title stringlengths 1 456 ⌀ | text stringlengths 1 143k ⌀ | label class label 2
classes |
|---|---|---|
House Republicans accelerate efforts on tax reform bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are accelerating efforts to craft a sweeping tax reform bill for 2017 and looking at ways to smooth the transition to a new tax system for some businesses, the House Republican tax chief said on Wednesday. Republicans on the House tax committee met in a special recess session to work on a reform bill based on an election campaign blueprint that would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent and end taxation of foreign profits for U.S. multinational corporations. Representative Kevin Brady, Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means panel that is expected to unveil legislation early next year, said his committee is consulting with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team and Republicans in the Senate. “We’re meeting here to take the broad outlines of our blueprint, begin filling in the specific provisions (and) identifying a path forward,” Brady told reporters after Wednesday’s session. The panel, which oversees tax policy in the House, will hold a second session on Thursday to discuss provisions of the U.S. healthcare law popularly known as Obamacare, which Republicans have promised to repeal. The meetings were initially scheduled for January but were moved forward to be ready for Trump’s arrival in the White House. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Brady and House Speaker Paul Ryan see tax reform as a way to promote economic growth and create jobs. One of the most dramatic changes under consideration is a border adjustability provision that would exempt U.S. exports from corporate income tax but would tax imports. Advocates say the reform parallels Trump’s call for import tariffs and could help the president-elect foster manufacturing jobs for blue-collar Americans, who are among his most ardent supporters. Border adjustability has strong support among exporters. But it has also raised concerns within industries that rely heavily on imports, including retailing and oil refining. Brady said on Wednesday that his committee is sensitive to the way tax reform could affect different businesses. “We’re looking at a number of transition rules that in effect accelerate the growth aspects of all of our tax reform proposals but also acknowledge (that) these are major changes,” the Texas Republican said. “We’re proposing bold changes. We know that. All of them affect different businesses differently. So we’re listening very closely to how we can make sure we smooth that out.” | 0fake |
Trump tests dealmaker image to sell healthcare bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has launched a charm offensive of the type not seen before in his brief and chaotic tenure, forcefully rallying behind legislation to repeal the Obamacare healthcare law while trying to placate the bill’s opponents. In doing so, the often blustery Trump faces a test of credibility for the voters that catapulted him into office: How does a celebrity outsider, the CEO president, cut deals in Washington? Does the New York businessman live up to the image of dealmaker in chief? Interviews with more than a dozen White House and congressional aides, members of Congress and conservative activists offer a glimpse into his attempts at conducting the most formidable, high-stakes negotiation of his presidency. They show a more circumspect Trump than many see publicly. While they acknowledge he can make his points with a blunt and combustible style, he appears to be doing more listening than talking, they said, trying to appease both supporters and critics by signaling flexibility over legislation that faces criticism on multiple fronts. Democrats and some influential Republicans say it would rip health insurance away from millions of Americans and increase costs for many others, including voters who helped elect Trump - a problem that could haunt his fellow Republicans in 2018 congressional elections. Conservatives say it does not go far enough in gutting the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform passed by Democrats in 2010. Republicans have long sought to dismantle the law, which they see as government overreach. Trump has called Obamacare a “disaster” and made its repeal and replacement a key campaign pledge. The political stakes are immense for an eight-week-old presidency marked by instability, infighting, battles with the media, questions over temperament and a stubborn investigation into ties between his campaign and Russian intelligence. “A lot of times you have politicians who gather in a room to pontificate. That’s not why he has gathered people in the room,” a senior White House official said of Trump’s negotiation style this week. “He’s gathered people in to hear their opinions. I think that’s lost a little bit because he does speak so forcefully. He definitely does let them say their piece, and he listens.” The president has reached out to influential conservatives such as U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and groups such as the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity, which have expressed skepticism about the bill. “He was gregarious, reasonable. He listened. It was a not a lecture,” said Tim Phillips, president of AFP, a group backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch and part of a small group of conservative leaders who met with Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday night. “He said: ‘This is a negotiation. Let’s figure out ways to make this proposal better,’” Phillips said of Trump. Trump has indicated he will only go so far to make conservatives happy, insisting the core elements of the bill must remain intact if it has any chance to pass the House of Representatives and then the Senate, both controlled by Republicans. One sticking point involves the use of tax credits to help consumers purchase health insurance, which Trump favors. “He’s made it clear this is the vehicle to finally undo the damage of Obamacare and repeal and replace it,” said another senior White House official. “And if it can be improved in this process, he has encouraged that.” Trump is operating with a razor-thin margin for success. A defection by 20 or so Republicans in the House could sink the bill’s prospects. There is already discontent among some in the Senate, where Republicans hold an even slimmer edge. Democrats and groups such as AARP, which advocates for older Americans, and the American Medical Association have come out strongly against the bill. Conservatives in the House and advocacy groups opposed to the bill would like to slow the process and rework its fundamentals. They argue the legislation retains basic facets of Obamacare, including federal assistance to purchase health insurance and penalties if coverage lapses. House Speaker Paul Ryan is hoping to pass the legislation within two weeks so the House can move on to other priorities. That leaves little time for wholesale alterations. Representative Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he expected the bill would largely remain in its current form. “I know lots