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Chris Christie Calls Obama A ‘Petulant Child’ For Executive Orders On Guns (VIDEO) | President Barack Obama has recently announced that he will be issuing executive orders on guns after a series of horrific attacks involving firearms. Predictably, the NRA and Republicans are absolutely freaking out over this, and one of the outspoken GOPers whining about this just happens to be Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.During an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Christie criticized Obama for trying to improve gun control laws, calling him a boy for trying to keep the American people safe from terrorism and violence within the home.When Fox moderator Chris Wallace asked Christie what he thought about Obama s intention to expand background checks and prevent guns from getting into the hands of accused domestic abusers and terrorists, Christie went off on a rant: This President is a petulant child. Whenever he can t get what he wants, because frankly, the American people have rejected his agenda by turning over the House and the Senate to republicans, going from 21 Republican governors when he came into office, now 31, now he wants to act as a king. The fact is if he wants to make changes to these laws, go to congress and convince congress they re necessary, but this is going to be another illegal executive action which I m sure will be rejected by the courts. When I become president, they will be stricken from executive action by executive action I will take. You can watch Christie go off on Obama below: Christie had no issue criticizing Obama, even though he is unaware of what Obama will actually do, or the potential legality of those actions. The crazy thing is, Christie later said that he is FOR the restriction on guns to terror watch suspects, but isn t comfortable with Obama taking immediate, responsible action! Wallace pointed out that Christie had previously been supportive of gun control measures, and asked him if he d changed his stance. Christie said: I haven t changed my tune. I signed the bill that banned guns for people on the terror watch list. As president, I would make sure that terror watch list was actually accurate. Interestingly enough, Republicans are fine when Obama takes executive action for things like bombing Syria however when it comes to protecting women from their abusers or stopping terrorists from getting guns, they ve proven time after time that it s just not a priority.Tomorrow, Obama will see Attorney General Loretta Lynch to finalize his proposal. A town hall will be held on Thursday, and the new executive actions on background checks are expected in the next few days. Featured image via Marc Nozell / Flickr | 1real |
Dem Senator Introduces Bill Banning Hate Crime Offenders From Purchasing Guns | In response to the horrific Orlando shootings (which is simultaneously being labeled terrorist attack and a hate crime), Democratic Senator Bob Casey on Monday introduced legislation banning any American convicted of a hate crime from legally purchasing a gun.Titled the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the bill ties together existing legislation regarding what falls under the scope of a hate crime a misdemeanor motivated in part by hate or bias related to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability, and which misdemeanor makes up a hate crime. These misdemeanors include low-level assaults, threats, harassment and property damage.In a statement released on his website, Casey described his bill as common sense, saying:If you have proven you will commit criminal acts based on hate, you absolutely should not have access to a gun. It s common sense. It is time we as members of Congress do something. If you are a member of Congress and you say you care about security then you have to take steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands and ensure our law enforcement has the resources needed to keep communities safe.Casey s office also reminded the public that, according to National Crime Victimization Survey data, about 259,000 hate crimes happen each year in the United States, and that between the years of 2010 and 2014 alone, more than 43,000 hate crimes were committed with a firearm.These are the people who should not have access to guns, period.The same bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in February by Democrat David Cicilline of Rhode Island. It is currently being held up in committee, and GovTrack gives the bill less than a 2 percent chance of being enacted. A simple bill, like Casey s, would prevent the sale, disposition, possession, shipment or transportation of a firearm based on an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sentence. Let s sit back and see how Republicans try to worm their way out of this no-brainer piece of legislation. They did it with background checks at gun shows and stopping terrorists from getting guns, so who knows how they ll respond to this one.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1real |
REPORT: Chaos Reigns Inside The White House As Trump Considers Firing Priebus And Flynn | Donald Trump can t handle the complexity of running the White House and heads are reportedly going to roll for it.It has now been over three weeks since Donald Trump took over the White House and he still can t deal with all the problems that have plagued his administration. Infighting, power grabs, and ineptness have created an atmosphere of paranoia and mistrust.Reince Priebus has done a poor job as chief of staff while Sean Spicer, whom Priebus supported for Trump s Press Secretary, has done an equally poor job by embarrassing himself and Trump every time he faces reporters at the daily press briefing.National security adviser Michael Flynn, meanwhile, just got busted negotiating with the Russian government over sanctions in violation of the Logan Act. Flynn lied about talking to the Russian ambassador prior to Trump taking over the presidency and the Logan Act specifically bars citizens from negotiating with foreign powers. The White House is showing not the amount of order that we need to see. I think there s a lot of weakness coming out of the chief of staff, Trump supporter and Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy told CNN recently.Axios reports that many staffers are insecure because Trump only respects people who are personally financially successful, which is why he chose many Goldman Sachs executives and employees to work for the administration.A White House source also told Axios that Trump and his team have to put out 400 fires a day. Yeah, it s apparently THAT chaotic.The source further told Axios that Flynn is certain to be canned soon because he committed an unpardonable sin by making Trump and Pence look like fools.Donald Trump has no clue what he is doing and he only digs a deeper hole by pretending that he does. His ego is so fragile that he won t concede that he can t do the job. His advisers each have an agenda of their own and they are fighting with each other for Trump s ear. It also doesn t help that Trump s advisers are inept whenever the appear on television to defend their boss.Trump also has to deal with reports that Steve Bannon is basically calling the shots, leading many people to refer to Bannon as President Bannon. That must really be bruising Trump s ego.Frankly, Trump only has himself to blame for the chaos in the White House. He actually thought he would be inheriting President Obama s White House staff and found out rather late in the game that he would have to hire his own. Furthermore, Trump didn t drain the swamp, he just hired actual snakes to make the swamp dirtier.Our country can t take four years of Trump and his minions in office. A lot of damage has already been done and in order to prevent irreversible damage Trump and his administration need to be ousted before our nations pays severe consequences for the mistake made on November 8, 2016.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1real |
Is Obama’s BIG $72 BILLION DOLLAR BAILOUT of Puerto Rico On The Horizon Or Will It Become The 51st State? [Video] | Lets hope the Republicans can push back on this effort by Democrats to bail out the horribly mismanaged government in Puerto Rico. There s also been talk of making Puerto Rico the 51st state giving it the opportunity to declare bankruptcy under federal code. Read between the lines below and you ll know why the Dems want to give statehood to Puerto Rico: According to a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), if Puerto Rico were to become a state, based on a population of approximately 3.8 million, it would be entitled to at least six seats in the House of Representatives. As a state, they would, of course, receive two Senators. The island state would have the same number of electors as the state of Oregon. Puerto Rico would also qualify for bankruptcy under the federal code, a critical issue during the difficult economic situation which Puerto Rico finds itself in.The Obama administration in particular the U.S. Treasury has been under pressure for months from Democrats and Puerto Rican politicians to find a solution to the commonwealth s fiscal crisis.Puerto Rico s $72 billion of debt is the product of decades of mismanagement, profligate borrowing, a broken taxation system and recurring deficits: Puerto Rico Bankrupt! from Kereakos Zuras on Vimeo.Its political leaders and various public institutions have hidden information from the capital markets and kicked the can down the road for as long as possible without undertaking real fiscal reforms. This is why an easy solution to the island s current situation does not exist outside the realm of a time machine.This, however, has not stopped the administration and Treasury from throwing a final Hail Mary.With the release of a somewhat vague plan that was outlined by Treasury Council Antonio Weiss and lobbied for by various Puerto Rican politicians at a Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, President Obama pressed Congress to give the entire Commonwealth of Puerto Rico the ability to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.The new proposal is being widely referred to as Super Chapter 9, in part because Chapter 9 currently can only be applied to municipalities and cities in the United States. The legislation would also go even further than the Puerto Rico bankruptcy bill currently before Congress.This deal will be a tough sell to a Republican Congress. Many conservative members have already balked at the idea of bailing out Puerto Rico with the more limited bankruptcy bill, and with good reason.Any bankruptcy bill for Puerto Rico would punish retirees whose pension funds invested in these bonds because they were tax-free, had strong security and were explicitly protected from Chapter 9. Conversely, it would reward Puerto Rico and its politicians for years of irresponsible spending and poor fiscal policy.Equally significant is the implication of this new type of Chapter 9 for American investors in the near-future. Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut are among the states with large unfunded liabilities facing fiscal crises and the list is growing at an alarming speed. If Super Chapter 9 is granted for Puerto Rico, why wouldn t these states expect it?The negative consequences of all of this could be catastrophic for infrastructure investment in the United States. The roughly $3.5 trillion municipal debt market that funds the paving of highways, schools, hospitals, and police and fire stations has rested for decades on a set of rules and laws that made these bonds safe investments. The status of this designation has begun to crack since Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy back in 2013.If suddenly it was put on the table that not only cities, but whole states, could write down their debts, with bondholders having no recourse, the effect would be to fundamentally undermine the municipal debt market. It would be akin to dropping a great white shark into a pool party except, instead of swimmers, it would be retirees and other muni investors chaotically scrambling to safety and fleeing these investments, or else charging huge premiums to states to borrow money.The cost of those increased rates, of course, would be borne by the taxpayers in the form of an additional and unnecessary charge for keeping the infrastructure of their states viable.It should be inconceivable that a member of Congress from a state that has been reasonably responsible in managing its fiscal house would vote for this super chapter 9 approach. They would be essentially voting to raise taxes on their constituents to subsidize less responsible states, since the cost of borrowing for all states will go up dramatically if a few states threaten to take this new path. It is difficult to see how anyone could justify that back home.Read more: The Hill | 1real |
Trump preparing executive orders to reduce U.S. role in U.N.: NY Times | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is preparing executive orders that would clear the way to drastically reduce the U.S. role in the United Nations and other international organizations, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. The executive orders would also begin a process to review and potentially abrogate certain forms of multilateral treaties, the Times reported, citing unnamed officials. | 0fake |
Italy government wins all five confidence votes on electoral law | ROME (Reuters) - The Italian government on Wednesday won all five confidence votes it had called on a new electoral law in the upper house of parliament. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni had called the motions to get the package approved quickly, in the face of furious opposition from the anti-system 5-Star Movement and small leftist groups. A final vote on the law is scheduled for Thursday morning. | 0fake |
In election test, ousted Pakistan PM's heir-apparent takes limelight | LAHORE (Reuters) - In campaigning for a Pakistan by-election seen as a test of support for ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the most visible figure is not on the ballot: Sharif s daughter, Maryam, widely touted as his political heir-apparent. This past weekend, crowds mobbed Maryam s car and threw rose petals as she crisscrossed the eastern city of Lahore campaigning for her mother, Kulsoom, who is the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party s candidate to contest the seat Nawaz was forced to vacate by a Supreme Court ruling in July. With Kulsoom in London for cancer surgery, accompanied by Nawaz, 43-year-old Maryam has led the campaign with fiery speeches denouncing Nawaz s opponents and the Supreme Court. Her influence within the PML-N has grown in recent years, with senior party figures crediting her with Nawaz s move to embrace relatively more pro-women and liberal causes in a staunchly conservative nation of 208 million people. In a rare interview with foreign media, Maryam outlined to Reuters what drives her political ambitions as she emerges from her father s shadow to become a prominent figure in the ruling party he still controls. I m proud to be the torch bearer of ideology which PML-N has, Maryam said at the weekend in Punjab s provincial capital Lahore, her father s electoral power base. I am (Nawaz s) reflection, I am his extension. I have grown up espousing his agenda, his ideology. Maryam has framed the election as a chance for voters to protest the Supreme Court s verdict against her father and help the PML-N flex its electoral muscle. Your vote was disrespected and disregarded, will you answer to this disrespect on Sept. 17? Maryam asked at a recent rally. The by-election is seen as a litmus test for the PML-N s political fortunes in the wake of Nawaz s ouster, and an early indicator of voter sentiment ahead of a general election next year. Opposition leader Imran Khan, on the ascendancy after Nawaz s ouster, and eager to make inroads into the PML-N s political heartlands in Punjab, has accused Maryam of benefiting from alleged corruption swirling around her father, and cast the by-election as a plebiscite on corruption. This election will decide where the people of Pakistan stand, Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told crowds in Lahore last week. The PML-N made Maryam - a telegenic but inexperienced politician - the face of the campaign despite a Supreme Court-appointed panel accusing her of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of offshore companies used to buy upmarket London flats. She denies any wrongdoing but the Supreme Court has ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to launch a criminal investigation into her, Nawaz and other family members. Ahead of another rally on Sunday, Maryam hinted at military interference in Pakistani politics, a source of instability since independence in 1947, and portrayed herself as a campaigner for democracy. Our history is marred with dictatorships and repeated attacks on democracy, so this is what I struggle for, she told Reuters. Maryam says her father s dismissal by the Supreme Court is a conspiracy, noting his success in reinvigorating the economy - with a pro-business focus on infrastructure spending to boost development - and overall popularity sent alarm bells ringing for those who don t want Pakistan to have a strong leader. This was the main reason he was being targeted, she said, before adding: That s all I can say. Such coded talk is a familiar dance in Pakistan, where politicians speak between the lines to imply that the hidden hand of the powerful military is behind unfolding events. Asked if she is talking about elements of the military being involved in her father s ouster, as some senior PML-N figures have hinted, Maryam paused before saying: It s not my place to comment . Maryam was coy when asked whether she has ambitions to be prime minister one day, saying she was not eyeing anything and was for now happy with love and affection that I m getting . But senior PML-N officials expect her to at least become a minister in the next cabinet if the party holds on to power after the 2018 poll. Others have suggested she may become a leader soon. Maryam was more forthcoming when asked about comparisons with slain female leader Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of former premier Zulfikar Bhutto who vied for power with Nawaz during two decades of political turmoil and tussles with the military. I have a lot of respect for the lady, but ... the only thing which is common between us is gender, she said. | 0fake |
Tulsi Gabbard Triggers The War Hawks With Her Based Skepticism | 21st Century Wire says Congresswoman and Iraq War veteran Tulsi Gabbard continues to face down the mainstream propaganda machine with her based and skeptical opinion surrounding the war on Syria, including the recent attacks on Shayrat air base by the United States as a reprisal for the alleged chemical attack on Idlib by Damascus.It s not surprising within the American political party system that if you don t agree with the gang , they come for your blood, and this is exactly what s happening to Gabbard. Her previous fact finding visit to Syria in 2016 had already began to turn heads, but now after the CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer, who happens to all of a sudden like Donald Trump, the Democrats are circling Tulsi Gabbard in increasing droves.More on this report from The Duran Alex Christoforou The DuranNo room for free speech. No dissent. No skepticism. Neocons, Democrats, liberal leftists all united to remove Assad, prop up ISIS and begin WW3.The warmonger knives are coming out for Gabbard in what is looking like Iraq WMDs all over again.Gabbard spoke with CNN s Wolf Blitzer who all of a sudden finds Trump very presidential and capable.Rep. Gabbard: Yes, I m skeptical of claim Assad regime is behind chemical weapons attack https://t.co/fETssThsLF https://t.co/fpYdUNR2t4 CNN (@CNN) April 7, 2017Rep. Gabbard: Yes, I m skeptical of claim Assad regime is behind chemical weapons attack https://t.co/fETssThsLF https://t.co/fpYdUNR2t4 CNN (@CNN) April 7, 2017Zerohedge reports Gabbard, who sits on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, drew criticism earlier this year when she took a somewhat mysterious trip alone to meet with Assad in Syria without alerting House Speaker Paul Ryan. The liberal Democrat subsequently explained she simply wanted to engage in dialogue with Assad though it clearly burned some bridges within her own party. Per CNN:Gabbard told CNN on Friday that she wants to achieve peace in Syria, Why should we just blindly follow this escalation of a counterproductive regime-change war? There s responsibility that goes around, Gabbard said. Standing here pointing fingers does not accomplish peace for the Syrian people. It will not bring about an end to this war. People of Hawaii's 2nd district was it not enough for you that your rep met with a murderous dictator? Will this move you?1 https://t.co/jbwGuZIJ6R Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) April 7, 2017Zerohedge further adds that former DNC chair Howard Dean also decided to join in on ganging up on Gabbard, but he immediately got shut down by a follower who asked the obvious question of why engaging in dialogue was disqualifying for Gabbard but violating federal record retention laws and a Congressional subpoena was perfectly fine for Hillary.It s becoming increasingly clear that Gabbard is just another Putin puppet who likely assisted Russian hackers in their efforts to take down Hillary we sincerely hope the Congress launches an immediate investigation Continue this report at The DuranREAD MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire SYRIA FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Why American Surrogates Are in Demand for Chinese Families | Why American Surrogates Are in Demand for Chinese Families Kalee Thompson, Hollywood Reporter, November 4, 2016
The first time Dianna Barindelli carried a baby that wasn’t her own was in 2012. “We were done having kids, but I still wanted to be pregnant,” says the Modesto, Calif., stay-at-home mom, whose own daughters are 6 and 9. Barindelli signed up with the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino, one of the most exclusive surrogacy agencies in the world. In 2014, she matched with a Chinese couple. Unlike many agencies, CSP first shows parent applications to the surrogates, rather than the other way around. “It’s little things that you’ll connect with people over,” says Barindelli, who was attracted to pictures of the couple’s extended travels and their traditional wedding photos.
The embryo transfer took place in late 2014. Barindelli emailed the mom weekly, sending updates and ultrasound pictures with WeChat, an app that offers instantaneous translation. The intended parents (IPs) planned to be there for the birth, but the baby boy arrived two weeks early, 24 hours before they arrived. Says Barindelli: “I texted and made sure [the mom] was OK with him staying in my room. I cleared everything with her. I didn’t want her to feel bad that she wasn’t there.”
Barindelli, who used her surrogacy fees to set up a college fund for her girls, is pregnant again, this time with the baby, due Feb. 1, of a Taiwanese couple. She may not be done: Her first Chinese couple emailed her recently, soon after their son’s first birthday. They still have frozen embryos and hope that Barindelli, now 40, will carry their second child.
Commercial surrogacy is banned in most parts of the world, as well as in many U.S. states. Until recently, infertile couples, singles and gay would-be dads had a handful of options to turn to when it came to finding a surrogate, among them India, Thailand, Nepal and Mexico, where surrogacy services have cost a quarter of the $100,000 to $200,000 bill typical in the U.S. But in the past few years, those countries have started enforcing laws banning international surrogacy. Meanwhile, China–the world’s most populous country, with a growing wealthy elite and where some doctors believe infertility is more common than in the U.S.–lifted its decades-long one-child policy. The result is a soaring Chinese demand for U.S. surrogacy services, one that is flourishing particularly in California, with its culturally friendly enclaves, excellent physicians and favorable state laws that regard IPs as a baby’s legal parents even before birth, if proper court documents are filed. {snip}
{snip} Despite CSP’s Southern California location, 51 percent of its clients now are foreigners, up from 15 percent a decade ago. Rival agency Growing Generations (clients have included Sarah Jessica Parker and 30 Rock director Todd Holland) also sees half of its clients coming from overseas, as does Gifted Journeys, a boutique agency in Pasadena. At San Diego’s Expect Miracles Surrogacy, international clients account for 80 percent of IPs. And of foreigners participating in this permutation of California’s birth tourism, the number of Chinese IPs is growing the fastest, making up the most common single foreign nationality for many agencies right now.
{snip}
Most local agencies have a mix of Caucasian, Latina and African-American surrogates. “I can’t think of a time when we’ve had an Asian surrogate,” says Growing Generations’ Bergman. Multiple agency heads say Chinese IPs tend to strongly prefer a Caucasian surrogate. “People really have this fantasy because of a lot of the marketing that was done in China,” says Gifted Journey’s Wilson-Miller. “They have this picture of blond surrogates who look like movie stars carrying the baby with their traditional families.” {snip}
The concept of cross-race surrogacy can confound friends, family and associates of surrogates and IPs alike. In August, comedian GloZell Green, who is African-American, and her husband, also African-American, had a baby girl via a surrogate. “Our surrogate is a blue-eyed blonde,” the YouTube star told potential IPs gathered in a Culver City hotel in early October. People in her life “kept asking if the baby was going to be white.”
Surrogate selection aside, California has the added allure of numerous enclaves where families can be surrounded by Chinese speakers and businesses. “People from China can stay in Irvine, for example, and they have Chinese TV on their cable packages. Throughout California there are places they can go and shop and find stuff in Chinese. If they go to Kansas or Oklahoma? It’s total culture shock,” says Expect Miracles’ Anderson. {snip}
Of course, any baby born via surrogate in the U.S. has birthright citizenship. “The Chinese couples really like that because a lot of them want to come back and forth,” says Molly O’Brien, a fertility lawyer with offices in Torrance who frequently travels to China to participate in information sessions for would-be parents, often sponsored by doctors offices or assisted-reproduction agencies. “Maybe they eventually want that child to be able to go to college here.” Unlike the U.S., China forbids dual citizenship, and most American-born Chinese babies remain U.S. citizens. “Most Chinese couples just keep that American passport. It’s only if you want to use the government services that you’ve got to be Chinese,” says CSP’s Synesiou.
{snip} | 1real |
IS THIS THE TERRORIST WHO INSPIRED DALLAS COP KILLER? “We must kill all white police officers across the country…We’re asking that all black police officers take a leave of absence” | Who is this terrorist and why has not yet been arrested for making open threats against our law enforcement officers and firemen? Those Clinton s they sure do know some interesting characters. Thank goodness Donald J. Trump or his wife weren t ever caught in the same room with this racist monster! The media would slaughtered him. The media has come to expect nothing less from the Clinton s. They ll do anything for a vote. It s always been their motto. And no donor is too evil. If you don t believe me, ask George Soros or some of Hillary s top donors in the nation of Saudi Arabia where women are treated like second class citizens Micah Xavier Johnson, the now-notorious Dallas cop-killer, was one of a handful of online fans of a group which proclaimed, we must kill white police officers across the country! Shortly after 10 p.m. on Thursday night, when Micah Xavier Johnson shot and killed five Dallas police officers and wounded nine others, Mauricelm-Lei Millere, founder of the African American Defense League hate group, posted a picture on his Instagram account.The caption led with this: We have no alternative! We must kill white police officers across the country! The picture was of a meeting with former President Bill Clinton, which Millere alleged occurred in May.At 10:52 a.m. the morning after the shooting, Millere posted the following message to the African American Defense League s Facebook page: WE ARE CALLING ON THE GANGS ACROSS THE NATION! ATTACK EVERYTHING IN BLUE EXCEPT THE MAIL MAN, UNLESS HE IS CARRYING MORE THAN MAIL! Micah Johnson was one of just 170 members who follow that Facebook page.Founded in the wake of Ferguson protests in 2014, the African American Defense League is tiny, with possibly only Millere himself as its current leadership, according to the Anti-Defamation League s Center on Extremism. But Millere and the AADL operate many different front groups, including a Jonesboro, Louisiana church called the Morning Star Baptist Church.The AADL s calls to kill white police officers are not new. In November of 2015, the AADL s Facebook page said every black person across this nation should find a white police to kill in every state and American/European province around the globe. He warns followers on a Facebook post to remember that Fireman and the Police are on the same side:After the killing of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge police and before the terror in Dallas, Millere called for cops blood again. The Pig has shot and killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana! You and I know what we must do and I don t mean marching, making a lot of noise, or attending conventions, he wrote on Facebook. We must Rally The Troops! It is time to visit Louisiana and hold a barbeque. The highlight of our occasion will be to sprinkle Pigs Blood! About 36 hours later, Johnson took aim at white police officers from Dallas rooftops.For entire story: The Daily Beast | 1real |
This anti-Trump advert on the side of a bus is really visually clever and you have to see it in motion | Next Swipe left/right This anti-Trump advert on the side of a bus is really visually clever and you have to see it in motion @Madsalbers over on Twitter writes, “Epic Bus Ad from the political party SF in Denmark is mocking @realDonaldTrump and encouraging Americans abroad to…” Epic Bus Ad from the political party SF in Denmark is mocking @realDonaldTrump and encouraging Americans abroad to vote. #Election2016 pic.twitter.com/MfyeOYtDuQ
— Mads Albers (@MadsAlbers) October 26, 2016
Well done Denmark! Rolling your eyes like that… | 1real |
Freedom Rider: How Not to Protest Trump | 2016 elections by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
Donald Trump’s many evils are manifest and obvious. But let’s stop pretending that some historical line has been crossed in U.S. political and social relations. “The dictates of white supremacy are ever present and the numbers of white people who do anything serious about it are small.” Newly outraged Democrats act like they’ve never seen a fascist. “There is an ample supply of domestic fascists. They are the people who wear police uniforms.” Freedom Rider : How Not to Protest Trump by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
“ There are many unique characteristics to the Donald Trump story but the institutional evils that permeate this country persist no matter who sits in the oval office. ”
Thousands of progressives are taking to the streets in opposition to the Donald Trump presidency. After eight years of Obama induced slumber they awoke with quite a start. Many of these individuals and organizations protested as part of the anti-war, Occupy and Black Lives Matter movements, but others weren’t concerned about very much until the reality show host became president elect.
The awful Hillary Clinton should be inaugurated the 45 th president of the United States because she won the popular vote. But for the second time in less than twenty years a Democrat preferred by the people will instead be an historical footnote. If nothing else the Electoral College is rightly condemned.
But where else should protesters direct their anger? If they are concerned about fascism they could protest police killings, or United States government murders committed during numerous interventions abroad. They might have risen up against the mass incarceration state. The list of outrages that should get people moving is quite long.
White liberals here in New York City didn’t care very much when black and brown residents were subjected to nearly one million police encounters. Mayor Bloomberg’s infamous stop and frisk program was a tailor made opportunity for public anger. Yet every poll indicated that white people were in favor of this very fascist 21 st century slave patrol. Those same people are now upset but what exactly has raised their ire?
“Trump is no more hostile to the rights of the press than Obama was.”
They say they are concerned about the rights of undocumented people but they didn’t say much when Obama acted as the Deporter-in-Chief. The so-called Muslim registry of men from 25 countries under the auspices of the NSEERS program lasted from 2002 to 2011. That is to say during two years of the Obama administration. They may be concerned about climate change and Trump’s promise to end America’s participation in the most recent climate agreement. But that agreement allows for a rise in carbon production and thus in world temperatures. They would have been smarter to challenge the phony climate change process itself.
They say they are afraid that Trump will muzzle the press. His shouting match with network executives should not be a cause for alarm. Eventually they’ll start saying good things about him so he was foolish to be so hostile. But he is no more hostile to the rights of the press than Obama was. When he used the Espionage Act to punish leakers and whistle blowers many of the now distraught progressives didn’t say much.
So what has gotten progressives so angry? There is nothing new about the so-called alt-right movement. There is always a way to brand white nationalism. They may be the Tea Party one day and alt-right the next but it all amounts to the same thing. The dictates of white supremacy are ever present and the numbers of white people who do anything serious about it are small.
If the sight of naziesque salutes to Trump are upsetting just keep in mind that there is an ample supply of domestic fascists. They are the people who wear police uniforms. They may not “hail Trump” or anyone else but they kill three people in this country every day.
“ Barack Obama and Eric Holder quite literally kept thousands of black people in jail who could have been freed.”
Donald Trump should be given credit for providing so much low hanging fruit. His appointment of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions to the post of attorney general provides ready made ingredients for fear and anger. Sessions was once denied a federal judgeship in part because of racist remarks directed at a black attorney. And who can ignore the glorification of the Confederacy in his name. But what did Obama and his two black attorney generals do? There were no prosecutions of killer police. That fact is a curious one in the age of murder caught on video. The Obama Justice Department argued against giving the right to request resentencing for those convicted during the years of draconian drug crime prosecution. Barack Obama and Eric Holder quite literally kept thousands of black people in jail who could have been freed.
It is difficult to take protesters seriously when they won’t even direct their anger at the party which displayed such gross incompetence during the recent campaign. The inability to defeat the man who seemed so unsuited to the presidency should stir anger towards the people whose hubris brought him to the White House.
