by doing some infrastructure repairs and some thoughtful planning. ” He is, though, under no illusions about the fate of the region he calls home. “We’re putting enough heat in the ocean to send water over us, no question,” Dr. Stoddard said. “Ultimately, we give up and we leave. That’s how the story ends. ” | 0fake |
Hot Mic: DHS Chief John Kelly Jokes Trump Can Use Ceremonial Saber ’On The Press’ - Breitbart | Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly joked to President Donald Trump he could use a ceremonial saber on the press Wednesday, in a comment caught on a hot mic. [After being presented the saber during Coast Guard Academy commencement in Connecticut, Trump sat beside Kelly who quipped: “You can use that on the press, sir. ” “Yeah,” Trump chuckles. Gen. Kelly tells Pres. Trump ”you can use that on the press” after he’s presented with ceremonial saber at Coast Guard Academy commencement. pic. twitter. — ABC News (@ABC) May 17, 2017, Kelly’s joke sparked a predictable freakout from media and leftists. Why, Gen. Kelly? When POTUS has repeatedly aggressively attacked the press? https: . — Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 17, 2017, I fought with John Kelly in Iraq. This is shocking to me, and it’s not a funny joke. Professionals don’t say these kinds of things. https: . — Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) May 17, 2017, Here’s a shitty thing to say to in front of hundreds of JOs who just swore to defend the Constitution of the US https: . — Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) May 17, 2017, If it wasn’t already clear, DHS John about killing the not the champion of democratic norms he once appeared to be. https: . — Katherine Eban (@KatherineEban) May 17, 2017, But, Gen. Kelly … the pen is mightier than the sword. https: . — Ellen Rose (@icklenellierose) May 17, 2017, Nothing about this ”joke” between @DHSgov Secretary Kelly and @realDonaldTrump is funny … https: . — Joseph Amodeo (@josephamodeo) May 17, 2017, Literal saber rattling https: . — Ryan Teague Beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) May 17, 2017, During his speech to the graduates, Trump hammered the media. “Look at the way I’ve been treated lately especially by the media. No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly,” he said. “I didn’t get elected to serve the Washington media or special interests. I got elected to serve the forgotten men and women of our country, and that’s what I’m doing,” he added. | 0fake |
RARE INTERVIEW WITH WHITE HOUSE SECRETARY: Bill Clinton Had Affairs With “thousands of women”…”Monica Lewinsky is alive today because of choices I made” | This is a mind-blowing interview that confirms much of what many of us suspected about the Clintons. For some, it may be even worse than what they believed to be true. Kudos to Linda Tripp for agreeing to do this interview. People who cross the Clinton s do usually fare too well In a rare interview, Linda Tripp, a pivotal figure in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, revealed on Sunday it was common knowledge while she worked in the West Wing that Bill Clinton had affairs with thousands of women. Speaking on Aaron Klein Investigative Radio, Tripp for the first time divulged that she personally knew another White House staffer aside from Lewinsky who was also having an affair with Clinton. That unnamed staffer was mentioned by Tripp in various depositions but she has not spoken about it publicly.She charged that Hillary Clinton not only knew about her husband s exploits, She made it her personal mission to disseminate information and destroy the women with whom he dallied. Tripp says she cringes at the sight of Clinton presenting herself as a champion of women s rights worldwide in a global fashion, and yet all of the women she has destroyed over the years to ensure her political viability continues is sickening to me. Tripp documented evidence of Lewinsky s phone calls about her relationship with Bill Clinton and submitted the evidence to independent counsel Kenneth Starr, leading to the public disclosure of the affair. She explained to Klein that she did so because she believed her own life and Lewinsky s were in danger, saying that Lewinsky was threatening Clinton with outing the relationship.Tripp also used the interview to criticize what she says is the news media s unwillingness to investigate the Clintons. She singled out and thanked Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report, declaring that without him things would have been very, very different. Drudge s website was the first media outlet to break the Lewinsky scandal after Newsweek sat on the story.Tripp had unique access to the Clintons because her office was directly adjacent to Hillary s second floor West Wing office for the entire time she served in the Clinton White House from 1993 to the summer of 1994 with the exception of the first three months of the Clinton administration, when she sat just outside the Oval Office.Tripp s nonpartisan position was a carryover from the George H. W. Bush administration in which she served. Monica Lewinsky is alive today because of choices I made She told Klein that her role in the Lewinsky case followed years of alarm at what I had seen in the Clinton White House, particularly Hillary and the different scandals, whether it was Filegate, Travelgate, Whitewater, Vince Foster. All of the scandals that had come before and were so completely obliterated in the mind s eye of the American people because of the way all of them were essentially discounted. So I watched a lying President and a lying First Lady present falsehoods to the American people. So my dismay predated the January 1998 period when the Monica Lewinsky scandal surfaced. To me it was very important that the American people see what I was seeing. My years with the Clintons were so disturbing on so many levels. Tripp maintains that she went public with the Lewinsky evidence to ensure the intern s safety as well as her own.She told Klein:I say today and I will continue to say that I believe Monica Lewinsky is alive today because of choices I made and action I took. That may sound melodramatic to your listeners. I can only say that from my perspective I believe that she and I at the time were in danger, because nothing stands in the way of these people achieving their political ends.I think that had it not become public when it did, particularly in light of the Paula Jones lawsuit, which was coming to a head with President Clinton s deposition, that we may well have met with an accident. It s a situation where unless you lived it as I did you would have no real framework of reference for this sort of situation.Tripp said the young Lewinsky, 21-years-old when she entered the White House as an intern, was unaware of the danger that she faced.She described Lewinsky as a young girl, smart, clever but in this one area she was blinded and she fancied herself in love. He fancied himself entitled. It was nothing more than a servicing agreement. She romanticized that there was an affair. And when it didn t pan out the way she had hoped it would he had promised her he would bring her back to the White House as soon as the 1996 election campaign had finished. When he didn t, she essentially lost her mind and started acting in erratic and frightening ways. Threatening the president.There came a point in July of 1997 when she not only threatened to expose the affair, as she referred to it. But also she at that time informed him that I knew all about it. So at that time it became dangerous for Monica and for me. This was something that absolutely could never see the light of day. And she never realized the implications of threatening a president or her behavior. And I did.Tripp told Klein that the biggest fallacy that most people believed is that this was a unique occurrence. Monica was somehow special. And regrettably that s the farthest thing from the truth. She said, Everyone knew within the West Wing, particularly those who spent years with him, of the thousands of women. Now most of your listeners might find that difficult if not impossible to believe. And I can tell you in the beginning I felt the same way. But let me be clear here. This is a pattern of behavior that has gone on for years. And the abuse of women for years. Asked whether Clinton was having affairs with others in the West Wing, Tripp replied, I know that to be true. One in particular who I will not name told me this herself. But as to the hundreds or thousands, remember I worked closely with the closest aides to the president. And it was a loosey-goosy environment so there was not a lot of holding back. So it was common knowledge, let s put it this way, within the West Wing that he had this problem. It was further common knowledge that Hillary was aware of it. Tripp described the tense West Wing atmosphere between what she characterized as two almost diametrically opposed Clinton camps.The dynamic between the two groups the Bill Clinton people and the Hillary Clinton people. It was as though they were almost opposing forces. But I can tell you that the one with the power and the one that instilled the fear in the other was the Hillary camp.And the [Bill] Clinton people would cower if she were coming into the area, just as an example, of the Oval without notice. There would be scurrying around to make sure there was no one in the wrong place at the wrong time, shall we say. It was a fascination to see the amount of energy that was expended covering up his behavior. It was horrifying.Tripp said Hillary personally targeted Bill s female conquests and accusers, with the future presidential candidate exhibiting behavior that is egregious and it s so disingenuous. In my case, for instance, right after the Lewinsky story broke, she was heard directing her staff to get anything and everything on Linda Tripp. So the defamation of character and the absolute assurance that my credibility would be destroyed began right away. And it happens with any woman who is involved in any way, either with him in a physical relationship or an assault or anything that can endanger their political viability.Tripp recalled Hillary s January 27, 1998 appearance on NBC s The Today Show in which she was seen as standing by her husband while blaming the Lewinsky scandal on a vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president. She didn t do it in an honest way, said Tripp of Clinton s NBC interview. Instead she lied, which didn t surprise me. And I will give her credit. She is enormously effective. And became a victim. A wife who was betrayed. This is someone who had no real personal problem with any of this behavior. The problem was in it becoming public. They had to continue to become electable She was the more aggressive one in ensuring that the political viability was not endangered in any way. Tripp told Klein that Hillary does not possess integrity on any level. I just wish that your listeners could know the person that I knew. Because if they did there is not a chance she would be elected president. Tripp s ringside seat afforded her rare insight into the scandals of the 1990s and perhaps alleged wrongdoings to come, with the West Wing employee personally witnessing behavior that may have foreshadowed Clinton s email scandal, in which she is accused of sending classified materials through her personal server.Tripp said she noticed major differences in the manner in which classified material was handled by both the Clinton and Bush administrations in which she served.President George H.W. Bush s administration had a completely different way of operating on every level, including on classified and secret material, she said.She continued:All the regulations were followed, right down to a cover sheet being essential if the document had had any sort of classifications. The securing of classified documentation in safes. The burn bags that were used if any sensitive material was to be disposed of. All of this was familiar to me and followed every security protocol that I had experienced in the past.When the Clintons came in this was one of the things that I found appalling right from day one. And it went hand and hand with the disdain for the military. The military was present in the White House in the form of presidential aides. The aide that carried the nuclear football, just as an example. And in the Bush White House they were respected, as they should be. In the Clinton White House, they were disdained. To see it treated this way and to see these people treated this way was disturbing.Tripp referred to Clinton s private mail woes as classic Hillary Clinton in a nutshell. She gets to decide what she does. Look, the rules don t apply to the Clintons. If you understand that basic premise you understand the Clintons. For Tripp, Clinton s use of a private server was all about control. She has a need to control every single aspect of her life. And you know anyone in government knows that any key stroke on a keyboard within a government agency belongs to the government it is not up to the employee on any level to control what happens to it for posterity. FOR ENTIRE INTERVIEW, CLICK HERE: Breitbart News | 1real |
5 Slain Dallas Officers Served Overseas and at Home - The New York Times | DALLAS — On Thursday night, around the time the gunfire started, Kristy Villasenor, the wife of a Dallas police officer, posted a picture of herself and her toddler daughter on Facebook from a Texas Rangers baseball game at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Soon after, one of her friends commented anxiously on the photo: “Glad Pat is there and not in Dallas right now. ” Ms. Villasenor replied: “He’s not here. ” Pat — her husband, Officer Patrick Zamarripa — was in Dallas during the game, caught in the crosshairs of a sniper’s rifle that would eventually claim his life and those of four other officers. The news of the killings emerged almost in real time online. At 10:53 p. m. the Dallas Police Department posted a Twitter message announcing that 10 officers had been shot during a protest rally, three of them fatally. Twenty minutes later, a second message said that a fourth officer had been killed. Then, after midnight, there was a third: “It has been a devastating night. We are sad to report a fifth officer has died. ” By Friday afternoon, the full scope of the city’s losses was clear: At least two of the slain officers had served overseas in the military, only to die back home in Texas. A third had made his way to Dallas after working at a jail outside Detroit. A fourth was a large man — about — who had the semblance of a grizzly bear, according to a friend. The fifth was a standout on Dallas’s large, modern force: The local police association had named him the “Cops’ Cop” for February 2009. As condolences for the men poured in all day on Friday — from the governor to the secretary general of the United Nations — details of the officers’ lives started to emerge. “We’re hurting, our profession is hurting,” said David O. Brown, the Dallas police chief. The first officer to be identified was Brent Thompson, 43, who worked for the police force of Dallas Area Rapid Transit, which operates trains and buses in the region. Mr. Thompson, the first DART officer to die in the line of duty, joined the transit force in 2009 and patrolled the northwestern section of the transit system, according to his LinkedIn page. Before Dallas, he worked for DynCorp International as a police liaison officer and helped train fellow officers in Afghanistan and Iraq. He had also been a police academy instructor in Corsicana, Tex. southeast of Dallas, where he attended high school. He started in law enforcement in the Navarro County sheriff’s office, where he was assigned to the county jail, said Leslie A. Cotten Sr. the former sheriff. But like most young officers, Mr. Cotten said, “he wanted to get out on patrol and ride around in a patrol car and do a different job. ” Family members, writing on Facebook, were the first to publicly identify Mr. Zamarripa, a veteran of the Dallas force who had spent time in the Navy and served tours in Iraq as a military policeman. His Navy records released on Friday showed that he enlisted in 2001 and had also been posted in Florida, Illinois, Texas, Virginia and Bahrain. When he finished his military service, Mr. Zamarripa, a fan of the Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys, returned to the Dallas area and joined the Police Department, said his uncle, Hector Zamarripa. He lived in the Fort Worth area with Ms. Villasenor and their daughter, Lyncoln. He also had a stepson, his uncle said. On Friday afternoon, the National Latino Law Enforcement Organization — Mr. Zamarripa was a member — held a somber lunch for grieving supporters. “A good kid, man, a good young kid,” said Sgt. George Aranda, who runs the organization. “He loved his job. I talked to his mom last night, and even his mom said this was Patrick’s dream. This is what he wanted to be, a police officer. ” The third slain officer was Michael Krol, 40. Before moving to Dallas, Mr. Krol had served in the Wayne County, Mich. jail system from 2003 to 2007, said the county sheriff, Benny N. Napoleon. Two of Mr. Krol’s relatives declined to be interviewed on Friday. A fourth officer, Lorne Ahrens, was married to a Dallas police detective and regarded as a lawman devoted to the profession that he pursued in Dallas for more than a dozen years. “There are very few officers I’ve met who are more passionate about doing the job right than that man,” said Timothy S. Rodgers, a former prosecutor in Dallas County. “He was always calling me. He always had questions like, ‘What can I do better in this situation?’ ” Mr. Ahrens had worked in patrol and on property crimes. Mr. Rodgers recalled with a chuckle that his friend had a knack for finding criminals who would challenge him, despite his hefty size. The fifth slain officer was Michael J. Smith, who joined the Police Department in September 1989 after growing up in the southeastern corner of the state. In a publication acknowledging his Cops’ Cop award, the Police Association said that Mr. Smith held an array of posts: in personnel, on patrol and at the airport. The publication also said he had been injured on duty years ago when a gang member “lunged at his partner with an unknown object in his hand. ” At a news conference on Friday morning, Mayor Mike Rawlings stood beside Chief Brown and said: “To say that our police officers put their lives on the line every day is no hyperbole, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a reality. ” A few hours earlier, the department had posted yet another Twitter message: “Thank you to the members of our community for your show of support during this difficult time. ” | 0fake |
President Trump Announces Decision on Paris Climate Deal…America First! [Video] | FOX News is announcing that President Trump believes the Paris Accord is a bad deal and wants to jeep his promise to put Americans first. We say Amen to that! This is another mess Obama got us into that President Trump has to get us out of! The statement from the President will be any moment:THIS IS A GLOBAL REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH and will hurt Americans!OUR PAST REPORT ON THIS ACCORD: John Kerry and Al Gore are jubilant that we ve struck a deal (sort of) to limit carbon emissions what a couple of jokesters these guys are. It s really embarrassing that all these important people came together to discuss the weather and NOT our most pressing topic of what to do about terrorism. This is what happens when you let the liberals rule unicorns and rainbows:John Kerry told fellow negotiators, it will help the world prepare for the impacts of climate change that are already here and also for those that we already know are on our way inevitably. He added the pact would prevent the worst most devastating consequences of climate change from ever happening. A deal to attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2C has been agreed at the climate change summit in Paris after two weeks of intense negotiations. The pact is the first to commit all countries to cut carbon emissions. The agreement is partly legally binding and partly voluntary. Earlier, key blocs, including the G77 group of developing countries, and nations such as China and India said they supported the proposals. President of the UN climate conference of parties (COP) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: I now invite the COP to adopt the decision entitled Paris Agreement outlined in the document. Looking out to the room I see that the reaction is positive, I see no objections. The Paris agreement is adopted. As he struck the gavel to signal the adoption of the deal, delegates rose to their feet cheering and applauding.John Kerry told fellow negotiators, it will help the world prepare for the impacts of climate change that are already here and also for those that we already know are on our way inevitably. He added the pact would prevent the worst most devastating consequences of climate change from ever happening. Former U.S. vice president Al Gore says years from now, our grandchildren will reflect on humanity s moral courage to solve the climate crisis. And they will look to December 12, 2015, as the day when the community of nations finally made the decision to act. South African environment minister Edna Molewa calls the pact the best we can get at this historic moment. She says it can map a turning point to a better and safer world but she added that developed countries still have to cut emissions more and help poorer nations to counter the effects of global warming.READ MORE: BBCRead more: AP | 1real |
Three Women Arrested in Ongoing Counterterrorism Investigation | LONDON (AP) — British police have arrested three women as part of a continuing counterterrorism investigation that included a raid last week. [Police said that three women were arrested Monday morning on suspicion of planning attacks. Two are 18 and one is 19. They are being questioned at a police station outside London. Police say the arrests are part of an ongoing operation related to a series of arrests that began Thursday when police stormed a house in northwest London. One woman who was shot during that raid was arrested after she was discharged from a hospital. So far, a total of 10 people have been arrested as part of the investigation. None have yet been charged or identified. | 0fake |
Robert Parry: What to Do About ‘Fake News’ | Robert Parry Consortium NewsIn the wake of Donald Trump s victory, a hot new issue raised by President Obama in an international setting on Thursday and touted on The New York Times front page on Friday is the problem of fake news being disseminated on the Internet.Major Internet companies, such as Google and Facebook, are being urged to censor such articles and to punish alleged violators. Also, teams of supposedly responsible news providers and technology giants are being assembled to police this alleged problem and decide what is true and what is not.But therein lies the more serious problem: who gets to decide what is real and what is not real? And in an age when all sides propagate propaganda when does conformity in support of a mainstream truth become censorship of reasonable skepticism?As a journalist for more than four decades, I take seriously the profession s responsibility to verify information as much as possible before publishing it and as editor of Consortiumnews.com, I insist that our writers (and to the extent possible, outside commenters) back up what they say.I personally hate conspiracy theories in which people speculate about a topic without real evidence and often in defiance of actual evidence. I believe in traditional journalistic standards of cross-checking data and applying common sense.So, I am surely no fan of Internet hoaxes and baseless accusations. Yet, I also recognize that mainstream U.S. news outlets have made horrendous and wholesale factual errors, too, such as reporting in 2002-03 that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear weapons program (The New York Times) and was hiding stockpiles of WMD (many TV and print outlets, including The Washington Post).And, mainstream outlets getting such life-and-death stories wrong was not just a one-off affair around the Iraq invasion. At least since the 1980s, The New York Times has misreported or glossed over many international issues that put the United States and its allies in a negative light.For instance, the Times not only missed the Nicaraguan Contra cocaine scandal, but actively covered up the Reagan administration s role in the wrongdoing through the 1980s and much of the 1990s.The Times lagged badly, too, on investigating the secret operations that became known as the Iran-Contra Affair. The Times gullibility in the face of official denials was an obstacle for those of us digging into that constitutional crisis and other abuses by the Reagan administration. [For more on this topic, see Consortiumnews.com s New York Times: Apologist for Power. ]In that same era, The Washington Post performed no better. Leonard Downie, its executive editor at the time of the Contra-cocaine scandal, has continued to reject the reality of Ronald Reagan s beloved Contras trafficking in cocaine despite the 1998 findings of CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz that, in fact, many Contras were neck-deep in the cocaine trade and the Reagan administration covered up their criminality for geopolitical reasons.More recently, during the mad dash to invade Iraq in 2002-03, the Post s editorial-page editor Fred Hiatt wrote repeatedly as flat fact that Iraq was hiding WMD and mocked the few dissenting voices that challenged the group think. Yet, Hiatt suffered no accountability for his falsehoods and is still the Post s editorial-page editor, still peddling dubious examples of Washington s conventional wisdom. Ministry of TruthSo, who are the responsible journalists who should be anointed to regulate what the world s public gets to see and hear? For that Orwellian task, a kind of Ministry of Truth has been set up by Google, called the First Draft Coalition, which touts itself as a collection of 30 major news and technology companies, including the Times and Post, tackling fake news and creating a platform to decide which stories are questionable and which ones aren t.Formed in June 2015 and funded by Google News Lab, the First Draft Coalition s founding members included Bellingcat, an online citizen journalism site that has gotten many of its highest profile stories wrong and is now associated with NATO s favorite think tank, the Atlantic Council.Despite Bellingcat s checkered record and its conflicts of interest through the Atlantic Council, major Western news outlets, including the Times and Post, have embraced Bellingcat, apparently because its articles always seem to mesh neatly with U.S. and European propaganda on Syria and Ukraine.Two of Bellingcat s (or its founder Eliot Higgins s) biggest errors were misplacing the firing location of the suspected Syrian rocket carrying sarin gas on Aug. 21, 2013, and directing an Australian news crew to the wrong site for the so-called getaway BUK [missile] video after the July 17, 2014 shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.( ) Power and RealityWhile it s undeniable that some false or dubious stories get pushed during the heat of a political campaign and in wartime and journalists have a role in fact-checking as best they can there is potentially a greater danger when media insiders arrogate to themselves the power to dismiss contrary evidence as unacceptable, especially given their own history of publishing stories that turned out to be dubious if not entirely false.It s even more dangerous when these self-appointed arbiters of truth combine forces with powerful Internet search engines and social media companies to essentially silence dissenting opinions and contrary facts by making them very difficult for the public to locate.( ) On Thursday, an impassioned President Obama voiced his annoyance with fake news twice in his joint news conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel because in an age where there s so much active misinformation and it s packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on your television. If everything seems to be the same and no distinctions are made, then we won t know what to protect. Let that phrase sink in for a moment: We won t know what to protect ? Is President Obama suggesting that it is the U.S. government s role to protect certain information and, by implication, leave contrary information unprotected, i.e. open to censorship? Continue this story at Consortium News SEE ALSO: Establishment Using Fake News Faux Crisis to Target Alternative MediaSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Black Female Trump Executive Publishes Personal Email Address As Olive Branch to Disenchanted HRC Supporters – TruthFeed | Black Female Trump Executive Publishes Personal Email Address As Olive Branch to Disenchanted HRC Supporters Black Female Trump Executive Publishes Personal Email Address As Olive Branch to Disenchanted HRC Supporters Breaking News By Amy Moreno November 12, 2016
There’s a false narrative floating around on the internet about Donald Trump being anti-gay and racist.
This could not be further from the truth.
Lynne Patton, a strong, bold black female executive at Trump Organization and Vice President of The Eric Trump Foundation became a power player in the election when she wrote an amazing open letter about her experience working for the Trump family.
The letter, which was turned into a video, went viral.
Please watch:
After the election, Lynne wrote a compelling and powerful Facebook message to her dear friends and family who supported Hillary.
Her heartfelt words speak to the TRUE character of Mr. Trump – not the lying, false narrative spread by our dishonest, North Korea-style, government-run propaganda media that existed solely to help Hillary Clinton get elected.
I agree with Lynne .
Donald Trump’s America First agenda is an all-inclusive movement for every American – all races, colors, genders, and sexual preference.
Mr. Trump is a “big tent” type of man – the more the merrier!
He’s the first candidate to appeal to such a wide variety of people from so many differing walks of life.
Donald Trump is the first Republican to invite an openly gay man, Peter Theil, the co-founder of Paypal, to be a keynote speaker at the GOP convention.
In addition, Mr. Theil is also an intricate part of President-elect Trump’s transition team.
Of course, the media portrays Trump’s movement as racist, and bigoted – a basket of deplorable mean people – but that’s not true .
We are a melting pot of differing views and cultures who have come together to take our country back from establishment globalists who, for decades, have destroyed the country.
Mr. Trump understands that we are a country divided.
The people protesting the election right now are hurt.
It’s understandable – their candidate lost.
However, what we hope, as we move forward, is that these folks will keep an open mind and an open heart to the positive ideas and exciting changes that Mr. Trump has in store for the country – stimulating the economy, bringing back jobs, providing everyone a safer and more secure country, and much more!
I don’t work for the Trump family, but as someone who is deeply involved with the Trump “Online Army,” I can tell you that Donald Trump’s LGBT support is real and it’s powerful.
— Scott Presler (@ScottPresler) June 13, 2016
….and with good reason.
Mr. Trump is a loving man who is looking out for the well-being of the gay community when he strongly condemned Hillary Clinton for taking money from, and supporting countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who routinely persecute, abuse, and execute gays.
Mr. Trump challenged Hillary to return the money to these abusive countries as a symbol of support for the LGBT community.
And what did Hillary do?
She laughed.
This is a man who vowed to halt Muslim refugees hailing from parts of the world that are terror hotbeds and foster anti-gay cultures.
Mr. Trump is not perfect – no one is – but he truly wants to be everyone’s President .