of people have good ideas. That’s terrific. And those will fit in future bills.” The White House has tried to persuade conservatives that the House bill is just the first step in a three-step process, and will soon be joined by a companion bill that would embrace some of their policy priorities. Regulations put in place by Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price will also address their concerns, aides said. The challenge for Trump is whether he can convince enough wary conservatives to back the first step of the plan without being able to guarantee the other phases will come to pass. It could leave them on the record voting for a bill they do not feel adequately dismantles Obamacare. Some conservatives may also not see the point of sticking their necks out backing a bill that may die in the Senate. “This is a futile effort,” said Rachel Bovard, a policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, which opposes the bill. The White House is aggressively making the case that the House bill is the best chance to do away with Obamacare. Moving too far rightward to placate conservatives could stir up opposition from moderate Republicans and lead to a bill that stokes a powerful backlash among millions of Americans who would lose health insurance - including many Republicans. Many Democrats are already planning to run campaigns on the issue. The White House was busy this week trying to reassure moderate Republicans as well. Vice President Mike Pence is holding meetings in Congress, including with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican aide said. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, a former House member, has invited conservative lawmakers to dinner at the White House next Tuesday. Trump plans to leverage the power of his office in another way, making trips to Kentucky and Tennessee in coming days to sell the House bill to the American public. Earlier this week, Trump welcomed about 30 Republican House members, many of whom said they had never been in the White House before - a contrast in style from Obama, who was often criticized for not attempting to engage more fully with Congress. In the East Room, Trump told them to come back every week. Grover Norquist, a longtime conservative tax advocate, praised Trump’s strategy, saying: “He is making people feel loved and appreciated and part of the team.” | 0fake |
Ted Cruz Goes FULL Right-Wing Lunatic Trying To Raise Support Off Obama’s Gun Actions (IMAGES) | As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, and as all the right-wing lunatics of the Republican party seem to be drifting towards Donald Trump, Ted Cruz knew what he had to do go full right-wing lunatic himself.After President Obama announced his common sense executive actions for gun reform and a safer America, many Republicans were outraged. After all, fewer guns in the hands of the mentally ill means fewer massacres, which in turns means people won t be as scared and in turn go out and buy stockpiles of unnecessary firearms. Republicans, bought and paid for by the gun lobby, want to make sure people stay scared and have as many guns as possible.Well, Senator Ted Cruz, doing all he can to fear-monger his base of voters too stupid to realize they re being manipulated, decided he would have some fun with photoshop and scare people into supporting him. He sent out this to entice people:via tedcruz.orgOr from a mobile device: via tedcruz.orgMind you, President Obama said nothing of taking guns from anyone, or wanting anyone s guns. He s done nothing to, in any way, go against the Second Amendment which calls for citizens to be well regulated. Obama is simply trying to make sure existing laws are followed and the wrong people don t have access to buy firearms.Now, unless these right-wingers are terrified that they are going to be labeled the ones who are mentally ill, none of this effects them whatsoever. In fact, it strengthens the Second Amendment and the rights of law-abiding gun owners.However, Cruz, knowing his supporters are paranoid idiots, is preying on this fear for support and sends them an image of a militarized President Obama with the very false and simplistic phrase, OBAMA WANTS YOUR GUNS, perfectly catering to the fear these simple-minded, myopic voters have.We could say, shame on you to Ted Cruz for doing this, but to his credit, this sort of fear-mongering, albeit utterly inaccurate and unethical, works for Republican politicians. They have perfectly wrapped up the terrified conspiracy theorist vote, and this imagery play perfectly into that narrative.That being said, shame on you, Cruz. This is just pathetic.Featured image: tedcruz.org/flickr | 1real |
Gala glitz masks Asia's tensions as Trump winds up tour | MANILA (Reuters) - Leaders from across Asia joined U.S. President Donald Trump at an extravagant gala dinner in the Philippines’ capital on Sunday, a show of amity in a region fraught with tensions that have lurked behind his marathon tour of the continent. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte set the tone of cordiality ahead of the two days of summit meetings he will host, suggesting that despite their differences over claims to the South China Sea, the leaders should not discuss the issue. “We have to be friends, the other hotheads would like us to confront China and the rest of the world on so many issues,” Duterte said at a business conference, as planes carrying heads of state and government attending the summit landed in quick succession in Manila. “The South China Sea is better left untouched, nobody can afford to go to war. It can ill-afford a violent confrontation.” Hours earlier, during a bilateral visit to Vietnam, Trump offered to mediate in the dispute over the South China Sea, where four Southeast Asian countries and Taiwan contest China’s sweeping claims to the busy waterway. All the claimants will be at the summit, except for Taiwan. Trump will join leaders of Southeast and East Asian nations in Manila over the next two days, the last leg of a tour that has taken him to Japan, South Korea and China as well as Vietnam. The sheer length of the trip - the longest to Asia by a U.S. president in more than a quarter century - may reassure some that, despite Trump’s “America First” policy, Washington remains committed to a region China sees as its strategic domain. Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Russia, Japan, Canada, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand arrived one by one for a glitzy gala dinner where they were entertained by singers and dancers. Each of the men sported a cream-colored barong, a traditional Philippines shirt made of fiber from the pineapple plant, embroidered and worn untucked. They were served a four-course Filipino-Asian fusion meal curate and prepared by Chef Jessie Sincioco, who also designed the menu for Pope Francis when he visited the Philippines in 2015. Police used water canon to prevent hundreds of protesters reaching the U.S. embassy in Manila ahead of Trump’s arrival. Carrying placards declaring “Dump Trump” and “Down with U.S. Imperialism”, the left-wing protesters were blocked by police in riot gear with shields and batons, and then showered with jets of water from a fire engine. The United States and its former colony, the Philippines, have been strategic allies since World War Two. Trump is expected to try during the summit to shore up relations, which have been strained by the mercurial Duterte’s notorious anti-U.S. sentiment and his enthusiasm for better ties with Russia and China. Duterte - sometimes described as the ‘Trump of the East’ because of his brash style - said last week he would tell the U.S. president to “lay off” if he raised the issue of human rights when they met. More than 3,900 Filipinos have been killed in what the police call self-defense in a war on drugs declared by Duterte. Critics say executions are taking place with no accountability, allegations the police reject. But Trump, who has been criticized at home for neglecting rights issues in dealings abroad, praised Duterte in May for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem”. “INDO-PACIFIC” Trump’s tour comes against a background of tensions on the Korean peninsula following exchanges of war-like threats and insults between North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and Trump over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development program. China has been urged by both South Korea and the United States to take a more active role in curbing North Korea’s nuclear and missile ambitions. During his tour, Trump and his team have repeatedly used the term “Indo-Pacific” instead of “Asia-Pacific” for the region, which some see as an effort to depict it as more than China-dominated. Pacific Rim nation leaders agreed in Vietnam on Saturday to address “unfair trade practices” and “market distorting subsidies”, a statement that bore the imprint of Trump’s efforts to reshape the global trade landscape. The summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries in Vietnam put on show the contrasting vision of the “America First” policy with the traditional consensus favoring multinational deals that China now seeks to champion. Manila hosted the APEC summit two years ago, and at that meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a Twitter poll with the hashtag #APEChottie that asked people to vote for the most attractive leader there. Journalists swarmed the youthful leader and screamed in excitement. On his latest visit, Trudeau visited an outlet of Jollibee, a chain that has become a byword for Filipino fast food, chatting and posing for selfies, charming the people of Manila again. (This story has been refiled to correct word “untucked” in 10th paragraph.) | 0fake |
Attack on Trump: Mitt Romney Just ‘Awoke a Sleeping Giant’ | 21st Century Wire says Did Mitt Romney just make an incredible mistake?Fox News contributor Judge Jeanine Pirro has unleashed a scathing attack on Mitt Romney after his recent moves to try and put a halt to Donald Trump s presidential run: There s an insurrection coming, Mitt Romney just confirmed it, Mitt Romney will always be remembered as the one who put us over the edge and awoke a sleeping giant the silent majority the American people, Fact the establishment is panicked. The military industrial complex is certainly panicked as Trump, the Republican frontrunner, just said that he wants to get along with foreign countries , particularly Russia, instead of going to war with them.Watch Judge Jeanine unload on the failed Republican candidate, who, in her words, choked during the 2012 election, in the following video:GET THE FULL STORY ON THIS YEAR S ELECTION: 21st Century Wire Election Files | 1real |
BREAKING UPDATE…Last Holdout: “I DECLARE WAR AGAINST The United States Government…Liberty Or Death”…Clive Bundy Arrested On Way to Malheur Wildlife Refuge…Reverend Franklin Graham Arrives On Scene…OREGON STANDOFF LIVE FEED…Slow Motion Video Of Lavoy Finicum Shooting Death By FBI | Negotiations to surrender currently live-streaming from the scene on YouTube (below)Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy arrested on way to Malheur wildlife refuge, will appear in court at 1.30pm PTRemaining militia members had tentatively agreed to walk off refuge at 8am PT after night of frantic negotiationsFranklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, arrived at the standoff site in Burns, Ore., around 8 a.m. PT., at about the time when one of the occupiers, Sean Anderson, said the group planned to turn themselves in at a nearby FBI checkpoint.Graham, who is based in North Carolina, said on his Facebook page that he had been speaking with the four holdouts by phone everyday at the request of the protesters and the FBI. Last night I was on the phone with them for several hours, was able to have prayer with them, and they have said they would come out today, he said in the Wednesday night post. I am on my way there and hope to be there by 7:00 AM their time. Please keep them, law enforcement officials, and all involved in your prayers, that everyone will be safe. In the final moments leading up to the planned surrender, discussions between the holdouts and Nevada lawmaker Michele Fiore, a sympathizer who flew to Oregon, were being livestreamed in an online broadcast.LIVE FEED:SLOW MOTION VIDEO Of protester and patriot, Lavoy Finicum shooting death by FBI:Oregon Protester s Interview Voicing Concerns The Day Before He Was Killed WATCH VIDEO HERE18:22 Cliven Bundy charged with assault, conspiracySome breaking news from outside of the refuge: The Associated Press is reporting that Cliven Bundy has been charged with assault and conspiracy for his 2014 standoff with the federal government at his Nevada ranch.The 69-year-old rancher has for years refused to pay grazing fees to the government to have his cattle use public lands. The dispute reached a head when federal officials attempted to seize his cattle and armed anti-government protesters came to his aid.He still owes the government more than $1m.Cliven Bundy was arrested late Wednesday night in Portland. Earlier in the evening, he told the Guardian he was on his way to Oregon to support the occupiers. He is currently in jail in Portland.13:17 David Fry is telling the more than 25,000 listeners on the live YouTube stream that he fears going to prison. They need to address my grievances. They need to promise me absolute protection, Fry said. Even if I go to prison, they should promise me absolute protection. He also said he worried he would be attacked by other prisoners.Gavin Seim, the live-streamer, told him not to be afraid: Don t be intimidated by a jail or prison cell. He said the people in jail are like him others who have been abused by the government .Fry continued: I can t come out guys. I can t do it. 12:50 David Fry said on the live-stream that Jeff Banta, one of the four holdouts, is now leaving the occupation and surrendering.Fry, however, is now shouting demands at the FBI: Unless my grievances are heard, I will not come out! Gavin Seim, the live-streamer, tried to keep him calm: Go and walk out there like the others We ve got the world watching. They haven t even promised anything, really. I didn t agree to any of this, really. I m kind of worried that they are just going to ignore us, Fry said.Seim responded: It s in God s hands. 