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Ryan defends Trump immigration order but regrets confusion | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday defended President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees, but said he regretted the confusion caused by its implementation. “The president has a responsibility to the security of this country,” Ryan told reporters. “It’s regrettable that there was confusion on the rollout of this. No one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas, like translators, get caught up in all of this.” The Wisconsin Republican said he spoke at length with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and was “confident that he is, on a going forward basis, going to make sure that things are done correctly.” | 0fake |
Christian School Board Member Orders Atheists To ‘Go Back In Their Hellhole’ If They Hate ‘Christmas Break’ | Right-wing Christian extremism is a cancer that is infecting American society at all levels, and the worst of it is that it has infected our school systems at an alarming level. Case in point a school board member in Omaha, Nebraska, who literally told atheists to crawl back in their hellhole all over changing the school calendar to read winter break instead of Christmas break. Paul Meyer, who sits on the Millard Public School Board, is your typical Christian extremist, hellbent on injecting his personal religious beliefs into government and ignoring the United States Constitution. Meyer insists that he is a little bit tired of a minute minority in this country that keeps pushing Christmas out, keep pushing God out, keep pushing Christ out, when the majority is still a Judeo-Christian country. Meyer went on to say: I would like to make a motion that we rename this period Christmas break, and those atheists who don t like it can crawl back into their hellhole, because I, for one, will not put my Lord, my God, aside for a few atheists. And if they don t like it, the ACLU doesn t like it, the heck with them. Aside for this, another example is the fact that Meyer was on the wrong side when a State Board of Education member Pat MacPherson wrote racist opinions about President Obama. Regarding the school calendar issue, no one seconded Meyer s move to rename the winter break Christmas break, and now his religious intolerance has rendered the break nameless. Meyer went on to say: The responsibility of this board is to set a good example for the kids of this state. But what you show these kids is that the First Amendment is null and void, and does not apply to anyone if the speech Nazis disagree. So in other words, this guy sincerely believes that a good example is the idea that America is a Christian nation and no one else should get a voice, that Christian values should be everywhere, the Constitution be damned.This man needs to be kicked off the school board, as he has no business having any influence whatsoever over school children.Featured image via Omaha.com | 1real |
Kalashnikov, Maker of AK-47, Looks to Rebrand - The New York Times | MOSCOW — A shipment of Kalashnikov rifles, popularly known as was destined for the United States when it was stopped and quickly rerouted to Venezuela. Washington had just slapped Moscow with sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, and the Russian gun maker Kalashnikov Kontsern suddenly found one of its biggest markets off limits. Without access to the ready buyers among American weapons enthusiasts, Kalashnikov had to change its strategy, an increasingly common challenge for Russian companies after the imposition of sanctions. In the two years that followed, Kalashnikov diversified into new product lines, slashed jobs and made over its brand. And the rifle — long the weapon of choice for militaries and militant groups and the world’s most widely used firearm — was pitched instead to hobbyists and hunters in Russia. That new strategy appears to be yielding results. As Kalashnikov steps into the void left by American competitors in its home market, it is on track to turn a profit this year, bolstered in part by a weaker currency. “They started paying attention to clients,” said Dmitry S. Balyasov, a lawyer and shooting enthusiast who was patronizing a firing range outside of Moscow. “They have a contemporary style for selling a product,” Mr. Balyasov said, clutching a legal, civilian version of the weapon. For the company behind the weapon, the shift from serving conflict to serving consumers has been stark. The company owns the original license to rifles, colloquially known as — a name derived from the Russian word for automatic and the surname of the inventor, Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, as well as the year the prototype appeared. In the Soviet era, Kalashnikov’s main rifle factory, called the Izhevsk Machine Works, was a military enterprise that stamped out guns in tremendous quantities with sales an afterthought. rifles are ubiquitous in conflict zones. More than 100 million have been sold, including the countless knockoffs the rifle has inspired from China and elsewhere. The chunky guns, with their oversize banana clips, are legendarily rugged, and can remain in armories for decades, limiting sales of new weapons. With the military market largely saturated, Kalashnikov became increasingly dependent on civilian weapons sales. The civilian versions shoot only once with each trigger squeeze, with no option to switch to full automatic as in the military rifle. Before the sanctions, Kalashnikov’s plan for expansion focused on the United States, where gun ownership laws are more lenient than in many other countries. Though Russian weapons make up a tiny piece of the United States market, sales of its civilian rifles and shotguns branded as Saiga and Baikal increased at a faster pace than the overall market. By 2013, the United States accounted for about 40 percent of the company’s total gun sales, roughly equivalent to the volume bought by the Russian military, where every soldier is equipped with one. American sanctions slammed the door on the expansion plan. The sanctions in mid 2014 took direct aim at Rostec, the military industrial conglomerate that holds a 51 percent stake in Kalashnikov. They forced the gun maker to take a hard look at its business. “We are moving from iron to intellect,” said Vasily Brovko, the director of strategy and communications for Rostec. It thinned its ranks of middle managers at the Izhevsk factory in 2015, and diversified this year by buying companies that make motorboats and surveillance drones. While Kalashnikov does not break out sales receipts from its various divisions, it intends for firearms and clothing to make up about 80 percent of earnings by 2020, with motorboat and drone sales accounting for the rest. A clothing line is being unveiled in September, and the company plans to open 60 retail stores in Russia by the end of the year, selling clothes and rifles. It also introduced a marketing campaign, with a new logo — a stylized letter K, with a curved ammunition magazine as one of the arms — and a slogan, “Kalashnikov: Real. Reliable. ” “Kalashnikov is a global brand,” Vladimir Dmitriev, the company’s chief of marketing, said, likening Kalashnikov to Ferrari or Caterpillar, companies that sell clothing as a sideline to capitalize on brand recognition. “We are certainly justified in thinking that clothes and souvenirs with our symbols will be in demand, as much as our primary products. ” In Russia, Kalashnikov must navigate a different environment than in the United States. Russian consumers can buy a firearm only with a police permit. Potential buyers must have no criminal record, a diploma from a gun safety course and a medical certificate that clears them of any mental illness. With few exceptions, civilians are not allowed to own pistols. Kalashnikov is playing to patriotic ideals. As part of a marketing effort, the company erected a stand festooned with balloons promoting the rifle in Moscow’s Gorky Park on May 9, Victory Day, the holiday commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. The type of display — one associating itself with the Russian government and army — is a contrast to the United States, where antigovernment sentiment is strong among the public. The company is showing signs of improvement. It says it expects to report a profit of 2. 1 billion rubles, or about $33 million, when 2015 results are published this month, compared with a loss of 340 million rubles in 2014. It now sells fewer guns, but makes more money on each. But the biggest boost for Kalashnikov comes from factors beyond its control. Russia is a major oil exporter, and weak crude prices coupled with the sanctions helped cut the value of its currency. With most of its costs priced in rubles, Kalashnikov products became far more competitive with imported firearms. “We are talking about the reversal of the Dutch disease, which Russia has been suffering,” Vladimir Osakovsky, chief economist for Russia at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said. Dutch disease refers to the impact energy prices tend to have on an country’s currency, pushing it higher and hurting domestic companies by making their exports look comparatively expensive. Whether the growth is sustainable or the product of favorable currency winds will depend on Kalashnikov’s ground campaign. As part its broad new marketing effort, the company now sends representatives to gun stores across Russia to promote its products. At the Hunting Club gun shop in Moscow’s suburbs, Kalashnikov has provided two window displays exclusively for its rifles, and racks and shelves to sell branded and shoulder patches. “The idea is to surround the customer with the brand, so he is not tempted to spend money anywhere else,” Mr. Brovko, the Rostec strategist, said. With the help of the currency tailwinds, demand for Kalashnikov’s shotguns and rifles at the shop has outpaced that for guns made by its rivals, like Beretta of Italy, Sauer of Germany and Winchester of the United States, according to Aleksei V. Lapshin, the owner of the Hunting Club. Customers have also been pleased with the range of special options, including different materials for the rifle exterior, he said. “It’s a very modern approach,” he said. “Some people want black plastic, some people want beechwood, some people want walnut. ” “No two comrades have the same taste. ” | 0fake |
How to Stretch the Summer Solstice - The New York Times | It’s officially summer, and the Society Boutique, the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s thrift shop, is teaming up with the luxury fashion Halsbrook to stretch the longest day of the year a little longer: a Summer Solstice charity benefiting the research hospital is open through Thursday with discounts of up to 70 percent on breezy bits like a No. 21 cotton dress ($321, originally $1, 070). At 1440 Third Avenue. On Thursday, the organic beauty brand Kjaer Weis will open a at Whisper Editions in the South Street Seaport featuring two new colors: Precious cream blush ($56) a peach shade, and Angelic eye shadow ($45) a soft pink. Either will impart a healthy summer glow. At 8 Fulton Street. On Friday, the resort line Vineyard Vines will open a store at Grand Central Terminal filled with preppy staples like shorts ($98. 50). At 89 East 42nd Street. For something out of the box, check out the Baja East “tarot takeover” at Brookfield Place starting Tuesday. It promises readings by Yoyin and a selection of exclusive products including ($225) and ponchos, bajas and skater pants made from Balinese ceremonial skirts (starting at $495). At 230 Vesey Street. Barneys is now carrying the minimalist eyewear brand Blyszak, which features one uniformly flattering oval style in a variety of neutral color combinations like porcelain and tortoise made from steel and water buffalo horn ($395). Bottega Veneta is introducing a version of its suede desert boots ($820) which sold out almost immediately last summer after Kanye West wore them. At 650 Madison Avenue. On Thursday and Friday, Ulla Johnson will have a sample sale with discounts of up to 70 percent on boho chic pieces like a cotton voile ($299, originally $598). At 168 Bowery. From Thursday to Saturday, the label Simon Miller will have a sample sale with discounts of up to 70 percent on pieces like indigo wash jeans ($75, originally $300). At 177 Canal Street. From Thursday to Sunday, the shoe label Feit will have its first ever sample sale. There will be discounts of up to 70 percent on styles like a oxford ($350, originally $700). At 4 Prince Street. And Selima Optique is having its summer sale with discounts of up to 80 percent on vintage Persol eyewear ($248, originally $875) and proprietary styles. At 7 Bond Street. | 0fake |
Captured Cartel Boss Held Multiple Properties in Mexican Border City | PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Coahuila — A recently captured Mexican cartel boss managed to purchase multiple properties in this border city at an estimated value of $2. 5 million dollars. [Last week, Mexican federal authorities arrested Antonio “La Hamburguesa or the Hamburger” Romo Lopez, a lieutenant within the Gulf Cartel. The capture was carried out after a gun battle and chase through a mountain region with Mexican authorities in Zacatecas. Romo Lopez was arrested with his two bodyguards Armando N “Huevotes or Big Testicles” and Ernesto N “Garrotas or Big Claws”. According to Mexican authorities, Romo Lopez was the regional boss in Zacatecas for the Gulf Cartel and was one of the individuals largely responsible for the escalating violence in the state. Mexican and American law enforcement officials revealed to Breitbart Texas that Romo Lopez was operating in Zacatecas, Tamaulipas, and Sonora. After Romo’s arrest, Fernando Purón the mayor of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, made a public announcement claiming the cartel leader had multiple properties with an estimated value of $50 million pesos or approximately $2. 5 million USD. Piedras Negras is a border city immediately south of Eagle Pass, Texas. According to public statements made by Purón, he turned over various documents that indicate Romo’s possession of various properties in Piedras Negras. The recently captured cartel leader in the past worked as the regional boss and purchased multiple properties during his time there. After Romo left Piedras Negras, rivals vandalized some of the buildings. Purón claimed he demolished some of the buildings and painted over others at the outset of his administration. The Mexican mayor claimed to have asked federal authorities to seize Romo’s properties and others to keep cartels from holding their assets after their eventual release. Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “J. M. Martinez” from Piedras Negras, Coahuila. | 0fake |
Donald Trump Just Attacked A Crying Baby At His Virginia Rally (VIDEO) | You know the age-old political trope that politicians spend a lot of time kissing babies? Well, Trump just turned that on his head when he dedicated a few minutes of a rally in Virginia on Tuesday to attacking a screaming infant in the audience an actual screaming infant, not one of his followers. Don t worry about that baby, I love babies, Trump told the child s mother. I love babies. I hear that baby crying. I like it. I like it. What a beautiful baby. The mom s running around like don t worry about it. It s young and beautiful and healthy and that s what we want. After prattling on about China, Iraq, and Afghanistan devaluing currency, Trump couldn t resist going back to the baby situation: Actually I was only kidding, you can get the baby out of here. That s all right. Don t worry. I think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I m speaking. That s ok, people don t understand. That s OK. And the crowd cheered, though perhaps not as loudly when Trump is siccing them on a black man who had the nerve to speak out in support of his rights or anyone else who has been beaten by his followers after Trump issued his orders.This wasn t the only child who gave Trump problems at that rally. CBS Sopan Deb noticed a boy no older than 10 screaming Take that bitch down! when The Donald mentioned Hillary Clinton.This phrase, along with a number of other profanity-laden attacks on Clinton, is regularly heard at Trump rallies, but the child s mother had an interesting scapegoat for her terrible parenting. NBC s Katy Tur followed up on the bitch kid and spoke to the mother, who simply explained that Children are children. While it is true that kids will be kids, most don t scream take that bitch down at a gathering of white supremacists and other assorted creeps, cretins, and idiots. The woman told The Guardian s Ben Jacobs that Democratic schools are to blame for her child s behavior, adding that he has a right to speak what he wants to. Which is it, mom? Are the Democrats to blame for your brat s shitty behavior, or are you for giving him the freedom to speak as he wishes? Would your reaction be the same if he yelled that about you?It s worth noting that Trump said nothing about this screaming child but CNN s Jason Carroll pointed out perhaps the most horrible aspect of this mess. After mentioning that Trump accepted a wounded veteran s Purple Heart, noting that he has always wanted one and that it was much easier than actually earning it by making sacrifices for his country, Carroll told the story of the baby: The crowd laughed. They enjoyed it. Was it a bit off color? Yes. But this is what people like about this man. Watch the CNN clip below: Featured image via NY Daily News | 1real |
WATCH KARMA IN ACTION: CNN GETS HIT With Tear Gas While Defending Violent Alt-Left Protesters At AZ Trump Rally | The timing couldn t have been better. Just as Gary Tuckman, a reporter for Very Fake News CNN, was in the middle of a hit piece on President Trump, he was literally hit with tear gas being used by law enforcement to keep the radical Alt-Left protesters from harming innocent people who came to support our president at his Phoenix, AZ rally last night.Very Fake News CNN s Gary Tuckman, can be seen clearly struggling to speak to CNN host Don Lemon in the video below.Tuckman told Very Fake News CNN host Don Lemon, All of our faces are burning, all of our throats are burning. He also relayed what was very likely bad intel, to Lemon: There were some water bottles thrown at police and the next thing we felt were the burning tear gas. But how does Tuckman know they were they bottles filled with water? The radical, and very violent Antifa group that CNN is working so hard to redefine as a kinder, gentler resistance group, was accused of throwing bottles of urine at free speech advocates and law enforcement in Charlottesville less than 2 weeks ago. So how does Tuckman know for certain that the bottles the non-violent group he is so quick to defend, were only filled with water? And since when is lobbing ANYTHING at police officers who are protecting our president and his supporters considered NON-violent?Earlier in the evening, another CNN reporter nearly got hit by the lit end of a smoke grenade.CNN may want to rethink this whole bunkering with Antifa thing during what appears to be ongoing, violent protests by the Democrat Partys Soros funded Alt-Left groups.The Alt-Left came prepared last night, as they were seen proudly displaying their AR-15 s. | 1real |
Norway's right-wing government projected to win re-election | OSLO (Reuters) - Norway s tax-cutting Prime Minister Erna Solberg is on track to keep power after an election on Monday, closely defeating a Labour-led opposition in a campaign over how to manage the oil-dependent economy, official projections showed. The ruling coalition of the Conservatives and Progress Party, and two smaller center-right allies, would win 88 seats in the 169-seat parliament, Norway s Directorate of Elections projected based on a count of early votes. A separate TV2 forecast gave the government and its allies a wider majority of 91 seats. | 0fake |
Mexican women testify over sexual torture before international panel | SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Women who were sexually tortured by Mexican security forces over a decade ago testified Thursday before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, asking for an investigation into the case that happened in the state once run by President Enrique Pena Nieto. Several of the 11 victims told judges at the Costa-Rica based court about the abuse they suffered after they were detained following a protest in May 2006 at the town of San Salvador de Atenco, about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Mexico City. The town is located in the State of Mexico, which rings the capital. We ve come here to speak out. In Mexico, justice has not been done, said Maria Cristina Sanchez, 50, who detailed how she was beaten, sexually abused and how the case languished in Mexico s criminal justice system with no resolution for years. The women, known as the Women of Atenco , say they were thrown into a police bus, raped and tortured following a two-day protest by a group of flower sellers who had negotiated a labor agreement that allowed them to set up stalls in a nearby downtown area. The women were initially accused of illegally blocking public access, but later acquitted of the charges. Before being elected president in 2012, Pena Nieto was governor of the State of Mexico, heading the country s most populous state from in late 2005 till 2011. The Mexican government reiterates the recognition of its international responsibility... and its sincere will to fully repair the human rights violations in this case, said Uriel Salas, an attorney representing Mexico in the case. In the years since the abuses were committed, some police were accused of crimes, but there have been no convictions. We deserve the recognition that we re telling the truth, that the chain of command be investigated, not only so that justice is done, but so that these events never happen again, said Norma Jimenez, 33, at the end of her testimony. The court is expected to continue hearing testimony through Friday, while a final ruling in the case could take months. | 0fake |
Moldova recalls ambassador from Moscow as dispute escalates | KIEV/CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova recalled its ambassador to Russia for consultations in response to the harassment and intimidation by Russian authorities of Moldovan politicians and officials, the Moldovan foreign ministry said on Monday. Moldova and Russia have been embroiled in a series of rows this year, including tit-for-tat expulsions of each other s diplomats in May and Moldova declaring the Russian deputy prime minister persona non grata in August. The Chisinau government says its officials are being mistreated partly to derail a Moldovan investigation into an alleged Russian-led money laundering operation. Russia has accused Moldova of some openly anti-Russian actions . In announcing the ambassador s recall, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website: We will look for ways to overcome the current situation so that in the future such actions are avoided, which can spoil Moldovan-Russian relations, which the Moldovan side wants to be friendly, trusting and based on respect for each other. Ex-Soviet Moldova is politically divided between a pro-Western government, which favors closer integration with the European Union, and Russian-backed President Igor Dodon. In December the head of Moldova s ruling party, Vlad Plahotniuc, accused Russian authorities of harassing him and other officials with dozens of bogus legal cases intended to put him on international law enforcement watch lists. | 0fake |
FCC Passes Sweeping Internet Privacy Rules in ‘Big Win for Civil Rights’ | FCC Passes Sweeping Internet Privacy Rules in ‘Big Win for Civil Rights’ Posted on Oct 27, 2016 Shutterstock
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday passed sweeping new privacy rules designed to keep broadband providers from giving customers’ private data to third parties.
The rules, approved by a vote of 3-2, require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to get customers’ explicit consent before using or sharing behavioral data like browsing history, location, and other sensitive information with marketing firms or other companies, the Washington Post reports .
“It’s the consumers’ information,” FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said. “How it is used should be the consumers’ choice. Not the choice of some corporate algorithm.”
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According to the Post’s Brian Fung:
Also covered by that requirement are health data, financial information, Social Security numbers and the content of emails and other digital messages. The measure allows the FCC to impose the opt-in rule on other types of information in the future, but certain types of data, such as a customer’s IP address and device identifier, are not subject to the opt-in requirement. The rules also force service providers to tell consumers clearly what data they collect and why, as well as to take steps to notify customers of data breaches.
However, the new rules do not require providers to get clear permission before using the data themselves.
Still, watchdog groups praised the announcement, with the digital rights organization Fight for the Future calling it “a big win for consumers [and] civil rights.”
Chris Calabrese, vice president of policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said , “This rule represents a significant step forward in protecting internet users, who have no choice but to expose massive amounts of information to broadband providers. It reflects the reality that where we go online is private and the people we pay to carry it should treat it as private.”
Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said the vote was “a historic win for privacy and free expression and for the vitality of the internet. Just as telephone companies are not allowed to listen in to our calls or sell information about who we talk to, our internet providers shouldn’t be allowed to monitor our internet usage for profit.”
Still, he noted, “The FCC’s order is not airtight. We can expect the industry to try to exploit every crack in these protections, and hope that the spirit of vigorous oversight and consumer protection that has animated this proceeding will continue.”
The racial justice group Color Of Change, which advocated for stronger privacy protections as a safeguard against data collection—which disproportionately affects communities of color—also welcomed the announcement.
“When Color Of Change began their advocacy on behalf of communities of color, the FCC listened, and today ends the era of corporations having unfettered access to our personal data and information, which has been routinely used to take advantage of the vulnerable,” said the organization’s campaign director Brandi Collins. “Third party marketing and advertising entities can no longer shamelessly target and prey upon black people and communities of color. This ruling also takes a strong stance to eliminate schemes that require payment for data to be protected and safeguards our actions online.”
Dallas Harris, policy fellow at the media democracy group Public Knowledge, said the decision “marks a significant step forward in protecting consumer privacy. For the first time, [ISPs] will be required to get consumer consent prior to using the sensitive information they collect. While much remains to be done to protect consumers online writ large, the commission’s rules establish a baseline level of protection for all.”