There is always a need to engage in struggle, whether a Republican or Democrat is president. There are many unique characteristics to the Donald Trump story but the institutional evils that permeate this country persist no matter who sits in the oval office. We can gauge the true level of concern about justice when a Democrat next emerges victorious. A president who provides a greater opportunity for scorn should not be the last one who faces opposition. Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com. | 1real |
Rebels say U.S. evacuates base in southern Syrian desert | AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. troops and allied Arab fighters have evacuated a garrison set up in June in the Syrian desert near the border with Iraq and relocated to their main Tanf base, rebel sources said on Tuesday. They said the move follows a deal between Washington and Moscow to abandon the Zakf site, located around 60-70 km (40-50 miles) northeast of Tanf. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has gained momentum in the six-year civil war but rebel groups still control large, populous areas in both the northwest and southwest of the country as well as other pockets elsewhere. Zakf was established to stop the Syrian army and allied Iranian-backed militias advancing from territory north of Tanf toward the Iraqi border after they managed to cut off and encircle rebels backed by Washington. We have left the garrison after our allies reached an agreement with Russia to pull back to Tanf. We have moved all the equipment and destroyed some of the fortifications so they are no longer usable, said a source who belongs to Maghawir al-Thawra. Maghawir al-Thawra is a Pentagon-backed rebel group that maintained the base and patrols around Tanf. The Pentagon did not comment on the status of the Zakf site. It has closed numerous temporary bases, as warranted by the operational situation, said spokesman Eric Pahon. Zakf was set up at a tense moment when jets of the U.S.-led coalition hit Iranian-backed militias several times to stop them advancing toward Tanf, located near Syria s border with Iraq, to ensure the safety of its forces. The base was a first line of defense and now the justification behind it is no longer present and the aim is to concentrate in Tanf, the senior commander in the group said. Western-backed rebels had also hoped at the time that it could be used to take more territory along the Iraqi border and to push toward Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria. However, advances by the Syrian army and its allies from central Syria, as well as by coalition-backed forces from northern Syria, have since approached the city, making a rebel drive there from the south redundant. As the fighting has moved to Deir al-Zor, most Iranian-backed forces have pulled away from the area around Tanf, said a Western diplomat familiar with the situation, based on intelligence reports. At the same time, Western and Arab countries, have put pressure on rebel groups they back in the sparsely populated desert area to pull out of Syria and retreat to Jordan, which the groups have so far resisted. Washington and Moscow have now moved closer to cooperation in Syria, brokering a ceasefire in the southwest which was the first such understanding between them since the start of the conflict. The diplomat said the latest move is part of a broader effort that included that ceasefire. This is the latest outcome of the ongoing secret US-Russian talks over southern Syria, the diplomat, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. Tanf is the only position with a significant U.S. military presence in Syria outside the Kurdish-controlled north, where it has much larger air bases. | 0fake |
Striking it Rich! $300,000 Spanish Gold Coin Found in Child’s Toy Collection | Get short URL 0 23 0 0 An extremely rare Spanish gold coin from the eighteenth century, valued at around $300,000, has been discovered in a child’s “toy” pirate treasure collection. Big Mistake: Priceless Space Artifact Was Sold at US Government Auction An Essex resident was given the gold coin by a grandfather when he was a child, as part of a collection of “treasure” from around the world that he could play pirate with. “My granddad had travelled all over the world during his working life and had collected many coins from the various countries he had been,” the anonymous owner told the Telegraph . “He gave me bags of coins to play with throughout my early years because I was into pirate treasure.”
As time went on, the coins ended up packed away, until his grandfather’s passing, when the man rediscovered them. He then passed the coins on to his own son to play pirate.
“I looked back through the coins – remembering the stories I made up about them when I was small — and then gave them to my own son to play with and put into his own treasure box. My little boy has been playing with this coin as I did all those years ago.”
Curious to see if it was worth anything, the man took it to experts to see if it had any value. It turns out that the coin was one of fewer than 15 in existence.
The coin was made from treasure seized from Spanish ships in Vigo Bay, Spain, in 1702, which was later pressed into coins and delivered to Sir Isaac Newton at the Royal Mint.
The Queen Anne 'Vigo' five-guinea gold coin is set to go to auction at Essex auctioneers Boningtons in November. ... | 1real |
Russia sends research ship to help search for missing Argentine sub | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s defense ministry has sent an oceanographic research ship to the South Atlantic to help with the search for an Argentine submarine which went missing more than a week ago, TASS news agency reported on Thursday. The vessel, called Yantar (Amber), is equipped with two self-propelled deep submergence vehicles allowing it to examine underwater areas up to 6,000 meters (3.75 miles) deep, TASS quoted the Russian military as saying. Dozens of planes and boats are searching for the San Juan submarine. The search entered a critical phase on Wednesday as the 44 crew on board could be running low on oxygen, an Argentine navy spokesman said. If the German-built submarine, in service for more than three decades, had sunk or was otherwise unable to rise to the surface since it gave its last location on Nov. 15, it would be using up the last of its seven-day oxygen supply. | 0fake |
Florida legislature poised to bolster 'Stand Your Ground' law | (Reuters) - Florida lawmakers advanced a measure on Wednesday that could make it easier to avoid prosecution in deadly shootings and other use-of-force cases by seeking immunity on self-defense grounds under the state’s pioneering “stand your ground” law. In a 74-39 vote, the state’s House of Representatives passed legislation that shifts the burden of proof from defendants to prosecutors when the law is invoked to avoid trial. The measure now returns to the state Senate, which last month approved its own version of the bill. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans. Florida’s “stand your ground” law, passed in 2005, received wide scrutiny and inspired similar laws in other states. It removed the legal responsibility to retreat from a dangerous situation and allowed use deadly force when a person felt greatly threatened. Opponents say the measures will embolden gun owners to shoot first, citing the 2012 death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, which spurred national protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. The neighborhood watchman who killed him, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of murder after the law was included in jury instructions. Wednesday’s House vote on changing the law followed party lines. Supporters, including the National Rifle Association, the powerful U.S. gun lobby, see the legislation as bolstering a civilian’s right to quell an apparent threat. “This bill is trying to put the burden of proof where it belongs, on the state, because all people are innocent before being proven guilty,” said the Republican sponsor of the bill, Representative Bobby Payne. Florida’s law did not specify the process for applying “stand your ground” immunity. State courts established the current protocol, which calls for a pre-trial hearing before a judge and puts the burden of proof on the defendant. Most of those speaking in the House debate were Democrats who said the bill would lead to more violence. “Who will speak for the voiceless victims, silenced by an aggressor who claims he wasn’t an aggressor but is protected by a flawed law?” said Democrat Representative Bobby Dubose. While public defenders support the changes to the law, the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association and gun control advocates oppose them. “Every battery case, every domestic violence case, every use of force case, as a matter of routine, defense attorneys will now request hearings,” said Phil Archer, a state attorney. Archer, a lifetime NRA member who teachers gun owners about “stand your ground,” said of the changes: “This is just going too far.” | 0fake |
ELIZABETH WARREN FREAKS After TRUMP REFERS To Her As “Pocahontas” During WH Ceremony With Native American Code Talkers…Forgets Bill Maher Just Called Her “Pocahontas” During Appearance On His Show [VIDEO] | While honoring Native American Code Talkers today at the White House, President Trump took a jab at Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is best known for the lie she told to Harvard University on a job application, where she told them she was of Native American heritage, in order to receive special consideration, by allowing her to skip over more qualified candidates simply because of her fake Native American heritage. While running for her Senate seat in Massachusetts, her lie was uncovered, and shortly after that, the name Pocahontas was born, and it has stuck with her ever since.On Monday, the president decided to air the attack one more time alongside aging Native American veterans who helped fight fascism, in a White House ceremony attended by White House chief of staff John Kelly and other officials. Trump told the honorees, You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas. Watch:Here's the video: Trump calls Elizabeth Warren 'Pocahontas' while honoring Native American code talkers: "You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas." pic.twitter.com/hjZ5MInDDf Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 27, 2017During his remarks, Trump recalled a time when Kelly asked him: How good were these code talkers? He said sir, you have no idea. You have no idea what they ve done for this country. And the strength and the bravery and the love that they have for the country. That was the ultimate statement from General Kelly on the importance. The president spoke as code-talkers stood by him at a podium, while another was seated in a wheelchair.Peter MacDonald, a WWII veteran and former chairman of the Navajo tribe, gave introductory remarks by going through the history of the code talkers in the Pacific theater, including at the battles at Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. Daily Mail Warren immediately began shooting arrows at Trump during an appearance on one of the Democrat propaganda networks, MSNBC.After huffing and puffing to MSNBC about Donald Trump, and how he took a jab at her dishonesty by calling his Pocahontas remark a racial slur , (an insult to Pochahontas, maybe, but a racial slur? Sorry Liz, we just don t see it) the dishonest Democrat Senator and wannabe President, Elizabeth Warren staged a dry run at Donald Trump for the Oval Office. Look, Donald Trump has done this over and over again in the past, thinking he s going to shut me up with it. It hasn t worked in the past, it s not gonna work now. Warren exclaimed in her nails-on-a-blackboard voice. Shut her up with it?Watch:WATCH: Elizabeth Warren responds to Trump's "Pocahontas" remark on @MSNBC:"It is deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur." pic.twitter.com/au1QntxDzR NBC News (@NBCNews) November 27, 2017Last year, a video Native Americans made a Youtube video, slamming Warren and her lie about her Native American heritage. Watch:Warren obviously forgot that only months ago, liberal comedian Bill Maher referred to Warren as Pocahontas during an appearance on his show to push her book. Does anyone remember Warren appearing on MSNBC to call Maher s comments a racial slur? | 1real |
It Really Doesn’t Get Better Than John Oliver’s Absolute Destruction Of The GOP On Abortion (VIDEO) | Let s start by saying that abortion in the United States of America is a legal procedure. However, so many small government conservatives have absolutely no problem inserting themselves into the health and well-being of women put into situations where they and their doctors should be the only ones discussing what s best for them. Attacking this issue head-on is Last Week Tonight host, John Oliver.Oliver led into the segment saying that he wanted to talk about breast implants, saying: Some are against them, others believe they are fine in rare cases and some think you should be able to get them whenever the f you want. Oh did I say breast implants? I meant abortion. It was then that Oliver delivered the most severe beat down of conservative restrictive policies on abortion likely ever witnessed on television. It may actually leave you not only angry, but in tears over how horrific so many of these restrictions are.According to TIME: A new Gallup poll revealed that 19% of Americans think abortion should be completely illegal, while 36% think it should be allowed in some cases and 29% think it should be allowed on demand. Despite the fact that abortion is legal in the United States, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court s decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, there has been an increase in state regulation of abortion clinics, resulting in a decrease in clinics in some states. North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi and Utah now only have one clinic per state. Oliver s reaction to that is: Yes, Mississippi now has four times as many esses as it has abortion clinics. These laws are not only restrictive, they are outright dangerous. There are several cases of women and girls absolutely needed to get an abortion, and when those services are denied because some holier than thou zealots in government think that their way should be the only way, these women and girls will get hurt. Not only physically, but emotionally.It is outright infuriating to think about young girls being forced to give birth to their rapist s baby. And if you are in the 19% that thinks these restrictive laws are okay, John Oliver, as well as the rest of everyone who is humane and decent, has a question for you: What the fuck is wrong with you?! Watch the entire segment here:// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Abortion is theoretically legal, but some states make it practically inaccessible.Posted by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Sunday, February 21, 2016Video/Featured image: Facebook | 1real |
Singaporeans protest against uncontested presidential election | SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hundreds of Singaporeans, most dressed in black, held a silent protest on Saturday against an uncontested presidential election this week in which applications from four candidates were rejected. Political protests are rare in the wealthy city-state but the election of Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament, as the country s first woman president had led to some dismay over how other prospective candidates were rejected. ROBBED OF AN ELECTION #NotMyPresident , read a banner at the entrance to the park where the protest was held, a venue called Speakers Corner, which has been designated as the site in the city for people to air their views. We care about the country and where it s heading toward, said 22-year-old Anna, who declined to give her last name. This is an issue that I feel especially strongly about, she said, adding that the power of authorities had gone unchecked . She said it was the first time she had attended a protest. If the election had been held, all citizens above the age of 21 would have been eligible to vote. Aiming to strengthen a sense of inclusivity, multicultural Singapore had decreed the presidency, a largely ceremonial six-year post, would be reserved for candidates from the minority Malay community this time. Of the four other applicants for the presidency, two were not Malays and two were not qualified to contest, the elections department said on Monday. Halimah had automatically qualified because she held a senior public post for over three years and was declared elected after nominations closed on Wednesday. The stringent eligibility rules include a stipulation that a candidate from the private sector should have headed a company with paid-up capital of at least S$500 million ($370 million). Organizers of Saturday s protest said it was silent as speeches that touched on race and religion would have needed a police permit. Gilbert Goh, one of the main organizers, said an estimated 2,000 people participated. Tan Cheng Bock, who lost the previous presidential election in 2011, said in a Facebook post: It is not President Halimah as a person that Singaporeans are unhappy about. It is about the way our government has conducted this whole walkover presidential election. Displays of dissent are unusual in Singapore, one of the richest and most politically stable countries in the world. It has been ruled by the People s Action Party (PAP) since independence in 1965 and the current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, is the son of the country s founding father Lee Kuan Yew. In the 2015 general election held months after the death of Lee Kuan Yew the PAP won almost 70 per cent of the popular vote and swept all but six of parliament s 89 seats. It was the third gathering of so many people at the Speakers Corner since the beginning of July. The annual Pink Dot gay pride rally drew thousands of people to the site on July 1. And in mid-July, a protest was held at the venue calling for an independent inquiry into whether Lee abused his power in a battle with his siblings over what to do with their late father s house. | 0fake |
Getting North Korea to give up nuclear bomb probably 'lost cause': U.S. spy chief | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. policy of trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons “is probably a lost cause” and the best that could be hoped for is a cap on the country’s nuclear capability, the Director of U.S. National Intelligence James Clapper said on Tuesday. However, underscoring conflicting views in the Obama administration, the State Department said U.S. policy was unchanged and continued to be to seek the “verifiable denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula. President Barack Obama has repeatedly stated that the United States will never accept North Korean as a nuclear-armed state. Clapper made clear at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York he did not think that the policy the administration has stuck to, in spite of repeated North Korean nuclear tests, was realistic. “I think the notion of getting the North Koreans to denuclearize is probably a lost cause,” Clapper said at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York. “They are not going to do that - that is their ticket to survival.” Pyongyang has persisted with its missile and nuclear weapons programs, including a Sept. 9 nuclear explosion, despite strong international sanctions. Clapper said he got a good taste of how the world looks from North Korea’s viewpoint when he went to Pyongyang on a mission in 2014 to secure the release of two Americans. “They are under siege and they are very paranoid, so the notion of giving up their nuclear capability, whatever it is, is a non-starter with them,” he said. “The best we could probably hope for is some sort of a cap, but they are not going to do that just because we ask them. There’s going to have to be some significant inducements.” U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said he had not seen Clapper’s remarks but told a regular news briefing in Washington that the administration did not believe denuclearization was a lost cause. “No, nothing’s changed ... that’s not our position. Our policy objective is to seek to obtain a verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. That is the policy; that is both the goal and what we want to see and there is a way to do that.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked on Wednesday about Clapper’s remarks, said the best way to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue was still via talks. China and Russia have pushed for a resumption of six-party talks on denuclearization in North Korea. The talks, which also involve Japan, South Korea and the United States, have been on hold since 2008. Clapper also said it bothered him that the United States was not capitalizing on using information as a weapon against North Korea. “That’s something they worry about a lot ... That is a great vulnerability I don’t think we have exploited. Right now, we are kind of stuck on our narrative and they are kind of stuck on theirs.” Clapper was asked if he thought North Korea could mount a nuclear warhead on a missile that could reach the West Coast of the United States and reiterated the intelligence assessment that this had to be a “worst-case assumption.” He said North Korea had yet to test its KN08 intercontinental ballistic missile, so neither North Korea nor the United States knew whether it worked. “Nevertheless, we ascribe to them the capability to launch a missile that would have a weapon on it to reach parts of the United States, certainly including Alaska and Hawaii,” he said. “They could do it. We have to make the worst-case assumption here.” | 0fake |
Croatian police detain eight former executives at Agrokor | ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatian police arrested eight former senior executives of Agrokor[AGROK.UL] in a series of raids on Monday as part of an investigation into alleged financial irregularities at the heavily indebted food producer and retail conglomerate. The state prosecutor s office DORH said in a statement the investigation targeted 15 individuals suspected of economic crimes and fraud . Local media reported that some 300 police officers were engaged in the operation. DORH did not issue any official statement after the arrests but local media said those detained would be taken to DORH premises for questioning on Tuesday. Among those arrested were Ivan Crnjac, Agrokor s former deputy finance and strategy president, and Ljerka Puljic, the ex-supervisory board member and top aide of founder Ivica Todoric, as well as the board member Tomislav Lucic, the state news agency HINA said. The police also detained Agrokor s former management members Piruska Canjuga and Damir Kustrak, former vice-president Mislav Galic and another two executives, Marijan Alagu i and Alojzije Pand i . Todoric s lawyer, Jadranka Slokovic, said that his residence was also raided but she could not provide any more details. She said the arrests of Agrokor s former executives was the start of a political showdown with Todoric, HINA reported. But Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic dismissed such allegations, saying: There is no political persecution. It is in our utmost interest to fully disentangle this issue. It is important to establish its causes and consequences and how to proceed further, Plenkovic added. Agrokor, the biggest employer in the Balkans with around 60,000 staff, was put into state-run administration in April after suffering a liquidity and debt crisis. Todoric said in a blog post on Monday he was not currently available but was willing to put himself at the disposal of the judiciary and a parliamentary commission. He denied any wrongdoing by himself or his associates. Croatian lawmakers approved the appointment of a parliamentary commission to investigate how Agrokor ran into trouble, after crisis manager Ante Ramljak said he had pressed for criminal charges against those responsible for financial irregularities. [L8N1MH1ZY] An audit ordered by the company s state-appointed management and performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), also showed a net loss in 2015 of 3.6 billion kuna ($565 million) against a net profit of 1.2 billion kuna released by the previous management. In the audit the value of Agrokor s net worth for 2015 and 2016 was reduced by 22 billion kuna. Agrokor has yet to say how much it owes. Creditors include suppliers, bondholders and banks, with the biggest portion of debt, around 1.1 billion euros ($1.30 billion), held by Russia s Sberbank, creditors have said. | 0fake |
Trump says he 'brilliantly' used U.S. tax laws | PUEBLO, Colo. (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Monday he “brilliantly used” U.S. tax rules to his advantage in trying to limit the amount he paid in taxes, arguing it helped him survive a difficult period in the real estate market. “I was able to use the tax laws of this country and my business acumen to dig out of the real estate mess ... when few others were able to do what I did,” Trump told a crowd in Pueblo, Colorado. It was Trump’s first extended comments since a New York Times report said he had claimed a $916 million loss on his 1995 tax returns, which experts said might have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for 18 years. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for the Nov. 8 election, has seized on the report, arguing the tax records undercut Trump’s business acumen. “What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year? This is Trump to a T, he’s taken corporate excess and made a business out of it,” Clinton told a rally in Toledo, Ohio, on Monday. Clinton has repeatedly called on Trump to release his full returns, as presidential candidates have done in the past. Trump was dismissive of the Times’ story in his Pueblo remarks, saying the media was “obsessed with an alleged tax filing from the 1990s.” The Trump campaign has not said, however, that the Times’ story was inaccurate. Instead, his supporters, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have contended that Trump’s aggressive use of provisions under U.S. law to minimize his tax liability was evidence of his “genius” as a businessman and real estate investor. Trump picked up on that theme on Monday. “I have brilliantly used those laws,” he told the crowd in Pueblo. The flap over Trump’s taxes comes during what has been a difficult stretch for the candidate, who faced criticism for his performance in the Sept. 26 debate against Clinton and his subsequent public spat with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. A Reuters/Ipsos online poll last week showed a majority of Americans felt Clinton won the debate, the first of three scheduled between the candidates.. On Monday, the state of New York ordered Trump’s charity, the Trump Foundation, to suspend raising money amid a probe into its activities. | 0fake |
Morning Joe TRASHES Trump For Smearing President Obama With Wiretap Accusations | Donald Trump is desperately trying to shift focus away from his Russia scandal by accusing President Obama of wiretapping him, and Joe Scarborough just slammed him for it.On Saturday, Trump threw a Twitter tantrum claiming that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower after reading a conspiracy theory on Breitbart. Trump did not offer a single shred of evidence to back up his accusations and still has not done so.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Again, Trump is repeating something he read on Breitbart and he offered ZERO proof.On Sunday morning, Trump released a statement declaring that he won t comment on the Russia scandal any further until Congress investigates Obama.In short, Trump is acting like a petulant child who holds their breath until they get their way.Joe Scarborough is absolutely shocked that Trump would make such accusations against a former president and proceeded to trash him on Twitter for disgracing the office and the nation.Did Trump trash the 44th President and slime American democracy based on a conspiracy theory pushed on talk radio and website? That s sick. pic.twitter.com/41vwtB9QNS Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 5, 2017Did Steve Bannon slip the offending article into Trump s hands to set the president swirling into a rage? That toxic mix undermines America. pic.twitter.com/1BhxE30pzc Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 5, 2017Trump is not about the Republican Party. Trump is about Trump. https://t.co/1RYvBYwMUD Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 5, 2017This is a serious accusation Trump is leveling against President Obama and with no evidence to back up his claims this amounts to slander. President Obama should file a lawsuit against Trump and if Republicans start a witch hunt against President Obama instead of investigating Trump s Russia scandal they will have demonstrated that they are incapable of doing their jobs and that they are more interested in protecting themselves and their power than they are about justice and America s reputation.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
Will Barack Obama delay or suspend the election if Hillary is forced out by the new FBI email investigation? | VIDEOS Will Barack Obama delay or suspend the election if Hillary is forced out by the new FBI email investigation? An A.I. system that correctly predicted the last three U.S. presidential elections puts Republican nominee Donald Trump ahead of #Hillary By Michael Snyder - November 3, 2016
Just when it looked like Hillary Clinton was poised to win the 2016 election , the FBI has thrown a gamechanger into the mix. On Friday, FBI Director James Comey announced that his agency has discovered new emails related to Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information that they had not previously seen. According to the Associated Press , the newly discovered emails “did not come from her private server”, but instead were found when the FBI started going through electronic devices that belonged to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner. The FBI has been looking into messages of a sexual nature that Weiner had exchanged with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, and that is why they originally seized those electronic devices. According to the Washington Post , the “emails were found on a computer used jointly by both Weiner and his wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, according to a person with knowledge of the inquiry”, and according to some reports there may be “potentially thousands” of emails on the computer that the FBI did not have access to previously. Even though there are less than two weeks to go until election day, this scandal has the potential to possibly force Clinton out of the race, and if that happens could Barack Obama delay or suspend the election until a replacement candidate can be found?
Let’s take this one step at a time. On Friday, financial markets tanked when reports of these new Clinton emails hit the wires. The following comes from CNN … After recommending earlier this year that the Department of Justice not press charges against the former secretary of state, Comey said in a letter to eight congressional committee chairmen that investigators are examining newly discovered emails that “appear to be pertinent” to the email probe. “In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation,” Comey wrote the chairmen. “I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
At this point, we do not know what is contained in these emails. But without a doubt Huma Abedin is Hillary Clinton’s closest confidant, and I have always felt that she was Clinton’s Achilles heel. Journalist Carl Bernstein (of Watergate fame) is fully convinced that the FBI would have never made this move unless something significant had already been discovered … We don’t know what this means yet except that it’s a real bombshell. And it is unthinkable that the Director of the FBI would take this action lightly, that he would put this letter forth to the Congress of the United States saying there is more information out there about classified e-mails and call it to the attention of congress unless it was something requiring serious investigation. So that’s where we are… Is it a certainty that we won’t learn before the election? I’m not sure it’s a certainty we won’t learn before the election. One thing is, it’s possible that Hillary Clinton might want to on her own initiative talk to the FBI and find out what she can, and if she chooses to let the American people know what she thinks or knows is going on. People need to hear from her…
If the FBI has indeed found something explosive, would they actually charge her with a crime right before the election?
It is possible, but we also have to remember that government agencies (including the FBI) tend to move very, very slowly. If there are thousands of emails, it is going to take quite a while to sift through them all. And of course Barack Obama has lots of ways that he could influence, delay or even shut down the investigation.
So those that are counting on this to be the miracle that Donald Trump needs should not count their chickens before they hatch.
But if Hillary Clinton were to be forced out of the race by this FBI investigation, the Democrats would have to decide on a new candidate, and that would take time. The following is from a U.S. News & World Report article that examined what would happen if one of the candidates was forced out of the race for some reason… If Clinton were to fall off the ticket, Democratic National Committee members would gather to vote on a replacement. DNC members acted as superdelegates during this year’s primary and overwhelmingly backed Clinton over boat-rocking socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. DNC spokesman Mark Paustenbach says there currently are 445 committee members – a number that changes over time and is guided by the group’s bylaws, which give membership to specific officeholders and party leaders and hold 200 spots for selection by states, along with an optional 75 slots DNC members can choose to fill. But the party rules for replacing a presidential nominee merely specify that a majority of members must be present at a special meeting called by the committee chairman. The meeting would follow procedures set by the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee and proxy voting would not be allowed.
It would be extremely challenging to get a majority of the members of the Democratic National Committee together on such short notice. If Clinton were to drop out next week, it would be almost impossible for this to happen before election day.
In such a scenario, Barack Obama may attempt to invoke his emergency powers . Since the election would not be “fair” until the Democrats have a new candidate, he could try to delay or suspend the election. There would be a lot of controversy as to whether this is legal or not, but Barack Obama has not let the U.S. Constitution stop him in the past.
Meanwhile, new poll numbers show that the Trump campaign was already gaining momentum even before this story about the new emails broke. According to a brand new ABC News/Washington Post survey, Donald Trump is now only trailing Hillary Clinton by 4 points after trailing her by as much as 12 points last weekend.
And CNBC is reporting on a highly advanced artificial intelligence system that accurately predicted the outcomes of the presidential primaries and which is now indicating that Trump will be the winner in November… An artificial intelligence system that correctly predicted the last three U.S. presidential elections puts Republican nominee Donald Trump ahead of Democrat rival Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House. MogIA was developed by Sanjiv Rai, founder of Indian start-up Genic.ai. It takes in 20 million data points from public platforms including Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the U.S. and then analyzes the information to create predictions. The AI system was created in 2004, so it has been getting smarter all the time. It had already correctly predicted the results of the Democratic and Republican Primaries.
Without Hillary at the top of the ticket, the odds of a Trump victory would go way, way up.
So if Hillary is forced out of the race by this investigation, Barack Obama and the Democrats will want to delay or suspend the election for as long as possible if they can.