12:41 Occupiers walking outSean Anderson has just said that FBI officials have told them to exit the refuge one at a time. Michele Fiore is no longer on the live-feed. You coming out, Sean? Gavin Seim asked Coming out! Sean shouted on the video. They re walking toward us. It looks like they ve got guns pointed at us, David Fry said, adding that Jeff Banta is next to him. They are basically patting her down and I think they are going to apprehend her there, Fry said of Sandy Anderson. Now, Sean is standing there holding the American flag in his hand. 12:16 Latest summaryNevada assemblywoman Michele Fiore and Franklin Graham, a high-profile reverend, are on their way to the Malheur national wildlife refuge headquarters in rural Harney County with FBI officials. The plan is to escort the occupation holdouts out.The four holdouts are: Sandy Anderson, 48, Sean Anderson, 47, Jeff Banta, 46, and David Fry, 27.The four were indicted by a federal grand jury last week on conspiracy charges and could face six years in prison.Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was arrested in Portland last night and will appear in court at 1.30pm today.From evening of February 10:00:09: Occupiers say they will meet FBI at checkpoint at 8amThe tone of the occupiers is becoming more conciliatory.Sean Anderson tells Seim that the FBI has offered to meet them at a checkpoint at 8am (PST) on Thursday.He says the four of them have agreed to leave their weapons in their vehicles before approaching the checkpoint.Both Andersons say they want the media to be present at the checkpoint. The world s going to be watching, says Seim. They re not just going to haul you away into the darkness. 04:20The feed of the live phone call is at turns disturbing and downright surreal. There was just a moment of sheer panic when Sean Anderson announced he was going to light an outdoor heater. I am going to light a propane heater cos we are standing out here freezing cold, he said. Don t do that, don t do that, replied Congresswoman Fiore.There appeared to be a frantic attempt to communicate with the FBI that the occupiers were on the cusp of lighting their heater, so they didn t misunderstand what was happening.Amid discussions about whether there were flammable materials in the area, and attempts to implore Anderson not to light the heater, he replied: I am going to go ahead and light this so my wife can be warm. If they shoot them that s on their fucking ass. He lit the heater. Lights are seen from the Narrows roadblock near Burns, Oregon, as FBI agents surrounded the remaining four occupiers at the Malheur national wildlife refuge. Photograph: Thomas Boyd/AP23:02 More vehicles are approaching the refuge, the occupiers are saying.They broke through our barricades, they object.22:59 Fiore: I m not asking you to give up Fiore who appears to be acting as a curious mixture of negotiator and cheerleader tells the occupiers that they are engaged in a battle to take America back.She is being driven to the refuge now, in a journey expected to take around four hours.Fiore says her cellphone signal might drop as they drive through mountains, but says the FBI will not act while the signal is down (we don t have confirmation of that alleged agreement from the FBI). In order to stay alive, I have to submit and be a slave, Sean Anderson shouts. He compares himself to Braveheart. I m not asking you to give up, Fiore tells him.22:50 Associated Press has further background information on two of the occupiers, husband and wife Sean and Sandy Anderson:The husband and wife moved from the town of Janesville, Wisconsin, within the last several years to Riggins, Idaho, where Sean, 47, opened a store for hunting, tactical and survival gear. Sandy, 48, worked at a gas station.Idaho County, where they live, and Harney County, 290 miles away where the refuge is located, are similar in many ways. Both have large portions of land managed by federal agencies and populations chafing at restrictions put on that land.Idaho county sheriff Doug Giddings said the Andersons are good residents, though he didn t know as much about Sean as he did about Sandy. She s a good person, she s just upset with the government, he told Oregon Public Broadcasting.Sean Anderson is facing misdemeanor charges in Wisconsin for resisting an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana.He also has pleaded guilty to a series of misdemeanors in recent years: domestic abuse in December 2010, disorderly conduct in 2008, criminal trespass in a dwelling in 2002, and disorderly conduct in 1999.A friend of the couple, Lindsey Dipo, told the Lewiston Tribune newspaper that the couple recorded their will on Dipo s cellphone before departing for Oregon.22:46 The occupiers and Fiore on the other end of the phone line break off frequently to pray.Sandy Anderson is angered because she says the FBI negotiators interrupted one prayer session.Fiore says this is good it shows the FBI is listening to the broadcast and they know what is happening.22:43 If they won t give us one more day we re just going to stay here and fucking die, Sean Anderson says. 22:39 Cliven Bundy on his way to the refugeCliven Bundy has confirmed in a phone interview with the Guardian just now that he is on his way to the refuge. I hope I save some lives, for one thing, he said.The elder Bundy said he decided to go to Harney County after he saw the FBI was closing in on the occupiers:I guess if they wanted to murder somebody tonight, that d be a good way to do it.I don t know whether I ll be a negotiator or maybe a demander. I think we oughta take this country back and I think it s time the feds get out of there.Bundy said he has not heard from law enforcement:I m not really talking to the FBI. As far as I m concerned, they have no jurisdiction or authority there.Bundy declined to say if anyone else was with him or how long it would take him to get there.22:35 Sean Anderson says he wants assurances that the four occupiers won t face prosecution. They can drop charges, they do it all the time for people who are way worse than we are, he told Fiore.The occupiers are also telling the assemblywoman that Franklin Graham, a reverend from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is in discussions with them. The occupiers said the FBI may consider letting them walk out at 7am Thursday morning with Graham.But Sean Anderson said he wasn t confident they would get out alive: How can we trust what they are saying? 