“Thanks to the rules passed by the commission today, consumers now have more control over how their information is used online than ever before. Yet, consumer protection rules are only as strong as their ability to be enforced, so it is imperative that the commission follow these strong rules with strict enforcement,” Harris said. TAGS: | 1real |
Kellogg’s Brand Falls from 60 to 84th Place with Consumers in 4 Years - Breitbart | Continuing its business slump, a new review of Kellogg’s brand, as calculated on the value of the company’s name, shows the company took another dip, falling from 74th most valuable brand to 84th over last year’s rating. In addition, the company’s brand fell 24 spots since 2014. [According to calculations by Brand Finance’s Brand Directory, Kellogg has been steadily falling at least since 2014. According to the group’s ratings, the cereal giant figured in as the 60th most valued company in 2014. But over each of the ensuing years, that assessment has dropped. In 2015, Kellogg was the 68th most valued company in the country in 2016, it fell eight more slots to 76 and with its latest measurement, Brand Finance says Kellogg has fallen eight more slots to 84. The company has seen a drop of 24 slots in just four years. Brand Finance calculates a company’s brand on its earnings, stock, and profits and then measures all that to determine how much a given company would pay to license its brand as if it did not own it. The Brand Finance rating isn’t the only example of trouble for the breakfast food company. The company has also seen its stock falling since last year. Kellogg’s stock closed last week at $72. 61 per share, down from its high of $87. 16. Kellogg has been experiencing major business contractions, too, especially over the last year. The company has been desperately cutting its work force and downsizing facilities at least since last December. In January, Kellogg announced that it was cutting another 250 employees from its U. S. workforce, and by February, it had closed 39 distribution centers and laid off its entire U. S. sales force. The company’s contraction came after Kellogg decided to cut its advertising with Breitbart News at the end of 2016, thereby snubbing Breitbart’s 45, 000, 000 readers. In November, Kellogg noted that the conservative readers at Breitbart News are not “aligned with our values as a company. ” While the decision by Kellogg to cease advertising made virtually no revenue impact on Breitbart. com. it did represent an escalation in the war by leftist companies like Target and Allstate against conservative customers whose values propelled Donald Trump into the White House. After the cereal maker turned its back on conservative customers, Breitbart News launched its #DumpKelloggs petition, which has been signed by more than 450, 000 people. Finally, according to advertising industry watchdog, Adweek, Kellogg’s decision to pull advertising from Breitbart and the ensuing controversy over the move inflicted massive, damage to the cereal company’s brand online. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0fake |
EU calls for 'equal rights' for all in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine | YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar must guarantee equal rights for everyone in troubled Rakhine state as talks on repatriation of more than 620,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh gather steam, the new EU ambassador to the country said on Thursday. Kristian Schmidt, who took over the European Union mission in Yangon some two months ago, also called on the administration of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to break down barriers between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Rakhine. He said the return of refugees should be voluntary and the involvement of the United Nations agencies in the repatriation process would be extremely useful . The initial deal struck by Bangladesh and Myanmar mentions the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, but does not specify its role. Schmidt said Myanmar must address the root causes of the Rakhine crisis, such as decades-long discrimination against the Rohingya population that included restrictions on movement and lack of access to proper education. The primary priority, which is for the local authorities and the union government to establish rule of law, non-discriminatory civilian administration ... and equal rights for everyone, Schmidt told Reuters in an interview in Yangon. There are root causes that must be addressed in Rakhine state so when the refugees return they do not return to the situation ex ante - this is not sustainable, he said. The exodus of Rohingya was triggered by an army crackdown in response to Rohingya militant attacks on security forces on Aug. 25 - attacks Schmidt referred to as terrorism and the EU has condemned. Schmidt said confining the Rohingya to villages reduced education opportunities and could have radicalized some. You should not be surprised later that some of the elements of that population radicalizes. Becomes increasingly desperate, he said. Amid the army crackdown, scores of Rohingya villages were burnt and refugees have told reporters of killings and rapes. The United Nations and the United States have both accused Myanmar of ethnic cleansing , a charge the country denies. In response to the army operation, Brussels suspended invitations to Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing and senior army officers. We are ready to review that decision at any time in light of positive or not-so-positive news. We still of course understand the importance the military of Myanmar plays in Myanmar s economic and democratic transition so dialogue is open, said Schmidt. He added, however, that there was the need for accountability and reiterated the EU s support for a U.N.-mandated fact-finding mission that Suu Kyi s administration has opposed and blocked from operating in the country. There has to be a credible, independent investigation of the events that led 620,000 people to flee to quite horrible conditions on the other side of the border, he said. We need to know. The Danish diplomat spoke on the sidelines of a conference promoting the EU s Erasmus+ program of exchanges between university students. He wants Myanmar students to take part in it to help overhaul institutions as the country emerges from decades of isolation under military dictatorship. | 0fake |
When Donald Trump Partied With Richard Nixon - The New York Times | HOUSTON — They still talk about the Saturday night here 27 years ago when Donald J. Trump partied with former President Richard M. Nixon. Dressed in tuxedos, they sang “Happy Birthday” to Texas royalty — former Gov. John B. Connally and his wife, Nellie, whose birthdays were a few days apart — as Nixon played the tune on a white baby grand piano. They dined at Tony’s, the “21” Club of Houston, and Nixon was so fond of the cannelloni pasta that he asked the owner, Tony Vallone, to write the recipe for him on a yellow legal pad. And when it was all over, Mr. Trump flew Nixon back to New York on his 727 private jet. It happened one weekend in March 1989. It was one of Nixon’s first public appearances since the Watergate scandal had forced him to resign in 1974. And it was one of Mr. Trump’s first presidential experiences, as he socialized with and had the ear of a former president for two days in Houston at a gala event, an impromptu at Tony’s, a Sunday brunch the next day at a River Oaks mansion and later aboard his plane. “I think you can see a core of Trump in this,” said Barry Silverman, a Houston advertising and marketing consultant who helped coordinate the gala and was a longtime friend of the Connallys. “He obviously had a road map a lot bigger than any of us ever thought about. ” Mr. Silverman and Mr. Vallone said they did not know what, specifically, Mr. Trump and Nixon had talked about at the gala or at Tony’s. But the time they spent together that weekend most likely fed Mr. Trump’s fascination with and admiration of Nixon. During the campaign, Mr. Trump borrowed phrases from him, used his speech at the 1968 Republican convention as a template for his own convention address, and spoke glowingly of Nixon in interviews. The Connallys helped bring the fallen president and the future together. They had met Mr. Trump a few months earlier at a wedding in New York in December 1988, and Mr. Connally had been a close friend of Nixon’s, serving as his Treasury secretary. Nixon was already familiar with Mr. Trump. The former president had written an unsolicited letter to Mr. Trump in 1987, informing him that Nixon’s wife, Pat, had predicted “that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!” Mr. Connally invited Mr. Trump and his wife, Ivana, to Houston as special guests at “A Night for Nellie,” an event to honor Mrs. Connally at the Westin Galleria hotel on March 11, 1989. Houston was just coming out of the 1980s oil bust. Tens of thousands of workers had lost their jobs and homes. Banks had failed. Mr. Connally filed for bankruptcy in 1987, and he and his wife were forced to auction their belongings to help repay creditors in 1988. Then Mrs. Connally learned she had breast cancer. “A Night for Nellie” raised more than $300, 000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, but it also sought to lift Mrs. Connally’s spirits — and Houston’s. Barbara Walters was there, along with the airline executive Frank Lorenzo and the elite of Houston society, including Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. an oilman, and his wife, Lynn, who hosted Nixon, Mr. Trump and others at their mansion the next day. In the hotel ballroom, Mr. Trump introduced Nixon and sat at the head table with him. Mr. Connally had assembled the seating chart for the table himself. His wife was seated with Mr. Trump on one side of her and Nixon on the other. Mr. Trump, the event’s honorary chairman, seemed to be enjoying himself. He was 42 years old, and his book “Trump: The Art of the Deal,” which had been published in November 1987, had enjoyed a position on The New York Times’s list for nearly a year. “Donald Trump would have made a sensational Texan,” Ms. Walters told the audience, according to The Austin . Mr. Connally decided late in the evening to keep the party going for some of the V. I. P.s at Tony’s. Mr. Vallone had about a to clear a third of the restaurant and put on an elaborate buffet. He has wined and dined a host of celebrities and presidents at his restaurant, including Frank Sinatra, Princess Margaret, Andy Warhol and former President Bill Clinton. But he said that night in 1989 was the most memorable. “There was tremendous enthusiasm and electricity in the air,” Mr. Vallone said. “Trump had a commanding presence. People say he’s pompous, but he was not pompous. He was very approachable. He’ll talk to the waiters. After that, I went out and bought six or eight of his books and gave them away as gifts, I was so impressed with Trump. ” At Tony’s, Mr. Trump suggested he was taking a business interest in Houston. “Every time I’m in a particular city that I like, and Houston happens to be a city that I like very much, I do look,” he told an ABC affiliate, as he stood in the restaurant. Nixon stayed there until 1 a. m. The party continued well after. “Dom Pérignon was flowing like ginger ale,” Mr. Silverman said, “and it went on until 3 in the morning. ” The next day, the Trumps, the Connallys and Nixon were among 36 guests at a brunch at the Wyatts’ mansion. They ate beef Wellington and sipped Champagne with dessert. Ms. Wyatt, one of Houston’s most prominent socialites and philanthropists, asked Nixon to speak about world affairs, and Nixon stood, gave a brief speech and then took questions. Asked if Mr. Trump had asked a question, Ms. Wyatt replied: “I’m sure he did. Everybody did. I was so proud of my guests because they asked such intelligent questions. I don’t have any stupid friends. ” | 0fake |
Trump's high court pick vows independence, says he is no 'rubber stamp' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday pledged independence from President Donald Trump, bristled at his criticism of the judiciary and said not even the president is above the law amid Democratic concerns he would be beholden to the man who selected him. Answering questions from senators during a more than 11-hour session on the second day of his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Gorsuch said Trump never asked him to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion nationwide, saying if the Republican president had done so, “I would have walked out the door.” Trump promised during last year’s presidential campaign to appoint an anti-abortion justice who would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which many conservatives want reversed. If confirmed by the Senate as expected to fill a 13-month-old vacancy, Gorsuch would restore the nine-seat court's conservative majority at a time when Republicans control Congress and the White House. But the conservative federal appeals court judge from Colorado repeatedly said he was beyond politics. (GRAPHIC - Confirming Gorsuch: How it works tmsnrt.rs/2mB9WPR) “When I became a judge, they gave me a gavel not a rubber stamp,” Gorsuch said. “I am my own man,” he added. Trump has assailed the judiciary both as a candidate and since taking office on Jan. 20. He condemned federal judges who put on hold his two executive orders to ban the entry into the United States of people from several Muslim-majority countries, calling one a “so-called judge” and suggesting that blame for a future terrorist attack should go to the courts. “When anyone criticizes the honesty or integrity or the motives of a federal judge, well I find that disheartening, I find that demoralizing, because I know the truth,” Gorsuch said. When Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal asked if that included Trump, Gorsuch said, “Anyone is anyone.” Gorsuch previously made similar remarks in private to senators including Blumenthal, but Trump at the time accused Blumenthal of misrepresenting Gorsuch’s comments. Trump indicated in a speech on Tuesday night that his approach was unlikely to change. “The courts are not helping us, to be honest, it’s ridiculous. Somebody said I should not criticize judges, OK, I’ll criticize judges,” he said. Gorsuch’s steady, measured performance during the marathon session, marked by a few moments of indignation under Democratic questioning, indicated he was on track for confirmation. Democrats probed Gorsuch on whether he would be willing to hold Trump accountable. Asked by Senator Patrick Leahy whether a president has the power to violate a law on surveillance of Americans, Gorsuch said, “Nobody is above the law in this country, and that includes the president of the United States.” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said if Trump resumes the use of waterboarding, a prohibited form of simulated drowning, on detainees, he “may get impeached.” Gorsuch said he would not speculate on whether Trump could be prosecuted if he authorized waterboarding, but repeated, “No man is above the law.” Republicans have praised Gorsuch, 49, as highly qualified for a lifetime appointment as a justice. Democrats, who have slim chances of blocking his nomination, have questioned his suitability, with some portraying him as favoring corporate interests and insufficiently independent from Trump. Chuck Grassley, the panel’s Republican chairman, asked Gorsuch “whether you’d have any trouble ruling against a president who appointed you.” “That’s a softball, Mr. Chairman,” Gorsuch said. “I have no difficulty ruling against or for any party, other than based on what the law and facts in the particular case require. And I’m heartened by the support I have received from people who recognize that there’s no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge. We just have judges in this country.” “I have offered no promises on how I’d rule in any case to anyone. And I don’t think it’s appropriate for a judge to do so, no matter who’s doing the asking,” Gorsuch added. Gorsuch refused to offer his opinion of Trump’s travel ban, saying it was an ongoing case. When Leahy brought up a Republican lawmaker’s suggestion that Gorsuch would uphold Trump’s ban, the nominee said, “A lot of people say a lot of silly things” and that lawmaker “has no idea how I’d rule.” Gorsuch said rulings should be based on the law and not politics, adding, “A good judge doesn’t give a whit about politics or the political implications of his or her decision.” Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse pressed Gorsuch to call for the anonymous financial backers behind the Judicial Crisis Network conservative legal advocacy group’s $10 million campaign supporting his nomination to identify themselves, but the nominee refused, saying he would not engage in politics. But Gorsuch added, “Nobody speaks for me.” The seat Gorsuch was nominated to fill has been vacant since the February 2016 death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia. Some Democrats have said Republicans “stole” a Supreme Court seat last year when the Senate refused to consider former Democratic President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia, appellate judge Merrick Garland. Questioned by Leahy, Gorsuch called Garland an “outstanding judge,” but refused to answer whether Obama’s nominee had been treated fairly by Senate Republicans. Gorsuch said Supreme Court precedents deserve respect, even as he sidestepped answering whether he thought a series of contentious cases from the past had been decided correctly, including Roe v. Wade and cases on gun rights, political spending, religious rights and the ruling tipping the 2000 presidential election to Republican George W. Bush. Gorsuch did say that the issue of gay marriage, which the Supreme Court legalized in 2015, was “absolutely settled law.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Gorsuch looked like “he’s playing dodge ball,” saying the nominee “has bent over backwards to avoid revealing anything.” The confirmation hearing resumes on Wednesday morning and is scheduled to last through Thursday. Grassley has said the committee is likely to vote on Gorsuch’s nomination on April 3. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the full Senate would vote on confirming Gorsuch before lawmakers’ mid-April recess. | 0fake |
Syrian government condemns U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem: SANA | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian government on Wednesday condemned U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv, Syrian state news agency SANA said. (The move) is the culmination of the crime of usurping Palestine and displacing the Palestinian people, SANA said, quoting a Foreign Ministry source. | 0fake |
Why Isn’t Donald Trump Campaigning in Swing States? - The New York Times | Each week, Nate Cohn, The Upshot’s elections analyst, and Toni Monkovic, an Upshot editor, discuss the 2016 race and post a lightly edited transcript of their written exchange. This week: How will Democrats’ recent success with voters change American politics? And who is Gary Locke? But we start with the state of the campaigns, particularly Donald Trump’s. Toni The Trump campaign is in disarray. You tweeted: “All considered, it appears that Trump hasn’t really done anything since clinching the nomination. Not in battlegrounds, not etc. ” Nate Yeah, even right now [Wednesday] he’s speaking in New York City. It’s just a big wasted opportunity. He clinched the nomination seven weeks ago, and he has spent most of that time campaigning in noncompetitive states and offending voters. Are you watching this speech? Toni No. What is he saying? Nate He’s giving his speech on the Clintons, which he’s been promising for some time. It’s a bit over the top at times, but it’s a lot better than much of what he’s been saying. And it’s a powerful reminder of how vulnerable Hillary Clinton would be to a version of Trump who wouldn’t defeat himself. Toni Instead of focusing on Clinton, he has been continuing to squabble with Republicans. What is the biggest mistake he’s making? What is the one thing he should prioritize in terms of organization and strategy? He has very little money. He’s not advertising. He has a very small staff. He’s not campaigning in swing states. And the list goes on. Nate Well, a lot of that requires money. He doesn’t have it, and he needs to fix it. Traveling to swing states is the one thing that doesn’t require much money, so that’s inexcusable. He can get on a bus from New York and get to Levittown, Pa. in 90 minutes, Allentown in less than two hours. Scranton in 2. 5 hours. Toni Comedy interlude: Some “Saturday Night Live” fans may remember a segment in which Jason Sudeikis, impersonating Joe Biden in a debate, says, “If you went to the lowest circle of hell, you’d still be 45 minutes outside of Scranton. ” Nate Haha, all jokes aside, Scranton is exactly the sort of place Trump needs to win this election. Obama won Scranton’s Lackawanna County by a margin in 2012 — the best showing by a Democrat since 1964. It’s 90 percent white. It’s working class. It’s traditionally Democratic. Toni If this year has shown us anything, it’s that a better version of a populist candidate like Trump could easily become president. You helped illustrate it with your recent project: “There are more white voters than people think. ” But speaking of Pennsylvania, I’m interested in what you thought of David Plouffe’s recent response to you on Twitter. He was defending the Clinton team’s decision not to advertise in Pennsylvania the Clinton campaign is starting to advertise in many other important states. Is there something we might be missing? Maybe there’s internal polling, or maybe it’s purposeful misdirection on Plouffe’s part? [Plouffe was a campaign manager and adviser for President Obama.] Nate The existence of so many places like Scranton in Pennsylvania — white Democratic strongholds — is a big part of why I think it’s a natural target for Trump. There’s a lot of room for Republicans to make gains in Pennsylvania, and I’d note that Trump did very well in these same areas in the primaries. It’s possible that the Clinton campaign’s data suggests that these registered Democrats are sticking with the Democrats yet again. I’m not sure whether Plouffe’s comment reflects that, or if it reflects his experience from the last two cycles, when these registered Democrats did stick with Obama. I was with Plouffe on “Pennsylvania is a pipe dream” in 2012, and you can still read my thoughts on why that was the case somewhere on the internet. But I think it’s a bit less clear now. This time, there’s a lot of evidence that Clinton is underperforming among white voters — by so much as to all but guarantee that she’s underperforming among traditional Democratic voters. Now, maybe that’s happening in other parts of the country but not Pennsylvania. We don’t have much data there. Or maybe it’s canceled out by huge Clinton gains in the Philadelphia suburbs. But for now, the data is not nearly as consistent with Plouffe’s view as it was at this time four years ago. Toni Maybe they’re not advertising in Pennsylvania because — if they see slippage — they can still try to overwhelm Trump with ads later. The Democrats will also get a little boost from the site of the convention: Philadelphia. And they can swarm the state with effective surrogates: Bill Clinton, Joe Biden (ahem, Scranton) Obama. Nate I think it’s risky. Trump has a narrow path to victory, and Pennsylvania would make it a lot wider. The Democrats have a huge financial advantage they can afford to secure their flank. One last thought here: Clinton’s second stop after clinching the nomination was in Pittsburgh. Before the Orlando shooting, her third stop — with President Obama — was to be in Green Bay. (Clinton is not advertising in Wisconsin either) So I don’t buy that they think these states are irrelevant, even if they’re not advertising there. Toni Let’s imagine that Trump cratered in the polls, and was consistently behind by double digits in . Would there be any hope among Republicans of a coup at the convention? It seems impossible. Nate It would be tough. I don’t think it’s impossible. Oddly, I don’t feel that much differently about his chances of winning the election and his chances of getting ousted at the convention, even though clearly the former is likelier given the numbers and how much time there is before the election. Toni The betting markets are at a new high for a Clinton victory: 77 percent (as of Wednesday). Nate Would you buy? Toni I think it’s fair. It’s still early. Nate Yeah. There’s still time to build a campaign. There’s still time to adopt a more consistent and appealing message. But he hasn’t really given much reason to think he can or will do either of those things. That said, there is some progress on both of those fronts. He has been and his speech [Wednesday] was more focused than some of his other efforts over the last month. Toni In 2012, there was a debate about state polling versus national polling, and which was more accurate. There was a disconnect, with Obama doing slightly better in state polling, and that turned out to be the better gauge. But you have been saying that the quality of state polling is poor right now. Nate Yeah, I mean, the state polling is a disaster, in terms of both coverage and quality. To borrow from Mr. Trump, I’m calling for a total and complete shutdown of all analysis of state polling until we can figure out what is going on. Toni When can we expect an improvement? Nate Maybe there will be a few good state polls after the convention. Toni A big story line for this election is whether Trump can win more white voters while holding down losses among ones. But something that doesn’t often get discussed is that support among those groups isn’t necessarily equally important. Studies have shown that the well educated are more likely to vote. So it’s not a good trade for Republicans in this election, or in the future. Nate Well, that’s definitely true. They’re both less likely to be registered and less likely to turn out. We might be seeing the hints of this already, in recent polls showing Clinton doing better among likely than registered voters, which would be a big departure from recent trends. On the other hand, there are still a lot more white voters than white voters, especially in the battleground states. So it is a good trade it’s just not as good as it would be if the turnout rates were more equitable. Toni Could this education shift help stop the bleeding for Democrats in future midterms? I realize there are other factors at play. But if Democrats keep winning voters, that could help in terms of turnout, and so much of the midterms is about turnout. Nate Maybe. I’m not sure how far this trickles down ballot, though. Toni In The New York Times last month, Thomas Edsall wrote: “A general election that pits Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump will produce a decisively more affluent and better educated Democratic presidential electorate and a decidedly less affluent and less educated Republican one than in any previous election going back as far as 1976. ” Looking beyond this election, what do you see as some of the possible consequences of that? One concern, expressed among some liberals, is that the Democratic Party will be less willing to take up concerns of voters. Nate My optimistic take: If each party is split between populist and affluent wings, there might be more room for compromises and bipartisanship than there has been over the last decade. That room for compromise could exist on either level — whether it’s the trade deal and tax reform among each side’s corporate elites, or more populist efforts to expand the tax credit, or something else. Toni I see you’ve been having some fun on Twitter promoting Gary Locke as a “deep sleeper” pick for Clinton’s running mate. Nate Haha, in the interest of full disclosure: There’s a considerable amount of bias at play here. That said, I do think he’s a very interesting pick. He’s very well qualified — a former governor (Washington) commerce secretary and ambassador to China — and would complement Clinton’s “experience” and “temperament” message. He’d be the first vice president (he’s a ) which would complement the “stronger together” message. He’s worked with her at the State Department. He was an early Clinton endorser in 2008. He checks just about every box, except national name recognition. He’s not a sitting senator, either, so there’s not the problem of possibly losing a Senate seat. Toni Thanks for writing up his bio, and saving me from having to look all that up, because you do realize that 99 percent of the people reading this have probably never heard of him. [Note to readers: Nate is from Seattle, and perhaps feels that that Washington, not Washington, D. C. should be the center of the universe.] But since we’ve been talking about educated voters, and with tending to be in that group, let’s discuss their influence. Is it fair to say that the power of the vote is diluted in a general election? They voted for Obama over Romney roughly at a ratio in 2012 (and would be expected to side against Trump by a wide margin). But a fairly big percentage of them live in California, and not that many in key battleground states. Nate I think that’s right. They’re a fraction of the electorate nationally, and they’re disproportionately concentrated in noncompetitive states. They represent more than 3 percent of the electorate in only two battleground states: Nevada, where they are 7 percent of adult citizens (third highest in the country) and Virginia, at just 4 percent. In recent weeks, Nate and Toni looked at the potential terms of surrender for Bernie Sanders discussed whether the superdelegate system should survive and examined claims from Sanders supporters that elections were rigged. | 0fake |
NO SHAME! MSNBC ANCHOR Attacks Critically Injured Steve Scalise Who Can’t Defend Himself [Video] | Joy Reid is known for her racist slant on the news. She s one bitter and angry woman we ve reported on numerous times for her over-the-top rhetoric. This latest rant is surprising even for Reid. She goes after critically injured congressman Steve Scalise with the aide of a NAACP board member. Steve Scalise cannot defend himself right now The left has no shame!Reid: There s a whole country out there and a lot of people, at least in my Twitter timeline, and it s a delicate thing, because everybody is wishing the congressman well and hoping that he recovers, but Steve Scalise has a history that we ve all been forced to sort of ignore on race. He did come to leadership after some controversy over attending a white nationalist event, which he says he didn t know what it was. He also co-sponsored a bill to amend the Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. He co-sponsored the House healthcare bill, which as you said would gut healthcare for millions of people including three million children and he cosponsored a bill to repeal the ban on semiautomatic weapons. Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise is still hospitalized in critical condition but liberal MSNBC host Joy Ann Reid didn t let that stop her from portraying Scalise as an extremist just three days after an angry left-winger shot Scalise and tried to assassinate dozens of Republican congressmen in Alexandria, Virginia on Wednesday.House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was in imminent risk of death when he was flown to a trauma center Wednesday after being shot during an ambush of a GOP congressional baseball team practicing on a Virginia field. He will be in the hospital for a considerable period of time, presumably weeks, said Jack Sava, trauma director at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, who spoke Friday about the Louisiana Republican who remains in critical condition at the hospital in the District.Sava added that Scalise was as critical as you can be when he came in after a single rifle shot traversed his body from his left hip through internal organs to the other hip as witnesses said he was fielding ground balls.The shot fired at Scalise left perhaps hundreds of bullet fragments internally, many of which may never be removed because surgery might be more dangerous than leaving them in place, Sava said. That circumstance is not uncommon for that type of injury, known as a transpelvic gunshot wound, the trauma surgeon said.Sava said Scalise will require surgeries soon for abdominal and bone injuries, in addition to the two he has undergone to repair a bone in his leg broken by the bullet. The congressman sustained substantial damage to organs and blood vessels, Sava said, and remains in intensive care.How can these idiots keep arguing with a man who is critically injured in the hospital? It s horrible because he cannot defend himself! | 1real |
G.O.P. Convention Day 3 Takeaways: Cheers for Pence, and Jeers for Cruz - The New York Times | After a plodding program on Tuesday, the hall at the Republican National Convention was finally electric with energy on Wednesday night. But it wasn’t always the kind of energy a presidential nominee wants at the outset of a general election. Republican divisions were on colorful display and threatened to overshadow Mike Pence, the nominee, who is well liked on the right. Our takeaways (and some of Wednesday’s best photos): He stuck to the script, reusing familiar lines and boiling down the Trump campaign’s message into a neat sales pitch. There was no swearing and no attacking other Republicans. In other words, Mr. Pence, the governor of Indiana, gave his speech like a career politician — and it worked. Mr. Pence, overshadowed by Donald J. Trump throughout the rollout, used his first prominent solo performance to describe the 2016 election as a choice between a candidate of change (Mr. Trump) and “a stale agenda and the most predictable of names” in Hillary Clinton. He vouched for Mr. Trump’s moral character, calling him “the right man for these times. ” After two days of meandering speeches from obscure politicians and minor celebrities, Mr. Pence brought roars of enthusiasm from the crowd and set a high bar for Mr. Trump to clear, with his more freewheeling approach, on Thursday. The in the Republican primaries, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, did not endorse Mr. Trump for president. He congratulated him on winning the Republican nomination but urged Americans only to vote their conscience in the fall. At one point, Mr. Cruz explicitly looked past the 2016 election. “We’re fighting not for one particular candidate or one campaign,” he said, but rather to tell the next generation, “We did our best for our future and our country. ” His speech earned rounds of angry booing in the room from the crowd and only scattered chants of support from friendly delegations. But with a soaring address that touched on traditional themes and praised the Republican Party’s historical role in ending slavery, Mr. Cruz staked out a position for himself as a premier torchbearer for conservative ideology — even in defiance of an unorthodox nominee. As Mr. Cruz gave a cold shoulder to Mr. Trump, other speakers tried a range of rhetorical strategies to persuade skeptics to back him. Rick Scott, the governor of Florida, noted Mr. Trump’s shortcomings — “He can be a little rough” — before defending him as a friend. Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, said that failing to support Mr. Trump was equivalent to endorsing Mrs. Clinton. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, even repurposed Mr. Cruz’s words into a plea for unity. “Ted Cruz said you can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution,” he said. “In this election, there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution. ” In a united party, these exhortations would be unnecessary. And every minute of airtime devoted to cajoling reluctant conservatives was a minute not aimed at winning over swing voters for the general election. Trump advisers promised that the gathering in Cleveland would not be standard fare, but rather a “Trump convention. ” More precisely, it has been a Trump family convention. Traditional leaders like Mr. Walker and the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, have been confined to earlier time slots. Leading off the crucial 10 p. m. hour have been members of Mr. Trump’s family: Donald Jr. regaled the audience on Tuesday with tales of his father’s business feats. On Wednesday, another son, Eric Trump, spoke of the rehabilitation of Wollman Rink in Manhattan. The schedule reflects Mr. Trump’s narrow comfort zone and his conviction that the best surrogates are blood relatives. But it also has the effect of playing down the support he has earned from establishment Republicans just when his circle of allies needs to grow. | 0fake |
Bayern-Fan plötzlich RB-Leipzig-Fan | Montag, 21. November 2016 Bayern-Fan plötzlich RB-Leipzig-Fan Köln (dpo) - Manch einer hätte ihn fast nicht wiedererkannt: Seit diesem Wochenende ist Dennis Langner (24) aus Köln plötzlich bekennender Fan von RB Leipzig. Nach Angaben seiner Kollegen war der Bürokommunikationskaufmann, der heute erstmals im Leipzig-Trikot und -Schal auf der Arbeit erschien, zuvor glühender Anhänger des FC Bayern München. Auf seine überraschende Wandlung angesprochen erklärt Langner: "Ich soll ein Bayern-Fan gewesen sein? So ein Quatsch! Niemals würde ich diese Münchner Gurkentruppe unterstützen." Langner reckt stolz einen RB-Leipzig-Schal in die Höhe, an dem noch das Etikett baumelt. "Ich freue mich einfach nur, dass mein Team Tabellenführer ist. Darauf ein Red Bull!" Dass Langner nichts für den FC Bayern München übrig hat, scheint zu stimmen. Immerhin quillt die Mülltonne bei ihm zu Hause vor Fanartikeln des verhassten Vereins aus München nahezu über. "Die anderen sind doch nur neidisch auf mich, weil mein Team so erfolgreich ist und ich so viel Ahnung von Fußball habe", erklärt der 24-Jährige die Gerüchte über seine angebliche frühere Bayern-Anhängerschaft. "Mein Lieblingsspieler bei Leipzig? Puh… Ja, also, die Nummer 10 find ich sehr gut. Der ist richtig stark. Oh, Sekunde, hihi, da kommt ein Köln-Fan." Langner grüßt einen Kollegen: "Na, Becki? Hat der FC wieder verkackt? Mönsch, das tut mir aber leid. Also mein Verein hat gewonnen!" ssi, dan; Foto: Shutterstock | 1real |
White House Sinks To New Lows Of Obstruction; Orders Every Agency To Ignore Democrats’ Oversight Requests | The White House is beginning to panic. At least that s the most logical conclusion from their latest jaw-dropping move. In an order that s pretty much unprecedented (wouldn t it be nice if we had just one day without something unprecedented coming from this White House?), the Trump White House has told various government departments that they are not to cooperate with Democrats period.Reportedly, this has been happening since Trump took office. They have formulated a policy that says that agencies are only allowed to respond to committee chairs. Republicans hold both houses of Congress, so every committee is chaired by a Republican.The declaration amounts to a new level of partisanship in Washington, where the president and his administration already feels besieged by media reports and attacks from Democrats. The idea, Republicans said, is to choke off the Democratic congressional minorities from gaining new information that could be used to attack the president. You have Republicans leading the House, the Senate and the White House, a White House official said. I don t think you d have the Democrats responding to every minority member request if they were in the same position. A White House spokeswoman said the policy of the administration is to accommodate the requests of chairmen, regardless of their political party. There are no Democratic chairmen, as Congress is controlled by Republicans.Source: PoliticoThe information blackout, at least according to White House officials, isn t toward every request from Democrats, just the requests from oversight committees. Whew, that should make us all feel so much better. It s only the agencies that are tagged with making sure laws are followed that are being hobbled.While Obama s White House didn t answer every request from Republicans (admittedly, many are meant to back the opposition into a corner), there was never an explicit policy.Now, of course, while the agencies are under the executive umbrella, they work for the office of the presidency, not for the president personally. For Trump, though, that seems to be far too nuanced a distinction. While agencies are legally free (and some would argue ethically obligated) to abide by oversight requests, even from the minority party, Trump has proven that he will fire anyone who steps out of line.This could certainly backfire, though. If Trump is still in office by the time midterms roll around, and if he keeps destroying the Republican Party, we could see a Democratic takeover of at least one house of Congress. That would give Democrats committee chairs. While the White House could still ignore Democrats requests, there would be no way around the word obstruction. Featured image via Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Wife of FBI Official Investigating Hillary Got $500K from Hillary Allied PAC | Wife of FBI Official Investigating Hillary Got $500K from Hillary Allied PAC October 27, 2016 Daniel Greenfield
The system is broken. It's deeply corrupted by insider politics . The situation at the center of power has reached the point of utter unaccountability. Insider politics function as a shadow government. That needs to change. Restoring America requires dismantling much of the Federal government not only for Constitutional reasons, but because it's a simple matter of saving the Republic.
Hillary Clinton headlined a major fundraiser for a political action committee shortly before the group steered nearly $500,000 to the wife of the FBI official who oversaw the Clinton email investigation, DailyMail.com has learned.
Clinton's ties to the Common Good VA - a Virginia state PAC run by Clinton's long-time friend and advisor Terry McAuliffe, its governor - came under scrutiny this week after the Wall Street Journal reported that the group donated heavily to the state senate campaign of Jill McCabe.
Her husband Andrew McCabe led the FBI investigation into Clinton's emails.
Andrew McCabe, now the deputy director of the FBI, told the Wall Street Journal that he complied with federal ethics rules and was not promoted to lead the Clinton probe until months after his wife's unsuccessful state senate bid ended.
Common Good VA was the largest single donor to Jill McCabe's campaign, election records show, giving her $467,000 between June and October of 2015.
She was the third-largest recipient of money from the group, which can only contribute to Virginia state candidates.
Her campaign also received an additional $207,788 from the Democratic Party of Virginia, a group over which McAuliffe exerts significant control. Combined, the money made up nearly one-third of her total funding.
Now McCabe, a pediatrician, suddenly decided to run for public office. Unopposed. That was certainly nice of the Dems to not only put a first timer unopposed, but to throw piles and piles of cash at her. And some of that cash was coming from a key former Clinton Foundation man at the center of the latest Foundation scandal.
Although Common Good VA is only allowed to fund state-level candidates, many of its largest donations came from outside of Virginia – including $50,000 from Clinton Foundation official Doug Band in New York, $100,000 from Clinton loyalist Robert Johnson in Maryland, and $10,000 from Clinton mega-donor Stephen Cloobeck in Nevada.
In the following months, Common Good VA received several major donations from other close Clinton associates, including $100,000 from Bill Clinton's business partner Ron Burkle in California and $50,000 from Ready for Hillary's finance committee member Leonard Lauder in New York.