So, to the protesters and the folks who feel apprehensive – it’s ok and understandable to feel angry and sad, and express yourself lawfully- but when you’re done, please give America First a chance – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how great it will be. Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Presidency and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter. | 1real |
Obama makes last attempt to persuade Congress to close Guantanamo | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama launched a final push on Tuesday to persuade Congress to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, despite strong opposition from lawmakers who do not want detainees transferred to the United States. The president, a Democrat, pressed the Republican-led legislature to give his proposal a “fair hearing” and said he did not want to pass the issue to his successor in January. The Pentagon-authored plan proposes 13 potential sites on U.S. soil to hold some 30-60 detainees in maximum-security prisons but does not identify the facilities. U.S. law bars transfers to the United States, and lawmakers are unlikely to lift those restrictions, especially in an election year. “We’ll review President Obama’s plan,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “But since it includes bringing dangerous terrorists to facilities in U.S. communities, he should know that the bipartisan will of Congress has already been expressed against that proposal.” Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, said Obama had yet to convince Americans that moving the prisoners to the United States was smart or safe. Obama is considering taking executive action to close the facility, situated in a U.S. naval station in southeast Cuba, if Congress does not change its position. The White House declined to rule out a unilateral option on Tuesday. Republicans oppose any executive order, and issuing one would almost certainly generate legal challenges. The Guantanamo prisoners were rounded up overseas when the United States became embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. The facility came to symbolize aggressive detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture. Most detainees have been held without trial for more than a decade. “Let us go ahead and close this chapter,” Obama said at the White House. “I don’t want to pass this problem on to the next president, whoever it is. And if, as a nation, we don’t deal with this now, when will we deal with it?” Obama pledged as a presidential candidate in 2008 to close Guantanamo. Doing so would fulfill that pledge and boost his legacy during his final year in office. Pressing his case now thrust the issue into the 2016 presidential campaign. “Not only are we not going to close Guantanamo - when I am president, if we capture a terrorist alive, they are ... going to Guantanamo and we are going to find out everything they know,” said Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. The plan would send detainees who have been cleared for transfer to their homelands or third countries and transfer remaining prisoners to U.S. soil to be held in maximum-security prisons. Congress has banned such transfers to the United States since 2011. Though the Pentagon has previously noted some of the sites it surveyed for use as potential U.S. facilities, the administration wants to avoid fueling any political outcry in important swing states before the Nov. 8 presidential election. Republican Senator John McCain, Obama’s 2008 presidential opponent and an advocate of closing the prison, scoffed at the plan as not being focused. “Thirteen different possible sites. That’s a recommendation?” he said. The White House has sought to buttress its argument for closing the prison by focusing on its high cost. Obama said nearly $450 million was spent last year alone to keep it running. The new plan would be cheaper, officials said. The transfer and closure costs would be $290 million to $475 million, an administration official told reporters, while housing remaining detainees in the United States would be $65 million to $85 million less expensive than at the Cuba facility, meaning the transfer bill would be offset in 3 to 5 years. The administration hopes sending the plan to Congress will spur lawmakers to help choose a facility they find amenable, but the White House is well aware the plan may not move at all. “I am very clear-eyed about the hurdles to finally closing Guantanamo. The politics of this are tough,” Obama said. “Part of my message to the American people here is we’re already holding a bunch of really dangerous terrorists here in the United States ... and there have been no incidents. We’ve managed it just fine.” The Guantanamo facility, which Obama said once held nearly 800 people, now houses 91 detainees. Some 35 prisoners will be transferred to other countries in the coming months, bringing the final number below 60, officials said. More prisoners could be transferred other countries as well, potentially lowering that number further. Obama said military commissions would continue to be used to try some of the prisoners, but he said that process also required reform. Obama noted that his predecessor, Republican President George W. Bush, transferred hundreds of prisoners out of Guantanamo and wanted it closed. | 0fake |
DISGUSTING! Abusive “Transformers” Star Shia LaBeouf Repeatedly SCREAMS, “He Will Not Divide Us” In Face Of Young Trump Supporter [VIDEO] | Shia Labeouf maniacally screams "he will not divide us!" in a Trump supporter's face thereby becoming the physical embodiment of division. pic.twitter.com/vwCUn6acNL Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) January 22, 2017Commencing at 9am on January 20, 2017, the day of the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, the public is invited to deliver the words HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US into a camera mounted on a wall outside the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, repeating the phrase as many times, and for as long as they wish.Open to all, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the participatory performance will be live-streamed continuously for four years, or the duration of the presidency. In this way, the mantra HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US acts as a show of resistance or insistence, opposition or optimism, guided by the spirit of each individual participant and the community. | 1real |
ACLU Launches Nationwide Training on Protest, Resistance Against Trump | CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union staged a nationwide training event Saturday to make sure people are aware of their rights as protesters and urge organized, public resistance by those opposed to policies of President Donald Trump. [advertisement | 0fake |
Global finance leaders find a more temperate Trump in Washington | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump took power in January pledging to overhaul a global order that he said cheated middle-class Americans with a promise to tear up trade agreements and impose tariffs on China and Mexico. Some of Trump’s policy advisers named allies like Germany and Japan as possible targets for economic retaliation. Fast-forward almost 100 days into Trump’s presidency and the world’s most powerful finance officials, gathered in Washington for the International Monetary Fund spring meetings, have found an administration that is far from the disruptive force Trump promised. Although Trump did act on his campaign promise to tear up a 12-nation Pacific trade pact that had been the cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s Asian pivot, he has taken a much softer stance on other issues. He has refrained from pulling out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, did not carry out a pledge to label China a currency cheat, and his administration has signaled the United States may stay in the Paris climate accord. Constraints being put on Trump by Congress and the courts on issues ranging from healthcare to immigration that would have filtered into the economy and the slow pace with which he is filling key administration jobs have played a role. And some foreign policy makers say they are still not sure who their counterparts are in the Trump administration. But these policy makers said that important initial decisions have been far more centrist than might have been expected. The European Union’s commissioner for economic and financial affairs, Pierre Moscovici, summed up a widely shared sentiment as he highlighted how two people at the top of Trump’s economic team - Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council - have curbed the worst fears over the young U.S. presidency. “We have the feeling that Mnuchin and Cohn are sensible people with whom we can discuss things, who are conscious of what an open economy requires,” Moscovici told Reuters in an interview. The European Union’s view of a more pragmatic administration was shared by Mexico, which attracted some of Trump’s greatest ire. Trump’s threat to impose punitive tariffs on Mexican exports sent the peso currency tumbling, but it has since recovered. Mexico’s finance undersecretary, Vanessa Rubio Marquez, said discussions with the Trump administration so far have become “anchored” around a handful of issues “that Mexico would be able to deal with.” “There is still a lot of uncertainty,” she said in a seminar on Wednesday. But “dialogue has been more structured, more constant.” What Trump might mean for the U.S. and world economies has preoccupied central bankers, investors and analysts since the new president took office promising a virtual revolution in the way the United States relates to the rest of the world. Though much about Trump’s policies remain unformed as the administration approaches the 100-day mark, the more extreme risks - such as a trade war or a budget-busting fiscal program that unhinges inflation - seem to have receded. “My belief is that a multilateral framework promoting free trade will continue. There won’t be huge changes to that,” Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters on Thursday. In remarks on Thursday, Mnuchin said tax reform remained a priority as are other steps to boost U.S. growth. But he said the hope for faster growth would mean a stronger world economy, and that it was constructive to coordinate policies through international organizations like the Group of 20. “This administration is willing to reach out and get ideas from the outside,” Mnuchin told top-level bankers at a conference organized in parallel with the IMF meeting. There are still risks. The Trump administration said on Thursday it would embark on a study of whether cheap steel imports from China and other countries were damaging national security. And there are still huge gaps in personnel at key bodies like Treasury and Commerce. “Many of the top jobs are still vacant,” said one European diplomat who was attending the IMF meetings and spoke on condition of anonymity. “Nobody outside the U.S. really knows who is the most powerful or influential one at moment,” the official said. | 0fake |
Leaders of far-right UK group charged with religiously aggravated harassment | LONDON (Reuters) - The leaders of a far-right British political group, Britain First, were charged with causing religiously aggravated harassment on Wednesday, police said. Paul Golding, 35, and his deputy Jayda Fransen, 31, both from southeast London, were arrested in May over the distribution of leaflets in Kent to the east of London, and online videos they posted during a court trial. The case involved a number a Muslim men who were later convicted of rape. Both were bailed to appear at Medway magistrates in Kent on Oct. 17. The fringe group, which is opposed to all mass immigration and says it is not a racist but a loyalist movement, has staged a number of demonstrations around Britain, usually attracting a few hundred protesters. | 0fake |
After healthcare failure, Republicans face similar divisions on tax reform | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress unveiled a fiscal 2018 budget plan as a first step to major U.S. tax reform on Tuesday, only to face the same divisions between conservatives and moderates that helped killed their efforts to replace Obamacare. The $4 trillion spending blueprint, released by the House of Representatives budget committee, could become a new flashpoint for Republican in-fighting because it links future tax cuts for businesses and individuals with $203 billion in mandatory spending cuts that would reduce benefits for the poor. The Republican push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, collapsed in the Senate late on Monday after a tug-of-war between party moderates who wanted to preserve healthcare benefits for lower-income Americans and conservatives who wanted to scale them back. On Tuesday, House Republicans disagreed over the budget proposal in terms that could foreshadow a replay of the Senate healthcare debacle when lawmakers turn to tax reform. Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said the budget measure would not get enough conservative votes to pass the House without bigger cuts to programs that the government is required to fund by law. “It’s still short of what it needs,” Meadows told reporters. On the other side, Representative Charlie Dent, a leader of the moderate Tuesday Group, called for an agreement with Democrats to establish higher spending levels for discretionary programs. “If we move too much in the mandatory area, then it will make tax reform that much more difficult to get. It’s that basic,” Dent told Reuters. House and Senate approval for a fiscal 2018 budget agreement would unlock a vital legislative tool called reconciliation that allows Republicans to pass tax legislation in the Senate with a simple majority. But the Senate’s inability to pass healthcare legislation even with reconciliation raised questions about how useful the strategy really is. One corporate lobbyist said some Senate Republicans privately question the reconciliation approach backed by House leaders, saying it appears to be “poisoning the well” in the Senate by alienating Democrats who might otherwise support tax legislation. Republicans have only a 52-48 Senate majority and can afford to lose no more than two votes on Republican-only legislation, with Vice President Mike Pence providing the tie-breaking vote. Democrats were delighted by the Republicans’ failure on healthcare and called for bipartisan discussions. “Using a partisan approach for the major issues of our time — healthcare and tax reform – is a prescription for trouble,” Senator Ron Wyden, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said at a tax reform hearing on Tuesday. Senator Orrin Hatch, the panel’s Republican chairman, acknowledged that Republicans would also have difficulty passing tax reform legislation, even using reconciliation. “It’s going to be difficult to do. Hopefully, we can get that done,” Hatch told reporters. The Senate is under no obligation to accept the House budget language that would ultimately tie tax reform to mandatory spending cuts in the same piece of legislation. Senator John Thune, chairman of the Senate Republican conference, said senators will decide whether to add the same language to their own budget resolution. After six months in power, President Donald Trump has yet to score a major legislative victory, though financial markets have rallied since his election on expectations of pro-business measures, including tax reform and infrastructure spending. Pence, speaking to a gathering of retailers in Washington on Tuesday, reiterated that Trump plans to slash the corporate income tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent. But the failure of the healthcare bill in the Senate created uncertainty in financial markets, with the dollar hitting its lowest level against the euro in more than a year on Tuesday. “The healthcare bill not coming through raises some continued concerns about the ability of Washington to push through favorable fiscal policies,” said Lisa Kopp, head of traditional investments at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. The S&P 500 stock market index has gained about 15 percent since Trump’s Nov. 8 election, while the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average has posted one record high after another on optimism of a Trump tax reform and other pro-business policies. The budget committee will hold a hearing on the budget resolution on Wednesday. Representative Diane Black, the panel’s chair, said the measure has the votes to reach the House floor. | 0fake |
Zimbabwe's Mugabe speech was meant to sanitize army intervention: sources | HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe agreed to resign on Sunday but his ruling ZANU-PF party did not want him to quit in front of the military, an act that would have made its intervention look like a coup, two senior political sources said on Monday. It would have looked extremely bad if he had resigned in front of those generals. It would have created a huge amount of mess, one senior source within ZANU-PF said. Another political source said the speech was meant to sanitize the military s action. | 0fake |
20 Things The FDA (Federal Deception Administration) Doesn’t Want You To Know | in: Big Pharma , FDA , GMOs , Government , Government Corruption , Medical & Health , Special Interests There was a time when “FDA Approved” was a vote of credibility. We could purchase a product and feel safe because the government watchdogs had checked it out thoroughly before allowing it to be sold. Now, “FDA Approved” means “The company that produced this product has enough money and clout to allow it to be sold.” Many people rely on the FDA as a source of knowledge and safety. Their recommendations mean something to folks who feel as though someone is watching out for them and that in America if something was bad, the government wouldn’t allow it to be sold. They believe that the drugs are tested and approved for our benefit and that the manufacturers of Big Pharma are at the mercy of the fierce protectors who are advocating for the people. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be further from the truth. This is all part of the giant marketing deception perpetrated on a trusting public. Some people are so snowed by what the FDA does that they want it to be even more powerful . There is actually an “alliance for a stronger FDA” whose mission reads like a diary entry from a hostage with Stockholm Syndrome. With responsibility for products that comprise more than 20% of all national consumer spending, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) oversees aspects of several industries that are key to our nation’s growth and prosperity. A science-based, predictable, and efficient FDA helps these industries — including the food, drug, medical device, and cosmetics industries — to innovate and to create high-paying jobs here in America while improving our balance of trade. The Alliance for a Stronger FDA works to ensure annual appropriations that will adequately fund the FDA’s essential missions, and we believe that the American people expect this too. There is no backstop, no other agency, that performs this critical work. The federal g overnment gives the FDA about $8 per year for each American (an “appropriation” of $2.561 billion for FY 2014). Nowhere else in the federal budget does so little money need to go so far. The FDA has just 10,000 employees to monitor food safety, review the safety and efficacy of medical products, assure the safe use of those medical products, and protect the American people, their pets, and their farm animals from poorly made, counterfeit, and illegal food, drugs, and cosmetics. Recent research on a variety of topics has led me to note some astonishing facts about the GMO Food and Drug Pushers Administration. Like a bad penny, it seems whatever topic I’m looking into, the FDA keeps turning up. The FDA has a central role in the increasing tyranny in the United States and we, as taxpayers, are funding them to do this. Be warned, you aren’t going to like what you read below, but unless you are mired in intractable cognitive dissonance, you’re going to see a pattern of abuse and deception. The FDA’s Perpetual Conflicts of Interest First of all, it would be nice to believe that the group who decides whether foods and medicines are safe for our consumption is unbiased and benevolent. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Let’s take a look at the leadership – the head of the snake – and the ties of those leaders to Big Agri and Big Pharma. Some previous tsars/commissioners are: 2016: Dr. Robert Califf Califf is a cardiologist who was a tenured professor at Duke University School of Medicine. He’s long been criticized for having deep financial ties to Big Pharma. He worked closely with drug companies and convinced them to do large, expensive clinical trials that were very profitable for Duke. Califf was a paid consultant for Merck Sharp & Dohme, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly per ProPublica from 2009 to 2013. In the disclosure information for an article published in the journal Circulation in 2013, Califf shared that he was a consultant for Gilead – the drug company that recently came under scrutiny for outrageously priced hepatitis C drugs. The price for a 12-week course of treatment with one of the drugs was initially set at $84,000 . 2010: Michael Taylor Taylor’s most recent resume entry: VP and attorney for Satan Monsanto. One of Taylor’s “accomplishments” for Monsanto was writing the rules that allowed recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone into the American food and milk supply, and forcing dairies who labelled their milk as rBGH-free to also state that there was “no difference between their hormone free milk and the chemically enhanced milk.” 2009: Margaret Hamburg Hamburg served on the board of directors of Henry Schien, Inc. previous to her appointment to the throne of the FDA. Henry Schien, Inc. produces amalgam dental products – products that contain toxic mercury. Hamburg spearheaded the legislation that allowed mercury to be allowed in dental products (without a required warning for the consumers) during her time at the FDA. Hamburg was recently named as one of the defendants in an $800 million RICO lawsuit . The suit accuses Hamburg of playing a role in a conspiracy to approve Levaquin, an antibiotic drug known to cause severe (and even deadly) side effects, in order to financially benefit her husband’s hedge fund which held very large financial positions in Johnson & Johnson, makers of the drug. 2006: Andrew von Eschenbach A Bush family friend, von Eshchenbach has a background as a drug peddler for Big Pharma and as the head of the National Cancer Society. Some highlights of his reign over the FDA were the speedy approval of Avandia, a medication for diabetes that had the unfortunate side effect of a 43% increase in heart attacks among those taking it; and accusations of corruption and intimidation by the FDA’s own scientists. **** But if that cast of characters isn’t enough to shed doubt on the veracity of any claim made by this organization, take a look at the following facts and tell me that they’re looking out for people instead of corporate interests. The FDA seems to be busily striving to regulate the family farm right out of business. The FDA has gone “SWAT Team” on producers of raw milk and cheese, performing armed raids on small farms , seizing and destroying inventory and handcuffing farmers to haul them off to jail. The FDA keeps adding “food safety” requirements to small organic farms while doing nothing about the factory farms’ abundant use of pesticides and toxins. The FDA pushed the Food Safety Modernization Act which could eventually shut down farmer’s markets across the country – or at least make the food more difficult and expensive for farmers to produce. According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), “The regulations could erect new barriers to these important markets for small and mid-scale farmers unable to bear the expense of compliance.” Find the regulations here. With all of these new (time-consuming and pricey) legislations that farmers must adhere to , the price of local organic produce is skyrocketing, making the product unaffordable for most Americans. This, in turn, reduces competition for the huge factory farms and their GMO-tainted, chemical-sprayed products, allowing a huge profit at the end of the day for Big Agri. The FDA crackdown on health food stores and promoters of natural remedies is reminiscent of cops raiding a meth lab full of junkies. Since 1987, facilities such as the Life Extension Foundation, vitamin manufacturers, health food stores, natural pet food stores and naturopathic medical clinics have been raided by agents waving assault rifles. Owners and employees have been arrested and convicted of crimes. Countless merchandise and literature has been confiscated. What was the crime committed by these natural healing companies? They don’t tithe to the Church of Big Pharma. The FDA is busily “harmonizing” the United States policies with Codex Alimentarius . Codex is the United Nations’ sinister plot to be in control of the food consumption of the world, as per Agenda 21 . Codex promotes chemical agriculture, heavily medicated livestock and genetically modified produce. It’s all done under a do-gooder disguise – the CA Commission states its goals as “protecting the health of consumers, ensuring fair trade practices and promoting coordination of food standards.” Codex actually outlaws the sale of vitamins of beneficial dosages, as well as natural remedies. According to Mike Adams , the founder of Natural News, “the FDA will “harmonize” the U.S. food and dietary supplement industries with global Codex requirements which make illegal virtually all healthy doses of vitamins and minerals. Under full Codex “harmonization,” America will be left with a dead food supply and the health food stores will be virtually stripped bare of dietary supplements. Selling vitamin D at a reasonable dose such as 4,000 IU per capsule will be criminalized and products will be seized and destroyed by FDA agents who recruit local law enforcement to bring in the firepower. | 1real |
Trump meets Silicon Valley elite after mutual mistrust in campaign | NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump and some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful executives met at his Manhattan tower on Wednesday, a summit convened to smooth over frictions after both sides made no secret of their disdain for each other during the election campaign. The meeting focused chiefly on economic issues, including job creation, lowering taxes and trade dynamics with China, while largely skirting the many disagreements the tech industry has with Trump on matters ranging from immigration to digital privacy, according to a Trump transition team statement. Trump proposed reconvening with the tech leaders as often as every quarter, the statement said. Three of Trump’s adult children, Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, sat at the head of a large rectangular table as the meeting began in a conference room on the 25th floor of Trump Tower. Their attendance may fuel further concern about potential conflicts of interests for Trump, who has said he would hand over control of his business empire to his children while he occupies the White House. Vice President-elect Mike Pence was also there. Guests sat in front of paper name plates and bottles of water sporting the Trump brand logo. The meeting between tech luminaries, including Apple Inc’s Tim Cook, Facebook Inc’s Sheryl Sandberg and Tesla Motors Inc’s Elon Musk, took place as Trump has alarmed some U.S. corporations with his rhetoric challenging long-established policy toward China, a main market for Silicon Valley. A senior Chinese state planning official told the China Daily newspaper Wednesday that Beijing could slap a penalty on a U.S. automaker for monopolistic behavior, a warning delivered days after Trump questioned acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China.” The official did not identify the automaker. “There’s nobody like the people in this room, and anything we can do to help this go along we’re going to do that for you,” Trump told the executives in the presence of reporters. “You call my people, you call me, it doesn’t make any difference. We have no formal chain of command.” Trump added: “We’re going to make fair trade deals. We’re going to make it a lot easier for you to trade across borders.” Other participants included Alphabet Inc’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, Microsoft Corp’s Satya Nadella, and Ginni Rometty from IBM. Twitter was not invited to the meeting because it was too small, a transition spokesman told Reuters. Cook and Musk joined Trump for separate meetings after the other technology executives leave, according to a spokesman for Trump’s transition team. Bezos said in a statement the meeting was “very productive” and that he “shared the view that the administration should make innovation one of its key pillars, which would create a huge number of jobs across the whole country, in all sectors, not just tech - agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing -everywhere.” Trump clashed with Silicon Valley on several issues during the election campaign, including immigration, government surveillance and encryption, and his surprise victory last month alarmed many companies that feared he might follow through on his pledges. He has said that many tech companies are overvalued by investors. “You look at some of these tech stocks that are so, so weak as a concept and a company and they’re selling for so much money,” he told Reuters in an interview in May. Those concerns have not been assuaged in recent weeks as Trump has threatened to upset trade relationships with China and appoint officials who favor expanded surveillance programs. “For some of the companies, there was some hesitation about whether to attend” because of sharp political and personal differences with Trump, one tech industry source said. More than 700 employees of technology companies pledged in an open letter on Tuesday to refuse to help Trump’s administration build a data registry to track people based on their religion or assist in mass deportations. Silicon Valley enjoyed a warm rapport with President Barack Obama and heavily supported Democrat Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign. Alphabet’s Schmidt was photographed on election night at Clinton headquarters wearing a staff badge, and Musk said in interviews before the election that Trump’s character reflected poorly on the United States. Despite those tensions, Trump named Musk to a business advisory council that will give private-sector input to Trump after he takes office on Jan. 20. The CEOs of Airbnb and Uber were invited but did not attend Wednesday’s gathering. Uber’s Travis Kalanick, traveling in India all week according to a person familiar with his plans, was also appointed to the council. From the employees of the 10 largest Fortune 500 tech companies, Trump raised just $179,400 from 982 campaign donors who contributed more than $200. Clinton raised $4.4 million from the employees of the same companies, with more than 20,400 donations, a Reuters review of contribution data found. Trump publicly bashed the industry during the campaign. He urged his supporters to boycott Apple products over the company’s refusal to help the FBI unlock an iPhone associated with last year’s San Bernardino, California, shootings, threatened antitrust action against Amazon and demanded that tech companies build their products in the United States. Trump has also been an opponent of the Obama administration’s “net neutrality” rules barring internet service providers from obstructing or slowing consumer access to web content. Two advisers to his Federal Communications Commission transition team are opponents of the rules, as are the two Republicans on the FCC. Last week, the two Republicans on the panel urged a quick reversal of many Obama policies and one, Commissioner Ajit Pai, said he believed that net neutrality’s “days are numbered.” | 0fake |
Arms supplied by U.S., Saudi ended up with Islamic State, researchers say | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Arms provided by the United States and Saudi Arabia to Syrian opposition groups frequently ended up in the hands of Islamic State, an arms monitoring group that analyzed weapons found on the battlefield said on Thursday. Conflict Armament Research (CAR) said most Islamic State weapons were looted from the Iraqi and Syrian armies. But some were originally provided by other countries, mainly the United States and Saudi Arabia, to Syrian opposition groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad. These findings are a stark reminder of the contradictions inherent in supplying weapons into armed conflicts in which multiple competing and overlapping non-state armed groups operate, the group said in a 200-page report. CAR documented at least 12 cases of weaponry purchased by the United States that ended up in Islamic State s hands, either captured on the battlefield or acquired through shifting alliances within the Syrian opposition. Most of these items later ended up in Iraq, the monitor said. In one case, it took only two months for Islamic State fighters in Iraq to get their hands on a guided anti-tank missile the United States bought from a European country and supplied to a Syrian opposition group. All of the items were made in EU states, and in most cases the United States broke contractual clauses prohibiting retransfers by giving the weapons to armed groups in Syria. Evidence collected by CAR indicates that the United States has repeatedly diverted EU-manufactured weapons and ammunition to opposition forces in the Syrian conflict. IS forces rapidly gained custody of significant quantities of this materiel. CAR said it similarly traced numerous items used by Islamic State back to exports from Bulgaria to Saudi Arabia, and that these were also subject to non-retransfer clauses that should have barred them from being supplied to Syrian warring parties. Around 90 percent of weapons and ammunition used by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq were made in China, Russia, and Eastern European countries, CAR said, with China and Russia alone accounting for over 50 percent. These findings support widespread assumptions that the group initially captured much of its military materiel from Iraqi and Syrian government forces, the report said. Russian-made weapons used by Islamic State in Syria outnumbered Chinese ones, presumably reflecting Russian supplies to the Syrian regime, CAR said. Russia is allied with Assad and launched air strikes in Syria in September 2015, its biggest Middle East intervention in decades, turning the tide of the conflict in his favor. On Saturday Iraq declared final victory over Islamic State, which seized more than a third of the country s territory in 2014. Last week Russia declared victory over the group in Syria. CAR reported last year that Islamic State had been making its own weapons on a scale and with sophistication matching national military forces, and that it had standardized production across its realm. Link to the CAR report: here | 0fake |
WOW! Social Media FREAKS OUT Over What’s Behind MARIAH CAREY During #LasVegas Shooting Interview With Piers Morgan [VIDEO] | Good Morning Britain viewers have been left baffled by pop diva Mariah Carey s appearance on Monday s installment following the breaking news of a shooting in Las Vegas.The 47-year-old hitmaker was due to chat to host Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid about her upcoming Christmas shows in London and Paris before news broke about the shocking incident at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival which so far has claimed the lives of 50 people and left more than 400 injured.Appearing in a live feed from her Beverly Hills home, Mariah was seen stretched out across a chaise longue in a red gown as the British TV presenters asked her about the attack near the Mandalay Bay Resort and Hotel.The Grammy award-winning singer is no stranger to the world-renowned Vegas strip, having held residency at Caesars Palace s the Colosseum in recent years.Despite admitting she didn t know enough about the attack, Mariah shared her condolences to all who were affected.Following the interview, GMB s Piers took to social media to explain that Mariah s reps knew that they would ask her about the horrific attack.Writing to his 6.12million followers, he retweeted a comment that criticized the interview and added: We told Mariah s people before the interview. Her reaction seemed very relevant given she s a performer who often resides in Vegas. Daily MailAlthough fans have come to expect that whenever Mariah is being interviewed, that she will make her viewers uncomfortable, this latest interview with Piers Morgan has created a bit of a social media meltdown. Social media users couldn t get over how Mariah was draped across the sofa like she was posing for a glamorous magazine shoot during the morning talk show. It was the CHRISTMAS tree in the background, however, that had everyone really questioning her sanity. Piers Morgan cleared up the confusion about the Christmas tree when he told viewers that, Mariah was booked to do an interview about her UK Christmas tour. So without addressing the elephant or Christmas tree if you will, in the room, Morgan was able to explain (kind of) why Mariah Carey was propped up on her couch with a lighted Christmas tree behind her during the first official week of fall | 1real |
Greek government under fire over would-be Saudi arms deal | ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece s junior coalition party leader on Monday faced questioning in parliament and calls for his suspension over a failed deal to sell Greek army missiles to Saudia Arabia. Panos Kammenos, defense minister in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras government, secured a 66-million-euro deal with Saudi Arabia for the sale of surplus missiles to the Gulf state. The deal fell through in August and questions have arisen since over its transparency. Greece s supreme court prosecutor has ordered an investigation after press reports that the government used a middleman to broker the deal - something illegal in government-to-government deals since it is seen as likely to lead to corrupt practices. Kammenos has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. His right-wing Independent Greeks party has just nine lawmakers in parliament, but Tsipras s government depends on it for a thin majority of 153 seats in the 300-member assembly. A fully legal government-to-government agreement to sell ammunition is being presented as corruption, Kammenos told lawmakers. It is a government-to-government deal and there are no intermediaries. The money that would have left Saudi Arabia would have gone to the state coffers - no intermediary, no middlemen, he said. But Conservative opposition lawmakers have called for the minister s resignation and for a probe into the sale. Others have also questioned the possible sale of arms to Saudia Arabia, which is involved in the Yemen conflict. In any normal country, the prime minister would have suspended the defense minister until the case was cleared up, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the main opposition New Democracy leader, told a heated parliamentary debate. Is Mr. Kammenos perhaps blackmailing you with toppling the government? he asked Tsipras. The deal was approved in March by Greece s top decision-making body on foreign affairs and defense matters, KYSEA, which is headed by Tsipras. The reasons it fell through are unclear. Greek anti-corruption laws ban the use of intermediaries in government-to-government agreements. The government denies wrongdoing and says the so-called intermediary was an authorised representative of Saudi Arabian interests. | 0fake |
Sickening Hillarist Spics Attack Kindly Negress Trump-Star Defender | A homeless Black woman has taken to defending Donald Trump’s star on Hollywood Boulevard.
It’s a lovely story.
The Gateway Pundit :
A homeless TRUMP SUPPORTER guarded Donald Trumpâs star on Hollywood Boulevard from violent Hillary supporters.
The woman was holding a sign that reads, â20 Million Illegals and Americans Sleep on the Streets in Tents. Vote Trump.â
On Wednesday a violent leftist smashed Donald Trumpâs star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The culprits used a sledgehammer to destroy Donaldâs star.
So later in the day this homeless person sat near the star to protect it.
“Ima defend massa Trump’s star. Dat massa Trump, he a good man, Gawd bless em and Ima here defend he’s star.”
You know, these Blacks did used to respect us. Love us, even.
I’ve written a very important article about the love that Black slaves had for their slave masters, which you should read if you haven’t already.
This story makes me think of that.
But evil Hillary spics are now harassing this sweet Negress. They attacked her and destroyed her sign.
It’s absolutely disgusting.
It’s like what they’re doing to Danney Williams AKA D’Jamal Clinton.
These people only care about the coloreds when they’re their little pets.
Note: I’m not “going soft” on the Blacks. Hating Blacks collectively doesn’t mean that you can’t say something nice about an individual Black who is doing something nice. Read the slavery article. Yes, I still believe all Blacks – including this woman – should be deported to Africa. But I’m gonna personally make sure that when she gets to Africa, she is kangz n shit. | 1real |
Another 4.6-Magnitude Tremor Hits Central Italy After Two Earthquakes | Get short URL 0 17 0 0 Another tremor of magnitude of 4.6 was registered in central Italy in the late hours of Wednesday, following two earthquakes earlier in the day, the head of Italy's civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said.
ROME (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, two earthquakes of magnitudes of 6.3 and 5.4 hit the region of Marche. © AFP 2016/ Richter magnitude scale "Another earthquake of magnitude of 4.6 took place at 23:42 [21:42 GMT] in the same zone as two earlier tremors," Curcio told a briefing as broadcast by the RaiNews24 television channel.