22:32Sean Anderson, one of the occupiers, has just announced what he calls their concession that the four of them will leave the refuge in daylight on Thursday if they are allowed to be accompanied by Congresswoman Fiore and Christian evangelist Franklin Graham.He says the FBI must now offer its own concession in return.22:30According to a Facebook page associated with the militia, Cliven Bundy father of Ammon Bundy and himself involved in an earlier standoff with officials is on his way to the site of the siege.However, the FBI has reportedly told the four occupiers that nobody will be able to enter the property.22:26 Helicopters heard over the refugePaul Lewis Paul Lewis The live broadcast just captured the moment the occupiers heard helicopters above the refuge. The black hawks are here and they re going to kill us, said one voice, which appeared to be David Fry, the most agitated of the occupiers.He added moments later: If they fire first, my weapon is in reach and I m going to take them with me. Gavin Seim, the rightwing activist who is running the Youtube broadcast, led a group prayer for those inside, and assured them that leader Ammon Bundy, who in prison, has been taken out of solitary confinement.Assemblywoman Michele Fiore who is also on the line, acting as a mediator is also encouraging the remaining occupiers to remain calm. I need you to stay alive. The only way we re going to be able to write your story and write your book is if you stay alive. The occupiers appear to have a separate line to the FBI, and are relaying that they ve been told no one will be allowed on to the refuge until they leave. They want us to leave. They said the time for concessions has passed, Sandy Anderson said.The details are sketchy, and the audio in parts inaudible, but it appears that one proposal is for a local figure, possibly a reverend, to join the occupiers and lead them off the site.David Fry, the 27-year-old occupier from Ohio, has become increasingly agitated on the live stream, shouting at Fiore and his fellow protesters.Fry made headlines when he posted video of himself using government computers to create a website for the occupation.According to a recent profile of Fry by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), his antics led many in the militia to grow frustrated with him, with some wanting him to leave.Fry had previously communicated with militia spokesman LaVoy Finicum online, and Finicum had reportedly encouraged the young occupier to stay.Fry s family told the radio station that he has frequently had problems with authorities. He s had his problems, some of which he s brought on himself, his grandfather, William Fry, told OPB. He gets pulled over for busted taillights, and instead of just rolling down his window and handing over his insurance, he screams at the officer, What the [expletive] do you want? And right there, a regular thing turns into him in handcuffs. Fry also often writes about conspiracy theories online.Via: The GuardianThe occupation at Malheur started on 2 January in response to the conviction of two local ranchers on arson charges. Our explainer has more on the background to the 40-day standoff:One protester has been shot dead and eight others were arrested on Tuesday after a confrontation between police and an armed group that has taken over a federal wildlife reserve in Oregon.What were the circumstances of the shooting? The FBI said shots were fired after officers stopped a car carrying Ammon Bundy, the leader of the protests, and five others near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Activists said rancher Robert LaVoy Finicum was killed, and one person wounded. Finicum, 55, had been one of the main spokesmen for the occupation, appearing at daily news conferences, posting regular dispatches on his YouTube page and organising some of the most high-profile actions protesting against the federal government s regulation of public lands. Bundy and four other senior members were taken into custody following the confrontation along Highway 395 near the reserve in north-east Oregon at 4.25pm local time, the FBI said. Two others were arrested later, including Peter Santilli, a journalist who livestreamed events at the refuge.Is the standoff over? No. FBI agents have set up a perimeter around the wildlife refuge, where an unknown number of people are still holding out. One of the remaining occupiers, Jason Patrick, told Reuters by phone that they would stay until the redress of grievances . He said: I ve heard peaceful resolution for weeks now and now there s a cowboy who is my friend who is dead so prepare for the peaceful resolution. How long has the occupation been going on, and why are they there? The takeover at Malheur started on 2 January after a peaceful protest in nearby Burns, Oregon, over the conviction of two local ranchers on arson charges. Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires. The two were convicted three years ago. But in October a federal judge ruled their terms were too short and ordered them back to prison for about four years each. Among the demands by the group is for the Hammonds to be released. But the militia have more deep-seated grievances over land under federal government control. | 1real |
U.S. navy recovers remains of all sailors missing after USS McCain collision | SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Monday confirmed recovery of the remains of all 10 sailors killed after the warship John S. McCain collided with a merchant vessel in waters near Singapore and Malaysia. The guided-missile destroyer collided with the Alnic MC east of Singapore last week while approaching the city state on a routine port visit. The U.S. navy and marine corps divers have now recovered the remains of all 10 USS John S.McCain sailors, the Seventh Fleet said in a statement on its website. The news follows the navy s Thursday announcement that it had suspended wider search and rescue operations after finding and identifying the remains of one sailor. The navy found the remains of missing sailors inside sealed sections of the damaged hull of the warship, which is moored at Singapore s Changi Naval Base. The incident is under investigation to determine the facts and circumstances of the collision, the statement added. Aircraft, divers and vessels from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States joined a search-and-rescue operation for the missing sailors over an area of about 5,500 sq. km. (2,124 square miles) around the crash site. The pre-dawn collision, the fourth major accident for the U.S. Pacific Fleet this year, has prompted a review of its operations. The Navy has removed Seventh Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin from his post, citing a loss of confidence in his ability to command after the run of accidents. Rear Admiral Phil Sawyer takes command of the fleet from Aucoin, who had been due to step down next month. The U.S. navy has also flagged plans for temporary and staggered halts in operations across its global fleet to allow staff to focus on safety. In a one-day operational pause last Wednesday, officers and crew of Seventh Fleet ships deployed at a facility in Yokosuka, Japan, received fresh training in risk management and communications. The Seventh Fleet, headquartered in Japan, operates as many as 70 ships, including the U.S. navy s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, and has about 140 aircraft and 20,000 sailors. | 0fake |