There are basic conflicts here. Someone this linked to the Clinton network should never have been investigating Hillary regardless of the dates and timing. But this is exactly what happened with Benghazi. | 1real |
Turkish President calls UAE minister impertinent in Ottoman looting row | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described the United Arab Emirates foreign minister as impertinent and spoiled by money on Thursday after he retweeted accusations that Ottoman forces looted the holy city of Medina during World War One. Without naming him, Erdogan said UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan - who shared a tweet accusing Ottoman troops led by Fakhreddin Pasha of stealing money and manuscripts from Medina in 1916 - was ignorant. Some impertinent man sinks low and goes as far as accusing our ancestors of thievery ... What spoiled this man? He was spoiled by oil, by the money he has, Erdogan told an awards ceremony at his Ankara palace. When my ancestors were defending Medina, you impudent (man), where were yours? First, you have to give account for this, he added. The United Arab Emirates, a close U.S. ally, sees Erdogan s Islamist-rooted ruling party as a friend of Islamist forces the UAE opposes across the Arab world. Relations were further strained by Ankara s support for Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed sanctions on the Gulf emirate in June. Two months later, Sheikh Abdullah criticized what he called Turkey and Iran s colonial actions in Syria, though Turkey and the UAE have both opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Medina, now part of Saudi Arabia, was under Ottoman rule until the empire s collapse at the end of World War One. On Wednesday, Erdogan said Fakhreddin Pasha, who led the Ottoman forces, had not stolen from Medina or its people but strived to protect the city - where the Prophet Muhammad was buried - and its occupants during a time of war. Believe me, this man who insulted us, who disrespected us, wouldn t even know what the holy relics are. They are ignorant like this, Erdogan said. | 0fake |
VIDEO : FBI SOURCES SAY INDICTMENT LIKELY FOR CLINTON – TruthFeed | VIDEO : FBI SOURCES SAY INDICTMENT LIKELY FOR CLINTON VIDEO : FBI SOURCES SAY INDICTMENT LIKELY FOR CLINTON Videos By TruthFeedNews November 3, 2016
BRET BAIER: Here’s the deal: We talked to two separate sources with intimate knowledge of the FBI investigations. One: The Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far… Several offices separately have been doing their own investigations.
Two: The immunity deal that Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, two top aides to Hillary Clinton, got from the Justice Department in which it was beleived that the laptops they had, after a narrow review for classified materials, were going to be destroyed. We have been told that those have not been destroyed — they are at the FBI field office here on Washington and are being exploited. .
Three: The Clinton Foundation investigation is so expansive, they have interviewed and re-interviewed many people. They described the evidence they have as ‘a lot of it’ and said there is an ‘avalanche coming in every day.’ WikiLeaks and the new emails.
They are “actively and aggressively pursuing this case.” Remember the Foundation case is about accusations of pay-for-play… They are taking the new information and some of them are going back to interview people for the third time. As opposed to what has been written about the Clinton Foundation investigation, it is expansive.
The classified e-mail investigation is being run by the National Security division of the FBI. They are currently combing through Anthony Weiner’s laptop. They are having some success — finding what they believe to be new emaisls, not duplicates, that have been transported through Hillary Clinton’s server.
Finally, we learned there is a confidence from these sources that her server had been hacked. And that it was a 99% accuracy that it had been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that things had been taken from that…
There has been some angst about Attorney General Loretta Lynch — what she has done or not done. She obviously did not impanel, or go to a grand jury at the beginning. They also have a problem, these sources do, with what President Obama said today and back in October of 2015…
I pressed again and again on this very issue… The investigations will continue, there is a lot of evidence. And barring some obstruction in some way, they believe they will continue to likely an indictment.
Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter. | 1real |
Top Bush Advisor Jumps From Sinking GOP Ship | Yet another highly respected conservative is jumping from the sinking GOP ship now that the captain is billionaire blowhard Donald Trump. Sally Bradshaw, a top adviser to Jeb Bush, announced on Monday that she is leaving the Republican Party, and furthermore, if the race is close in Florida she plans to cast her vote for Hillary Clinton.Bradshaw, who was a top advisor to Bush during his 2016 campaign, has now officially changed her registration to unaffiliated rather than Republican. In an email interview, she told CNN s Jamie Gangel that the GOP is at a crossroads and have nominated a total narcissist a misogynist a bigot. This is a time when country has to take priority over political parties. Donald Trump cannot be elected president, Bradshaw said.Bradshaw has a long history with the Bush family, having begun her career in 1988 working for George H.W. Bush s campaign. She has now joined the ranks of many other prominent Republicans who are staunchly refusing to jump on the Trump Train. Bradshaw said: This election cycle is a test. As much as I don t want another four years of (President Barack) Obama s policies, I can t look my children in the eye and tell them I voted for Donald Trump. I can t tell them to love their neighbor and treat others the way they wanted to be treated, and then vote for Donald Trump. I won t do it. Her departure comes on the heels of Trump s revolting comments about the parents of a Muslim-American soldier who sacrificed his life in Iraq while fighting for the United States military. Bradshaw said his remarks were revolting and made me sick to my stomach. She continued: Donald Trump belittled a woman who gave birth to a son who died fighting for the United States. If anything, that reinforced my decision to become an independent voter. Every family who loses a loved one in service to our country or who has a family member who serves in the military should be honored, regardless of their political views. Vets and their family have more than earned the right to those views. Someone with the temperament to be president would understand and respect that. Bradshaw said Trump s most recent comment was the proverbial straw that broke the camel s back, however, leaving the GOP is something she had been contemplating for awhile. I ve been considering the switch for months. Ultimately, I could not abide the hateful rhetoric of Donald Trump and his complete lack of principles and conservative philosophy. I didn t make this decision lightly I have worked hard to make our party a place where all would feel welcome. But Trump has taken the GOP in another direction, and too many Republicans are standing by and looking the other way. She served as Jeb Bush s campaign manager both times he ran for governor of Florida. She said she hasn t made up her mind who she plans to vote for, but it obviously won t be Trump. I haven t made a decision yet between Clinton, Gary Johnson or writing in a candidate. If the race in Florida is close, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. That is a very difficult statement for me to make. I disagree with her on several important issues. I have worked to elect Republicans to national and statewide offices for the last 30 years. I have never voted for a Democrat for president, and I consider myself a conservative, a supporter of limited government, gun rights, free enterprise, equality of opportunity. I am pro-life. There are no other candidates who were serious contenders for the nomination that I would not have supported. Bradley faults Trump s presidential competitors for not coming out strong enough against him earlier in the campaign season. I really fault the candidates who did not speak out against Trump until the end of the primary cycle. Lindsay Graham and Jeb Bush spoke out early and consistently but most did not, fearful of offending that segment of the party or positioning themselves for future office. Bradshaw insists that it is the only real choice for reasonable, thoughtful Republicans to make. Our president must represent what is good about America a belief in opportunity for all regardless of race and gender and background to rise up and live the American dream. A president can t tear down Hispanics, or mock someone who is disabled, or use symbols in campaign literature that Jewish voters understandably find offensive. To continue to be the hope of the world, all Americans regardless of party affiliation have to reject him. She added: If and when the party regains its sanity, I ll be ready to return. But until Republicans send a message to party leadership that this cannot stand, nothing will ever change. Truer words were never spoken. The GOP is no longer the party of conservatism. It is the party of Trumpism.Featured image via Joshua Lott/Getty Images | 1real |
Top U.S. general in Afghanistan says new strategy based on conditions not timelines | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan said on Monday the United States’ future presence in Afghanistan would be based on “conditions and not arbitrary timelines”. “This new strategy means the Taliban cannot win militarily. Now is the time to renounce violence and reconcile,” General John Nicholson said in a statement. President Donald Trump opened the door on Monday night to an increase in U.S. troops in Afghanistan as part of a retooled strategy for the region, overcoming his own doubts about America’s longest war and vowing “a fight to win.” | 0fake |
CROOKED HILLARY VS FBI’S COMEY [Video] | This Supercut of Hillary vs Comey gets to the heart of why she should be indicted! | 1real |
Trump on Twitter (Dec 26) - Hillary Clinton, Tax Cut Bill | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Based on the fact that the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate has been terminated as part of our Tax Cut Bill, which essentially Repeals (over time) ObamaCare, the Democrats & Republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new HealthCare plan! [0658 EST] - WOW, @foxandfrlends “Dossier is bogus. Clinton Campaign, DNC funded Dossier. FBI CANNOT (after all of this time) VERIFY CLAIMS IN DOSSIER OF RUSSIA/TRUMP COLLUSION. FBI TAINTED.” And they used this Crooked Hillary pile of garbage as the basis for going after the Trump Campaign! [0824 EST] - All signs are that business is looking really good for next year, only to be helped further by our Tax Cut Bill. Will be a great year for Companies and JOBS! Stock Market is poised for another year of SUCCESS! [17:17 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 0fake |
Trump campaign criticizes Iran nuclear deal anew after Reuters report | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign criticized the Iran nuclear deal and Democrat Hillary Clinton’s support for it after a Reuters report that said the United States and its negotiating partners agreed “in secret” to allow Iran to evade some restrictions. Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, a Trump foreign policy adviser, said in a statement that the report showed President Barack Obama “gave away the store” when the agreement was sealed last year. “The deeply flawed nuclear deal Hillary Clinton secretly spearheaded with Iran looks worse and worse by the day,” the statement said, referring to Clinton’s role during Obama’s first term as secretary of state. Reuters was first to report on a think tank report earlier on Thursday based on information provided by several officials of governments involved in the negotiations. | 0fake |
Introducing: Hamish “The Illusion” Patterson | 21st Century Wire says Welcome to Spaceship Earth.This past week, Stuart J. Hooper took a trip to Los Angeles, California and got the chance to meet up with YouTube star Hamish The Illusion Patterson.The Illusion has made over 1,200 videos covering everything from current events, to the nature of the universe, and his journey through sobriety.In the coming days, look for a hour and a half long discussion with Stuart and Hamish covering the state of the world and current political events.In this initial video, The Illusion introduces his worldview and philosophy: You can follow Hamish on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram.SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Breaking: Stanley Cup Champions Make Announcement on White House Visit | Any agreement or disagreement with a president s politics, policies or agenda can be expressed in other ways PITTSBURGH PENGUINSLike voting?Why do these sports clowns feel the need to bring politics into a sport that all Americans watch and support? This all started with a disrespectful protest against our law enforcement and has snowballed into a protest against President Trump. RESPECT THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT The Pittsburgh Penguins have accepted an invitation to attend a White House ceremony celebrating their second-straight Stanley Cup championship, saying they respect the Office of the President while agreeing with others who feel the need to take a knee in protest. The Pittsburgh Penguins respect the institution of the Office of the President, and the long tradition of championship teams visiting the White House, the team said in a statement issued Sunday morning. We attended White House ceremonies after previous championships touring the historic building and visiting briefly with Presidents George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama and have accepted an invitation to attend again this year. And addressing the controversy roiling the NFL after Trump on Friday called on team owners to fire players who kneel during the national anthem.IN CASE YOU MISSED THE PRESIDENT CALLING OUT THE NFL PLAYERS WHO KNEEL:President Trump is known for not holding back and he certainly didn t on Friday during a speech in Huntsville, Alabama. He lashed out in a BIG way at NFL players who don t stand during the national anthem. He said team owners should remove the silent protesters from the field Trump, appearing at a campaign rally for US Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) said he wished NFL suits would take a hard-line stance against players who take a knee while The Star-Spangled Banner is played before kickoff. We re proud of our country, we respect our flag, Trump told supporters in Huntsville.<strong> Wouldn t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flags to say, `Get that son of a bitch off the field right now! Out. He s fired! He s fired! </strong> Trump then pranced around the stage, arms extended, to soak up wild applause from supporters chanting, USA, USA, USA! Trump predicted that an NFL owner will take such action although the league is arguably doing that already, by keeping former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.Colin Kaepernick off the field.<img class= alignnone wp-image-23131 size-thumbnail src= https://100percentfedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/colin-Kaepernick-500 330.jpg alt= width= 500 height= 330 /> You know some owner s going to do that, Trump said. He s going to say, `That guy who disrespects our flag, he s fired! READ MORE: NYP | 1real |
Trump Allows 3 Million People To Escape US | 0 Add Comment
President-elect Donald Trump is giving a lucky 3 million people the unique chance to escape the United States before it resembles the sequel to Mad Max Fury Road, WWN can reveal.
Speaking to CBS, Trump confirmed his intention to deport over 3 million illegal immigrants who have a criminal record when he assumes office in January, prompting many American citizens to curse illegal immigrants’ good fortune.
“Many desperate people who are currently living in fear will not be as lucky as these deportees,” confirmed political expert Conor Franken, outlining just how fortunate some illegal immigrants are.
The fallout from the announcement has already been met with widespread derision coming from Trump’s political opponents as he revealed the figure of 3 million was plucked directly from his arse. However, signs are emerging that many people have welcomed the news.
“How do I get deported?” querzied US citizen and LA native Max Schulmann, “Do you think I’ll be one of the lucky ones if I just rip up my passport, get a parking fine and start speaking Spanish?”
Large queues of people seeking to win big with deportation have already begun forming at the Mexican and Canadian borders. Sadly, many have been turned away for not meeting the minimum requirement Trump has placed on qualifying for deportation which requires people to be a murderring rapist drug dealer from Mexico who bleeds the economy dry by signing up to Obamacare.
In the wide ranging interview with CBS, Trump also took the time to row back on over 200 elections pledges he made including stances on a border wall, Hillary Clinton and Obamacare.
“The days of politicians lying and cheating the American people are over, it’s now Donald’s turn,” Trump said, concluding the interview. | 1real |
MRI Shows Detailed Images of 20-Week Unborn Babies - Breitbart | A newly developed MRI scan allows parents to see detailed images of the beating heart of even a unborn baby, as well as clear pictures of the baby stretching its legs and even swallowing in the womb. [The new scan, developed by a team of medical researchers, could replace the somewhat grainy ultrasound images parents are more accustomed to viewing during pregnancy. UK video parenting site ChannelMum is sharing the video, created by the iFind project, which shows an MRI scan of a baby at 20 weeks. Cathy Ranson, who edits the site, says, “Scans are amazing as they help mums, dads and even other family members bond with their baby. ” “There is nothing quite as emotional as seeing your unborn child moving inside you, and these MRI scans are taking images to the next level,” she adds. “They are truly breathtaking. ” According to the Daily Mail, the new scan is also revving up the abortion debate in the UK once again since, with the new technology, parents and doctors can see clearly how fully formed an unborn baby is at 20 weeks. Currently, the legal abortion limit in the UK is 24 weeks. “Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has previously supported slashing the limit to 12 weeks and there have also been calls to reduce it to 20 weeks,” says the report. With a administration now in the White House in the United States, national leaders who oppose abortion are hoping to pass the Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban most abortions past the mark, into law. Dr. David Lloyd, a clinical research fellow at King’s College London who has participated in the project, says, “Taking pictures of a 20 week fetus while they’re still in the womb really isn’t that easy. ” He explains: For one thing, they’re very small. The fetal heart, for example, with all of its tiny chambers and valves, is only about 15mm long: less than the size of penny. Ultrasound technology — used in all routine antenatal scans in the UK — is actually fairly good at visualising these tiny structures. It uses very high frequency sound waves which are reflected back (‘echo’) from the structures inside the body to produce an image. The MRI scan, unlike an ultrasound, shows what is happening under the baby’s skin, so that images can be obtained even of babies who move around frequently. “In fetal ultrasound, the images produced can be excellent, but unfortunately, that’s not true for every patient,” Lloyd continues. “Ultrasound has to be able to ‘see’ through the body to the parts of the baby we want to image, and that isn’t always easy. It will depend on the age of the baby, how they are lying in the womb, the size of the mother, and many other factors. ” “MRI, which uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to produce images, isn’t so limited,” he explains. “It can see the structures inside the body regardless of whether there’s bone, muscle or fat in the way and in some cases it can give us even more detailed images than ultrasound. ” “Importantly, it is also one of the few imaging techniques that is safe to use in pregnancy,” Lloyd adds. | 0fake |
Kellyanne Conway Praised in London Assembly for Intl Women’s Day | London Assembly Member David Kurten has hailed President Donald Trump’s White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway in a speech in the assembly chamber today, International Women’s Day. [Mr. Kurten — who was elected on a UK Independence Party (UKIP) ticket after first showcasing his abilities here on Breitbart London — used his speech to state: “Women have made immense strides in politics and in many many areas over the past decade. We now have the second female prime minister of this country, which is a fantastic thing. In America last year we had the first female presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. She lost the election and Donald Trump won. “But probably due to the skill and intelligence of the very first female campaign manager of a successful winning president of the United States election, so congratulations to her”. Mr. Kurten went on to call “little pink hats” a “false stereotype of the great things women are doing” and hailed all the female Brexit campaigners who stood “shoulder to should with men” and praised the votes and activism of women who made Brexit happen. WATCH: | 0fake |
Internet Is On Fire With Speculation That Podesta Emails Contain Code for Child Sex | We Are Change
Emails revealed by Wikileaks from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta’s account contained lots of strange emails about food, ties to human trafficker Laura Silsby, and a photo of Asian girls eating pizza — so naturally the internet has been set on fire with theories about secret codes and a child sex ring.
Is this Laura Ling in the Podesta Pizza email pic? Bill Clinton rescued? ID 8673 #HillaryIndictment #PrisonPizza pic.twitter.com/YuuKOpvywJ
— Jupider Leigh (@jupiderleigh) November 4, 2016
On Wednesday, a Reddit post titled “I believe I have connected a convicted child abductor who was caught stealing children in Haiti with the Clintons,” contained a list of email links regarding Laura Silsby, former director of The New Life Children’s Refuge.
BREAKING: Redditor may have connected a child abductor who was caught stealing children in Haiti with the Clintons. https://t.co/REW7RwPn4S
— Brittany Pettibone (@BrittPettibone) November 3, 2016
Silsby was found guilty in Haiti of child trafficking in 2010, after she attempted to cross the Haiti-Dominican Republic border with 33 Haitian children — all but one of the children had at least one living parent and were not orphans. Nine others who were arrested along with her were freed, thanks to the efforts of the Clintons .
“Along with the Haitian justice system, some observers excused the missionaries’ actions, even though they rose to the level of child trafficking. They did so essentially because we place such little value on the integrity of poor families; the idea that the missionaries were acting to ‘save’ these children justified the damage they would have caused to the children and their families,” Shani M. King wrote for the Harvard Human Rights Journal. “In this way, the Silsby case offers a window into international and domestic child placement schemes that disrupt poor families and disregard traditional forms of child placement.”
Jorge Puello Torres, Silsby’s legal adviser, was later arrested for running an international sex trafficking ring. Torres was accused of luring girls from the Caribbean and Central America into prostitution by offering to make them “models.”
In 2011, he was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison for “alien smuggling.”
Were 33 children for Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein's "use"? Forget corruption, these emails expose connections to child sex trafficking. https://t.co/9CvlndNTDs
— Mike Cernovich ?? (@Cernovich) November 3, 2016
“Hillary has a LONG history of interest in Ms. Silsby. Wikileak emails dating back till at least 2001 have been found in her archives discussing Laura’s NGO (EmailID 3776). Laura had claimed she planned to build an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, but authorities in the country said she never submitted an application for this purpose. They instead located to Haiti,” the Redditor wrote.
On Friday, Wikileaks released their 28th installment of the Podesta Files and the speculation online grew even stranger.
Search all Podesta emails for these keywords. We are uncovering a child sex ring. #PodestaEmails28 pic.twitter.com/h6N6O76sAw
— Jared Wyand ?? (@JaredWyand) November 3, 2016
Theories and screenshots began to swirl, claiming that bizarrely-worded emails about food were codes for child sex trafficking. It is important to note that this is originated on anonymous message boards, and the “keywords” were not listed in any of the emails.
Please read this Podesta email. Is this code for something SICK? #Trump #MAGA pic.twitter.com/3gRlCQVbJH
— GuthDaddy (@mediumsexy) November 3, 2016
Simple, either Podesta feeds everyone walnut sauce or he arranges orgies with Black boys
So many cryptic emails like this #PodestaEmails28 pic.twitter.com/JcEAnDcpZw
— Jared Wyand ?? (@JaredWyand) November 3, 2016
Lawyer and popular author/journalist Mike Cernovich was among those sharing and discussing the theories.
"I'm dreaming about your hotdog stand in Hawaii…"
This is code for something.
Sex trafficking? https://t.co/BNulNKBi4u pic.twitter.com/L3l5j40ahy
— Mike Cernovich ?? (@Cernovich) November 3, 2016
“As a lawyer who has handled many criminal cases, I have strong instincts for when ‘code’ is being used. Reading these emails gives me the sense that they are speaking code words, like criminals,” Cernovich told We Are Change. “However the reports I’ve seen online do not seem credible and I myself have not fully cracked the code.”
"I think it has a map that seems pizza-related."
This is code. I know this from representing drug dealers. https://t.co/9mX3kivmPz pic.twitter.com/yk1vJIOlMd
— Mike Cernovich ?? (@Cernovich) November 3, 2016
Cernovich added that because of the facts that Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin’s husband is currently under investigation for sexting a minor, and Bill Clinton flew on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet (which is called “The Lolita Express”), the whole inner circle deserves scrutiny.
“Bill Clinton took six trips to Epstein’s island without Secret Service. Weiner was sexting 15 year old girls. Whole inner circle is suspect,” Cernovich said.
Whether this is a case of confirmation bias, or something more sinister — one thing is certain:
People really do not trust Hillary Clinton — to the point where thousands of people are actually having serious discussions about whether or not she is involved in a child sex ring.
Perhaps the Democrats should consider bringing Bernie Sanders back now.
The post Internet Is On Fire With Speculation That Podesta Emails Contain Code for Child Sex appeared first on We Are Change .
| 1real |
In war-torn Darfur, new U.S. aid chief stresses need for humanitarian access | ZAM ZAM CAMP, North Darfur (Reuters) - Washington s top aid official, Mark Green, visiting Sudan s North Darfur state, stressed on Monday the importance of unfettered humanitarian access as a key demand for easing U.S. sanctions against the government of President Omar al-Bashir. Just two weeks into the job as U.S. President Donald Trump s new aid administrator, Green is on a fact-finding mission to Sudan before an Oct. 12 deadline for when the administration will decide whether to permanently lift 20-year-old sanctions. The United Nations has reported progress in the opening of aid corridors by Sudan s military to get food and medicine into once tightly-controlled areas of Darfur. Last month for the first time in seven years, aid workers were allowed into Jebel Marra, a mountainous region in central, north and south Darfur where fighting persists. There they found acute malnutrition and high levels of child mortality, according to a USAID report. Before sanctions can be lifted the Sudanese government needs to comply with five U.S. demands, including improved humanitarian access, more cooperation between the U.S. and Sudan on fighting extremism and an end to internal conflicts. While Green acknowledged there had been progress on all fronts, the question was whether it was enough for Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to permanently lift the sanctions, he said. Certainly there has been progress particularly in recent weeks, Green told Reuters and the Washington Post in a joint interview. This is not a matter of whether things look perfect on the date that a decision made, it s whether or not long-lasting changes have been made. It s not meant to be one-off, it s not meant to be a single moment, a snap shot, but instead the product of real change, Green added. He said dialogue with Khartoum was an opportunity for a new and closer relationship and could mean a significant change in the lives of a population hard hit by the sanctions. Then-U.S. President Barack Obama temporarily lifted sanctions for six months in January, suspending a trade embargo, unfreezing assets and removing financial sanctions. But any sanctions relief would not remove Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation it shares with Iran and Syria. The sanctions about which we re talking are but one set of sanctions, said Green. At this point in time we re engaging in conversations with Sudan to see what is possible, and that is really all that these conversations are really about. We will all know more about what is possible come October, so no one is pretending, or suggesting there is a magic wand and that everything changes on October 12, he said. Senior U.S. officials, who spoke before Green s trip on condition of anonymity, have expressed concern that once sanctions are lifted progress by the Bashir government could backslide. Others worry that if sanctions are not lifted in October the government will halt cooperation with Washington. Darfur s conflict began more than a decade ago when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum. The government responded with force, using militias known as the janjaweed, which were drawn from nomadic Arab tribes and blamed for much of the killing. Less than 10 miles (16 km) outside the North Darfur city of El Fashir, the Zam Zam camp was once a village that has become a sprawling home for 230,000 people who have fled Darfur s conflict. As he toured the camp Green saw for himself US-funded programs that help mothers and malnourished children. I want to go home but it isn t safe, said Hawad Abdullah Mohamad, 33, a mother of seven who has lived in Zam Zam for 13 years. Nearby, under a large tree, Green spoke with about a dozen men, who complained about access to food and camp life. Where do you see yourself in five years from now? Green asked Ahmed Nour Mohamed from Tawila village. When he did not get a straight answer, Green persisted with the line of questioning. In my village or in the grave, Mohamed replied. Green said later he was trying to understand what was keeping people at Zam Zam from returning home. These are important questions for us to ask because for an agency like USAID ... we should be thinking about what it would take to tackle conditions so people can leave the camps, he said. | 0fake |
Andrea Mitchell to Price: You Have White Men Cutting Heath Care for Women - Breitbart | Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” guest host Andrea Mitchell told Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price that the House Republicans who voted for the American Health Care Act are “mostly all men and white men at that. ” Partial transcript as follows: MITCHELL: Well, let’s talk about women. When we looked at the rose garden and the celebration of this on Thursday, they were all — mostly all men and white men at that. There was no diversity there. Women’s health issues arguably are going to be disproportionately affected. Obamacare includes maternity and newborn care, preventative care, mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, birth control, all of this under the essential package no longer required under this house bill. PRICE: Andrea, come on. Look at that picture. Congresswoman Diane Black, the chair of the budget committee I was standing next to her. Seema Verma, the administrator of CMS I was standing next to her. MITCHELL: Out of a group of dozens and dozens of people, you can cite two or three — two or three women? PRICE: These are prominent individuals who are leading — who are leading in this area of health care. But the goal as I mentioned is to make certain every American, men, women, rich, poor, old, young, have the kind of coverage that they want for themselves and for their families. not that government forces them to buy. That’s the change. | 0fake |
DEMOCRATS SELL Promo T-Shirt: “Democrats give a sh*t about people.”…How Low Can You Go? | Yes, the Democrats think it s a good thing to repeat the foul comment from their Chair Tom Perez (see video below). Remember he s going around saying the Republicans don t give a sh*t about the people Well, they think it s a great idea to put that on a t-shirt!NOTE THE DESCRIPTION: Show Republicans that you give a sh*t with this American-made t-shirt. Tom Perez must not have taken the class about winning friends and influencing people. How can you win over voters with such bitterness and anger? The Democrat Party has sunk to a new low with this classless thug. Who goes out there and speaks like this?We reported (see below) on the last speech Perez gave and he said the same nasty things. What gives? Are the deems so desperate that they re now resorting to profanity-filled speeches that make false claims about Republicans and President Trump? We think it s a losing strategy!Newly elected Democrat Chair Tom Perez went a little bonkers with a rant on how he wants the Dems to think Trump didn t win the election. The Democrats are trying to discredit Trump at every turn but they re losing. The American people want good policy and NOT political turmoil. That s exactly why Trump won! People are sick to death of this type of outright lying to sway people to your side. Perez has a long radical history connected to La Raza and other open borders organizations. His track record is full on radical. e s in cahoots with Obama to continue the fundamental transformation of America. Anyone who s a Democrat should be shocked that he s taking the party in such a far left direction. Do your research and you ll know why he was the choice for Dem Chair.He just fired all Democrat Party staffers and is bringing in all new people. The party is clearly taking a new direction and it s not a good one for any American. DONALD TRUMP DIDN T WIN | 1real |
Swiss police lift U.S. consular office evacuation | ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss police declared the U.S. consular office building in Zurich as safe, saying a suspicious object discovered on Monday morning that had prompted a brief evacuation of two buildings was found to be harmless. A street blockade was lifted and people were allowed to re-enter the buildings, Zurich municipal police said. | 0fake |
National Review disses Donald Trump: Why the magazine's plan won't work | In a last dash, final "hail mary" attempt to end a Donald Trump run for the White House once and for all, the National Review has decided to eviscerate the Republican front runner on the basis that he is not a conservative.
It will not work.
Publications like National Review, run by elite "conservatives" have given us George W. Bush and his wars, "No Child Left Behind," Medicare Part D, huge deficits caused by Republican consultants spending to woo select voters, Mitt "Romneycare" Romney, John McCain...the list goes on and on.
William F. Buckley, who founded National Review, used the magazine to publish a stellar series of essays by conservative intellectuals who helped foster the Reagan Revolution.
Since then, "movement conservatism" has not been a powerful enough force to make things better for the working classes in the country.
This vacuum, created by the "conservative" elites who have backed RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and candidates who are antithetical to conservatism, is what created the opportunity for Donald Trump to rise.