At this point there is probably not a high probability that such a scenario will play out, but in this crazy election year we have already seen that just about anything can happen. | 1real |
THE WITCH’S ASSISTANT: WATCH Huma Abedin’s Icy Reaction When Hillary Supporter Tries To Hug Her [VIDEO] | The war on women A woman goes in to give Huma Abedin a hug and it makes for a cold as ice awkward moment caught on video. Ouch! Huma Abedin is the Muslim Brotherhood connected henchman of Hillary Clinton. She s also the wife of scandalous cad Anthony Weiner. Wonder if Anthony gets the same treatment at home | 1real |
POLL: Bristol Palin Wants To Know Whose Voice Sounds Like Nails On A Chalkboard- Her Mom Or Tina Fey | Bristol Palin had something to say and pondered some questions after Tina Fey roasted her mommy on Saturday Night Live over the weekend.Last week, America s village idiot returned to the political stage to endorse Donald Trump in a rambling incoherent speech that has been lampooned repeatedly by comedians across the country.Frankly, Chris Hardwick s mockery of Palin s speech on Comedy Central s @Midnight has been my favorite thus far.But on Saturday, Tina Fey received yet another opportunity to mock Palin in what became an instant classic opening segment on the long-running NBC sketch comedy program.And of course, Sarah Palin s demon spawn couldn t resist taking shots at Tina Fey making fun of her looks and the way she sounds.Bristol Palin commented on the Saturday Night Live sketch on Monday by asking Who wore it better- Sarah Palin or Tina Fey? in reference to the jacket worn by both ladies. Anyway, I think it s funny that the producers of SNL couldn t get their hands on the same top my mom wore, because it was sold out, the failed abstinence advocate wrote. I have to admit, the shirt looked great. But I still think my mom wore it better. She then included a poll, which everyone should totally add their vote to, asking who wore it better.But that s not all.As mentioned earlier, Bristol also trashed Fey s impersonation of her mom and her looks. I m sure many of you saw Tina Fey, who sounds nothing like my mom, do a skit based on my Mom s endorsement of Donald Trump.I don t know about you, but hearing her fake accent is like nails on a chalkboard for me!I may be biased, but I think my mom trumps her in the looks department. (Especially for having three more kids and seven more years on Tina!)Saturday Night Live and Fey have been clinging to this impersonation a little too long. It s getting pathetic. Its been 7 years! Are they desperate for content? Or just desperate for viewers? In the interest of fairness- after all, Bristol did say she may be biased - here s a poll asking who s voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard- Sarah Palin or Tina Fey? Be sure to vote and don t forget to vote on Bristol Palin s poll, too.Sarah PalinTina FeyFeatured Image: Distractify | 1real |
The Long, Lonely Fall of a Heisman Trophy Winner - The New York Times | BOULDER, Colo. — Through the darkness, Rashaan Salaam drove his Suzuki sedan. He was, as usual, alone. For months, friends said, Salaam had been a recluse who left his rented condo in a Denver suburb only occasionally, to buy groceries and, even more rarely, for a solitary morning walk. Now and then he went to a bar for drinks and a steak, sitting by himself. But on this Monday night, Dec. 5, Salaam, a former football standout, was headed for the site of his greatest triumph. From his home, it was eight miles to the University of Colorado in Boulder, where Salaam was a running back who won the Heisman Trophy in 1994. On the final dash of his last game at Folsom Field here that year, Salaam roared 67 yards for a touchdown, collapsing in the end zone and spurring his teammates to hoist him onto their shoulders as fans waved “2000” signs he had become just the fourth college player to exceed 2, 000 rushing yards in a season. Now, on an unseasonably warm December night, he drove past the stadium and cut through the heart of the idyllic Colorado campus, where, he often said, he still felt most comfortable. Less than two miles from where he had scored his touchdown, he pulled into the tiny parking area of Eben G. Fine Park, bordering the burbling Boulder Creek. Around 8 p. m. a few hours after the voting closed for the 2016 Heisman and five days before the 22nd anniversary of Salaam’s trophy win, a young man walking in the park saw a body lying beside an idling sedan. Salaam. A revolver lay nearby. Salaam’s death at the age of 42 is being investigated as a likely suicide. Autopsy results are expected in about a month. But in the days since the death, as friends, relatives and associates puzzle over the circumstances, they cannot help but wonder if the Heisman and its attendant expectations of fame had undercut his life instead of elevating it. “Rashaan came back to Boulder a few years ago to revive himself,” said Francisco Lujan, one of Salaam’s close friends and a business associate. “He was trying to find a way to find himself. He returned to where the memories were good. ” T . J. Cunningham, a Colorado teammate who had stayed in touch with Salaam until a few months ago, said he believed Salaam’s football career, which sputtered after he left college largely because of injuries, always weighed on him. “Rashaan was 20 years old when he won the Heisman Trophy,” Cunningham said. “To achieve the epitome of success at 20, but then you can’t get to that point again — what did that do to Rashaan?” That may be an insoluble question. For people who knew him, the prospect that he took his own life is hard to reconcile with someone best known for an infectious smile that brightened a room when he entered it. As Cunningham said: “He was a happy guy. I can still see him at Christmas last year, at my house teaching my how to hit a baseball. But, you know, Rashaan struggled with some things. ” Many of his friends believed he suffered from depression and mood swings, typical signs of the brain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C. T. E. that has afflicted scores of players. The disease is linked to repeated hits to the head and diagnosed posthumously, but it is unclear if Salaam’s family members have donated his brain to be tested. The Salaam family declined to be interviewed for this article, and multiple phone messages and email messages left for relatives drew no response. Salaam’s brother, Jabali Alaji, told USA Today shortly after Rashaan’s funeral on Dec. 9 that if Salaam’s brain were examined: “I would guarantee they’d find it. I would guarantee it. ” But several of Salaam’s friends who spoke with family members said they were told Salaam’s brain would not be tested. Though injured often, Salaam had no known history of repeated concussions or head trauma. But as Cunningham said: “Rashaan had a lot of collisions. He wasn’t a fake and juke guy he ran right through you. “C. T. E.? He showed all the symptoms,” Cunningham said, “and C. T. E. probably added to that. ” Whatever the cause, it was obvious to people around him that Salaam was dealing with mental health problems. He routinely retreated to his condo and stayed there. Phone calls and texts from friends went unreturned for days or weeks, especially since October. Salaam spent Thanksgiving by himself, a neighbor said, in his small, plain condo next to a playground and a municipal wastewater plant in Superior, Colo. “He was always in his condo,” said the neighbor, Deanna Ardrey. “He would sit there by himself every day. You knew there was something off. ” Riley Robert Hawkins, a school social worker and behavioral therapist who had been a partner with Salaam in a charitable foundation since 2011, talked to him about whether he should seek treatment for depression. “You could tell he was fighting some things,” Hawkins said. “Anxiety and depression, that’s bipolar. It was always there to some degree. “Like many of us,” he said, “I think he thought he had a handle on things. ” Maurice Henriques, another Colorado teammate who had remained close with Salaam, said it was impossible to pinpoint what ailed him. “For the family’s sake, you’d love for there to be an explanation,” he said. “But it’s probably a cocktail of things — depression, some C. T. E. and Rashaan still trying to deal with the transition from football. “How,” he added, “do you yourself?” When he was first handed the Heisman in 1994, Salaam had no idea how much the trophy would complicate the rest of his life. Going forward, it distorted the perception of his career. Salaam had a spectacular N. F. L. rookie season with the Chicago Bears but faded markedly thereafter, lasting for only four seasons. After that, he more and more kept his distance from the trophy, whose renowned pose is a stiff arm. “He felt people viewed him as a failure,” said David Plati, an associate athletic director at Colorado and a friend of Salaam’s for nearly a . “He was frustrated with his N. F. L. career. That’s the burden the Heisman carries. He felt pressure that he had to go do something in the pros as good or greater than what he did in college. “He felt that people were looking at him, thinking that he let them down. ” Still, the Heisman loomed large. Everybody wanted to see it and touch it. Salaam wanted to stand apart from it. “He wasn’t a huge fan of the trophy itself,” Lujan said. “When he was making an appearance, people would always ask if he could bring the Heisman Trophy to the engagement. He’d turn them down. He didn’t like carrying the trophy around. It made him feel like the only reason anyone wanted to see him was because he had a Heisman Trophy. ” Once, visiting Salaam at his home, a friend saw the trophy being used as a doorstop. For the majority of the last 22 years, Salaam’s mother kept the trophy at the family home in San Diego. Salaam was conflicted about the trophy from the start he declined to do several major interviews the year he won it. “That’s the thing. Deep down Rashaan didn’t care about the trophy and never did because he didn’t like being singled out,” Plati said. “Rashaan wanted to be just one of the guys,” Plati said. “But he knew his offensive linemen wanted him to win the Heisman. He understood it was important for the university and the football program. ” Salaam is Colorado’s only Heisman winner and eventually got into the experience of winning it, even enjoying the week in New York for the ceremony. At the time, it seemed like a thing — not a lifetime designation permanently attached to his name. He had won the trophy in his junior year and entered the 1995 N. F. L. draft. Yet he was perturbed, even insulted, when he was the fifth running back taken in the first round. But Salaam had proved others wrong in his career before. With his mother urging him on, he had left his hometown, San Diego, and traveled by bus two hours daily to attend La Jolla Country Day, a private school where he excelled academically and on the football team. But La Jolla played football, and Salaam was barely noticed by college recruiters. His La Jolla coach mounted a campaign to promote him, and soon Colorado took him on. He was, however, on the third string as a college freshman. Though he was a sturdy and weighed in at 220 pounds, there were doubts about whether he had the speed to compete at the highest level of college ball. He made progress as a sophomore, and by his spectacular junior season at Colorado had more than vanquished his critics. And yet, N. F. L. evaluators still had reservations, which is how Salaam fell to the draft’s 21st pick. As a rookie, Salaam rushed for 1, 074 yards and 10 touchdowns, becoming the youngest N. F. L. player to rush for more than 1, 000 yards. But a series of leg injuries limited his playing time and effectiveness in the next two seasons, his last with the Bears. In 1999, he carried the football once for 2 yards for the hapless Cleveland Browns. He was also briefly with two other N. F. L. teams but never got on the field. In 2001, Salaam played for the Memphis Maniax of the X. F. L. At 28, he regrouped and spent nearly a year getting in top shape because the San Francisco 49ers had invited him to training camp. Around that time in 2003, in an interview with ESPN, Salaam decided to open up about his marijuana use while with the Bears. He said he was too young to handle the money and success of his early N. F. L. career and blamed an undisciplined lifestyle for hampering his development as a professional. Salaam later said he had hoped the interview would show a newfound maturity, since he was admitting to a mistake and describing a new, robust work ethic. But the reaction to the interview, and to Salaam, was decidedly negative. He was cut by the 49ers toward the end of training camp. After a flirtation with the Canadian Football League, his football career was over. Salaam said in interviews years ago that he had invested much of his nearly $4 million N. F. L. payday with a San Diego brokerage firm. Shortly after retiring from football, Salaam began spending months in China, where he started a mixed martial arts business. None of his friends were sure how or why he made a connection with China, but there he promoted championship events and shuttled between his native California and Beijing. By the beginning of this decade, he sold the venture and returned to San Diego. There, Salaam lived quietly, and mostly, anonymously. A “bachelor for life,” Salaam never married, although his friends said they had met his various girlfriends over the years. About five years ago, Salaam decided to return to the Boulder area in what was viewed as an attempt to regain his footing in a familiar place. He began working with Lujan, a coach at a local high school, who had a company that did testing for N. F. L. and C. F. L. scouting combines. Salaam was paid $2, 500 or more for public appearances and helped with the testing. He appeared financially secure. While he did not live extravagantly — rent at his condo this year was about $1, 500 a month — he never seemed in need of funds. A 2011 newspaper account reported that Salaam sold ornate rings he had received for winning the Heisman Trophy for roughly $9, 000. Salaam said that the rings were sold, without his knowledge, by a family member. “Rashaan’s primary goal when he came here was to start a foundation to help youth,” said Lujan, who eventually put Salaam in touch with Hawkins, the school social worker, who years earlier had founded the SPIN Foundation — Supporting People in Need. Together, Hawkins and Salaam planned events, camps, clinics and appearances, and they devised programs to benefit underprivileged children. Salaam became a fixture at Jefferson High School in Edgewater, Colo. where Hawkins has worked for 15 years. Salaam regularly spoke with classes and worked with students individually and in groups. For four days in April 2015, for example, the foundation brought about 30 Jefferson students and staff members to the ski slopes of Aspen for a trip that was called a “Ski for the Heisman” program. “Rashaan was like a family member to Jefferson students,” said Oscar Lopez, a senior at the high school who participated in the trip. “He was like a big brother and he was always encouraging us to better ourselves. He talked about the mistakes he made and how he kept going. His big message was to stay positive. ” Lopez, who is a wrestler and football player, said Salaam once cautioned him about taking care of his body in athletics. “He told me if I was hurt, to protect myself and stay off the field,” Lopez said. “He had injuries and went back out there. He said, ‘Don’t do that, let it heal. ’” Lujan said the cost of the Aspen trip was $25, 000. At Jefferson High, students who had laughed on the Aspen slopes with Salaam and been buoyed by his enthusiasm for their future prospects were thunderstruck by his death. “I broke down because he was always here for us,” said Janessa Kiome, a senior at Jefferson. “And that night, no one was there for him. ” Hawkins and others have been counseling the Jefferson students. Seated in his school office last week, Hawkins sighed and said: “Rashaan was trying to save lives, but he had trouble saving his own life. There are things we can explain and things that we can’t explain. ” It had been hard to get to know Salaam well, as he was introverted by nature and something of a loner, especially in the last few months. He was a semiregular at C. B. Potts, a bar and restaurant about a mile from his condo in Superior. He usually came in around 10 on Sunday nights, well past the dinner rush. He was always alone, and he would sit in a section of the bar unoccupied by other patrons, ordering a steak and two or three vodka drinks known as Moscow Mules. “He was always nice to everyone,” said Chris Rosa, a bartender there who works Sunday nights. “But more than a few times, we’d be talking and he’d say he was mad that injuries and bad luck messed up his N. F. L. career. He said things spiraled out of control and he wished things had been different. ” Rosa said he had not seen him in the last couple of months. Neither had his friends or the people he worked with, like Lujan and Hawkins. “Everyone has the same story,” Lujan said. “We’ve asked each other, ‘When did you last hear from him?’ And everyone answers, ‘About a month or six weeks ago. ’” Salaam’s neighbor Deanna Ardrey was among the few who saw him regularly during this period. She had met Salaam a few months earlier when she moved in with her boyfriend. She learned only by accident that Salaam had played football, then Googled him and was dumbfounded to discover his celebrity. “We talked about football, but he was more likely to talk about other things, like astronomy,” Ardrey said. “He was always pointing out planets to us in the sky. ” On sunny days, Salaam kept his front door open and Ardrey would hear music playing. In the fall and winter, Salaam’s television would be tuned to football games. “We would hear him watching games all night and yelling at the TV,” Ardrey said. “But I mean, he was always there by himself. Every day, every night. His car was always in the driveway. ” In the days before his death, Ardrey noticed something unusual: His car was frequently gone at night. “In the last few days, I’ve been thinking: How many times did he go to that park thinking he might — and then changed his mind?” Ardrey wondered last week. On the morning of Dec. 5, Ardrey saw her neighbor as she got in her car and waved at him. He waved back and smiled. Much later, he drove away from the condo, leaving a light on in the living room. | 0fake |
Italians Rejoice as Soros Ally Mayor Awarded UN Prize for Welcoming Migrants Kicked Out of Office | Italians this week cheered the electoral defeat of a mayor who signed a deal with George Soros to turn the tiny island of Lampedusa into a gateway to Europe for migrants travelling from Africa. [“Thank you, you have eradicated the Lampedusa cancer,” read graffiti sprayed across walls on several streets of the small island with just 6, 000 residents after voters ousted Mayor Giusi Nicolini. The Lampedusa native was kicked into third place at local elections Sunday, locals electing businessman Salvatore “Totò” Martello, who said during the campaign that he “cannot stand seeing migrants swarming everywhere”. Since taking office in 2012 the outgoing mayor transformed the island into a gateway to Europe, streamlining migrant processing to enable Lampedusa’s reception centre to process and give shelter to 700 asylum seekers at a time, moving most of them on to Sicily or the Italian mainland. Nicolini, who has used her status as a public figure to repeatedly promote open borders and acceptance of mass migration to Europe, was two months ago awarded the UNESCO Peace Prize for her “boundless humanity and unwavering commitment to refugee crisis management and integration”. And in October last year, the decorated mayor attended dinner with Barack Obama at the White House, brought along by Italy’s Minister, the unelected technocrat Matteo Renzi, as one of the people who represented the best of Italy. Following Nicolini’s defeat, “conservative activists joyfully posted altered images representing the former mayor as an illegal immigrant expelled from the country and memes claiming she is an agent of George Soros,” according to the Washington Post, which described the Hungarian billionaire as “the liberal tycoon whom conspiracy theorists accuse of being behind the wave of African immigration to Europe. ” The outgoing mayor rushed to destroy and delete “files, documents, private correspondence and entire folders” from computers in her office upon her electoral defeat, telling the media: “No, I do not have time to respond to Martello, my priorities lie elsewhere. ” Questioning her haste in clearing the mayoral office, several Italian websites pointed to documents that emerged in 2014 which showed Nicolini signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE) in which the agreed to let Soros’ international funding network “help strengthen Lampedusa’s capacity [to take migrants] and promote the island’s population and its guests. ” Noting how, with so many African migrants arriving on boats, Lampedusa “operates in a state of chronic emergency” the OSIFE document asserts the island “will require manpower and expertise to complement its current workforce. ” Under the terms of the agreement, the funding body sent personnel to Lampedusa who set up “humanitarian” and “cultural” projects on the island,. “The agreement does not provide direct financing,” the document states, explaining that “OSIFE will provide the service via a person on the island with skills suitable for the purpose, and adding that funds allocated to Lampedusa will be sent to “specific bank accounts” which must be used specifically for projects promoting mass migration. Last year, leaked OSIFE documents revealed Soros proclaimed that mass migration to Europe should be accepted as a “new normal” carrying with it “new opportunities” for the billionaire’s cash to influence immigration policies on a global scale. | 0fake |
Who reckons this might not be a legit iPhone charger? | Next Swipe left/right Who reckons this might not be a legit iPhone charger? @Miradoreltd over on Twitter notes, “We have a sneaking suspicion this might not be a legitimate iPhone charger.” | 1real |
CNN HOSTS PANIC When Congressman, Lawyer Says Feds Need To Investigate Seth Rich Murder During Russia-Trump Collusion Discussion [VIDEO] | Caller-Times: Speaking on CNN Wednesday, the fourth-term congressman refuted a widely believed conclusion that the Russian government interfered with the U.S. presidential election to aid President Donald Trump s campaign and instead indicated a conspiracy theory about a slain Democratic National Committee staffer could be true. My fear is our constant focusing on the Russians is deflecting away for some other things that we need to be investigating, Farenthold said on the network. There s still some question as to whether the intrusion of the DNC server was an insider job or whether or not it was the Russians. Later Wednesday, Farenthold elaborated on his opinion of how the investigation should be handled in a phone interview with the Caller-Times. The death should be investigated in the same manner Russian interference has been reviewed, he said. That should be a part of the ongoing investigation into alleged Russian interference in the election, because that s an alternative theory that deserves being looked at, Farenthold said.Watch how quickly CNN hosts John Berman and Poppy Harlow attack Congressman Farenthold when he even suggests there s something suspicious about the supposed robbery gone bad (where no valuables were stolen) that lead to the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. JUST NOW @farenthold on @CNN suggests the DNC hack was an insider job," sources stuff circulating on the internet https://t.co/97zytNWHVR Haley Draznin (@haleydraz) May 24, 2017While he has not formed an opinion on the nature of Rich s death, Farenthold said the theory that it was a retaliatory killing for leaking committee information is as credible as the anonymous sources being cited in the (Former-FBI Director James) Comey and Russian stories against President Trump. Farenthold said the Russian conclusion is premature until there s a review of Democratic committee s computer system by an independent investigator. We re relying only on the report of somebody that the DNC contracted to examine their computer rather than having federal officials, Farenthold said. To me, we need to let the feds look at it. Watch: | 1real |
Trump will not be charged with 'inciting riot' in North Carolina | WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - A North Carolina sheriff’s office said on Monday it would not charge Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump or his campaign with “inciting a riot” at a rally in the state last week. North Carolina is one of five states holding Republican and Democratic primary elections on Tuesday in the race to select candidates for November’s U.S. presidential election. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, based in Fayetteville, earlier had said it was reviewing whether Trump or his campaign incited a disturbance at a rally last Wednesday. At the rally in Fayettsville, John McGraw, a 78-year-old white Trump supporter, was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge after he was seen on video punching a 26-year-old black protester in the face. On Monday evening, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement it would not seek a warrant or indictment for Trump or his campaign over the incident. “The Sheriff’s Office legal counsel advised, and the Sheriff concurred, that the evidence does not meet the requisites of the law as established under the relevant North Carolina statute and case law to support a conviction of the crime of inciting a riot,” the office said. In North Carolina, “inciting to riot” is a legal charge that can apply to a public disturbance and does not necessarily involve a full-scale riot. The offense can be classified as a misdemeanor or a more serious felony. During a trip on Monday to North Carolina, Trump rejected suggestions that his language was to blame for recent clashes at his rallies. The 69-year-old New Yorker leads a field of four Republican candidates vying for the party’s presidential nomination. | 0fake |
Black Caucus Demands Action: Calls On Congress To Hold Gun Vote In Wake Of Dallas Tragedy | Following the horrific tragedy in Dallas, Texas, the Congressional Black Caucus expressed grief, sorrow, and outrage at the deadly violence that took place after what had been a day of peaceful protests. Amid their messages of mourning and healing as a nation, members also demanded that congress finally hold a vote on several pieces of legislation that focus on tightening gun restrictions.Representative G.K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina and the chairman of the caucus, said that in the wake of the despicable crimes in Dallas, the Caucus was determined to continue our fight to remove guns from the hands of terrorists and would-be criminals. We come to this place each week to represent our constituents who are in pain. As of June 30, just a few days ago, 491 Americans have been fatally shot by the police; most of those were African-American.Last night, despicable crimes were committed against Dallas police officers, and when the dust settled five of them were dead as a result of an organized execution by criminals who possess guns and use them to the extreme. And so the Congressional Black Caucus convenes today to say to America we are continuing our fight to remove guns from the hands of terrorists and would-be criminals.Democrats have been fighting for several pieces of legislation. These measures include an effort bolster mandatory background checks and No Fly No Buy, which would stop suspected terrorists on no-fly lists from being able to legally purchase guns. Republicans have staunchly refused to take any action on the measures.Republicans, what on Earth are you, why are you recoiling and not giving us a debate on gun violence? Mr. Butterfield said. Why are you recoiling and not giving us a debate on gun violence? Why not give it a hearing, give us a debate, give us an up-or-down vote on our legislation on gun violence? Why?Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, led last month s sit-in on the House floor over gun control legislation following the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando. He urged protesters to remain peaceful, preaching the non-violent ways of the Civil Rights movement, in which he was an influential leader.There s no room in our society for violence; we respect law enforcement. There needs to be greater training of law enforcement and sometimes I feel that maybe not only those of us that engage in nonviolent protest but police officers need to be taught the way of peace, the way of love, the way of nonviolence, to respect the dignity and the worth of every human being.It doesn t matter whether black or white, Latino, Asian-American or Native American; we are one family living in one house. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters. If not, we will perish as fools. We have too many guns. There has been too much violence. And we must act.Watch the Black Caucus demand congress hold a vote on gun control legislation here:Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Why Obama Fears A Hillary Presidency | And why Obama may be better off with a Republican President Edward Klein paints a very compelling picture of what is going through narcissist Barack Obama s head:(If we could get a sneak peek at Barack Obama s secret diary, this is what we might read.)I ll have to endorse Hillary if she gets the nomination which looks almost certain now but I won t have my heart in it.When I leave office in little over a year, I ll be the youngest ex-president since Teddy Roosevelt. I ll still have that same big-shouldered Chicago lust for power that drove me from Greenwood Avenue in Hyde Park to Pennsylvania Avenue in three short years.But if Hillary replaces me in the Oval, she and Bill will take control of the Democratic Party it ll become the Clinton party once again and they ll block me from having any future influence.I ll end up like Jimmy Carter hammering away in Appalachia for Habitat for Humanity.On the other hand, if a Republican wins in 16, the Clintons will be finished their foundation and their speaking fees will dry up and they ll be a thing of the past. But I ll still be the titular head of the party. I ll be able to continue my push to transform America into a European-style socialist state.So, personally, I d be better off if the next president is a Republican.I was hoping it wouldn t come to this. I had hopes that Old Joe would get in the running and knock Hillary off her pins. Joe in the White House would be like my third term. I d have plenty of influence in a Biden administration.But Joe hemmed and hawed until it was too late.For a while, Val and Miche tried to convince me that Martin O Malley was the one to snatch the nomination away from Hillary. They said he was O Malleable and would share the levers of power with me. But I knew from the get-go that Martin didn t have the right stuff.Still, it s amazing to me that Hillary hasn t imploded. Everybody knows she deliberately tried to cover her tracks with her home-brew e-mail server and that she did it with felonious intent. My biggest fear all along has been that Hillary s mess will end up tainting my presidency and my legacy.Val and Miche are dead set against that happening. They re hoping that Hillary is indicted sooner rather than later. Then Uncle Joe could ride in like the cavalry and save the party.Just the other day, Hillary asked for another meeting in the Oval. I threw a major fit because I knew she wanted me to shut down the investigation of her e-mails and all her cover-ups.Generally, I don t lose my composure, but this time, I leaped from my desk and threw a rubber ball across the room. Almost broke the china.I even yelled at Val: Tell the Clintons to go to hell! I never want to see Hillary s face again. I never want her or Bill in my house lecturing me. They have no respect for this office or for me, and I m not taking it anymore. She has lied about everything. I also told Val: Make sure that any smidgen of wrongdoing that is in Hillary s files is turned over to the authorities everything. Obviously, I can t be seen influencing the FBI investigation in any way. But I ve made it clear to Jim Comey over at the FBI and Loretta at Justice that I want a thorough investigation and, if warranted, a vigorous prosecution.If Hillary winds up being sentenced, maybe a presidential pardon can be worked out. Nobody wants to see a former first lady and secretary of state rotting in jail. | 1real |
Actress Makes HUGE Donation That Will Drive Trump Nuts | Actress Amber Heard is donating $350,000 to the ACLU just as the historic civil rights organization is gearing up to go toe-to-toe with the incoming Donald Trump administration.Heard s money is coming from her settlement as a result of her divorce from actor Johnny Depp, in which domestic violence allegations were made.From TMZ:We ve now received an email from the ACLU, in which an ACLU rep acknowledged Amber made a $350k payment on August 19th. A source connected with Amber tells TMZ, she advanced the money, relying on Johnny paying her the settlement. We re told she took steps to send Children s Hospital money but didn t send it because she and Johnny began squabbling over the settlement deal.As we reported, Amber s lawyer, Pierce O Donnell, says he s confident the settlement will be signed this week.During the campaign, the ACLU described Trump as a one-man Constitutional crisis, and warned that his statements and policy proposals would blatantly violate the inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The ACLU was one of the first organizations out with a strong statement against Trump after he won the 2016 election:President-elect Trump, as you assume the nation s highest office, we urge you to reconsider and change course on certain campaign promises you have made. These include your plan to amass a deportation force to remove 11 million undocumented immigrants; ban the entry of Muslims into our country and aggressively surveil them; punish women for accessing abortion; reauthorize waterboarding and other forms of torture; and change our nation s libel laws and restrict freedom of expression.These proposals are not simply un-American and wrong-headed, they are unlawful and unconstitutional. They violate the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. If you do not reverse course and instead endeavor to make these campaign promises a reality, you will have to contend with the full firepower of the ACLU at every step. Our staff of litigators and activists in every state, thousands of volunteers, and millions of card-carrying supporters are ready to fight against any encroachment on our cherished freedoms and rights.One thing is certain: we will be eternally vigilant every single day of your presidency and when you leave the Oval Office, we will do the same with your successor.Ms. Heard s money, along with thousands of others, will help the ACLU keep their promise. Trump will have a persistent thorn in his side.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
CHILD PORN, JIHADI WEBSITES Found On Phone After “12 Year Old” Migrant Assaults Foster Parent | Doesn t America already have enough legal citizens who are experts at gaming our system to maximize their benefits? Do we really need to import rapists and violent criminals who have no valid identification or past criminal history, so they can steal from working Americans as well?An Afghan who claimed to be just 12 is revealed to be in his twenties after assaulting his British foster father.The Afghan teen, who had arrived in Britain illegally via Calais, was actually registered as a child but after a dental examination found that he had rotting wisdom teeth, a dentist suggested he was more likely to be an adult.The revelation came after another British carer also reported that she was sexually assaulted by an alleged teen she was looking after.MPs have now called for new rules regarding age assessment for immigrants despite a petition backed by celebrities such as actor Benedict Cumberbatch and Virgin tycoon Richard Branson saying that refugee children should be reunited with their British relatives.If they enter Britain as children, asylum seekers are immediately put into the care of social services which often leaves youngsters separated from their parents for long periods of time.Conservative MP for Monmouth David Davies spoke to MailOnline about an attack on one of his female constituents who was looking after the 12-year-old immigrant.The Afghan was taken in by the Welsh foster family but refused to live by their rules and would skip school and disappear for long periods.He told social services that he wished to move to Bristol but when told he would have to live with a foster family, he became angry and attacked his foster father.It was after the fracas that the man s phone was confiscated and indecent images of children and visits to Jihadi websites were found.Mr Davies said: They did a dental check on him and discovered that his wisdom teeth were rotting. The dentist said he had to be in at least his 20s but the Home Office strike people down to 16 if they don t know what their age is for certain, so he was listed as 16. Mr Davies said that Britain was being fooled by fraudster immigrants who knew how to play our system. Via: UK Daily Mail | 1real |
Clinton Camp Claims Media Was Pro-Trump, Blames Them For ‘Devastating’ Loss | EndingFed News Network | Email Print A top member of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign told Clinton’s top supporters Thursday her defeat was “the most devastating loss in the history of American politics,” while campaign chairman John Podesta said the defeat was due to a pro-Donald Trump bias in the media. The remarks were made during a conference call between Clinton’s shell-shocked campaign team and several backers of Clinton’s campaign, such as donor J.B. Pritzker, Ready PAC co-founder Allida Black, and political strategist Maria Cardona. The contents of the private call were reported by The Hill , which spoke to one of the Clinton backers on the call. Clinton campaign spokesman Jennifer Palmieri didn’t mince words in describing how brutal Clinton’s upset defeat was, according to The Hill. “Thirty-six hours after the most devastating loss in the history of American politics, we’re looking at a white board right now with lots of ideas,” said Palmieri said. “We’re sort of figuring out what we need to do this week, and what we need Democrats to do in the next two months ahead of the inaugural.” Other aides, meanwhile, tried to shift blame for the shocking defeat away from the campaign and onto the media. “The media always covered her as the person who would be president and therefore tried to eviscerate her before the election, but covered Trump who was someone who was entertaining and sort of gave him a pass,” said Podesta. “We need to reflect and analyze that and put our voices forward.” Podesta also pointed a finger at FBI Director James Comey, who resurrected the matter of Clinton’s private email server in the final weekend. Podesta said the “dominance of the way [the media] covered the emails” caused them to drown out issues like Trump’s income taxes or his alleged links to Russia. The campaign’s explanations apparently didn’t do much to remedy the agony of defeat. Black began crying during the call, according to The Hill.