According to Curcio, the situation is not catastrophic and nobody has been killed. ... | 1real |
Town Defends Official After Wife’s ‘N*gger’ Rant On FB, Says People Who Shared Post ‘Just As Bad’ | This article is uncensored and contains very offensive language.The tiny town of Riverhead, New York, just across the Peconic Bay from The Hamptons, is on fire. No, not literally. It s not on fire like the California cities Donald Trump has seemingly forgotten about. But it wouldn t surprise me to find out that Trump knows more about Riverhead on Long Island than he does about Fountaingrove or Coffey Park in Santa Rosa. Especially now that officials are on their heels defending town attorney Bob Kozakiewicz and his wife, Dianne Delaney, after she posted possibly the most racially offensive rant I have ever seen.After visiting a local pizza parlor, Delaney took to Facebook to complain about the perceived treatment of her waitress by some black people whether they were fellow patrons or employees is unclear and it went south after just two sentences:Also unclear is how someone gets elected (yes, elected) town attorney without the deep-seeded racism clearly apparent in his family coming to light before now.Delaney is just the attorney s wife, so she will, of course, face no consequences. But Kozakiewicz is being defended by the town after some began calling for his resignation. Kozakiewicz and town supervisor Sean Walter blamed Delaney s rant on alcoholism, which may have played a part in the lack of inhibition required to publicly post something like that. But whether her uncensored feelings were set free by liquor or not, nobody but an unabashed racist could even come up with these things to say, drunk or sober.Kozakiewicz told his local paper Monday morning that his wife s rant in no way, shape or form reflects my views. That s an assertion that s slightly undercut by the fact that shortly before deleting his own Facebook page, the most recent post of his own was a share of a video by noted racist and alt-right Nazi Mike Cernovich:The town of Riverhead isn t quite ready to let Bob go, though. In addition to asking those following this story to pray for Dianne, town supervisor Walter laid equal blame at the feet of anyone who posted screen captures of the episode: It is unmitigated hatred that should never be reposted. If you see it and you repost it you re just as guilty in my opinion about propagating that hatred. So I guess I now share the blame for Dianne Delaney and her husband Bob being horrible, garbage humans.I can live with that if it eventually gets this asshole fired.Featured image via composite screen capture | 1real |
Trump Staff Clapped, Laughed While He Called A Reporter ‘Fake News’ At Presser (VIDEO) | During president-elect Donald Trump s first press conference in 167 days, things got heated up when he singled out a CNN reporter over the network s recent report which says that Russians have personal and financial compromising information on the incoming president. As it happens, Sen. John McCain can back up that report.Trump looked to call on other reporters, then Jim Acosta yelled out, Since you are attacking us, can you give us a question? Not you, Trump said. Your organization is terrible! You are attacking our news organization, can you give us a chance to ask a question, sir?, Acosta pressed on. Trump shot back, telling the reporter, don t be rude. I m not going to give you a question, Trump declared. I m not going to give you a question. You are fake news! After Trump lashed out at Acosta, cheers and laughter could be heard.Acosta said, Now, Mr. President-elect, that s not appropriate! Watch:Joy Reid from MSNBC tweeted, Can a reporter in the room tell us who that cheering section was? #TrumpPressConference. A few reporters weighed in saying that the laughing and cheering came from Trump s staff.Can you imagine the deafening outrage from conservatives if Obama did this:Trump s family waited in the wings of the stage to his right, while senior advisers including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer and Steve Mnuchin stood to the left, out of view of the cameras. A small, vocal group clustered near Trump s family by the elevators acted as cheerleaders for the President-elect for the duration of the hour-long event, laughing heartily at his jokes and responding aloud to his rhetorical questions.Trump was asked by a reporter if Russian president Vladimir Putin would have found Hillary Clinton to be a greater adversary, and a few of his staffers called out no! They cheered at various moments for the president-elect, likely to feed his massive ego.Trump also called BuzzFeed News a failing pile of garbage. Luke Lewis, founding editor of BuzzFeed, joked about it on Twitter, writing that they have a new tagline, and included in the image, it reads, A Failing Pile Of Garbage. Pleased with our new tag line pic.twitter.com/sFCMrX91qO Luke Lewis (@lukelewis) January 11, 2017Imagine if President Obama refused questions from Fox News reporters and screamed out, You are fake news! By the way, Fake News handed Donald the election.Image via screen capture. | 1real |
At Donald Trump’s Convention, Matters of Control (and Self-Control) - The New York Times | Donald J. Trump has asked his wife, Melania, to address “women’s issues” in her speech at the Republican National Convention, he says, and his daughter Ivanka will talk about “her passion for gender equality. ” He plans to read their remarks beforehand and perhaps suggest “ideas, jokes, points about Trump. ” And when they take the podium in Cleveland, he may hop on Twitter to offer his own analysis and feedback. “They’re very smart women,” Mr. Trump said in a recent interview. Smiling, he added, “I’m sure there won’t be anything for me to criticize. ” A political newcomer, an impulsive provocateur, a man who likes total control: Mr. Trump is unlike any presidential nominee who has tried to organize and execute a convention before. For some Republicans, his fiery and style has heightened their excitement about the political pageant that begins Monday, while others are fearing what’s in store. These Republicans are queasy over the possibility of Mr. Trump going off if a convention moment is not to his liking or rebellious delegates go ahead with a plan to try to block his nomination, while some are concerned that he will be in urging speakers to attack the Clintons, immigrants or others with language that alienates undecided voters. With waves of protesters expected outside Quicken Loans Arena and more than 850 delegates inside the hall who are pledged to Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich, Mr. Trump will have only so much ability to influence the proceedings or keep the cameras away from his antagonists. His instincts have fueled peculiar behavior before, like calling the CNN control room this spring to try to shape coverage of a critical story. If he indulges in rash decisions, they could easily create media firestorms that overshadow the convention themes and messages that are intended to unite and rally the party. He could also undercut one of his top goals at the convention: to rebrand himself as a steady leader, caring father and unwaveringly optimistic American after a stormy two months when his temperament and character have been relentlessly attacked and even fellow Republicans have accused him of making racist statements. Conventions can be a golden opportunity to recalibrate battered campaigns, as George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all discovered. Yet the Republican convention looms as one of the most unpredictable in recent history because of Mr. Trump’s own nature. “Trump has got to balance what made him successful in the primaries — his unrehearsed, unvarnished way of communicating — with the forethought and demeanor that people still expect from a president,” said former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a Republican. “But if he doesn’t show things could go very badly at the convention. ” Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to the Republican nominee John McCain in 2008, said the convention was riding on Mr. Trump’s behavior, unlike in past years when the speeches and the rollout of the running mate were more significant factors. “All of Trump’s recent mistakes will be wiped away if the convention coherently frames this race as ‘change vs. more of the same,’ ” Mr. Schmidt said. “The biggest threat to that could be Trump’s own actions. ” Mr. Trump’s management of the convention has not been reassuring to many Republicans. While he said in the interview that Cleveland would be “overbooked with speakers,” his list of speakers came out only on Wednesday night — a week later than originally planned — and he has so alienated leading Republicans and rising party stars that many of them, from the two former presidents Bush to various Senate candidates, plan to stay away. At one point, Mr. Trump even said that Mr. Cruz, a Texas senator, and Mr. Kasich, the Ohio governor, would not be invited to speak at the convention unless they endorsed him. Mr. Cruz, after a meeting with Mr. Trump last week, is now expected to speak Mr. Kasich has indicated that he won’t be spending time inside the convention hall — an snub for a governor of the state hosting his own party’s convention. At his office at Trump Tower in Manhattan, Mr. Trump has been about the event — calling up political allies and friends to invite them to speak — but also delegating organizing duties to top aides who already have enormous responsibilities, given the relatively small number of campaign staff members. “Trump is a guy who sees he has three weeks to plan a convention, but thinks he only needs the last week to pull the whole thing together,” said Newt Gingrich, the former speaker and a possible running mate. “He’s still new to all this, but at the same time wants a lot of control over how the convention will work. ” Two Trump advisers declined to predict how the nominee would react to the proceedings and media coverage of the convention, though one of them expressed concern that Mr. Trump might say something or unleash a Twitter post that undercuts a unifying message or roils Republicans in the arena. They described planning for the convention as somewhat haphazard, saying that Mr. Trump’s focus on lining up speakers had been hot or cold on any given day, and that he had not spent much time making calls to convention speakers to strategize about their remarks and encourage them. The advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said they could not rule out Mr. Trump making decisions on the fly next week to try to influence the convention. Low points at past conventions, like the empty chair next to Clint Eastwood at the 2012 Republican convention and Pat Buchanan’s fiery and divisive speech in 1992, were the result of impulsive decisions, according to several Republicans involved with those gatherings. They warned that Mr. Trump could do himself real damage if he injected himself or his opinions into carefully scripted or choreographed convention moments. “More than anything Republicans want to see Trump demonstrating discipline and unity and a message that will appeal to independents,” said Kevin Madden, a senior adviser in Mr. Romney’s 2012 campaign. “A convention could really help Trump, but he has a way of being undisciplined, bombastic and controversial at the worst possible moments. ” Some of the most successful convention moments were often the result of careful planning, stagecraft and writing. For some Republicans, Ann Romney delivered the best speech of the party’s gathering in 2012 because she went to great lengths to present a loving portrait of Mitt Romney that was more fully rounded than his reputation as a wealthy businessman. The energetic performance of Sarah Palin electrified the 2008 Republican convention, and the 2004 Democratic keynote address by Barack Obama, then a Senate candidate from Illinois, catapulted him to national prominence. And Bill Clinton enjoyed one of the biggest bounces in the polls in 1992 after several nights of uplifting speeches and pageantry, from the glowing documentary film “The Man From Hope” to memorable moments from Hillary Clinton, a beaming Virginia Kelley (Mr. Clinton’s mother) and the nominee himself. James Carville, the senior strategist for the 1992 Clinton campaign, said Mr. Clinton had had a specific problem to fix at the convention: Too many Americans assumed he was an entitled baby boomer, perhaps even a child of privilege who grew up to become a wealthy liberal elitist. “We needed to put his ideas and policies in a personal context, and once they understood he was ‘the man from Hope,’ it started to change a lot of people’s attitudes about him,” Mr. Carville said. “We couldn’t afford to go into the convention without a clear plan and strategy. Few nominees can. You just can’t wing this and succeed. ” Mr. Trump, during the interview in his Trump Tower office, pointed to his decades as a real estate developer and popular television personality as evidence that he knows how to manage major projects without being unnecessarily controlling or impulsive. He said he would be happy if Americans came away from the convention with a clearer understanding of his hopes and aspirations for the nation and a better sense of him as a person, which he is counting on his wife and his children to provide in their speeches. And while he said he cared greatly about his poll numbers, his top goal wasn’t to leave the convention with a greater edge over Mrs. Clinton. “I don’t really care about a bounce, not as much as other things,” Mr. Trump said. “My measure of success is we have a good solid message about trade, terrorism, the Second Amendment, Obamacare and the depletion of our military. If I can control that message, if we can deliver it really clearly in Cleveland, that will be a big success. ” | 0fake |
Ed Temple, Track Coach Who Produced Olympians and National Titles, Dies at 89 - The New York Times | Ed Temple, who coached Wilma Rudolph, Wyomia Tyus and 38 other Olympians in his 43 seasons as the most celebrated women’s track and field coach in the United States, died on Thursday. He was 89. A track team spokesman at Tennessee State University, where Temple coached, said Temple’s daughter, Edwina, had confirmed the death. No other details were given. From 1950 until he retired in 1993, Temple mentored a roster of athletes that few coaches in any sport could rival for speed, power and skill. The 40 Olympians he produced at Tennessee State, a predominantly black college in Nashville, won 13 gold medals, six silver medals and four bronze medals. In the 1960 Summer Games in Rome, the four women who won the relay for the United States were Tennessee State runners coached by Temple. His teams, known as the Tigerbelles, won 34 national titles: 16 indoor, 13 outdoor and 5 junior. When he started in 1950, right after graduating from Tennessee State, women’s track and field was a minor sport in the United States, and especially at the university, where it faced unending budget constraints. In his first year, with a shoestring budget of $300 (the equivalent of about $3, 000 today) his team participated in just one meet. Years later, scheduled to compete in New York, the team piled into an old DeSoto station wagon and spent 22 hours on the road to get there, stopping only for gas and hamburgers. There was no money for a hotel, even if they could find one on the way that would serve blacks. Temple himself had little help at first. “I coached, I rubbed down, I was the counselor, I was the parent, I was everything,” he said, “but you had to be because there was no other person there. ” He had no athletic scholarships to offer in his first 18 years as coach. Even Rudolph — “the greatest woman athlete of all time,” Temple said — who won three gold medals in the 1960 Rome Olympics and did more to elevate women’s track in the United States than anyone before her, had to spend two hours a day doing clerical work and sweeping out the gymnasium. “The people who ran for me ran simply because they loved the sport,” Temple said. They also ran fast. Besides Rudolph’s three gold medals, Tyus took successive gold medals in the dash in 1964 (in Tokyo) and 1968 (in Mexico City). Temple’s track and field stars also included Mae Faggs, Edith McGuire, Madeline Manning Mims, Willye B. White, Martha Watson and Chandra Cheeseborough, who succeeded Temple as the Tennessee State coach. In 1981, Temple wanted to bring six athletes to the Amateur Athletic Union national indoor championships at Madison Square Garden. Tennessee State could afford only four, but those four — Cheeseborough, Brenda Morehead, Kathy McMillan and Debbie Jones — won the title. Temple was the head women’s track coach for the United States Olympic teams in 1960 and 1964 and an assistant coach in 1980, when the United States boycotted the Moscow Games. He was the head women’s track coach for the United States teams in the 1959 and 1975 Games. He was elected to six halls of fame, including the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame. To Temple, track was more than a sport. “I would always tell the girls that first, you are young ladies,” he told The Tennessee Tribune in 1995. “Always carry yourself that way. Next, you are a track person. You are using your track in exchange for an education. You are doing this to walk across that stage and receive your degree. Athletics opens up doors for you, but education keeps them open. ” Of his 40 Olympians, 39 graduated with bachelor’s degrees, 28 earned master’s degrees and 8 earned medical degrees or doctorates. He was a father figure to many of them. “He understands other people’s problems, especially girls’ problems,” said Rudolph, who died at 54 in 1994. “He works with the total person, not just the athlete. He provides motivation and inspiration. ” Tyus said: “He seeks out good girls. He’s a good person, and he demands discipline. ” Edward Stanley Temple was born on Sept. 20, 1927, in Harrisburg, Pa. and raised there, the only child of Christopher and Ruth N. Temple. He was an athlete in track, football and basketball at John Harris High School in Harrisburg. Tennessee State, then known as Tennessee State Agricultural and Industrial School, recruited Temple in 1946 on a track scholarship. When he arrived, he found that the track was not the usual oval but 300 meters and because the university had not finished filling in an adjacent dump. He became the women’s track coach soon after graduating in 1950. (The same year he married the former Charlie B. Law.) The coach at the time was leaving for another job, so the university suggested that Temple step in to fill the role. As part of the deal he would also run the campus post office while studying for a master’s degree in sociology in preparation for a faculty position. He did become an associate professor of sociology there while coaching. “When I was thinking about coaching,” he said, “I was really thinking about football or basketball, or maybe in a high school, coaching football, basketball and track. ” He added: “At that time, people weren’t too keen on women participating in sports. Everything was geared toward football and basketball at Tennessee State, but the Tigerbelles came along. They worked hard and it paid off. ” By 1976 the rubberized surface of the university’s track had become so worn and pocked with holes that it was dangerous for sprinters to use. Temple announced that the track program would have to end. But Nashville business leaders quickly raised more than $100, 000, and the State Board of Regents provided the rest of the $700, 000 that was needed. In 1978, Tennessee State dedicated the new Edward S. Temple Track. In 2015, a statue of Temple was installed near the outfield at First Tennessee Park, a sports stadium and home of the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team. Besides his daughter Edwina, Temple and his wife had a son, Lloyd. Complete information on his survivors was not immediately available. In retirement, Temple played basketball every day, taught a sociology course and made speeches. But he never attended another Olympics. “I enjoy looking at it on television,” he said. “I don’t need all that commotion. I had it. I went through it. I enjoyed it. That’s it. I passed the baton to somebody else. ” | 0fake |
POCAHONTAS CALLS Trump’s Comments To Dem Senator Gillibrand “Slut-Shaming”…So Why Didn’t She Call Trump’s Comments About Romney During The Campaign “Slut-Shaming”? [VIDEO] | How quickly the Democrats and their allies in the media forget, that when the bear is poked, he fights back. Donald Trump has never been shy about punching back when he s being unfairly attacked, and Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) is no exception. When she came after President Trump for allegations made by women for alleged sexual misconduct by then candidate-Trump, suggesting he should resign, Trump reminded everyone of how Gillibrand came to Trump, the former billionaire NYC business tycoon, begging him for campaign contributions.Here is Gillibrand s tweet calling for President Trump to either resign or threatening that Congress should investigate decades-old unfounded claims of sexual misconduct:President Trump should resign. But, of course, he won't hold himself accountable. Therefore, Congress should investigate the multiple sexual harassment and assault allegations against him. Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 11, 2017Donald Trump responded: Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017Fake Indian Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MS) took to Twitter in an attempt to shame President Trump. Here is the tweet by the female Senator who is more commonly known as Pocahontas :Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who you're picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Nevertheless, #shepersisted. https://t.co/mYJtBZfxiu Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 12, 2017Clearly Senator s Warren and Gillibrand never saw Trump attacking Mitt Romney during the campaign, otherwise, they surely would have tweeted about Trump slut-shaming him right?Watch:Donald Trump on Mitt Romney: "He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees.' He would have dropped to his knees."Was Trump sexually harassing/slut shaming Romney?No, this type of language is a part of Trump's vernacular. pic.twitter.com/DwwOYCGljJ Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) December 12, 2017When Trump attacked Romney during the campaign, the Business Insider reported about the incident:GOP frontrunner Donald Trump responded to Mitt Romney s broadside on Thursday by saying that the former Republican presidential candidate had begged for his endorsement. He was begging for my endorsement, Trump said at a rally later in Portland, Maine. I could ve said, Mitt, drop to your knees. He was begging me, Trump said.Trump was referring to the 2012 race for president in which Romney, the GOP nominee that year, sought Trump s endorsement.But if they were friendly four years ago, that relationship has clearly deteriorated.Earlier Thursday, Romney gave a speech in which he railed against Trump, whom he called a fraud, con man, phony, and fake, among other things. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University, Romney jabbed. He s playing the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat. Throughout Trump s subsequent speech in Maine, the real-estate developer repeatedly and extensively lashed back out at Romney. Mitt is a failed candidate he failed badly, Trump said. That is a race that should have been won. He repeatedly called Romney a choke artist throughout the speech, an insult he s used against Marco Rubio, a top Trump rival for the 2016 nomination. He s a choke artist, I started hitting him so hard, Trump said. We can t take another loss. He choked, he choked like nobody I ve ever seen except for Rubio, he continued.At other points in his speech, Trump called Romney a disaster candidate in 2012. The billionaire businessman then mentioned a fundraiser he held for Romney that ruined his carpet. Trump said Romney did not compensate him for the damages Senator Gillibrand was clearly not above cozying up to sexual predators for contributions or for leveraging their political clout. This Twitter user posted a picture of Gillibrand with Harvey Weinstein, the most notorious sexual predator in Hollywood:Senator Gillibrand is also a close friend of Harvey Weinstein. So much for being a strong feminist ally. pic.twitter.com/eXNO0iZSBx DEPLORABLE MEDIA (@correctthemedia) December 12, 2017And here s Gillibrand posing with former President Bill Clinton the accused rapist and sexual assaulter, who was impeached for lying about having sex under the Oval Office desk with a 19-year old intern: | 1real |
BREAKING: SCREEN SHOTS OF WEBSITE SHOW BULK DISCOUNTS ON ABORTED BABY PARTS FROM PLANNED PARENTHOOD PARTNER | Yesterday we told you about the company who buys aborted baby organs from Planned Parenthood. Many of our readers were in disbelief and demanded proof that StemExpress was an actual company that sold baby parts online. Here is the undercover video that exposed Planned Butcherhood: Here is your proof: StemExpress, the California-based company that serves as a middleman between Planned Parenthood and the organizations that seek body parts harvested from aborted babies, once advertised bulk discounts for baby organs and body parts. A screencap taken from a StemExpress page listing fetal liver products shows that the company openly boasted of bulk buying discounts available to new customers. Become a StemExpress customer today to receive 25% off your first order up to $1,000! blasted an archived web page from 2012.The baby organ trade is a lucrative one for StemExpress. As recently as December 2014, packages of what StemExpress described as fresh fetal liver stem cells were listed at more than $24,000, according to an archived page listing its products and prices.Yesterday morning news broke that Planned Parenthood, the nation s largest and most profitable abortion provider, was in the business of trafficking organs taken from aborted unborn babies. Planned Parenthood s top medical director, Deborah Nucatola, was captured on tape trying to sell body parts from aborted babies and bragging about how she conducts abortions in order to maximize the number of organs and body parts that can be extracted from the children.StemExpress also advertised the financial rewards and benefits that can come from buying and selling baby body parts.Although Planned Parenthood vehemently attacked the Center for Medical Progress for releasing its damning video, the billion-dollar abortion provider did not deny charges that it was harvesting organs, tissue, and body parts from aborted babies.Via: The Federalist | 1real |
Katheryn From My Walk & Talk | Katheryn From My Walk & Talk 6 shares by DML DAILY / November 25, 2016 / LIFE /
On my Walk & Talk on Friday, I told the story about Katheryn. She was just 50 years old when she was informed that she was dying of colon cancer. This is the video of me taking her to the Montauk Lighthouse before she died. It was the one last place she wanted to visit.
The video clip is from 2009. Below is the Walk & Talk from today 11/15. Go towards the end, I tell the story of Katheryn.
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California lawmakers consider spending billions to fix housing | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Affordable housing advocates are closely watching a package of bills currently under consideration by California lawmakers that would invest billions of dollars in helping to alleviate the state’s severe housing crisis. For years, California residents have struggled to afford surging real estate and rental prices in many of the country’s most expensive housing markets. Nearly one-third of California renters pay more than 50 percent of their income toward rent. If passed, the bills would create a permanent $300 million-a-year fund for affordable housing, streamline the approval process for housing construction in cities and authorize a $3 billion bond for the 2018 ballot, the first housing bond in California for over a decade. The state’s Senate has approved the package, but the Assembly, which is expected to vote next week, has shown more reticence over costs. Lawmakers worked closely with Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, who in July announced his support for a general obligation bond, a permanent funding source for affordable housing and regulatory reform. “This comprehensive approach does what’s long been needed in California,” Brown said in July. “Astronomical housing costs are straining family budgets and stressing employees who can’t afford to live where they work. That’s unacceptable.” On Thursday, California Treasurer John Chiang urged state lawmakers to quickly pass the package as well as to increase the general obligation bond to between $6 billion and $9 billion to kick-start construction. “We have the opportunity now to move decisively to ease a 1.5 million-unit shortfall in affordable housing. But we must think big and act boldly,” Chiang in a statement. Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon have also expressed support for a housing deal. Homeownership rates in California are at their lowest since the 1940s and the lack of supply is seen as a major contributor to the problem. Production of new homes across the state averaged less than 80,000 annually over the last decade, far below the projected need of 180,000 additional homes annually, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. | 0fake |
WOW! IVANKA TRUMP Was The Best Speech Yet At The RNC! [Video] | The expectations were high for Ivanka Trump s speech and she far exceeded them with her grace, class and great delivery of an introduction of her father. Brava! | 1real |
Obama has now commuted more felons’ sentences than previous 11 presidents combined | Print
Using his well-honed Barack-knows-best attitude, the president has overruled yet more federal judges, prosecutors and juries, commuting the prison sentences of 98 additional drug dealers.
This brings to 872 the number of commutations the Democrat has granted, 688 of them this year alone, a record. More than 200 of these individuals were originally sent away for life by the nation’s legal system. Many of their crimes involved firearms.
The growing early-release figure for Obama, who has admitted his own past drug use, is already larger than the last 11 presidents combined , according to a boastful White House lawyer. And with 84 days remaining on his Oval Office lease, the Chicagoan claims he is far from done.
Two years ago he vowed to release 10,000 felons before leaving office. | 1real |
New Zealand protectionist Winston Peters appointed deputy PM, foreign minister | WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Veteran protectionist politician Winston Peters was appointed New Zealand s new deputy prime minister and foreign minister on Wednesday, saying he would seek a greater voice in international affairs, including North Korea. Peters visited North Korea when he was foreign minister in a previous New Zealand government in 2005. New Zealand First party leader Peters delivered government to the Labour party through a coalition deal after a closely fought election on Sept. 23 failed to result in a majority for the governing National or Labour parties. Peters and Labour Prime Minister-designate Jacinda Ardern have found common ground in fortress New Zealand -type policies. Both are looking to curb immigration, renegotiate certain trade deals and adjust the role of the central bank. Ardern also wants to ban overseas buyers from purchasing existing homes as prices grow more unaffordable for local residents. A bill to ban such purchases will be introduced by Christmas, Ardern told a workers conference on Wednesday. But trade and foreign ownership restrictions could hurt New Zealand s reputation as an open economy and antagonize the likes of China. Trade between the two countries has grown to more than NZ$20 billion ($14.4 billion) a year, and Chinese President Xi Jinping called the relationship unprecedented in its depth. While Peters was expected to be offered the deputy role after obtaining the balance of power, his appointment as both deputy prime minister and foreign minister was unexpected. Richard Shaw, politics professor at Massey University, said Peters was a conservative economic nationalist . One of the things we ve seen from him over the last couple of weeks is the concern with the extent that relatively unbridled free trade has on his constituents, said Shaw. Many of Labour and New Zealand First s policies during the campaign drew on voters concerns that immigration and foreign buyers of local homes were putting too much pressure on infrastructure and house prices. Peters said he wanted to forge stronger ties with Australia, after tensions have increased recently. Labour s finance spokesman Grant Robertson will become finance minister in the incoming government, placing him at the center of plans to overhaul monetary policy. Robertson, a political adviser under former Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark, will appoint a new central bank governor. The Labour-led government plans to reform the Reserve Bank Act to possibly include employment, alongside inflation, as a dual target. Rather than just focusing on inflation, Labour wants the Reserve Bank to have a full employment goal when devising policy settings, bringing it into line with the United States and Australia. | 0fake |
Almost No Children In France Are Medicated For ADHD: This Is How They Define & Treat It | Print Email http://humansarefree.com/2016/11/almost-no-children-in-france-are.html The French do not recognize ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) rejecting the idea that medicines that are usually prescribed for the condition are at all helpful. Another difference is that the French tend not to raise their children on the additive-laced food that parents in the U.S so, coincidence?These two very different cultures have different ADHD levels in children, in America the rate is 19 percent, and in France, it’s .5% – a half of a percent. For that half percent, the treatment includes no chemical or medicine whatsoever, opting for older fashioned methods.French children are subjected to much less sugar and additive-laden foods. Sugary cereals, fast food and fizzy drinks are consumed in much less volume than in the U.S, they are not shown the same advert driven television programs and lead an altogether more simple life.In 1998, Dr. Edward C. Hamlyn of the Royal College of General Practitioners said: “ADHD is fraud intended to justify starting children on a life of drug addiction". One of the founding fathers of ADHD as a medical psychiatric disorder, Leon Eisenberg, confessed on his deathbed in 2009 at the age of 87: “ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.” The evidence is overwhelming that the 'treatment' for this 'condition' is a fraud. Drugging America: 19 Statistics - Almost - Too Crazy to Believe Cognitive therapy was traded in for drugs a long time ago. Doctors are urged to write prescriptions as the government and Big Pharma are in it together.Psychiatrists were known to give all of 15 minutes time to a patient and be writing out a prescription for pharmaceuticals. Only drastic circumstances would allow for a review of the prescription, as patients' complaints fell on the deaf ears.This culture of giving pills away like candy resulted in children as young as three be prescribed drungs such as Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Adderall (amphetamine, dextroamphetamine mixed salts), without any other methods being tried first. There are now 5 million children in the U.S. on Ritalin or Adderall who have been resigned to either a life sentence of these drugs, or the awful process of weening themselves off them if they decide to do so. Reference: http://organicandhealthy.org Dear Friends, HumansAreFree is and will always be free to access and use. If you appreciate my work, please help me continue.