In fact, publications like National Review have such a blind spot, they never even saw devout, pro-America nationalists like Trump taking off.
They aren't credible in their criticism of Trump because they never saw it coming.
Beyond that, and most importantly, they told us we -- the conservatives who are sick and tired of elistist, establishment blunders -- were wrong.
And they still don't get it.
Trump's appeal stretches far beyond disgruntled, outside the country club conservatives. His potential for crossover support, especially with blue collar and working class voters, is huge. Most establishment Republicans have never met a blue collar worker (unless they were fixing their Jacuzzi).
I can see Trump winning coal miners, unionized construction workers, auto workers, steel workers, Teamsters, etc.
Trump may even score a larger share of black votes with his immigration stand. His appeal to working class voters is a very under reported story, but it's evident because even President Barack Obama himself mentioned Trump by name during an interview with NPR in which he said that Trump is tapping into the "anger of the blue collar white male."
This showcases just how scared the left is when it comes to Trump's potential to tear into demographics that Democrats have largely considered theirs.
The bed wetters at the RNC are dreaming of a GOP that grows because it attracts Latinos, pro-abortion millennial women and other hopelessly Democratic voters. Trump's coalition of adding working class voters (who actually work) makes more sense.
I have respect for National Review as an institution, but the cover and series of articles designed to hurt Trump only hurts the elitest, Beltway crowd they represent because it exposes why he is the seemingly solid and unstoppable frontrunner: it's because of them.
They have failed us, not Trump. Donald Trump is merely capitalizing on a moment in a pursuit to make America Great Again, in spite of the failures of the conservative movement.
Just like they were too dense to see Trump's rise, they don't understand why it occurred.
National Review, it's time for your Man in the Mirror moment. People are more concerned about the country they love, than they are your brand of "conservatism."
By trying to take out the most popular candidate in this race who has the best general election shot of any of them to win the White House and reverse the progressive policies of Barack Obama, Beltway, frat boy type elitists are proving my point: they don't get it.
And from the looks of it, they never will. | 0fake |
Trump Labor Dept. nominee questions key Obama-era rules | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Labor Secretary nominee R. Alexander Acosta told a Senate committee on Wednesday he would abide by President Donald Trump’s directive to review a pending “fiduciary rule” for retirement investment advisers, indicating he believed it goes too far. Acosta told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that the fiduciary rule, slated to take effect on April 10 but which the department has proposed delaying, goes “far beyond” regulating the conduct of investment advisers. The Trump administration directed the department last month to review whether the Obama-era rule, which requires brokers offering retirement investment advice to put their clients’ interest first, was burdensome and out of step with current White House policies. Acosta likewise expressed reservations about another Obama administration rule issued last year that more than doubled the salary ceiling under which employees would be eligible for overtime pay, from $23,660 to $47,476 a year. Acosta said he had “serious questions as to whether the secretary of labor had the power to enact this in the first place.” A federal judge in November blocked the rule, which extended mandatory overtime pay to more than 4 million salaried workers. The Trump administration must decide whether to defend the rule, and Acosta’s statements indicated that, if confirmed, he may decline to do so. However, Acosta told senators he was sensitive to the fact that overtime rules have not been updated in more than a decade. During the three-hour hearing, Acosta said that while he felt both Republicans and Democrats had the shared goal of protecting the interests of U.S. workers, they may disagree about the best courses of action. Ultimately, Acosta told the panel, Cabinet secretaries are selected by Trump and tasked with deploying his administration’s vision. “We work for the president, he is our boss, and so all Cabinet officials ... will ultimately follow his direction unless we feel that we can’t and if we can’t, we resign,” Acosta said. Acosta, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board and dean of the Florida International University College of Law in Miami, was nominated to be labor secretary in February, one day after Trump’s original choice, Andrew Puzder, withdrew. Acosta has had a decades-long career in public service and has been through multiple Senate vettings for previous appointments, making it is unlikely his nomination will be derailed. If he clears the panel, Acosta will come up for a confirmation vote before the full Senate. | 0fake |
HOUSE INTEL CHAIR On Trump-Russia Fake Story: “No evidence of anything” [Video] | 1real | |
Is the FBI Constitutional? | Email
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) James Comey is again under fire, this time by supporters of Hillary Clinton for permitting the re-opening of the investigation into her use of personal servers to store and send classified material, the second round of a scandal that could prove fatal to the Democratic nominee's chance to occupy the Oval Office in January.
Republicans had their own go at Comey when he declared after the original investigation of Clinton's mishandling of classified documents and information that there was insufficient evidence to charge her with any criminal violation.
Comey, it seems, has become a punching bag being worked over by partisans on both sides of the political aisle.
Regarding the sound and fury coming out of the Clinton camp, they don't see that their candidate has fallen into a pit she dug for herself. She knew, or should have known, that there are rules governing the treatment and transmission of data that could place U.S. national security in danger.
She broke those rules, and despite what Comey claimed, whether she did so knowingly or not is irrelevant, as the requisite mental state codified into the regulation is "negligence." That is to say, in order to be in violation of the relevant statute, one need only fail to take reasonable care in the behavior in question.
It is beyond dispute that there was a duty of care, and Hillary Clinton's behavior fell well below that bar.
What is also beyond dispute is that neither the Republicans — when Clinton was exonerated — or the Democrats — when the whole affair was brought back into the light of investigation — ever questioned the authority of the FBI to carry on as a federal police force.
The larger question, the constitutional question, is why does the federal government have an armed police force with nearly unlimited authority (at home and abroad) and with the power to conduct most of its work in secret, beyond the oversight of the American people, whose interest they ostensibly serve?
Perhaps Ryan McMaken has hit upon the answer to that question in an article published on the Mises Wire blog. McMaken writes of the federal government's law enforcement agency: Of all federal police forces, the FBI is the most romanticized, and every FBI agent is assumed to be the modern embodiment of a fictionalized version of Eliot Ness: incorruptible, professional, and efficient. Decades of pop culture has driven this home with TV series and movies such as The Untouchables , The FBI Story , and This Is Your FBI have long perpetuated the idea that when local police fail, the FBI will step in to be more effective and simply better than every other law enforcement agency. Corruption cannot touch the FBI, we are told, and they apply the law equally to everyone.
According to a piece penned in 2012, "A Stasi for America," reporter James Bovard painted a darker, less egalitarian picture of the FBI's application of the law: A ripple of protest swept across the Internet in late March after the disclosure that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was teaching its agents that “the FBI has the ability to bend or suspend the law to impinge on the freedom of others.” This maxim was inculcated as part of FBI counterterrorism training. The exposure of the training material — sparked by a series of articles by Wired.com’s Spencer Ackerman — spurred the ritual declaration by an FBI spokesman that “mistakes were made, and we are correcting those mistakes.” No FBI officials were sanctioned or fired for teaching lawmen that they were above the law.... At least the FBI has been consistent. Since its founding in 1908, the bureau has rarely let either the statute book or the Constitution impede its public service. Tim Weiner, the author of a superb exposé of the CIA ( Legacy of Ashes ) has delivered a riveting chronology of some of the FBI’s biggest crimes with his new book, Enemies .
There's no question that in its roughly 100 years of existence, the FBI has seen its reputation rise and fall.
McMaken recites a bit of recent history in support of his assertion that the creation and the continuation of the FBI as a federal secret police force is an assault on the liberty of the United States: The reality and the romance, of course, have always been two totally different things, and it's helpful to remind ourselves that it was the FBI that was in charge of the Waco massacre where 26 children were killed. It was the FBI that led the raid on Randy Weaver's house where an FBI sniper shot a woman dead while she was holding a 10-month old baby. It was the FBI that spied on Martin Luther King, Jr., and targeted peaceful anti-war organizations for political reasons during the 1960s and 70s. It was the FBI that came of age arresting opponents of the First World War. Naturally, in all of these cases, the FBI has actively covered up the facts and denied wrongdoing.
Next, the history lesson looks further back to the beginnings of the FBI to illuminate the transformation of the FBI from crime-fighting force (albeit no less unconstitutional) to powerful partner in the surveillance state: Thanks to war hysteria during World War I, the FBI rose to prominence as Woodrow Wilson's shock troops against "dissidents" (i.e., peaceful opponents of the war). Indeed, persecuting and prosecuting political enemies of the American state would become something of the forte of the FBI, with the role of the agency being expanded ever more during times of perceived national crisis. The idea of the FBI as a crime-fighting organization — the primary message of fawning treatments of the FBI such as The Untouchables and The FBI Story — for decades served as cover for the FBI's political activities. As Foreign Policy pointed out in 2014, though, the FBI quietly dropped its claims of being a crime fighting organization and began declaring itself a "national security" organization. Down the memory hole goes the FBI's original claimed raison d'etre.
This point is borne out in the FBI's own description of its purpose. On the "Questions and Answers" section of its official web page, the agency describes itself as "an intelligence-driven and threat-focused national security organization with both intelligence and law enforcement responsibilities."
Where, one wonders, does the Constitution grant the federal government or any of its associated agencies any intelligence gathering and federal law-enforcement power?
Finally, not only is the FBI's assumption of its current role as federal police force and armed branch of the federal surveillance apparatus unconstitutional and a persistent threat to freedom, but it represents yet another example of the inability of the government to perform any task on par with a privately owned entity with the same or similar objective. Again, from the Mises Wire: "The unreliability of metropolitan police, with their strong local and partisan ties, prompted major businesses and industrialists to establish the Pinkertons and other private police forces. The Pinkertons ultimately functioned as a de facto national detective and policing service until the 1920s, when the FBI finally came into its own."
As one scandal blends into the next, and as each generation sees the occurrence of some serious act of FBI abuse of power, perhaps it is time to consider the abolition of the agency and the return of its assumed duties to the private sector. Please review our Comment Policy before posting a comment
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Judge spanks transgender-obsessed Obama: You lie! | RedFlag News |
Bob Unruh | WND
For a third time, a federal judge has affirmed a nationwide injunction against the Obama administration’s agenda to impose mandatory open-restroom policies on schools from coast to coast, scolding the White House for repeating old arguments and catching those who submitted the newest arguments in a lie.
The ruling this week from U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor left intact his nationwide injunction against Obama’s decision that transgender public school students can use the restroom of their choice, rather than the restroom designated for their physical sex.
The White House issued the order some months ago, and when several states sued, O’Connor found in August that they were likely to prevail in their arguments, so he suspended implementation of the program nationwide.
In October, when he had to address the issue again because of demands from the White House, he doubled down, stating, “It is clear from Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent that this court has the power to issue a nationwide injunction where appropriate. Both Title IX and Title VII rely on the consistent, uniform application of national standards in education and workplace policy.
“A nationwide injunction is necessary because the alleged violation extends nationwide. Defendants are a group of agencies and administrators capable of enforcing their guidelines nationwide, affecting numerous state and school district facilities across the country.”
Now in another ruling prompted by demands from the Obama administration, O’Connor has affirmed the decision – again. | 1real |
HILARIOUS! Leonardo DiCaprio Is “Outed” As Climate Change Hypocrite, Forced To Do The Unimaginable | Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most outspoken advocates for man-made global climate-change in America, he is also of the biggest hypocrites. Thanks to alternative news sources, DiCaprio has been outed more than once for his extravagant energy- wasting lifestyle. The lifestyles of climate change advocates like DiCaprio and Al Gore are being questioned every day by reasonable people who want to know why these self-appointed climate change czars are asking everyday citizens to adjust the way they live, while these hypocrites continue to travel by jet or on board massive private yachts with absolutely no reasonable explanation.It looks like DiCaprio is sick and tired of being called a hypocrite and has traded in the private jets in favor of doing the unimaginable traveling with the common man on a commercial flight.Leo DiCaprio is currently shoring up environmentally friendly plans for his foundation s annual gala and auction in St-Tropez, sources tell us.We hear that the star is ditching any private jets and will fly commercial to the glitzy French f te on Wednesday. NYPPerhaps DiCaprio doesn t want to be the laughing stock of the climate change crowd again this year, like last year when he was caught making several trips across the world by private jets to attend glitzy climate-change events.In May 2016, Leonardo DiCaprio took a private jet twice to pick up an environmental award in New York before flying back to a glitzy gala in France.The actor and environmentalist, 41, was spotted in Cannes, where the Film Festival is currently underway.But he left the French Riviera for a brief trip to New York City, where he collected an honor at the Riverkeeper Fishermen s Ball on Wednesday, Page Six reported.He then hopped back on another private jet to attend the amfAR gala in Antibes, about eight miles from Cannes, just 24 hours later.DiCaprio has been accused of hypocrisy as he can often be heard preaching about saving the environment and fighting climate change while taking private jets to do so.The actor, who turned his Oscars speech into a pressing warning against climate change in February, accumulated more than 8,000 of air travel in just a couple of days. | 1real |
DID TRUMP OFFEND HISPANIC AMERICANS WITH HIS REMARKS? The Latest Poll Numbers With Hispanics May Surprise You | The GOP leadership may want to rethink their position on amnesty for illegals. American citizens (yes, including Hispanic Americans) are more interested in a President who abides by the rule of law than one who is beholden to corporations for donations Build a wall and enforce our border laws it s really pretty simple.Rick Perry blasted Donald Trump for his comments on immigration. It s been widely suggested that those comments would turn off Latino voters and Trump was ridiculed for saying that he could win Latino voters.But the latest, very favorable YouGov poll for Trump, shows Trump doing better with Hispanic respondents than Rick Perry. Trump scores a 19% very favorable and a 9% very favorable. He also has a 51% very unfavorable. Rick Perry has a 7% very favorable and a 16% favorable. Of course around a third of Hispanics just don t know who Rick Perry is so it s possible that he could improve his numbers.There are similar numbers for most Republican candidates.Jeb Bush has a 12% very favorable and a 20% favorable. Those are good numbers, but Jeb Bush lags Trump among the very favorables and isn t that far head in the total favorables. Considering that Jeb Bush s people are positioning him as a guy who can talk to Latino voters and has been front and center attacking Trump, those are not impressive numbers.Ben Carson has some of the best numbers among Latinos with a 17% very favorable and a 13% somewhat favorable. His numbers among black voters are actually poor, but he s popular with Latinos.Ted Cruz is at 17% very favorable and 24% favorable. His unfavorables are at a combined 29% with 30% who don t know who he is. These are pretty good numbers.Some of the best numbers come from Mike Huckabee with 19% very favorable and 17% very favorable, but these numbers are skewed because 45% don t know who he is. But his negatives are low. The same goes for Bobby Jindal with 13% and 16% favorables among Hispanics and likewise many don t know who he is.Marco Rubio has a 20% very favorable and 16% somewhat favorable with an unfavorable combined of over 40% with only 21% not knowing who he is.That s the important point about Trump s unfavorability numbers. While they look terrible, it s quite likely that most or all of the Republican candidates will end up with high unfavorables after they become better known and have had enough media attacks leveled against them.When only 11% don t know who Marco Rubio is, his unfavorable numbers will probably still be better than those of Trump, but assuming he won and was nominated, I m not sure how much better they would be by the end of the election.These numbers don t mean that Trump will win the Latino vote. Obviously not. But they do mean that1. The Latino vote is not monolithic. There is concern there about illegal immigration and the resulting gang violence. And economic issues trump immigration. Perry arguably has a better record on that than Trump, but few non-Texans might know that. After all the attacks on Trump, he has some of the highest positive numbers among Republicans. He s beating or neck and neck with immigration panderers.2. Being critical on illegal immigration is not necessarily a political death sentence despite the corporate and media hysteria stirred up to make it look that way.One more piece of bad news, despite Marco Rubio s hard sell as the youth candidate, he s doing no better or worse among younger respondents than Trump. Ted Cruz is doing somewhat better than Rubio.Via: Front Page Magazine | 1real |
Unhinged Cruz Accuses Obama Of Being An Atheist Because He Won’t Attend A Racist’s Funeral | As one of Antonin Scalia s last rulings on the Supreme Court, he made the argument that black students should be discouraged from attending top ranked schools because they probably couldn t keep up. Instead he suggested they be sent to slower-track schools like, say, community college or lesser universities so they could shoot for mediocrity. It was an appallingly racist statement, from a sitting Supreme Court Justice no less, and one that flies directly in the face of the lived experience of one of the most successful African Americans of all time: Barack Obama.On the way to the White House, Obama overcame racism and adversity to thrive at two top shelf schools Harvard and the University of Chicago and that education helped propel his career into law and eventually politics. It s hard to imagine Obama one day becoming president if he had taken Scalia s advice and settled on a slower-track community college.So, it hardly seems surprising that Obama isn t planning on cancelling his packed schedule to attend the funeral of a man, however important, that viewed people of his skin color as less competitive than their white counterparts. It s also a long-standing tradition that either the president or the vice president attend the funeral of a justice. Not both. Biden already announced that he was going.Four out of the past seven funerals for a Supreme Court justice have either had the president or vice president in attendance.Former President George W. Bush attended the funeral for Chief Justice William Rehnquist.Former President Bill Clinton attended the funerals for former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Justice William Brennan but did not attend the funerals for Justices Harry Blackmun or Lewis F. Powell Jr.Former Vice President Al Gore attended the funeral for Justice Thurgood Marshall.So for any other president this wouldn t be a big deal. But it s Obama. And Republicans are Republicans. The freak out has already begun.While Fox News has devoted wall-to-wall outrage directed at Obama for not going to Scalia s funeral (he ll be in Cuba working out the details to zeitgeist shifting thawing of relations with America s once sworn enemy kind of a big deal), Sen. Ted Cruz managed to amp up the hysteria to 11 while desperately clawing his way to second place in South Carolina.On the campaign trail, Cruz decided that he would accuse Obama of being an atheist. We ve got 11 more months of watching damage to this country. From a lawless and faithless president who is eager to travel to Cuba, but is unwilling even to show up at the funeral of Justice Antonin Scalia. This is a stark change in Cruz s earlier remarks that said it was irresponsible to speculate on the President s faith. It does, however, pander to the beliefs of the toxic fanatics at the very heart of the Republican Party. To them, Obama will always be a Kenyan, socialist, Muslim atheist no matter how many times he celebrates Christmas or mentions his faith in speeches.Cruz s shameful remarks come at a time when he is trying to woe many conservative Christians to support his campaign. In fact, his entire base is built on Christian extremists. Suggesting that Obama is a godless heathen is exactly the sort of thing that would get them fired up enough to vote for a sleazeball like Cruz.Ironically, Cruz s remarks come at a time where he and his fellow ideologues are melting down over the fact that the pope called Donald Trump s plan to build a massive cement wall across the entire southern border un-Christian. Conservatives blasted the pope for pointing out the obvious and suggested it was offensive for someone to speculate about another person s faith. In other words, the sheer amount of hypocrisy being generated by the Republican Party could power the sun.But perhaps there is just a twinge of jealousy in this mudslinging knowing that when Obama does go to church he takes us to church.Feature image from Gage Skidmore/Flickr | 1real |
Trump backtracks on cyber unit with Russia after harsh criticism | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday backtracked on his push for a cyber security unit with Russia, tweeting that he did not think it could happen, hours after his proposal was harshly criticized by Republicans who said Moscow could not be trusted. Trump said on Twitter early on Sunday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed on Friday forming “an impenetrable Cyber Security unit” to address issues like the risk of cyber meddling in elections. The idea appeared to be a political non-starter. It was immediately scorned by several of Trump’s fellow Republicans, who questioned why the United States would work with Russia after Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. “It’s not the dumbest idea I have ever heard but it’s pretty close,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. Ash Carter, who was U.S. defense secretary until the end of former Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration in January, told CNN flatly: “This is like the guy who robbed your house proposing a working group on burglary.” Trump’s advisers, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, had recently sought to explain Trump’s cyber push. Mnuchin said on Saturday that Trump and Putin had agreed to create “a cyber unit to make sure that there was absolutely no interference whatsoever, that they would work on cyber security together.” But Trump returned to Twitter on Sunday to play down the idea, which arose at his talks with Putin at a summit of the Group of 20 nations in Hamburg, Germany. “The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t,” Trump said on Twitter. He then noted that an agreement with Russia for a ceasefire in Syria “can & did” happen. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona acknowledged Trump’s desire to move forward with Russia, but added: “There has to be a price to pay.” “There has been no penalty,” McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” program according to a CBS transcript. “Vladimir Putin ... got away with literally trying to change the outcome ... of our election.” Trump argued for a rapprochement with Moscow in his campaign but has been unable to deliver because his administration has been dogged by investigations into the allegations of Russian interference in the election and ties with his campaign. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the matter, including whether there may have been any collusion on the part of Trump campaign officials, as are congressional committees including both the House of Representatives and Senate intelligence panels. Those probes are focused almost exclusively on Moscow’s actions, lawmakers and intelligence officials say, and no evidence has surfaced publicly implicating other countries despite Trump’s suggestion that others could have been involved. Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump says his campaign did not collude with Russia. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that Russia could not be a credible partner in a cyber security unit. “If that’s our best election defense, we might as well just mail our ballot boxes to Moscow,” Schiff added. Separately, U.S. government officials said a recent hack into business systems of U.S. nuclear power and other energy companies was carried out by Russian government hackers, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. Trump said he “strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it.” He added: “We negotiated a ceasefire in parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!” In Trump’s first attempt at ending the six-year Syrian civil war, the United States, Russia and Jordan on Friday reached a ceasefire and “de-escalation agreement” for southwestern Syria. The ceasefire was holding hours after it took effect on Sunday, a monitor and two rebel officials said. Any joint U.S.-Russia cyber initiative would have been a different matter. Depending how much it veered into military or espionage operations, it could have faced major legal hurdles. Language in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits the Pentagon, which includes the National Security Agency and the U.S. military’s Cyber Command, from using any funds for bilateral military cooperation with Russia. Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, also noted restrictions on sharing information with Russia that would clearly prohibit offering Moscow a sense of U.S. cyber capabilities. Russia would be similarly adverse to revealing its capabilities to the United States, he noted. “It just will not happen,” McFaul told Reuters. | 0fake |
Ex-Miss Finland says Trump groped her | HELSINKI (Reuters) - A former Miss Finland has accused U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump of groping her in 2006 when she was representing the country in the Miss Universe beauty contest. Ninni Laaksonen told the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper that the Republican presidential nominee had grabbed her behind before she appeared on a television show in New York with other contestants. “He really grabbed my butt. I don’t think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought: ‘What is happening?’,” Laaksonen was quoted as saying in the newspaper. The accusation follows a stream of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Trump from other women in the United States which have put pressure on his campaign as he trails in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Trump has denied the accusations. Laaksonen could not be reached for comment on Friday. | 0fake |
Re: We Are Being Set Up For Higher Interest Rates, A Major Recession And A Giant Stock Market Crash | Why Is Obama Threatening Russia With World War 3 Right Before The Election? Michael On Television We Are Being Set Up For Higher Interest Rates, A Major Recession And A Giant Stock Market Crash November 20th, 2016
Since Donald Trump’s victory on election night we have seen the worst bond crash in 15 years . Global bond investors have seen trillions of dollars of wealth wiped out since November 8th, and analysts are warning of another tough week ahead. The general consensus in the investing community is that a Trump administration will mean much higher inflation, and as a result investors are already starting to demand higher interest rates. Unfortunately for all of us, history has shown that higher interest rates always cause an economic slowdown. And this makes perfect sense, because economic activity naturally slows down when it becomes more expensive to borrow money. The Obama administration had already set up the next president for a major recession anyway, but now this bond crash threatens to bring it on sooner rather than later.
For those that are not familiar with the bond market, when yields go up bond prices go down. And when bond prices go down, that is bad news for economic growth.
So we generally don’t want yields to go up.
Unfortunately, yields have been absolutely soaring over the past couple of weeks, and the yield on 10 year Treasury notes has now jumped “one full percentage point since July” …
The 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 2.36% in late trading on Friday, the highest since December 2015, up 66 basis point since the election, and up one full percentage point since July!
The 10-year yield is at a critical juncture. In terms of reality, the first thing that might happen is a rate increase by the Fed in December, after a year of flip-flopping. A slew of post-election pronouncements by Fed heads – including Yellen’s “relatively soon” – have pushed the odds of a rate hike to 98%.
As I noted the other day , so many things in our financial system are tied to yields on U.S. Treasury notes. Just look at what is happening to mortgages. As Wolf Richter has noted , the average rate on 30 year mortgages is shooting into the stratosphere…
The carnage in bonds has consequences. The average interest rate of the a conforming 30-year fixed mortgage as of Friday was quoted at 4.125% for top credit scores. That’s up about 0.5 percentage point from just before the election, according to Mortgage News Daily . It put the month “on a short list of 4 worst months in more than a decade.”
If mortgage rates continue to shoot higher, there will be another housing crash.
Rates on auto loans, credit cards and student loans will also be affected. Throughout our economic system it will become much more costly to borrow money, and that will inevitably slow the overall economy down.
Why bond investors are so on edge these days is because of statements such as this one from Steve Bannon …
In a nascent administration that seems, at best, random in its beliefs, Bannon can seem to be not just a focused voice, but almost a messianic one:
“Like [Andrew] Jackson’s populism, we’re going to build an entirely new political movement,” he says. “It’s everything related to jobs. The conservatives are going to go crazy. I’m the guy pushing a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. With negative interest rates throughout the world, it’s the greatest opportunity to rebuild everything. Ship yards, iron works, get them all jacked up. We’re just going to throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. It will be as exciting as the 1930s, greater than the Reagan revolution — conservatives, plus populists, in an economic nationalist movement.”
Steve Bannon is going to be one of the most influential voices in the new Trump administration, and he is absolutely determined to get this “trillion dollar infrastructure plan” through Congress.
And that is going to mean a lot more borrowing and a lot more spending for a government that is already on pace to add 2.4 trillion dollars to the national debt this fiscal year.
Sadly, all of this comes at a time when the U.S. economy is already starting to show significant signs of slowing down. It is being projected that we will see a sixth straight decline in year-over-year earnings for the S&P 500, and industrial production has now contracted for 14 months in a row .
The truth is that the economy has been barely treading water for quite some time now, and it isn’t going to take much to push us over the edge. The following comes from Lance Roberts …
With an economy running at below 2%, consumers already heavily indebted, wage growth weak for the bulk of American’s, there is not a lot of wiggle room for policy mistakes.
Combine weak economics with higher interest rates, which negatively impacts consumption, and a stronger dollar, which weighs on exports, and you have a real potential of a recession occurring sooner rather than later.
Yes, the stock market soared immediately following Trump’s election, but it wasn’t because economic conditions actually improved.
If you look at history, a stock market crash almost always follows a major bond crash. So if bond prices keep declining rapidly that is going to be a very ominous sign for stock traders.
And history has also shown us that no bull market can survive a major recession. If the economy suffers a major downturn early in the Trump administration, it is inevitable that stock prices will follow.
The waning days of the Obama administration have set us up perfectly for higher interest rates, a major recession and a giant stock market crash.
Of course any problems that occur after January 20th, 2017 will be blamed on Trump, but the truth is that Obama will be far more responsible for what happens than Trump will be.
Right now so many people have been lulled into a sense of complacency because Donald Trump won the election.
That is an enormous mistake.
A shaking has already begun in the financial world, and this shaking could easily become an avalanche.
Now is not a time to party. Rather, it is time to batten down the hatches and to prepare for very rough seas ahead.
All of the things that so many experts warned were coming may have been delayed slightly, but without a doubt they are still on the way.