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In Brooklyn, Stifling Higher Learning Among Hasidic Women - The New York Times | In the Joel Teitelbaum, an eminent and charismatic rabbi, immigrated to the United States, colonizing a section of Williamsburg in Brooklyn for his Hasidic sect, the Satmar, its name taken from the Hungarian town of Szatmar, where Rabbi Teitelbaum had fought to resist the encroachments of a modernizing society. Subsequent decades have seen virtually no retrenchment in the sect’s mistrust of the larger world. Among the Satmar in Brooklyn, use of the internet is condemned and secular education is considered of little use. In recent years, though, it became the fashion among some Satmar women to pursue degrees after high school, typically online or through religious colleges. The women often go to work not in philosophically suspect places like Greenwich Village, but in schools within their community. Now, even that minor advance has been rolled back some Satmar leaders issued a decree proclaiming that the practice would no longer be tolerated. A letter from the United Talmudical Academy, the governing body for a consortium of schools, meant for girls entering the 12th grade and their parents, stated that they “shouldn’t God forbid take a degree which is according to our sages, dangerous and damaging. ” The letter went on to say that girls shouldn’t learn college subjects and that those who refused to obey would be denied positions as teachers. Leaders, they said, had a responsibility to protect the religious educational system from outside influences. The notion is not an invention of the Hasidim, Allan Nadler, the director of Jewish studies at Drew University and a scholar of Hasidic practice, explained. The Mishna, a multivolume compilation of Jewish law that predates the Talmud, contains a prohibition against “external books. ” Still, Mr. Nadler maintained, the recent decree reflects what he has observed over the years as a deepening fear of wider society. The Talmudical Academy did not return calls seeking comment. A history of pandering to the in Brooklyn goes back at least to the days of Mario M. Cuomo. Politicians who might otherwise feel free to lecture black and Hispanic communities on the importance of grit, and the sacred path of higher learning express remarkably little outrage over the habits of a group that essentially enshrines its own dependency on the system. According to a 2011 study by the of New York, the Jewish philanthropic organization, just 11 percent of Hasidic men and 6 percent of Hasidic women in and around New York City hold bachelor’s degrees, while the poverty rate among Hasidic households stands at 43 percent, nearly twice the figure citywide. A reliance on public assistance is remarkably common among the Hasidim, explained Lani Santo, the executive director of Footsteps, an organization begun in 2003 to help those who decide to leave the world. “Even if you want to be able to have a community that is maintaining its own traditions,” she told me, “you still need to be able to have the tools and skills to support your family. ” Political leaders, beholden to the enormous voting bloc that the Hasidim, and especially the Satmar, provide, remain reluctant to say something so obvious. The recent Satmar decree is more than a feminist issue it is a humanist problem. Through lower grades and upper school, girls in the community typically wind up with a more secular education than boys because boys devote most of their time to Talmudic study. Women will typically have better command of English and math, Ms. Santo explained, and are able to get jobs after finishing school. When they may need to pull back after having children, their husbands, for whom college is deemed equally find themselves either not working at all because they are continuing their religious training or too poorly equipped to find remunerative work. Many of them, Libelle Polaki, an exile from the community in Brooklyn, told me, will resort to selling things online, which must be regarded as its own kind of sacrilege given the prohibitions against certain technologies. At 28, Ms. Polaki expects to graduate from the Borough of Manhattan Community College in December. This semester she is taking six classes and auditing two others. At a cafe in Williamsburg psychographically distant from the Williamsburg in which she spent part of her life, she spoke of the hard work it took to get where she is. Having suffered through an arranged marriage, she said, she was forced to pay off her husband, with a sum of approximately $18, 000, to get divorced a philanthropist helped her come up with the money. She held several menial jobs after high school that made her miserable, one working for Satmar leaders doing secretarial work one in a matzo factory and another in a group home for adults with developmental disabilities, where she was fired, she told me, after reporting abuses by the staff. “They didn’t teach us anything in high school so I didn’t know anything, no Shakespeare or anything like that, no science,” she said. “I felt like a loser and I felt I wanted more out of life. ” Growing up she was told not to go to libraries but she sneaked away to them anyway and at home read anything she could, including cereal boxes and junk mail because there was little else. At 26, she got her high school equivalency diploma and began her college studies. Over the summer, she studied philosophy in Greece. Two of her grandparents speak to her two don’t. The friends she left behind, she said, are jealous of her freedom. Ms. Polaki plans to apply to colleges and hopes to attend an Ivy League school. Will anyone running for local office stand next to her for a photograph on a leafy New England campus? | 0fake |
Black Student ‘Activist’ Jailed for Tweeting FAKE Racist Threats | 21st Century Wire says What a twisted world we have become.A female, black student activist, Kayla McKelvey (image below), has been jailed for tweeting racially charged threats directed at events that she, herself, was organising and attending. She essentially employed the false flag attack model, where one claims to be under attack from another, who in actual fact has nothing to do with it, to further an agenda.The so-called activist pleaded guilty to causing false public alarm, but claimed the tweets were meant to raise awareness of racism on campus .One wonders how much racism there really is on campus, if someone has to deliberately go out of their way to create fake racial threats. This then raises the questions, what exactly did McKelvey hope to achieve by creating a threat to black people on campus?The threats caused Kean University to shell out $80,000 in additional security costs, costs that McKelvey will now be forced to repay after her 90 days behind bars.Such actions do absolutely nothing to raise awareness of racism , and only further racial divides. If we stop seeing race altogether, and instead see humanity, we can really solve the problem.Get 10% off a 21WIRE TV membership package today using promo code: STU21WIRETVMORE ON ERODING WESTERN CULTURE : 21st Century Wire Culture Files | 1real |
DraftKings and FanDuel Agree to Merge Daily Fantasy Sports Operations - The New York Times | The daily fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel have agreed to merge after a turbulent year in which both of their values plummeted as several attorneys general questioned the legality of their games in their states. The merger must be approved by regulators and will take time — the companies said they expected the deal to close in the second half of 2017. Until then, both sides will operate under their own brands. The merger was one of necessity: Lobbying and legal costs had damaged both companies’ bottom lines to the extent that representatives of the companies last month asked the New York attorney general’s office to allow them to pay a combined $12 million settlement in installments after claims that they employed false and deceptive advertising practices, two people familiar with those negotiations said. In recent weeks, according to these two people, FanDuel, based in New York, laid off more than 60 people, and both companies have acknowledged that they are months behind in their payments to vendors, especially to the array of public relations and lobbying firms that they have employed across the nation to persuade individual state legislatures to legalize daily fantasy games — the most critical component of rebuilding their business. “Joining forces will allow us to truly realize the potential of our vision, and as a combined company, we will be able to accelerate the pace of innovation and bring a richer experience to our customers than we ever could have done separately,” Jason Robins, chief executive of DraftKings, said in a statement. If the merger is approved, Robins will retain that title in a new company, while FanDuel’s chief executive, Nigel Eccles, will become chairman of the board. “While both companies have accomplished much already,” Eccles said, “this transaction will create a business that can offer a greater variety of offerings, appealing to new users, including the tens of millions of fantasy players that haven’t yet tried our products. ” Last year, at the beginning of the N. F. L. season, DraftKings and FanDuel overwhelmed sports broadcasts with hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising that emphasized their prize payoffs. At the time, it was a largely unregulated, industry in which players paid a fee on a website, assembled virtual rosters of players in pursuit of jackpots ranging from $22 to $2 million, and scored points based on the outcomes of professional games. Daily fantasy sports appeared to be a virtual cash machine. The companies were valued at more than $1 billion each. Their investors included Major League Baseball and the N. B. A. the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the New England Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft and major media companies like NBC. After a DraftKings employee won a major jackpot on FanDuel’s site in October 2015, however, Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York State attorney general, began an inquiry into whether employees of the companies had used inside information to prey on customers on each other’s sites. Soon, scores of lawsuits were filed in courts across the country. Schneiderman shut down the industry in New York, declaring daily fantasy sports to be illegal gambling, but he laid the groundwork for a deal in March when he suggested a June 30 deadline for the State Legislature to act to address the games’ legal status. It did, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the bill into law in August. New York was the eighth state to declare daily fantasy sports legal, and the companies are facing expensive efforts to have their games legalized in the big markets of Illinois and Texas. | 0fake |
[VIDEO] HOLLYWOOD ACTOR Scott Baio FED UP With Obama: “He’s a Muslim or a Muslim sympathizer” | I don t think there are too many people who would disagree with that sentiment, given Obama s obvious desire to make Americans believe Islam has nothing to do with Islamic terror. In the wake of yet another attack on American soil by a radicalized Muslin gunman, actor Scott Baio questioned whether President Barack Obama wants to eliminate the United States as it was created. Appearing on Fox Business, the former Happy Days star was asked if the president is reluctant to say Islamic terror. He s absolutely reluctant, Baio replied. I can t tell, Lester, if he s dumb, he s a Muslim or he s a Muslim sympathizer. And I don t think he s dumb. WATCH here:Baio, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, was asked to explain Obama s actions. I have no idea, the actor replied. Like I said, either he s a sympathizer, a Muslim sympathizer or he s a Muslim to allow this to keep happening. He insisted that Trump is the only person who wants to do something about these attacks by Islamic extremists.Borrowing from Obama s 2008 promise of fundamentally transforming the United States of America, Baio speculated on what may be the end game for liberals like Obama and Hillary Clinton. Is it to totally eliminate the United States as it was created and founded and the way it is now? he asked.The actor went on to say he is baffled by the inaction from Obama and Clinton, saying the only time they get angry is at Republicans. Via: Biz Pac Review | 1real |
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Woman Arrested For DWI Has Jaw-Droppingly Stupid Reason For Saying Cops Targeted Her | The cops should leave this woman, and all of her people, alone unless they ve done something really wrong, and swerving all over the road because she s driving while intoxicated doesn t count. Why? Because driving while rich is apparently a thing in Manhattan, on par with, say, driving while black in Liridona Selimaj s apparently warped mind.A former real estate broker, Selimaj is one of Manhattan s more affluent residents, and she claims that the cops just pick on her and other rich people. They pulled her over because she was driving a new Range Rover, according to the bizarre claim. Assistant District Attorney Christopher Mills read off her full statement at her arraignment: You re picking on me because I was driving an expensive car. You make no money, and you re poor you re picking on rich people. I had one drink. I m not taking your test, so take me to jail. I ve been through this before. That s right, she thinks the NYPD specifically went after her and arrested her because they re jealous of her status and money. She does have a prior DWI from 2009, and another arrest that s sealed, so she has been through this before, and she probably thinks those were just due to jealousy, too. In all her righteous anger, she also allegedly said: How can you say I was swerving? I m not drunk. I wasn t doing anything you were saying I was doing. I was swerving because it was a new car. The police report says she had bloodshot, watery eyes, was unsteady on her feet, was slurring her speech, and had alcohol on her breath. She was, in a word, sloshed. Driving while rich. The stupid, it burns! If anything, the police are more likely to leave wealthy people alone and target poor people, especially poor minorities. It s the same with the courts. What Selimaj just did was show herself to be the perfect example of how the affluent expect special treatment, even when they ve broken the law.It s also an insult to all the people particularly poor minorities who are wrongly targeted by the police. Don t tell her that, though. Remember, she s just a victim. All rich people are just victims of the law.Featured image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 1real |
Obama slams Trump's 'rigged' election claims as 'dangerous' | Email President Barack Obama admonished Donald Trump Thursday, saying the Republican nominee's claims that he might not accept the results of next month's election are "not a joking matter." "I want everybody to pay attention here. This is dangerous," Obama said at a Hillary for America event in Miami Gardens, Florida. "Because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people's mind about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. Then you are doing the work of our adversaries for them." Obama also encouraged the crowd of about 1,800 at Florida Memorial University to take advantage of Florida's early voting, telling the audience in doing so they can reject what the President called Trump's "dark, pessimistic fear-mongering." "Our democracy depends on people knowing that their vote matters. That those who occupy the seats of power were chosen by the people," Obama said. On Wednesday night's debate Trump, answered, "I will look at it at the time," when asked whether he would concede if he loses on November 8. "I will keep you in suspense." Trump also doubled down on Thursday in Ohio saying he will accept the results of next month's election as long as wins. Obama also used the opportunity while in Florida to weigh in on the close Senate race in Florida between Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and his Democratic challenger, Rep. Patrick Murphy. "Even Marco Rubio says there's no rigging of the vote," Obama said, "Which I'd like to give credit for, except he's refuting the dangerous, unprecedented claims of a candidate he says he's still going to vote for!" Earlier this week, Obama released a new ad for the Democrat in the Sunshine State, the same week it was announced the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was puling money for ads for Murphy. | 1real |
Trump Opens New Hotel in DC on Time and Under Budget… Shows How Outsiders Get Things Done in DC | White House Says Obamacare Premiums to Rise 22% in 2017
In all likelihood, the Democrats and media in the D.C. establishment are furious about Trump’s new hotel because it serves as a nightmarish reminder of the utter failure of a job they have done in the nation’s capital.
In stark contrast to how things typically proceed in the corrupt swamp known as D.C., Trump’s hotel was completed “under budget and ahead of schedule,” something Trump is quick to remind Americans of.
“We don’t hear those words too often in government — but you will,” he said, alluding to the change he intends to bring to D.C. should he win the election.
Trump proceeded to run through a litany of failures by the government, most especially that of Obamacare , which he has been hitting hard in recent days.
“The American people know what this election is about, and they see it every time they get their health care bills in the mailbox, or ride down a highway that’s broken, or go to an airport that looks like it’s in a third world country,” Trump stated. Trump Opens New Hotel in DC on Time and Under Budget… Shows How Outsiders Get Things Done in DC This video was designed to autoplay so we've delayed loading it until you click here.
Trump has been and always will be a businessman at heart who wants little more than to get a job done in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible, virtually the opposite of the standard operating procedure for politicians in D.C. | 1real |
In Jordan, Nikki Haley Defends U.S. Response to Syrian Refugee Crisis | In her first international trip in her role as U. S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley toured a Jordanian refugee camp Sunday — and defended the Trump administration’s policy on the Syrian refugee crisis in the face of its many critics in the UN. [Visiting the Zaatari refugee camp, Haley met with Syrian refugees displaced by the Syrian civil war and reminded reporters of the work the U. S. is doing in the region — a role that has been widely ignored as critics instead focus on Trump’s executive order restricting refugees into the country. “We’re the No. 1 donor here through this crisis, that’s not going to stop,” Haley said in an interview after UN officials briefed her on the camp, according to The Wall Street Journal. Haley visited vocational classes and a supermarket where are used to charge accounts as a way to cut down on fraud. Outside the camp, she also visited a U. S. school where Syrian and Jordanian girls can get an education and a border crossing between Jordan and Syria. One of the reasons we traveled to Jordan is to see firsthand how the Syrian crisis is affecting children. pic. twitter. — Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 22, 2017, pic. twitter. — Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 21, 2017, During the trip, Haley will also visit parts of Turkey and will meet with government and UN officials, as well as heads of NGOs. The trip will focus on the Syrian refugee crisis both countries are on the front line of the crisis and share borders with the imperiled country. The Trump administration has eyed deep cuts to funding for the controversial UN, but Haley sought to combat the narrative that those cuts would hurt those most in need. According to McClatchey, Haley told reporters that the U. S. was “not pulling back” from the crisis and was in fact “engaging more. ” The Trump administration’s policy on the crisis, particularly President Trump’s executive order on immigration, has attracted the criticism of members of foreign governments, including figures in the United Nations. In an address to the League of Arab States in March, UN Antonio Guterres said it “breaks my heart to see developed countries closing their borders to refugees fleeing this region, and worse, sometimes invoking religion as a reason to keep them out. ” But Haley has already gained a reputation for standing up to the UN. On multiple occasions, she has blasted the body’s bias. In March, she demanded a UN report calling Israel an “apartheid state” be withdrawn — which it was. In April, when Bolivia requested a session of the UN Security Council in the wake of a chemical weapons attack in Syria, Haley denied the request. “Any country that chooses to defend the atrocities of the Syrian regime will have to do so in full public view, for all the world to hear,” she said, also blasting the “empty words” of other members of the council. Haley foreshadowed her defense of the U. S. policy in an last week for The Wall Street Journal. In it, Haley defended the U. S. saying “The U. S. is doing more than anyone. ” Talking about how she was heckled at an international women’s conference in April, she argued that “those who accuse the U. S. of heartlessness in the face of this crisis are wrong. ” “No country has invested more in protecting, housing, feeding and caring for Syrian refugees than the U. S. We have provided nearly $6. 5 billion in emergency assistance for Syria since the start of the crisis. Inside Syria, some four million people benefit from U. S. assistance for essentials like food and shelter every month,” Haley wrote. Haley said she would bring attention to U. S. food programs on her trip to Turkey and Jordan, including programs that deliver aid to Syrians still trapped in the country. “With American help, Syria’s neighbors have made the difference between life and death for millions of Syrians. The U. S. and the UN will continue to do a great deal of heavy lifting for these desperate people,” she wrote. Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY. | 0fake |
UPDATE: UNDER PRESSURE? MISS USA Just Flip Flopped On Healthcare [VIDEO] | The glowing review we gave to Miss USA Kara McCullough must be revoked Bummer!She was our hero when she defended liberty from the liberals who believe healthcare is not a right but a privilege. Liberals wasted no time exploding in rage, seeing it as an intolerable betrayal of their ideology by someone who had an advantage in the pursuit of her crown due to political correctness. Today we see this: I am privileged to have health care. I do believe it should be a right. @MissUSA 2017 K ra McCullough clarifies response. #MissUSA pic.twitter.com/QCc7irmmmq Good Morning America (@GMA) May 16, 2017If healthcare is to be a right for all worldwide, you had better open up your wallet. Places like Uganda cannot be provided with modern healthcare on a coercive basis at the national level. Socialism has always been globalist in its redistributive aspirations.Hot Air says maybe she really is clarifying rather than reversing what she actually meant:Her answer on Sunday night wasn t all that coherent ( to all the American citizens worldwide ?). She may have heard the word privilege and, in the stress of the moment, processed it not in the legal sense but in the colloquial sense, as a synonym for gratitude for one s good fortune. E.g., it s a privilege to be a citizen of the greatest country in the world, I m privileged to have a wonderfully supportive family, what a privilege to have good medical care through your job, etc. A pageant contestant wants to project graciousness, so that s what she did.Or maybe she was taken to the woodshed for an attitude adjustment, and came back a commie.Via: moonbattery | 1real |
Washington police chief says violent protest an isolated incident | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A violent protest that erupted in Washington on U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration day is a small, isolated incident, Interim Chief of Police Peter Newsham told CNN in an interview on Friday, adding that about 90 people have been arrested. Newsham said the violent group consisted of a couple hundred protesters, while thousands of others are peacefully demonstrating elsewhere across the national’s capital city. | 0fake |
Seth Meyers Shows Clip After Clip Of Trump’s Incredible Stupidity (VIDEO) | Seth Meyers takes his A Closer Look segment to destroy President Donald Trump and his Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Meyers found more examples of stupidity on behalf of the White House, including a reference to something George W. Bush said that clearly went over the president s head. Bush said that the Oval Office is that shape to have no corners to hide in. He also brought up a recent interview Trump did with John Dickerson, of CBS s Face the Nation. Trump referred to the show as Deface the Nation. While calling news outlets he doesn t like is not anything new, this was the first time he did it to the reporter s face and while taping an interview for the show in question.The comedian wasn t done there. He also eviscerated the performance of the press secretary who seems to make less and less sense in his daily press briefings. Despite Spicer s claims, the new border fence was paid for by previous administrations. Featured image via Lloyd Bishop/NBC. | 1real |
Asked to explain 'calm before the storm' remark, Trump talks North Korea | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to confirm he had North Korea in mind last week when he described a gathering of military leaders as the calm before the storm. In an interview with U.S. network Fox News, Trump was asked what he meant with the cryptic phrase, which had fueled concerns the United States and North Korea were closer to war. We can t let this to go on. We just can t, Trump said in response to the question, adding that China has been very helpful in the situation. They cut off banking to North Korea. Trump made the calm before the storm comment during an Oct 5 photo opportunity before having dinner with U.S. military leaders and their wives. The dinner followed a meeting in which Trump and the military leaders discussed Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and the fight against Islamic State. On Wednesday, Trump also characterized a diplomatic deal with North Korea brokered under former President Bill Clinton as a failure. Before ... the ink was dry on the contract, they were already starting again with the missiles, and with the nuclear, frankly, Trump said. We cannot allow this to happen. This should have been taken care of long ago. he said. | 0fake |
Trump will pursue 'regional hegemony' in South China Sea: Chinese academics | BEIJING (Reuters) - A Donald Trump presidency does not mean the United States will withdraw from the South China Sea, but rather will continue pursuing “regional hegemony”, Chinese academics who drafted a report for an influential government think tank said on Friday. Ensuring “absolute control” over the South China Sea was the crux of U.S. military strategy in the Asia-Pacific, according to what the authors said was China’s first ever public report on the U.S. military presence in the region, released on Friday in Beijing. “There will be no overturning change to U.S. policy in the South China Sea,” said Wu Shicun, head of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, an influential Hainan-based think tank that wrote the report. Trump rarely mentioned the South China Sea on the campaign trail, but concentrated on the economic relationship with Beijing, threatening to label China a currency manipulator and impose import tariffs on Chinese imports. U.S. commitments to its allies would not change, nor would its stance on protecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, said Wu. As such, tensions between China and the United States in the South China Sea would likely grow in lock-step with China’s military growth, he added. China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. Recent U.S. efforts to counter what it sees as China limiting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea have drawn Beijing’s ire and stoked fears of military conflict. A patrol by U.S. warships in October was dubbed “illegal” and “provocative” by the Chinese Defence Ministry. “From the U.S. perspective, China’s large-scale construction activities in the South China Sea confirmed U.S. suspicion that China intended to implement an anti-access/area-denial strategy,” the report said. There would be “more continuity than change” in Trump’s military policy in the Asia-Pacific, said Zhu Feng, director of the South China Sea Center at Nanjing University, at the report launch. Trump may not use the term “rebalancing” to the region, but he would likely retain most of policies, he added. Both academics agreed that there was a high possibility of increased U.S. military spending in the Asia-Pacific under Trump. A Trump administration would “not be an exception” to other Republican-led governments that increase military spending when they take office, said Zhu Feng. The build-up of military might in the region has led to worries of a rising risk of accidental collisions that could spark conflict. Zhu said that the decision to release a public report now was not China “preparing for war” but rather to avoid an “arms race” between China and the United States. | 0fake |
ONE BEER COMPANY Praised For Shutting Down Business To Help Texas Flood Victims, While Popular Pastor Joel Osteen Gets SLAMMED For Keeping Megachurch Doors Shut To Flood Victims | The Anheuser-Busch Brewery put beer production on hold this week, instead of canning safe drinking water to distribute to flooding victims affected by Hurricane Harvey.More than 50,000 cans of emergency drinking water will be sent from the brewing company s factory in Cartersville, Ga., a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch said to FOX5.The water will be distributed at Red Cross shelters in Baton Rouge, La., where Flash Flood Watch is in effect through Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Throughout the year, we periodically pause beer production at our Cartersville, Ga., brewery to produce emergency canned drinking water so we are ready to help out communities across the country in times of crisis, said Sarah Schilling, brewmaster at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in a statement. Putting our production and logistics strengths to work by providing safe, clean drinking water is the best way we can help in these situations, she said. FOX NewsMeanwhile, Joel Osteen, the pastor of the Lakewood megachurch in Houston, TX, is being hammered on social for keeping the doors to his church closed to victims of the worst recorded flood in Houston s history. Osteen s net worth is valued at over $40 million. In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Joel Osteen tweeted to his followers:Victoria & I are praying for everyone affected by Hurricane Harvey. Please join us as we pray for the safety of our Texas friends & family. Joel Osteen (@JoelOsteen) August 26, 2017Apparently, many folks on Twitter didn t feel as though the pastor, who also happens to be mega-rich, is doing enough to help the people who have supported his luxury lifestyle for years.One Twitter user published photos that were allegedly taken in the parking lot of the Lakewood megachurch following the massive flooding. If these pictures are indeed accurate, the Lakewood church appears to be unaffected by the flooding.UPDATE: Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston IS accessible. Their statement it's inaccessible is a LIE. Pic from 1-hr ago! pic.twitter.com/S8v57Bh68R TRUMP 24/7 (@MichaelDelauzon) August 28, 2017This Twitter user reminded Olsteen that the church belongs to God and not to him. Collin Rugg tells Osteen to Open up His doors & let the people of Houston in! Joel Osteen,"Your" mega church doesn't belong to you, it belongs to GodOpen up His doors & let the people of Houston in!#HoustonStrong Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 29, 2017This Twitter user offered a similar sentiment:Joel Osteen has made millions in Jesus' name, but when it comes time to actually act like a Christian he fails spectacularly. #Houston Lori O. (@lori_oh) August 28, 2017This Twiter user posted a picture of his Catholic priest actually working in the Houston floods to help victims.This is Father David Bergeron, the Father at my Catholic Church. He was out in a kayak yesterday blessing+helping ppl, Joel Osteen who???? pic.twitter.com/oVsNWniUsx Triiodide Ion (@alfredomorenx) August 28, 2017Outspoken conservative Pastor Greg Locke reminded Osteen of his obligation to show the love of Christ at this very moment , telling him to OPEN THE DOORS. Joel Osteen, as a Pastor you have a huge obligation to show the love of Christ at this very moment. OPEN THE DOORS. #HoustonStrong Pastor Greg Locke (@pastorlocke) August 28, 2017If the New Orleans Saints could open their stadium to the public during Katrina, Joel Osteen can open up his church for the Houston flooding Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 28, 2017Please understand that Joel Osteen does NOT represent Christianity. Never has, never will. @JoelOsteen #HoustonStrong #MAGA pic.twitter.com/5sSaUrzFvY M A N them (@mikandynothem) August 28, 2017Joel Osteen's megachurch is designed for the rising tithe, not tide. Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 28, 2017 | 1real |
Must be impeach of a hand | Must be impeach of a hand page: 1 link Mingling through some thoughts tonight on thoughts of current events and the next president. No matter who wins, there will be plenty of baggage being brought into the White House. Between tapes and recordings being uncovered to Wikileaks and Project Veritas, corruption and ethical immoralities run deep in both candidates. The drips and leaks from both ends of the mudpit seem to be coming to a fever pitch. Will it end on Nov.9 or will there still be more. Could each side be holding on to a real key piece of damning material to have our future POTUS impeached? This brings up the choices of VP. Kaine and Pence. Now I could just be a tad ignorant here, but I've never heard of either one of them. I understand that they've had minor roles in government however the choices struck me as odd. Were these two possibly chosen for them? Are they the backup plan? | 1real |