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EU sounds alarm, urges U.S. to coordinate on Russia sanctions | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union sounded an alarm on Saturday about moves in the U.S. Congress to step up U.S. sanctions on Russia, urging Washington to keep coordinating with its G7 partners and warning of unintended consequences. In a statement by a spokeswoman after Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress reached a deal that could see new legislation pass, the European Commission warned of possibly “wide and indiscriminate” “unintended consequences”, notably on the EU’s efforts to diversify energy sources away from Russia. Germany has already warned of possible retaliation if the United States moves to sanction German firms involved with building a new Baltic pipeline for Russian gas. EU diplomats are concerned that a German-U.S. row over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built by Russia’s state-owned Gazprom could complicate efforts in Brussels to forge an EU consensus on negotiating with Russia over the project. “We highly value the unity that is prevailing among international partners in our approach towards Russia’s action in Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions. This unity is the guarantee of the efficiency and credibility of our measures,” the Commission said in its statement. “We understand that the Russia/Iran sanctions bill is driven primarily by domestic considerations,” it went on, referring to a bill passed in the U.S. Senate last month and to which lawmakers said on Saturday they had unblocked further obstacles. “As we have said repeatedly, it is important that any possible new measures are coordinated between international partners to maintain unity among partners on the sanctions that has been underpinning the efforts for full implementation of the Minsk Agreements,” the Commission said, referring to an accord struck with Moscow to try to end the conflicts in Ukraine. “We are concerned the measures discussed in the U.S. Congress could have unintended consequences, not only when it comes to Transatlantic/G7 unity, but also on EU economic and energy security interests. This impact could be potentially wide and indiscriminate, including when it comes to energy sources diversification efforts. “Sanctions are at their most effective when they are coordinated. Currently our sanctions regimes are coordinated. As a result their impact on the ground is increased and through coordination we are able to avoid surprises, manage potential impact on our own economic operators and address collectively efforts to circumvent such measures. Unilateral measures would undermine this,” the Commission said. “We therefore call on the U.S. Congress/authorities to engage with the partners, including the EU, to ensure coordination and to avoid any unintended consequences of the measures discussed.” | 0fake |
Totally Blow The Minds Of Tea Partiers With The REAL HISTORY Of The Tea Party Movement | It s been just about seven years since the official founding of the tea party movement. Weird, it seems like much, much longer, but there it is. Seven years since tri-corner hats festooned with tea bags became the national symbol of incoherent, far-right outrage over the ascendancy of an African-American president tasked with lifting the nation out of a devastating Great Recession not of his own making.The tea party emerged as an unofficial sequel to the angry mobs that formed outside various McCain/Palin rallies during the 2008 campaign, complete with viral video messages warning of emerging communism, Hussein sleeper-cells and Rev. Jeremiah Wright goddamn-America-hating. A general profile of each group showed considerable overlap: white, Christian, conservative, older Americans who were both shell-shocked by the financial impact of the recession and that the obvious cultural shift taking place in politics, potentially leaving them behind. The president was no longer a twangy, southern good ol boy or a congenial, plain-spoken old man. This new president would be a northern intellectual an African-American man with an exotic name and an allegedly suspicious background. A flaming cocktail for inciting white conservative fear.Fast forward to the months following the January, 2009 inauguration.Coinciding with congressional debate over the new president s stimulus package, the movement proudly adopted as its namesake the Boston Tea Party, with tea carrying the bonus taxed enough already acronym. Both meanings contained within the name of the movement were hilariously ironical given how the stimulus would eventually contain, as a total dollar amount, the largest middle class tax cut in American history as well as the fact that the Boston Tea Party was a protest against a corporate tax cut.Feel free to spring this one on your conservative friends. You ll render them speechless.Rewind to 1773 and the passage of the Tea Act, the British law which ultimately sparked the infamous Boston Tea Party.The East India Company, an 18th Century corporation the McDonald s or Amazon of its era was in serious financial trouble, and being so closely tied to the economy of Great Britain, it was too big to fail.But rather than bailing out the corporation, King George and Lord North decided that if they just cut the export duty of the company to zero, allowing it to sell directly to the colonies, the East India Company would easily be able to unload its tea to colonial consumers at a discount boosting sales and rescuing the near-bankrupt mega-corporation. Plus, they reasoned, the colonists would embrace the British monarchy for the cheaper tea, and tensions between the empire and the colonies would be ameliorated, at least temporarily.So in May, 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act. The long-form subtitle of the act read as follows: An act to allow a drawback of the duties of customs on the exportation of tea to any of his Majesty s colonies or plantations in America; to increase the deposit on bohea tea to be sold at the East India Company s sales; and to empower the commissioners of the treasury to grant licenses to the East India Company to export tea duty-free. Several months later, the East India Company attained the proper clearances and set off to various colonial sea ports with its duty-free tea.To repeat, the rationale for the Tea Act was that lower taxes meant lower prices, which meant the East India Company could sell a hell of a lot more tea. Suffice to say, the smaller colonial tea distributors weren t happy not to mention smugglers like Samuel Adams close confidant John Hancock. Colonial retail prices would be severely undercut by the tax-free tea, potentially shoving the smaller importers, and smugglers like Hancock, out of the tea business.It was your basic free market precursor to supply-side Reaganomics in action. In other words, the British government s solution to the East India Company s financial crisis was, in effect, a massive tax cut a tax cut to zero.Consequently, political activists and, most famously, the Sons of Liberty, proceeded to intimidate and raid with orders to tar and feather the pilots any East India tea ship landing at various ports from Philadelphia to Sandy Hook to, naturally, Boston. And later that year, on December 16, 1773, when East India vessels, the Dartmouth, Beaver and Eleanor, were docked in Boston Harbor, the Sons carried out their famous protest, dumping hundreds of crates of tea into the water.All because of a tax cut. Not only that, but the tea party Republicans, while comporting themselves as cheap knock-offs of the Sons of Liberty, have instead embraced the tax-cutting, supply-side policies of the British monarchy.Whoops.Boiled down, it appears as though the tea party movement is in favor of tax cuts, while embracing a historical event that was violently opposed to a massive tax cut. In the interim, the tea party has vocally objected to the notion that something like 47 percent of Americans don t pay federal income taxes. Who is the 47 percent? Forbes broke it down: 17 percent includes students, people with disabilities or illnesses, the long-term unemployed, and other people with very low taxable incomes. Also included would be people like our soldiers in foreign wars who are exempted from paying income taxes while they are on active duty in a war zone. 22 percent of people who did not pay federal income taxes in 2009 are people aged 65 or older who have modest incomes (and do not have earnings). 61 percent are working people who pay payroll taxes but are not paying income taxes.It s important to highlight that these 47 percenters do, in fact, pay state, local, sales and other taxes. So the tea party appears to be in favor of higher taxes for families, seniors and disabled Americans, while also being in favor of lower taxes for the wealthy and corporations, the latter being the exact opposite of the Sons of Liberty. You d think the tea party, which has apparently been taxed enough already, would support the idea that nearly half of us don t pay federal income taxes. But they don t. Weirdly.Obviously the tea party s organizers failed to read about history before inappropriately horking the tea party moniker, and, indeed, they re more than a little confused about taxes, both modern and historical the issue upon which the entire movement is based.Whoops again.Anyway, happy seventh anniversary, you magnificent bastards. Hopefully in honor of this occasion, someone will give you the gift that keeps on giving: some high school level history and economics books.Featured image via Wikimedia Commons | 1real |
Lawyer for detained Myanmar journalists denied access in Bangladesh | DHAKA (Reuters) - A lawyer for two Myanmar journalists detained in Bangladesh while reporting on the influx of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar said on Monday he had been denied access to them amid concern over their well-being. The journalists, Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat, were detained more than a week ago in the Cox s Bazar border district in Bangladesh, where refugees are arriving from Myanmar to escape a military offensive against insurgents that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing. Bangladesh police said the pair were detained for engaging in journalistic work for a German magazine while on tourist visas. On Thursday, a court refused them bail. Jyotirmoy Barua, their lawyer, said he had gone to the prison to meet them about a petition he planned to file in a higher court seeking their release. But prison authorities refused him permission and did not say why, he said, adding that he had asked for court and police documents to prepare an appeal on behalf of the two. Myanmar has said it is seeking information about the two through diplomatic channels. More than 410,000 refugees from Myanmar have poured into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts triggered a Myanmar army operation in response. Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing, saying its forces are conducting a legitimate campaign against terrorists. Germany s GEO magazine, which had assigned Minzayar Oo to cover the Rohingya crisis, said he had traveled to Bangladesh on Sept. 6, along with Hkun Lat, and was detained the next day. We are very concerned that the lawyer is being denied access, Christoph Kucklick, editor-in-chief of GEO, said in a joint statement with Adrian Evans, director of Panos Pictures, of which Minzayar Oo is a member. Even more disconcerting is that the authorities are stating that Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat were detained on September 13 whereas in reality they have been in police custody since September 7, the magazine said. We need to know that they are well treated and physically unharmed. Minzayar Oo is one of Myanmar s most prominent photographers and has worked for various media outlets, covering the country s emergence from military rule. Hkun Lat is also a well-known photographer in Myanmar and has won prizes for his coverage of conflict in frontier regions. | 0fake |
Store Owner Where Alton Sterling Was Killed Suing Baton Rouge Police | The plot is definitely thickening when it comes to the horrific death of an African-American man at the hands of two white police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Abdullah Muflahi owns the Triple S Food Mart, where the events of that fateful night took place. Now, he has filed a lawsuit against the police. The suit alleges that in the aftermath of the murder of Alton Sterling, whom Muflahi allowed to sell his CD s out front of the store, Muflahi was taken into custody like a common criminal, where the cops took his cell phone, along with surveillance video of the shooting. All of this was done without a warrant, which is definitely illegal, and reeks of a cover-up. The suit says of what happened: At all times defendants knew that plaintiff Muflahi was only a witness to the events at his store and that being a witness did not entitle police to hold plaintiff in custody or seize or commandeer his store and store equipment. Of course, the cops are not talking about these new developments. Muflahi is suing the cops who shot Sterling, as well as the city of Baton Rouge itself. Also named in the lawsuit are the investigating officers and the Baton Rouge police chief. There was no warrant for any of the store s surveillance footage until roughly five hours after the cops murdered Alton Sterling, so they had no right to immediately take that footage, and at no point should Abdullah Muflahi been taken into custody for any reason. He was a witness to a crime committed by the Baton Rouge police. He is not the criminal here.The document that requested the warrant claimed that Sterling did not put his hands on the hood of a car when he was told to do so, and therefore tasers were used. They saw what they believed to be a gun sticking out of Sterling s pocket, and therefore they tased him. Now, anyone with knowledge of tasers knows that they incapacitate the average person pretty well. There was no need to shoot and kill him, but of course the cops claim otherwise: When the subject attempted to reach for the gun from his pocket, the officers fired their police-issued duty weapon at the subject to stop the threat. I d be willing to bet they erased what footage they could, along with any video on the cell phone they unlawfully took from Abdullah Muflahi. It will be just as doctored as the stories they are telling regarding the shooting itself. This is nothing more than the police doing their damndest to keep their murderous brothers in blue out of an indictment and possible prison time.Featured image via Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images | 1real |
Russia Could Invade Your Fridge Within 48 Hours | 0 Add Comment
A NATO general has warned today that Russia could invade your fridge within 48 hours, stating that the majority of European homes currently have no real defence plan to repel the invasion.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, former Prime Minister of Norway, claimed Russia could empty your fridge of food and cold beverages in the ‘blink of an eye’, leaving your entire family starving to death in the kitchen.
“The Russians would probably start on the essential food produce like milk, butter and eggs first, before cracking into the items in the freezer,” claimed Stoltenberg, “Imagine waking up to find no milk for tea? Your whole day would be ruined. That’s Russia for you; they don’t care about your tea. They will invade your fridge and leave you with nothing”.
The NATO chief warned that the failure of countries such as France, Germany and Italy to take the threat of Russian aggression seriously could lead to a future loss of breakfast, lunch and dinner in millions of homes.
Speaking to several fridge owners on the street today, WWN asked whether families are prepared for an imminent Russian fridge invasion, and what they would do if such a terrible thing happened here.
“I’d probably go to the shop and buy more food,” said one frightened woman we spoke to, who will probably purchase some kind of fridge locking mechanism later today, “I could think of worse things to happen, if I’m honest. It’s just a fridge, like”.
Along with today’s fridge warning, NATO has also asked Eastern European countries to check under their beds every night for Russian invaders, and if there is any suspicious activity to contact one of the many local US military bases in the area. | 1real |
Trump considering Senator Heitkamp of North Dakota for Cabinet: source | HOUSTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump is considering Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota for either the interior or energy secretary positions in his Cabinet, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Trump is also considering Joe Manchin, another conservative Democratic senator who represents the coal state of West Virginia, and Gary Cohn, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, for energy secretary, U.S. media reported on Thursday. Reuters previously reported that Trump planned to meet with Heitkamp on Friday, according to his transition team. Trump requested the meeting with Heitkamp, the source said. In a statement, Heitkamp said she appreciated “the president-elect inviting me for a meeting,” adding she hoped to “work with the president-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state.” The statement did not address whether a Cabinet position was being discussed, but Heitkamp’s spokeswoman, Abbie McDonough, said the senator “has a long record of working with both Republicans and Democrats.” Heitkamp, along with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, negotiated a deal in Congress last December to lift the decades-old ban on crude oil exports in exchange for a multi-year extension of tax credits for wind and solar energy. Heitkamp has been a supporter of domestic energy development, both in fossil fuels and renewable resources. North Dakota is a major source of crude oil, coal and wind power. Heitkamp is popular in her home state, though not all North Dakota state politicians voiced full support for the senator potentially joining the Trump administration. “I don’t see (Heitkamp) being in any Cabinet position,” Wayne Stenehjem, a Republican and North Dakota’s attorney general, told Reuters. She was elected to the Senate in 2012 in a close race, putting her up for re-election in two years. Should she join the Cabinet, her Senate seat would be filled by an appointment by North Dakota’s Republican governor. Republicans expect to hold 52 seats in the 100-seat chamber when the new Congress meets in January. Politico, citing unnamed sources, said Manchin was being considered for energy secretary. It quoted one of the sources as saying Manchin “is being considered to show the coal people how serious Trump is about coal.” Politico said Manchin told the website that he and his staff had not been contacted by Trump’s transition team, adding: “If I can do anything that would help my state of West Virginia, and my country, I would be happy to talk to anybody.” Manchin’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Manchin is up for re-election in 2018 in West Virginia, an increasingly Republican state where coal jobs have been threatened by cheaper natural gas prices. His 2012 election campaign stressed his opposition to climate change legislation that would have brought federal incentives for the United States to transition to cleaner-burning energy sources and away from fossil fuels such as coal. Reuters had reported on Wednesday that Goldman’s Cohn was being considered to head the White House budget office or another post in the Trump administration. Citing unnamed sources, Fox Business Network reported on Thursday that Trump was also considering nominating Cohn to head the Energy Department. Cohn met with Trump in New York on Tuesday. Cohn, a former Goldman commodities trader who joined the firm in 1990, has been widely considered to be the heir apparent to Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein. Another reported contender for the Energy and Interior positions, Oklahoma oil magnate Harold Hamm, said on Thursday he would recommend that Trump nominate Republican U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, one of the president-elect’s energy advisers, for energy secretary. “I’ve put his name forward,” Hamm said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” program. “He’d sort of do a better job in that post than me.” | 0fake |
Deputy Attorney General Doubles Down On Comey Memo: “I wrote it. I believe it. I stand by it.” | Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein doubled down today when he told Congress he stands by a memo he wrote that the White House has cited as a justification for the firing last week of FBI Director James Comey.In closed-door meetings with lawmakers on Thursday and Friday, Rosenstein said he wrote the memo after President Donald Trump told him one day before the May 9 firing that he wanted to dismiss Comey. He said that though he was personally fond of Comey, I thought it was appropriate to seek a new leader. The Justice Department on Friday issued a transcript of Rosenstein s remarks:OPENING STATEMENT:Good afternoon. I welcome the opportunity to discuss my role in the removal of FBI Director James Comey, although I know you understand that I will not discuss the special counsel s ongoing investigation. Most importantly, I want to emphasize my unshakeable commitment to protecting the integrity of every federal criminal investigation. There never has been, and never will be, any political interference in any matter under my supervision in the United States Department of Justice.Before I discuss the events of the past two weeks, I want to provide some background about my previous relationship with former Director Comey. I have known Jim Comey since approximately 2002. In 2005, when Mr. Comey was Deputy Attorney General, he participated in selecting me to serve as a U.S. Attorney. As a federal prosecutor, he was a role model. His speeches about leadership and public service inspired me.On July 5, 2016, Director Comey held his press conference concerning the federal grand jury investigation of Secretary Clinton s emails. At the start of the press conference, the Director stated that he had not coordinated or reviewed this statement in any way with the Department of Justice . They do not know what I am about to say. Director Comey went on to declare that he would publicly disclose what we did; what we found; and what we are recommending to the Department of Justice. He proceeded to disclose details about the evidence; assert that the American people deserve to know details; declare that no reasonable prosecutor would file charges; and criticize Secretary Clinton.I thought the July 5 press conference was profoundly wrong and unfair both to the Department of Justice and Secretary Clinton. It explicitly usurped the role of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General and the entire Department of Justice; it violated deeply engrained rules and traditions; and it guaranteed that some people would accuse the FBI of interfering in the election.There are lawful and appropriate mechanisms to deal with unusual circumstances in which public confidence in the rule of law may be jeopardized. Such mechanisms preserve the traditional balance of power between investigators and prosecutors, and protect the rights of citizens.Director Comey attended the Maryland U.S. Attorney s Office training seminar on October 27, 2016, and gave a detailed explanation of his reasons for making public statements about the conclusion of the Secretary Clinton email investigation. I strongly disagreed with his analysis, but I believe that he made his decisions in good faith.The next day, October 28, Mr. Comey sent his letter to the Congress announcing that the FBI was reopening the Clinton email investigation. He subsequently has said that he believed he was obligated to send the letter. I completely disagree. He again usurped the authority of the Department of Justice, by sending the letter over the objection of the Department of Justice; flouted rules and deeply engrained traditions; and guaranteed that some people would accuse the FBI of interfering in the election.Before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 3, 2017, Director Comey testified under oath about his public statements concerning the Secretary Clinton email investigation. I strongly disagreed with his explanations, particularly his assertion that maintaining confidentiality about criminal investigations constitutes concealment. Nonetheless, I respected him personally.Former Department of Justice officials from both political parties have criticized Director Comey s decisions. It was not just an isolated mistake; the series of public statements about the email investigation, in my opinion, departed from the proper role of the FBI Director and damaged public confidence in the Bureau and the Department.In one of my first meetings with then-Senator Jeff Sessions last winter, we discussed the need for new leadership at the FBI. Among the concerns that I recall were to restore the credibility of the FBI, respect the established authority of the Department of Justice, limit public statements and eliminate leaks.On May 8, I learned that President Trump intended to remove Director Comey and sought my advice and input. Notwithstanding my personal affection for Director Comey, I thought it was appropriate to seek a new leader.I wrote a brief memorandum to the Attorney General summarizing my longstanding concerns about Director Comey s public statements concerning the Secretary Clinton email investigation.I chose the issues to include in my memorandum.Before finalizing the memorandum on May 9, I asked a senior career attorney on my staff to review it. That attorney is an ethics expert who has worked in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General during multiple administrations. He was familiar with the issues. I informed the senior attorney that the President was going to remove Director Comey, that I was writing a memorandum to the Attorney General summarizing my own concerns, and that I wanted to confirm that everything in my memorandum was accurate. He concurred with the points raised in my memorandum. I also asked several other career Department attorneys to review the memorandum and provide edits.My memorandum is not a legal brief; these are not issues of law.My memorandum is not a finding of official misconduct; the Inspector General will render his judgment about that issue in due course.My memorandum is not a statement of reasons to justify a for-cause termination.My memorandum is not a survey of FBI morale or performance.My memorandum is not a press release.It is a candid internal memorandum about the FBI Director s public statements concerning a high-profile criminal investigation.I sent my signed memorandum to the Attorney General after noon on Tuesday, May 9.I wrote it. I believe it. I stand by it.Finally, I want to address the media claims that the FBI asked for additional resources for the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. I am not aware of any such request. Moreover, I consulted my staff and Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and none of them recalls such a request.END OF TRANSCRIPTThe White House has struggled since Comey s firing to explain the chain of events that led to it and who exactly made the decision. Trump said as recently as Thursday that he acted on a very strong recommendation from Rosenstein, but Rosenstein made it clear to Congress that he drafted his memo only after Trump told him of his plans to dismiss the FBI director.He said he did not intend for the document to be a finding of misconduct or a statement of reasons to justify the firing, but he added: I wrote it. I believe it. I stand by it. Via: NBC Chicago | 1real |
Goldman's Blankfein is only major financial firm CEO to join Trump on China trip | (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein will visit China as part of a business delegation in November at the same time as U.S. President Donald Trump, a Goldman spokesman confirmed. Blankfein will be the only executive of a major financial company traveling as part of the trade mission which is being led by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, according to a preliminary list. Executives from major industrial companies including General Electric Co (GE.N), Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N) are on the list, as well as a large number of leaders from energy and commodities firms. Blankfein has publicly used Twitter to speak out against Trump. In January, he became the first major Wall Street leader to speak out against Trump’s order to halt arrivals from several Muslim-majority countries. He also criticized the White House’s decision in September to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that protects young, undocumented immigrants from deportation. China is an important region for Goldman, which ranked as the top M&A dealmaker in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan in the first nine months of the year, according to Thomson Reuters data. While Wall Street firms like Goldman have to partner with a Chinese joint venture firm to run their investment banking businesses on the mainland, U.S. banks have for years been trying to operate these businesses on their own. Following a trip to Beijing earlier this year, Blankfein said there was a “a lot of confidence in China” and it was “almost an island of stability.” | 0fake |
Iraq PM Abadi expects Islamic State's complete defeat in Iraq this year | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State will be completely defeated in Iraq this year, Iraqi state television quoted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as saying on Tuesday. Islamic State s cross-border caliphate effectively collapsed in July, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group s de facto capital in Iraq, after a nine-month battle. The group s last territory in Iraq is now a stretch skirting the western border with Syria following the fall of the town of Hawija and surrounding areas on Oct. 5 in an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces. | 0fake |
Zimbabweans take to Johannesburg streets to celebrate Mugabe resignation | JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabweans took to the streets of the Yeoville and Hillbrow districts of the South African city of Johannesburg on Tuesday to celebrate news of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe s resignation. Around 3 million Zimbabweans have emigrated from their home country to South Africa in search of work following Zimbabwe s economic collapse. | 0fake |
Alabama Governor Appoints Luther Strange to Replace AG Jeff Sessions in Senate - Breitbart | The governor of Alabama appointed his own state’s Attorney General, Luther Strange, Thursday to fill the Senate seat left vacant by former senator Jeff Sessions taking over President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. [“This is truly a remarkable time in our state’s history,” said Gov. Robert Bentley, who came into office with Strange after the 2010 election. The two men worked together to forge the state’s 2015 $2 billion settlement with BP after that company’s massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Strange was chosen after the governor and the Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee spent 20 hours interviewing potential appointees, beginning in the fall after Trump announced Sessions was his choice for DOJ. “Alabama has surely been well represented by Senator Sessions, and I am confident Senator Strange will serve as a fine representative for our people,” the governor said. “His leadership on a national level, service as a statewide elected official, and long record of taking on tough federal issues are the very qualities that will make him a strong conservative Senator for Alabama. ” Senators confirmed their colleague to be U. S. Attorney General Wednesday evening, with Sessions voting present and Sen. Joseph Manchin (D. . V.) crossing the aisle. Signing the Appointment letter for Alabama Senator Luther Strange. Personally delivering it to DC now, Senator Strange to be today. pic. twitter. — Gov. Robert Bentley (@GovernorBentley) February 9, 2017, Strange said he was thrilled to accept his new post. “I am greatly honored and humbled to accept the appointment to Alabama’s Senate seat vacated by Senator Jeff Sessions,” he said. “Senator Sessions’ commitment to public service is nearly unparalleled in Alabama history and his departure from the Senate leaves tremendous shoes to fill,” he said. “I pledge to the people of Alabama to continue the same level of leadership as Jeff Sessions in consistently fighting to protect and advance the conservative values we all care about. ” Strange said he is also looking forward to Sessions appreciating Alabama’s concerns as attorney general. “I am particularly grateful for the reprieve from federal overreach that states will surely be granted under Attorney General Sessions,” he said. “Throughout my six years in this office, I have wrestled with the Justice Department on an endless number of oppressive federal policies stemming from a total lack of constitutional deference and respect for the states. ,” he said. “I am confident that Jeff Sessions will do his part to restore the delicate balance between the states and the federal government that the Founders envisioned. ” The special election for the Senate seat is slated for 2018. Strange is expected to run in that election to keep the seat in his own right. | 0fake |
ONE HEART-BEAT AWAY…JOE BIDEN: It’s ‘OK Sometimes’ to Be Uninformed Guy Who ‘Has No Idea What the Hell He’s Talking About’ [VIDEO] | Does anyone else get the sense Biden was picked to be the VP just to make Obama look smart?Vice President Joe Biden remarked at a Hillary Clinton campaign event Thursday that it s OK sometimes to be an uninformed guy who has no idea what the hell he s talking about. Biden, however, was referring to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. I don t believe the guy s a bad guy. I just think he is thoroughly, totally, completely uninformed, Biden said. He has no idea what the hell he s talking about. And guess what? That s OK sometimes. That s OK sometimes. Biden went on to point out for the rally audience, for the second time in less than a month, the military aide who travels with him and holds the nuclear launch codes in case something happens to the president. WFB | 1real |
White House Fence Jumper Was on Grounds 17 Minutes Before Detection - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — A California man who climbed over the White House fence last week managed to roam undetected on the grounds for about 17 minutes, as Secret Service agents appeared to ignore several alarms, officials said Friday. The new details indicated that the episode was more serious than the Secret Service had originally stated. A Republican lawmaker said it also suggested the Secret Service’s security measures remain inadequate two and a half years after a series of lapses tarred the agency and led to major upheaval. In a separate episode, officials also reported Friday that a Secret Service laptop was stolen from an agency vehicle in Brooklyn. But the Secret Service said in a statement about the theft that agency laptops are fully encrypted and “are not permitted to contain classified information. ” The episode took place on the night of March 10, and President Trump was inside the White House residence at the time. Jonathan Tran, 26, of Milpitas, Calif. breached the outer perimeter of the White House by the Treasury Department building while carrying a backpack holding two cans of pepper spray, a book by Mr. Trump, a letter to the president and other items, the authorities said. After an officer ultimately detained him, Mr. Tran — who appears to have a history of mental illness — said, “I am a friend of the president. I have an appointment,” according to a court filing. “Secret Service did a fantastic job last night,” Mr. Trump said the next day. Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah and the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote in a letter on Friday to the Secret Service that the committee received “additional information” about the episode, including indications that Mr. Tran “may have moved around on the White House grounds undetected for a considerable amount of time. ” The Secret Service said in a statement late Friday that Mr. Tran, after climbing several gates as high as eight feet, was inside the grounds for about 17 minutes before he was apprehended at 11:38 p. m. The agency said it is conducting an investigation. CNN first reported on the new details in the case. Mr. Chaffetz also said that the committee had received information indicating that the Secret Service “ignored” alarms that Mr. Tran tripped and that he may have attempted to get into the White House itself. “If true, these allegations raise questions about whether the agency’s security protocols are adequate,” Mr. Chaffetz said, stressing “longstanding concerns” about security episodes at facilities protected by the Secret Service. Last week’s recalled an embarrassing episode for the Secret Service in September 2014, when an intruder with a knife, Omar J. Gonzalez, managed to run through the ceremonial East Room of the White House before he was apprehended. The Secret Service was criticized for playing down the severity of the episode until a fuller account emerged in an investigation by a House subcommittee led by Mr. Chaffetz. That episode, along with a series of other safety lapses revealed at the time, led to intense congressional criticism, a of the Secret Service’s top management and the addition of spikes atop the White House fencing to deter climbers. Plans were recently approved for a taller, stronger fence. A 2015 report by the House Oversight Committee called the Secret Service “an agency in crisis” and found that over a period, there had been 143 security breaches and attempted security breaches at secured facilities. | 0fake |
One Of The Bundy Idiots Is A Very Dangerous Man Who Could Cause Them Serious Problems | When the Bundy Moron Militia first took over the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, Ammon Bundy put out the call for Murican patriots to come and join the fight. In essence, a man who advocated for armed idiots to aim their assault rifles at federal agents because his father is a freeloading government leech called on the worst America has to offer to join him in doing it again, this time as aggressors.His call was answered by the likes of Jon Ritzheimer, whose insatiable appetite for attention couldn t resist and a slew of other unfavorable imbeciles who decided a patch of forest in Oregon was more important than their wives and children.The Oregonian, a local publication that has been covering the occupation, has uncovered that (at least) one of the men who showed up isn t just dangerous because he follows right-wing terrorists, he s actually a convicted murderer:Courtesy of the OregonianNiel Sigurd Wampler, circled above, was convicted in 1977 of the second degree murder of his own father at 29-years-old. After denying that he is the same Niel Sigurd Wampler that the Oregonian uncovered a murder conviction on, they confirmed his identity from his unusual name and a matching date of birth as well as a positive ID from a former prison guard who remembered him from when he was locked up.The details of the murder reveal an extremely disturbed individual. According to court records, Wampler killed his father while was sleeping by clubbing him in the head with an 18-inch steel eye bolt while he was in bed. Wampler apparently called the police and told them, I have just killed my father. The leaders of the Bundy Bunch have distanced themselves from Wampler, denying that they know who he is, but as you can see from the picture above, he s been out and about and in plain view, often seen talking to other terrorists as well as the press.Wampler was also one of the men who appeared at the Bundy Ranch incident in Nevada, where The Las Vegas Review-Journal quoted him saying, I myself am willing to be shot and killed for constitutional rights and principles. He was also present at the Sugar Pine Mine confrontation last year in southern Oregon. For the leaders of the terrorists to refuse to acknowledge shows a great deal about his character, or lack thereof.That poses an interesting question: How is a man who is a convicted felon part of an armed occupation? According to a spokesman from Wampler s home town of San Luis Obispo, California, Wampler is forbidden from owning or possessing a firearm due to his felony murder conviction. When asked by the Oregonian if he was armed, he answered, Oh, yes, but refused to show his weapon.The serious problem this man poses is that if it is confirmed that he is or has been carrying a weapon in violation of Oregon law, will law enforcement continue to allow him to walk free? We re not talking about just guns here, either. Oregon law prohibits a convicted murderer from possessing any instrument or weapon having a blade that projects or swings into position by force of a spring or by centrifugal force or any blackjack, slingshot, sandclub, sandbag, sap glove, metal knuckles or an Electro-Muscular Disruption Technology device (taser), or who carries a dirk, dagger or stiletto. There is a 15-year statute of limitations for those laws, unless the felon in question was convicted of murder. There s no word yet from law enforcement about action against a particular individual at the refuge, but clearly this man, who admitted to being armed, poses a direct threat not only to the local, state and federal agents he comes in contact with but also to the press covering the stupidity and the children the terrorists are using as a shield.Things just keep getting worse. Not only for the Bundy Terrorists but for the entire right-wing extremist movement in general.Featured image via the Oregonian | 1real |
Jan Brewer: There Were Birther Democrats ‘All Over The Country’ (VIDEO) | Donald Trump and his supporters are vigorously trying to blame anyone but the billionaire conspiracy theorist Republican nominee for his birtherism. Former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer claimed on CNN this morning that there were plenty of Democrats all over the country that questioned President Obama s birthplace, too.Marc Morial said the birther issue was offensive to us, it was offensive to Americans. Not so fast, you can t just sweep it under the rug. Marc Morial said that Trump sounded like Joseph McCarthy and added that it was a smear campaign, and then Brewer said it s time to move on from the subject. She actually told an African-American man that there are more important issues to talk about. Trump tried to delegitimize our country s first black president by suggesting that he s really a scary Muslim from Kenya. You can t blow that racist dog whistle any louder than that. She quoted President Obama when she said that. Obama is probably sick of discussing his birth certificate after nearly two terms in office. The President took the high road when Donald Trump took the low road on the subject.One of the CNN panelists reminded Brewer that she said years ago that the birther issue was nonsense, but we have the Republican nominee not capable of saying it in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015, and then says this very thing he should have said years ago. And then he starts another lie around it, she added.Jan Brewer baffled the panel when she went on to say that for years the birther issue, was a feeding frenzy on both sides of the aisle. She claimed to remember that vividly. Jake Tapper asked Brewer, Democrats were? Brewer said absolutely. Watch:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3peRl_7UYA]So first Donald circulated a conspiracy theory about Obama s citizenship, then he took credit for proving that the president was not born in Kenya, and then he covered that up with another conspiracy theory saying that Hillary Clinton started his first conspiracy theory. And now, Jan Brewer is blaming Democrats.Featured image via screen capture. | 1real |
U.S. congressional committee subpoenas ex-drug CEO Shkreli | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional committee has demanded that former drug executive Martin Shkreli appear at a hearing on drug prices to testify about his former company’s decision to raise the price of a lifesaving medicine by more than 5,000 percent, congressional aides said on Wednesday. Shkreli, who is separately facing federal criminal charges that he defrauded investors, has been served with a subpoena to appear on Jan. 26 before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the aides said. The Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, which is also investigating the company’s drug pricing practices, said on Wednesday that Shkreli has invoked the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, and has refused to produce subpoenaed documents. Shkreli, 32, fired back at lawmakers on Twitter, writing on Wednesday that the House was “busy whining to healthcare reporters about me appearing for their chit chat next week. Haven’t decided yet. Should I?” He declined an interview request. The outspoken entrepreneur sparked a firestorm last year after he raised the price of Daraprim, a decades-old treatment for a dangerous parasitic infection, to $750 a pill from $13.50 after acquiring it. The medicine once sold for $1 a pill. Shkreli pleaded not guilty last month to criminal charges that he ran his companies like a Ponzi scheme, using each subsequent company to pay off defrauded investors from a prior company. After his arrest, he stepped down as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals and was fired as chief executive of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. KaloBios also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Shkreli’s past companies also include Retrophin Inc, which sued him for alleged mismanagement. Testifying before Congress is risky for someone facing criminal charges because of the chance they could say something prosecutors would later use at a trial. For that reason, many such witnesses invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions. To even travel to Washington, Shkreli is required to first get the sign-off of a federal judge because his release on bond restricts him to certain parts of New York state. However, judges typically grant temporary travel waivers to white-collar defendants. U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, said the hearing will give Shkreli a chance to explain his views on drug pricing. “I have been trying for the better part of a year to get information from Martin Shkreli about his outrageous price increases, and he has obstructed our investigation at every turn,” Cummings said in a statement. | 0fake |
French see far-left's Melenchon as Macron's strongest opponent: poll | PARIS (Reuters) - French voters view far leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon as the strongest opponent of President Emmanuel Macron, according to a new poll on Tuesday that highlights the weakness of mainstream opposition. The Ifop-Fiducial poll showed Macron s popularity has dropped sharply since he took power in May but its key finding could help him as he embarks on reforms because polls show voters see Melenchon as too extreme to be a serious candidate for power. Melenchon is very much on the protest front but not seen as an actual alternative (to Macron), said Frederic Dab of Ifop pollsters. That can be an opportunity for Emmanuel Macron, allowing him to create a vacuum around him and replace the left-right divide by a reform vs protest debate. The poll for Paris Match and Sud Radio showed 45 percent of voters say Melenchon s France Unbowed party provides the strongest opposition to Macron. That is more than twice the figure for the conservative Republicans (LR) or the far-right National Front (FN). Only 8 percent mentioned the Socialists. France Unbowed has been much more vocal than the conservatives or Socialists. The Republicans have been subdued in the wake of their defeat in the presidential election and divided over what stance to take toward Macron, whose economic policies resemble what many in their party have asked for for years. All three parties are struggling to get their voices heard above Macron and Melenchon s criticism of each other. Macron is trying to eliminate anything there is between him and extreme parties. I won t let him do that ... I won t resign myself to Melenchon being the only opposition to Macron, Laurent Wauquiez, the frontrunner to win LR s leadership in December, said on Sunday. A government source said Melenchon s relative strength was welcome and he was Macron s only proper opponent. I was praying to have Jean-Luc Melenchon and Marine Le Pen in parliament ... The Emmanuel Macron/Edouard Philippe alliance was meant to get the Socialist Party and the right to explode and we are not disappointed, the source said. He was referring to the fact that Macron s prime minister Philippe comes from LR. Melenchon strongly opposes Macron s plans to overhaul labor laws but his party can do little to block the measures because it has just 17 lawmakers in the 577-strong parliament. Melenchon, an anti-NATO euroskeptic known for his fiery debating style, has called on his supporters to march on Sept. 23 to protest the labor reforms, which will give companies more flexibility on firings, pay and working hours. The poll confirmed Macron s drop in popularity with 46 percent saying they approved of his policies, down 10 points from July. | 0fake |
Panama authorizes extradition of former Mexican governor on corruption charges | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Panama has agreed to extradite a former state governor from Mexico s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who is wanted in his homeland on corruption charges, the two countries said on Monday. Roberto Borge, who from 2010 to 2016 was governor of the state of Quintana Roo, home to the tourist resort Cancun, was detained in Panama City airport in June with the aid of Interpol as he was preparing to board a flight to Paris. Corruption promises to be one of the major issues in Mexico s July 2018 presidential election, with public discontent widespread over a spate of conflict-of-interest rows that have dogged the Cabinet and President Enrique Pena Nieto himself. The law bars Mexican presidents from seeking re-election. Mexican prosecutors accuse Borge of using funds obtained illegally, embezzlement and abuse of public office. The Mexican Foreign Ministry and the attorney general s office said in a statement Panama s Foreign Ministry had notified Borge that the extradition was going ahead. Panama s Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement that, after being notified, Borge announced that he would have his lawyers appeal against the extradition. The ministry did not give details of how the Mexican aimed to justify his appeal. Borge had long been accused of corruption by opposition parties, although he has denied the allegations. Other former PRI governors are also facing prosecution in the run-up to next year s presidential contest. Javier Duarte, who governed the Mexican state of Veracruz for the PRI until last year, was extradited from Guatemala to Mexico on July 17. He is accused of embezzlement and engaging in organized crime. | 0fake |
US Abstains From UN Vote Against Cuba Embargo | Embargo Remains Politically Contentious Within the US
For the first time ever, the US has abstained from the UN vote denouncing the ongoing US embargo of Cuba. The resolution passed through the general assembly 191-0, with the US and Israel the only ones abstaining.