So get prepared while you still can, because time is running out. | 1real |
Leading U.S. House Republican rejects tax cuts without reform | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican on tax policy in the House of Representatives rejected the possibility of cutting taxes without fundamental changes to the U.S. tax code on Thursday, as the main actors in the tax reform debate prepared to meet for a fourth time. With the window for tax reform narrowing, lobbyists and analysts say Congress could abandon comprehensive tax reform for simple tax cuts to reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent, well above the 15 percent advocated by President Donald Trump. But House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, one of six principals involved in closed-door efforts to agree on legislation, told CNBC that such a measure would not meet the Republican goals of bolstering economic growth and enhancing U.S. business competitiveness overseas. “It’s not acceptable to me. I don’t think it’s acceptable to the House or anyone else, for that matter. Look, that won’t make us competitive,” Brady said. “Just doing low rates is a little like putting supercharged fuel in an old clunker of a tax car. There’s no question it’ll go faster. It can’t keep up with the newer models on the road,” he added. “We’ve got to go after a competitive design.” Brady spoke as principals prepared to meet later on Thursday. Members of the group have vowed to make good this year on a top Republican campaign pledge to overhaul the U.S. tax system. But while the principals have met three times, the discussions have major issues to resolve. “How low we can get these rates; how do we stop businesses from continuing to leave the U.S.; and more importantly, how do we bring those supply chains back; how we deal with issues like full and unlimited expensing – those are still parts of this discussion,” Brady said. Brady and House Speaker Paul Ryan are pushing for changes outlined in the “A Better Way” agenda released a year ago, including a border adjustment tax that would tax imports but exempt export revenues from federal tax. The measure could raise more than $1 trillion in revenue to help pay for tax cuts and effectively resolve the problem of corporations shifting profits overseas. But it is opposed by some industries and unpopular with Republicans in the House and Senate who fear it would raise consumer prices. | 0fake |
Obama's proposed oil tax 'dead on arrival': U.S. House Republicans | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican leaders in the House of Representatives on Wednesday dismissed U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed $10.25 per barrel tax on oil, saying the increase would translate into higher gasoline prices for consumers. “The president’s tax proposal is dead on arrival at the House. It will not happen,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters. House Speaker Paul Ryan also rejected the idea. The tax, to be phased in over five years, was part of Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2017 released on Tuesday. | 0fake |
RADICAL “TOLERANT” FEMALE Black Bloc, Antifa Leader Follows Muslim Boyfriend To Turkey… Surprised When She Was Beaten, Raped | DC Antifa Leader Moved to Turkey with Man She Met, Surprised When Beaten and Abused https://t.co/MsBtGGxwem pic.twitter.com/XjC3UbmvRn Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) May 2, 2017McCauley claims this is not the person who she traveled to Turkey to be with in her response to Prosibiec:How nice of you to link to my blog, Jack. I wrote about this publicly. Nice "investigative" skills. You got a photo of the wrong guy though. https://t.co/shOj6FfEyl Lacy MacAuley (@lacymacauley) May 2, 2017So all day, #fascists were a lot of bluff and bluster. Brought guns they never shot. Just chanted, gave #Nazi salutes, taunted. #Pikeville pic.twitter.com/FlVAOkudlW Lacy MacAuley (@lacymacauley) April 29, 2017How nice of you to link to my blog, Jack. I wrote about this publicly. Nice "investigative" skills. You got a photo of the wrong guy though. https://t.co/shOj6FfEyl Lacy MacAuley (@lacymacauley) May 2, 2017Lacy Mccauley can be seen acting as the tolerant host at this organized LGBTQ dance party in front of Vice President Mike Pence s home. At about the 1:40 mark, Lacy interviews Natalie, one of the peaceful protesters who warns Mike Pence, Bro .at me bro! She continues, We re gonna fight you and dance the more you come at us. So bring it! We re ready. We re gonna keep resisting in love dancing because it looks like you don t have any. So it looks like you need to be taught. Lacy then goes on to interview more hateful gay protesters preaching love and tolerance . So many angry, hateful people protesting against hate The hypocrisy of a liberal exposed: | 1real |
CONSERVATIVES Who Disrupted Trump Assassination Play Speak Out: “It was like a gang stabbing…I Watched everyone cheering his death, laughing, clapping along…Children in the audience. It made my blood run cold…No better than ISIS” [VIDEO] | Laura Loomer of Rebel Media and citizen journalist Jack Posobiac disrupted the Central Park performance of Julius Caesar or more accurately the Trump Assassination play last night. At the point where Julius Caesar, (who is intentionally made to look like President Trump) is about to be stabbed by a gang of minorities, Loomer rushed the stage and admonished the cast and audience for promoting violence against our current president and against Republicans in general.See video of Rebel Media s Loomer rushing the stage here:Only 3 days ago, an unhinged Democrat opened fire on Republican House members at a baseball practice for a charity game against Democrats Congressmen. Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA) remains in critical condition. Doctors who were in attendance when the married father of 2 arrived at the hospital have now revealed that Scalise was very near to death when he arrived. Democrats like George Soros continue to fund violence against opposing voices, Barack Obama, former AG Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine have all advocated for action and/or violence against Trump supporters. Liberal professors promote hate and disrespect for anyone with opposing political views and have made their classrooms a hostile environment for students who dare to speak up or speak out against their radical views. Hollywood has come unhinged, and there doesn t appear to a line they won t cross when it comes to promoting violence against Americans who openly support President Trump. The left has shown themselves to be the largest collection of bullies and domestic terrorists this nation has ever seen.At about the 4:30 mark in the video, Laura Loomer, who is a fan of theater recites a Shakespeare line, Violent delights have violent ends. She then looks into the camera and calls out Hollywood and the left for the violence against Trump supporters and Republicans, Just like Shakespeare said; If you re delighting in this violence, this normalized political violence against the right, it s going to have a violent end. Loomer goes on to point out how liberals like Kathy Griffin and the CNN network who glorify those who commit or threaten violence are responsible for this violent atmosphere, and that they re no better than ISIS. Loomer points out the comparisons between the actors on the Central Park stage who are gang stabbing President Trump: I just couldn t help but think to myself: Wow! When you re holding a knife to someone s throat in the play, and joking about chopping someone s throats off, what makes you any better than ISIS? Jack Posobiac makes a very interesting point at about the gang stabbing of President Trump: It was like a gang stabbing. All the people stabbing him were minorities. Loomer agrees and goes a step further by suggesting the producers were racists because they chose all black actors to stab President Trump.Watch:Citizen journalist and author of Gorilla Mindset, Mike Chernovich called on Americans to join him in disrupting the Trump Assassination play 2 days ago:New York!Who wants to go watch the Trump assassination play maybe use some "free speech" during the play?https://t.co/64WAPvQjBT pic.twitter.com/7zDQcjNX7y Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) June 15, 2017Twitter followers of Chernovich responded by suggesting they skip the ticket process and instead use the same techniques as leftist agitators, like whistles and drums or bongos and cowbells to disrupt the production. Chernovich is all about using the tactics of the left against them. There has never been a better time to shut down the violent left in a non-violent way. To stand back and allow a performance of our president being gang stabbed is about as horrible as it gets:If it's in a park can't we just go to the park and bring our whistles and drums Ralph Butler (@secure1man) June 15, 2017bongos and cowbells for everyone Deplorable Snuzzlez (@SnuzzleBabiez) June 15, 2017 | 1real |
Protesters Disrupt "Affirmative Action Bake Sale" At UT-Austin | Videos Protesters Disrupt “Affirmative Action Bake Sale” At UT-Austin The bake sale hosted by the Young Conservatives of Texas — in which prices varied depending on the buyer's race and gender — was meant to protest the consideration of race in admissions. | October 27, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! The Young Conservatives of Texas at UT Austin held a bake sale at the West Mall to discuss affirmative action policies on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. The Young Conservatives were met with criticism, which resulted in a protest and several intense conversations among students. (Photo: Shelby Knowles/Texas Tribune/cc)
A controversial bake sale meant to protest race-based admissions at the University of Texas at Austin drew its own opponents on Wednesday.
The campus branch of the Young Conservatives of Texas hosted the bake sale — in which prices varied depending on the buyer’s race and gender — to draw attention to affirmative action, which the event’s organizers said “demeans minorities on our campus by placing labels of race and gender on their accomplishments.” A cookie cost $1.50 for Asian males, 75 cents for white females and 25 cents for Hispanic females.
More than 100 of their classmates showed up to host a counter-protest, calling the bake sale an offensive and inappropriate stunt.
“The labeling of races and the different prices of each is unacceptable…” said Jarvis Dillard, a UT freshman and one of the students protesting the bake sale. “White males have privilege above all the other races.”
In a statement Wednesday, Greg Vincent, the university’s vice president for diversity and community engagement, called the event “inflammatory and demeaning.”
“Focusing our attention on the provocative nature of the YCT’s actions ignores a much more important issue: They create an environment of exclusion and disrespect among our students, faculty and staff,” the statement says.
The young conservatives group held a similar bake sale in 2013 and was similarly chastised by Vincent, who called that event “deplorable.”
UT-Austin’s affirmative action policies have put the university in the spotlight over the past few years. In June 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the university’s affirmative action system in a 4-3 vote after it was challenged by a white woman, Abigail Fisher, who was denied admission. Fisher argued she was passed over by UT while less qualified minority students were not.
The university considered the Supreme Court decision — which gives a small boost in admission to black and Hispanic students — a win. As of 2015, however, black students only made up 3.9 percent of the student population. During the protest, UT student body president Kevin Helgren said the campus has a long way to go in terms of inclusivity and diversity.
“Institutionalized racism exists and affirmative action helps to combat that,” Helgren said during the protest. “The act of putting financial values on groups of people based on their gender or on their race, in my opinion, is a really prominent way to engage in racism in 2016.”
On the young conservatives’ Facebook event page, the group wrote: “YCT is a truly colorblind organization and believes that all government institutions are constitutionally prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race in all circumstances, including affirmative action.”
Christopher Shafik, a 19-year-old member of the young conservatives group, said “people assume that because we are in a position against affirmative action that we’re racist.” He said the opposite is true, and that the organization must work to change its image on campus. This work by T he Texas Tribune is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.
| 1real |
These Are Hillary Clinton’s Five VP Choices, And They Are All Excellent | As Hillary Clinton looks forward to the general election, her shortlist for prospective vice presidential candidates has narrowed to just five, consisting of some of the most progressive figures in Washington and beyond.If Clinton wants so pick up some of the die-hard Bernie Sanders supporters, some of whom have pledged not to vote for the former Secretary of State, she will need to match her moderate-to-progressive image with a full on liberal progressive by her side.While Sanders does not make the list, progressive firebrand Elizabeth Warren makes the list, along with:All candidates show absolute tactics besides Warren and Perez, each candidate comes from a swing state paramount to Democrats clinching a victory. No president in modern America has won without carrying Ohio, which would explain having Sherrod Brown on the ticket (and he s a solid progressive). Kaine and Hickenlooper also come from must win states for Clinton and the Democrats, while Perez (who is Hispanic and speaks fluent Spanish), would help drive out the Hispanic and Latino vote.Warren would undoubtedly bring in Sanders core base of support young, white, liberal and Independent.The only trouble with picking Brown or Warren would be that their respective states have Republican governors, which would hurt Democrats chance of taking back the Senate.While Donald Trump has Sarah Palin on his shortlist (along with the hated Chris Christie and Ted Cruz), Clinton has found herself a diverse group of liberals who have fought hard for worker s rights and minority rights.Outlets speculated for months that Donald Trump should pick Governor Susana Martinez or former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should he want to repair his broken image with women and minority voters. But, in typical Trump form, he decided to do the opposite and go with a band of moronic ideologues. Marco Rubio is on his short list, but even Hispanic and Latino don t like him, and women certainly hate Sarah Palin. His never ending pandering isn t getting him anywhere with the voting blocs that matter.Featured image via John Sommers/Getty Images | 1real |
THIS IS HUGE! Trump Suspends Expedited H1-B Visas for Foreign Workers…America First! [Video] | WASHINGTON DC Foreigners aiming for temporary jobs at high-tech U.S. companies will undergo a longer visa approval process after the Trump administration announced it will temporarily suspend expedited applications for H-1B visas.The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Friday that starting April 3 it will suspend premium processing for up to six months. Under this expedited procedure, applicants can be eligible for visa approvals within 15 days, instead of a regular review period that can last for up to a few months.Read more: NBC | 1real |
Woman Arrested On Own Property After Her Land Was Stolen By DAPL | Once again, the repression of those against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is heating up, with 127 activists arrested in North Dakota over the weekend. However, North Dakota isn’t the only... | 1real |
Are High Taxes in Northern States Ruining Baseball? | Ryan McMaken blog/high-taxes-northern-states-ruining-baseball/
Major League Baseball is an unexpected casualty as taxpayers flee high-tax states for more business-friendly and low-tax states. 3:32 pm on October 26, 2016 | 1real |
Belgian trial of Paris attack suspect postponed to Feb. 5 | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Belgian trial of a key suspect in the November 2015 Islamic State attack on Paris was postponed on Monday for seven weeks, after Saleh Abdeslam s newly appointed lawyer asked for more time to study the case. Granting the request, the judge set a new trial date of Feb. 5. A French national but a lifelong Brussels resident, Abdeslam fled back to Belgium after the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, hiding from police for four months before being detained in March last year. Four days later, on March 22, 2016, Brussels was hit by twin bomb attacks that killed 32 people. Investigators believe that those behind the Paris and Brussels suicide attacks were linked and that Abdeslam, whose elder brother blew himself up at a Paris cafe on Nov. 13, 2015, is one of the few surviving participants. Held facing trial in France, he will be transferred to Belgium to first stand trial there, with an alleged accomplice, for attempted murder as Abdeslam evaded capture during a shootout with Brussels police three days before his arrest. Abdeslam, who was not in court on Monday, appointed a new lawyer only last week and his counsel asked for more time to prepare the defense. | 0fake |
BREAKING: No-Fly Zone Declared as Militarized Police Prep for Assault on ‘Front-Line Camp’ at Standing Rock | OCTOBER 27, 2016
by Pamela Williams
There is breaking news that a no-fly zone has been declared over the Dakota Access Pipeline area at Standing Rock, North Dakota. Protestors and Native American activists have set up a new camp called “Front-Line Camp” where they are making their last stand against the party Energy Transfer Partners, who are working on the Pipeline. The Sioux Tribe has declared eminent domain over the water rights and sacred land rights in the same area as the Pipeline is being built. They are asking for prayers as they make a great stand against the destruction of their sacred land.
Pipeline opponents attempting to protect their water supply from the Dakota Access oil pipeline (DAPL), as well as prevent the continued destruction of burial grounds and cultural sites, are anticipating a confrontation with police today. This news come after “water protectors” refused law enforcement requests to vacate reoccupied land in the pipeline’s path, owned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners.
http://thesccop.com/breaking-no-fly-zone-declared-as-militarized-police-prep-for-assault-on-front-line-camp-at-standing-rock/
While Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier sat down with President Barack Obama at a private roundtable in Los Angeles on Tuesday, October 25, Morton County, N.D. Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier was calling in police reinforcements from six states to enforce Energy Transfer Partners’ demands that “trespassers” be removed from the path of the pipeline.
Authorities implied they may forcibly remove the water protectors from the new camp, which is on land recently purchased by Dakota Access LLC, the subsidiary that is building the pipeline.
“We have the resources. We could go down there at any time,” Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said, according to the Associated Press . “We’re trying not to.”
“We are here to enforce the law as needed,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said. “It’s private property.” Share: Rate: | 1real |
Investigation Clears U.S. Troops in Death of 33 Afghan Civilians | On Thursday, the U. S. military published a report on the death of 33 Afghan civilians, and wounding of 27 others, during a joint U. S. and Afghan special forces raid against the Taliban in November. [“The investigation concluded that U. S. forces acted in in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict, and in accordance with all applicable regulations and policy,” the military said in a statement quoted by Reuters. “It has been determined that no further action will be taken because U. S. forces acted in and followed all applicable law and policy,” the statement said. The operation was intended to drive Taliban forces from the area around Kunduz, which they had overrun in October 2015, and partially occupied the year before that. Specifically, two senior Taliban commanders were targeted in village of . (They were indeed killed during the raid, along with an estimated 26 Taliban fighters.) The Wall Street Journal reports U. S. and Afghan forces were “led into a trap by the Taliban and ambushed on a street. ” The Taliban opened fire from within civilian structures, inflicting several casualties and forcing the American and Afghan troops to call for air support. Two U. S. soldiers were killed and four wounded during the battle, while the Afghans lost three commandos and had 11 wounded. According to the investigation, the responding aircraft appropriately used “the minimum amount of force required to neutralize the various threats from the civilian buildings. ” The report said no civilians were identified by U. S. special forces during the firefight, the dead and wounded civilians were effectively serving as human shields for the Taliban, and some of the casualties resulted from a Taliban ammo dump exploding. The Associated Press notes that after the battle was over, local residents “carried over a dozen corpses of the dead, including children and family members of the Taliban fighters, toward a local governor’s office in a show of rage. ” “Regardless of the circumstances, I deeply regret the loss of innocent lives. On this occasion the Taliban chose to hide amongst civilians and then attacked Afghan and U. S. forces,” said General John Nicholson, commander of U. S. forces in Afghanistan. “I wish to assure President Ghani and the people of Afghanistan that we will take all possible measures to protect Afghan civilians. We will continue to assist the Afghan security forces in their efforts to defend their country. ” The Associated Press notes that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani criticized the Taliban for using civilians as shields shortly after the raid in November. The Wall Street Journal offers some contextual information that doesn’t square easily with departing President Barack Obama’s rhetoric about pulling U. S. troops out of Afghanistan: Civilian casualties in Afghanistan increased in 2016, with more than 5, 000 deaths recorded in the first half of the year, according to the United Nations. Data for the remainder of the year hasn’t been released. The U. S. Air Force dramatically increased the number of airstrikes it carried out in Afghanistan in 2016, data released by the military shows, a further sign of growing U. S. involvement in the country’s war following the withdrawal of most coalition troops two years ago. Just about every media report on the outcome of this military investigation mentions the controversial U. S. airstrike in the Kunduz region from October 2015, which killed 42 at a Doctors Without Borders hospital, and led to disciplinary actions against a U. S. general and 15 other military personnel. | 0fake |
The Strange, Disturbed History Of The GOP’s Token ‘Blacks For Trump’ Man (VIDEO) | Subscribe
See that wedge of people cheering behind the podium at political rallies? The ones who just so happen to sit nicely within the camera frame? They are always something of a fantasy construct. If a candidate has a problem with women voters, then the podium behind will be packed tightly with women. If some number cruncher decides that Black men would rather vote for someone else, then they too get press-ganged into the formation of a human canvas. A little bit of demographic sleight of hand if you will.
It’s no big deal. They all do it. It’s a talking point, a visual cue for the doubters and a psychological nudge for the undecided. Any Color You Want So Long As It’s White
Of course, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has a problem with pretty much every non-white male demographic you can think of. And when it comes to Black voters, his poll numbers are so low that misrepresenting his demographic base is all but impossible. No matter how large your crowd is, a statistical zero still leaves you with a chronic shortage of Black people. And that means they cannot be used as props that detract from the massively racist campaign he’s been running. Which must make him sad.
Time for plan B.
And no, that’s not a racially insensitive name or a typo. That’s his name, or at least, that’s the one he is using right now. The Cultist Formerly Known As…
You might have seen Michael before. Back in 2012, during the Republican primary race, Rick Santorum asked him to front his campaign rally. Attendants were treated to an excruciatingly awful jazz set , followed by rabid claims that Democrats are all closet Nazis. He told the crowd : “The Democrats, they’re the worst thing that ever happened to the Black man. They’re the slave masters.”
So, right off the bat, we know we’re dealing with someone who has some legitimate political arguments to make. That’s good to know.
The “Blacks for Trump” placards that wafted in the torrid zephyr sliding past Trump’s rally in Sanford, Florida last Tuesday were hard to miss. The inane grin of a middle-aged white woman, holding one of the signs at arm’s length as if afraid the word ‘black’ might come and get her, was particularly memorable.
The man stood next to her, wearing a T-shirt that read “Republicans Aren’t Racist” was less conspicuous but keen-eyed observers recognized his familiar brand of crazy from past GOP events. It was none other than our man Michael.
You know, the Black Man. Trump’s Cult Following
He wasn’t born with that name of course. Previous names include Maurice Woodside and Michael Symonette while his website lists it as Michel Nicholson. Go figure.
As a former high-ranking member of the Nation of Yahweh — a violent black supremacist organization — he has good reason to keep his true name secret. The cult disintegrated in the 1980s shortly after its leader, Yahweh ben Yahweh , was arrested on conspiracy charges relating to 14 murders committed in Miami. Yahweh was convicted and eventually served 11 years of an 18-year sentence before his death in 2007.
Michael has had his share of legal problems too.
Implicated, but never convicted of two separate murders, he has since been charged with — though again, never convicted — of four separate felonies since the cult crashed and burned.
And according to the New Miami Times , Michael still cuts something of a radical figure. They describes him as being : “An anti-gay, anti-liberal preacher with a golden instinct for getting on TV at GOP events.”
And just like that, all of a sudden, his support for Trump begins to make a lot of sense.
Watch Michael’s enthusiasm for fellow nut-job Donald J. Trump:
Featured Image via screenshot from YouTube video
About Grownmangrumbles
I'm a full- time, somewhat unwilling resident of the planet Earth. I studied journalism at Murdoch University in West Australia and moved back to the UK where I taught politics and studied for a PhD. I've written a number of books on political philosophy that are mostly of interest to scholars. I'm also a seasoned travel writer so I get to stay in fancy hotels for free. I have a pet Lizard called Rousseau. We have only the most cursory of respect for one another. Connect | 1real |
Trump Becomes Ensnared in Fiery G.O.P. Civil War - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — President Trump ignites a lot of fights, but his failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the biggest defeat in his short time in the White House, was the result of something else: a Republican civil war that humbled a generation of party leaders before he ever came to Washington. A president who believes that Washington’s usual rules do not apply to him, Mr. Trump now finds himself shackled by them. In stopping the repeal of President Barack Obama’s proudest legacy — the Republican Party’s professed priority for the last seven years — from even coming to a vote, the rebellious far right wing Mr. Trump, taking on and defeating the party establishment with which it has long been at war and which he now leads. Like every one else who has tried to rule a fissured and fractious party, Mr. Trump now faces a wrenching choice: retrenchment or realignment. Does he cede power to the wing of his party? Or does he seek other pathways to successful governing by throwing away the partisan playbook and courting a coalition with the Democrats, whom he has improbably blamed for his party’s shortcomings? “It’s really a problem in our own party, and that’s something he’ll need to deal with moving forward,” said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, an ally of the Tuesday Group, which stuck with Mr. Trump in the health care fight and earned the president’s praise in the hours after the bill’s defeat. “I think he did a lot — he met with dozens and dozens of members and made a lot of accommodations — but in the end, there’s a group of people in this party who just won’t say yes,” Mr. Cole said. “At some point, I think that means looking beyond our conference. The president is a deal maker, and Ronald Reagan cut some of his most important deals with Democrats. ” Mr. Trump is not there yet. Before becoming a presidential candidate, he seemed to have little fixed ideology. But as president, he has operated from the Republican playbook, embracing many of the positions of Speaker Paul D. Ryan and the party establishment. While he is angry and thirsty for revenge, he seems determined to swallow the loss in hopes of marshaling enough Republican support to pass spending bills, an unformed tax overhaul and a $1 trillion infrastructure package — legislation that could attract considerable Democratic support but has the potential to split the party. On Friday evening, a somewhat shellshocked president retreated to the White House residence to grieve and assign blame. In a search for scapegoats, he asked his advisers repeatedly: Whose fault was this? Increasingly, that blame has fallen on Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, who coordinated initial legislative strategy on the health care bill with Mr. Ryan, his close friend and a fellow Wisconsinite, according to three people briefed on the president’s recent discussions. Despite the public displays of unity with the speaker, Mr. Trump and his team now regret outsourcing so much of the early drafting to Mr. Ryan. One aide compared doing that to a developer’s staking everything on obtaining a property without conducting a thorough inspection. And they were stunned by his inability to master the politics of his own conference. Mr. Trump, an developer with a lifelong indifference toward the mechanics of governance, made a game effort to negotiate with members of the Freedom Caucus, even if it seemed to some members of that group, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that he did not have the greatest grasp of health care policy or legislative procedure. He told one adviser late Friday that his loss — a legislative debacle foreshadowed by the intraparty fight that led to the 2013 government shutdown — was a minor bump in the road and that the White House would recover. In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, Mr. Trump asserted that the administration was “rocking. ” The problem, he suggested, was divisions among Republicans. There are “a lot of players, a lot of players with a very different ” Mr. Trump said. “You have liberals, even within the Republican Party. You have the conservative players. ” But his advisers were more realistic. Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, according to people familiar with White House discussions, described the president’s decision to withdraw the health care bill in the face of its defeat as a failure that could inflict serious damage on this presidency — even if Mr. Bannon believes Congress, not Mr. Trump, deserves much of the blame. Mr. Bannon and the president’s more legislative affairs director, Marc Short, pushed Mr. Trump hard to insist on a public vote, as a way to identify, shame and pressure “no” voters who were killing their best chance to unravel the health care law. One Republican congressional aide who was involved in the negotiations said Mr. Bannon and Mr. Short were seeking to compile an enemies list. Mr. Ryan repeatedly counseled the president to avoid seeking vengeance — at least until he has passed spending bills and a increase needed to keep the government running. In the end, the president decided to back down. But Mr. Trump’s advisers worry about the hard reality — the developer with the veneer was steamrollered by factions in the Republican Congress. As the dust settled on the health care debacle, it was clear that Mr. Trump’s lieutenants in the Republican civil war had been divided on how they thought the health care fight should have been handled, which does not augur well for the political battles to come. Mutual disgust with the Freedom Caucus seems to be pulling Mr. Ryan and, despite his misgivings, Mr. Trump, together, at least for now — just as it briefly united President Barack Obama and John A. Boehner, Mr. Ryan’s predecessor, during their doomed effort to reach a “grand bargain” on a tax overhaul in 2011. Until the very end, Mr. Trump’s team was deeply divided over whether he should fully commit to a hard sell on a bill they viewed as fundamentally flawed, with Vice President Mike Pence pointedly advising the president to label the effort “Ryancare,” not “Trumpcare,” according to aides. A Pence spokesman denied that the vice president tried to tie the bill to the speaker. Many on Mr. Trump’s team disengaged from the process even as he dug in. Gary D. Cohn, Mr. Trump’s top economic adviser, had originally been tasked with playing a large role in shepherding the legislation from the White House side. But Mr. Cohn had grown leery of the bill, and the White House recognized that Mr. Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs and a Democrat, was not a good messenger to deal with recalcitrant conservatives. Mr. Trump’s Jared Kushner, a key adviser, had said for weeks that he thought supporting the bill was a mistake, according to two people who spoke with him. But he was on a family skiing trip in Aspen, Colo. last week, and did not return to Washington until Friday — much to the annoyance of Mr. Trump, who thought he should have been in Washington in the whole week, according to two Republicans close to the White House. But Mr. Trump brushed aside those concerns in the last few days and embraced the conventional role as leader of his party. He has one speed when he decides to shift to sales mode, aides said, and he had trouble modulating his tone, issuing superlatives like “wonderful” to describe an ungainly bill his aides described as anything but. After it was all over, the president dutifully blamed the Democrats, a party out of power and largely leaderless, after turning his back on their offers to negotiate on a bipartisan package that would have addressed shortcomings in the Affordable Care Act while preserving its core protections for poor and patients. Aides advised him the argument was nonsensical, according to a person with knowledge of the interaction. For Mr. Trump’s Republican opponents, here was revenge served cold. As a candidate in 2016, he initially scoffed at signing a Republican loyalty pledge, at times behaving more like an independent invading the Republican host organism than like a typical presidential candidate. As president, Mr. Trump has left dozens of critical administration jobs unfilled, rejecting stalwart Republican applicants deemed insufficiently loyal to him — and now he is decrying the disloyalty of the 20 to 30 conservative members who outmaneuvered and overpowered him on health care. “We all learned a lot — we learned a lot about loyalty,” a solemn Mr. Trump told reporters late Friday. The dynamic that led to his defeat is bigger than Mr. Trump, despite his tendency to personalize every win or loss. Republicans who gained power by savaging Washington are in full control and cannot agree on a path forward. “We were a opposition party,” Mr. Ryan said in assessing the defeat late Friday. “Being against things was easy to do. ” Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump supporter, said after the health bill was pulled that he was “getting some déjà vu right now. ” “Do you think Donald J. Trump goes home tonight, shrugs and says, ‘This is what winning looks like’?” Mr. Gingrich added. “No! But this is where the Republican Party is right now, and it’s been this way for years. ” But Mr. Trump put on his best face on Saturday morning. “ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE,” he said on Twitter. “Do not worry!” | 0fake |
Did the Farm Credit System Change Americans’ Thinking About Credit? | by Yves Smith
Yves here. What the informative post below fails to mention is that farm credit had become a hot political issue by the time the Farm Credit system was created. For more details on the struggle of indebted farmers to obtain political power, see The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America by Lawrence Goodwyn. As Matt Stoller wrote in 2010 :
A lot of people forget that having debt you can’t pay back really sucks. Debt is not just a credit instrument, it is an instrument of political and economic control.