Obama, in Major National Security Speech, Defends Counterterrorism Legacy - The New York Times | TAMPA, Fla. — In his final planned address on national security as commander in chief, President Obama said on Tuesday that for eight years, his administration protected the nation against major terrorist attacks from abroad while adhering to American values and the rule of law. “No foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland,” Mr. Obama said to loud applause in a large military hangar here. “And it’s not because they didn’t try. Plots have been disrupted. Terrorists have been taken off the battlefield. And we’ve done this even as we’ve drawn down nearly 180, 000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. ” The speech was intended as a valedictory answer to years of criticism from conservatives that Mr. Obama’s break with many of President George W. Bush’s policies — ending the torture of terrorism suspects and withdrawing most American ground forces from Afghanistan and Iraq — had left the country vulnerable. And many liberals have complained that Mr. Obama had betrayed his 2008 campaign supporters by acting too much like Mr. Bush in continuing and even expanding some policies, such as targeted killings using drones. Mr. Obama gave the speech at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. home to the military’s Central Command and Special Operations Command, both of which have been crucial to his fight against terrorism and efforts to wind down the wars fought since Sept. 11, 2001. He stood before a crowd of about 2, 500 men and women mostly in uniform and presented himself as the most president in the country’s history. “On January 20th, I will become the first president of the United States to serve two full terms during a time of war,” he said. He defended an approach to fighting wars that did not bankrupt the Treasury or cause thousands of deaths. He noted, for instance, that he has spent $10 billion over the last two years fighting the Islamic State — the same amount of money President George W. Bush spent in just one month fighting the Iraq War. And he laid out a series of principles: keep the terrorist threat in perspective, avoid military overreach, adhere to the rule of law, use restraint when carrying out strikes to minimize repercussions, be open with the public, use diplomacy and protect civil liberties. While Mr. Obama had been planning the speech for months, Donald J. Trump’s election victory made the address all the more vital for him. The president sought to defend his legacy and provide a road map for a successor with no experience in national security — and warn Mr. Trump away from some of his more controversial positions and advisers. Mr. Trump has, on occasion, advocated the use of torture and questioned the value of NATO and other alliances, although he has since modulated those positions. “First of all, a sustainable counterterrorism strategy depends on keeping the threat in perspective,” Mr. Obama said. The fighters of the Islamic State or Al Qaeda are not the worry some claim they are, he said. “They are thugs and they are murderers and they should be treated that way,” Mr. Obama said. And while defending the use of wartime powers to fight terrorists — something many liberals reject — he also emphasized the importance of sometimes relying on law enforcement powers that the Bush administration explicitly rejected as a response to a threat. For example, Mr. Obama argued that it had proved more effective to prosecute terrorism suspects in civilian courts than military commissions. For a historic comparison, Mr. Obama pointed out that fascism threatened to overrun the globe during World War II, and the Soviet Union threatened a nuclear holocaust during the Cold War. “Today’s terrorists can kill innocent people, but they don’t pose an existential threat to our nation and we cannot make the mistake of elevating them as if they do,” he said, because exaggerating their powers helps bring them enhanced credibility among their followers and potential followers. “These terrorists can never directly destroy our way of life but we can do it for them if we lose track of who we are and the values that this nation was founded on,” he said. Mr. Trump has proposed banning immigration from Muslim countries, and some Republicans have proposed scrutiny of Muslim communities in the United States. Mr. Obama criticized such proposals. Michael T. Flynn, a retired general who is Mr. Trump’s choice for national security adviser, has emphasized the threat represented by Islamic extremism, which he said is spreading. “Protecting liberty? That’s something we do for all Americans, not just some,” Mr. Obama said. And while the Islamic State and Al Qaeda claim to be fighting on behalf of Islam, he said they do not speak for Muslims everywhere, including the United States. “If we act like this is a war between the United States and Islam, we’re not just going to lose more Americans to terrorist attacks, but we’re also going lose the very principles we claim to defend,” he said. Mr. Obama also expressed frustrations with Congress, reiterating his criticism that lawmakers did not act on his request to enact a new and limited war authorization to battle the Islamic State. He also complained that Congress did not lift legal restrictions that prevented him from closing the Guantánamo Bay prison, which he called “a blot on our national honor. ” Mr. Obama’s speech drew criticism from Republicans, including his 2008 presidential campaign opponent, Senator John McCain of Arizona. “President Obama’s speech was nothing more than a feeble attempt to evade the harsh judgment of history,” Mr. McCain said. “But to the American people, our emboldened enemies, and our dispirited allies, his legacy on counterterrorism is unmistakably clear: a disastrous withdrawal from Iraq, the terrorist rampage of ISIL, an indecisive approach to the war in Afghanistan that has empowered the Taliban, and an indifferent approach to the carnage in Syria on which our terrorist enemies have thrived. No rhetorical conceit will alter history’s verdict. ” His speech was interrupted by raucous applause on several occasions, including when he said that one of his core convictions as commander in chief was “that we are and must remain the strongest fighting force the world has ever known. ” Mr. Obama acknowledged that the situation in Afghanistan is not perfect, but that the fight is now almost entirely being waged by Afghan forces, not by Americans. He also acknowledged that there have been a series of domestic terrorist attacks during his presidency that were “carried out by homegrown and largely isolated individuals who were radicalized online. ” But while such attacks — he cited the Boston Marathon bombing and shooting sprees at Fort Hood, Tex. San Bernardino, Calif. and Orlando, Fla. — cause “pain,” he said, they cannot inflict the kind of mass casualties that the attackers managed. Mr. Obama’s choice of MacDill Air Force Base to deliver the speech was symbolic, because much of his antiterrorism strategy, including the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, relied on Special Operations forces. Such troops can be used in small raids in ways that do not attract the opposition and attacks that large bodies of forces would. | 0fake |
Turkey orders detention of 133 ministry workers in post-coup probe: Anadolu | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities issued detention warrants for 133 people working in the finance and labor ministries, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Thursday, as part of a widening crackdown following last year s failed coup attempt. The suspects were detained for allegedly using ByLock, an encrypted messaging app which the government says was used by the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara of orchestrating last July s abortive putsch. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies involvement. Anadolu said 101 of the suspects were from the finance ministry and 32 from the labor ministry. It said two of the suspects from each ministry were active workers. Since then more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over links to Gulen, while 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors. Rights groups and some of Turkey s Western allies have voiced concern about the crackdown, fearing the government is using the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. The government says only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network, which it says deeply infiltrated institutions such as the army, schools and courts. | 0fake |
THE BEST CASE For A TRUMP PRESIDENCY Comes From A Foreigner: “I’ve lived your future, if you keep going, you’re not going to like it” | A Trump presidency won t only wipe out political correctness in America; it ll wipe it off the face of the earth. Political correctness is destroying America, and Western civilization.This year America celebrates her 240th birthday. If she is to make her tri-centennial in 2076, a feat few great nations in history have achieved, it will need to crush this totalitarian ideology that is currently strangling it.Every problem in America today is linked to political correctness. Declining educational standards, increasing secularism, the police not being allowed to do their job, an inability to secure her borders, a diminished America in the world theatre and reluctance to smash the evil of currently rampaging Islamism all of it is rooted in politically-correct ideology. Nothing is more antithetical to America s foundational principles.Political correctness seeks to eliminate individualism, identity and confidence; three characteristics indispensable to American greatness. If you want to see the end result, look no further than Europe. The intellectual tyranny, self-loathing and choking conformity of this ideology has feminized and weakened a once great continent which now aspires to mediocrity. The same is true of America s English-speaking cousins.I write this not as an American.But as somebody that wants Western civilization to prosper. Everyone has an investment in keeping the United States as culturally robust and powerful as imaginable, because the world s fortunes travel with it. What is good for America is good for the world.I am here to tell you I ve lived your future, if you keep going, you re not going to like it. It s why I ve written Retaking America: Crushing Political Correctness .The entire world looks on as Americans make their choice for president. The president of the United States is also the president of the free world. All of us have a stake. For example, people in Australia aren t sleeping well right now because President Obama is not keeping the world safe. Change can t come quickly enough for many around the world.The world needs an American president that is clear-minded and right-thinking. That encourages a climate of straight talking and decisive action. That has the moral clarity to defend Christians and the West. An alpha male prepared to win for his people.People are losing their jobs, missing out on opportunities and being targeted. What was born on college campuses has been armed through social media by electronic cockroaches that should never have been given a voice. The parameters of public debate have shrunk, and civil society s ability to conduct rational, cool-headed conversations is being usurped by a crude marketplace of outrage and a new victimhood movement. Freedom is an obvious casualty of political correctness, but following close behind is truth and reality.Many people around the world despair. But every now and again, a public figure emerges who transcends politics and has an undisputed ability to change the culture.This is why the world needs to use its Trump card. He is uniquely positioned to change the culture of the world, and restore American greatness and Western confidence through attitude alone.A President Trump would be the best thing, not only for America, but for the entire world.Proud, confident, bold, patriotic, outspoken, self-reliant, mega-successful, charitable, a force of nature; Donald Trump is American exceptionalism on steroids.For too long, America s educational and media elites have relentlessly and recklessly portrayed America as a hateful place. It s not. It s the greatest country in this history of the world. But political correctness is giving it an identity crisis. Some may well call Donald Trump an egomaniac and his election to the highest office, risky but right now, America needs an ego-boost. It needs to believe in itself again. Only then can there be an American renaissance.Via: Nick Adams, for TownhallNick Adams is the brilliant author of Retaking America: Crushing Political Correctness available on Amazon HERE | 1real |
Armstrong and Green: What Does the March for Science Mean by ’Science’? | What is the “Scientific method”? [Saturday’s March for Science calls for “robustly funded” science and “political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence based policies in the public interest. ” But is this just an attempt to dress up the marchers’ political beliefs as science? And what do they mean by science? Fortunately for those who care, there is a remarkable level of agreement in the writings of scientific pioneers such as Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and Benjamin Franklin on the nature of the scientific method. That agreement is also reflected in the definition provided by the Oxford English Dictionary. We have expanded on the established definition and identified eight necessary criteria for a work to be considered useful science. The criteria include objectivity and full disclosure. We expect that most scientists would agree with these criteria as obviously true and important. The pioneers of science charted the way by describing how to comply with the criteria. To be objective, according to Newton, the study should compare all reasonable hypotheses by using a fair and balanced experimental design. We have summarized the eight criteria on a checklist (available at guidelinesforscience. com). You can easily refer to it to assess whether something you are looking at is a work of science. By using the checklist, you do not have to depend on an authority to tell you “this is what the science says. ” Knowing and agreeing with the criteria in the checklist does not help. To be useful, the checklist must be used. The checklist is concerned only with the scientific method, so one does not need to be an expert in the field or topic to use it. In fact, experts may have difficulty rating the scientific compliance of works in their own field. They are likely to be biased against findings that challenge conventional wisdom. We found that the ratings of raters who did not use the checklist were unreliable. Their ratings differed substantially from those derived using the checklist. When faculty and students raters used the checklist, their ratings were remarkably consistent. The checklist is available at guidelinesforscience. com. The checklist is badly needed. One cannot rely on the fact that a purported discovery was published in a scientific publication. When we used the checklist to rate papers published in leading scientific journals, we found less than one percent of them to be compliant with the scientific method. We suggest that you try out the checklist at the March for Science rallies. Show your respect for the scientific method and, as Newton emphasized, be willing to consider alternatives. Be fair in evaluating alternative hypotheses. You have to ask yourself the question, “Can I imagine any evidence that would prove my favored hypothesis is wrong?” If you can’t, you are not approaching the subject with an open mind. You also fail Newton’s criteria for understanding science. Speakers should comply with science. Listeners should be respectful and request of the speakers, “Please show us that you have complied with science. ” It’s not enough for them to say that they have followed the scientific method. Progress in all fields relies on the scientific method. Science is a process. Voting has no place in science. Scientific laws always eventually prevail over the political laws created by our elected officials. The March for Science should not simply be another way for us to express our opinions. It should not be an effort to pressure scientists and voters to agree with us. The scientific method is the best way we have of engaging in factual disputes. J. Scott Armstrong (jscottarmstrong@upenn. edu ) is a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Kesten C. Green (kesten. green@unisa. edu. au) teaches managerial economics in the University of South Australia Business School. | 0fake |
Ending Iran nuclear deal would worsen North Korea situation: Kerry | GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump risks driving Iran towards nuclear proliferation and worsening a standoff with North Korea if Washington ends a nuclear deal with Tehran, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said late on Thursday. Kerry, who negotiated the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, was speaking a week after Trump refused to certify that Tehran was in compliance with it, amid growing tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. “If you want to negotiate with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un, and your goal is to avoid war and try to be able to have a diplomatic resolution, the worst thing you can do is first threaten to destroy his country in the United Nations,” Kerry said. He was speaking in a private lecture delivered at Geneva’s Graduate Institute. “And secondly, screw around with the deal that has already been made because the message is, don’t make a deal with the United States, they won’t keep their word,” he said. The nuclear deal places Iran under tough restraints, including inspections, round-the-clock surveillance and tracking every ounce of uranium produced, Kerry said. “We would notice an uptick in their enrichment, like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “And nobody that I know of with common sense can understand what the virtue is in accelerating a confrontation with the possibility that they might decide they want to break out and make it (a nuclear bomb) now instead of 10 or 15 or 25 years from now.” Kerry, a former Senator who headed the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Swiss media that Trump’s leaving the Iranian deal’s fate to Congress was “very dangerous” and opened the door to “party politics”. Congress cannot unilaterally renegotiate a multilateral accord, the Geneva daily Le Temps quoted him as saying. “It is possible that Congress would make an unreasonable decision that would put Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a very complicated political situation that could force him to retaliate. It’s a slippery slope.” Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran would stick to its accord as long as the other signatories respected it, but would “shred” the deal if Washington pulled out, state TV reported. If Iran violated the accord, U.N. sanctions would snap back into place, Kerry told the audience. “Moreover, at that point in time folks, we have a year of break-up. We have all the time that we need in the world to be able to bomb their facilities into submission.” Ending the deal could lead to Iran hiding fissile production facilities “deep in a mountain where we have no insight”. “So the scenario that Trump opens up by saying ‘let’s get rid of the deal’ is actually proliferation, far more damaging and dangerous,” Kerry said. | 0fake |
German lawmakers visit Turkish air base but dispute unresolved | BERLIN (Reuters) - German politicians visited their country s troops at an air base in Turkey on Friday but some lawmakers said they would not extend the airmen s mission to take part in NATO air patrols unless an underlying dispute over visiting rights was resolved. Germany s armed forces are under parliamentary control and Berlin insists lawmakers must have access to them, but Turkey has repeatedly prevented visits from taking place. Friday s visit was arranged by NATO, sidestepping Ankara s objections. Some of the lawmakers, who were flown to the Konya air base on a NATO plane from the alliance s Brussels headquarters, said Germany s parliament would only extend the troops mandate if future visits were more straightforward. The current mandate expires at the end of this year. The conflict over visiting rights must be dealt with before parliament votes again on the mandate, said Green lawmaker Tobias Lindner, a member of the delegation. Flying via Brussels cannot be a long-term solution. Relations between Ankara and Berlin were already strained by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan s crackdown on opponents after a failed coup last year, and Turkey s refusal to let German members of parliament visit airmen based in the country has exacerbated tensions. It must be possible for us to visit our soldiers serving abroad, said Henning Otte, a lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel s ruling conservative party. Germany has a parliamentary army. Seven German lawmakers visited the handful of German troops serving in a NATO air surveillance mission at Konya. The delegation was led by NATO s Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller. There are usually around 25 German soldiers based in Konya although only a handful were present at the base on Friday. Some more arrived with the lawmakers in the NATO plane. Turkey had objected particularly strenuously to the participation of a member of Germany s far-left Left party whom Ankara accuses of supporting terrorists. Repeated refusals by Ankara to let lawmakers visit German soldiers at Incirlik, another base in Turkey, prompted Berlin to relocate those troops to Jordan in July. Turkey and Germany are also at odds over Berlin s refusal to extradite asylum seekers Ankara accuses of involvement in last year s failed coup against Erdogan, while Berlin is demanding the release of an imprisoned Turkish-German journalist. The deterioration in relations has led German Chancellor Angela Merkel to say she will seek to end Turkey s membership talks with the European Union. | 0fake |
Obama Has Harsh Words After Veto Override On 9/11 Bill: ‘It Was A Mistake’ (VIDEO) | President Obama had scathing words for the lawmakers who voted to overturn his presidential veto on a bill that will allow victims of terrorists to sue foreign nationals.The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) will allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, the country where many of the terrorists were from. The bill passed Congress with a unanimous vote, but on Friday, Obama used his veto pen to strike the law down.However, the Senate voted 97-1 to overturn the president s veto and Congress voted in favor of the veto override 348-77, meaning the bill has now become law despite Obama s objections.This is the first time in Obama s presidency that lawmakers have voted to override his veto. According to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, it is the single most embarrassing thing the Senate has done. Speaking to CNN s Jake Tapper, President Obama said their decision to override the veto was a mistake. I think it was a mistake, and I understand why it happened. Obviously all of us still carry the scars and trauma of 9/11, the president said, noting that there is a long list of resources available to help support the victims of this tragedy.Obama voiced his objections to the bill yet again, explaining that it will do away with sovereign immunity. which win turn, put Americans abroad in danger of finding themselves facing private lawsuits in countries around the world. It s a dangerous precedent and it s an example why sometimes you have to do what s hard, Obama said. And frankly I wish Congress here had done what s hard. I didn t expect it, because if you re perceived as voting against 9/11 families right before an election, not surprisingly, that s a vote for people to take. But it would have been the right thing to do. Watch Obama respond to the veto override, here:Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
In City Built by Immigrants, Immigration Is the Defining Political Issue - The New York Times | HAZLETON, Pa. — Thousands of Dominicans have poured into this little city in eastern Pennsylvania since 2001 to work in the food plants and warehouses on the edge of town, where the highway to New York meets the highway to Philadelphia. Hazleton’s population is growing for the first time in more than half a century. Landlords, doctors and shopkeepers are learning to love their new customers. But the city’s economic evolution has left behind its previous, working class, and the presidential election has crystallized its frustrations. Many of those losing ground economically, including lifelong Democrats, say they plan to vote for Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee. Many of those who are prospering, including lifelong Republicans, say they will vote for the Democrat, Hillary Clinton. For both sides, how to deal with immigration has become a defining political issue, one that is likely to transcend the contretemps over Mr. Trump’s treatment of women that has cost him so much support among elected Republicans. This city was built by European immigrants who flocked here a century ago to work in the coal mines. Their children found better jobs in the factories. Now their grandchildren are struggling against economic decline and cultural displacement. “I don’t care for this town no more because of the Hispanics,” said Lewis Beishline, 70, as he sat drinking at 11 a. m. on a Friday at Cusat’s Cafe, a bar owned by the mayor of Hazleton, who lives upstairs. Mr. Beishline, a retired welder, said he moved from Hazleton to a nearby town last year because he no longer felt safe. He plans to vote for Mr. Trump, he said, “because of the immigration. ” The Hispanic community, meanwhile, is eager to establish its own political power in the face of what many describe as persistent and painful discrimination. Community leaders in this city of 25, 000 say they have registered more than 800 Hispanic voters in recent months, expanding the voting rolls by almost 10 percent. “I tell my kids, if someone asks where you are from, you say ‘Hazleton,’” said Guillermo Lara, 49, who moved here from Mexico in the early 1990s and whose two daughters were born here. “We’re here, and we don’t go nowhere. We want more. ” That sharp divide is mirrored by the candidates seeking the Oval Office. Beyond his promised wall and deportations, Mr. Trump has denigrated immigrants repeatedly, at times without distinguishing between legal and illegal immigration. “Donald Trump’s position on illegal immigration plays a big role in his support not only in Hazleton but in northeast Pennsylvania,” said Lou Barletta, a Republican who represents the region in Congress and has stood by his nominee as other Republicans in Congress have fled. In 2006, as Hazleton’s mayor, Mr. Barletta championed a ordinance penalizing employers and landlords for dealing with illegal immigrants. The courts blocked it from taking effect, but Mr. Barletta said Mr. Trump’s popularity reflected the continued demand for stronger government action. “He’s going to win here, and win big,” Mr. Barletta said. Mr. Barletta introduced Mr. Trump at a rally in nearby on Monday night, declaring that voters in northeastern Pennsylvania would propel Mr. Trump to the White House. Mrs. Clinton, by contrast, has celebrated immigrants, both legal and illegal, as important contributors to American society. Her campaign describes her plan to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants as one of her most important ideas for increasing economic growth. “Comprehensive immigration reform will grow our economy and keep families together — and it’s the right thing to do,” Mrs. Clinton said in accepting the party’s presidential nomination in Philadelphia, about 100 miles southeast of Hazleton. The Hispanic population grew faster in Luzerne County, which includes Hazleton, than almost any other county between 2000 and 2011, according to the Pew Research Center. While immigration has slowed since the 2008 recession, Hispanics continue to move here from larger cities like New York and Paterson, N. J. In the 2000 census, just 4. 9 percent of Hazleton’s population identified as Hispanic. A decade later, that figure was 37 percent. By 2014, the most recent data available, 46 percent of the population said it was Hispanic. In all likelihood, Hazleton is now a city, just like the nearby cities of Reading and Allentown. The Hispanic ascendence emerged from seismic economic shifts, said Jamie Longazel, a professor of sociology at the University of Dayton who grew up just outside Hazleton and wrote a book, “Undocumented Fears,” about the city’s struggles with immigration. When the local coal mines began to close in the 1950s, Hazleton residents raised money to build an industrial park that attracted factories to the region. When the factories began to leave in the 1990s, the city mobilized again. Local officials won state permission to create one of Pennsylvania’s largest Keystone Opportunity Zones. A Cargill meat processing and distribution plant arrived in 2001. Other distribution businesses have followed, including an Amazon. com warehouse. Many residents claim that city officials advertised for immigrant labor on billboards in New York or New Jersey, but Mr. Longazel said there was no evidence that ever happened. The truth is that the immigration was unanticipated but most likely inevitable. “The new jobs don’t pay as much as the old jobs did, and the reality is that folks were just not interested,” Mr. Longazel said. The city also was also aging. Almost a quarter of the population was over 65 in 2000, roughly twice the national average. And nature abhors a vacuum — especially in a work force. Many of the new arrivals trace their roots to one Dominican city, San José de Ocoa. Hazleton’s old shopping streets, nearly abandoned in the 1990s, are now lined with Dominican bakeries, barbershops, travel agencies and Mexican restaurants. The Italian restaurants are now run by Mexican families. The city has two Spanish radio stations and a television station that broadcasts six hours of local programming a day. Stephen M. Schleicher, a dermatologist, said Hispanic residents now made up a third of his patients. He has hired a bilingual receptionist and is looking for a bilingual nurse. He has started placing ads in the local newspaper. Dr. Schleicher, a lifelong Republican, said that Mr. Trump’s views on immigration had persuaded him, albeit reluctantly, to vote for Mrs. Clinton. “We’re seeing a total revitalization despite the government trying to keep the immigrants out,” he said. “It would have been a ghost town of older white people. ” Yet it is easy to overstate Hazleton’s recovery. Many of the new jobs pay poorly. Almost 29 percent of the population lived in poverty in 2014, almost twice the national average. And Hazleton’s evolution has inspired deep resentment. Many residents complain bitterly about the new arrivals not speaking English, about loud music late at night, about people walking in the street and driving without regard for traffic rules. Wana Bostic, 45, scrapes by on $11. 50 an hour as a home health aide. She said that she was not paid nearly enough, but that employers can squeeze workers because of the ready availability of immigrant labor. “No one talks about white Americans and what we really need,” she said. Crime has increased, as has drug use. The police force, meanwhile, has shrunk with declining tax revenue. Many residents are convinced that illegal immigration is to blame. “If you come into the country breaking the law, that’s not a good way to get your foot in the door,” said Nick Zapotocky, 31, who now has three deadbolt locks on the door of his home. “That says you’re willing to break the law again. ” He voted for President Obama in 2008. In 2012, he did not vote. And this year, he said he will vote for Mr. Trump. Francisco said people were blinded by their fear of change, unable to see the benefits that immigration is bringing to Hazleton. Mr. whose father was Mexican, runs a company that makes caps for old wells. He employs 30 people in the summer, only a few of them Hispanic. And he noted that some of the largest employers in the area are now Mexican companies, including Bimbo Bakeries, which has a plant nearby that makes millions of Thomas’ English Muffins. Mr. said he had always voted Republican, loyal to his pocketbook. But he plans to vote for Mrs. Clinton, he said. “They fear they’re losing what they remember,” he said. “But what can you do? The United States is in evolution. Apple pie came after the Germans arrived. Maybe it will now be ‘As American as salsa.’ So what?” Hazleton still has no Hispanic elected officials. The city just added its first Hispanic police officer. The public school system, which has very few Hispanic teachers, was ordered by the federal Department of Education in 2014 to improve efforts to teach English to immigrants, and to communicate with parents. But a second generation of Hispanic Americans in Hazleton may force change. Mr. Lara worked three jobs to pay private school tuition so his daughters could avoid Hazleton’s high school. After days in a factory, he washed dishes at night and cleaned offices on weekends. Two years ago, his eldest daughter, Amanda, graduated from Ithaca College in upstate New York with a degree in psychology and came home. She teaches classes for Hispanic children in the building that was once her elementary school. It has become a community center thanks in large part to Joe Maddon, a Hazleton native who manages the Chicago Cubs. Ms. Lara, who is studying for a master’s degree at the University of Scranton, said racial tensions had increased. At the city’s annual Funfest, she noticed an empty space between the Hispanic vendors and the Polish and Italian vendors. “And I hear it from my kids,” she said of her students. “They’re not dumb. They can tell when they’re not liked or they’re not welcome. ” But she said she was not sure she wanted to move away. “People say, ‘Why would you want to stay there? ’” she said. “Well, for one thing, this is my hometown. ” | 0fake |
One-in-five U.S. Republicans want Trump to drop out: Reuters/Ipsos poll | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly one-fifth of registered Republicans want Donald Trump to drop out of the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, reflecting the turmoil his candidacy has sown within his party. Some 19 percent think the New York real estate magnate should drop out, 70 percent think he should stay in and 10 percent say they “don’t know,” according to the Aug. 5-8 poll of 396 registered Republicans. The poll has a confidence interval of six percentage points. Among all registered voters, some 44 percent want Trump to drop out. That is based on a survey of 1,162 registered voters, with a confidence interval of 3 percentage points. That is 9 points higher than his support for the presidency in the latest Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll. The figures underscored deep divisions within the Republican Party over Trump’s candidacy. A number of prominent Republicans have declined to endorse him in the Nov. 8 election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, citing his fiery rhetoric and policy proposals such as building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country. Mike Smith, a 74-year-old retiree from Clearwater, Florida, said he supported Trump for much longer than he should have, but now feels the candidate should drop out of the race. Trump “has not comported himself as a leader,” said Smith, adding that he might vote for Clinton over his party’s nominee. “His policies don’t seem to be well formed, they don’t seem to make any sense,” Smith said. “The support he has from Republicans almost seems obligatory rather than voluntary.” Trump found himself embroiled in yet another controversy on Tuesday after saying at a rally that gun rights activists could act to stop Clinton from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices - a comment his campaign said was misinterpreted, but that Clinton’s campaign called “dangerous.” “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks,” Trump said at the rally at the University of North Carolina. “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know,” he continued. The U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees a right to keep and bear arms. Megan MacDonald, 25, is a Republican but did not support Trump through the primary. He has not done anything since to change her mind, and believes he should leave the race. “I just feel there are so many derogatory things that have come out of his mouth, and he’s putting it out there – it’s not like someone is finding skeletons in his closet,” said MacDonald, a stay-at-home mom in Louisiana, who may pick a third-party candidate. “It feels like he’s not even trying to be a decent person who we should look up to.” Trump had previously stirred criticism for engaging in a spat with the parents of a Muslim U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. In addition, 50 prominent national security experts signed an open letter saying they would not vote for Trump in the fall, saying he “lacks the character, values, and experience” to be president. Trump dismissed the group as part of the Washington establishment that he blames for many of the United States’ problems. Stacie McDaniel, 42, said Trump’s rhetoric has, at times, made her think he should drop out of the race. “Sometimes I think he has good intentions, but his mouth gets overloaded,” said McDaniel, a relocation director for a real estate company in Louisiana. “I think he says things that if he does get elected, he’s not going to get anything done.” Still, she plans to vote for Trump, she said, because she cannot bring herself to support Clinton. “I dislike Hillary so much,” she said. “As the lesser of two evils is why I’m voting for him.” Indeed, neither Trump nor Clinton enjoys great popularity. Some 53 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of Clinton, who has been accused of mishandling her emails as secretary of state, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Nearly 63 percent have an unfavorable view of Trump. Clinton led Trump by more than 7 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday, up from a less than 3-percentage-point lead late last week. | 0fake |
AMAZING VIDEO : Hispanics for Trump in Miami Storm the Polls, HORNS BLASTING, Shouting “USA! TRUMP!” – TruthFeed | AMAZING VIDEO : Hispanics for Trump in Miami Storm the Polls, HORNS BLASTING, Shouting “USA! TRUMP!” AMAZING VIDEO : Hispanics for Trump in Miami Storm the Polls, HORNS BLASTING, Shouting “USA! TRUMP!” Videos By Amy Moreno November 2, 2016
Don’t listen to the LYING North Korea style media, who say minorities do not support Trump.