The UN has been voting overwhelmingly against the embargo for decades, but it is only in the past year that President Obama has started to criticize the embargo himself, and has sought to ease a lot of the long-standing restrictions on the island nation.
The matter is hugely politically contentious within the US, however, with many in the Republican Congress condemning the White House for easing the restrictions, and the Congressional leadership so far preventing any more easing of the restrictions on commerce.
The UN resolution itself is non-binding, and the real significance is not that it passed, but rather that the US abstained, which while reflecting the administration’s position is unusual, as it criticizes the US Congress internationally. | 1real |
Is Obama Using The Refugee Resettlement Of Muslims To Give ISIS World Domination? | Since Obama was sworn in as President hundreds of thousands of refugees have come to America most of them Muslim. We re also seeing thousands of people from all over the world cross our Southern border illegally. With the virtual invasion via illegals and refugees, is Obama trying to give America to ISIS? It is a question worth asking if you look at the facts: DHS has just announced that ISIS is infiltrating the Refugee Resettlement Program. No shocker there. And yet, not only does Obama refuse to shut it down, he s bringing more and more in. Treasonous much? He s also going after our guns and constitutional rights in an attempt to strip them from us just when we need them the most. ISIS PLANS GLOBAL DOMINATION: A document has just surfaced which outlines how ISIS organizes its territory and controls it. I am not surprised. I would have expected nothing less from the Caliphate. They are a conquering force after all, so it makes sense that they would be the ultimate, brutal community organizers.Before we get into that, the latest on ISIS is that Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour is dead in Afghanistan. He was mortally wounded in a shootout last Tuesday and succumbed to his wounds sometime within the next 48 hours. If true, this is a death blow to the Taliban in Afghanistan by ISIS and is very bad news. As horrific as the Taliban is, ISIS makes them look like amateurs.Experts say they can t figure out where ISIS is getting their funding. Are you kidding me? They are big business: drugs, oil and they are backed by various countries behind the scenes and other players in geopolitical manipulations. ISIS will spread through Afghanistan like a malignant cancer. Slaughter and terror will be widespread. ISIS is very organized in their conquest for the Caliphate and they will rule the country with an iron fist and a Quran.I don t believe the Taliban when they say Mansour is still alive. If he were alive, we would have seen him by now. Already, slick propaganda is surfacing from ISIS of their executions of their enemies. It is brutal and gory. I have heard reports of them making the Taliban kneel on explosives and then blowing them up. They also put mortars as necklaces around their necks and then detonate them. The training camps they are setting up all over the place are terrifying and many are flocking to ISIS to join in the fight for the Caliphate. They are the strong horse in the race for the Middle East. ISIS is going from town to town, province to province and slaughtering people and conquering in their wake. They rape women and children, execute infidels and crucify offenders. They take slaves and wealth as they go. It is very reminiscent of Genghis Kahn. People flee in abject terror when they hear that ISIS is approaching.Neither Russia or the United States could take the Taliban out. They live like goats in the mountains of Afghanistan. But ISIS is making short order of them and fast. The trick is to be more brutal and aggressive than your enemy and ISIS has that down to an art. ISIS settled in among the population in Afghanistan and then activated. That is exactly what they are doing in Europe. Things are about to get very, very dicey out there.Now, with this unearthed document, we see how they have global plans. ISIS is already throughout the Middle East and with the Hijrah migration, they are now planted in Europe. Just as they did in Afghanistan, they initially plant themselves within a population before rising up in cells and sweeping the country. They are beginning to do this in America too, thanks to Barack Obama s open borders and Refugee Resettlement Program.Read more: Noisy Room | 1real |
“CONSERVATIVE GAY GUY” BLASTS Pence’s Aspen Neighbors For Hanging “Make America Gay Again Banner” In Front Of House | It s been said that good fences make good neighbors. But in Aspen, Colo., this week, Vice President Mike Pence has something different posted between his vacation lodging and that of the people next door.Specifically, it s a rainbow banner reading Make America Gay Again. It appeared on a stone pillar in front of the house where Pence and his wife are staying this week.VP @mike_pence is staying in a house near #Aspen on vacation. His neighbors have a colorful message for him. https://t.co/Ldef4h1G8U via @JasonAuslander pic.twitter.com/PzWqmN9Iml Aspen Times (@TheAspenTimes) December 30, 2017The daughters of the couple across the street and one of their girlfriends reportedly draped the rainbow banner on the pillar while a Pitkin County deputy and Secret Service members stood nearby, the Aspen Times reported. The stone pillar is situated at the end of the driveway between the two homes.According to the Times, the Secret Service agents were unfazed when the women draped the banner over the pillar, telling them, We re not here to control your free speech rights. FOX News Conservative Gay Guy expressed his disgust for the people who placed the Make America Gay Again banner across from the Pence family vacation retreat. He tweeted: I may be gay, but I m tired of this crap. My life doesn t revolve around my sexuality. I m a person first. The so-called tolerant left just continues to cause more division in this country. Mike Pence's neighbors in Aspen hung a "Make America Gay Again" banner.I may be gay, but I'm tired of this crap. My life doesn't revolve around my sexuality. I'm a person first. The so-called tolerant left just continues to cause more division in this country. Conservative Gay Guy (@ConservGayGuy) December 30, 2017Conservative Gay Guy is not afraid to call out liberal gays for being intolerant, he s also not afraid to call out his liberal friends for their hypocrisy:None of my conservative family members or friends turned their back on me when I came out as gay.However, 2 of my friends became social justice warriors & stopped being friends with me over my political views.The side that claims to be tolerant/compassionate isn't really so. Conservative Gay Guy (@ConservGayGuy) December 7, 2017When Muslim feminst (LOL!) activist Linda Sarsour tweeted in support of Sharia Law, Conservative Gay Guy destroyed her with his response:You'll know when you're living under Sharia Law if suddenly all your loans & credit cards become interest free. Sound nice, doesn't it? Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) May 13, 2015I'll know when I'm thrown off a building for being gay. https://t.co/bxREbbopLb Conservative Gay Guy (@ConservGayGuy) December 28, 2017Conservative Gay Guy hit the nail on the head with this illegal immigration analogy:If half a family bought tickets to Disneyland & half snuck in, would they be breaking up families by kicking out the ones who snuck in? Isn't the half who paid allowed to leave with them? Please take the free education & go back to your country now that you know how to fix it. Conservative Gay Guy (@ConservGayGuy) December 28, 2017 | 1real |
WHICH ONE OF THESE PEOPLE Tried to Lecture the Other on the Constitution….Guesses? [VIDEO] | 1real | |
GaiaPortal: Interwebs of Gaia energetics are strengthened | Interwebs of Gaia energetics are strengthened.
Creation plays its final piece.
Standards of elementals are raised.
Astronomicals reunite.
Source: GaiaPortal
| 1real |
China's Xi taps low-profile official to take over war on graft | BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday tapped a low-profile official to lead his signature war on corruption, replacing the retiring Wang Qishan, whose sweeping anti-graft campaign had made him China s second most-powerful politician. Zhao Leji was appointed to the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee and will take up Wang s role as head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) from his position as head of the Communist Party s powerful Organisation Department, which is in charge of personnel. Zhao s appointment is likely to spur efforts to turn the fight against graft from a campaign into a structured feature of China s political system, analysts said. Xi s corruption fight has ensnared more than 1.3 million officials, and he said during the twice-a-decade party congress that wrapped up this week that the battle to take down both tigers and flies will continue, a reference to elite officials and ordinary bureaucrats. Zhao s job appears to be less about taking down tigers and swatting flies but more about effectively institutionalizing the anti-corruption system and getting the CCDI mechanisms implemented at all levels, said Damien Ma, associate director at the Paulson Institute, a U.S. think tank. It s going to be challenging, but he does have everyone s files as former head of the Organisation Department. Speaking to reporters after unveiling his seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, Xi said that the party s battle to rid itself of corruption, written into its constitution on Tuesday, is a journey without an end . There cannot be any virus in the party structure, he said. Wang, sometimes called the Communist Party s fireman for his skill in resolving crises, has widely been credited with the success and vigor of the graft fight, which has been highly popular with the public while rattling the party elite. Wang, who was previously vice governor of the central bank and helped oversee China s recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis, built the once toothless and obscure CCDI into a feared watchdog that felled party heavyweights, including the former domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang. The campaign has also taken down many of Xi s rivals and helped to tighten his grip on power. Zhao, at 60 the youngest member of the Standing Committee, has been steadily promoted through his career, which has included long stints in poor rural areas, giving him a comparatively low profile among Chinese leaders. Xi and Zhao have a Shaanxi connection , according to Cheng Li, a U.S.-based expert on Chinese politics at the Brookings Institution. They are among a group of politicians with personal and political ties to northwest China s Shaanxi province, Xi s ancestral home, who have moved up the party ranks in recent years. Zhao spent much of his early career in the Shaanxi countryside, leaving him with a strong regional accent. INSTITUTIONALIZING ANTI-CORRUPTION Xi plans to overhaul China s anti-corruption architecture to create a powerful super-ministry, the National Supervision Commission, that will combine work by a number agencies, not including the CCDI, although the two will share offices and personnel. The commission will also have the power to investigate civil servants, even if they are not party members, and will be backed by law, giving legal authority to many of the measures currently used by the party to investigate officials. Xi also said last week that a secret party interrogation system, known as shuanggui , would be replaced with new detention measures, although rights groups say that it is unclear whether suspects will have access to lawyers under the new system. Some experts have questioned how much power the new body will have without Wang at the helm. It is not clear who will head the new commission or exactly what its relationship will be with the CCDI. | 0fake |
Obama’s Solicitor General: Neil Gorsuch ’Thoughtful & Brilliant’ | Neal Katyal, who served under President Barack Obama as acting Solicitor General of the United States, praised President Donald Trump’s selection of Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat on the U. S. Supreme Court formerly held by Justice Antonin Scalia. [Katyal was Deputy Solicitor General under Obama, and served as acting Solicitor General for roughly a year in 2010 and 2011, representing the Obama administration before the Supreme Court. He is now a partner at the Washington, D. C. law firm of Hogan Lovells, and said in a statement: Judge Gorsuch is one of the most thoughtful and brilliant judges to have served our nation over the last century. As a judge, he has always put aside his personal views to serve the rule of law. To boot, as those of us who have worked with him can attest, he is a wonderfully decent and humane person. I strongly support his nomination to the Supreme Court. Others shared Katyal’s sentiments. Heritage Action CEO Michael A. Needham praised Gorsuch, saying that President Trump had fulfilled his election promise by selecting him: Judge Neil Gorsuch is a nominee ‘very much in the mold’ of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. President Trump deserves credit for fulfilling his campaign pledge by nominating an individual who will, based on his record, interpret the text of the Constitution rather than create unwritten rights supposedly hidden between the lines. The usurpations of the rule of law, substituting for the will of the people as embodied in democratically enacted legislation rights nowhere to be found in our Constitution itself, only serves to divide our nation. Judge Gorsuch is an outstanding choice, and now the Senate must prepare to carry out its “Advise and Consent” role as it has for the past 227 years. Democrats were slower to respond, as they attempted to absorb the choice of a judge widely praised for his intellect and experience. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer ( ) had not reacted to the choice, half an hour after it was made. Neither had Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin ( ). Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 0fake |
4 DEAD TEENAGERS In Two Weeks…Illegal Immigrant Gang Violence Hits Long Island Town HARD | It was only a matter of time We can t keep our borders open to anyone who cares to cross over, offer them immunity from the law in sanctuary cities that basically give criminals the ability to move around freely and expect a positive result. We asked for it when most American citizens sat back and allowed Obama to bully our border agents into submission, while shaming our government officials and law enforcement agencies for daring to demand stricter immigration controls. There s a good reason Donald J. Trump rose to the top of the packed GOP Presidential field when he mentioned building a wall on our southern border and clamping down on the insane flow of unvetted immigrants and refugees into the United States.Hillary is on the same team as Obama when it comes to unchecked illegal immigration. BRENTWOOD, N.Y. Four dead teenagers. Two weeks. One town. And a ruthless gang, the authorities say, was most likely responsible for the toll. Again.On Sept. 13, Nisa Mickens, 15, and her best friend, Kayla Cuevas, 16, were murdered, their battered bodies found near an elementary school here. A week later and just two miles away, the skeletal remains of two more teenagers identified as Oscar Acosta, 19, and Miguel Garcia-Moran, 15 were found in the woods near a psychiatric hospital. Oscar had been missing since May, Miguel since February. Their deaths have been ruled homicides.Brentwood, a hardscrabble town of nearly 60,000 on Long Island, 40 miles east of Manhattan, has reached another crisis point. For nearly two decades, MS-13, a gang with roots in Los Angeles and El Salvador, has been terrorizing the town, the authorities say, especially its young people. Since 2009, its members have been accused of at least 14 murders, court and police records show.School officials are scrambling. Police officers are searching. Students are frightened. Parents are anguished. It s so hard, I m hurting, Eveylyn Rodriguez, the mother of Kayla, said last week. I wish I could hold my daughter again. In her first interview since Kayla s funeral, Ms. Rodriguez spoke measuredly about how her daughter had been bullied by gang members inside and outside of her high school. To me, it s worse than it was before; it s everywhere, said Ms. Rodriguez, a 1987 graduate of Brentwood Ross High School, where her daughter was a student. This is ridiculous, she added. We need some type of assistance to help our police officers here and see if they can come together to figure out a plan to make things better for the kids now. The path to such a plan, however, runs through a fractured Suffolk County. Its former police chief is headed to jail, its district attorney is under federal investigation and a Justice Department settlement mandated changes in the police department in 2013 after findings of bias against Latino residents.Tensions simmer here because some residents say they believe an increase in Central American migrants to town has led to the increase in gang violence. According to 2014 census figures compiled by Queens College, Brentwood s population is 68 percent Latino or Hispanic, with more than 17,000 residents claiming to be from El Salvador.Brentwood has 4,400 high school students divided into two schools, and administrators say the environment is safe. Gang members rarely present themselves in the schools, Richard Loeschner, the principal of Brentwood Ross High School, said. If they do, we take care of that pretty quickly. But ultimately, he said, after acknowledging that the administration knew of about 20 to 25 students in the district with possible gang affiliations, there is only so much they can do. We can t exclude a kid because we suspect they are in a gang, Mr. Loeschner said. That s state and federal law that they are entitled to an education. Even before the girls murders, students were subject to random screenings with metal detectors, which have increased over the past few weeks, he added. There are no detectors at the entrances of either high school, however.Some parents were concerned that the school s response to the violence was not proactive enough. Dr. Levi McIntyre, the school superintendent, sent an email to parents warning their children not to wear royal blue, the color identified with MS-13, or clothes displaying the Salvadoran flag. A student on the way to school, he wrote, recently had his blue shirt torn off by gang members and burned.MS-13 formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s by immigrants from El Salvador escaping civil war. The abbreviation stands for Mara Salvatrucha, which roughly translates to Salvadoran street posse. Authorities say it has been in Suffolk County since around 1998, and is organized in cliques bearing names like the Brentwood Locos Salvatruchas. Leaders gather to discuss their lines of business extortion, prostitution, robbery, drug dealing and to authorize the killings of chavalas, or members of rival gangs like the Bloods and Crips, court papers say.The recent murders have exacerbated disputes in the town over immigration policy, which Donald J. Trump, the Republican candidate for president, fueled during last week s debate by saying that the gangs roaming the streets were made up of illegal immigrants. There s been a huge influx, to be honest with you, said Ray Mayo, the president of the Brentwood Association of Concerned Citizens, who added that he was upset over undocumented immigrants crowding rental properties. It seems like a whole new set of gang members who have stirred the pot up. Two law enforcement authorities, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing murder investigation, said that over the last several years the gang has sought to enlist recent immigrants from Central America because they are often more vulnerable to recruitment. For entire story: NYT s | 1real |
'It's not over yet,' Merkel warns supporters before vote | HAMBURG (Reuters) - Returning to her birthplace, Chancellor Angela Merkel urged supporters to mobilize undecided voters before Sunday s election, telling them not to take her conservatives solid lead in opinion polls for granted. Surveys show many voters are still undecided and, with the election likely to return a fractured parliament, she wants to maximize support to bolster her position in coalition negotiations. What I ve heard in the last days is unbelievable ... that everything is already decided, the 63-year-old told a crowd of several hundred packed into the Fish Auction Hall in Hamburg. It is not. Every vote counts! Noting that the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), her closest rivals, have not ruled out a left-wing coalition with the Left party and the environmentalist Greens - a tie-up untested at national level - Merkel added: We live in turbulent times. We can t afford any experiments. In these times, we need stability and security, and a clear path, both at home and abroad, she said. Before Merkel spoke in Hamburg, a band pumped up the crowd, belting out Celebration by Kool & The Gang and Bryan Adams Summer Of 69 . One or two greying supporters stood up and danced. SPD leader Martin Schulz told broadcaster RTL he believed there could still be a last-minute swing in his party s favor. The experience of all elections, national or international, show that the number of undecided people is growing more and more, Schulz said. Everything is still possible. A win for him would be against the run of the opinion polls. On Tuesday, a weekly survey conducted by Forsa showed support for Merkel s CDU/CSU bloc - known as the Union - at 36 percent, its lowest since April, but still far ahead of the SPD, on 23 percent. Attention in Germany is largely turning to who Merkel will govern with after the election, rather than whether she will stay in power. Latest surveys suggest that only another grand coalition of Merkel s conservatives with the SPD or a nationwide untested three-way Jamaica alliance of the conservatives, FDP and Greens would have a stable majority. A coalition involving the FDP could limit her room for maneuver on pressing ahead with euro zone reform. Without detailing how she wanted to develop the EU, Merkel delivered an impassioned defense of the European project, saying she regretted Britons vote to leave the bloc. I could stand here and talk for hours about how arduous Europe often is, she said, before adding: It always is worth standing up for Europe, even just because it gives us peace and freedom. | 0fake |
Ayaan Hirsi Ali to Congress: Political Islam ’Incompatible with the U.S. Constitution’ | WASHINGTON, DC — Political Islam, focused on establishing an unfree society ruled by strict sharia law, is “fundamentally incompatible” with the U. S. Constitution and the overall “foundation of the American way of life,” declared Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an expert at the Hoover Institution think tank, during a Senate panel hearing. [Meanwhile, Michael Leiter, the former director of the U. S. National Counterterrorism Center, argued that sharia law is compatible with the American Constitution. “Muslim’s honoring of Sharia is not inherently in tangent with living in constitutional democracies anymore than it would be for Christians or Jews who also seek to honor their religious traditions while still complying with civil authority,” testified Leiter. The Ali — an honor violence victim, a strong advocate against female genital mutilation (FGM) and author — strongly disagreed. During a hearing on Islamic ideology and terror held by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Wednesday, Ali testified alongside the former U. S. official who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. “My central argument is that political Islam implies a constitutional order fundamentally incompatible with the US Constitution and with the ‘constitution of liberty’ that is the foundation of the American way of life,” proclaimed Ali in her written testimony. She later stressed, “Let it be said explicitly: the Islamists’ program is fundamentally incompatible with the US Constitution, religious tolerance, the equality of men and women, the tolerance of different sexual orientations, the ban on cruel and unusual punishment and other fundamental human rights. ” Ali explained that intimidation and advancing the goal of imposing Islamic law (sharia) on society are fundamental tenets of political Islam. She noted that “Islamism” is the ideology that drives political Islam and “dawa” provides the means by which it is spread, adding: The term “dawa” refers to activities carried out by Islamists to win adherents and enlist them in a campaign to impose sharia law on all societies. Dawa is not the Islamic equivalent of religious proselytizing, although it is often disguised as such by blending humanitarian activities with subversive political activities … The ultimate goal of dawa is to destroy the political institutions of a free society and replace them with strict sharia. Islamists rely on both violent and nonviolent means to achieve their objectives. The strategy used by the United States to combat violent Islamic extremism has “failed” because it has solely focused on acts of violence while ignoring the ideology that drives jihadists and Islamists, argued Ali. She told lawmakers, “The dominant strategy from through the present, focusing only on Islamist violence, has failed. In focusing only on acts of violence, we have ignored the ideology that justifies, promotes, celebrates, and encourages violence, and the methods of dawa used to spread that ideology. ” In order to reverse its failure, the United States has to fight “a war of ideas against political Islam (or “Islamism”) as an ideology and against those who spread that ideology,” advised Ali. President Donald Trump advocating for an ideological campaign against “radical Islam” is “refreshing and heartening,” testified Ali, adding, “This deserves to be called a paradigm shift. ” She noted that Trump’s position marks a departure from his predecessors. Ali pointed out that Islam is on the rise across the world and jihadist groups have proliferated despite the U. S. spending at least $3. 6 trillion on combat and reconstruction costs in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan and sacrificing more than 5, 000 American service members and the tens of thousands of wounded U. S. troops. “According to one estimate, 10−15 percent of the world’s Muslims are Islamists. Out of well over 1. 6 billion, or 23 percent of the globe’s population, that implies more than 160 million individuals,” mentioned Ali. “Based on survey data on attitudes toward sharia in Muslim countries, total support for Islamist activities in the world is likely significantly higher than that estimate. ” | 0fake |
WATCH: SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM DROPS BOMBSHELL… FINALLY Confirms The Fake Russian Dossier Was Used To Obtain FISA Warrant To Spy On Trump | Everyone suspected the sketchy Steele Dossier was what corrupt FBI and DOJ officials used to get the October 2016 FISA warrant against Trump. FBI and DOJ officials refuse to answer that question publicly.Rep Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said in a statement: We now know that the so-called Steele dossier was paid for by the Democratic Party in an effort to gin up negative information regarding then-candidate Trump. What the American people deserve to know is whether the information compiled by Steele on the Democrats dime was used by the Obama administration to obtain approval to conduct surveillance against Trump associates. The FBI has stonewalled producing these documents for months and their production shouldn t be limited to closed door viewing by a small number of members of Congress. The Trump administration should immediately declassify all the documents used to obtain surveillance warrants against Trump or his associates. Immediately after his inauguration, President Trump came out swinging over the fake Russian dossier. He even went as far as to blame the intelligence community. President Trump was immediately criticized for his comments, and the media behaved as though he was insane to even insinuate such a wild theory. As it turns out, he wasn t too far off the mark.CT Despite a hundred different ways congressional investigators have asked the question, and despite numerous on-camera questions to FBI and DOJ officials about the 2016 FISA process, no-one had definitively confirmed the Christopher Steele Russian Dossier was the underlying evidence for the 2016 FISA application to gain wiretaps and electronic surveillance upon presidential candidate Donald Trump. UNTIL NOW.Senator Lindsey Graham just confirmed the sketchy Steele Dossier was used to get the wiretap and surveillance warrant from the FISA court. Brian Kilmeade understood what he was hearing was serious, but didn t quite catch the specific gravity of it. Watch at starting at the 04:10 mark: The back-story to the FISA warrant is the cornerstone. The back-story contains both the FBI and the DOJ scheme. Expose it, remove it, and the entire muh Russia conspiracy collapses under the weight of sunlight This is critical and important because the specific use of the Steele Dossier underpins the BIG UGLY and exposes the entire top-tier apparatus of the FBI Counterintelligence Division (Peter Strzok, Bill Priestap, James Baker, Andrew McCabe) and the DOJ National Security Division (John Carlin, Stuart Evans, Mary McCord and Sally Yates), as well as DOJ Bruce Ohr and FBI lawyer Lisa Page directly to conspiracy charges.The 2016 FBI counterintelligence operation was surveillance on the Trump Campaign and was thinly disguised under the fraudulent auspices of a FISA warrant, sold as a defense of U.S. democracy from Russia, which permitted the wiretaps and surveillance etc.The DOJ involvement surrounds legal arguments, processing of FISA applications, and use of the legal system to support the FBI operation with actionable legal framing (against Trump). The DOJ National Security Division carried out that collaboration with the FBI.Tablet Mag did a deep dive into the Fusion-GPS connection to the creation of the Steele Dossier; and more specifically how Fusion-GPS head Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby were instrumental in getting the dossier assembled and into the hands of the White House prior to the DOJ and FBI applying for the FISA warrant SEE HERE.Tablet Mag outlines how Mary Jacoby even bragged about getting the Russiagate narrative started:A Tablet investigation using public sources to trace the evolution of the now-famous dossier suggests that central elements of the Russiagate scandal emerged not from the British ex-spy Christopher Steele s top-secret sources in the Russian government which are unlikely to exist separate from Russian government control but from a series of stories that Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby co-wrote for TheWall Street Journal well before Fusion GPS existed, and Donald Trump was simply another loud-mouthed Manhattan real estate millionaire.Understanding the origins of the Steele dossier is especially important because of what it tells us about the nature and the workings of what its supporters would hopefully describe as an ongoing campaign to remove the elected president of the United States.[ ] In a Facebook post from June 24, 2017, that Tablet has seen in screenshots, Jacoby claimed that her husband deserves the lion s share of credit for Russiagate. (She has not replied to repeated requests for comment.) It s come to my attention that some people still don t realize what Glenn s role was in exposing Putin s control of Donald Trump, Jacoby wrote. Let s be clear. Glenn conducted the investigation. Glenn hired Chris Steele. Chris Steele worked for Glenn. This assertion is hardly a simple assertion of family pride; it goes directly to the nature of what became known as the Steele dossier, on which the Russiagate narrative is founded. (read more)The Tablet-Mag outline shows the distinct trail of the finished Steele Dossier entering into the White House and how President Obama likely saw and reviewed the content.However, missing from this report is an origination angle even more nefarious.Remember, previous media reporting -in conjunction with Clinton campaign admissions- have confirmed the DNC and Clinton Campaign financed Fusion-GPS through their lawyers within Perkins Coie. Fusion then hired Nellie Ohr the wife of DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr who thereafter sub-contracted with retired British MI6 agent Christopher Steele to write/research/provide credibility for the dossier. The dates here are important because they tell a story.The origin of the Clinton effort with Fusion-GPS was April 2016. That s the same month Fusion hired Nellie Ohr, wife of DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr, to gather opposition research on candidate Trump. It would be most likely that Nellie Ohr was in contact with Christopher Steele. DOJ Deputy Attorney Bruce Ohr was later demoted for his unreported contacts with Christopher Steele and Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson in October 2016; the same month the FISA warrant was granted.However, there was another event in this April 2016 timeline which enhances the trail of the Dossier origination. [Hat Tip Katica] Check this out:In April 2016 Mary Jacoby shows up on White House visitor logs meeting with President Obama officials. In April 2016 the Clinton Campaign and DNC hired Fusion-GPS to organize the Russia research, that later became known as the Steele Dossier .(link to White House Logs)The wife of Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS), Mary B. Jacoby, with years of Russia-angled reporting including Donald Trump visits the White House in April 2016, at the same time as the DNC and Clinton hire Fusion GPS to conduct the opposition research on Donald Trump, surrounding Russia?This timeline is entirely too obvious to be coincidental.Expand slightly and consider:April: Mary Jacoby, wife of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, visits the White House. The Clinton Campaign and DNC then hire Fusion GPS to conduct Opposition Research , with a Russian emphasis. Fusion GPS then hires Nellie Ohr who specializes in Russian-centric counterintelligence. Nellie Ohr then contacts MI6 agent Christopher Steele to write a Russian Dossier. A month later, May 2016: Nellie Ohr s husband inside the DOJ, Bruce Ohr, is then working with FBI counterintelligence head Peter Strzok. By June 2016: Peter Strzok, Bruce Ohr, and DOJ Attorney Lisa Page then apply for the first FISA warrant.[June 24th, 2017, Mary Jacoby appears on Facebook taking credit for the origination of the Russiagate narrative.]This timeline is so transparent it s deafening.[More from the Tablet] Simpson and Jacoby had ID d Manafort as a world-class sleazeball and they were right. A slick Georgetown Law grad running in GOP circles since the Reagan campaign, Manafort used his talents and connections to get paid by some very bad people. I would only add here that, in my personal experience, journalists are not in the habit of forgetting major stories they ve written, especially stories with a character like Manafort at the center.So when the Trump campaign named Paul Manafort as its campaign convention manager on March 28, 2016, you can bet that Simpson and Jacoby s eyes lit up. And as it happened, at the exact same time that Trump hired Manafort, Fusion GPS was in negotiations with Perkins Coie, the law firm representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, to see if there was interest in the firm continuing the opposition research on the Trump campaign they had started for the Washington Free Beacon. (more)Mary Jacoby and Glenn Simpson Fusion GPSIf the counterintelligence FISA warrant was obtained through deception, misleading/manipulated information, or fraud; and that warrant is what led to the wiretapping and surveillance of candidate Donald Trump and General Flynn; and that warrant was authorized by FISA Court Judge Contreras who was the judge in Flynn s case, and is now recused the entire tenuous FBI and DOJ operation begins to collapse and the outline of a conspiracy becomes clearly evident.The back-story to the FISA warrant is the cornerstone. The back-story contains both the FBI and the DOJ scheme. Expose it, remove it, and the entire muh Russia conspiracy fraud collapses under the weight of sunlight.Go HERE to see the entire fascinating investigation compiled by The Conservative TreehouseWATCH President Trump tell FOX Business Lou Dobbs what he thinks about the Democratic efforts to smear him during his presidential campaign in an exclusive interview. | 1real |
Robin Roberts Says While She Was Dying from Cancer a ‘Familiar Voice’ Came From Her Nurse and Brought Her Back | Share on Twitter
For Robin Roberts, losing her mother while she was in the midst of her own fight for her life was an especially hard blow. Roberts's mother had always been there for her through every illness and injury.