BREAKING: WIKILEAKS E-MAILS: SOROS AND CLINTON Working Together On “Police Reform” And BLM…REMEMBER “Implicit Bias”? | Leaked emails from Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta s personal email account published by WikiLeaks reveal the Clinton campaign s coordination with George Soros s Open Society Foundations on the subject of police reform.Soros, who has given almost $10 million to Clinton super PAC Priorities USA, is a major funder of Black Lives Matter. The Washington Times reported in August that Soros has given at least $33 million to the group through the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which he funds and controls.Both OSF and Clinton have called to crack down on police officers implicit bias. A December 2015 email exchange between Podesta and OSF president Chris Stone was included in the batch of Podesta s emails released by WikiLeaks on Friday. Hi, John. Your policy team was asking me for ideas on police reform a couple of months ago. Here s a concrete idea I ve written up, and a good hook for it in Chicago, Stone wrote.Stone attached to the email an article he wrote that advocated putting federally-funded bureaucrats in charge of police oversight.Read more: Daily Caller | 1real |
WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING: Katie Couric Would Like Americans To Know That Gun Owners Actually WANT Gun Control | Beware of morning talk show hosts turned news personalities. The Katie Couric s and Matt Lauer s of the world are some of the most radical and dangerous propagandists in the media today. We are unknowingly being fed gun control with a cherry on top, while most Americans don t even realize the leftist drivel they re being fed During a May 13 appearance on NBC s Today, Katie Couric previewed her upcoming gun control documentary by claiming a silent majority of gun owners want more gun control.Couric said these things during an interview conducted by Matt Lauer, who began the interview by countering FBI statistics and claiming mass shootings are on the rise. In September 2014, the FBI released a highly politicized study claiming a rise in mass shootings, only to have the authors of the study recant months later and admit they created data to make the study outcome fit a preconceived conclusion.Yet Lauer claimed mass shootings are on the rise, and Couric played along without hesitation. In fact, she built on Lauer s mass shootings comment to suggest more gun control is needed, and a silent majority of gun owners support it.Couric said:Ninety percent of the public really favors universal background checks. And after Sandy Hook, everyone thought this was a watershed moment, something would be done. And then when Manchin/Toomey died in the Senate, I couldn t understand the disconnect between public opinion and our elected officials.So Couric undertook a gun control documentary, Under the Gun, and says that in interviewing people for the film, she came to the conclusion that the NRA really does not speak for the majority of gun owners. She said, The NRA only represents five percent of gun owners, so there s this huge silent majority, and they represent common ground. For entire story: Breitbart News | 1real |
NSA contractor accused of spying stole real names of US undercover officers | NSA contractor accused of spying stole real names of US undercover officers Intel News
Classified information stolen by a United States federal contractor, who was charged with espionage last month, includes the true identities of American intelligence officers posted in undercover assignments abroad, according to court documents. In August of this year, Harold Thomas Martin III, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of stealing government property and illegally removing classified material. Martin, 51, served as a US Navy officer for over a decade, where he acquired a top secret clearance and specialized in cyber security. At the time of his arrest earlier this year, he was working for Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the largest federal contractors in the US. Some media reports said Martin was a member of the National Security Agency’s Office of Tailored Access Operations, described by observers as an elite “hacker army” tasked with conducting offensive cyber espionage against foreign targets.
Last week, after prosecutors alleged that the information Martin removed from the NSA was the equivalent of 500 million pages, a judge in the US state of Maryland ruled that the accused might flee if he is released on bail. Soon afterwards, Martin’s legal team filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider his decision to deny him bail. That prompted a new filing by the prosecution, which was delivered to the court on Thursday. The document alleges that the information found in Martin’s home and car includes “numerous names” of American intelligence officers who currently “operate under cover outside the US”. The court filing adds that Martin’s removal of the documents from secure government facilities constitutes “a security breach that risks exposure of American intelligence operations” and “could endanger the lives” of undercover intelligence officers and their agents abroad.
It is alleged that Martin told the FBI he never shared classified information with anyone, and that he removed it from his office at the NSA in order to deepen his expertise on his subject. His legal team argues that Martin suffers from a mental condition that compels him to be a hoarder. But prosecutors for the government argue in court documents that Martin appears to have communicated via the Internet with Russian speakers, and that he was learning Russian at the time of his arrest. The case is expected to be tried later this year. | 1real |
How Liberian Women Delivered Africa’s First Female President - The New York Times | MONROVIA, Liberia — Bernice Freeman was chatting with some market women, trying to explain why it was so important that they leave their food stalls to vote for the first woman to be elected president of an African country, when she noticed some boys laughing nearby, waving something white. It was October 2005, the first presidential election after 15 years of a hideous civil war in Liberia. On the ballot was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a global technocrat with so much government experience it practically oozed from her pores, and a group of men, most notably the professional soccer player George Weah. Like many of the 1. 5 million women in Liberia who had survived the civil war, Ms. Freeman had personally witnessed acts of violence so brutal she still had nightmares. Soldiers had gutted her cousin. rebels wearing Halloween masks had murdered her friends. Ms. Freeman herself had knelt in the dirt, praying, while henchmen loyal to the president had chambered rounds of their machine guns on orders to shoot her and the other women praying with her one afternoon. Ms. Freeman had seen it all. But even so, she was unprepared for the sight of the young men laughing nearby as she campaigned for a female president. The boys had taken women’s panties, had smeared the crotches with tomato paste and were waving them at the women — their unsubtle way of saying that a woman could not be president. But instead of making Ms. Freeman and the other women embarrassed, the heckling only angered them. “You know what?” one of the undecided women told Ms. Freeman, looking at the boys in disgust. “We will vote. Don’t worry, we will vote. ” And vote they did. Close to 80 percent of the Liberian women who flooded the polls during the country’s first postwar presidential election voted to usher a woman into power for the first time on a continent that for centuries had been the world’s most patriarchal. Eleven years before Pantsuit Nation became