The truth is, Donald Trump has AMAZING minority support.
And his Hispanic support in Florida is outstanding!
At one Miami precinct, voters began a parade-like storm, shouting “USA” and “Make America Great Again” as they arrived at the polls to vote for America First!
Watch the video: @realDonaldTrump latinos storming precinct 10 sw Miami to vote for our one and only president Trump!! pic.twitter.com/liu4LDey4z
— El Galope Finca (@ElGalopeFinca) October 31, 2016 This is a movement – we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the FAILED GLOBAL ESTABLISHMENT! Join the resistance and help us fight to put America First! Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter. | 1real |
HUFFINGTON POST WAVES WHITE FLAG…Calls Race For Trump…”Journalists” Pack For Canada | This is not just a win for the Alt-Right or for the Republican Party, this is a win for America. American voters are about to prove that it s possible for an outsider who loves his country so damn much, that he s willing walk away from a multi-billion dollar business and essentially trade down his glamorous NYC and Palm Beach estates, can and WILL win the most coveted prize for career politicians. For many of us, the idea of Donald J. Trump beating the odds-on favorite sociopathic liar, Hillary Clinton and her serial rapist husband, is a victory we could have never imagined only one year ago. We ve watched Donald Trump interview candidates for top jobs in his company for years on his Apprentice TV show. He knows how to pick a winner because he knows precisely what it takes to be a winner. After 8 long years of being kicked around and humiliated by Iran, Russia, Iraq, North Korea and China, American voters are ready for a leader to represent us, someone who gives us hope that America can, and will win again. Of course the idea of winning, or being the best at something is triggering liberals in the media to pack their suitcases and head for a more mediocre environment, one where the idea of Making America Great again is mocked and ridiculed. To the whiny, mediocre liberals we say, So long Lefties! We can never make America great again if half the nation believes we need to be sorry for our successes. So don t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya .And oh yeah, don t forget to come back and visit when you or a family member needs quality health care. Give us a couple of years to fix this Obamacare mess We ll be waiting If Donald Trump does sack the fortress, no one who lost the battle will want to admit it was Hillary Clinton s fault. It will have had nothing to do with, say, transparency or calling bearded villagers deplorables or the Iraq War vote or the simple fact that middle-of-the-road Clintonism ran out of gas as a public philosophy.No, other individuals, groups and forces will have to be blamed. In fact, they already are, pre-emptively. If Trump wins, we re all going to be too busy moving to Canada to read the postmortems (or write them), so we offer them to you now:1. THE MEDIA Everyone s pi ata. Trump will blame the media. Gary Johnson will blame the media. Jill Stein will blame the media. (The media will ask, Wait, which one was Jill Stein? )2. THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING Actually, they arrived long ago and got into her phone.3. MILLENNIALS Ugh. F**cking idealists, right?4. BERNIE SANDERS Remember when people worried that running unopposed in the primary would hurt Clinton? It s going to be an endless wail about how Sanders should have withdrawn sooner.5. BILL CLINTON You know how this will go down: Best campaigner of all time and he couldn t close the sale. He lost his mojo.6. SEXISTS Ugh. F**cking glass ceiling.7. OBAMA PEOPLE If they could delete all of David Axelrod s tweets, they would.8. JAMES COMEY He might as well have indicted her for real, like he did in the court of public opinion. Extremely careless.9. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ AND THE DNC Her Soviet-style approach to boosting Clinton was something that Hillary s campaign was happy to countenance. But the former DNC chair should have left room for dissent rather than let it bottle up. Huffington PostPlease note that nowhere on this list will you find the real reason the Democrats lost. And no, it s not Hillary it s actually the American voters desire to be great again period. | 1real |
Trump: Immigrants bring 'drugs ... crime' to U.S. from Mexico | - Real estate mogul Donald Trump said during his presidential announcement that Mexican migrants to the U.S. are drug traffickers and rapists, as well as "some ... good people." () | 0fake |
Poland ready to defend migration stance in EU top court | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland is ready to defend its decision in the European Union s top court to refuse to accept migrants from Africa and the Middle East under an EU plan to redistribute them, Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said. He spoke after the EU executive sued Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in the European Court of Justice on Thursday for their refusal to host these migrants. Poland is ready to defend its position in the Court, Szymanski told state news agency PAP. No one will lift the duty of providing public safety from the Polish government. The government of Poland s right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party has said it will not admit migrants, citing security concerns amid deadly Islamist attacks in western Europe and problems with ascertaining the identify of migrants. The Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it had signed a deal with the European Investment Bank to give 50 million euros to help countries and territories affected by the migration crisis, mainly Lebanon, Jordan and the West Bank. Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said that Poland - a country of 38 million - is already hosting migrants as it had issued more than a million work permits for people from neighboring Ukraine last year alone. | 0fake |
Judge to weigh citizen's 'Bridgegate' complaint against New Jersey's Christie | (Reuters) - A New Jersey judge plans to decide by Friday whether to dismiss a citizen’s criminal complaint accusing Governor Chris Christie of a role in the “Bridgegate” lane-closure scandal. Prosecutors in Bergen County told Judge Bonnie Mizdol on Wednesday that the case should be tossed on procedural grounds because a different judge who permitted it to advance failed to give Christie’s lawyers an opportunity to speak at an earlier hearing. A lawyer for Christie also urged Mizdol to throw out the complaint filed by Bill Brennan, a retired firefighter and activist who recently announced a long-shot bid to succeed the governor in this fall’s election. Christie did not attend the hearing in Hackensack, New Jersey. Brennan has accused Christie of knowing about a scheme to shut down access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 to punish a local mayor for failing to endorse his reelection campaign. Two former Christie associates were convicted in November of federal charges for orchestrating the plot. Christie has denied any knowledge of or involvement in the plan, but U.S. prosecutors presented evidence at trial suggesting he was at least aware of the lane closures while they were happening. Brennan filed the complaint in municipal court in Fort Lee, where the closures occurred. In October, Judge Roy McGeady referred the complaint to prosecutors to determine whether enough evidence existed to support criminal charges against Christie. Christie’s lawyer, Craig Carpenito, said in a court filing that the matter should never have gotten that far, calling it “a political stunt from a now-declared candidate for governor.” Brennan has said he will refile his complaint if Mizdol, the top judge in Bergen County, decides to dismiss it. Last month, Mizdol denied Brennan’s request to have an independent prosecutor assigned to the case. “As of now the defendant controls the prosecutor,” Brennan said in an email after the hearing, “and that is a dangerous place for us to be standing.” Despite Christie’s denials, the scandal dogged his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He was once seen as a possible cabinet appointee for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump until the conviction of his former allies prompted a fresh round of negative attention. Bridget Kelly, a former Christie chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive appointed by the governor, are trying to have their convictions overturned. | 0fake |
Russians Fooled Dumbass Conservatives With Meme Of Hillary Fistfighting Jesus | If Hillary Clinton got into a fistfight with Jesus, who would you want to win? Before you laugh, consider that some among us are actually stupid enough to respond positively to this sort of question assuming positively means like a bunch of douchebags. When you saw the popular meme floating around prior to the election, you probably assumed it was an over-the-top joke post. But this is the type of this that Russian bots and trolls were actually marketing to our beloved dolts on the Right.Since conservatives respond to anything with Jesus in the name the meme, which was part of a paid advertising campaign from the Russia-created Christian group Army of Jesus, was pretty successful with the Stupid Part of America.I don't know why I am so fascinated by this fake ad that @MarkWarner shared showing Hillary boxing Jesus. pic.twitter.com/BkR8XRUOYj Marcus Gilmer (@marcusgilmer) November 1, 2017The paid Russian ad, revealed by Democratic Senator Mark Warner, was among several that were showcased during Wednesday s congressional hearing with social media leaders regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.Russian operatives also pushed the idea that Texas should secede from the United States, a fake movement that became popular with very real conservatives as the election season rolled on, organized both pro- and anti-Muslim events at the same time and place, and convinced conservatives that control of the Army should be taken away from the President if that President happens to have a vagina:NEW: These are the first two Russian-bought Facebook ads to be released by Congress. pic.twitter.com/1ThgzYNdTf Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) October 31, 2017Russia ran more than 3,000 political ads on Facebook and Twitter, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to trick the American people.Much of the advertising was concentrated in key swing states, and at one point Twitter users were bombarded with more fake news than real news.This is just one of the many attacks on our election from Donald Trump s friends in Russia. Recently, former Trump advisor George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying about his efforts to expand Russia s influence in the Trump campaign and he was almost assuredly just one of many under the Kremlin s influence. He is currently cooperating with the FBI to expose his co-conspirators.If one thing s for certain U.S. District Court for D.C. has four sealed cases in its docket with case numbers between Papadopoulos' (182) and Manafort's (201). pic.twitter.com/zDKMY3qHM6 Steve Reilly (@BySteveReilly) October 30, 2017 It s that Mueller isn t done by a long shot.Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Trump lawyer denies Deutsche Bank got subpoena on Trump accounts | FRANKFURT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal investigator probing alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election asked Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) for data on accounts held by President Donald Trump and his family, a person close to the matter said on Tuesday, but Trump’s lawyer denied any such subpoena had been issued. Germany’s largest bank received a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller several weeks ago to provide information on certain money and credit transactions, the person said, without giving details, adding that key documents had been handed over in the meantime. Deutsche Bank has lent the Trump Organization hundreds of millions of dollars for real estate ventures and is one of the few major lenders that has given large amounts of credit to Trump in the past decade. A string of bankruptcies at his hotel and casino businesses during the 1990s made most of Wall Street wary of extending him credit. Mueller is investigating alleged Russian attempts to influence the election, and potential collusion by Trump aides. Russia has denied U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that it meddled in the election and Trump has said there was no collusion with Moscow. Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, said Deutsche Bank has not received any subpoena for financial records relating to the president as part of Mueller’s probe. “We have confirmed that the news reports that the Special Counsel had subpoenaed financial records relating to the president are false,” Sekulow told Reuters in a statement. “No subpoena has been issued or received. We have confirmed this with the bank and other sources.” He later said the bank in question was Deutsche Bank. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. A Deutsche Bank spokesman in New York had no immediate comment beyond the statement the bank issued earlier on Tuesday which said the bank takes “its legal obligations seriously and remains committed to cooperating with authorized investigations into this matter.” A U.S. official with knowledge of Mueller’s probe said one reason for the subpoenas was to find out whether Deutsche Bank may have sold some of Trump’s mortgage or other loans to Russian state development bank VEB or other Russian banks that now are under U.S. and European Union sanctions. VEB, as well as the Russian Agricultural Bank and Gazprombank GZPRI.MM did not immediately reply to emailed requests for comment. “No one from the VTB Group (VTBR.MM) representatives has received a subpoena because there are absolutely no grounds for it,” a bank representative said in response to a request from Reuters. “Deutsche Bank did not contact us regarding people connected with the Trump administration.” “We would not comment on the existence of any such request, had one been received,” responded a representative of Sberbank (SBER.MM). Holding Trump debt, particularly if some of it was or is coming due, could potentially give Russian banks some leverage over Trump, especially if they are state-owned, said a second U.S. official familiar with Russian intelligence methods. “One obvious question is why Trump and those around him expressed interest in improving relations with Russia as a top foreign policy priority, and whether or not any personal considerations played any part in that,” the second official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. A source close to Deutsche Bank said the bank had run checks on Trump’s financial dealings with Russia. During his election campaign, Trump said he would seek to improve ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which were strained during President Barack Obama’s administration. The subpoena was earlier reported by German daily Handelsblatt. During a photo opportunity with senators at the White House on Tuesday, Trump declined to answer shouted questions from reporters about whether Mueller had crossed a line by asking Deutsche Bank for information. In a July 9 interview with the New York Times, Trump said Mueller should not extend his investigation into Trump’s finances if they were not directly related to the Russia accusations. Asked if delving into his and his family’s finances unrelated to the Russia probe would cross a red line, Trump replied, “I would say yeah. I would say yes.” Deutsche Bank earlier this year rebuffed efforts by Democratic U.S. lawmakers to get more information on its dealings with Trump as well as any information it may have about whether the Republican, his family or advisers had financial backing from Russia. Trump had liabilities of at least $130 million to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, a unit of the German bank, according to a federal financial disclosure form released in June by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. The Deutsche debts include a loan exceeding $50 million for the Old Post Office, a historic property he redeveloped in downtown Washington, mortgages worth more than $55 million on a golf course in Florida, and a $25 million-plus loan on a Trump hotel and condominium in Chicago, the disclosure shows. All of those loans were taken out in 2012 and will mature in 2023 and 2024, according to the disclosure. Trump and Deutsche Bank have not always been on good terms. Trump sued the bank and other lenders in 2008, demanding $3 billion in damages, claiming they broke agreements in the construction and financing of a Chicago hotel. Deutsche Bank countersued and the two sides eventually settled. Internal Deutsche Bank documents seen by Reuters feature the names of Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his wife, Kathleen, in a series of client profiles. But it was not immediately clear what their relationship with the bank is or had been. According to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Manafort and his wife do not have Deutsche Bank accounts. The bank declined to comment on whether Manafort is or has ever been a client. A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment. In October, Manafort pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy against the United States. The charges were brought as part of Mueller’s investigation. | 0fake |
RNC Blasts White Supremacist’s Tweet On Big Screen During Trump’s Speech (IMAGES) | It happened again. One would assume that after Monday s debacle when the RNC displayed a white supremacist s tweet on a marquee scrolling around the building, they would check what they put up there. On the third night of the GOP convention, a tweet from white power organization VDARE heaped praise on Republicans for getting the crowd fired up against illegal immigration. On Thursday, the GOP gave voice to yet another white supremacist, this time (appropriately) during Donald Trump s speech.The most recent tweet was written by the account @Western_Triumph, whose profile description is loaded with a number of alarming hashtags, including #ProWhite, #RaceRealist, #SlayCulturalMarxism, #LoveYourRace, and #Trump2016. On the big screen in the Quicken Loans Arena about midway through Trump s acceptance speech, Western Triumph quoted The Donald and added that It s time to start WINNING again! The hashtag #TrumpIsWithYou was added for effect, likely because there is a sentiment in the white nationalist community that Trump is, indeed, with them.This is running on the tweet screen loop here at #RNCinCLE check out the account. pic.twitter.com/9kgpzBLrlK Andy Aplikowski (@AAARF) July 22, 2016Here are some other tweets from that account:.@Lesdoggg is your typical, entitled black woman:She dishes out plenty of hate to whites, but cries "racist" when they hit back!#FreeMilo Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 20, 2016So some ugly, talentless, sheboon from Ghostbusters went crying to @Jack, to make twitter her personal safe space? Fuck that! #FreeMilo Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 20, 2016Hillary says whites should "recognize our privilege".I say whites should recognize (((the traitors))), and begin the Great Purge! Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 18, 2016Close down every mosque in the US,Bulldoze the buildings,Salt the earth,Deport Muslims back to the Middle East!Make America Safe Again! Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 18, 2016If police can aggressively patrol black, latino, and muslim neighborhoods, We'll finally be able to Make America Safe Again. Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 18, 2016Wanna Make America Safe Again?Let cops heavily patrol black ghettos.Blacks = 13% of population,Yet are 33% of rapes, & 50% of homicides. Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 18, 2016Blacks have no idea how blessed they were To be dragged out of Africa, and brought to a place full of #WhiteInventions. They're lucky. Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 11, 2016Just a few notable #WhiteInventions are:CannabilismAIDSTwerkingSickle Cell Disea..Wait, hold on, those are #BlackInventions. My bad! Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 11, 2016#WhitePrivilegeMeans you need to work harder, so your taxes can pay for Laquisha's 8th ghetto baby, now that the baby-daddy 'done run off'! Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) July 9, 2016Western Triumph also retweets Trump incessantly. It took all of 30 seconds to find those and with as choreographed as the RNC was, one would be quite naive to think they didn t check out and approve tweets that were displayed for the crowd.This isn t the first or the second time the Trump campaign has given voice to white supremacists. In a single week in January, more than half of Trump s own retweets were white supremacists praising him. In December, The Donald participated in attacks on African-Americans with a disgusting graphic misrepresenting black crime rates. The billionaire, who has been known to keep a book of Adolf Hitler s speeches by his bedside, has (over time) won the unwavering support of racists across the nation with his promises to build a wall to keep brown people out, ban Muslims from the country, and force Muslims who are already here to wear special little badges and be entered into a national database. Even concentration camps are not out of the question as far as he is concerned. Hell, he s even told his bigoted, violent supporters he will pay their legal fees if they brutalize black people at his rallies.While the RNC, and Trump, will likely classify this as an oversight, the rest of us need to see it for what it is: the latest in a long pattern of Trump promoting white supremacists. While it was once limited to his own campaign, he has now taken their cause national.It is imperative that we do not allow this to happen. Head to the polls in November and VOTE BLUE.Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Lifetime Republican Voter Thanks President Obama For Saving His Life With Obamacare | Republican lawmakers hate Obamacare, but it s saving the lives of Republican voters.Even though Brent Brown hated the Affordable Care Act and refused to vote for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, the lifetime GOP voter from Wisconsin wrote a letter to the Democratic Commander-in-Chief apologizing for all the bad things he said and thanking Obama for saving his life.Brown thanked President Obama because the Affordable Care Act allowed him to finally access the medication he needs to stabilize my condition. Prior to the passage of the landmark healthcare legislation, Brown had been denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. But because Obamacare requires insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, Brown was able to get the care he needed.So he wrote a heartfelt letter to President Obama in June, which the White House posted online, thanking him for saving his life and for being my President. Brown also admitted that he was wrong about the healthcare law.Here s the full letter via the White House.To My President,I sincerely hope that this reaches you, as far too often praise is hard to come by. Apologies to people who deserve it perhaps even less so.I did not vote for you. Either time. I have voted Republican for the entirety of my life. I proudly wore pins and planted banners displaying my Republican loyalty. I was very vocal in my opposition to you particularly the ACA.Before I briefly explain my story allow me to first say this: I am so very sorry. I understand written content cannot convey emotions very well but my level of conviction has me in tears as I write this. I was so very wrong. So very very wrong.You saved my life. I want that to sink into your ears and mind. My President, you saved my life, and I am eternally grateful.I have a pre-existing condition and so could never purchase health insurance. Only after the ACA came into being could I be covered. Put simply to not take up too much of your time if you are in fact taking the time to read this: I would not be alive without access to care I received due to your law. So thank you from a dumb young man who thought he knew it all and who said things about you that he now regrets. Thank you for serving me even when I didn t vote for you.Thank you for being my President.Honored to have lived under your leadership and guidance,Brent Nathan BrownIn a follow-up letter, Brown updated President Obama on how he is doing thanks to the Affordable Care Act.The Affordable Care Act saved my life. I can now say, after several surgeries, that I m in recovery from what was a serious autoimmune disease I was finally able to receive the quality of care that had eluded me for years. I was able to consult the top surgeon in my state for the particular surgery I needed. I was able to receive the stabilizing drug that was always hidden behind a doctor s apology: I m sorry, Mr. Brown, we have to take your financial consideration into account. I was able to stay at one of the best equipped hospitals in my state for as long as I needed, without having to worry about checking myself out early because of cost concerns. I had hope.If Republican lawmakers have their way, people like Brent Brown would lose this hope. They would be stripped of the newly found healthcare that they have waited years to finally receive. This letter is not only a testament to how Obamacare is helping millions of Americans, it s a warning to Republicans that they would be hurting their own voters by repealing the ACA.Brent Brown is a shining example of the Affordable Care Act s success and necessity, and he had the courage to say he was wrong and thank President Obama for fighting for him. It s too bad other Republicans refuse to do the same.Featured Image: Flickr | 1real |
Germany, citing own history, urges work to bridge Gulf divisions | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel offered his Qatari counterpart a small piece of the Berlin Wall on Tuesday, saying Germany s post-war history was proof it was possible to overcome deep divisions such as those now plaguing the Gulf region. Gabriel said Germany had a keen interest in maintaining good relations with all the Gulf countries and working for peace in the region, even if those countries were sometimes in conflict. Especially in politically troubled times in which dialogue has sometimes slipped into the background, it is all the more important to build bridges, to emphasize the things that unite us and to help remove walls, Gabriel said at the opening of a new Qatar-funded Arabic cultural center in Berlin. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he hoped the new center, erected in a neo-classical villa in the southern part of Berlin, could showcase Arab culture and help battle stereotypes of Arabs in Europe. Sheikh Mohammed last week blamed what he called reckless leadership in the Gulf for a rift with Qatar and the current crisis in Lebanon, taking apparent aim at Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt this summer cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar, accusing it of financing terrorism. Doha denies the charges. Gabriel did not refer to the Gulf dispute directly, but lauded Germany s World War Two enemies for building bridges and welcoming Germany back into the world community despite the devastation and horrors of the Nazi regime. After 70 years, we saw that it s possible, even after a world war, to be partners in a first step and friends in a second, he said. Tearing down walls is exhausting but worth it. Gabriel said a full segment of the Wall that once divided East and West Germany would be delivered to a museum in Doha, fulfilling a promise he had made to the sister of Qatar s ruler. Because as a politician, particularly in these days in Germany, we ought to fulfill our promises, he said. That is a hot topic in my country at the moment. Gabriel, a former leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), declined to comment further on Chancellor Angela Merkel s failure to forge a new coalition government with the pro-business Free Democrats and environmental Greens. Merkel is pressing the SPD to reconsider its refusal to join another grand coalition with the conservatives - a move that would stave off new elections that now loom. | 0fake |
South Carolina Black Voters Not Feelin’ the Bern | Sorry, but Sanders doesn’t think like mainstream black voters. The tell is Cornel West. He hates Obama. We do not.
Iowa and New Hampshire had their turns in the spotlight, and Nevada comes this Saturday. And a week after that, my state, South Carolina, will host its own Democratic primary. Compared to those first two states, ours is highly diverse. Battle ground, trial phase—call it what you will—South Carolina, once a crucible of the civil rights movement and Barack Obama’s surge, can help vet the candidate best aligned with the black community.
Bernie Sanders is not that candidate—not next to Hillary Clinton. From his bouts with the president to the laws he contested to the company he keeps, Sanders raises alarm bells for Obama supporters, especially those from the African-American community.
Back in 2012, while still a proud Independent, Sanders took a page from the Republican playbook and called for a primary challenge to Obama’s presidency. His aim: to contrast “a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is doing,” as if to say affordable health care and safe cities are not “progressive” enough goals. The Democrats I know would disagree.
That anti-Obama jab followed an earlier resistance to the Affordable Care Act, now considered President Obama’s greatest legacy. Back in 2009, coming from the far left wing, Sanders held out on voting “yes,” hoping instead for an impossible ideal. Over 200,000 South Carolinians now have quality, affordable health insurance through Obamacare. If Sanders fulfills his campaign promise and starts those talks from a blank slate, then he risks undoing years of progress.
Improving health care matters greatly to our community. It’s no secret that African Americans die earlier than whites and suffer in larger numbers from diseases like diabetes and heart disease. We also die twice as often from gun violence. In Charleston County alone, blacks accounted for 29 percent of the population in 2014 but claimed 78 percent of gun violence deaths. We demand equality where our lives are at stake, and on that note Sanders has a mixed record on gun safety, having opposed reforms that Obama now pushes.
The Vermont senator once voted for legislation that allowed the Charleston shooter to buy a gun despite a clerical error—the now-infamous “Charleston Loophole.” More recently, he voted down legislation meant to shield gun makers from victim lawsuits. When President Obama last month refused to back “any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform,” he may well have been referring to Sanders.
In what perhaps struck the candidate as an act of solidarity, Sanders also chose Cornel West as liaison to South Carolina’s black voters. As The Washington Post puts it, West serves as Sanders’s “controversial traveling companion” and “has been highly critical of President Obama.” That’s an understatement. Cornel West hates President Obama. He once called the president “a brown-faced Clinton,” “a Rockefeller Republican in blackface,” and a “counterfeit” progressive.
My own father, Cleveland Sellers, was a real civil rights-era activist, as were Jesse Jackson and Rev. Joseph A. Darby. All of them are alive and well with deep South Carolina roots and could have been surrogates for Sen. Sanders. So of all the black leaders Sanders could have chosen, why West? West is a scholar, sure, but his views are extreme, and they clash with much of the pro-Obama black community.