It’s actually baked into our culture. The phrase ‘the man’, as in ‘fight the man’, referred originally to creditors. ‘The man’ in the 19th century stood for ‘furnishing man’, the merchant that sold 19th century sharecroppers and Southern farmers their supplies for the year, usually on credit. Farmers, often illiterate and certainly unable to understand the arrangements into which they were entering, were charged interest rates of 80-100 percent a year, with a lien places on their crops. When approaching a furnishing agent, who could grant them credit for seeds, equipment, even food itself, a farmer would meekly look down nervously as his debts were marked down in a notebook. At the end of a year, due to deflation and usury, farmers usually owed more than they started the year owing. Their land was often forfeit, and eventually most of them became tenant farmers.
They were in hock to the man, and eventually became slaves to him. This structure, of sharecropping and usury, held together by political violence, continued into the 1960s in some areas of the South. As late as the 1960s, Kennedy would see rural poverty in Arkansas and pronounce it ’shocking’. These were the fruits of usury, a society built on unsustainable debt peonage.
Today, we are in the midst of creating a second sharecropper society. I first heard the term “slaves to the bank” from a constituent fighting a fraudulent foreclosure. The details aren’t so important — this couple had been illegally placed in a predatory loan — but at one point, the wife explained that she and her husband were so scared they would have “given their first born to the bank to keep their home”. That was fear speaking, total unadulterated panic. And as we watch debt-holders use the ornaments of fear, such a loan sharking company that set up fake courts to convince debtors they were losing cases, we should recognize that what the creditor class wants is what they’ve always wanted: total dominance of our culture.
By Sarah Quin Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of Washington. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website Hoping to learn from other countries’ experiences in organizing finance for agriculture, more than 150 Americans were sent abroad in the summer of 1913 to investigate the minutiae of farm-credit systems in and around Europe.
They were sent as far north as Norway and as far south as Egypt, with Ireland and Russia marking the western and eastern boundaries of the study. They learned of microcredit-like experiments to support small-plot tenant farming in Italy. In France they were told how farm credit embodied democratic ideals. In the Netherlands and Spain, commission members found counterparts who, like the Americans were doing, had looked to other European nations for ways to improve the management of farm credit. Perhaps the most anticipated stop of this trip would be in Germany, whose system of long-term farm credit distribution had achieved world renown.
The key ideas brought home from Europe by commission members more than a century ago still shape today’s U.S. credit policy. The organizing principle of these ideas was the proposition that providing farm credit could be a low-cost and politically palatable form of economic policy through which government could help people help themselves. This paved the way for the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, which redesigned the U.S. system from the ground up by creating a new network of government-supported farm credit cooperatives.
The Act was arguably a watershed in the use of credit as a federal policy tool whose impact was felt far beyond the agricultural sector. Before 1916, the national government used credit allocation more sparingly, as a temporary means to support expensive internal developments such as railways. After the Act, there was a continual expansion of programs that bought, sold, issued, guaranteed, or otherwise promoted the flow of credit to specific sectors or groups. In the United States today, one third of privately issued debt is backed by the government, not only through the Fed but also through the $3.4 trillion in loans guaranteed or held through a vast network of federal credit programs (if you include implicit guarantees of financial debt, the amounts are much, much higher ). As Marianna Mazzucato and L. Randall Wray have noted , these forms of credit support are a central part of how the federal government participates in the U.S. economy. This proliferation of government credit allocation seems remarkable in light of longstanding political attitudes on government involvement in the economy.
Farmers depend on credit for their livelihoods, using it not only to buy equipment and prepare land but also to feed their families in the lean months before the harvest. As the United States developed into an agricultural powerhouse , it faced a significant problem in moving capital reserves concentrated in eastern cities into the hands of small borrowers spread out across a vast and sparsely populated frontier. In the absence of modern day credit institutions, the West and South suffered destabilizing credit cycles of boom and bust, with mortgage rates sometimes twice as high as those in the Northeast. Many farmers believed that these higher rates were the unfair doings of parasitic financiers and middlemen. In the Jacksonian era, many farmers worried that government involvement in banks and credit would make the situation worse by adding corrupt politicians into the mix. Over time, however, Populist farmers came to believe that a stronger national government was needed to break bankers’ stranglehold over the supply of credit.
By the 1890s, the question of farm credit was a polarizing national issue: a proposal to offer credit and currency backed by local storage units (called the Subtreasury Plan) became a wedge issue that threatened to undermine the coalition that made up the Southern Democratic Party. Credit distribution was one of the most acrimonious and destabilizing class divides of the era, but by the middle of the decade these credit debates had been eclipsed by the politics of free silver. Left unresolved, the credit problem lingered.
In the first decade of the 20th century, a group of progressive reformers rediscovered the issue of “farm credits.” Worried about social disintegration in America’s heartland in the wake of massive urbanization, these reformers came to view the stable and affordable supply of credit as essential to farmers’ well-being, and through that, the well-being of the entire nation. But, being elites, they approached credit not as inherently exploitative so much as a technical problem to be solved. They looked to Europe for guidance and inspiration. Hence the tour.
By the time committee members arrived in Germany, news of that country’s farm-credit success had traveled around the world, and some of its techniques were already adopted by other nations such as France. German lecturers told the group that German agriculture thrived not because of the quality of German soil, but because of the quality of German credit. The Americans were especially interested in one type of credit institution — the Landschaften , a network of local cooperative banks that issued covered mortgage bonds called Pfandbriefe . These Pfandbriefe bore a decidedly modest 3%-4% return. “The Germans prefer to sleep well rather than eat well,” one lecturer explained.
The entire German credit system was built for stability rather than profit: it used conservative land valuations, careful regulatory standards, and local risk-sharing to assure its reliability. Whether this could be adapted to the American context was a serious question. A political economy professor lecturing in Halle warned the delegation that, while the Landschaften were the “perfect” means of mortgage credit, differences in political systems could make the system untenable in the U.S. When a delegate asked how the Prussians dealt with defective land titles, the speaker simply dismissed the question: “Well, that is an impossible thing in Prussia. We have no defective titles.” German farm credit distribution rested on a solid foundation of independent oversight and bureaucratic reliability. It was a far cry from the underdeveloped and scandal-ridden United States national government.
The committee members returned home recognizing the technical superiority of the German system but debating its cultural and political adaptability to the United States. Would a conservative system of risk-sharing and oversight be embraced by Americans, who they deemed “ambitious, individualistic, desirous of acquiring means and property”? Would government “paternalism” kill Americans’ entrepreneurial spirit? Would American society accept the principle that farmers deserved special treatment when it came to accessing credit?
To overcome these objections, proponents of a European-inspired farm credit policy spun it as government helping people help themselves , providing credit support could through farmers’ cooperatives.
The divisive nineteenth century credit politics gave way to a vision of credit as an inoffensive means of economic development, of low cost to the state. Proponents argued that “wise legislation” to lower credit risk could unlock the value of the nation’s land, then estimated by one commentator at $40 billion. It was a huge potential payoff. Later scholars of credit programs would frequently note the same thing about the federal credit programs: compared to direct forms of welfare or other expenditures, credit support is cheap, since it can be implemented by government guarantees, tax expenditures, risk management techniques, and disbursements paid back over time, sometimes with interest.
This logic was built into the structure of the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916. The centerpiece of the Act was a proposed local version of the German system. The Treasury was authorized to fund 12 reserve banks in order to funnel credit to a network of new farmers’ lending cooperatives. The Department of Agriculture encouraged the formation of these lending cooperatives through a massive education effort. In a nod to American independence, the German system of risk sharing — in which members of the Landschaften were liable up to the full value of their property — was watered down. If the bank itself ran into trouble, American farmers would be liable for only 10% of their loan amount, rather than for the full value of their property. Since, over time, farmers could pay into the system and repay the state, the long-term costs of the program were expected to be low. Tax-exempt bonds would encourage a flow of funds into the reserve banks at the cost of some state revenue, but this was far less expensive than, say, directly subsidizing farmers.
For all that the 12-bank structure mimicked the Federal Reserve Act, the creation of lending cooperatives meant that the FFLA was a far more complicated, experimental, and entrepreneurial design. A new system of farm credit was built from scratch. One observer at the time noted that
[i]n spirit the Act was revolutionary — its authors were convinced that American methods were not worth saving.
Not long after the passage of the Act, government officials recognized that the low cost and ideological palatability of the farm loan system could apply in other sectors. Credit support in the housing market ballooned during the Great Depression, and the postwar proliferation of credit as a tool of governance continues today.
In the “Analytical Perspectives” section of the President’s budget, the chapter detailing the $3.4 trillion in loans held or guaranteed by the federal government reveals the diverse political uses of credit. Federal credit has military functions, including Defense Department loans for the purchase, stockpiling, and manufacturing of military materiel, and the Atomic Energy Commission’s use of guarantees to encourage nuclear science. Credit is also a tool of foreign policy: the United States exports food to other nations through USAID. Loans can serve as disaster relief, as both FEMA and the SBA include credit support to assist with natural disasters, and the federal government also provides loans directly to states for this purpose. Credit is also extensively used as part of energy and environmental policy, with geothermal and renewable energy, biorefineries, and synthetic fuels having all benefited from credit support. Tracing its use in housing, David Freund notes that the appeal of credit programs is that they seem like small market corrections rather than consequential state policies. And they have been used to support every major sector of the American economy.
The Analytical Perspectives of the budget wraps the complexities of these programs in the dry academic language of market corrections. “Credit and insurance markets sometimes fail to function smoothly due to market imperfections … ” The implication is that this massive mobilization of debt and risk absorption by the federal government is best thought of as a technical adjustment to market imperfections, rather than, say, the American version of a developmental state.
That language, I believe, is the moderate way of thinking about credit articulated during the progressive era, and now tailored for the neoliberal age. Like a nervous wizard, it asks us not to pay attention to the man behind the curtain, and for the most part, Americans comply. And why wouldn’t they? After all, the idea that credit support does not ask us to think hard about the social and political conditions of possibility for market success has been part of the appeal of credit support all along. 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 1real |
Aleppo fighters demand $300 for exit via humanitarian corridors | Aleppo fighters demand $300 for exit via humanitarian corridors 02.11.2016 In Aleppo fighters distribute leaflets, where they demand civilians to pay 150,000 Syrian pounds or 300 dollars for exit from the city through humanitarian corridors. As they stated, 'Our leadership realizes the level of suffering endured by the city's peaceful civilians because of the bombardments and the blockade of Aleppo neighborhoods by the Syrian army. After consultation with our brothers, we will let the residents aged under 14 and older than 55 out of the city if each of them pays 150,000 Syrian pounds for an opportunity to leave in order to support our brothers fighting on the fronts'. The demands are signed by the 'Supreme Military Council of Jaish al-Fateh'. As Pravda.Ru reported, the Russian and Syrian military created eight humanitarian corridors, peaceful civilians and surrendered fighters may use, to leave surrounded regions in the eastern Aleppo. However, terrorists hamper evacuation and continue shelling humanitarian corridors. Pravda.Ru | 1real |
Trump lays out new Iran strategy Friday, complicating European ties | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will lay out a more confrontational strategy toward Iran by the United States on Friday in a speech in which he is likely to strike a blow at an international Iran nuclear deal, complicating U.S. relations with European allies. U.S. officials said Trump was expected to announce that he will not certify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, believing the agreement is not in the national interests of the United States. He had certified it twice before but aides said he was reluctant to do so a third time. Trump could have a last minute change of heart before he outlines his administration s new approach toward Iran in speech at the White House at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT) on Friday. The step would not withdraw the United States from the deal but would give the U.S. Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose the sanctions on Tehran that were suspended under an agreement that was negotiated by the United States and other world powers during the administration of former President Barack Obama. International inspectors say Iran is in technical compliance with the accord, but Trump says Tehran is in violation of the spirit of the agreement and has done nothing to rein in its ballistic missile program or its financial and military support for Hezbollah and other extremist groups. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said the U.S. approach toward Iran is to work with allies in the Middle East to contain Tehran s activities. We have footprints on the ground, naval and Air Force is there to just demonstrate our resolve, our friendship, and try to deter anything that any country out there may do, Kelly said. European allies are warning of a split with the United States on the issue. This week, Trump has heard appeals from British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron for the United States to certify the deal for the sake of allied unity. It s imperative that Europe sticks together on this issue, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the RND German newspaper group. We also have to tell the Americans that their behavior on the Iran issue will drive us Europeans into a common position with Russia and China against the USA. Signed by the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, the European Union and Iran, the deal lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Trump has called the accord an embarrassment and the worst deal ever. European officials have categorically ruled out renegotiating the deal, but have said they share Trump s concerns over Iran s destabilizing influence in the Middle East. The threat of new action from Washington has prompted a public display of unity from the rival factions among Iran s rulers. CIA Director Mike Pompeo on Thursday kept up a steady drumbeat of Trump administration criticism of Iran, saying Tehran is mounting a ruthless drive to be the hegemonic power in the region. Iran s intelligence service and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are the cudgels of a despotic theocracy, with the IRGC accountable only to a Supreme Leader. They re the vanguard of a pernicious empire that is expanding its power and influence across the Middle East, Pompeo said in remarks at the University of Texas in Austin. In Tampa, Florida, the head of U.S. Central Command said he was concerned about Iran s long-term activities in the region and he would continue to focus on protecting U.S. troops, even as Iran has said U.S. regional military bases would be at risk if further sanctions were passed. Iran is kind of a long-term destabilizing actor in the region and so we remain concerned about their activities as well, U.S. General Joseph Votel told reporters. | 0fake |
California Trump Rally Leads To Violence Between Thousands Of Protestors And Supporters (VIDEO) | One of the most tragic aspects of Donald Trump s candidacy (and there have been lots of tragic aspects) is that he s managed to do something no one thought to be possible for a candidate running for president in 21st Century America: He s managed to not only normalize racism, but violence as well. There have been so many instances of violence that they ve become normalized. In other words, we ve come to expect violence, and even more alarmingly, we ve also come to accept the violence. However, it s important to fight this normalization and continue to report on the absurdity that is Donald Trump.That absurdity was on display outside a Trump rally in California on Thursday as supporters clashed with protestors. Many of the anti-Trump protestors held Mexican and American flags and were outraged at Trump s rhetoric. About 20 protesters out of hundreds were arrested outside of the rally, a Trump supporter was beaten, and property was damaged including a police vehicle.Watch video here:Since he declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination, Trump has made a series of inflammatory remarks about Mexicans, calling some of the immigrants rapists and murderers. He continuously talks about building a wall to prevent Mexican immigrants from coming into the country. His rhetoric has created a divisive atmosphere that has bred racism and violence.The bottom line is that Trump has created an environment that is tearing the country apart rather than working for unity. If his candidacy is any indication of what his presidency will be like, we are all in deep trouble as a society. He is normalizing the toxicity of violence and racism and should he be elected, America will become a very dangerous place for a lot of people.Featured image via video screenshot. | 1real |
Ethics lawyers to sue Trump over foreign payments | (Reuters) - A group including former White House ethics attorneys will file a lawsuit on Monday accusing President Donald Trump of allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments, in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit, brought by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, will allege that the Constitution’s emoluments clause forbids payments to Trump’s businesses. It will seek a court order forbidding Trump from accepting such payments, said Deepak Gupta, one of the lawyers working on the case. Trump does business with countries like China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, the group noted in a statement. “When Trump the president sits down to negotiate trade deals with these countries, the American people will have no way of knowing whether he will also be thinking about the profits of Trump the businessman,” it said. Trump told reporters on Monday the lawsuit was “without merit,” when asked about the case after signing some executive orders in the Oval Office. The White House referred questions to a law firm representing the president on ethics matters. “We do not comment on our clients or the work we do for them,” said the representative of the firm, Morgan Lewis & Bockius. The case is part of a wave of litigation expected to be filed against Trump by liberal advocacy groups. It will be filed in federal court in Manhattan, Gupta said, and attorneys for the plaintiffs will include Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer in Republican President George W. Bush’s White House. The impending lawsuit was earlier reported by The New York Times. Eric Trump, one of Trump’s sons and an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told the Times on Sunday that the company had taken more steps than required by law to avoid any possible legal exposure, such as agreeing to donate any profits collected at Trump-owned hotels that come from foreign government guests to the U.S. Treasury. “This is purely harassment for political gain,” Trump told the newspaper. The Constitution’s emoluments clause states: “No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” | 0fake |
SOCIAL SECURITY RELIES ON “SELF REPORTING” ON DISABILITY BENEFITS – THE DECADES AND DOLLARS OF WASTE IS SHOCKING! | We know that SS disability is full of fraud in the first place so why the heck does the SSA rely on people to self report overpayments? Just another BIG government idiotic program wasting our tax dollars unreal!We just reported on the cut in Social Security payments to 77% and it s no wonder the way they handle our money.The Social Security Administration (SSA) overpaid individuals a total of $371.5 million in disability benefits from fiscal year 2009 through fiscal 2013, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.These overpayments are cause for concern, as the Social Security s Disability Insurance Trust Fund is expected to go broke by 2016, according to SSA s 2015 annual report. During a time of growing concern about the solvency of the DI trust fund, it is important for SSA to take every opportunity to help improve the financial status of the program, the GAO said. The report examined how these concurrent Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) payments affect Disability Insurance (DI) overpayments.The GAO found that SSA did not detect concurrent FECA payments for about 1,040 individuals during at least one month from July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2014.To test SSA s internal controls, GAO randomly selected 20 beneficiaries for review. In all 20 cases, SSA s controls failed to detect and prevent overpayments. In seven of the cases, SSA did not detect overpayments for more than a decade, and each of these individuals received $100,000 in overpaid benefits.One of these seven individuals received FECA benefits in the 1980s and was approved for disability benefits 14 years later in 1994. The GAO found that this individual received $200,000 in overpayments for more than 20 years.The SSA s internal controls rely on beneficiaries to self-report overpayments.Read more: WFB | 1real |
Catalonia protest strike closes down roads in region | BARCELONA (Reuters) - A strike called across Catalonia by pro-independence activists to protest the jailing of sacked regional politicians shut down roads early on Wednesday, causing huge tailbacks into Barcelona while some public transport ran minimum services.Catalan pro-independence union CSC called the strike which was supported by civic groups Asamblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and Omnium Cultural, whose leaders were imprisoned last month on sedition charges. Scores of people stood across dozens of major highways in the region waving placards and chanting freedom for political prisoners while minor scuffles were reported on social media as police attempted to move protesters, TV and video images showed. One crowd of activists also forced their way into the train station in the city of Girona and protested on the tracks, causing delays, images on social media showed. However, despite transport delays, shops and businesses in the region largely appeared to be functioning as normal. The leaders the ANC and Omnium and eight former members of the Catalan government are in prison awaiting trial after staging a referendum on secession that Spanish courts deemed illegal and then declaring independence. The independence drive has tipped Spain in to its worst political crisis in decades, widening political and cultural divisions and prompting thousands of companies to relocate out of the region. The government, which assumed control of Catalonia after a unilateral independence declaration, has called an election for Dec. 21. | 0fake |
Police: Bryce Williams kills self after on-air slayings | (CNN) After he shot two journalists on live TV and before he shot himself, Bryce Williams sent a message: "I've been a human powder keg for a while....just waiting to go BOOM."
Those were the words the gunman wrote in a chilling fax to ABC News, according to the network. The document purportedly from the Virginia shooter came after he gunned down WDBJ-TV journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward , spurring a manhunt that ended when he turned a gun on himself as troopers closed in.
The shooter -- a former reporter for the Roanoke station -- is dead, but the investigation into Wednesday's attack is far from over. Authorities say the fax to ABC, the gunman's other attempts to reach out to the media and his social media posts just after opening fire could be key pieces of evidence as they try to pinpoint what led to the deadly shooting.
Franklin County Sheriff Bill Overton said authorities weren't sure about the gunman's motive, but are looking at his past employment at WDBJ as well other evidence, including the fax he allegedly sent to ABC News in New York.
"Many of you have gotten a lot of the correspondence, emails that had been sent out. It's obvious that ... this gentleman was disturbed in some way of the way things had transpired," and that "at some point in his life, things spiraled out of control," Overton said.
In the message, according to ABC, the gunman said the Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting in June is what put him over the edge, but he wrote that his "anger has been building steadily" because of racial discrimination and sexual harassment he claims to have endured.
The writer expressed admiration for the shooters who massacred students at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech. And he said he put a deposit down for a gun two days after the Charleston shooting.
"As for Dylann Roof? You (deleted)! You want a race war (deleted)? BRING IT THEN YOU WHITE (deleted)!!!" the document reportedly said.
During a live broadcast from near Moneta, at about 6:45 a.m., TV viewers saw the camera fall to the ground and caught the briefest glimpse of a man who appeared to point a gun toward the downed cameraman.
The station cut away to a shocked anchor back in the studio.
And the TV station's camera wasn't the only one rolling.
Two videos posted on a Twitter account under the name Bryce Williams show someone walking up to the WDBJ news crew and pointing a gun at them.
Another tweet said, "I filmed the shooting." The Facebook and Twitter account were suspended shortly after the tweets.
Video shows the gunman approaching Parker, a WDBJ reporter, and photographer Ward as Parker conducted a routine interview for a local story.
Ward's back is to the gunman. Parker is in profile, and the interviewee is facing the gunman. The shooter appears to take his time aiming the gun, presenting it and then withdrawing it, before composing the angle of his video. He opens fire on Parker first. Both Parker and the interview subject scream.
Police are not sure how the gunman knew Parker and Ward were reporting from Bridgewater Plaza, Overton said.
Authorities tracked the shooter's cell phone to locate him, according to federal officials and the Augusta County Sheriff's Department.
Just before 11:30 a.m., Virginia State Police saw the car they believed Williams was driving headed east on Interstate 66. With emergency lights activated, a trooper tried to pull him over, police said.
The driver refused to stop and sped away before running off the road and crashing into an embankment around mile marker 17.1 in Fauquier County, more than 170 miles away from the site of the shooting.
Troopers found the driver inside with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Virginia State Police Sgt. F.L. Tyler told reporters. He was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon, Tyler said.
Williams was a reporter at WDBJ for about a year, according to a former employee of the station. He was fired from that job, though the reason was not made public, the ex-employee said.
"Two years ago, we had to separate him from the company. We did understand that he was still living in the area," WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks said.
(Williams) had a level of a long series of complaints against co-workers nearly from the beginning of employment at the TV station," said Dennison, who is now spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
"That really had nothing to do with his termination, and after a lot of investigation both internally and externally, all of these allegations were deemed to be unfounded. And they were largely under, along racial lines, and we did a thorough investigation and could find no evidence that anyone had racially discriminated against this man," he said.
Marks, the station's current general manager, said he'd heard Williams had leveled accusations in the past, but he noted that he and Parker hadn't worked at the station at the same time.
"I don't think (reporter) Alison (Parker) and that individual even overlapped here," he said.
According to tweets from the Bryce Williams account, Alison had "made racist comments," while "Adam went to hr on me after working with me one time!!!" There was no elaboration, and CNN was unable to immediately confirm whether either claim was true.
Court documents indicate Williams crossed paths with Ward on the day he was fired.
Ward filmed the former reporter's angry outburst as police tried to get him to leave the station's building, according to the documents, which are part of a lawsuit Flanagan filed against the TV station.
That day, Williams also handed his manager a small wooden cross, and said "You'll need this," before being escorted out of the building by police.
The court documents outline months of disciplinary action against Williams. In addition to describing multiple meetings about his anger and behavior, they show that station management told him to seek counseling.
The woman Parker was interviewing was injured in the shooting.
Gardner is recovering from emergency surgery and is in stable condition, according to Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital in Rocky Mount.
The gunman was believed to have fired six or seven times, Marks said.
Ward's fiancée was in the control room and saw the shooting, Marks told CNN.
"Our hearts are broken," Marks said. "We have people walking around here in tears, lots of hugs."
Ward joined WDBJ in 2011 after graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in communication and media studies, according to his Facebook page. He began attending the university in 2007, a few months after a gunman went on a deadly rampage, leaving 32 people dead.
Another journalist at the anchor's desk said Ward was engaged to be married to morning show producer at WDBJ, Melissa Ott, and Ward recently told her, "I'm going to get out of news. I think I'm going to do something else."
Parker was the morning reporter for the Roanoke station and a native of Virginia, having spent most of her life outside Martinsville.
She joined WDBJ last year after completing a summer internship as a news reporter in 2012.
"Today we received news that no family should ever hear. Our vivacious, ambitious, smart, engaging, hilarious, beautiful, and immensely talented Alison (was) taken from the world. This is senseless and our family is crushed," Parker's family said in a statement.
Chris Hurst, a reporter for the station, described himself as "numb." He tweeted that he and Parker "were very much in love" and had just moved in together after dating nine months, "the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married. We just celebrated her 24th birthday."
A local pastor, "a friend of the newsroom," is at the station, consoling Parker's and Ward's co-workers, Marks said.