When she needed her mom the most, however, Roberts swears that she could hear her voice, encouraging her not to give up on life. Image Credit: Mireya Acierto/Getty Images
As PopSugar reports, on a recent episode of “ Harry ,” the “Good Morning America” co-host tearfully recounted the days she spent in the hospital after a bone marrow transplant. Famously open about her battles with breast cancer and a rare bone marrow disease, Roberts tells host Harry Connick Jr. that she had reached the point where the fight was too much for her:
“There was a time when I sent everybody away, and I was in my room, and I just felt like I'm slipping away. I just couldn't.”
One of the things that had made Roberts feel like giving up was the fact that her mother was no longer there by her side. However, she was soon to find that her mom was closer than she realized. She tells Harry:
“I kept hearing this voice, 'Robin! Robin! Robin!' And suddenly, I open my eyes, and it's ... my nurse Jenny. She's looking at me. That was my mother's voice. I am convinced, when I was hearing that, even though it was Jenny, it was my mother's voice I was hearing.”
Roberts believes that at her point of “ greatest isolation ,” her mother used Jenny to call her back, to remind her to keep fighting.
Jenny, Roberts says, was “invaluable” during this time. Acknowledging the bond between Roberts and her nurse, Harry surprised Roberts by reuniting her with nurse Jenny and another nurse who had cared for her. An emotional Roberts was able to thank them for not only everything they had done for her, but for what they have done for countless others:
“Thank you for being our lifeline. Thank you for being there— not only for us, but for our caregivers ... for our loved ones.” | 1real |
Iranian president defends nuclear deal, says Trump can not undermine it | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani defended the nuclear deal with Western powers Saturday and said that U.S. President Donald Trump could not undermine it. Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to limit its disputed nuclear program in return for the easing of economic sanctions. However, Trump is expected to announce soon that he will decertify the deal, a senior administration official has said, in a step that potentially could cause the accord to unravel. “In the nuclear negotiations and agreement we reached issues and benefits that are not reversible. No one can turn that back, not Mr. Trump or anyone else,” Rouhani said at a ceremony at Tehran University marking the start of the university academic year, according to state media. “Even if 10 other Trumps are created in the world, these are not reversible.” Trump, who has called the pact an “embarrassment” and “the worst deal ever negotiated”, has been weighing whether the deal serves U.S. security interests as he faces the Oct. 15 deadline for certifying that Iran is complying with its terms. The prospect of Washington reneging on the deal has worried some of the U.S. allies that helped negotiate it, especially as the world grapples with another nuclear crisis, North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development. If Trump does not certify that Iran is in compliance, the U.S. Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under the deal. U.N. inspectors have verified Iranian compliance with the terms. Rouhani said Saturday that if the United States violated the deal then it would hurt its own reputation in the international community. “If America carries out any violations today, the whole world will condemn America. They will not condemn Iran,” Rouhani said, according to state media. “Then they will say why did you trust America and sign an agreement with them?” Separately, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has been forbidden from attending “public political, cultural and promotional ceremonies”, for a period of three months, two of his lawyers told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) on Saturday. Khatami has long been a lightning rod of criticism for hardliners who accuse him of fomenting unrest in the protests that followed the disputed election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009. Local media are forbidden from quoting Khatami in articles or publishing his image. The new restrictions were issued by Iranian security forces, Khatami’s lawyers told ILNA, and there does not appear to be any judicial mechanism to dispute the restrictions. In the lead-up to the presidential election last May, Khatami posted a message online encouraging his supporters to vote for Rouhani. Rouhani made a reference to the new restrictions placed on Khatami during his speech Saturday but did not name him. “If anybody repeats that people should come to the ballot box, they should be punished?” he said, according to ILNA. Khatami’s lawyers told ILNA that the restrictions began on the first day of the Iranian month of Mehr, which is Sept. 23. | 0fake |
Why Donald Trump Should Not Be President
| When Donald Trump began his improbable run for president 15 months ago, he offered his wealth and television celebrity as credentials, then slyly added a twist of fearmongering about Mexican rapists flooding across the Southern border.
From that moment of combustion, it became clear that Mr. Trumps views were matters of dangerous impulse and cynical pandering rather than thoughtful politics. Yet he has attracted throngs of Americans who ascribe higher purpose to him than he has demonstrated in a freewheeling campaign marked by bursts of false and outrageous allegations, personal insults, xenophobic nationalism, unapologetic sexism and positions that shift according to his audience and his whims.
Now here stands Mr. Trump, feisty from his runaway Republican primary victories and ready for the first presidential debate, scheduled for Monday night, with Hillary Clinton. It is time for others who are still undecided, and perhaps hoping for some dramatic change in our politics and governance, to take a hard look and see Mr. Trump for who he is. They have an obligation to scrutinize his supposed virtues as a refreshing counterpolitician. Otherwise, they could face the consequences of handing the White House to a man far more consumed with himself than with the nations well-being.
Heres how Mr. Trump is selling himself and why he cant be believed.
Don Levi September 27, 2016
Just went through the history of the endorsements over the last 45-years from NYT. Except for Bill Clinton, who was a moderate. The Times...
Divorce is Good For American Economy September 26, 2016
The evidence is here that the Establishment is really, really desperate.Evidently enough of ordinary Americans are ready what their British...
Liberty Apples September 26, 2016
`Why Donald Trump Should Not Be President'I assume this is Part One.
SEE ALL COMMENTS
Despite his towering properties, Mr. Trump has a record rife with bankruptcies and sketchy ventures like Trump University, which authorities are investigating after numerous complaints of fraud. His name has been chiseled off his failed casinos in Atlantic City.
Mr. Trumps brazen refusal to disclose his tax returns as Mrs. Clinton and other nominees for decades have done should sharpen voter wariness of his business and charitable operations. Disclosure would undoubtedly raise numerous red flags; the public record already indicates that in at least some years he made full use of available loopholes and paid no taxes.
Mr. Trump has been opaque about his questionable global investments in Russia and elsewhere, which could present conflicts of interest as president, particularly if his business interests are left in the hands of his children, as he intends. Investigations have found self-dealing. He notably tapped $258,000 in donors money from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits involving his for-profit businesses, according to The Washington Post.
A straight talker who tells it like it is?
Mr. Trump, who has no experience in national security, declares that he has a plan to soundly defeat the Islamic State militants in Syria, but wont reveal it, bobbing and weaving about whether he would commit ground troops. Voters cannot judge whether he has any idea what hes talking about without an outline of his plan, yet Mr. Trump ludicrously insists he must not tip off the enemy.
Another of his cornerstone proposals his campaign pledge of a total and complete shutdown of Muslim newcomers plus the deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants across a border wall paid for by Mexico has been subjected to endless qualifications as he zigs and zags in pursuit of middle-ground voters.
Whatever his gyrations, Mr. Trump always does make clear where his heart lies with the anti-immigrant, nativist and racist signals that he scurrilously employed to build his base. | 0fake |
NewsThump declared an Enemy of the People | Friday 4 November 2016 by Davywavy NewsThump declared an Enemy of the People
Treasonous lickspittle “comedy” website NewsThump has been declared an Enemy of the People today after expressing a general preference for the supremacy of Parliament.
The site, which was run by a cabal of international financiers, homosexuals and fencers from a light industrial estate just outside Kettering, treacherously suggested that a system of checks and balances within a Democracy was a pretty good idea and were immediately denounced by popular tribunes for their sedition.
Contributors to the site have been accused of supporting foreign interests, including buying expensive continental lagers in preference to Carling.
Managing Editor, Simon Williams, has been taken into custody and will be tried and hanged – because it’s important to have a trial even when the outcome isn’t in doubt.
A new editor has been democratically elected and will only run popular comedy stories, including the hilarious ‘Purge Parliament of Perfidy!’, “Buy British-made jams to further strengthen our economic progress!”, and “Let us thoroughly implement our Party’s policy of putting all the people under arms and turning the whole country into a fortress!”, which Kim Jong-Un has given his generous permission to use.
Speaking to reporters from loyal publications, a spokesman for The People explained that ‘The so-called law’ was merely ‘advisory’ and should be set aside at times when more important considerations over-ruled it.
“Yes, yes, Britain has a ‘constitution’ and ‘laws’ and ‘checks and balances’, but these are outdated, petty ideas from a less civilised time; a barbaric holdover from the past,” he explained.
“From now on we’ll just hold a vote on everything people want. There’s going to be one on Tuesday about everyone getting a pony.
“And if I’ve not got my free pony by Friday, heads will roll, let me tell you.” | 1real |
Hillary Cleared As FBI Folds Again : Information | Hillary Cleared As FBI Folds Again
Comey Says "Conclusions Unchanged From July" On Clinton Email Review
By Tyler Durden November 06, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Zero Hedge" - In a letter to several committee chairmen released Sunday, FBI Director James Comey announced on Sunday afternoon that just over a week after the FBI reopened its probe into Clinton emails, the Bureau has not changed its July conclusion regarding Hillary Clintons use of a private email server while secretary of State.
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz made waves Sunday afternoon, when he tweeted about the FBI letter.
FBI Dir just informed us "Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Sec Clinton"
Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) November 6, 2016
Below is the full letter from FBI Director Comey, with the key section highlighted.
The Clinton campaign is exuberant...
We were always confident nothing would cause the July decision to be revisited. Now Director Comey has confirmed it https://t.co/BMQQx9eRzw
Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) November 6, 2016
So, having reviewed 650,000 emails in less than a week (?), we can now go back to Democrats loving Comey and the FBI and Trump hating on them. | 1real |
[WATCH] Hillary Appears Belligerently Drunk in Troubling New Video | 0 comments
Hillary Clinton’s trouble staying sober has been just one of the many scandals she has faced this election season, and a newly-surfaced video isn’t going to help her reputation for being a complete lush.
The footage was captured and shared by New Jersey Senator Cory Booker ahead of a June 1st rally in Newark, New Jersey, where Clinton appeared with rock musician Jon Bon Jovi.
In the short clip, the Democratic nominee appears unusually jovial, singing and dancing for no apparent reason, as if she had just had a few drinks in the middle of the day.
See it for yourself:
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) June 1, 2016
As The Political Insider points out, it might be okay for your average American to toss a few back in the middle of the day, but it isn’t fine when an alcoholic wants to be leader of the free world.
Do you think Hillary has a drinking problem? Leave your opinion in the comments section! | 1real |
Trump promises to work with NATO to defeat Islamic State | YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he would work closely with NATO allies to defeat Islamic State militants if he wins the White House, reversing an earlier threat that the United States might not meet its obligations to the Western military alliance. In a policy speech, Trump said he would wage a multi-front “military, cyber and financial” war against Islamic State, although it was not clear how that would differ from the Obama administration’s fight with the jihadist group. “We will also work closely with NATO on this new mission,” said Trump, whose remarks about the defense organization earlier this summer drew heavy criticism from allies and even some of his fellow Republicans. Trump said a newly adopted approach to fighting terrorism by the organization had led him to change his mind and he no longer considered NATO obsolete. He was apparently referring to reports the alliance is moving toward creating an intelligence post in a bid to improve information sharing. While Trump appeared to claim credit for prodding NATO to focus more on the threat of terrorism, the 28-nation alliance has been grappling with the issue for more than a decade. NATO invoked Article 5, its collective self-defense mechanism, for the first time in its history to offer support to the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Trump called for shutting down access to the internet and social media for those aligned with Islamic State, which holds territory in Syria and Iraq. But he said he did not want to detail military strategy because it would tip off potential foes. “We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism just as we have defeated every threat we’ve faced at every age and before,” Trump said, blaming his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, and President Barack Obama for aiding the rise of Islamic State. In a speech in the swing state of Ohio, Trump also said that in implementing his call for a temporary ban on Muslims immigrating to the country, he would institute “extreme vetting” and develop a new screening test to try to catch people who intend to do harm to the United States. As president, he said, he would ask the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security to identify regions of the world that remain hostile to the United States and where normal screening might not be sufficient to catch those who pose a threat. The Clinton campaign said Trump’s plan to have immigrants submit to ideological tests was “a cynical ploy to escape scrutiny of his outrageous proposal to ban an entire religion from our country and no one should fall for it.” Reading from a teleprompter, Trump said Clinton did not have the judgment and character to lead the country. “Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS and all of the many adversaries we face,” he said. Trump, a wealthy New York businessman whose volatile campaign has alienated some in the Republican establishment, faced a fresh rebuke on Monday as he falls behind Clinton in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election. The Wall Street Journal, a leading conservative voice, said in an editorial he should fix his campaign within weeks or step down. Echoing growing alarm about Trump’s candidacy among many leading Republicans, the newspaper said Trump had failed to establish a competent campaign operation. “If they can’t get Mr. Trump to change his act by Labor Day, the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the Senate and House and other down-ballot races,” the newspaper said. Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 5 this year, marks the end of U.S. summer vacations and traditionally launches the final phase of the long U.S. election season. “As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be president - or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence,” it said, referring to the Indiana governor, who is Trump’s vice presidential running mate. Adding to Trump’s woes this week was the news, first reported by The New York Times, that the name of his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was on secret ledgers showing cash payments designated to him of more than $12 million from a Ukrainian political party with close ties to Russia. Manafort denied any impropriety in a statement on Monday. “I have never received a single ‘off-the-books cash payment’ as falsely ‘reported’ by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia,” he said. Artem Sytnik, the head of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau, confirmed in a briefing with reporters that Manafort’s name appeared on a ledger and that more than $12 million had been allocated as an expenditure, referencing Manafort. But Sytnik said the presence of Manafort’s name “does not mean that he definitely received this money.” The Clinton campaign said the news was evidence of “more troubling connections between Donald Trump’s team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine.” Trump has spoken favorably in the past of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month, he invited Russian hackers to find “missing” emails from Clinton’s time as secretary of state, when she used a private email server to conduct government business, although he later described that comment as sarcasm. The current RealClearPolitics average of national opinion polls puts Clinton 6.8 points ahead of Trump, at 47.8 percent to Trump’s 41 percent. Polls also show Trump trailing in states such as Pennsylvania that are likely to be pivotal in the election. | 0fake |
Dan Rather: Trump’s First Two Months In Office Is Worst Start He’s Ever Seen | Legendary newsman Dan Rather has lived through and covered several presidencies so he knows what he s talking about.Rather was just a boy of 13 when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945. In 1950, he began his career in journalism while Harry Truman was in office.Since then, Rather has witnessed every presidential beginning and has even reported on them.And according to Rather, Donald Trump s first two months in the presidency are the worst he has ever seen.Rather posted his observation on Facebook early Monday morning, even going so far as to quip that the only president who had a worse start was William Henry Harrison, who died one month after being sworn in.We re roughly two months into the Trump Presidency, and it is the worst start to a time in office I have ever seen. I am not alone in this conclusion. Many Presidential scholars are saying it s the worst start of any Presidency in the history of the country.Now William Henry Harrison in 1841 talked too long in the cold of his inauguration. He caught pneumonia and died a month later. So, yes, I suppose you could say that his time was worse.One of those Presidential scholars is Douglas Brinkley, who said that that Trump s administration is so bad that treason is hanging over it. This is the most failed first 100 days of any president, Brinkley concluded.Rather then briefly listed some of Trump s failures.So after two tumultuous, chaotic and in many ways outrageous months (an embarrassing defeat on ACA repeal, the deepening Russia probe, the striking down of the travel ban) where do we stand? Where does all of this go?Rather went on to warn the American people that a weak President running a weak, ragtag administration is a prescription for trouble. Trouble internationally could come from enemies and other competitors who may see opportunities for advantage and overreach. Trouble internally could easily come from a worried, divided nation, and opportunistic ideologues and politicians who try to exploit the situation.Rather concluded by urging people to remain vigilant and continue fighting.Donald Trump and his entire administration is a bad joke. He has turned our nation into a laughingstock around the world and has repeatedly demonstrated that he is incompetent.Trump should resign before he embarrasses our country and himself even further.Featured Image: Matthew Eisman/Getty Images | 1real |
Germany's conservatives, SPD start talks Jan. 7 on another 'grand coalition' | (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to exploratory talks on forming a new government starting on Jan. 7, both parties said on Wednesday after informal discussions. The decision, 87 days after a national election that returned a fragmented parliament and complicated coalition arithmetic, brightens prospects for a renewal of the grand coalition that governed Germany over the past four years. A repeat coalition is Merkel s best chance of securing a fourth term as chancellor after talks on forming a three-way alliance with two smaller parties broke down, leaving Europe s largest economy in an unprecedented state of uncertainty. It was a good discussion in a trusting atmosphere, the parties said in a joint statement after leaders met on Wednesday. They agreed to hold four days of talks from Jan. 7, with the aim of deciding by Jan. 12 whether to open formal coalition negotiations. Even in the most optimistic case, Germany will have smashed 2013 s post-World War Two record of needing 86 days to form a new government after an election. The hiatus highlights that Germany, long Europe s bastion of stability, is not immune to the political fragmentation that has swept the continent. The conservatives and Social Democrats have identified 15 policy areas for exploration, including education, the welfare state and employment law, where the SPD is keen to carve out a distinctive left-wing identity for itself after a disastrous election showing blamed in part on Merkel s dominant stature. The SPD s membership, which tends to be more radical than the party leadership, will have to ratify any decision to repeat a coalition with Merkel, who has been in power for 12 years. (This version of the story corrects the date to Jan. 12 in fourth paragraph) | 0fake |
SUNDAY SCREENING: National Security Alert: The Pentagon Attack (2009) | 21st Century Wire says Our weekly documentary film curated by our editorial team at 21WIRE.Aside from the collapse of WTC Building 7, a major achilles heel in the official 9/11 version of events is tale of a passenger airliner hitting the Pentagon. The following independent investigative documentary may offer some key insight into this incident, and depending on whether you believe its findings are credible may even prove beyond a doubt that no Boeing passenger airliner struck the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.To date, it remains one of the most compelling presentations illustrating what happened, or more precisely what did not happen on 9/11. Watch: SEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENINGS HERE | 1real |
Facebook ‘Fact-checker’ Poynter: Worth Considering ‘Fake News’ Didn’t Significantly Impact 2016 Election | The Poynter Institute, the group helping Facebook determine whether certain news stories are “disputed,” has determined it is worth considering the possibility that “fake news” stories did not significantly impact the 2016 presidential election after all. [Poynter’s Chief Media Writer James Warren was reporting on a study concluding that while “fake news” stories favoring Donald Trump far surpassed those in favor of Hillary Clinton, such stories didn’t significantly affect the outcome of the election. “Did fake news help elect Trump? Not likely, according to new research,” was the title of the Poynter article. In response to the study, Warren concluded: The paper is worth consideration especially given overriding press assumptions about the potency of ideologically driven news coverage. The study, titled, “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election,” was by economists Matthew Gentzkow of Stanford University and Hunt Allcott of New York University. The paper utilized web browsing data, a database of fake news stories, and a online survey about news trends. Warren reported on the survey results: In sum, they conclude that the role of social media was overstated, with television remaining by far the primary vehicle for consuming political news. Just 14 percent of Americans deemed social media the primary source of their campaign news, according to their research. In addition, while fake news that favored Trump far exceeded that favoring Clinton, few Americans actually recalled the specifics of the stories and fewer believed them. “For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake article would need to have had the same persuasive effect as 36 television campaign ads,” they conclude. Poynter further quoted from the survey itself: “In summary, our data suggest that social media were not the most important source of election news, and even the most widely circulated fake news stories were seen by only a small fraction of Americans. For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake news story would need to have convinced about 0. 7 percent of Clinton voters and who saw it to shift their votes to Trump, a persuasion rate equivalent to seeing 36 television campaign ads. ” Poynter’s reportage on the matter is particularly significant since the journalism nonprofit has partnered with Facebook with the specific goal of combatting “fake news. ” This after numerous politicians and pundits have claimed that alleged fake news helped sway the election. The International Network (IFCN) which is a project of the Poynter Institute, drafted a code of five principles for news websites to accept, and Facebook last month explained it will work with “ organizations” that are signatories to the code of principles. Facebook says that if the “fact checking organizations” determine that a certain story is fake, it will get flagged as disputed and, according to the Facebook announcement, “there will be a link to the corresponding article explaining why. Stories that have been disputed may also appear lower in News Feed. ” Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. ” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. With additional research by Joshua Klein. | 0fake |
Top Congressmen Just Demanded A Federal Investigation Into FBI’s Leaks To Giuliani | Comments
With the effects of recent politicized FBI leaks now frighteningly clear, senior Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Justice Department to probe the bureau for leaks to the Trump campaign. Specifically, they’re calling for an investigation into how Trump co-conspirator Rudy Giuliani knew about the FBI reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server before director James Comey made his scheming announcement in a letter to Congress last week.
Representatives Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), the ranking Democrats on the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform and the Judiciary respectively, sent a scathing letter Friday to Inspector General Michael Horowitz. “It is absolutely unacceptable for the FBI to leak unsubstantiated — and in some case false — information about one presidential candidate to benefit the other candidate,” they wrote. “Leaking this information to former FBI officials as a conduit to the Trump campaign is equally intolerable.”
Giuliani has repeatedly bragged about obtaining leaked information from former FBI agents. Just a few hours before the Cummings and Conyers letter was sent, the former New York mayor was asked on “Fox and Friends” if he knew of the reopened investigation before Comey’s announcement. He replied , “Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it, and I can’t even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.”
For his part, Giuliani has denied having any role in leaking the information to the public, though he has in interviews he has been quick to tout his connections to the FBI and has served as somewhat of a middleman between leakers at the bureau and the Trump campaign. He has been adamant about how “outraged” FBI agents are at the bureau’s handling of the Clinton email scandal. Then, two days before Comey sent his letter to Congress, he said that the Trump campaign “has a couple of surprises left” that would be “enormously effective.”
The Representatives’ letter also criticized the media’s unquestioning use of unsubstantiated “anonymous sources” from the FBI, singling out Fox News’ Bret Baier in particular. On Wednesday Baier ran a story claiming that the FBI’s investigation of Clinton would “continue to likely an indictment,” a lie so nefarious that he felt compelled to actually apologize for his false claims, a rather uncharacteristic occurrence at Fox News.