Bernie Sanders means well, and his calls for income equality rightly resonate with Democratic voters. But certain issues—gun violence and health care among them—and certain viewpoints—Cornel West’s not among them—appeal specifically to most African Americans. My vote goes to someone who supports President Obama and intends to wholly and ambitiously build on his legacy. That someone is not Bernie Sanders. | 0fake |
Trump’s Immigration Ban Blocks Children Most in Need of Aid - The New York Times | The children around the world who need emergency international assistance the most come mainly from the countries singled out in President Trump’s order barring entry to the United States, according to a United Nations assessment. Five of the seven countries where children are most imperiled are on Mr. Trump’s list of nations where visas are suspended: Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The children most at risk are Syrian, whether they have fled as refugees or are still in their country, according to Unicef, the United Nations’ children’s agency. All Syrians have been barred indefinitely from entering the United States under Mr. Trump’s executive order. Other countries where Unicef says children are imperiled include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Sudan. They are not part of Mr. Trump’s temporary ban on visas — though the order also bars all refugees, regardless of where they come from, for 120 days. “This shows who the ban really impacts: the world’s most vulnerable, women and children who are fleeing terror,” said Jennifer Sime, a senior vice president at the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization focused on refugees. “America is turning away from its leadership role on refugee resettlement, and it is refugees who are paying the price. ” The United Nations compiled the assessment weeks before Mr. Trump signed the executive order and published it on Tuesday. Here is what the Unicef report says the agency needs for the five countries included in the executive order where children are most at risk. The United Nations says it needs around $1 billion to aid children displaced by six years of conflict in Syria. Calling the Syrian refugee crisis “the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II,” Unicef says there are more than 2. 2 million children living as refugees in countries neighboring Syria. The organization is also asking for more than $300 million to help more than 5. 8 million children still living in the country. It says most of that money is needed for water, sanitation, hygiene and medical aid. Unicef is seeking about $200 million in aid for Yemen, which is in a civil war and straining from a devastating famine. The organization says the bulk of that money would go to feed 6. 9 million children this year. More than 5. 1 million children are in need in Iraq, about of them displaced from their homes by conflict. The United Nations is seeking about $160 million to vaccinate more than five million children under 5 against polio. The United Nations plans to help more than two million Sudanese children under 5 who are acutely malnourished. Unicef is seeking more than $100 million, most of it for nutrition programs. “Somalia remains in a state of chronic humanitarian crisis,” Unicef said in its appeal for more than $60 million, estimating that as many as 850, 000 children there who are under 5 will be acutely malnourished in 2017. | 0fake |
AFGHANISTAN AMBASSADOR Was Delightfully Shocked After Meeting With President Trump: Asked 3 Important Questions Obama Never Did [VIDEO] | Donald Trump wanted to win, where as before, President Obama just didn t want to lose Watch: President @realdonaldTrump wants to Win President Obama just didn t want to lose!#MAGA #Gutfeld pic.twitter.com/oWBDR9tSOu gab.ai/VandeMataram (@Vande_Mataram) March 15, 2017 | 1real |
VIDEO SURFACES OF DISGRACED Alleged Pedophile Kevin Spacey Laughing About Killing Trump | Earlier today, it was reported by TMZ that an adult actor has revealed that Academy award-winning actor and House of Cards star, Kevin Spacey attempted to sexually assault him when he was 14-years-old and Spacey was 26-years-old.From Spacey s tweet: I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years. Spacey s remarks were not well received in either the gay or straight community.The smug anti-Trump actor once told CNN s Dana Bash that his role as President of the United States on the House of Cards T show would have killed Donald Trump before the election. Spacey then went on to mock the President calling him a reality President. Based on the recent allegations against Spacey, we re thinking he wishes he could trade past s with Donald Trump today.Watch:Netflix has just announced that they are canceling the 6th season of House of Cards. Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night s news concerning Kevin Spacey, the companies said in a joint statement today. In response to last night s revelations, executives from both of our companies arrived in Baltimore this afternoon to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported. As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time. | 1real |
Luxembourg PM says May's task complicated by need for parliament vote | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Luxembourg s prime minister on Thursday said British counterpart Theresa May s ability to negotiate her country s withdrawal from the European Union is complicated by her need for parliament s approval at home. This is not good for Theresa May because the agenda is not going to move, Xavier Bettel told reporters on arrival to a summit of European leaders in Brussels. As soon as she negotiates something she will need to go back to London and get approval from Parliament. This is not making her life easier. This does not change the agenda, it just makes it more difficult for the UK government. | 0fake |
U.S. ban could boost Middle East tourism to Thailand, official says | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand might get more tourists from the Middle East as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s entry ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries, the head of the tourism authority said on Monday. “The Middle East is a big market for us, especially in the medical tourism sector. They may choose to visit Thailand more and this may also boost our sector,” Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Yuthasak Supasorn told Reuters. He said Thailand would need to assess the situation further. Thailand’s military government did not respond to a request for official comment on the ban. Trump has presented his ban as a way to protect the United States from Islamist militants, but it has been condemned by a growing list of foreign leaders and drawn protests by tens of thousands in American cities. The Tourism Authority of Thailand is the government agency responsible for promoting tourism to Thailand. Only just over 2 percent of Thailand’s tourists came from the Middle East in 2016, but it expects an 8 percent rise in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the year before. Medical tourism is a growing market for Thailand. The largest operator is Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Pcl. Another is Bumrungrad Pcl.. Muslims represent the second biggest religious group in Thailand behind Buddhists, but make up only about 5 percent of the population. | 0fake |
Trump, Japan's Abe toast 'bromance' as two-day summit wraps up | TOKYO (Reuters) - Every American president has a favorite foreign leader. For Donald Trump, it seems to be Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two leaders toasted their “bromance” on Monday as they wrapped up two days of golf, burgers and serious talks on trade and North Korea. The two men have met face-to-face six times since Trump was elected U.S. president a year ago and had 16 telephone conversations. They’ve played golf twice, once at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and again on Sunday outside Tokyo. Abe recalled how his grandfather, then-premier Nobusuke Kishi, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower began the tradition of U.S.-Japan golf diplomacy 60 years ago. “When you play golf not just once but two times, the person must be your favorite guy,” Abe said ahead of a formal banquet with Trump on Monday. He added that never had two Japanese and American leaders forged such a close bond in just one year. Abe was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his election last November, a win that caught Tokyo off guard after many had expected Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton to win and worried about Trump’s “America First” rhetoric. Trump told the dinner guests that for protocol reasons, he shouldn’t have met a foreign leader before his inauguration - but when he tried to call Abe to wave him off, the Japanese premier was already on a plane to New York. “We have to spend more time together because I enjoyed every minute of it even though he (Abe) is a very tough negotiator,” Trump said. “We will be back soon.” Trump and Abe are hardly the only U.S. and Japanese leaders to bond. Ronald Reagan and Yasuhiro Nakasone set the gold-standard for friendly ties between leaders of the two allies back in the 1980s, when they famously called each other by the nicknames “Ron” and “Yasu”. George W. Bush and Junichiro Koizumi also bonded during Koizumi’s 2001-2006 term as Japanese premier, playing ball, eating BBQ at Bush’s Texas ranch, and visiting Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion, where Koizumi crooned Elvis tunes. Diplomatic experts said the personal chemistry between Abe and Trump appeared real, but also noted that forging warm ties were in a way a diplomatic necessity for Japan, which ultimately relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its security. | 0fake |
null | Welcome to the hyperbole hour>>>>Where rhetoric and fact are mixed with speculation and dissemination of logic……Those that own the press rule the minds of the week! | 1real |
Russian tycoon, fresh from jail, announces presidential bid | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian property developer Sergei Polonsky, who has been convicted of defrauding investors, plans to run in next year s presidential election, his campaign manager said on Wednesday. Polonsky is one of Russia s most flamboyant tycoons, known for once eating his tie after losing a wager and for pouring scorn on anyone worth less than a billion dollars. He is a divisive figure, with many Russians viewing him as a symbol of capitalist excess. Russian President Vladimir Putin is the strong favorite to win the election, opinion polls show, though he has yet to announce his intention to run. Maxim Shingarkin, a former member of the Russian parliament, said he had signed up to be Polonsky s campaign manager. Sergei Polonsky has confirmed that he is running for president of Russia, Shingarkin said in a Twitter post. I can promise a bone-rattling election campaign. Russian news media quoted Polonsky as saying he was planning a presidential bid. In July a Moscow court found him guilty of fraud but allowed him to walk free, saying that too much time had elapsed since the crime for the sentence to have legal force. He had spent two years in detention in Moscow awaiting trial. It was not immediately clear if Polonsky s conviction would disqualify him from running for the presidency. Other people planning to run in the presidential election in March next year are television personality Ksenia Sobchak, whose late father was Putin s boss in the early 1990s, and journalist Ekaterina Gordon. | 0fake |
Coca, trafficking greatest threats to Colombia peace: official | BOGOTA (Reuters) - A peace deal between Colombia and Marxist FARC rebels is being threatened by drug trafficking and cultivation of coca, the base ingredient for cocaine, a peace official said on Thursday, in the wake of a confrontation between coca farmers and police that killed seven. Drug trafficking and illegal crops are the most important threats, Rodrigo Rivera, the country s peace commissioner, told Reuters in his office inside the presidential palace. While that element exists, it s like honey attracting bees, they re circling and it s creating new organized crime in the territories where the FARC no longer are, Rivera said. The government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels signed a peace accord last year to end their roles in a conflict that has killed at least 220,000 people. Thousands of FARC fighters have demobilized under the deal and the group is now a political party, but crop substitution is already a thorn in the side of the government. Last week at least seven farmers protesting eradication were killed in a confused incident with police in Tumaco, in southwestern Colombia. The defense ministry accused dissident former FARC members of stoking a confrontation and then firing on the crowd, while farmer s groups have accused jittery police of shooting to disperse the protest. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. As well as dissidents from the rebel group, crime gangs have begun to take over coca areas, security sources say. The gangs often offer ex-combatants higher salaries than they are entitled to under the peace deal. The dissidents and gangs can be a siren s call for ex-rebels, Rivera said. Subsistence farmers have often been obliged by rebel groups, paramilitaries and crime gangs to plant coca. Some also choose to grow the crop because illegal groups will pay higher prices than farmers can earn with other products - a tempting possibility amid dire poverty. Coca cultivation reached levels not seen for a decade last year after the government banned aerial fumigation with glyphosate, an herbicide that has been linked to cancer. The prohibition has sparked criticism from the United States, which is set to give the Andean country more than $400 million in funding help for the FARC deal. Coca is cultivated on about 188,000 hectares (464,000 acres) across Colombia and cocaine production capacity is up to 700 tonnes annually. The government wants to eradicate 100,000 hectares this year. | 0fake |
Why veterans are underrepresented in Congress | ‹ › Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. Why veterans are underrepresented in Congress By Arnaldo Rodgers on October 30, 2016 veterans
By Rebecca Burgess, Gary J. Schmitt
George Washington’s assertion that “When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen” is justly famous for capturing the traditional attitude of the American citizen-soldier. While the nation at times has requested or required that citizens to fulfill the highest form of civic duty, there have always been individuals who have voluntarily donned its uniform. Viewing military service as a form of public service, many, not surprisingly, have followed their days in the military by pursuing other forms of civic service, notably in the halls of government.
Although American democracy demands a military-civilian divide in regard to political power, voters have shown they are comfortable with electing officials with military service on their resume. Indeed, despite the colonists’ Revolutionary-era complaints about the British conflating military and political power, of the first 25 men to become president, 21 had military experience.
Read the Full Article at www.aei.org >>>> Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on October 30, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments
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Trump talks pardons amid probes of Russia role in U.S. election | NORFOLK, Va. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump declared on Saturday that he has “complete power to pardon,” as his administration confronts ongoing investigations of possible ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia. In a series of early morning Twitter messages, Trump aired renewed frustration with his attorney general, the special counsel leading the Russia probe, and Republicans in Congress who are struggling to advance his legislative agenda. But Trump’s comment about pardons, tucked into an attack on the media, raised the possibility that he was considering his options if the investigations do not turn out the way he hopes. Trump did not specify who, if anyone, he might consider pardoning. His tweets appeared to be written in response to a report by The Washington Post this week that Trump and his legal team have examined presidential powers to pardon Trump aides, family members and possibly even himself. Reuters has not confirmed the newspaper accounts. “While all agree the U.S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us. FAKE NEWS,” Trump wrote. The Washington Post, citing current and former U.S. officials, reported on Friday that Russia’s ambassador to the United States was overheard by U.S. spy agencies telling his bosses that he had discussed campaign-related matters with Trump adviser Jeff Sessions last year, when Sessions was a U.S. senator. Sessions now leads the Justice Department as Trump’s attorney general. “These illegal leaks...must stop,” Trump tweeted. At the Senate confirmation hearings for his Cabinet position, Sessions initially failed to disclose his 2016 contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and later said they were not about the campaign. In March, Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe. During an interview with The New York Times this week, Trump lashed out at Sessions, saying he would not have chosen him for attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself. Trump, who defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in last year’s presidential election but continues to use her as a foil, questioned why Sessions and special counsel Robert Mueller were not investigating former FBI Director James Comey or Clinton, for her email practices as secretary of state. “So many people are asking why isn’t the A.G. or Special Counsel looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 emails deleted...,” he tweeted. Scholars have raised questions about the scope of the president’s legal authority in issuing pardons. If Trump moved to pardon himself sometime in the future, the U.S. Supreme Court might have to decide on the constitutionality, some have speculated. Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing by federal investigators who are probing alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Mueller is looking into any relationships or contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians during the election. Congressional committees also are exploring Russia’s influence on the U.S. election. Trump traveled on Saturday to Norfolk, Virginia, where he spoke at a commissioning ceremony for the aircraft carrier the USS Gerald R. Ford, named for the Republican president who held the White House from 1974-1977. In his remarks, Trump made no mention of the Russia controversy, focusing his speech on the need for more robust U.S. military spending. After the trip, Trump retreated to his golf course near Washington and had lunch with his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, policy adviser Stephen Miller and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife, a White House official said. Priebus’s presence in the entourage came a day after Trump named a new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, reportedly over Priebus’s objections. The weekend trip comes ahead of a busy week of Russia-related activity. The Senate Judiciary Committee said on Friday that Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort had agreed to negotiate whether to be interviewed by the panel in its Russia investigation. Trump Jr., Manafort and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and now one of his senior advisers, all met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in June 2016. That meeting was held in Trump Tower in New York after the lawyer offered damaging information about Clinton. The White House is also working on Trump’s campaign promise to U.S. healthcare system. In his Saturday tweets, Trump had words for Republican senators who have not been able to agree on a way forward to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, which has become known as Obamacare and which Trump promised to do away with as president. “The Republican Senators must step up to the plate and, after 7 years, vote to Repeal and Replace. Next, Tax Reform and Infrastructure. WIN!” he tweeted. | 0fake |
Malala Announced That She Plans To Become Prime Minister Of Pakistan | Malala Yousufzai is a remarkable young woman who has made headlines and is known globally for the brave work she does in Pakistan, her home country. Her fight for the right for everyone to have a... | 1real |
California governor proposes more money to fight Trump | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California governor Jerry Brown on Thursday proposed a funding increase for the state attorney general to create more than 30 new positions dedicated to combating President Donald Trump’s policies. Democratic attorneys general in states across the country have assumed lead roles in opposing some of the Republican president’s agenda. State attorneys general in Washington and Hawaii successfully sued to block Trump’s executive orders restricting travel from some Muslim-majority countries, and California attorney general Xavier Becerra has pledged to defend the state’s environmental standards and health care access. Brown has been particularly outspoken against Trump’s policies. In budget revisions released on Thursday, Brown’s office proposed a $6.5 million increase for California’s Department of Justice, enough to fund 31 positions to address “various actions taken at the federal level that impact public safety, healthcare, the environment, consumer affairs and general constitutional issues.” The department has expended over 11,000 hours of legal work in response to federal issues since Trump’s inauguration in January, according the governor’s office. Brown’s proposals would have to be approved by California’s legislature, which is dominated by Democrats. At a press conference, Brown repeatedly expressed the need to fight the Trump administration on health care reforms under discussion in Washington. The potential loss of funds for the state’s Medicaid program alone would be enough to fund the University of California system for a year, Brown said. Given that backdrop, Brown said Becerra deserves “some latitude” in pursuing litigation. A spokeswoman for Becerra could not immediately be reached for comment. Brown’s budget also proposed a $15 million increase to expand legal services for immigrants seeking assistance securing legal status in the United States and fighting deportation. | 0fake |
In American Towns, Private Profits From Public Works - The New York Times | BAYONNE, N. J. — Nicole Adamczyk’s drinking water used to slosh through a snarl of pipes dating from the Coolidge administration — a rusty, rickety symbol of the nation’s failing infrastructure. So, in 2012, this port city cut a deal with a Wall Street investment firm to manage its municipal waterworks. Four years later, many of those crusty brown pipes have been replaced by shiny ones, reflecting a broader infrastructure overhaul in Bayonne. But Ms. Adamczyk’s water and sewer bill has jumped so much that she is thinking about moving out of town. “My reaction was, ‘Oh, so I guess I’m screwed now? ’” said Ms. Adamczyk, an accountant and mother of two who received a quarterly bill for almost $500 this year. She’s not alone: Another resident’s bill jumped 5 percent, despite the household’s having used 11 percent less water. Even as Wall Street deals like the one with Bayonne help financially desperate municipalities to make repairs, they can come with a hefty price tag — not just to pay for new pipes, but also to help the investors earn a nice return, a New York Times analysis has found. Often, these contracts guarantee a specific amount of revenue, The Times found, which can send water bills soaring. Water rates in Bayonne have risen nearly 28 percent since Kohlberg Kravis Roberts — one of Wall Street’s most storied private equity firms — teamed up with another company to manage the city’s water system, the Times analysis shows. City officials also promised residents a rate freeze that never materialized. In one measure of residents’ distress, people are falling so far behind on their bills that the city is placing more liens against their homes, which can eventually lead to foreclosures. In the typical private equity water deal, higher rates help the firms earn returns of anywhere from 8 to 18 percent, more than what a regular water company may expect. And to accelerate their returns, two of the firms have applied a common strategy from the private equity playbook: quickly flipping their investment to another firm. This includes K. K. R. which is said to be shopping its 90 percent stake in the Bayonne venture, a partnership with the water company Suez. Rich Henning, a Suez spokesman, said that “Bayonne had chronically underinvested in their water and sewer infrastructure, which has certainly contributed to rate increases during the past few years. ” He added, “We understand that these increases create stresses for ratepayers. ” Donald J. Trump has made the privatization of public works a centerpiece of his strategy to rebuild America’s airports, bridges, tunnels and roads. Members of his inner circle have sketched out a vision, including billions of dollars of tax credits for private investors willing to tackle big infrastructure projects. And Mr. Trump himself promised in his victory speech “to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. ” Private equity firms like K. K. R. have already presented themselves as a willing partner, and Bayonne provides an important case study. Its arrangement is one of a handful of deals across the country in the last few years in which private equity firms have managed public water systems. While these deals are a small corner of private equity’s sprawling interests, they represent the leading edge of the industry’s profound expansion into public services. For residents, the financial from these water deals can be painful. The Times analyzed three deals in which private equity firms have recently run a community’s water or sewer services through a contract. In all three places — Bayonne, and two cities in California, Rialto and Santa Paula — rates rose more quickly than in comparable towns, which included both publicly and privately run water systems. In Santa Paula, where Alinda Capital Partners controlled the sewer plant, the city more than doubled the rates. A fourth municipality, Middletown, Pa. raised its rates before striking a deal. Now, some of these cities are trying to take back their water. Missoula, Mont. wrested away its water system, which had been owned by the Carlyle Group. Apple Valley, Calif. whose waterworks were also owned by Carlyle, has filed a similar lawsuit. Santa Paula bought its sewer plant from Alinda last year. Of course, there’s a reason many communities look for private partners to begin with: Their water systems are in poor shape. Budget shortfalls and political mismanagement can represent a real threat to both infrastructure and citizens. For evidence, look no further than the crisis in Flint, Mich. where the drinking water became tainted with lead. “Keeping rates down may sound like the ultimate righteous good for ratepayers, but the truth is, not if you’re failing to provide basic care and maintenance,” said Megan Matson, a partner at Table Rock Capital, the boutique private equity firm that invested in Rialto’s water and sewer system. She added that it helps for deals to “provide more obvious public benefits,” noting that her firm partnered with Ullico, the nation’s only insurance and investment company. Proponents of the partnerships, citing recent studies in Canada and Europe, argue that private businesses operate more efficiently than governments do and that this translates into cost savings for citizens. And private equity firms, lacking technical expertise in how to manage infrastructure, often team up with private water companies. Supporters also say that the deals require private equity to spend millions of dollars a year to fix things (money that towns may not spend on their own) and that the firms sometimes pay towns millions more up front. Bayonne, for instance, got $150 million up front from K. K. R. ’s team, which the city used to pay off a pile of debt. In a statement, a K. K. R. spokeswoman said, “Our partnership has provided Bayonne residents with better service, modernized technology to detect leaks and conserve water, improved infrastructure and safer conditions for workers — all without a tax increase or public expenditure. ” In Bayonne, a city of about 65, 000 on a peninsula in the shadow of the fallen twin towers, a crucial test for its private equity deal came in July 2012. By then, Bayonne had already spent nearly a year haggling with some of K. K. R. ’s top negotiators. Next, city officials presented the deal to a more skeptical crowd: their own residents. Bayonne’s sales pitch to its citizens illustrates the bold steps town officials can take — including making promises that are at odds with the actual terms of the deal — to attract private equity money. Private equity, in turn, can earn significant returns. At a public meeting in city hall, a lawyer for the city promised that, after an initial rate bump, there would be “a rate freeze for four years,” according to a meeting transcript. Bayonne’s mayor, Mark Smith, later reiterated the freeze in a magazine article. That promise turned out to be fleeting. The contract allowed additional rate increases after only two years. There was no freeze. In fact, rates rose even more than the Bayonne contract predicted — in part because K. K. R’s team had to make unexpected infrastructure upgrades, but also because residents were using less water than expected. The contract guarantees revenue to the team — more than half a billion dollars over 40 years — so water rates have jumped, in part, to make up the difference. The city said it saw the revenue requirement as a way for K. K. R. ’s team to earn steady returns, but not a windfall. But the Times analysis showed that Bayonne’s water rates grew almost 28 percent under the deal, growth that far exceeded that of three other municipalities to which Bayonne has compared itself. (Daniel Van Abs, an associate professor at Rutgers University who specializes in water management, said that a true comparison of water rates in different towns was “extremely difficult” because of the different factors that can influence rates, including the size of the utility, the municipality’s population, droughts and infrastructure investment — or lack thereof. The Times analysis for Bayonne did not include sewer rates.) Former Bayonne officials who had promised the rate freeze said in interviews that they had not meant to mislead residents. They said they had earmarked some of the K. K. R. team’s $150 million payment to offset rate increases in the contract’s early years. But then voters ousted Mayor Smith. And once he left office, the new administration put that money elsewhere. “I think we could have accomplished that minimum,” the former mayor said in an interview. The town’s water rates, he said, are now “exorbitant. ” Tim Boyle, who took over Bayonne’s utilities authority after Mr. Smith was voted out of office, said that various regulations required the city to use that money for property tax relief rather than to stabilize rates. He also blamed the previous administration for guaranteeing too much revenue to K. K. R. ’s team in the early part of the deal, calling those figures “wildly optimistic. ” Bayonne officials also stress the deal’s benefits, including the payment that let Bayonne pay off more than $100 million in old debts. Within three months, Moody’s Investor Service revised the city’s debt outlook from “negative” to “stable” for the first time in five years, and it has since upgraded the city’s credit rating. K. K. R. ’s team contributes about $2. 5 million annually to pay for repairs to water infrastructure, plus $500, 000 to the city itself. K. K. R. and Suez said they have upgraded their safety equipment and replaced inoperable hydrants around town. They also installed sophisticated water meters that can detect leaks in people’s homes, and sent nearly 2, 000 letters to customers warning when such leaks occurred. As such, use has declined, according to Mr. Henning, who said Suez had received “many notes of thanks” for the warnings. But meters could lead to higher bills for some residents whose water use wasn’t fully captured in the past. When negotiating the deal, K. K. R. called this process “meter uplift,” according to emails obtained through records requests. “We gave away too much,” said Gary La Pelusa Sr. a city councilman and former commissioner of Bayonne’s utilities authority, which approved the deal over his objections. Bayonne originally promised residents that the city’s utilities authority would oversee K. K. R. and Suez. But the City Council recently decided to shutter the agency and handle the oversight itself. Stephen Gallo, who headed that authority when the deal was struck, still believes that it benefits Bayonne. “But you’ve got to watch them, you’ve got to keep an eye on things,” he said. “I don’t know who’s doing that now. ” In interviews with The Times, more than a dozen Bayonne residents, including Ms. Adamczyk, expressed dismay over the rate increases. One reason is that people who fall behind on payments face risks: Unpaid water and sewer bills can be sold to investors who try to collect on that debt, a common practice across the country. Failure to pay can ultimately lead to foreclosure. In 2012, the year Bayonne struck its deal, water bill delinquencies led to 200 government liens against local properties, tax records show. That figure more than tripled the next year, the first full year under K. K. R. ’s team. In 2015, the most recent year with data available, the number remained elevated, at 465. The city publishes its lien notices in the local newspaper and residents receive mailed delinquency letters. Still, when a reporter asked one Bayonne resident, Carlos Jimenez, about a water and sewer bill lien that had been listed against his property, he expressed surprise, saying he wasn’t aware of it. “I didn’t know this could happen,” Mr. Jimenez said. “It’s a different ballgame. ” One of the few things Republicans and Democrats can agree on is that the nation faces an infrastructure crisis. In water infrastructure alone, the nation needs about $600 billion over the next 20 years, according to federal estimates. And yet federal spending on water utilities has declined, prompting state and federal officials to try to play matchmaker, courting private investors to fix what needs fixing. For years, the Obama administration has been cheerleading partnerships. In a statement, the White House said it backed them “when they are well structured, include strong labor standards, and when there is confidence that taxpayers are getting a good deal. ” During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump’s team outlined a new plan to incentivize private investors to take on large infrastructure projects. Wall Street has responded to the call to action. There are now 84 active financial infrastructure funds, according to Pitchbook, a private financial data platform, up 25 percent in just three years. Some belong to big banks like Goldman Sachs, but many are run by private equity firms. “Across our country, we need solutions for infrastructure deficiencies,” said James Maloney, a spokesman for the American Investment Council, the private equity trade group. “Private equity serves as one of these solutions. ” Some critics are wary of expanding private investment in public infrastructure. Although cities may get cash up front in these deals, “there is no ‘free’ money” in partnerships, says a 2008 Government Accountability Office report. Using roads as an example, the report observed “it is likely” that tolls will increase more on a privately operated highway than one run by the government. Ms. Matson, of Table Rock, who has attended White House meetings on infrastructure, has tried to dispel concerns about these deals. Table Rock is part of a team that finances and manages the water system in Rialto, Calif. a deal that provided the city about $41 million to improve the water and wastewater infrastructure, she said. Rialto residents have seen their water rates increase about 68 percent since the deal, according to the Times analysis, more than any other comparable city. But Table Rock said rates were artificially low after the city had declined to raise them for about a decade, giving it the lowest rates among those towns. And unlike in most other deals, Rialto residents had a say in the increases and ultimately approved them in a public vote, as required under state law. This year’s rate increase was delayed. When the deal closed in 2012, all the public water utility employees kept their jobs. Everyone has since received raises. And Table Rock, like its partner Ullico, has committed to all 30 years of the arrangement. “We don’t do flips, we invest for life,” Ms. Matson said, meaning that Table Rock doesn’t seek quick profits by unloading its investments. She also said that Table Rock declined to make deals that provided big payments to towns without a sufficient commitment to infrastructure repairs. “Those deals give the rest of us a bad name,” she said. In an upscale Washington, D. C. restaurant in 2012, an executive from the Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, put his arm around the mayor of Missoula, Mont. “Mayor,” the executive said, “are you ready to buy a water system?” Three years later, the comments by the executive, Robert Dove, were recounted from a witness stand in the Missoula County Courthouse. The city was suing Carlyle, which ultimately refused to sell to Missoula, to gain control of its water system. Missoula is one of several places in recent years that have tried getting back their water systems from a private company. But after waging costly battles, the towns cannot always guarantee the same services at lower rates. At the time of that dinner in Washington, Missoula was the only city in Montana that did not own its water system — and John Engen, Missoula’s mayor, wanted to change that. So, months before, he had supported Carlyle’s purchase of the regional water company (Park Water) that owned Missoula’s local system (Mountain Water) believing that Carlyle would then sell Mountain Water back to his town. But the mayor’s plans derailed. In October 2013, Missoula made an informal offer to buy its local system. Carlyle declined. Missoula made a formal offer. Carlyle declined again. Missoula then sued, and it won. But the court decided the system was worth $88. 6 million, substantially more than what the city had offered. On top of that, the city must spend millions of dollars on legal and other fees and must also pay some of its opponents’ costs, according to court records. Those costs included lawyers’ fees, limo services and dinners at some of Missoula’s finest restaurants. They also included at least one order of boneless chicken wings at Hooters, and one bottle of Metamucil. In a statement, a Carlyle spokesman said that the firm had considered the city’s offers in good faith. “The city offered many millions less than the company was worth, and an independent panel agreed,” the spokesman said. He also said that under Carlyle’s watch, “capital expenditures more than doubled, leakage was reduced by 19 percent, water quality was excellent and employment was stable. ” And under Missoula’s watch, water rates may rise anyway. Further costly repairs are still needed, for one thing. For Carlyle, the deal was a financial success. The firm sold Park Water in January to another private company for $327 million, more than double what Carlyle had paid. Missoula is not the only city seeking control over its infrastructure. Last year, Santa Paula bought its wastewater recycling plant for about $70 million from Alinda Capital Partners. Alinda, which specializes in infrastructure investing, had teamed up with a private water recycling company to finance, design, build and operate the plant after the city awarded them the contract in 2008. The new facility, Alinda noted, replaced an old plant owned by Santa Paula that had been violating state environmental regulations, saving the city from paying fines. But after years of raising sewer rates, partly to pay “service fees” to Alinda, Santa Paula’s thinking changed: It would be better for Santa Paula to issue its own debt to purchase the plant than to saddle citizens with annual rate increases. Now the town — at the urging of its city manager, Jaime Fontes, and several council members, including Ginger Gherardi — has started issuing rebates to citizens. Still, there will be bumps along the road. After all, cities like Missoula and Santa Paula are now responsible for running an important, and occasionally messy, public service. Soon after Santa Paula regained control of its sewer plant, an equipment failure let partly treated wastewater pour from the plant. The discharge turned a pond green and flowed onto a nearby organic farm. And wastewater, Mr. Fontes said, is “not the kind of organic you want. ” | 0fake |