a secret Facebook group for women who supported Hillary Clinton in America and “I’m With Her” buttons and bumper stickers sprouted on lapels and S. U. V. s, the women of Liberia held a master class in how to get a woman elected president. Now, as the American women who supported Mrs. Clinton grapple with the whys of last November’s election, the story of how, 4, 500 miles away, the women of Liberia upended centuries of male rule to accomplish what their American counterparts could not has acquired a sharp and keen relevance. The Liberia story is one of extremes. It is almost as if for Liberians to contemplate installing a woman as president, the country needed to first go over a cliff so steep that there seemed nowhere left to drop. Mothers saw their children kidnapped, drugged and forced to take up arms in the country’s civil war. More than 70 percent of Liberian women were raped during the war years. Starving young girls gnawed on tree bark for sustenance, while horrified children were forced to watch their sisters, mothers and grandmothers in front of them. What happened in the war years so devastated Liberian women, who blamed the men who waged the war for the ensuing horrors, that many of them came to view Mrs. Sirleaf not necessarily as the better of the presidential candidates but, rather, as the only alternative to putting a man back in power in a place that men had just run into the ground. Masawa Jabateh, who had seen her daughter die from malnourishment during the war, said her despair became infused with a blind fury when she saw men campaigning to be president in 2005, especially since the leading candidate was Mr. Weah. “Those men want put some grona boy in the chair who don’t know what we doing? So we can go back to war again? No,” she said. Her thought process was straightforward: She was “voting for woman,” she said. “Vote for Woman,” in 2005, became the de facto campaign slogan of Ms. Sirleaf’s run for the presidency. It all started on the morning of May 2, 2005, a week into the voter registration period for the looming presidential elections, when Vabah Gayflor, the minister for gender, woke up to discover that women had not been registering to vote. A string of men were tossing their hats into the ring for the presidency, including Mr. Weah, a renowned athlete who had won the Ballon d’Or and been named FIFA world player of the year and African player of the century. Unlike his rivals, Mr. Weah was not tainted by any association with those who had brought Liberia to ruin over the past 15 years, but he had no college education. (His listing of a bachelor’s degree in sports management from Parkwood University in London was a subject of a scandal after news accounts surfaced calling the school an unaccredited diploma mill requiring no actual study.) At the other end of the spectrum was Mrs. Sirleaf. A former finance minister and jailed dissident, she had a pedigree that included the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. She had transformed herself from an abused wife, cowering and hunched in the front seat of her husband’s car while he slapped her, to an international bureaucrat attempting what no woman had ever done before: winning, by popular vote, the right to lead an African country. To the Weah supporters, there was no contest. Grandmother versus soccer star? But to women like Ms. Gayflor, Ms. Jabateh and Ms. Freeman, there was also no contest. “You will take our country, our baby, and throw the baby away to football player? I beg you, no,” Ms. Gayflor said. Ms. Gayflor’s job as gender minister was supposed to be about helping women and children get access to health care, school feeding programs (in a postwar country with hardly any schools) and rape support. But she decided to redefine her role: getting a woman elected president. And she was not happy with the news from the National Elections Commission: Of the 100, 000 Liberians who had registered to vote in the first week of the monthlong registration drive, only 15 percent were women. Who was registering instead? Former combatants, from all the armed groups that had fought in the war. Ms. Gayflor was appalled. Huddling with Etweda Cooper, the women’s activist known throughout Liberia as “Sugars,” Ms. Gayflor knew they had to take action fast. The men were holding mass rallies. But market women didn’t have time to go to mass rallies. They were busy making market. Ms. Gayflor and Mrs. Cooper realized they would have to try a different strategy. Quickly they organized a group to use the radio stations to plead: “Women, oh women! Y’all got to register to vote. ” They fanned out to the Monrovia markets. At first, some of the market women balked they had their wares and their babies to tend. But Mrs. Cooper was ready for them with babysitters and stall tenders. “We will mind it for you,” she said. “Go register. ” It was not enough to stay in Monrovia. The Liberian bush loomed, large, imposing and filled with village women. The women bought bullhorns and scattered their troops along the road. “Women, oh women!” they yelled into the bullhorns. “Go register. ” By the end of the registration period, the final figures came out: Some 1. 5 million Liberians out of the country’s population of three million had registered to vote. percent of those registered were women. Unlike American presidential campaigns, the Liberian campaign season begins two months before Election Day. Liberian election rules dictate that a winning candidate has to get 50 percent of the vote — a quirk that guaranteed that in a crowded field of 22 candidates, there would be a runoff. So the key for Mrs. Sirleaf was to survive the first round by coming in second at least, so that she would then stand alone against Mr. Weah. As a government minister, Ms. Gayflor was not allowed to show favoritism for any candidate, let alone campaign on one’s behalf. So she and Mrs. Cooper devised a strategy: They would present their efforts as simply an attempt to empower women. Ms. Gayflor would not sully her cabinet position by telling women whom to support. (She left that to Mrs. Cooper.) Instead, she would simply encourage women to exercise their right. She organized women’s rallies where she gave speeches exhorting the crowd to vote. “I’m not telling you who to vote for, women!” she said. “Just make sure you vote. ” Right after Ms. Gayflor spoke, Mrs. Cooper — not constrained by any neutrality vows — shouted at the crowd, “Vote for woman!” Everywhere, the women’s rallies followed the same script: Ms. Gayflor: “Women, oh women! If y’all got to tie your baby on your back soon in the morning, I beg y’all, go vote!” Mrs. Cooper: “Vote for woman!” Ms. Gayflor: “Even self your baby got diapers, put it down, go vote!” Mrs. Cooper: “Vote for woman! At the rallies, the women passed out plastic bags of drinking water, a rare and precious commodity in a place where people regularly drank from unsanitary wells and dirty rivers. The rainy season was ending, but the air was still stewy when Election Day dawned. Of the 1. 