"You know, you send people into war zones, you send people into dangerous situations and into riots, and you worry that they are going to get hurt.," Marks told CNN. "You send somebody out to do a story on tourism and -- how can you expect something like this to happen?" | 0fake |
September New Homes Sales Rise——-Back To 1992 Level! | September New Homes Sales Rise Back To 1992 Level! By David Stockman. Posted On Wednesday, October 26th, 2016
David Stockman's Contra Corner is the only place where mainstream delusions and cant about the Warfare State, the Bailout State, Bubble Finance and Beltway Banditry are ripped, refuted and rebuked. Subscribe now to receive David Stockman’s latest posts by email each day as well as his model portfolio, Lee Adler’s Daily Data Dive and David’s personally curated insights and analysis from leading contrarian thinkers. | 1real |
BREAKING: WHY IS OBAMA Sending Huge Number Of Troops To Germany? [VIDEO] | The largest armed U.S. military brigade to be deployed to Europe since the end of the Cold War arrived Saturday at a port in northern Germany, military officials said.The U.S. Army s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division arrived in the port of Bremerhaven on Friday and began a days-long process of deploying heavy equipment including tanks and armored vehicles. The deployment is the culmination of a promised heavier armed troop presence in eastern Europe since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.The move was meant to reassure nervous NATO allies the United States was prepared to respond in the event of further Russian aggression in the region.The arrival of the 3,500-troop heavy brigade is part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The Army has maintained troop deployments in the region for decades, but had allowed their numbers to lapse for months at a time as troops were rotated out of Europe without being replaced. Stars and Stripes reported the Pentagon plans to maintain the full deployment and immediately replace returning soldiers after their 9-month deployments are completed.The troops will meet in Poland and eventually will be deployed there, as well as Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and across the Baltics. Once there, they will engage in training exercises with NATO host nations. UPI | 1real |
BLACK CAUCUS MEMBER James Clyburn Suggests RACISM Is Motive For Rep. John Conyers Sexual Assault Accusers…”These Are All WHITE Women” [VIDEO] | U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn could find himself in hot water.A writer for The New York Times Magazine and National Geographic tweeted that Clyburn invoked the name of Susan Smith, South Carolina s infamous child murderer, in his defense of Conyers. James Clyburn compared Conyers accusers to the child murderer Susan Smith, who initially claimed a black man had abducted her kids. Clyburn said, these are all white women who ve made these charges against Conyers, Robert Draper tweeted.When asked if that comment was true, Draper said he verified it through two sources, adding Clyburn has used the Susan Smith parallel more than once, to members & staffers. Clyburn responded on Twitter, saying This is inaccurate in many regards. The Congressional Black Caucus tweeted about the alleged Susan Smith comment, saying Clyburn used the Smith example to illustrate the dangers of convicting people before getting all the facts. Umm yeah, sure he did.Meanwhile, Clyburn just kept digging a deeper hole. Following his baseless and disgusting and racist claims to Congress, Clyburn was met in the basement of Congress, where he was asked about fellow Black Caucus member and accused serial sexual assaulter, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). His response was stunning.When asked about sexual harassment allegations against colleague Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Clyburn seemed to suggest elected officials should be held to a different standard than other public figures.In a video posted on Twitter, the 77-year-old Clyburn is walking to an elevator with Congressional Black Caucus chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.), when asked Other men in other industries have faced similar accusations and gotten out of the way, resign, stepped down, far faster than he has, right Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer? Clyburn s response, Who elected them? CBC Chair Richmond asks for ex. of ppl leaving jobs faster than Conyers when face sexual harassment claims; Clyburn asks "who elected them?" pic.twitter.com/FGDNbvBUcg Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) November 29, 2017That was followed by another question, So it s different because he s elected, but the elevator doors closed before Clyburn might have responded.A HIGHER STANDARDBut after 5 p.m., Clyburn posted his official statement regarding a House Resolution that read very differently than the flippant response to reporters in the halls of the Capitol.Congress must streamline the process, protect victims that wish to be protected, and ensure all allegations of wrongdoing are investigated with professionalism, urgency and due process. Read my full statement here, https://t.co/P3eEnkTIS5 James E. Clyburn (@Clyburn) November 29, 2017 As elected officials, we ought to be held to a higher standard, Clyburn said in his statement. Congress must review and improve the current administrative procedure for victims to come forward. All harassment and discrimination allegations must be taken seriously. The StateClyburn took to Twitter again tonight to cover his ass:This is inaccurate in many regards. That discussion had nothing to with Conyers. https://t.co/EWeokwGn50 James E. Clyburn (@Clyburn) November 29, 2017New York Times reporter Rober Draper responded to Clyburn, refuting his claim that it had nothing to do with Conyers .That discussion was specifically & exclusively about Conyers, according to 2 attendees. Who else could you have been referring to when bringing up Susan Smith? https://t.co/MtbIdDbxT7 Robert Draper (@DraperRobert) November 29, 2017Liberal rag Buzzfeed, immediately came to Clyburn s defense:Clyburn's people dispute this. "That is not accurate. That discussion had nothing to do with Conyers." https://t.co/gqRSuZYi4Z Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) November 29, 2017Draper refused to back down and stated that his sourcing is solid on this . Draper then went on to say, Further, I m also told it isn t the first time Clyburn has used the Susan Smith parallel with reference to Conyers. My sourcing is solid on this. Further, I'm also told it isn't the first time Clyburn has used the Susan Smith parallel with reference to Conyers. https://t.co/vToUxKbgVW Robert Draper (@DraperRobert) November 29, 2017The Black Caucus then came after the New York Timer reporter Robert Draper:.@RepRichmond: "This is not accurate. @Clyburn used the Smith example to illustrate the dangers of convicting people before getting all the facts. Although Smith killed her kids, she blamed an innocent person & a lot of people believed that innocent person was guilty." 1/2 https://t.co/Rm5NkXk7BY Black Caucus (@OfficialCBC) November 30, 2017Again, Draper stood his ground and refused to be bullied by the Black Caucus on this issue:Correct. But with specific contextual reference to Conyers. Are you suggesting this was some detached academic discussion in which Conyers wasn t brought up? Not credible & also not what the two attendees say. https://t.co/pOtph6T7qI Robert Draper (@DraperRobert) November 30, 2017 | 1real |
JUST IN: Anti-Putin Banker Claims Firm Tied To Clinton Campaign Assisted Russians In Effort ‘To Have Me Imprisoned And Killed’ | One of the many targets of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS is accusing them of assisting the Kremlin in its effort to have him imprisoned and killed. The strong allegation comes from Bill Browder, a London-based banker who spearheaded the Magnitsky Act, a sanctions law vehemently opposed by the Russian government.Browder made the allegation in response to the recent revelation that Fusion GPS and its founder Glenn Simpson compiled what he says is false information about him that was given to Yuri Chaika, Russia s prosecutor general, and to Donald Trump Jr. during the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. If it is true that Glenn Simpson was supplying information about me to the Russian government, it s far more serious than smear campaigning or Foreign Agents Registration Act violations, said Browder, the head of Hermitage Capital. It would mean that Simpson was assisting the Putin regime in their plot to get me back to Russia to have me imprisoned and killed.It was previously known that the Washington, D.C-based Fusion GPS s investigation of Browder was beneficial to the Russian government and its effort to reverse the Magnitsky Act. But it was revealed only last week that information Fusion collected on Browder was shared directly with Chaika, whose position is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. attorney general.Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney who attended the Trump Tower meeting, is who provided both Chaika and Trump Jr. with the Fusion-generated information on Browder. She took a four-page report into the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting, which was attended by Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.Veselnitskaya worked with Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, on the anti-Browder project. Reuters reported on Thursday that Simpson compiled the research for the Trump Tower memo. And NBC News reported on Friday that similar research put together by Simpson was given by Veselnitskaya to Chaika in Oct. 2015.Browder, who was born in Chicago but is a British citizen, is a target of the Kremlin s ire because of his role in pushing through the Magnitsky Act, which passed Congress in 2012. The Russian government recently issued an Interpol arrest in an attempt to apprehend Browder. Vladimir Putin reportedly approved the move against the 53-year-old money manager, who wrote a book about his travails called Red Notice, a reference to the term used for Interpol warrants.Fusion GPS, which is based in Washington, D.C., became involved in the Browder matter after being hired by BakerHostetler, a law firm representing Denis Katsyv, a Russian businessman who faced penalties because of the Magnitsky Act.Simpson worked closely on the investigation with the Moscow-based Veselnitskaya, who represents Katsyv and his firm, Prevezon Holdings.Veselnitskaya s affiliation with Simpson is one of the stranger story lines arising from both the Trump Tower meeting and the dossier, which was funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC.Theories have circulated that Fusion GPS arranged the Trump Tower meeting in order to compromise the Trump campaign or that Simpson relayed details of the meeting provided by Veselnitskaya to Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the dossier.Fusion was being paid for its dossier work at the same time it was being paid by BakerHostetler to investigate Browder.Adding even more fuel to those theories was a report this week that Simpson and Veselnitskaya met just before and just after she attended the Trump Tower session:BUSTED! MEETING BETWEEN FUSION GPS AND RUSSIAN LAWYER BEFORE AND AFTER:The co-founder of Fusion GPS, the firm behind the unverified Trump dossier, met with a Russian lawyer before and after a key meeting she had last year with Trump Jr. The contacts shed new light on how closely tied the firm was to Russian interests, at a time when it was financing research to discredit then-candidate Donald Trump.The opposition research firm has faced renewed scrutiny after litigation revealed that the DNC and Hillary Clinton s campaign paid for that research. Congressional Republicans have since questioned whether that politically financed research contributed to the FBI s investigation of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign making Fusion s 2016 contacts with Russian interests all the more relevant.DNC MONEY FUNNELED THROUGH LAW FIRM TO FUSION GPS?The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya occurred during a critical period. Bank records show Fusion GPS was paid by a law firm for work on behalf of a Kremlin-linked oligarch while paying a former British spy Christopher Steele to dig up dirt on Trump through his Russian contacts.But hours before the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, Fusion co-founder and ex-Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson was with Veselnitskaya in a Manhattan federal courtroom. Court records show email correspondence and published reports corroborate the pair s presence together. They also were together after the Trump Tower meeting.Read more: Fox NewsRead more: Daily Caller | 1real |
FCC chairman to step down, handing GOP a majority | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler plans to step down on Jan. 20, he said on Thursday, a move expected to hand Republicans a 2-1 majority on the panel when Donald Trump takes office as president. Wheeler could have kept the commission at 2-2 until Trump names a new member who needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Last week, two Republican FCC commissioners said the Trump administration should quickly reverse many significant policies set by the telecommunications and cable regulatory body under Democratic President Barack Obama. Unless the U.S. Senate reconfirms Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, she will have to leave at end of the month. Senate Democrats on Thursday held out the possibility that Republicans could put her back on the FCC next year. With the departures of Wheeler and Rosenworcel, the only remaining Democrat on the panel would be Mignon Clyburn, whose term does not expire until June 2017. Trump will get to select the next chairman. Wheeler, a former cable TV and mobile phone industry lobbyist, repeatedly clashed with companies during his tenure at the FCC, especially over the 2015 order to reclassify broadband internet service providers under a section of communications law that treats them more like public utilities and subjects them to stricter regulation as part of the commission’s “net neutrality” rules. The rules bar broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a “fast lane” on the information superhighway, to certain services over others. Commissioner Ajit Pai, a Republican, said last week he believed the net neutrality rules’ “days are numbered.” He also said he hoped the commission would eliminate many regulations and propose fewer actions. Wheeler also scrutinized a series of proposed mergers, demanding significant conditions to some and rejecting others. In 2015, Wheeler blocked Comcast Corp’s proposed $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and said the FCC had serious concerns about allowing a tie-up of Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US. Republican Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said last week that the FCC under Trump needed to “undo the more harmful policies adopted by the current commission.” O’Rielly criticized the FCC’s decision in October to impose stricter privacy rules on internet service providers than on websites like Facebook Inc or Twitter Inc. Last month Wheeler dropped plans to push through a proposed reform of the $45 billion business data services market. He also dropped a plan to allow pay TV subscribers to ditch their set-top boxes. Former FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, a partner at Carlyle Group LP, said Wheeler “fought relentlessly for broadband, competition and consumers, and our country’s innovation economy today is strong and world-leading.” | 0fake |
How Much Does Donald Trump Pay in Taxes? It Could Be Zero - The New York Times | Mitt Romney was excoriated during the 2012 presidential campaign for paying $4. 9 million in federal income tax, or an average of just 14 percent of his adjusted gross income, in the two years for which he released returns. No one should be surprised, though, if Donald J. Trump has paid far less — perhaps even zero federal income tax in some years. Indeed, that’s the expectation of numerous real estate and tax professionals I’ve interviewed in recent weeks. Even with hundreds of millions in gross revenue from his vast real estate empire, “it’s both possible and legal that Donald Trump would pay little or no income tax,” said Len Green, an accountant and chairman of the Green Group, a tax and accounting advisory firm. Mr. Green is also a real estate investor, teaches at Babson College and is the author of the forthcoming “The Entrepreneur’s Playbook. ” “I would expect he’s paying little or no tax,” agreed Steven M. Rosenthal, a veteran tax lawyer and senior fellow at the Tax Policy center. That’s because Mr. Trump, as a prominent and active developer, can take advantage of some of the most generous tax breaks in the federal tax code to reduce his reported income to near zero, or even report a loss. Few tax advisers to major real estate developers would speak for attribution, because their clients benefit from the same tax breaks available to Mr. Trump. But all told me they knew developers in Mr. Trump’s league who pay little or no income tax despite hundreds of millions in cash flow. “Real estate is notorious for throwing off huge deductions,” Mr. Rosenthal said. “That coupled with wide latitude in the timing and recognition of income make real estate development extremely attractive from a tax standpoint. ” The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment, nor did William F. Nelson, a former general counsel to the Internal Revenue Service and partner at Morgan, Lewis Bockius, one of Mr. Trump’s tax lawyers. Mr. Trump has said in the past that highly paid corporate executives “get away with murder” on their taxes while boasting that he pays as little as the law allows. At the same time, he has insisted that his federal income tax payments are “substantial. ” No one I spoke to has seen Mr. Trump’s tax returns, because he has not released them. One obvious potential reason is that he reports little or no taxable income, and thus pays very little to support the government he wants to run. He is not obligated by law to make his returns public, but every candidate since Richard Nixon refused to has done so. (Gerald Ford released summaries.) Mr. Romney was harshly criticized for releasing just two years’ worth, and it became a major campaign issue four years ago. Even though his recent returns are confidential, the notion that Mr. Trump has paid little or no tax is not entirely speculative. It’s consistent with Mr. Trump’s returns from the late 1970s, which he filed with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission when applying for a casino license in 1981. Mr. Trump reported losses and paid no federal income tax in 1978 and 1979 and paid only modest sums — a total of less than $75, 000 — for the prior three years. David Cay Johnston, a former reporter for The New York Times who has written extensively about Mr. Trump, reported in The Daily Beast in June that Mr. Trump also paid no income tax in 1984, citing a New York State Division of Tax Appeals ruling. Their conclusions are reinforced by Mr. Trump’s extensive financial disclosures required of presidential candidates. His latest filing in May lists 564 entities in which he holds a position, usually president, director or “member. ” Most are corporations, usually owned in turn by a limited liability company and associated with a specific property, such as the office tower at 40 Wall Street (the subject of four such L. L. C. s, each of which owns a major interest in the other). That does not count entities in which Mr. Trump does not hold any position. He lists 188 entries under “employment assets and income. ” Candidates are only required to list assets from which they earn more than $200 reporting ventures is optional. L. L. C.s pass on income (and, equally important, losses) to their owners. Real estate L. L. C.s can generate enormous losses, even with millions in revenue, because of depreciation, interest payments, real estate taxes and operating costs. Mr. Trump can use paper losses to offset taxable income, such as interest, dividends, royalties and employment income. That’s a loophole that was eliminated for most investors in the landmark tax reform legislation in 1986. But because of aggressive lobbying by the powerful real estate industry, active developers like Mr. Trump were exempted from restrictions on using such paper losses to offset ordinary income. The tax value of Mr. Trump’s paper losses may well exceed his investment in the underlying properties, because he and other developers typically make minimal down payments and use as much debt as possible to finance a purchase. To take just one example, Mr. Trump bought what is now the Trump National Doral Miami resort and golf club for $150 million while it was in bankruptcy proceedings and financed the purchase with $125 million in loans from Deutsche Bank. Interest payments on mortgages and loans are deductible. How much total debt Mr. Trump’s properties have incurred is not known, but based on his latest financial disclosure (which shows only ranges) it’s at least $250 million and probably far more than that, with some estimates close to $1 billion. At an average interest rate of 4 percent, that deduction alone is worth at least $10 million a year and perhaps $40 million or more. At least interest is a cash payment. Depreciation is a noncash charge, and is largely an accounting conceit that benefits real estate investors. The theory is that real estate loses value over time and is eventually worthless. As everyone surely knows, most real estate has historically appreciated in value. How much Mr. Trump’s property investments might throw off in depreciation depends on what he paid for them, how much he’s spent on capital improvements and how the assets are categorized (some assets qualify for accelerated depreciation). But the depreciation schedule for commercial property, and purchases and capital investments of $2 billion (a modest estimate, given that Mr. Trump values his assets at $10 billion) would generate depreciation deductions of $50 million a year. Depreciation is ordinarily recaptured and taxed when an asset is sold. But Mr. Trump and other developers can benefit from provisions that make that unlikely. If they sell appreciated properties at a large profit but use the proceeds to buy other real estate, the transactions may be considered a “ ” exchange. If so, there’s no tax on the gain. Critics have called exchanges an outrageous tax loophole that benefits wealthy real estate developers and other investors to the tune of $33 billion in lost tax revenue a year. The Obama administration has called for repealing it, and several bipartisan measures to do so have been introduced in Congress, all to no avail given the gridlock over tax reform. “It’s a big loophole,” Mr. Rosenthal said of the exchange provisions. “It allows and taxpayers to defer their tax liability potentially until death. ” Mr. Trump’s business entities also deduct real estate taxes and all their operating costs and expenses, which might well include most of Mr. Trump’s living and travel expenses, because his personal and business lives are so intertwined. (Even his suits are presumably a business cost, because he has a men’s wear line.) “The difference between business and personal costs can be a very fine line,” Mr. Green said, “especially for someone like Trump. ” If Mr. Trump’s losses exceed his income, they can be carried over into subsequent years and used to offset future income. Politico reported in June that documents from New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement and Casino Control Commission indicate that Mr. Trump had such in the 1990s, when his casino operations were under stress. This may also explain why Mr. Trump has not disclosed many large charitable contributions, because the charitable deduction would be of scant value if he has little or no taxable income. The enormous tax benefits available to real estate developers like Mr. Trump make yet another a compelling case for overhauling the tax system. But that’s not to say he’s done anything wrong. “People aren’t obligated to pay taxes they don’t owe,” Mr. Green said. “It’s the job of tax professionals to use every legal means to minimize taxes, and I’m sure Trump has some of the best working for him. Many wealthy people pay no tax. ” But they’re not running for president. “It is disqualifying for a presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters,” Mitt Romney recently said on Facebook. He, of all people, should know. | 0fake |
null | I concur.
Firing squad. The worst crimes are not committed against an individual, but of a nation of individuals.
In Hillary’s case- against the world. There is no more of a suitable punishment for her and her ilk.
As for facebook, zuckerburg deserves to be right next to hillary, blindfolded. | 1real |
null | IMHO we all need to go to these web sites and and post,... not an echo chamber there as there is here. We here seem to all be on the same page, | 1real |
Catalan leader says not enough guarantees from Madrid to call election | MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Thursday said he had decided not to call a snap election because he had not obtained enough guarantees from the central government that the move would stop the imposition of direct rule in Catalonia. I was ready to call an election if guarantees were given. There is no guarantee that justifies calling an election today, Puigdemont said. He also said it was now up to the Catalan parliament to move forward with a mandate to split from Spain following an independence referendum that took place on Oct. 1. | 0fake |
Trump taps ex-labor board member Acosta to be labor secretary | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated former National Labor Relations Board member R. Alexander Acosta to serve as U.S. secretary of labor, one day after Trump’s original choice withdrew. Acosta is dean of the Florida International University College of Law in Miami and is Trump’s first Hispanic nominee. Acosta has had a decades-long public service career, serving in three presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed positions, and is expected to face a smooth confirmation process. “Mr. Acosta’s nomination is off to a good start because he’s already been confirmed by the Senate three times,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that will be vetting the nomination. Acosta was appointed to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by former Republican President George W. Bush, who also appointed him to be assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. He was then appointed to be U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, where he went after high-profile defendants such as Jack Abramoff and UBS, resulting in the Swiss bank paying more than $750 million in fines for a tax-avoidance scheme. Acosta also previously served as a law clerk to Samuel Alito from 1994 to 1995, when the conservative Supreme Court justice was a judge at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “I thank the President and his staff for their confidence in me and I am eager to work tirelessly on behalf of the American worker,” Acosta said in a statement. While at the NLRB, Acosta signed hundreds of opinions. Those familiar with his work describe him as a careful and cautious public servant whose career trajectory suggested he may someday vie for a federal judgeship. Because he has already gone through multiple vettings by the U.S. Senate, it is unlikely there will be any surprises in his background that could derail his nomination. The choice of Acosta, a traditional Republican conservative, is seen by some as a sign that Trump was forced to give up a more aggressive policy on worker issues. Trump’s first labor secretary pick, Andrew Puzder, the chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc, was outspoken in opposition to issues such as overtime pay, minimum wage hikes and even discussed the superiority of robots over human workers. He removed his name from consideration on Wednesday amid concerns he could not garner enough Senate votes to be confirmed. “This is the humbling of Donald Trump,” said Seth Harris, a former Acting Labor Secretary during the Obama administration, who said Puzder would have been a “radical disruptor” but Acosta won’t be. Acosta has been a staunch defender of the civil rights of Muslims who faced a backlash after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. In a 2011 congressional hearing, Acosta applauded how the Justice Department responded to civil rights violations, saying they helped assure Muslim Americans that “their government would protect their rights.” Some progressive groups were already responding negatively to the Acosta appointment, with Allied Progress alleging he had mismanaged the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division when he ran it. In 2008, an internal Justice Department report faulted Acosta for failing to rein in a staffer who engaged in improper politicized hiring. However, the response to Acosta’s nomination from union groups who had staunchly opposed Puzder was much more measured on Thursday. “Unlike Andy Puzder, Alexander Acosta’s nomination deserves serious consideration,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “In one day, we’ve gone from a fast-food CEO who routinely violates labor law to a public servant with experience enforcing it.” | 0fake |
Comey account could fuel obstruction accusations against Trump: legal experts | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony that U.S. President Donald Trump expected loyalty and hoped Comey would drop an investigation of a former top aide could bolster obstruction of justice allegations against Trump, several legal experts said. Such allegations might be used as the basis for impeachment proceedings, some of the analysts said. Any such step would face a steep hurdle, however, as it would require approval by the U.S. House of Representatives, which is controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans. According to written testimony posted on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s website on Wednesday, Comey said Trump told him during a one-on-one Feb. 14 conversation that former national security adviser Michael Flynn was a “good guy” and hoped that Comey could see his “way clear” to letting go a probe into ties between Flynn and Russia. Trump had fired Flynn the previous day in a controversy over contacts between the retired general and the Russian ambassador to the United States. Comey’s account, released ahead of his appearance before the committee on Thursday, could show that Trump intended to impede the Flynn investigation, said Michael Gerhardt, a professor of constitutional law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. “The express discussion of loyalty is disconcerting,” and could heighten speculation that the “president was trying to exert some pressure or at least exert some influence over the Russia investigation,” Gerhardt said. Comey, who was fired by Trump on May 9, was leading an FBI investigation of Flynn as it looks into allegations of links between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Moscow and Trump have both denied any collusion. Trump’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, did not immediately respond to a Reuters query about whether Comey’s testimony would support an obstruction case. But he said in a statement that Trump felt “vindicated” by Comey’s confirmation he was not under investigation in any Russia probe. To build a criminal obstruction of justice case, federal law requires prosecutors to show that a person acted with “corrupt” intent. It does not matter whether the person succeeds in impeding an investigation. While a sitting president is unlikely to face criminal prosecution, obstruction of justice could form the basis for impeachment. Bruce Green, a professor at Fordham University School of Law, said it would be difficult to show Trump intended to impede the Flynn investigation. He said Trump could say he was merely vouching for Flynn’s character and voicing concerns about how the probe was interfering with his ability to function as president. Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and well-known defense lawyer, added that Trump’s comments to Comey were “ambiguous statements” and “not even close to obstruction of justice.” Other legal experts said, however, that details surrounding the Feb. 14 conversation could indicate that Trump intended to interfere with the Flynn probe. According to Comey, Trump told his close advisers, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner, to leave the room so he could speak to Comey privately. “Asking others to leave the room could suggest the president was aware that there was something wrong with what he was doing,” said Andrew Wright, a professor of constitutional law at Savannah Law School. Wright said there were other damaging details in Comey’s testimony, including that Comey did not document his conversations with former President Barack Obama but “felt compelled” to do so after his first conversation with Trump. Comey’s testimony does “maximum damage” to Trump, Wright said. Gerhardt agreed the testimony was a blow to Trump, saying: “Some people who weren’t concerned before should be concerned now.” | 0fake |
6 Highlights From the Ruling on Trump’s Immigration Order - The New York Times | A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday unanimously upheld a Federal District Court judge’s decision to temporarily block the Trump administration from carrying out its executive order on immigration. The executive order would bar entry into the United States of citizens from seven countries. Here are some highlights from the ruling: The court summarizes what the case is about at this stage. Its job is not to look squarely at whether the executive order is lawful, but rather at whether the standards have been met to temporarily block the government from enforcing it while the broader legal questions are more fully considered. The judges unanimously decided to keep blocking the order. The Trump administration had argued that the appeals court should reject the lawsuit without scrutinizing any of its legal merits, because the two states that filed it had no standing to sue. The appeals court disagreed, primarily because of the impact the travel ban would have on public universities. The Trump administration has argued that the judiciary should stay out of the case. The appeals court strongly disagrees as a matter of constitutional first principles. Several days after Mr. Trump issued his executive order, the administration partially pulled back with a directive from his White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, saying it would not apply to green card holders. The judges are dubious about the credibility of what the executive branch says is happening. This is the core of the ruling. The court thinks it is likely that the executive order will eventually be struck down as an unconstitutional violation of people’s due process rights. In deciding whether to let the executive order be enforced while the arguments are more fully litigated, the courts have to weigh the potential injury to the people who would be affected by the travel ban against the potential injury to society of blocking the order in the interim. Because the Trump administration offered no evidence suggesting that the prior system was inadequate for screening visitors from the seven countries, the court ruled against the government. | 0fake |
Zimbabwe's ruling party to hold rally as anti-Mugabe tide rises | HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe s own ruling ZANU-PF party wants him to step down and plans to hold a rally in Zimbabwe s capital Harare on Saturday to make the point. Mugabe, at Zimbabwe s helm since independence from Britain in 1980, faces the starkest challenge ever to his rule after the army seized power on Wednesday, saying it was targeting criminals around the nonagenarian leader. ZANU-PF called on Friday for Mugabe to resign, the main state newspaper The Herald reported, a clear sign that the aging leader s authority has collapsed after the army takeover. The newspaper said that ZANU-PF branches in all 10 provinces had met and had also called for Mugabe s wife Grace, whose ambitions to succeed her husband triggered the political crisis, to resign from the party. A senior member of ZANU-PF earlier told Reuters the party wanted their long-time president gone. If he becomes stubborn, we will arrange for him to be fired on Sunday, the source said. When that is done, it s impeachment on Tuesday. The Herald reported that ZANU-PF would convene a special Central Committee meeting on Sunday to realign the revolutionary party with current political developments . Pointedly, the military said it fully supports a solidarity march - apparently separate from the ZANU-PF event - in Harare on Saturday, part of an apparent groundswell of anti-Mugabe sentiment unleashed by the dramatic events of the past few days. The army said it had been approached by several private volunteer organizations seeking to freely move and express their desires and they could do so if they were orderly and peaceful. Harare has been calm as the coup has unfolded but the armed forces also said in a statement that people have been warned against looting . The army appears to want Mugabe to go quietly and allow a transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking last week as vice president sparked the army action. A goal of the generals is to prevent Mugabe handing power to his wife, Grace, 41 years his junior, who appeared on the cusp of power after Mnangagwa was pushed out. Mugabe, 93, who calls himself the grand old man of African politics, looks to be running out of options. The army is camped on his doorstep. Grace Mugabe is under house arrest and her key political allies are in military custody. All the main pillars of Mugabe s rule have turned on him or have offered no support. The police have shown no resistance, while Chris Mutsvangwa, the leader of Zimbabwe s influential war veterans, said on Friday that Mugabe would not be allowed to resist the military and remain in power. And ZANU-PF, which built a cult of personality around its leader, has now deserted him. Mugabe is revered by some as an elder statesman and independence leader but also reviled by many in Africa and abroad who accuse him of resorting to violence to retain power while running a once promising economy into the ground. The economy collapsed after the seizure of white-owned farms in 2000. Unemployment is now running at nearly 90 percent and chronic shortages of hard currency have triggered inflation, with the prices of imports rising as much as 50 percent a month. | 0fake |
MSM Polls Gaslighting US Voters with Manipulated Poll results Trump is Winning in Adjusted Average | MSM Polls Gaslighting US Voters with Manipulated Poll results Trump is Winning in Adjusted Average Tweet
Recalculated Poll results adjusted for ACTUAL US party demographics. MSM (ABC, IBD, CNN) are weighting their polls against Trump by over-sampling democrats, and under-sampling Independents, who are leaning Trump by 6 pts. At the same time, they are slightly oversampling republicans for plausible deniability. However, republican over-sampling is MUCH lower than dem over-sampling, and adding the under-representation of Independent voters results in skewed polls that do not reflect the reality of Trump winning the election.
It’s called gaslighting. A form of election fraud. The media is organized, evidenced by the similar weightings of the variousmsm polls, and fixing the | 1real |
Tucker Carlson Confronts USA Today Editor Over Editorial Comparing Steve Bannon to ISIS Leader - Breitbart | Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson took on USA Today editorial page editor David Mastio for an editorial that appeared in Monday’s edition of USA Today headlined “What Bannon shares with ISIL leader,” referring to White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and ISIS leader Abu Bakr . After rattling off some of the atrocities committed by ISIS under including beheading journalists, use of chemical weapons, employment of child soldiers, mass execution of Christians and declaration of a caliphate, Carlson pushed back against the characterization of Bannon. However, Mastio doubled down and insisted the visions of the two, which was a war underway between Islam and the West, were similar. “We’re at war with a psychotic death cult, a fringe of the Islamic world,” Mastio said. “Bannon agrees with Baghdadi that it is a war between Islam and the West. We don’t need to give Baghdadi that propaganda victory. ” Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor | 0fake |
Cowherd: Curt Schilling’s Politics Keeping Him Out of Hall of Fame - This Is How Sports Media Loses ’Trust of the Public’ - Breitbart | On Thursday, Fox Sports 1 “The Herd” host Colin Cowherd weighed in on the MLB Hall of Fame balloting, saying the sports media is keeping pitching great Curt Schilling off their ballots because of his outspokenness on social media regarding his politics. “The political media’s trust is at an low, and sports media I think continues to dip because of agendas,” Cowherd stated. “Curt Schilling is a borderline Hall of Famer. I’ve always said I would put him in simply because he elevated not one but two baseball cultures: the losing Red Sox who had a loser’s mentality and the irrelevant Arizona Diamondbacks. He led both to World Series titles, and I think he changed the culture. Curt Schilling, though, you can argue like a Mike Mussina, if he is not a Hall of Famer, he’s darn close. ” He continued, “Schilling has now gone on social media and become a little unhinged and has been, what I would say, a little inappropriate. There is nowhere a voter is asked to consider somebody’s personality. In fact, the rules say voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team on which the player played. It says nothing about once you retire. ” According to Cowherd, these agendas by the media only contribute to the public’s lack of trust. “This is how you lose the trust of the public — when you start voting on things you’re not asked to consider and you have an agenda,” he added. “I don’t like what Curt Schilling said about the media, but I know I’m not asked to consider it voting for the hall of fame. It never says, ‘Consider integrity.’ It never says that. It says consider it on your team or plural teams. If you didn’t consider it with Jackie Robinson and Ty Cobb, don’t go political with Curt Schilling. ” Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 0fake |
China says confident in economic relations with U.S. ahead of Trump visit | BEIJING (Reuters) - China has confidence in its economic relations with the United States going forward and will continue to open up and provide broader market access, Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said on Friday. Zheng was speaking at a briefing about next week s visit to China by President Donald Trump. | 0fake |
Comment on Leaked Emails Reveal Hillary Can’t Speak for Very Long Without a Podium… So Were the Debates Rigged? by mildred.kraus | WikiLeaks continues to be a treasure trove of info about the behind-the-scenes rigging of what is turning out to be the most infamous presidential election in American history.