The letter comes against the backdrop of an FBI that has increasingly been implicated as a source of a partisan leaks to the Trump campaign. Certain agents and even high ranking officials at the bureau – which in its demographics is similar to Trump’s base – have apparently been funneling sensational and often false anti-Clinton information to the Trump campaign. “These unauthorized and inaccurate leaks from within the FBI, particularly so close to a presidential election, are unprecedented,” the letter said. “For this reason, we are calling on your office to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the sources of these and other leaks from the FBI and to recommend appropriate action.” Related Items: | 1real |
Trump says he can end Iran deal if no action to fix it soon | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he wants to see action to fix the flaws he sees in the Iran nuclear deal in a short period of time, adding that he could end the deal instantaneously. “We’ll see what happens over the next short period of time and I can do that instantaneously,” Trump told reporters when asked why he did not choose to scrap the deal now. “I like a two-step process much better,” said Trump, who was speaking shortly after he announced he would not certify the 2015 deal, aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, in a major shift in U.S. policy. | 0fake |
U.S. TAXPAYERS TO FOOT BILL FOR OUTRAGEOUS OBAMA SCHEME TO Import And Provide Housing For Relatives Of Illegal Aliens/Democrat Voters | Thanks to Obama, all working Americans are beginning to see what it feels like to be a conservative who s been forced to pay union dues used to fund the Democrat party. The American taxpayer can take comfort in knowing that more of their hard earned paycheck will now be used to cover travel expenses, housing, food, free education and free health care for the families of potentially millions of illegal aliens entering our country. It was selfish to think I needed the entire 60% of my take home pay. I ll just put my children s college fund on hold. They likely won t get a spot at the college they were hoping to attend anyhow, as they won t meet any of the special status requirements put forth by our government that are needed to hop to the front of the line in the admissions process. To facilitate the often treacherous process of entering the United States illegally through the southern border, the Obama administration is offering free transportation from three Central American countries and a special refugee/parole program with resettlement assistance and permanent residency.Under the new initiative the administration has rebranded the official name it originally assigned to the droves of illegal immigrant minors who continue sneaking into the U.S. They re no longer known as Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC), a term that evidently was offensive and not politically correct enough for the powerful open borders movement. The new arrivals will be officially known as Central American Minors (CAM) and they will be eligible for a special refugee/parole that offers a free one-way flight to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras. The project is a joint venture between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State Department.Specifically, the program provides certain children in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras with a safe, legal, and orderly alternative to the dangerous journey that some children are undertaking to the United States, according to a DHS memo obtained by JW this week. The document goes on to say that the CAM program has started accepting applications from qualifying parents to bring their offspring under the age of 21 from El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras. The candidates will then be granted a special refugee parole, which includes many taxpayer-funded perks and benefits. Among them is a free education, food stamps, medical care and living expenses.During a special teleconference this week officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the State Department explained how CAM will work. Only friendly groups and individuals invited by the government were allowed to participate and the event was not open to the media. Judicial Watch attended as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with interest in the matter. Obama administration officials offered an overview of the new CAM initiative and confirmed that the U.S. has deployed staff to the region to handle the influx of applicants. A State Department official promoted CAM as a family reunification program that will be completely funded by American taxpayers, though the official claimed to have no idea what the cost will be.A U.S.-based parent will initiate the application to bring his or her child in from any of the three Central American countries. To qualify they must be a permanent resident, a parolee or a beneficiary of Obama s recent amnesty or deferred action. Many have probably lived illegally in the U.S. for years. The only out-of-pocket cost is for a DNA test to assure the child belongs to the applicant but Uncle Sam will reimburse the money if the result is positive. A U.S. official will interview the child, then a medical exam and cultural orientation will be conducted before the minor flies to the U.S. Once in the U.S. the illegal alien will get resettlement assistance, the State Department official confirmed during the teleconference.If the applicant doesn t qualify for the more desirable refugee status he or she can be considered for parole, a USCIS official explained in the teleconference, which was attended mostly by immigrant rights groups known for advocating on behalf of illegal aliens. Refugee status is a form of protection offered to those who are deemed of special humanitarian concern to the United States. Parole allows individuals who may be otherwise inadmissible to come to the U.S. on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. The State Department official assured that applicants need not express or document a credible fear to qualify under CAM because we want to make sure this program is open to as many people as possible. Via: Judicial Watch | 1real |
GERMAN RESIDENTS FIGHT BACK: Anti-Islamic Song With No Words Knocks Adele Off Top Spot | Apparently these Germans are not interested in becoming another Sweden A wordless anti-Islamist hymn knocked chart-buster Adele off the top of the charts in Germany.A wordless hymn by the anti-Islamic group Pegida called Together we re strong has knocked pop diva Adele off the top of the Amazon singles chart.The song has been available to buy on Amazon since December 21st and has been among the top 100 best selling singles for four days.German media picked up on the songs emerging success on Tuesday when it was still at number 26 in the chart. Die Welt reported that despite widespread ridicule, the hymn, which contains no words, was selling well.Since then it has leaped up to overtake Adele s hit single Hello. It has also jumped above successful German recording artists Robin Schulz and Sido, who have been knocked down to places three and four, respectively.On YouTube the hymn has also clocked up over 100,000 views so far. However, most of the commentaries underneath ridicule it for its banality.A PEGIDA activist put video of the German anti-Islamist protester to the hymn by Peggy Sounds, Germainsam Sind Wir Stark. Via: Local h/t Gateway Pundit | 1real |
Tillerson says Russia must make first move in Ukraine peace process | KIEV (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday that Russia must take the first steps to de-escalate violence in eastern Ukraine, adding that Washington’s primary goal is the restoration of Ukrainian territorial integrity. On a maiden official visit to Ukraine, Tillerson also said the United States would explore ways of changing the status quo in the Ukraine crisis, and said Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election still impeded better relations with Moscow. | 0fake |
Kansas Republican Bill Would Give GOP Power To Impeach Judges Who Disagree With Them | If Kansas Republicans have their way, they will have the power to impeach state Supreme Court judges who disagree with the conservative agenda.A Kansas Senate committee has already recommended SB439 for passage so it can be voted on by the full Senate, which is controlled by conservatives.According to the Kansas City Star, the bill would make attempting to usurp the power of the Legislature or the executive branch grounds for impeachment. In other words, if a judge rules a law passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature unconstitutional, Republicans would legally have the power to then impeach that judge and replace him or her with a judge who will rule the way Republicans want them to rule.Governor Sam Brownback and his Republican cohorts in the statehouse have had their schemes to defund public schools foiled by the state Supreme Court in recent years after the GOP tried to use the funds to pay for a disastrous budget shortfall created when Brownback gave rich people a massive tax cut.So far, the state Supreme Court has blocked such a move as unconstitutional since the Kansas Constitution plainly states that the legislature shall provide for intellectual, educational, vocational and scientific improvement by establishing and maintaining public schools, educational institutions and related activities which may be organized and changed in such manner as may be provided by law. Furthermore, the Kansas Constitution says the legislature shall make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state. That means the Kansas Supreme Court has made the right call by denying Brownback and Republicans the ability to screw over the public school system to benefit the wealthy.But if Republicans pass this bill into law, they would be able to overthrow the judicial branch so they can pass whatever laws they want even if they are unconstitutional. They would be effectively rigging the court in their favor.And Kansas Republicans haven t exactly made this a secret.The Star reports:Impeachment has been a little-used tool to challenge judges who strike down new legislation, said Republican Sen. Dennis Pyle, a sponsor of the measure. Maybe it needs to be oiled up a little bit or sharpened a little bit. Courts have the ability to harm society with their decisions, GOP state Senator Mitch Holmes claimed in defense of the bill according to the Topeka Capitol Journal. And impeachment was what our founders intended to be a check and a balance on an unchecked system, or what has evolved into an unchecked system. But once again, Republicans are wrong. Not only is their bill unconstitutional on the grounds that the state constitution does not list disagreement as a legitimate reason for impeachment, it would make the court system a puppet institution with the sole purpose of allowing Republicans to do whatever they want in the legislative and executive branches without a judicial branch that can check their power. Basically, it is the executive and legislative branches that would become an unchecked system. Article 2 of the state constitution clearly states grounds for impeachment.The governor and all other officers under this constitution, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.So unless Republicans want to literally make disagreeing with them a crime, which would violate the First Amendment and the independence of the judiciary, they would be well-advised to trash this bill and never let it see the light of day again.This is the exact kind of government overreach that Republicans have hypocritically whined about for decades, and yet here they are trying to overthrow the state Supreme Court so that Brownback can stack it with judges who will do his bidding. Just imagine if this scheme actually worked. How long would it be before Republicans try the exact same thing at the federal level so that they can keep the court conservative forever? This is serious power play that needs to be squashed by the people of Kansas before they no longer have a fair court system to rely on. Featured image via LiberalBias.com | 1real |
HOUSE OF LIES: Pedophilia Allegations Levied Against Anti-Trump Actor Kevin Spacey Who Has Secret History With Bill Clinton | How should the gay community feel about the Trump-hating actor, and Bill Clinton pal, Kevin Spacey, coming out as a gay man, as an excuse or distraction for attempting to molest a 14-year-old boy when he was 26-years -old? Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp claims Kevin Spacey got sexually aggressive toward him when he was only 14 years old, and Spacey has responded by apologizing and coming out as gay.Rapp told BuzzFeed News the incident occurred in 1986 the 2 were both on Broadway at the time. Rapp says Spacey told him he was having a party and invited him.Rapp says he got bored and retreated to the bedroom to watch TV. He said Spacey came in the room and appeared drunk, then picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don t, like, squirm away initially, because I m like, What s going on? And then he lays down on top of me. Rapp says Spacey was holding him down as he struggled to get away, adding, He was trying to seduce me. He eventually got away and left.Spacey, now 58, responded on social media, saying, I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. I am beyond horrified to hear his story. I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior In response to the allegations, Spacey tweeted that he was beyond horrified to hear [Rapp s] story. TMZ I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years. Here is Kevin Spacey s Sorry, but I was drunk and I don t remember, but am truly sorry if I acted as a child predator and oh, by the way, I m gay, so can we just make that the news story? [Our summary of the tweet]:pic.twitter.com/X6ybi5atr5 Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017Here are some of the reactions to Spacey s Apology/Coming out tweet:You don't remember the incident but remember being drunk? Elizaeverafter (@Elizaeverafter) October 30, 2017Dude, you did this to a kid. Screw you. The Columbia Bugle (@ColumbiaBugle) October 30, 2017These comments praising Kevin Spacey are just disgusting. What is wrong with you people excusing this behavior. WTF Katica (@GOPPollAnalyst) October 30, 2017Is everyone on this thread making note of who this person is? CEO of Allied Artists excusing sexual assault of a minor Lydia Snider (@LydiaSnider) October 30, 2017 In 2008, financier Jeffrey Epstein, whose friends included some of the most powerful people on the planet, was convicted of soliciting an under-age girl for prostitution.Spacey was on board Epstein s private jet with Bill Clinton when it flew from JFK Airport into the Azores before the former President and the actor enjoyed a tour of Africa.According to Fox News, Epstein, Allegedly had a team of traffickers who procured girls as young as 12 to service his friends on Orgy Island, an estate on Epstein s 72-acre island, called Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Bill Clinton took at least 26 trips on the Lolita Express, a luxury jet fitted out with beds where prominent elitists allegedly had sex with young girls, ditching his Secret Service detail for 5 of those trips.Clinton chose to continue his association with Epstein even after, according to the Alliance to Rescue Victims of Trafficking, everyone within his inner circles knew was a pedophile. Epstein also reportedly had 21 different phone numbers for Bill Clinton.While there is no evidence to suggest Spacey engaged in criminal activity while on board Epstein s jet, his admission that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy is sure to provoke further questions.ABC Action News Spacey, who has been famously private about his personal life, said that he now lives as a gay man which marked the first time the actor has made a public statement about his sexual orientation. This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life, Spacey said in his tweet. He continued that he has had relationships with both men and women, and added, I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man. Is Spacey suggesting that s it s normal behavior for all gay men to molest young boys? Or is the Trump-hating actor attempting to convince people that it s okay for a 26-year-old man to molest a 14-year-old boy if he was drunk, or that if he already forgotten about it, we should too?So many questions remain, like for instance, will Prince Charles Un-Knight the alleged pedophile actor?https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/743590498456088576Spacey took the opportunity to bash Trump while in France at an awards ceremony: Watch Spacey and unhinged Late Show s Stephen Colbert, who been allowing Donald Trump to live rent-free in his head for well over a year, bash Donald Trump: | 1real |
Here Is How to Fend Off a Hijacking of Home Devices - The New York Times | MODERN homes today are getting light bulbs, thermostats, TVs and speakers. So with a simple voice command or the touch of a button on our smartphones, we can set the temperature, turn on a light or prepare the TV to record a program. What could go wrong? A lot more than most people are prepared for, it turns out. If one of these devices gets hijacked, hackers could potentially snoop around for sensitive data like financial or health information. Or they could use a network of compromised devices to perform a widespread attack that takes down major websites, which is what happened last October. The good news is that so far, online attacks on home devices are relatively uncommon. Only 10 percent of American consumers said they were victims of the crime in a recent study done for the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. However, those who experienced such an attack through their home gadgets reported losses of $1, 000 to $5, 000 from the incidents. “There’s still this whole sort of, ‘Gee whiz, it’s so cool’ thing that’s going on” with home appliances, said Lee Tien, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on digital rights. “That’s also what often gets us into trouble. ” As smart home devices become more popular, they will become bigger targets for hackers. So it behooves us to get ahead of the curve by securing our home appliances, using these tips from security experts who have closely studied smart home accessories. When shopping for an home device like a smart speaker, lighting system or television set, a good rule of thumb is to go with a trusted brand. Larger, companies like Amazon or Google have a background in developing products with security in mind, said Liviu Arsene, an analyst for Bitdefender, which sells security hardware for protecting smart home accessories. Before buying a product, consumers should do a web search on it to see if the company regularly issues software updates that fix security vulnerabilities, he said. People should also carefully read company privacy policies. David Britton, a vice president in the fraud and identity department of Experian, the credit reporting agency, said people should be curious about whether companies themselves were a threat to user privacy. “What are they capturing about you?” he said. “Is the data leaving the device? Is it being sent back to the mother ship?” Consider the smart speakers from Amazon and Google. Amazon said its Alexa smart assistant, which is used in its Echo speakers, automatically downloads software updates to defend against new security threats. Data from the Echo is also uploaded to Amazon’s servers only after people utter the wake word “Alexa,” the company said. That minimizes the likelihood that the device will record conversations unrelated to requests intended for Alexa. Google said its Home speaker similarly issued regular software updates and employed advanced security features, like a technique that disables the device if its software is tampered with. The company added that the speaker processed speech only after the words “O. K. Google” or “Hey Google” were detected. But other large brands occasionally engage in behavior that customers may find objectionable. The smart TV maker Vizio, for example, made headlines with revelations from the investigative news site ProPublica that it kept a detailed record of customer viewing habits and shared it with advertisers, who could then use the information to identify other devices you owned. Your network is the pulse of your smart home, thus it is a vulnerable attack point. Mr. Britton and Mr. Arsene suggest connecting all your smart home accessories — for example, your Amazon Echo, Nest thermostat, Samsung smart refrigerator and Philips Hue smart lights — onto a network that is separate from the one connected to your computing devices, like your smartphone, tablet and computer. With two distinct networks, it will be harder for a hacker to jump from infiltrating your smart accessory on one network to a personal computer on the other network, Mr. Arsene said. The easiest way to create a second network is to make a guest network. Many modern routers, like ’s Archer C7 (the top router recommended by The Wirecutter, a product recommendations site owned by The New York Times) include the ability to host a network for guests that uses a name and password different from that of your primary network. Quarantining your smart speakers, lights and TV onto a guest network will allow them all to interact with one another, while keeping your computing devices safer in the event that any of the smart accessories are hacked. If you are paranoid about your network being hacked, you can also change the router’s network settings to disable broadcasting the network name entirely, Mr. Britton said. That would make it difficult for a hacker driving by to detect and compromise your network, though it would also require house guests to manually type in your network name and password when they log on to your . The same security principles for websites apply to the internet of things. You should set strong, unique passwords for logging into each device you own. If you recycle your passwords and one device is compromised, the others can be, too. A strong password can be a random string of characters or a nonsensical phrase with numbers and special characters. (Examples: My favorite number is Green4782# or The cat ate the CoTTon candy 224%.) If you cannot memorize your passwords, that is a good thing: That means they are hard for hackers to crack. Keep them written down on a piece of paper and stored in a safe place, or store your passwords in a app like 1Password or LastPass. While reputable manufacturers of smart home accessories offer software updates to patch security vulnerabilities, it is often up to the consumer to stay on top of updates. Because it lacks a screen, a smart light bulb or an power socket is going to have a tough time informing you that it needs a software update. Mr. Britton and Mr. Arsene recommend that consumers regularly log into the mobile apps or websites for their smart home accessories to check if they need software updates. If updates are available, install them immediately. Among security researchers, putting a piece of tape over a computer webcam has become a recommendation for those who are extra paranoid about their privacy. (Even Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, does it.) With smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, there is an equivalent: a mute button to disable the device microphone so it can no longer listen. In the unlikely event that a device is hijacked, muting the microphone could help prevent hackers from listening to your conversations, Mr. Britton said. Or you could go the safest route and opt out of having these devices at all. That was the method chosen by Mr. Tien, the lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who previously studied the privacy risks of smart meters, the devices that utility companies use to monitor energy consumption. He said he accepted the privacy implications of owning a smartphone, but a smart home accessory? “I think it’s sort of asking to have your privacy invaded to have something like that,” he said. “I’m not sure that the value of it is really all that great. ” | 0fake |
VIOLENT ENVIRONMENTAL LUNATICS Cost Taxpayers MILLIONS To Protect Trump’s EPA Director After Receiving “Unprecedented” Number of Credible Death Threats | Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt has received an unprecedented amount of death threats, requiring a 24-hour security detail, according to an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal.The paper revealed the EPA has received more than 70 credible threats against EPA staffers, with a disproportionate number menacing Administrator Scott Pruitt and his family, since President Donald Trump took office.Credible threats from liberal opponents have resulted in the EPA s inspector general s office recommending 24/7 security detail for Pruitt, which is costing taxpayers $2 million per year. Mr. Pruitt has received more than five times as many threats as his predecessor, Gina McCarthy, the editorial explained. These include explicit death threats. Some have referenced Mr. Pruitt s home address. Federal law enforcement has determined that some of those threatening Mr. Pruitt are likely capable of carrying out acts of violence. Democratic lawmakers have complained that the security detail is a waste of money, claiming there is no apparent security threat against the administrator to justify such a security detail or expenditures. EPA security has already caught suspects prowling around the Administrator s neighborhood, the Journal reported.Liberals have justified the death threats. Last week, a San Francisco columnist argued death threats against Pruitt were justified because he is a banally evil, milquetoast, science-denying government administrator. The death threats make a warped sort of sense, wrote liberal columnist Mark Morford. Mr. Pruitt didn t invent these threats, and Cabinet members shouldn t have to fear violence as a price of public service, the WSJ editorial board said.For entire story: WFB | 1real |
WTF: Pentagon Sold Over $1 MILLION Worth Of Military Weapons To Fake Cops | Surely, when the Department of Defense hands out military grade weapons, they do thorough checks to verify just who they are giving these things to, right? As it turns out, not so much. The Government Accountability Office, which oversees other government agencies to check for fraud and abuse, decided to see just how careful the DoD was when it came to handing out spare military gear to law enforcement agencies. The result of their sting operation was shocking.The GOA created a fake law enforcement agency with a nifty website and an address that was nothing but an empty parking lot. Then, they applied for the military grade weapons through the 1033 program, which allows law enforcement agencies to obtain military gear that isn t being used.The DoD fell for the ruse hook, line, and sinker. Within a week, the fake cops were given $1.2 million worth of military-grade gear, including night vision goggles, simulated M-16A2 rifles, and pipe bomb equipment. They never did any verification, like visit our location, and most of it was by email, said Zina Merritt, director of the GAO s defense capabilities and management team, which ran the operation. It was like getting stuff off of eBay. Following the shooting death of Michael Brown in 2014, protests broke out in the city of Ferguson. Americans were shocked to see police respond with gear that is normally only seen in the hands of the armed forces. Obama responded to the public outcry by rolling back the Clinton-era 1033 program through an executive order, putting strict oversight in place through a Defense Department and Justice Department working group. However, the group has not met since Trump took office, which is why the GAO decided to launch its sting operation.The DoD didn t have a comment and this colossal screw-up, but they did promise to beef up their verification process. They promised to at least try to visit the agencies who apply for these weapons to make sure they actually exist before shipping them a load of M-16s. The DoD also agreed to complete an internal fraud investigation by April 2018.Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Exclusive—Rep. Massie on Trump’s First 100 Days: ‘Neil Gorsuch Was Worth the Entire Election’ | Congressman Thomas Massie wants spending cuts, not tax increases elsewhere, to offset income tax reductions. [Congressman Massie ( ) spoke to Breitbart News on President Donald Trump’s first 100 days, saying the president is off to a great start, and calling the nomination of Neil Gorsuch a defining moment for the Trump presidency. He told Breitbart News: I’m excited for the wins that we got already, which includes Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch being confirmed and that’s going to last for decades. Neil Gorsuch was worth the entire election, everything else is a bonus. As for other stuff he scores big points for rolling back the regulatory state. In my district two big deals are the EPA’s Waters of the US rule, and the Social Security gun grab. I’m excited about those things. Massie explained that he loves using the Congressional Review Act to repeal regulations. He explained, “I lost track of how many we’ve done, and it was only used once successfully before Trump. and that was an OSHA rule with President George W. Bush that Bush was able to rescind a rule created during the Clinton era. I’m excited about all of those and more. but I’m particularly excited about the Social Security gun ban. ” The Kentucky congressman would love to see a comprehensive infrastructure plan. Massie said: I would love for us to make progress on infrastructure. I am one of the most conservative members of Congress, and I serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee because I believe it’s vital to our country. it’s one of the few things our country should spend money on. I believe that there’s a constitutional and a federal nexus for it so I’d like to figure out how to address the nation’s infrastructure needs. Trump spoke to that on the campaign, and I think that a lot of Republicans and Democrats agree that we need this. So I believe that Trump can get the six votes he needs in the Senate to pass an infrastructure plan. We know he can get 218 in the House. I’m really excited he chose Elaine Chao to be Transportation Secretary. Massie cheered Trump nominating Scott Garrett to run the Bank. He said: He couldn’t pick a better person than Scott Garrett to run the Bank. Obviously I want to eliminate the Bank, but if there’s going to be someone to run, then Scott should run it. He’s the best person he can choose. It’s not in the win column, but it’s something for Congress to do, not the president. We should elect more people in Congress to get rid of the Bank. Looking forward, Congressman Massie believes that tax reform can do some great work if it cuts Americans’ tax burden and does not add to the deficit. He said: In spite of the caution, there’s a lot of opportunity in tax reform. I think what we should do instead of swallowing the entire apple whole, we should take several bites at it. I agree in large part with Stephen Moore and Larry Kudlow in their Wall Street Journal that we should take it slow and rack up some wins and realize that tax reform does not have to be revenue neutral. Revenue neutral means that someone’s taxes are going down and somebody’s taxes are going up. “I would like us to see a real tax cut along with tax reform and we can accomplish that without increasing the deficit. We can make up the difference by cutting spending, especially in a lot of ways that works with Trump’s narrative. We spent a $100 billion in Afghanistan rebuilding their infrastructure … . I would like to see Trump bring that money back. That’s a great opportunity right there,” Massie concluded. | 0fake |
CA Cops Brutally Beat Man Accused Of Jaywalking, Charge Him With Assault (VIDEO) | Bystander footage shows a group of Bakersfield, California police officers brutally beating a man in the street.The video begins with the man, now identified as Robert Woodson, lying in the street with an unidentified officer standing over him. He can be heard screaming that he thinks his leg is broken.Two more officers arrive on the scene.The video shows the officers repeatedly striking Woodson with a police-issued baton.Throughout the brutal assault the officers can be heard shouting, Stop resisting! Stop resisting. The person recording the incident responds by sayinm He s not doing nothing, and He s not resisting. While it s clear that Woodson wasn t complying with police commands, at no time does the video show him trying to get up off the ground, making threatening moves or gestures toward police.In spite of this, the cops use a taser on him.His screams of pain can be heard throughout the encounter.According to KERO Woodson was eventually taken to a local hospital where he was treated for injuries sustained during the episode.The police watchdog organization Photography Is Not A Crime reports that the man suffered an injury to his arm which required a cast.Police charged Woodson with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.If that s not disturbing enough, during an interview with KERO, Bakersfield police sergeant Gary Carruesco stated that police acted appropriately, in part because they were concerned Woodson had mental issues. The video, combined with the disturbing response from sergeant Carruesco, provides a bleak picture of how law enforcement officers respond to people with mental illness.While police assessed Woodson s behavior as willful noncompliance, it s unknown whether the man was physically or mentally capable of following officer s commands.In Woodson s case, officers expressed their concern for him with tasers and batons.Here s the video, courtesy of KERO.Featured image via ideo screen capture via KERO | 1real |
Obama says U.S. special relationship with Britain will endure | PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that he had spoken with British Prime Minister David Cameron about Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and that he was confident the United Kingdom was committed to an orderly transition. “While the UK’s relationship with the EU will change, one thing that will not change is special relationship that exists between our two nations,” Obama said in a speech at a global entrepreneurs conference at Stanford University. “That will endure. The EU will remain one of our indispensable partners.” | 0fake |
Asteroid Warning System Found ‘City-Killer’ Object Heading Toward Earth | Asteroid Warning System Found ‘City-Killer’ Object Heading Toward Earth 11/01/2016
DAILY CALLER
NASA’s new asteroid warning system detected a large “city-killer” asteroid hurtling toward Earth less than a week before it narrowly missed.
The rock, officially named 2016 UR36, was first detected Oct. 25 by a telescope in Hawaii and passed by Earth five days later. The asteroid missed by a distance of only 310,000 miles, around 1.3 times further away than the Moon. That’s incredibly close in space terms.
2016 UR36 could be up to 82 feet across, roughly comparable in size to the meteor that exploded over Russia in February 2013, causing hundreds of injuries .
If 2016 UR36 had slammed into Earth, it would have struck with a force 55 times stronger than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima near the end of World War II. That’s more than enough force to level a city.
NASA director Charles Bolden told reporters in 2013 that the only response to a such a late detection of an asteroid set to collide with Earth was to “ Pray .”
Global asteroid detection programs found more than 15,176 near-Earth objects of all sizes with 1,562 new near-Earth objects being identified this year alone, according to International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planets Center . These newly discovered near-Earth objects are part of a much larger population of more than 700,000 known asteroids in our Solar System.
NASA and its European partners are now focused on finding objects that are 450 feet in diameter or larger, which could devastate a city or country if they struck Earth.
In the event an asteroid couldn’t be prevented from hitting Earth, the Planetary Defense Coordination Office would work with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Defense, and other federal agencies to coordinate disaster response. | 1real |
US Inches Closer To War With Russia | The U.S. military announced that they had begun a “major” offensive in Raqqa, Syria, the de facto ISIS capital.
Via YourNewsWire
The announcement on Sunday would pave the way for Hillary Clinton to declare a no-fly zone in northeast Syria should she be elected president.. and a no fly zone will require going to war with Syria and Russia.
Approximately 30,000 fighters will participate in the U.S.-led operation. The group expected to carry out the bulk of the fighting is the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or the YPG. The YPG is the military extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group that is on the U.S. terrorism list.
(It is not known if U.S. officials were asked about the duplicity of declaring the PKK a terrorist group while at the same time working with them in the region.)
The U.S. will first attempt to seal off Raqqa before venturing into the city itself – actions that government officials say will not be completed prior to Barack Obama leaving office. “We always advertised that the isolation phase (of Raqqa) is going to take months,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford was quoted as saying on Sunday.
The announcement paves the way for Hillary Clinton to declare a no-fly zone in northeastern Syria upon entering the Oval Office. A no-fly zone would “require us to go to war against Syria and Russia,” Danford told the Senate in September.
In discussing no-fly zones on Friday, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said, “for us to declare a no-fly zone means get ready for war with Russia.” In a separate interview, Stein said, “this is a mushroom cloud waiting to happen.”
| 1real |
Vatican urges politicians to defend migrants, not stereotype them | VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis launched a global Roman Catholic campaign on Wednesday to improve the lot of immigrants and one of his top cardinals urged politicians to touch the hand of a migrant before trying to stereotype them. The two-year Share the Journey campaign comes at a time of growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States and many European countries where far-right parties have made inroads. On Sunday the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (Afd) party surged to third place in a national election, tapping into public disquiet over the arrival of more than a million migrants in Germany over the past two years. The pope, who has made defense of migrants a major plank of his pontificate, launched the campaign in comments to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter s Square for his weekly audience, urging Catholics around the world to be open, inclusive and welcoming . Italy s anti-immigrant Northern League has vowed to clamp down on migration from developing countries if it takes power in a coalition government after next year s elections. At a news conference at the Vatican, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila called for a culture of personal encounter where friendship supplants fear. I would invite the leaders to meet a migrant, touch the hand of a migrant, smell a migrant, listen to their stories and you will see that they are like you and me, he said. They are not really other . They could be me. They could be my brother, my sister, my parents, said Tagle, whose grandfather left China for the Philippines as a poor boy. The two-year campaign of action and awareness is being spearheaded by Caritas Internationalis, the worldwide umbrella of Catholic charities. The campaign encourages local communities to facilitate encounters between migrants and those who fear or denigrate them in church halls and private homes. Look them in the eyes, listen to why they left their homes, how their journey s been, see the real people behind the numbers and scare stories, Tagle said. He urged politicians not to close the doors on people who might enrich your society . In the United States, where President Donald Trump wants to build a wall along the border with Mexico, his ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon - himself a Catholic - got embroiled in a row with the U.S. Catholic Church this month when he said its bishops backed illegal immigrants in order to fill empty pews. Francis this month said he hoped Trump would re-think his decision to end a program protecting undocumented immigrant children, saying it was important for young people to have roots. | 0fake |
Astronomers Think They Have Just Discovered Messages Sent From Aliens | Anomalous signals from deep space often evoke a quick pulse of gossip and speculation about aliens that dies off soon thereafter, when scientists are able to explain it. Usually, the explanation involves a natural cosmic process — an asteroid, space detritus, or frequencies from an exploded star.
Via AntiMedia
Sometimes, however, the signals are too mysterious to explain. There’s a reason why you may have seen a sustained social media buzz regarding aliens this past week. A few days ago, two scientists from Laval University in Quebec released a paper arguing they may have just received our first communication from extraterrestrials.
Scroll Down For Video Below! First, a bit of context. This has been an exciting decade for those of us who stargaze in awe, wondering how many sentient beings live in this incomprehensibly enormous universe of ours. First, the search for exoplanets accelerated dramatically, aided by the Keplar telescope, which has identified over 1,000 planets outside of our solar system.
While scientists have long known that our Milky Way galaxy alone probably contains several hundred billion planets, the ability to study them had eluded us until fairly recently (this ability will be exponentially augmented when the James Webb telescope allows us to analyze exoplanets’ atmospheres and search for traces of industrial gasses). Additionally, the discovery of Earth-like exoplanets — some of which are conceivably close enough to visit in a few decades — has tantalizing ramifications for our near future human race.
Earlier this year, scientists announced the incredible observation of a series of inexplicable brightness frequencies from the star KIC 8462852, which led many to speculate the signals could have been originating from a Dyson sphere, a theoretical megastructure by which an advanced alien race (a Kardschez type 2 civilization) could harness the power of its sun. The newest discovery from this star has made it even more unlikely that the signals are from natural causes.
The newest strange signals hail from a gaggle of some 234 stars identified by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which analyzed the spectra of 2.5 million stars. E.F. Borra and E. Trottier, the two astronomers who discovered the anomalies, discussed them in their paper, which was originally titled “Signals probably from Extraterrestrial Intelligence.”