POWERFUL: Men Read Hate Tweets To Female Sports Writers, What They Say Is Sickening (VIDEO) | In a powerful new web PSA video, female sports writers have some of the hateful tweets directed their way read by male sports fans. The ad was designed to highlight just how over the line online harassment has become for women, who are often the targets.The video features sports writers Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro.Spain is a columnist for ESPN and has appeared on ESPN radio and on the network s premiere program, SportsCenter. She s written at length about the sexual assault allegations about NFL superstar Peyton Manning, pointing out that for years the story had been treated with kid gloves. DiCaro is an anchor on a Chicago sports talk station, and has written about rape allegations against NHL player Patrick Kane.For their work, and for simply being women in the male-dominated sports media, Spain and DiCaro regularly face dehumanizing, threatening, sexist comments from men online. The website Just Not Sports worked with the writers to produce this video to highlight the problem which is often dismissed as casual criticism, but as the video shows, is actually much sicker than that.#MoreThanMean hopes to open guys eyes by having them open their mouths. The video shows what happens when real sports fans read real online comments made about women sports reporters right to their faces.In reading the statements out loud to women journalists, guys are forced to experience, sometimes for the first time, the shocking online harassment happening to women in sports day in, day out. It serves as proof most sports fans would NEVER say these things to another person so we shouldn t type this garbage, either.The video is a strong example that shows that while relations between men and women have obviously come a long way over the last century, there is a toxic culture that tries to bully women away from issues that some men feel they own.Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
Trump Says Hillary’s Emails Are Worse Than Watergate, Watergate Prosecutor SHREDS Him | When former President Richard Nixon s cronies broke into DNC Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in 1972, it was a scandal so monumental and unprecedented that Nixon became the first and only president to resign from the office.The perpetrators were trying to bug the offices and Nixon attempted to cover up the crime using government resources.Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, merely used a personal server to receive and send emails as Secretary of State. While her decision to use a personal server was a bad one, it is hardly a crime and that is what the FBI declared in July when the agency declined to charge her with a crime.Fast-forward to October and Hillary again finds herself in Republican crosshairs as Donald Trump and his deplorable supporters continue to call for her arrest after the FBI reportedly found three emails related to the email investigation on a device belonging to Anthony Weiner.As NBC s Pete Williams reported soon afterward, none of the emails were sent by Clinton or her campaign, nor were these emails hidden by Clinton or her campaign.In fact, the FBI has only just begun investigating the emails and a conclusion won t be reached until after the election and all the signs suggest the FBI will find nothing criminal about these emails either.Yet Donald Trump continues to yammer on to his supporters about how this is an October surprise that should derail Hillary s campaign and that her emails are worse than Watergate.Yeah, he totally thinks this situation is worse than the biggest political scandal in American history.But former U.S. Attorney Nick Akerman vehemently disagrees.Akerman was a prosecutor who worked on the Watergate case, so if anyone can compare a scandal to Watergate he s the one to ask.According to a statement provided to Mic, Akerman wrote that FBI Director James Comey acted inappropriately by writing a letter to Congress informing them of the new emails because they haven t even been reviewed yet, which means Comey didn t even bother getting all of the facts before giving Republicans something to whine about only ten days before Election Day.But Akerman saved the real ass-whooping for the Republican nominee and compared him to a past Republican who is just as disgraceful as Nixon. Donald Trump s statement that this is bigger than Watergate is totally absurd, Akerman wrote. There is no evidence of any violation of law. For Trump to reach that conclusion based on a total lack of evidence is reminiscent of the innuendo spread by Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950s. #Watergate prosecutor @nickakerman letting both James Comey and Donald Trump have it over today s Hillary Clinton email developments: pic.twitter.com/uWExp4VKyx Celeste Katz (@CelesteKatzNYC) October 28, 2016That sound you just heard is the sound of all the heads of Trump supporters exploding.Featured Image: Mark Makela/Getty Images | 1real |
WATCH: What Trump Just Said About 9/11 Proves Republicans Still Don’t Get It | Sprinting towards a likely win in New York s Republican primary, Donald Trump made the kind of flub about the September 11th terrorist attacks that would cause heartache for most other campaigns but is sort of what we ve now come to expect from the reality TV star turned presidential frontrunner.Appearing at a campaign event in Buffalo, NY, Trump referred to the 9/11 attacks as 7/11. Donald Trump, who has made his advocacy for New York City after the 9/11 attacks central to his candidacy, accidentally referred to it on Monday as 7/11 the ubiquitous convenience store. I wrote this out, and it s very close to my heart, he said at the outset of his remarks on Buffalo on Monday evening. Because I was down there and I watched our police and our firemen down at 7/11, down at the World Trade Center right after it came down. And I saw the greatest people I ve ever seen in action. This weird flub of course comes from the candidate who has claimed that he has a photographic memory and bragged a few months ago that he had the best words:I m telling you, I used to use the word incompetent. Now I just call them stupid. I went to an Ivy League school. I m very highly educated. I know words, I have the best words but there is no better word than stupid. Right?But Trump s respect for what happened on 9/11 has always been about an inch thick, despite his long time association with New York City.A conservative anti-Trump PAC aired an ad showing that Trump exploited a loophole in the law to access $150,000 in funds targeted towards small businesses who had suffered due to the attacks, even though as he has gone on about at length Trump has hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal, along with businesses (well the ones who haven t gone bankrupt) generating considerable income.Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
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Cuba marks anniversary of Fidel death as post-Castro era nears | HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba marks the first anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Saturday with a week of vigils nationwide, as the island embarks on a political cycle that will end 60 years of the Castro brothers rule. Fidel, a towering figure of the 20th century who built a Communist-run state on the doorstep of the United States and defied U.S. efforts to topple him, died aged 90 on Nov. 25 last year. The Cold War icon had already been largely out of public view for around a decade, having formally ceded the presidency to his younger brother, Raul Castro, in 2008 due to ill health. Cubans say his death changed little on the island. The pace of reforms instigated by Raul to update the Soviet-style command economy has continued as hesitantly as before. Cuba s relationship with the United States, meanwhile, has actually worsened due to U.S. President Donald Trump s more hostile stance. More significant politically, analysts say, will be the electoral cycle that starts Sunday with a municipal vote and will end with the selection of a new president in late February. Raul, 86, has said he would step down at the end of his two consecutive terms. The transition is expected to be gradual as Raul will remain head of the Communist Party. It comes, however, as the country faces a tricky time with a decline in aid from ally Venezuela, weaker exports and a resulting cash crunch. Not even we know what our future will be, said Ariadna Valdivia, 45, a high school teacher. Raul is ending his term in 2018, Fidel is already history, and I don t really see any way of improving things. Salaries are the same, food is always getting more expensive and now we have Trump tightening the embargo. By the time of his death, Castro had been out of the public limelight since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in 2006, occasionally writing columns and receiving foreign dignitaries at his home. His death last year plunged Cuba into nine days of national mourning. A funeral cortege carried his ashes on a three-day journey from Havana to his final resting place in the east of the island, where he had launched the Cuban revolution. I am Fidel became a nationwide chant, as many Cubans pledged to stay faithful to the revolution he led that in 1959 overthrew a U.S.-backed dictator. He was the best we ve had as a leader, said Rene Perez, a Havana taxi driver, echoing the feelings of many Cubans who miss Fidel s leadership, especially at times of crisis. Raul did not appear in public after Hurricane Irma thrashed the island in September. In keeping with his wishes to avoid a personality cult, no statues have been made of Fidel or public places named after him in Cuba. Even his tomb is a sober affair, a large granite boulder in Santiago de Cuba s Santa Ifigenia Cemetery with a plaque simply reading Fidel. Galas and vigils in honor of Fidel will be held around the country this week, according to state-run media. Cultural institutions like the national ballet are dedicating their shows to his memory, and state television is running archived footage on a loop. The municipal vote on Sunday, the only part of the electoral process with direct participation by ordinary Cubans, is being cast in state media as a show of support for his ideas. Posters of Fidel hung at assemblies where neighborhoods nominated candidates over the last two months. It will be followed by provincial and national assembly elections in which candidates are selected from slates by commissions. The new National Assembly will then in late February select a successor to Castro, widely expected to be First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Eduardo Torres, the director of Cuba s National Library, said there were several politicians well placed to become president but there would never be another Fidel and the country faced a generational transition. Raul had the weight of the historic generation, said Torres. When he leaves, it is another generation and another history we will start to build. | 0fake |
Accusations of Fraud at Wells Fargo Spread to Sham Insurance Policies - The New York Times | When Wells Fargo admitted a few months ago that thousands of its employees had created as many as two million unauthorized accounts for its customers, alarm bells went off at Prudential, one of the nation’s biggest insurance firms. Wells Fargo has a partnership with Prudential to sell a life insurance policy to the bank’s retail customers. After news of the Wells Fargo settlement in September, Prudential ordered an internal review of its dealings with the bank, to make sure nothing was amiss with the joint endeavor. A lot was amiss. According to three former managers in Prudential’s corporate investigation division, Wells Fargo employees appeared to have signed up bank customers for Prudential insurance without the customers’ knowledge or permission. In some cases, they even arranged for monthly premium fees to be withdrawn from their customers’ accounts. When investigators reviewed tapes of calls to Prudential’s customer service line, they found complaints from Wells Fargo customers about policies they did not remember buying. Many of the customers did not speak English and needed a Spanish interpreter, the three plaintiffs said. “This definitely was the same kind of conduct that Wells was committing, but through Prudential,” said one of the three Julie Han Broderick, an attorney and former of Prudential’s corporate investigations division, which has about 30 employees. Ms. Broderick and two of her colleagues, Darron Smith and Thomas Schreck, filed a wrongful termination suit against Prudential on Tuesday. They say they were fired in November for trying to escalate attention internally to their discoveries about conduct at Wells Fargo. Prudential said on Friday that the three were fired for “appropriate and legitimate reasons” that had nothing to do with Wells Fargo. A Prudential spokesman, Scot Hoffman, says the company continues to investigate the policies sold through Wells Fargo. Once it is finished, Prudential anticipates “reviewing this matter with our regulators,” he said. Since bankers are not licensed to sell insurance, Wells Fargo employees were encouraged, without discussing specific terms, to steer customers to either a kiosk in bank branches or a website on which they could sign up for MyTerm, a policy that does not require applicants to take a medical exam. Bankers who sold the product got credit toward their steep quarterly sales quotas. Some Wells Fargo bankers appear to have signed people up for MyTerm without telling them, according to the three from Prudential. In some cases, bankers opened MyTerm policies, closed them after a month or two and then promptly reopened them to bolster their sales numbers, the evidence in the lawsuit suggests. Wells Fargo said in a statement on Friday that it was investigating any alleged improprieties that were brought to its attention. “As we have consistently reinforced, if we identify any instances where a customer received a product they didn’t ask for, we will make it right,” said Mary Eshet, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman. The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey state court, provides elaborate details of how the same issues that have disgraced Wells Fargo — which forced the bank to pay $185 million in fines, to account for its actions in Congress, to replace its chief executive and to apologize profusely to customers — are now showing up at Prudential in the accounts that Wells Fargo handled. Under intense pressure to meet sales goals, which have since been eliminated, thousands of Wells Fargo’s workers used customers’ personal information to create sham accounts in the customers’ names some incurred fees on those unwanted accounts, which included checking accounts and credit cards. More than 5, 000 employees have been fired, and an internal investigation is underway. The three people who filed the wrongful termination suit were part of an investigations unit at Prudential that was asked to comb for irregularities in the 15, 000 MyTerm accounts that were sold through Wells Fargo. Those in the unit found that some customers who signed up for MyTerm listed addresses like “Wells Fargo Drive” on their applications, according to the complaint. Some of the policy applications listed suspicious email addresses for customers, and the name listed on a policy sometimes did not match the name in the customer’s email address — “for example, where the MyTerm policy holder was Jason Smith, the email address might be for johndoe@wellsfargo. com,” the complaint said. Additionally, the lawsuit said, “Cellphone numbers were listed as emails, such as 1234567@verizon. net, which was very similar to how fraudulent bank accounts were opened at Wells Fargo Bank. ” The MyTerm policies were “sold predominantly to individuals with last names concentrated in Southern California, southern Texas, southern Arizona and southern Florida,” the lawsuit states. Those four states also accounted for the bulk of the sham accounts created by Wells Fargo’s employees, according to the bank’s disclosures. “When we started peeling back the onion, everywhere we looked, it stunk,” said Mr. Smith, a plaintiff, who earlier this year was a featured speaker at a conference focusing on insurance fraud. An unusually high rate of the Prudential policies that Wells Fargo sold in its first year had lapsed — 70 percent — and many were dropped after only one or two months. In some cases, customers never made a single premium payment. There was also a suspicious pattern of MyTerm policies being closed and reopened, suggesting the unseen hand of a banker trying to buoy sales numbers. For example, “18 clients who purchased the MyTerm policies allowed them to lapse, or they were canceled and then repurchased them two more times,” the lawsuit states. A former Wells Fargo employee said the bank made no secret that it wanted employees to push various insurance products. “We were like insurance salespeople without the license,” said Michael Barborek, a former Wells Fargo banker in Orange, Tex. “They wanted us to offer it to everybody who came in. ” To meet their sales goals, some bankers in his branch would sometimes buy cheap policies for their friends and relatives, pay the first month’s premium and then cancel, according to Mr. Barborek — a blatant violation of regulatory rules and Wells Fargo’s own policies. Managers, facing their own pressure to make numbers, looked the other way, he said. The life insurance product is quick and easy to buy: A customer can complete the application in 15 minutes by answering a few basic medical questions online, without ever speaking to a licensed insurance sales agent. Prudential then, with the permission of the applicant, checks databases, such as pharmaceutical records, to assess the health of an applicant before deciding to issue a policy. The average annual premium is $288. 71 for a policy sold through Wells Fargo, which continues to offer MyTerm. According to the Prudential employees’ lawsuit, one person who contacted Prudential appeared to have had funds removed from his Wells Fargo savings account by a bank employee to pay for a policy he said he had not authorized. And others who called Prudential were confused about how much they owed each month in premiums, and why. As is not uncommon with cases, the three employees did not have entirely clean slates at Prudential. They said Prudential told them it was putting them on unpaid leave after another employee had turned over a series of text messages, most more than a year old, in which they were complaining about others within the corporate investigations division. They contend that the text messages are being used as a pretext by the company to dismiss them for complaining about the handling of the MyTerm investigation. Mr. Hoffman, the Prudential spokesman, said that the termination of the three employees was “entirely unrelated to Prudential’s business with Wells Fargo and Prudential’s decision to examine the sale of the MyTerm product. ” He declined to elaborate on the reason for the firings, noting that Prudential does not comment on employment matters. Mr. Hoffman said that Prudential began reviewing issues with MyTerm sales after complaints from customers in 2015, and expanded the review after news of the Wells Fargo settlement with regulators became public. Before they were fired, Ms. Broderick said, she and her two colleagues ran into obstacles when they pressed others at the insurer, which is based in New Jersey, to investigate their findings more aggressively and to notify regulators. They were kicked out of Prudential’s office in Newark, N. J. and put on unpaid leave just days before Thanksgiving, she said. “We were totally shocked,” Ms. Broderick said. “The game plan was to sweep this under the rug. ” In addition to the suit they filed in State Superior Court in New Jersey’s Essex County, the three intend to file a complaint next week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said one of their lawyers, Christopher Chang, a former Manhattan prosecutor. | 0fake |
141 Arrested At Protest Of The Dakota Access Pipeline | 141 Arrested At Protest Of The Dakota Access Pipeline 2 shares by Ike Mclean / October 28, 2016 / SOCIETY /
By late Thursday and early Friday morning police dressed in riot gear with armored vehicles were forced to intervene with activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline pipeline would run within a half-mile of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.
By midnight authorities arrested 141 protesters during a standoff that lasted more than six-hours on property that sits in the pipeline’s path.
Protesters blockaded roads and bridges by setting fire to bales of hay and construction equipment. Police also said some protesters threw rocks and fire bombs, and one women even fired three shots from at police, but nobody was hit.
More than 200 police officers were called in to stop the protests and were forced to use pepper spray and bean bag guns. Humvees, two helicopters and an airplane were also called in to assist law enforcement.
Authorities said the protesters left the officers with no choice but to intervene.
“We’re trying to avoid confrontation. But they drew the line in the sand today,” Cass County Sheriff Paul D. Laney told reporters Thursday.
The protesters were a group of Native Americans and environmental activists who have camped on the property since Sunday oppose the $3.8 billion pipeline because they say it could adversely impact drinking water and would disturb sacred burial sites.
Pictures from the protest can be seen below:
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Obama: 'Senseless murders' in church shooting | Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama on Thursday called the nine deaths in the Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting "senseless murders" and suggested more gun control is needed in the wake of the tragedy.
"Any death of this sort is a tragedy. Any shooting involving multiple victims is a tragedy," said Obama, as Vice President Joe Biden stood alongside him. "There is something particularly heartbreaking about death happening in a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace."
Police in Charleston released this security-camera image that they say shows Roof entering the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Police in Charleston released this security-camera image that they say shows Roof entering the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Police close off a section of Calhoun Street near the scene of the shooting.
Police close off a section of Calhoun Street near the scene of the shooting.
People pray in a hotel parking lot across the street from the scene of the shooting on June 17. Every Wednesday evening, the church holds a Bible study in its basement.
People pray in a hotel parking lot across the street from the scene of the shooting on June 17. Every Wednesday evening, the church holds a Bible study in its basement.
Police gather at the scene of the shooting on June 17. The church was formed in 1816.
Police gather at the scene of the shooting on June 17. The church was formed in 1816.
A man kneels across the street from where police gathered outside the church on June 17.
A man kneels across the street from where police gathered outside the church on June 17.
People in Charleston pray following the shooting on June 17.
People in Charleston pray following the shooting on June 17.
Charleston police officers search for the shooting suspect outside the church on Wednesday, June 17.
Charleston police officers search for the shooting suspect outside the church on Wednesday, June 17.
Police in Charleston close off a section of Calhoun Street early on June 18, after the shooting. The steeple of the church is visible in the background.
Police in Charleston close off a section of Calhoun Street early on June 18, after the shooting. The steeple of the church is visible in the background.
Two law enforcement officials said Roof confessed. Roof said he wanted to start a race war, one of the officials said.
Two law enforcement officials said Roof confessed. Roof said he wanted to start a race war, one of the officials said.
A police officer directs a police vehicle in front of the church on June 18.
A police officer directs a police vehicle in front of the church on June 18.
Law enforcement officers in Charleston, South Carolina, stand guard near the scene of the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Law enforcement officers in Charleston, South Carolina, stand guard near the scene of the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old charged with murdering nine people in a church shooting on Wednesday, June 17, is escorted by police in Shelby, North Carolina, on Thursday, June 18.
Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old charged with murdering nine people in a church shooting on Wednesday, June 17, is escorted by police in Shelby, North Carolina, on Thursday, June 18.
In this image from the video uplink from the detention center to the courtroom, Dylann Roof appears at a bond hearing June 19, 2015, in South Carolina. Roof is charged with nine counts of murder and firearms charges in the shooting deaths at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17.
In this image from the video uplink from the detention center to the courtroom, Dylann Roof appears at a bond hearing June 19, 2015, in South Carolina. Roof is charged with nine counts of murder and firearms charges in the shooting deaths at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17.
Obama spoke of the personal connections he and first lady Michelle Obama had to the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where they knew several members.
"We knew their pastor, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who, along with eight others gathered in prayer and fellowship, was murdered last night," Obama said. "And to say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and their community doesn't say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel."
Obama declined to comment on specific details of the investigation, which currently centers on 21-year-old suspect Dylann Roof, a white man who was taken into custody late Thursday morning in Shelby, North Carolina, authorities have said.
But the President said the shooting should refocus attention on preventing potential killers from getting their hands on guns.
"We do know that once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun," Obama said at the White House. "At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this kind of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency. It is in our power to do something about it."
"Communities like (Charleston) have had to endure tragedies like this too many times," he said.
Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul, however, was skeptical that a government solution was available.
"What kind of person goes in a church and shoots nine people? There's a sickness in our country. There's something terribly wrong, but it isn't going to be fixed by your government," the Kentucky senator said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference in Washington.
Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association declined to comment following the President's remarks Thursday afternoon, saying it was sticking to the same policy it has followed after similar incidents.
"The NRA will not be making any public statements until the facts are known," spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CNN.
Thursday isn't the first time Obama has used a shooting tragedy in the United States to make a renewed call for toughening gun ownership laws. Bolstering restrictions on gun sales became a top White House priority immediately following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook, which killed 20 children and left a total of 28 people dead.
Advocates for tougher gun laws rallied behind a bipartisan measure that would have mandated background checks on every gun sale. The bill was seen as the best chance for any type of new gun restriction to gain approval on Capitol Hill, where many lawmakers balked at imposing bans on assault weapons or high-capacity magazines.
But even the background check measure failed to gain enough support in the Senate in April 2013, and the issue of gun control has largely remained off the agenda in Washington since.
Without congressional support, Obama has signed dozens of unilateral executive actions meant to quell gun violence. But broad actions like creating a universal background check law or banning certain types of ammunition would still require lawmakers' approval.
A year ago, Obama said it was "stunning" that Congress wasn't able to get behind a single piece of gun control legislation after the Sandy Hook shooting. He called the failure to expand background checks to handgun sales his "biggest frustration" as president.
Obama on Thursday conceded that the current political arrangement in Washington -- where Republicans control both chambers of Congress -- means any movement on gun control laws remains unlikely during his presidency.
"The politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now," he said, adding that acknowledging the steady beat of shootings -- and their perpetrators' access to guns -- was a first step.
"At some point it's going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively," he said. | 0fake |
null | Keep driving your cab down there in Vegas “SNITCH-51″ with your big gambling addiction and keep your half ass Liberal “opinions” to yourself you limp wristed Candy Ass FOOL !!! | 1real |
Trump Has A SICKENING, Hypocritical Message For Black Lives Matter: Stop Being So ‘Divisive’ (VIDEO) | Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate that has spewed the most hateful, bigoted rhetoric modern America has ever witnessed, had the audacity to call Black Lives Matter very divisive on Tuesday night.That s right. The candidate that has promised a border wall to keep illegal Mexican immigrants out (after calling them rapists, drug dealers and criminals ), threatened to close mosques in the U.S. and proposed a ban on all Muslims from coming into the United States and routinely retweets white supremacists has the nerve to call a social justice movement divisive. In speaking to Fox News Bill O Reilly, Trump weighed in on the tragic shootings of African American police brutality victims Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. He called the shootings very, very sad but in the same breath accused the Black Lives Matter movement a movement that fights the very systemic racism that contributed to those deaths of dividing America. When O Reilly asked Trump if Black Lives Matter was helping America or hurting America? , Trump said: I would say they re dividing America. I think they re hurting themselves. Trump also said that he was a big supporter of law enforcement and said that police shootings get broadcast and they don t show all the good work the police does. Of course, no Republican can talk about a tragedy without blaming America s first black President, so Trump made sure to call President Barack Obama the divider-in-chief that was responsible for race relations in America.It does not get more disgusting than this. Trump s words are an insult to everyone working to improve race relations in America and call awareness to a massive social issue that is finally getting the attention it deserves. Trump, a racist that is so divisive that he has even torn his own political party apart, is the last one who should be criticizing Black Lives Matter or talking about unifying America. You can watch this sickening video below:Featured image via Gage Skidmore | 1real |
McConnell says Senate leaders looking at all options on Moore | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said there was deep concern about allegations of sexual misconduct against U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore and that he was looking options to prevent him from taking office. McConnell said President Donald Trump called him on Friday and the two discussed Moore and he spoke to Vice President Mike Pence on Monday. “There is no question that there is a deep concern here. Roy Moore should step aside. The women who have come forward are entirely credible,” McConnell told reporters. “He’s obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate and we’ve looked at all the options to try to prevent that from happening.” | 0fake |
(Video) Colonel Ralph Peters Hammers Obama on Putin and Russian Airstrikes in Syria: “…our president is a deer caught in the headlights of history.” | In almost 7 years this president hasn t learned that words don t stop bullets. He is fundamentally out of touch with human reality, with the reality of history, with the reality of warfare, and Vladimir Putin ruthless and vicious and ugly though he is he s the one that s on the side of history, now. Not us. We re clinging to 20th century platitudes, and Putin is changing the world. CHANGING THE WORLD, as we do nothing. Putin is a man of action and God help us our president is a deer caught in the headlights of history. | 1real |
BUSTED: Leaked Documents Prove Trump Took Laundered Money From Russian Bank | Convincing President Trump to release his tax returns is proving slightly more difficult than we initially anticipated, but that doesn t mean there haven t been any signs of success from taking the longer route. Take, for example, a 98-page document recently released by the United States Office of Government Ethics.The document, available in its entirety here, clearly shows that not only is Donald Trump outright profiting from the presidency, a direct violation of the Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution but also that he is in debt to several banks, both domestic and foreign.Although shocking news, none of this particularly comes as a surprise, more or less just confirms what most of us already suspected. However, it s when you delve into the details that you discover the true significance of the President s possible under-the-table actions.German-based Deutsche Bank was served with $630 million in penalties back in January for a $10 billion Russian money laundering scheme involving it s Moscow and New York branches among others. Deutsche Bank also gave Trump four questionable long-term loans, potentially Russian money that s been handed to Trump, the final loan given just before the commencement of the presidential election and used to help fund the Trump International Hotel that opened in Washington DC last year.Obviously, this interaction between Trump and Deutsche Bank should raise more than just a few red flags, at least confirming that there is a possibility that the Russians laundered money to Trump as he began his campaign and just prior to hiring senior advisors with ties to the Russian government.Furthermore, Deutsche Bank is gaining somewhat of a reputation for their shady business dealings as well. Not only were they caught in the Russian laundering scheme, the bank also struck a $7.2 billion deal with the US government last December to settle claims for toxic mortgages they packaged and sold between 2005 and 2007, as well as paying $2.5 billion in April 2015 to settle charges it conspired to manipulate global interest rate benchmarks.It s interesting, yet not at all surprising, how corrupt people and organizations just seem to gravitate toward each other.Featured image via Getty/Drew Angerer and screenshot | 1real |
Obama’s EPIC Smackdown Of GOP Senator For Using Him In Ads (VIDEO) | Senator Pat Toomey is a staunch Republican caught in a close re-election race against Kate McGinty in Pennsylvania, and he ll apparently do anything to hold on to his seat in that key swing state including pretending to support the President.Here is the ad currently being run in Pennsylvania, showing Toomey allying himself with Obama:Not surprisingly, President Obama who has endorsed McGinty and campaigned on her behalf did not take too kindly to Sen. Toomey s attempt to fool voters. Pat Toomey may have done the right thing on one vote, but courage is telling Pennsylvania voters where you stand on the tough issues, not just the easy ones like background checks, Obama said in a statement Saturday afternoon. Pat Toomey won t tell Pennsylvania voters where he stands on Donald Trump, trying instead to have it both ways by telling different people what he thinks they want to hear. That s not courage. Voting to shut down the government and against bills to close the terrorist gun loophole isn t courage. Lauren Passalacqua, of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) described the ad this way: This is among the most disingenuous stunts we ve seen in a cycle full of them. President Obama is scheduled to campaign in Pennsylvania on Monday, where polls show Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump, but have McGinty and Toomey in a neck-and-neck contest.The President is almost sure to make some reference to Toomey s sad campaign ad, and tweak him over the desperate nature of the attempt.Democrats believe that Toomey s seat is key to their strategy to take back the majority of seats in the Senate. Currently, online prediction models show the party with a slightly over 60% likelihood of doing so. Having a Democratic Senate with Clinton in the White House would be key to nominating a Supreme Court justice, maintaining the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and getting some of Clinton s proposed legislative agenda made into actual law.Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 1real |
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