Remember the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and the conspiracy surrounding “podiumgate” ?
Hillary required a specially built podium under the pretext that she didn’t want to appear shorter than Trump.
After the debate was over, however, a sneaky “cleaner man” was caught on tape approaching Hillary’s podium multiple times, removing various items and looking as shady as possible while doing it. What could also clearly be seen was what appeared to be a lit screen dimming specifically in her podium and not in Trump’s just after the debate officially ended.
This led to lots of speculation on whether or not Hillary cheated during the first debate against Trump and other debates as well, having her comments fed to her.
Well, if the Wikileaks Podesta emails are any indication, it’s very possible. Why?
Because apparently Hillary can’t give long speeches without a podium.
In fact, these emails (and this isn’t even all of them, but enough for you to get the picture) prove her team is well aware of the fact that everything has to be kept “short and sweet” unless Hillary has a podium.
So how are we supposed to believe she was able to speak at the 90-minutes debates without prepared notes being fed to her somehow?
Especially that final debate where she appeared to be reading more than writing, looking down all the time at some sort of lit screen embedded in the podium as pointed out in other debates, as shown in the video above. Piper writes for The Daily Sheeple . There’s a lot of B.S. out there. Someone has to write about it. Don't forget to follow the D.C. Clothesline on Facebook and Twitter. PLEASE help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks. Share this: | 1real |
Camera Catches Hillary’s Sick Hidden Message To Christian Voters | Camera Catches Hillary’s Sick Hidden Message To Christian Voters Posted on October 27, 2016 by Prissy Holly in Politics Share This
Democrats are constantly attacking Christianity while making their disdain for anything holy abundantly clear. Evidence of their godless agenda was on full display during the Democratic National convention, when they removed all references to God. It should come as no surprise what Hillary was caught doing at a campaign event, which clearly solidifies the true evil nature of the Democratic Party.
Like it or not, our country was founded on Christian principles. “In God we trust” is not only printed on all of our currency, but references to God are throughout the Constitution, as our Founding Fathers intertwined their faith with our founding documents. Liberals loathe this fact, and many have made it their life mission to erase God from everything in our country, as evidenced by their constant barrage on our faith.
At a Democratic presidential rally in May, one of Hillary’s little evil minions took the stage to introduce Hillary to the crowd. But when the unnamed woman began using lines of our Pledge of Allegiance to weave with her pro-Hillary rhetoric, she decided to omit two little words, as a blatant slap in the face to God.
âOnly Hillary can bring us together as one nation⌠Und⌠Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,â the woman said, while partially quoting the US Pledge of Allegiance.
This demented woman intentionally removed “under God” from our nation’s pledge, but how Hillary reacted was even more disturbing, as she immediately begins to nod and smile in agreement of this woman’s omission. Watch her choke on "Under God"&"indivisible"
— NEEDYđLatina4Trump (@tteegar) October 25, 2016
How sickening. Liberals will not be fully satisfied until they completely destroy our country with their vile agenda. If Hillary gets elected, we’ll soon have the most godless and corrupt person on the planet driving our country even further down the path of darkness and destruction.
At this point in our nation’s history, it’s imperative that we don’t just sit idly by and allow these things to go on. We have to get loud and aggressively fight back when we see darkness slipping in, whether that be at our children’s schools, in our government, or in our presidential candidates. | 1real |
China marks Nanjing Massacre anniversary but Xi low key | BEIJING (Reuters) - China marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre on Wednesday with a call to work with Japan for peace, but President Xi Jinping kept a low profile and left the main public remarks to another senior official. China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 massacre in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. A postwar Allied tribunal put the death toll in the eastern city of Nanjing at 142,000, but some conservative Japanese politicians and scholars deny a massacre took place at all. Ties between China and Japan, the world s second- and third-largest economies, have been plagued by a long-running territorial dispute over a cluster of East China Sea islets and suspicion in China about efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to amend Japan s pacifist constitution. However the two countries have sought to get relations back on track, and Abe and Xi met last month on the sidelines of a regional summit in Vietnam. Speaking at a memorial in Nanjing, Yu Zhengsheng, who heads a high-profile but largely ceremonial advisory body to China s parliament, said China and Japan were neighbours with deep historic ties. China would deepen relations with all its neighbours, including Japan, on the basis of amity, sincerity and friendship, Yu said, in comments carried live on state television. China and Japan must act on the basis of both their people s basic interests, correctly grasp the broad direction of peaceful and friendly cooperation, take history as a mirror, face the future and pass on friendship down the generations, Yu said. A sombre Xi, wearing a white flower in his lapel to symbolise mourning, stood in the audience but did not speak. Doves to signify peace flew overhead after Yu finished speaking. Xi later met massacre survivors, the official Xinhua news agency said, telling them, Lessons learned from the past can guide one in the future . South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who arrived in Beijing for a four-day visit, offered condolences to the victims in a speech to businessmen, in what his office called the first such public mention of the massacre by a South Korean leader. In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga spoke of the importance of looking to the future. The leaders of Japan and China have agreed in past meetings to further improve relations and it is important, while cherishing this trend, to together show a future-oriented stance, Suga told a regular news conference: It was the second time Xi has attended the event since China marked its first national memorial day for the massacre in 2014. At that time, he called on China and Japan to set aside hatred and not allow the minority who led Japan to war to affect relations now. | 0fake |
Mother Beats Cancer During Pregnancy with Twins Only to Die from Heart Failure a Day After Giving Birth | A California mother who beat cancer while she was pregnant with twins died from heart failure a day after she gave birth to them. [Jamie Snider of Fresno, 30, underwent treatment and chemotherapy for an aggressive form of cervical cancer while she was pregnant with twins, the Daily Mail reported. After undergoing a and a radical hysterectomy March 16, Snider passed away from heart failure. Snider had beaten the cancer before when she had an ovary removed. She was surprised and overjoyed when she got pregnant with twins. Snider already had two young daughters, Aubrey and Maddie, and was ready to fight the cancer once more. She went through intensive treatment at Stanford Medical Center while she was pregnant, and the disease went into remission once again. Snider posted a photo of herself on Facebook, optimistic about her pregnancy and things to come. Snider’s friend Larina Campanile told KFSN about Snider’s last post on Facebook before the surgery. “‘Tomorrow will be a great day,’” Campanile read from the post. “‘God has been by my side the whole time. All your prayers and love have kept me going as well. Wish me luck. I’m having a at 7 and then a radial hysterectomy right after. I’ll be fine. Thank you, God, for keeping me positive through all the hard times.’ And that was her last post. ” Snider survived the surgeries March 16 but died of heart failure the morning after. The babies, named Camila and Nico, were born prematurely, at 33 weeks, but they are healthy, according to family members. “What gives me peace in my heart is she got to see those babies and hold them and be with them a little bit,” said Campanile. Family and friends have raised money on GoFundMe for Snider’s funeral expenses and help with the children. | 0fake |
U.S. diplomats accuse Tillerson of breaking child soldiers law | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of about a dozen U.S. State Department officials have taken the unusual step of formally accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of violating a federal law designed to stop foreign militaries from enlisting child soldiers, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters. A confidential State Department dissent memo, which Reuters was first to report on, said Tillerson breached the Child Soldiers Prevention Act when he decided in June to exclude Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a U.S. list of offenders in the use of child soldiers. This was despite the department publicly acknowledging that children were being conscripted in those countries. [tmsnrt.rs/2jJ7pav] Keeping the countries off the annual list makes it easier to provide them with U.S. military assistance. Iraq and Afghanistan are close allies in the fight against Islamist militants, while Myanmar is an emerging ally to offset China s influence in Southeast Asia. Documents reviewed by Reuters also show Tillerson s decision was at odds with a unanimous recommendation by the heads of the State Department s regional bureaus overseeing embassies in the Middle East and Asia, the U.S. envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the department s human rights office and its own in-house lawyers. [tmsnrt.rs/2Ah6tB4] Beyond contravening U.S. law, this decision risks marring the credibility of a broad range of State Department reports and analyses and has weakened one of the U.S. government's primary diplomatic tools to deter governmental armed forces and government-supported armed groups from recruiting and using children in combat and support roles around the world, said the July 28 memo. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, questioned at length by reporters on the issue at her daily briefing, strongly defended Tillerson s decision as valid and in technical compliance with the law in the way he read it. No one in the United States government likes the idea of the use of child soldiers, she said. It s abhorrent. Asked at a photo opportunity with the visiting Peruvian foreign minister about his decision, Tillerson sidestepped any direct response to the dissenting officials complaint. Reuters reported in June that Tillerson had disregarded internal recommendations on Iraq, Myanmar and Afghanistan. The new documents reveal the scale of the opposition in the State Department, including the rare use of what is known as the dissent channel, which allows officials to object to policies without fear of reprisals. The views expressed by the U.S. officials illustrate ongoing tensions between career diplomats and the former chief of Exxon Mobil Corp appointed by President Donald Trump to pursue an America First approach to diplomacy. The child soldiers law passed in 2008 states that the U.S. government must be satisfied that no children under the age of 18 are recruited, conscripted or otherwise compelled to serve as child soldiers for a country to be removed from the list. The statute extends specifically to government militaries and government-supported armed groups like militias. The list currently includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Mali, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In a written response to the dissent memo on Sept. 1, Tillerson adviser Brian Hook acknowledged that the three countries did use child soldiers. He said, however, it was necessary to distinguish between governments making little or no effort to correct their child soldier violations ... and those which are making sincere - if as yet incomplete - efforts. [tmsnrt.rs/2zWGRt0]Hook made clear that America s top diplomat used what he sees as his discretion to interpret the law. Foreign militaries on the list are prohibited from receiving aid, training and weapons from Washington unless the White House issues a waiver based on U.S. national interest. In 2016, under the Obama administration, both Iraq and Myanmar, as well as others such as Nigeria and Somalia, received waivers. At times, the human rights community chided President Barack Obama for being too willing to issue waivers and exemptions, especially for governments that had security ties with Washington, instead of sanctioning more of those countries. Human Rights Watch frequently criticized President Barack Obama for giving too many countries waivers, but the law has made a real difference, Jo Becker, advocacy director for the group s children s rights division, wrote in June in a critique of Tillerson s decision. The dissenting U.S. officials stressed that Tillerson s decision to exclude Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar went a step further than the Obama administration s waiver policy by contravening the law and effectively easing pressure on the countries to eradicate the use of child soldiers. The officials acknowledged in the documents reviewed by Reuters that those three countries had made progress. But in their reading of the law, they said that was not enough to be kept off a list that has been used to shame governments into completely eradicating the use of child soldiers. Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Tillerson on Friday saying there were serious concerns that the State Department may not be complying with the law and that the secretary s decision sent a powerful message to these countries that they were receiving a pass on their unconscionable actions. The memo was among a series of previously unreported documents sent this month to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the State Department s independent inspector general s office that relate to allegations that Tillerson violated the child soldiers law. Legal scholars say that because of the executive branch s latitude in foreign policy there is little legal recourse to counter Tillerson s decision. Herman Schwartz, a constitutional law professor at American University in Washington, said U.S. courts would be unlikely to accept any challenge to Tillerson s interpretation of the child soldiers law as allowing him to remove a country from the list on his own discretion. The signatories to the document were largely senior policy experts with years of involvement in the issues, said an official familiar with the matter. Reuters saw a copy of the document that did not include the names of those who signed it. Tillerson s decision to remove Iraq and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, from the list and reject a recommendation by U.S. officials to add Afghanistan was announced in the release of the government s annual human trafficking report on June 27. Six days earlier, a previously unreported memo emailed to Tillerson from a range of senior diplomats said the three countries violated the law based on evidence gathered by U.S. officials in 2016 and recommended that he approve them for the new list. It noted that in Iraq, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations reported that some Sunni tribal forces ... recruited and used persons younger than the age of 18, including instances of children taking a direct part in hostilities. Ali Kareem, who heads Iraq s High Committee for Human Rights, denied the country s military or state-backed militias use child soldiers. We can say today with full confidence that we have a clean slate on child recruitment issues, he said. The memo also said two confirmed cases of child recruitment by the Myanmar military were documented during the reporting period. Human rights advocates have estimated that dozens of children are still conscripted there. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay challenged accusers to provide details of where and how child soldiers are being used. He noted that in the latest State Department report on human trafficking, they already recognized (Myanmar) for reducing of child soldiers though the report also made clear some children were still conscripted. The memo said further there was credible evidence that a government-supported militia in Afghanistan recruited and used a child, meeting the minimum threshold of a single confirmed case that the State Department had previously used as the legal basis for putting a country on the list. The Afghan defense and interior ministries both denied there were any child soldiers in Afghan national security forces, an assertion that contradicts the State Department s reports and human rights activists. | 0fake |
LIST OF U.S. STATES With Most Illegal Aliens | Wow these are some pretty eye-opening statistics Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made illegal immigration a cornerstone of his campaign, proposing a simple solution for the nation s immigration woes: build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said, if elected president, he would seek out and deport anyone in the country illegally. In contrast, Democratic candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposes a path to full and equal citizenship. The varied policy proposals by presidential candidates reflect the schism of opinion among Americans on immigration issues.In order to better comprehend this issue, InsideGov synthesized the most recent estimates and broke down the undocumented immigrant population groups by country of birth. This information comes from the Migration Policy Institute s Unauthorized Immigrant Population Profiles, which was published in 2013 and contains the most recent data estimates. We then ranked the 25 U.S. states with the largest populations of people living there illegally, and ordered the states from smallest to largest undocumented populations.See the 25 States with Most Undocumented ImmigrantsNote: Data is not provided by the source for Montana, North Dakota or Vermont.Oklahoma #25 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 80,000In 2007, Oklahoma passed a state bill, HB 1804, that made it illegal to house or transport immigrants lacking legal status, allowed law enforcement to verify the citizenship status of anyone arrested and made it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to receive government IDs or assistance.Minnesota #24 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 81,000Jose Antonio Vargas, an immigration activist who publicly revealed his illegal status in 2011, was arrested in 2012 in Minnesota for driving without a valid license. He was interviewed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement but neither detained nor deported.Ohio #23 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 83,000A sheriff in Ohio made national headlines when he sent a controversial open letter to Mexican President Enrique Pe a Nieto asking for $900,000. The sheriff calculated that was the total cost for jailing Mexican immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally and committed crimes in his community. He wrote: I think it only fair that you provide me with some financial support for dealing with your criminals. There was no response from Nieto.Indiana #22 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 93,000Michigan #21 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 97,000Although Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has been a vocal advocate for immigration reform, he was the first governor to pause the resettlement of Syrian refugees in light of the November Paris attacks.South Carolina #20 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 99,000South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a former member of the Gang of Eight, has advocated for comprehensive immigration reform. This failed 2016 GOP presidential candidate declared that policies in Republican frontrunner Donald Trump s immigration plan are not practical and self-deportation on steroids. Connecticut #19 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 108,000In 2015, Connecticut state lawmakers expanded in-state tuition and financial aid to undocumented immigrants. Republican Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano said of the reforms: What are we going to do as a nation? What are we going to do as a state? Are we going to leave you behind. What this says is we re going to give you that chance. Why not let that happen. We ll be a more productive state for it. In light of where we are and how we got here, we are here. Oregon #18 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 115,000Cylvia Hayes, the fiancee of former Democrat Gov. John Kitzhaber, once married an Ethiopian migrant so he could receive a green card. She explained during a press conference: I was struggling to put myself through college and was offered money in exchange for marrying a young person who had a chance to get a college degree himself if he were able to remain in the United States. Kitzhaber was re-elected for a fourth term despite the controversy stemming from this revelation.Tennessee #17 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 119,000A woman living in Tennessee received $200,000 in damages due to her mistreatment at a detention center following an arrest for driving without a legal license. She went into labor during her detainment and said she was shackled throughout this experience.Pennsylvania #16 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 136,000In 2007, a federal judge ruled unconstitutional an ordinance in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, that prevented undocumented immigrants from securing housing because it denied them basic civil rights, legal citizens or not. The judge wrote: Hazleton, in its zeal to control the presence of a group deemed undesirable, violated the rights of such people as well as others within the community. Nevada #15 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 138,000Although Nevada ranks at 15th for its overall population of people living in the state illegally, a 2012 study by the Pew Research Center found that this group comprises the highest proportion of the state s population compared to the rest of the U.S.Colorado #14 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 164,000Illegal Pete s, a Colorado-based Mexican restaurant, received criticism from local community members for its name. They said the use of illegal implies a negative context regarding citizenship and racial discrimination. The name has not been changed.Massachusetts #13 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 185,000In Revere, Massachusetts, a high school cheerleading captain faced criticism for a tweet that commented on immigration. Her tweet, supposedly inspired by 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump, stated: When only 10 percent of Revere votes for mayor cause the other 90 percent isn t legal. School officials started a cultural sensitivity program as a result of this tweet.Washington #12 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 204,000After the Vietnam War, the governor of Washington welcomed about 30,000 Vietnamese refugees who were denied entry by then-California Gov. Jerry Brown. Chandler Felt, a King County demographer, said: So that kind of established a beachhead of recognition that King County was a welcoming place for refugees and immigrants. It really started to increase the rate of immigration. Since then we ve been getting refugees and immigrants from all different parts of the world. Maryland #11 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 233,000A Maryland second-grader made national headlines in 2010 when she posed a question about immigration to first lady Michelle Obama. The young girl asked: My mom she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn t have papers. But my mom doesn t have any papers. Virginia #10 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 247,000A Virginia immigration law passed in 2007 by Prince William County required police to investigate the citizenship status of suspects under arrest. This ordinance is still in effect.Arizona #9 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 264,000The passing of Senate Bill 1070 reflected the severity of immigration issues in Arizona. This controversial law allows police to pull over motorists on the assumption they may be in the country illegally. Most of the law s provisions were overturned in the Supreme Court decision Arizona v. United States.North Carolina #8 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 342,000Georgia #7 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 393,000New Jersey #6 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 509,000New Jersey s Ellis Island, a historic gateway to the United States for immigrants, processed over 12 million arrivals during its 62 years of operation.Illinois #5 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 519,000Illinois passed legislation in 2014 that allows residents to receive kidney transplants, regardless of their legal status. The program could be financially beneficial by offsetting the cost of emergency dialysis services, which are part of a state-funded program.Florida #4 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 605,000Florida holds a significant population of Cuban immigrants. Many make the dangerous journey across the Florida Strait from Cuba on rafts in an attempt to secure citizenship. The United States has a special immigration policy for Cubans, informally referred to as the wet-foot, dry-foot policy, where those who successfully make the journey to U.S. soil can apply for legal status after one year.New York #3 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 867,000 Many immigrants without proper documentation in New York claim Asia as their area of birth. They represent 10 percent of the total undocumented population in the United States.Texas #2 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 1,464,000A case against Texas, stemming from the refusal to issue birth certificates for U.S.-born children, made its way to federal courts in 2015. Texas officials required specific forms of ID from the mother before issuing her child s certificate, which immigrants without documentation could not produce.California #1 Estimate of Undocumented Population: 3,034,000California has the largest population of immigrants without proper documentation. The state provides a variety of benefits and protections to these populations. The City of Huntington Park attracted controversy when it was revealed that two members of city commissions were undocumented immigrants from Mexico.Via: InsideGov.com | 1real |
Mitch McConnell Sees ‘High Level of Satisfaction’ With Trump Administration - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Although there is plenty of anxiety in Washington about the shaky early performance of the Trump administration, don’t count Senator Mitch McConnell among the hand wringers. Mr. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican and the majority leader, says he and his Senate Republican colleagues are quite satisfied with the Trump team so far. In fact, he said, they are reassured by signs that President Trump is going to hew to a conservative agenda after early fears that the president — a relatively unknown quantity to most elected Republicans — might not really be one of them. “The country doesn’t need saving,” Mr. McConnell said when asked during an interview in his Capitol office if there was any cause for a congressional intervention given early chaos in the evolving West Wing. “I think there is a high level of satisfaction with the new administration,” he said, dismissing concerns about dissonant eruptions from the new president and some of his top staff members. “Our members are not obsessed with the daily tweets, but are looking at the results. ” He added: “No matter what sort of theatrics that go on around the administration, if you look at the decisions that are being made, they are solid — from our perspective — things that we would have hoped a new Republican president would have done. ” Mr. McConnell has broken with the president on a few subjects, taking a much harder line against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia than Mr. Trump has and objecting to some of the president’s “drain the swamp” initiatives, including a proposal for congressional term limits. Other members of the Republican establishment — inside and outside Congress — have expressed growing alarm about the conduct and competence of the White House. But Mr. McConnell, whose wife, Elaine Chao, was named by Mr. Trump as secretary of transportation, said things might even be turning out better than anticipated. “Back during the campaign, there were a lot of questions: Is Trump really a conservative? A lot of questions about it,” Mr. McConnell recalled. “But if you look at the steps that have been taken so far, looks good to me. “It is the kind of thing we would have expected of one of the others, had they been nominated and elected,” Mr. McConnell said, referring to Republican presidential candidates defeated by Mr. Trump who had more conventional political and government backgrounds. Mr. McConnell’s view clashes violently with that of Senate Democrats and their allies around the country. They have viewed the beginning of the Trump era as a disaster best exemplified by an immigration executive order they decry as unconstitutional and as well as a selection of cabinet choices they rate as unqualified and carrying the very same baggage that has prevented others from being confirmed in the past. Even some Republicans have criticized as inept and amateurish the rollout of the immigration order, which is now at the center of a federal court fight. Others have expressed trepidation at the prospect of being hammered in a Trump tweet if they run afoul of the new president. Mr. McConnell, who is known for being able to take the temperature of his colleagues and to act accordingly, said he sensed no real unease about Mr. Trump on the Republican side of the aisle. “We have had very good unity on our side,” Mr. McConnell said. “People are genuinely excited about taking the country in another direction. I don’t find any decision that he has made surprising. ” He said Senate Republicans had been enthusiastic about Mr. Trump’s cabinet nominees, dazzled by his Supreme Court pick and elated at the chance to roll back what he called the regulatory rampage of the Obama administration. “A lot of us were wondering, what is Trump really going to be like?” Mr. McConnell said. “He used to support Democrats and have various views earlier in his life about politics. But when he got to the point of actually having the office and making the decisions, I think the decisions have been very comforting to my members, most of whom are a little bit right of center and further right of center. ” It goes without saying that having Mr. Trump in the White House gives House and Senate Republicans the opportunity to pursue an aggressive legislative agenda if they can find common ground. That prospect should be heightened by installing colleagues like Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama and two fellow Republicans, Representatives Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina and Tom Price of Georgia, at the highest levels of the administration. Mr. Sessions is Mr. Trump’s nominee for attorney general while Mr. Mulvaney has been tapped to run the White House Office of Management and Budget and Mr. Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. McConnell looms as potentially the president’s most important ally in Congress because success in the Senate is central to any legislative victory. But Republicans have not even started on the legislative end of the new Congress. Now their job is going to be made more difficult by the increasingly hard line that Democrats are taking against Mr. Trump by opposing his cabinet nominees en masse. Mr. McConnell’s frustration at Democratic tactics boiled over Tuesday evening when he invoked a rarely used Senate rule to force Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, to end a speech on the grounds she was impugning the integrity of Mr. Sessions, a fellow senator, by criticizing his record on civil rights. “It is a superficially poisonous atmosphere, not a fundamentally poisonous atmosphere,” Mr. McConnell said. Still, he noted that Republicans could do much of their preliminary work in the Senate just by relying on their party’s 51 votes there as they take up health care, tax changes and nominations, and could try to work out the differences with Democrats later. “Sooner or later we will get around to things that will require some level of cooperation,” Mr. McConnell said. “Hopefully there will be a kind of dysfunction fatigue. I think it will set in way before then. ” His point raises a question: Will that same passage of time produce a kind of Trump fatigue among the congressional Republicans? | 0fake |
Donald Trump: China Effort on North Korea ‘Has Not Worked Out’ - Breitbart | President Donald Trump appears disappointed in China’s efforts to stop continued aggression from North Korea. [“While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out,” he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. “At least I know China tried!” After meeting with President Xi Jinping in April, Trump appeared optimistic that China would help North Korea’s actions in the region, even stalling some of his aggressive actions on trade. “Look, I’ve been talking about China for years,” he told Fox News host Martha MacCallum during an interview. “Now, I speak nicely about China because I really do believe they’re trying to help out with respect to North Korea. ” Trump also addressed reports of North Korea launching missiles in May, asserting that China was “trying hard” to get them to stop. Trump’s new focus on North Korea might have been sparked by the death of Otto Warmbier — an American student who died, despite coming home to the United States after spending more than a year in a coma in a North Korean prison. “It’s a total disgrace what happened to Otto,” Trump said on Tuesday. “It should never, ever be allowed to happen. And frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the results would have been a lot different. ” | 0fake |
Russia to criticize Trump stance on Jerusalem at U.N. Security Council: RIA | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will criticize U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the United Nations Security Council, the RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying on Thursday. | 0fake |
#LondonBridge MUSLIM Men CAUGHT Laughing, Celebrating, Yelling “Allah Akbar” While Watching Aftermath Of Terror Attack From Vehicle [VIDEO] | Just another day in the holy month of Ramadan London is the scene of carnage again with another terror attack. A van plowed into pedestrians on London Bridge with reports of men jumping out of the van to stab random people. We re posting details as they come in from the UK. Several people have been killed and the latest update is that 5 armed terrorists are on the run in London.Meanwhile, a video has been posted on social media showing what appears to be Muslim men who have just witnessed the London Bridge terror attack and are simply observers of a horrific terror attack against innocent people. You can hear them speaking in Arabic and saying something about 3 attacks, after which time you can hear one of them yell, Allah Akbar! It s interesting to hear how the Muslim men in the vehicle respond to the murder of innocent people at the hands of Islamic extremists . After watching this video, one has to wonder how exactly, we should go about differentiating between the moderate and extremist Muslims Muslims laughing and yelling Allah Ackbar in London after #LondonBridge attack pic.twitter.com/6XjlwwQqQ7 Tanya Tay (@realTanyaTay) June 3, 2017 | 1real |
Trump wades in on flap over L.L. Bean boycott threats | BOSTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted his support of Maine catalog retailer L.L. Bean after an activist group opposed to the U.S. president-elect called for a boycott of the company. The boycott call began online last week after reports that a member of the Bean family that owns the company, best known for its rubber-bottomed hunting boots, had donated money to Trump’s candidacy. “Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L. Bean for your great support and courage,” Trump said in a tweet early on Thursday. “People will support you even more now. Buy L.L. Bean.” The “Grab Your Wallet” website added L.L. Bean, based in Freeport, Maine, to a lengthy list of retailers it is urging Trump opponents to boycott because of their ties Trump, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20. L.L. Bean scrambled to distance itself from Linda Bean’s donations, noting that she was one of more than 50 members of the founding family associated with the 105-year-old company, which described itself as politically neutral. “Our owners, employees, and customers hold views and embrace causes that are individual and diverse,” the company said in a statement late on Sunday. “We fully acknowledge and respect that some may disagree with the political views of a single member of our 10-person board of directors.” A spokeswoman for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Trump’s tweet drew responses from supporters and opponents on Thursday, some of whom vowed to boycott the company, others who said they planned to buy its merchandise. Trump has taken on several prominent U.S. companies, including United Technologies Corp’s (UTX.N) Carrier air conditioning unit and General Motors Co (GM.N) for manufacturing products outside the United States. His track record of pouncing on high-profile executives has left the leaders of corporate America wary of waking up one morning to find themselves Trump’s latest target. Maine is politically divided. It has a split Congressional delegation and a two-term Republican governor, but former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton carried the state in the Nov. 8 election. On Thursday, Governor Paul LePage, a vocal supporter of Trump, praised Linda Bean. “It is reprehensible how progressives have bullied her and her family’s company,” LePage said. “I encourage Mainers and customers around the globe to continue their strong support of L.L. Bean.” | 0fake |
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