“We find that the detected signals have exactly the shape of an [extraterrestrial intelligence] signal predicted in the previous publication and are therefore in agreement with this hypothesis,” they wrote.
“The fact that they are only found in a very small fraction of stars within a narrow spectral range centered near the spectral type of the sun is also in agreement with the ETI hypothesis.” Of course, it is far from certain that these are actual alien messages. In an interview with none other than Snopes.com, Borra claimed he never actually used the word ‘probably’ and that further confirmation was needed.
The director of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, Andrew Siemion, issued an admonishing response: “You can’t make such definitive statements about detections unless you’ve exhausted every possible means of follow-up.”
So why is everyone so excited? The discovery appears to match a prediction Borra made in 2012 when he claimed aliens could very well use intermittent bursts of laser as a means of communication. For his part, Siemion plans to use his Breakthrough Listen Initiative to more closely assess several stars from the 234 sample. Meanwhile, Borra andTrottier, Borra’s graduate student, will continue observing the mysterious signals.
It’s an exciting decade for space research. With plans for a mission to Mars in the hopper, as well as an exploratory probe that will be sent to the moon Europa, we may be witnessing the rebirth of the Space Race. What better incentive could there be to venture further into space than the call of an alien species? Let’s hope that by the time we meet them, our own species will have transcended its addiction to war and unsustainable resource allocation.
| 1real |
WATCH: Steve Harvey HILARIOUSLY Mocks Trump For Whining About SNL | Steve Harvey appeared on The View and ripped Donald Trump a new one for whining about Saturday Night Live instead of focusing on the presidency.On Monday, the ladies talked about Trump s inability to ignore satire. As we all know, Alec Baldwin returned to portray Trump in a skit in which Trump repeatedly ignores national security briefings so he can post shit on Twitter.Baldwin s impersonation apparently outraged Trump, so he took to Twitter to whine about it.Just tried watching Saturday Night Live unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can t get any worse. Sad Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2016Trump was roundly criticized for the tweet because he perfectly demonstrated that he is too thin-skinned and easily provoked to be president and he instantly proved Saturday Night Live s point that he focuses too much on Twitter instead of the important issues facing our country.So when Steve Harvey, who is also a very busy man who hosts a lot of shows, appeared on The View, he was immediately asked to comment on Trump s hissy fit.Harvey pointed out that Saturday Night Live has mocked him many times but he doesn t have time to obsess with that stuff. Look, do you know how many times Saturday Night Live has done me? Harvey asked. That little fat Kenan talked about me. He done me like I ain t got nothin else to do. I want to punch him in the face, yeah, but I mean, I don t have time for that. I m not even the president and I ain t got time for that. Here s the video via YouTube.Unlike Steve Harvey, Donald Trump is supposed to be preparing for the most important job in the world. America is not a reality television show where Trump can just walk on set, say a few lines, and then leave until the next day. The government of the United States cannot be run like a business. There s a lot that the president has to do and deal with, all requiring different approaches. There s a reason why presidents go gray while in office. It is a stressful job and a consequential one demanding one s full attention. Trump is not giving the presidency his full attention and that is dangerous. Rather than playing on Twitter and whining every time someone says something about him, Trump should be studying up and that means actually attending the daily intelligence briefings. Because ignoring those is how terrorist attacks like 9/11 get overlooked.Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
Russia is Hoarding Gold at an Alarming Rate — The Next World War Will Be Fought with Currencies | Home / Be The Change / Antiwar / Russia is Hoarding Gold at an Alarming Rate — The Next World War Will Be Fought with Currencies Russia is Hoarding Gold at an Alarming Rate — The Next World War Will Be Fought with Currencies Jay Syrmopoulos October 26, 2016 1 Comment
Moscow, Russia – With all eyes on Russia’s unveiling their latest nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which NATO has dubbed the “SATAN” missile , as tensions with the U.S. increase, Moscow’s most potent “weapon” may be something drastically different.
The rapidly evolving geopolitical “weapon” brandished by Russia is an ever increasing stockpile of gold, as well as Russia’s native currency, the ruble.
Take a look at the symbol below, as it could soon come to change the entire hierarchy of the international order – potentially ushering in a complete international paradigm shift – and much sooner than you might think.
The symbol is the new designation of the Russian ruble, Russia’s national currency.
Similar to how the U.S. uses the dollar sign ($), the U.K. uses the pound sign (£), and the European Union uses the euro symbol (€), Russia is about to begin exporting its symbol internationally.
After the failed “reset” in U.S./Russian relations by the Obama administration, and the continued deterioration of the countries relationship, Washington began targeting entire sectors of the Russian economy, as well as specific individuals, meant to impose an economic burden so severe that it would force Moscow into compliance.
Instead of decimating Russia, what it precipitated was a Russian response of gradually weaning themselves off of the hegemony of the U.S. petrodollar, and working with China to create an alternative to the SWIFT payment system that isn’t solely controlled by Western interests (see Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , New Development Bank).
According to the Corbett Report :
New reports indicate that China is ready to launch its SWIFT alternative, and for those who have their ear to the ground this is the most significant move yet in the unfolding process of de-dollarization that is seeing the BRICS-led “resistance bloc” breaking away from the financial stranglehold of the US-led “Washington Consensus.”
For those who don’t know, SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and is shorthand for the SWIFTNet Network that is used by over 10,500 financial institutions in 215 countries and territories to transmit financial transaction data around the world. SWIFT does not do any of the clearing or processing for these transactions itself, but instead sends the payment orders that are then settled by correspondent banks of the member institutions. Still, given the system’s near universality in the financial system, it means that virtually every international transaction between banking institutions goes through the SWIFT network.
This is why de-listing from the SWIFT network remains one of the primary financial weapons wielded by the US and its allies in their increasingly important financial warfare campaigns.
Recently, financial guru Jim Rickards, author of the book “Currency Wars,” wrote that “Russia is poised for a major comeback in its economy. Russian bonds and stocks and the Russian currency, the ruble, will all benefit.” Rickards believes a “strong turnaround” is coming within Russia, and that this comeback will benefit the ruble.
While still suffering from the economic warfare being waged by the U.S., Russia has realized that as long they are subservient to the petrodollar, there remains a clear and present danger of the Russian economy being devastated by the whims of Washington.
The Bank of Russia, that nation’s central bank, is extremely clear about its mission, and monetary policy declaring on its website:
Monetary policy constitutes an integral part of the state policy and is aimed at enhancing well-being of Russian citizens. The Bank of Russia implements monetary policy in the framework of inflation-targeting regime, and sees price stability, albeit sustainably low inflation, as its priority. Given structural peculiarities of the Russian economy, the target is to reduce inflation to 4% by 2017 and maintain it within that range in the medium run.
In layman’s terms, that means that monetary policy, similar to nuclear weapons and the military, are “an integral part of the state policy” in Russia. While many analysts have noted the increased build-up in Russia’s military arsenal, seemingly few have highlighted the massive build-up of Russian gold reserves over the past decade.
Below is a chart showing Russian gold reserves between 1994 and last year, 2015:
Since 2006, there has been a year-on-year increase that reveals a significant upward trend. The chart clearly reveals that Russia’s state policy of increasing state monetary assets, in the form of gold. Additionally, the Russian government has been converting state rubles into gold assets. From 2006 to 2015, Russia’s state holdings of gold tripled.
Within just the past year Russia has substantially increased its gold holdings
According to the Business Insider :
In July of this year, the central bank of Russia added 200,000 ounces of gold to its reserves. The one-month uptick in Russian gold reserves — 200,000 ounces — is approximately equal to the entire annual output of Barrick Gold’s Turquoise Ridge gold mine in Nevada.
At that same rate — 200,000 ounces per month — in a mere five months, Russia would add to state gold reserves the equivalent of the entire annual output of Barrick’s massive Goldstrike mine in Nevada.
Currently, Russian gold reserves rank seventh in the world. It’s clear that there is a concerted effort by Russian authorities to build up the country’s gold reserves as part of a national strategy to negate the effects of economic warfare waged by the United States.
Rickards, in his 2011 book “Currency Wars,” theorized that Russia and China could combine their gold reserves to form a global gold-backed currency to compete against the U.S. dollar. Currently, Russian reserves stand at roughly 1,500 tonnes, with Chinese reserves totaling over 1,800 tonnes (according to China — it’s likely more), which would amount to a combined total of roughly 3,300 tonnes of gold.
The U.S. is about to lose overarching control of policymaking within the International Monetary Fund (IMF), thus the U.S. lockup on global gold is about to vanish, according to Business Insider.
Imagine for a moment the distinctly real possibility that Russian-Chinese alliance could exercise indirect (or even direct) control over the IMF’s gold reserve of over 2,800 tonnes. Russian, Chinese and IMF gold combined would equal roughly 6,100 tonnes, and would allow for direct competition with the U.S. gold reserves, estimated at 8,100 tonnes.
Russia and China have realized that the petrodollar is wielded by Washington as it’s weapon of choice when opposing a well-armed state, and clearly see the writing on the wall – thus working together to create a new global financial paradigm.
The reality is that the United States is $20 trillion dollars in debt, and eventually the time will come when the U.S. economy begins to implode — and all the fiat currency people are stuck holding will essentially be worth nothing more than the paper it’s printed on. Hard assets, such as gold and silver, should be bought and taken custody of while there is still an opportunity to do so, as a means of hedging against the potentially disastrous results of the U.S. using the petrodollar as a “weapon.”
It’s not Russian nuclear weapons that people should fear, as the policy of mutually assured destruction essentially voids any benefit of a state launching a first-strike nuclear attack. The true threat to America is our economic house of cards, built upon the back of a neoliberal trade policy that puts the “rights” of corporations over that of people .
Ultimately, the United States, Russia and China are all controlled by centralized power-hungry tyrants attempting to command powerful global bureaucracies like the IMF, the World Bank, SWIFT, New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Share Google + T. Mohr
Tell the Red Queen and her arms manufacturing friends that. Bullets and bombs will never go out of style with these murderers. Social Trending | 1real |
3 Type of Social Engineering Attacks to Watch Out For | 3 Type of Social Engineering Attacks to Watch Out For Nov 15, 2016 1 0
Many of us think that we are not only the main actors of the films of our lives but also the directors of it. But the more detailed analysis of the reality shows that this is only an illusion. In most cases our mind directs the film of our lives, not we. I’ve previously introduced in my articles how the mind works, now I only wish to point out those factors, which manipulate our film of life unconsciously. 3 type of social engineering attacks are the following: the Consumer Social Pattern, the Power of Expectations and the Mirror of Opinions. The Consumer Social Pattern
The most important system of social co-existence on Earth today is the consumer society. It means that the basis of social development is economic growth and economic growth depends on how much we consume.
The most important consumer is Ego, since all products obtained (house, car, expensive clothes), improve the imaginary greatness of the Ego . The more commodities or more power we possess, the more important members of consumer society we are.
If we are able to divert our attention from Ego, and concentrate on our internal development and our spiritual birth , our qualities as consumers will considerably drop, since we are no longer attracted to the things that so far fattened our Egos.
As in the recent decades more and more people have felt a need for spiritual birth, social strategy changed accordingly . Spiritual development has also been made a consumer product, which largely supported by the survival instinct of the Ego. The Ego, which has been interested in money and power, now turns towards spiritual development, and disguises itself in the dress of a spiritual Ego . We try to decorate those spiritual clothes by adding more and more spiritual knowledge and experience so as to make it more colorful and individual. With all that, we hope that our spiritual progress will serve the further increase and eternal happiness of our spiritual Ego.
Consumer society is all too pleased to serve us in those needs. A glance at the vivid market of spiritual books, methods and masters will suffice to convince us about that. Nothing has really changed; the pattern of the consumer society is the same, only its contents have been partially replaced. The Power of Expectations
The more complex a society is, the more space a specific member of it is supposed to occupy in the complicated system of human relationships. Every such occupied status involves a set of rules, the system of expectations that dictate how the individual occupying the status is supposed to behave in a specific situation, how to behave as a man, a father, a doctor etc.
These expectations tell us how we must and how we must not behave in a specific situation and in connection with a specific person.
In the majority of cases, these expectations work unconsciously, almost like automatic programs running in our life. These deep programs have become a part of our mind in the course of our upbringing, and they are activated by a specific situation in which we are or a person we get into contact with. Then we put on the appropriate mask, tailored to the specific situation or person.
We occupy several statuses at the same time, so it seems that we drown in the sea of expectations. It is also common that the various expectations attached to various statuses collide with each other, generating further anxiety and stress for us.
What keeps us on the forced track of expectations, why do not we simply leave it behind?
The dynamizing power of the social expectations is provided by our identification with the internal and external expectations, and base our identity on them. We identify with our social statuses, with the masks of our roles in our gender, family and occupation. These masks are attached to us so closely that we would not be able to exist without them. We indentify ourselves with our internal expectations, and our scruples and level of demands often constitute the cornerstone of our identity.
We are so deeply identified with these social expectations, we do not notice that these very expectations convert us into replicas, fake personalities. The pages of our personal history are written by these external forces imposed upon us by society, they determine how to see the world, how to think about the world, how to think about it, what to believe in, what is good for us and what we should avoid.
That is how we have lost our individuality over the years and became unconsciously the victims of a manipulation based upon public agreement. The social expectations have been shaped through a general agreement over the centuries, and became manipulative because we insisted on our identification with the separate state of consciousness .
That is how we jointly sustain this identity, rooted in isolation, this social ”creatureness,” because, due to our ignorance, we stick to the world of forms and shapes. We are only able to imagine our personal existence in the here and now. The Mirror of Opinions
”Tell me, what do you think about me, what is your opinion about me?” we have asked other people this question a number of times. What we have gathered from the opinions received from others, we forged an image of ourselves, who we are and what our mission in life is. We have gradually identified with the image, we believed that the image is really us; we have pinned it up on the wall of our room, and proudly show it to any coming our way: look, that is me.
On the other hand, the image in the mirror has also caused us a lot of worry, since there is always a doubt in us: does that image really meet the expectations of others, do we appear good, decent, religious enough in the eyes of others?
As a consequence, we spend our whole life polishing and improving the image in order to make it look better and better for others. We tend to believe that the best strategy in this process is copying, imitating others. This is a strategy that we use from our babyhood onward, that is how we learn our native language, and that is how we acquire the elements of our culture. Later, when we are older, we continue copying others, since if we follow the ways of those who lead a decent and good life, we cannot be wrong.
Another characteristic feature of our image in the mirror is that it is contradictory by nature. We receive almost as many opinions as many friends and acquaintances we have. Some may consider as clever, whereas others do not find that the most important feature of ours. It generates a permanent state of uncertainty in connection with the image, that is, in connection with ourselves.
This uncertainty in connection with ourselves shall serve as a basis for our desire to convince other people that the image in the mirror is true, and we really are the way other people see us. If our identification wirth the image in the mirror, generated from the opinions of others, is strong, it keeps us in a virtually hypnotic state, and we life our whole life under the spell of that image. Be the Director of the Film of your Life
If we realise how these unconscious processes affect our lives, we can become the directors of the films of our lives.
Our internal development therefore does not only depend on our life experience; it depends much more on our ability to divert our attention from the outside world to our internal world. The patterns of the consumer society are determined to prevent us from making the necessary adjustments in our orientation by gluing our attention to various consumer products or a spiritual development scheme that involves the Ego . A major element of this spiritual development pattern is that we are trying to understand the contents of our Minds, to analyze our thoughts and emotions. Our attention is thus engaged by the various methods that we are using to examine our thoughts and emotions. That is what we regard as our real internal world, and we create the illusion of toiling on our spiritual birth.
From the aspect of our spiritual growth the –often chaotic– world of our Mind and emotions is not our real internal world. Our attention should not be directed to the analysis and comprehension of these; instead, we need to concentrate on becoming conscious of our existence, to find the center of our Self behind our external life and personal history. That is our real internal world.
In the course of our spiritual world we become conscious of, and alert to that internal center, to that internal world. Once that has been accomplished, our life is placed on entirely new foundations. The Mind stops functioning the way it used to and, together with that, our sense of identifying with the Mind vanishes. The spiritual Ego, our separate little self disappears, and we are permeated by a permanent, light presence. The personality is gone, and what remains is silence and presence, as the real essence of our existence. From that time on, that will serve as the real foundation for our internal development.
We submerge into the present moment, we shall experience a miracle. At present, the program of our internal expectations have already been dissolved, and we no longer identify with our expectations of the other people. The mirror of opinions blurs, and our wholesome Self, the pleasure of Existence shall be revealed. | 1real |
131 countries support Russia's anti-Nazi UN resolution, but is this enough? | November 18, 2016 - By Eduard Popov for Fort Russ - translated by J. Arnoldski -
On November 17th, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly voted on a resolution to combat the glorification of Nazism proposed by Russia in collaboration with 54 states. The delegations of 131 out of 193 states voted to support the resolution, which also concerned combatting contemporary forms of racism. 48 delegations abstained, including some EU countries. Only three countries voted against the document: Palau, the US, and Ukraine. Thus, the situation from 2015 was repeated, the only difference being that back then Canada voted not to condemn Nazism.
At first glance, what is surprising is the absence of the Baltic states, specifically Latvia and Estonia, on this extra short list of those opposed. It is in Latvia and Estonia that the glorification of the “exploits” of local Waffen SS divisions has taken a most radical and consistent form. However, this can be explained by the fact that the Baltic states are EU members and are therefore compelled to restrain some of their desires.
Everything is more or less clear with the United States’ vote. After the Second World War, numerous Nazi collaborators were settled in America, especially Ukrainians from both factions of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Apparently, the influence of the Ukrainian (Galician) diaspora has a, if not decisive, then at least important impact on US policy.
Ukraine is even less restrained than the Baltic states of the EU. The idolization of Nazi collaborators has begun to be widespread at least since the victory of the Maidan (if we don’t count Viktor Yushchenko’s presidency), so Ukrainians are striving to catch up and surpass Latvia and Estonia in the open glorification of Nazism.
In the future, additional legislative measures against the glorification of the Waffen SS and Hitlerite collaborationists will need to be adopted. It is entirely unclear why Russia has become the victim of attacks by the neo-Nazi Baltic regimes for “Soviet occupation” but is in no hurry to make counter-claims against those countries which now openly hold marches for veterans and adherents of the Waffen SS, a criminal organization which was convicted at the Nuremberg Tribunal.
Measures of an economic nature should be taken. On November 18th, a report surfaced that Rosselkhoznadzor (the Russian state organization overseeing agricultural imports) gave permission for canned fish to be delivered from Latvia and Estonia. This has caused great bewilderment and indignation. First of all, these states, as EU members, have imposed sanctions against Russia. Secondly, their Waffen SS marches make any trade concessions from Russia morally unacceptable. After all, no other country suffered more from the crimes of Nazism than Russia.
The Baltic Waffen SS divisions fought (or, more precisely, carried out punitive operations) largely on the territory of Russia’s northern regions. After the war, the Soviet communist regime treated these ex-executioners fairly gently and, in doing so, likely committed a big mistake. the Baltic Nazis did not appreciate humanity, and the same thing can be said of the Banderites in Ukraine.
Russia should follow the example of Poland and adopt legislation on a state level which names the criminal deeds of the organizations in the former USSR countries (above all, Ukraine and the Baltics) which collaborated with the Hitlerite occupation regime. This means the national formations of the Waffen SS and collaborationist groupings such as OUN-UPA, etc.).
Russia has the right to impose economic, legal, and social measures against these countries and urge the international community to join the fight against the glorification of Nazism at the state level.
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Crying Jordan: The Meme That Just Won’t Die - The New York Times | He won six N. B. A. championships, is the greatest scorer ever and once netted 38 points while battling the flu. The logo of a sneaker brand is a silhouette of him flying through the air. But on Twitter, Michael Jordan is a loser. For the past two years, a photograph of Jordan crying, snapped at his 2009 induction into basketball’s Hall of Fame, has been grafted onto any sports figure who has suffered humiliation or defeat. No one is seemingly safe from the Crying Jordan treatment. When the New England Patriots lost to the Denver Broncos in the N. F. L. playoffs this year, Tom Brady got Crying Jordaned. He’s joined by the University of North Carolina mascot Rameses and the Villanova band member who cried as she played the piccolo during her team’s stunning N. C. A. A. tournament defeat last year. Recently, Jordan’s cry face has transcended sports. It has graced the cracked Liberty Bell, losing Powerball numbers and that picture of Marco Rubio on a gigantic chair. When it was announced that Harriet Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, the president’s face got hit. Now you can Crying Jordan your friends: The “Crying Jordan Meme Generator” app, which serves up little Crying Jordan cutouts, has been downloaded more than 40, 000 times since its February release. The internet thrives on humiliation. Twitter is always raring for a public shaming. The Crying Jordan meme, which takes one of America’s biggest sports stars and makes him small, indulges those impulses, but it also works on another level as a corrective to online . The meme’s hold over online culture offers clues about our ambivalent relationship to alpha males in 2016. “It takes somebody so good, so dominant — the crème de la crème — and it makes him into an international figure of epic failure,” said David Okun, a software developer who created the app. “That’s what’s so great about it. ” But the Crying Jordan meme radiates affection even as it burns. “Memes are used as a weapon,” said Limor Shifman, a lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who studies digital culture. “But at the very same time, the weapon creates a kind of affinity between the groups that are fighting, because everybody gets the joke. ” By the way, “Michael actually thinks it’s funny,” his spokeswoman, Estee Portnoy, said. The meme pokes fun at a person’s failures, but it also turns them into an game, one in which everyone messes up, and everyone receives the same absurd rebuke. It helps that the Crying Jordan often mercifully obscures the shamed person’s face. It’s a little like putting a over a . If the meme drags Michael Jordan’s image down with it, his persona can take the hit. “It doesn’t make you feel bad, like a picture of a crying kid would,” said Courtney M. Cox, who studies the intersection of sports and technology at the University of Southern California. “He’s the greatest basketball player ever. The lowest we’ve ever seen him is crying at the Hall of Fame. ” Crying Jordan recalls other memes inspired by famous men caught in introspective moments. There is Sad Kanye, a meme based on a candid photograph of Kanye West looking dejected on a tour, and Sad Keanu, which plays off a paparazzi photo of Keanu Reeves eating a sandwich alone. “There’s an element of flawed masculinity at play,” Ms. Shifman said. “You have a masculine star who expresses vulnerability, and people simultaneously mock and celebrate that. ” The Jordan meme can be read as straightforwardly emasculating: Watch a grown man cry. But it also works as a criticism of traditional maleness. The meme revels in the contradiction between Jordan’s legendarily aggressive persona and his tears. The joke probably couldn’t work with any other sports star: Magic Johnson was a passer, Tom Brady is a but Jordan’s dominance on the court was matched only by his nerve. He came back from retirement — twice. And his Hall of Fame speech, in which he resurrected old feuds, extended that reputation. “Jordan is the ultimate alpha male, and this was his alpha male moment,” a columnist for ESPN wrote after the event. Only in the snapshot does he look oddly pitiful: eyes red, shoulders slouched, cheeks shiny with tears. The meme makes fun at the guy who cried like a little girl over what a big man he was. It’s not a coincidence that the Jordan meme took off just as N. B. A. stars used the sport’s biggest stages to model humility and playfulness. Modern masculinity in basketball is Kevin Durant, the most valuable player of 2014, calling his mother “the real M. V. P. ” It’s Stephen Curry ceding the spotlight to his daughter Riley at a news conference. The meme seems to share that sense of perspective. Some iterations of the Jordan meme work as bizarre visual gags: replacing Michael Jackson on the cover of “Thriller” making up James Harden’s beard with layer upon layer of Crying Jordans. Other variations rely on sheer volume: As the Oklahoma City Thunder stumbled in the N. B. A. playoffs, every Thunder fan visible in the stands became a target. Perhaps the most technologically advanced and contextually creative Crying Jordan plays off LeBron James’s pregame ritual. When he tosses some chalk above his head, an ephemeral Crying Jordan appears, then dissipates into the air. When Jordan made a rare public appearance in April, showing up at an N. C. A. A. tournament game at his alma mater, North Carolina, the meme threatened to turn meta. Sure enough, the Tar Heels were upset and, in countless tweets, so was Jordan. “Memes, they come and they go, but this is unlike any I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Okun, the app’s creator, said. “It keeps feeling like it’s going to die, and it doesn’t. It only gets bigger. ” He added, “I hope it never stops. ” After all, the meme has helped extend Jordan’s legacy, if not exactly honor it. “I just hope that when kids say: ‘Mommy? Daddy? Who’s that crying basketball guy? ’,” Mr. Okun said. “They tell them: ‘That’s the greatest basketball player of all time. That’s Michael Jordan. ’” | 0fake |
Mattis looking at ways to bring Russia into compliance with arms control treaty | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday he had discussed Russia s violation of an arms control treaty with his NATO counterparts and they were looking at how to bring Moscow into compliance with it. We have a firm belief now over several years that the Russians have violated the INF and our effort is to bring Russia back into compliance, Mattis said, speaking with reporters during a meeting of NATO defense ministers. U.S. officials have said Russia has deployed a cruise missile despite complaints by Washington that it violates the arms control treaty banning ground-based, U.S. and Russian intermediate-range missiles. Russia however, has said in the past that it appears that Washington, now in the midst of a $1 trillion, 30-year modernization of its ageing ballistic missile submarines, bombers and land-based missiles, that was in breach of the same treaty. Many of the nations already have their own evidence of what Russia has been up to and we have been in active discussions amongst ourselves on the issue, Mattis said. He added that the United States and NATO would be engaging with Russia to try and resolve the issue. | 0fake |
Exclusive: McCain backs Trump criticism of F-35, says president can't cancel it | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said on Monday he backed President-elect Donald Trump’s criticism of the costs of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet program, but said a president does not have the authority to cancel it because funds have already been appropriated. In an interview with Reuters, McCain, a leading Republican voice on national security and outspoken critic of Pentagon cost overruns, said, however, that Trump would have the power to reduce future purchases of the new-generation fighters if he decides to do so. “He can reduce the buy over time, next year, as we look at it again,” McCain said. “But right now, the acquisition … of lots of them is already taking place, and I’m happy to say at fixed-price contract. The president, I’m sure, can examine it.” | 0fake |
Thai PM says 'don't worry' about U.S. trade policy yet | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s prime minister said on Tuesday he had told officials to prepare for changes in U.S. trade policy under President Donald Trump, but it was too soon for the big exporter to worry. As in other Asian countries which run large trade surpluses with the United States, concern has spread in Thailand since Trump last week said he had ordered a study of the causes of U.S. trade deficits. “We should take it easy as there are no formal words about that yet,” junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters. “I have asked deputy prime ministers and relevant agencies to look into it as we have to be prepared ... but don’t worry too much about that now.” Thailand ran a surplus of about $18 billion in trade with the United States last year, the Thai commerce ministry says. That puts it 11th globally - well behind China’s $347 billion surplus or even nearby Vietnam’s $32 billion - but the United States is Thailand’s biggest export destination at a time the military government is struggling rekindle growth. At a meeting in Bangkok on Monday, a senior U.S. trade official set out the Trump administration’s trade agenda, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said. Topics of discussion included “barriers to U.S. exports to Thailand related to customs, agriculture, intellectual property, labor, financial services, and other issues,” it said. Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said the ministry would meet businesses this week to discuss the potential impact of Trump administration policies, but it was sticking to its export growth target of 5 percent for now. Thailand’s top five export goods to the United States last year were computers and computer parts, rubber products, jewelry, radio and television receivers, and automobiles and parts. Exports, one of Thailand’s few drivers of growth, are just starting to recover. They rose slightly in 2016 after three years of contraction and were up 2.5 percent from a year earlier in the first two months of this year. The central bank last week raised its 2017 export forecast to 2.2 percent rise from no growth and upgraded its economic growth outlook to 3.4 percent from 3.2 percent. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy expanded 3.2 percent last year. | 0fake |
Malaysia ready to provide temporary shelter for Rohingya fleeing violence | KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia s coast guard will not turn away Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar and is willing to provide them temporary shelter, the maritime agency s chief said on Friday. Rohingya insurgents attacked several police posts and an army base in Myanmar on Aug. 25. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered an exodus of more than 160,000 to neighboring Bangladesh. Malaysia, hundreds of km (miles) to the south on the Andaman Sea, is likely to see more boat people from Myanmar in coming weeks and months because of the renewed violence, said Zulkifli Abu Bakar, the director-general of the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency. However any such voyage would be hazardous for the next few months, because of the annual monsoon. We are supposed to provide basic necessities for them to continue their journey and push them away. But at the end of the day, because of humanitarian reasons, we will not be able to do that, Zulkifli told Reuters, adding that no fresh refugees had been seen yet. Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation already home to more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees, will probably house the new arrivals in immigration detention centers, where foreigners without documents are typically held, he said. Malaysia, which has not signed the U.N. Refugee Convention, treats refugees as illegal migrants. Thailand has also said it is preparing to receive people fleeing the fighting in Myanmar. Malaysia will send a humanitarian mission to help refugees seeking shelter at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, Prime Minister Najib Razak said. The mission, to be led by the Malaysian armed forces, is a manifestation of Malaysia s strong objection of the continued suppression of the Rohingya community by the Myanmar security forces, Najib said in a statement. The mission will leave on Saturday to review the situation in refugee camps. Malaysia Airlines and Malindo Air will help in the distribution of aid, the statement added. Malaysia will hold talks with Bangladesh to set up a military hospital at the border, Najib added. There are about 59,000 Rohingya refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia although unofficial numbers are almost double. In 2015, mass graves were exhumed at jungle camps on the border between Thailand and Malaysia that were thought to be mainly Rohingya victims of human traffickers. | 0fake |
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