5 million people registered to vote, some 900, 000 showed up at the polls. They came in wheelbarrows and wheelchairs. They came with babies on their backs. They came the night before, some sleeping on the hard ground outside the polling booths so they could vote when morning came. The results began to trickle in that night. As expected, Mr. Weah was in first place. But he wasn’t close to 50 percent. And Mrs. Sirleaf was right behind him, where she needed to be. Time for the real battle. The soccer player versus the grandmother. The men fell in line behind Mr. Weah and complained that the women supporting Mrs. Sirleaf were sexist. Given the choice between a soccer player with no credible college education and a development expert, the top male presidential candidates who fell short of the runoff, with one exception, endorsed the soccer player. In the meantime, Mr. Weah, honing a message explaining why he, and not Mrs. Sirleaf, should run Liberia, settled on an “educated people failed” theme. But what the men who endorsed that strategy failed to realize was how much that very idea was angering the market women. Those women may not have been educated themselves, but they worked in the fields and the market stalls to send their children to school. Now the men were telling them that education wasn’t important. Just as the men fell in behind Mr. Weah, the women fell in behind Mrs. Sirleaf. The market women went door to door, passing out and fliers. They slept on the side of the road at night, curled up on their mats. They walked from village to village, calling out the now familiar mantra “Vote for woman!” Mr. Weah’s supporters responded by promising that if he lost, the country would go back to war. “No Weah, no peace!” they chanted. Thus the runoff started resembling past elections, like the one in 1985, in which Samuel Doe’s supporters had suggested the same thing: Vote for Mr. Doe or the country goes back to war. Except that in November 2005, this tactic appeared to have met its match. Because the women had their own tricks, tricks that would make Mr. Weah’s threats look like boys’ play. “You want beer? Just give me your voter ID card I will buy you beer. ” “I say, we buying voter ID cards, oh. Ten Liberty dollars for one. ” “Who looking for money? Just bring your voter ID card. ” A group of women had stationed themselves at a bar near a major intersection, luring young men in a fashion. Except this time the women were the ones with the cash, and the young men were the ones with the commodity for sale. “Some of those boys were finish stupid,” a market woman, Nancy Nagbe, recalled with a smirk. “We were crafty, oh!” Many of the young men thought they were done with voting after the first round and didn’t understand that they would need their IDs again. Others knew and did not care late in the evening of a muggy hot day, the lure of a crisp, cold and malty Club Beer far outshone whatever benefits they thought their voter card could bring them. As for the ones who were too smart to sell their voter card — their mothers simply stole them, recalled one gender ministry official, Parleh Harris. One market woman said she sneaked into her son’s room while he was sleeping, slipped his voter ID out of his wallet and buried it in the yard. “Yeah, I took it. And so what?” the woman said. “That foolish boy, what he knew? I carried him for nine months. I took care of him. I fed him when he was hungry. Then he will take people country and give it away?” Ms. Gayflor, by now, was sailing perilously close to getting fired for illegally campaigning as a government minister. A few days before the runoff, she called a meeting in a room at the gender ministry. She invited every female political candidate, no matter what party she belonged to, along with market women, female lawyers and anyone else she could think of who lacked a Y chromosome. That night, in the stuffy room, the women all stood, one by one, and pledged to support Mrs. Sirleaf, who was so overcome afterward she could barely stand upright. “If I were a crying woman,” she said, “I would be crying right now. You have humbled me. ” The repercussions came the next day. Ms. Gayflor arrived at work to find reporters camped out on the ministry’s steps. The questions came furiously. Ms. Gayflor was past the point of backing down. “You take a former football player and give him our country?” she shot back. “Liberia is not a learning ground!” She had one last shot to fire. “Let me give you a goodbye statement,” the minister said. “Mrs. Sirleaf will be the next president of this country. ” On Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005, the people of Liberia went to the polls for the second time in four weeks. There was a palpable sense in the air that something big was happening. International observers stationed themselves at polling places and voting booths some 230 agencies, from the Carter Center to the European Union, showed up to chronicle the proceedings. Helicopters from the United Nations mission hovered overhead, a constant presence above the voting booth lines. But the helicopters could not see what was going on at a polling station in Sinkor. Helpful poll workers were allowing pregnant women and nursing mothers to cut to the front of the line. So Ms. Freeman — who had been heckled weeks before by the young men waving white panties smeared with tomato paste — and a handful of other women were passing around babies and toddlers. “You want borrow the baby?” Ms. Freeman grinned at one woman, sneaking a furtive look over her shoulder. “Put the baby on your back. ” To another woman, she advised: “Act pregnant. If they think you pregnant you can vote in front. ” It was unclear whether the poll workers noticed how many different women were carrying the same baby to vote on that Election Day in November 2005. And when the National Elections Commission, on Nov. 23, announced the election results — Mrs. Sirleaf’s 59. 4 percent to Mr. Weah’s 40. 6 percent — Ms. Freeman wore a smile on her face. | 0fake |
Wendy Kennedy on being a channel for The 9th Dimensional Pleiadian Collective [VIDEO] | Wendy Kennedy on being a channel for The 9th Dimensional Pleiadian Collective (1:2) Published on Oct 12, 2016 Wendy Kennedy is an intuitive, empath, and channel. For two decades she has used her gifts and abilities to work with beings in other realms and dimensions, assisting others in recognizing and releasing old patterns and helping them to live a more whole and integrated life. The clear and compassionate wisdom shared through Wendy facilitates a shift in perspective from that of separation and limitation to connection and multidimensional existence.
In 1995 Wendy began channeling, working first with her own angelic guides before becoming reacquainted with The 9th Dimensional Pleiadian Collective, whom she primarily channels at her public events and in private sessions. In addition to the Pleiadians, she works with beings from Sirius, Lyra, and Arcturus as well as other higher dimensional, celestial beings.
Wendy currently lectures and channels for clients around the world. She was one of the six channels featured in the movie and book, Tuning in: Spirit Channelers in America. Her work can also be found in the newly released book compiled by Martine Vallée, The Great Human Potential: Walking in One’s Own Light, which is now available in six languages.
Watch part 2 here: https://youtu.be/4bDMT0cAly8
Did you appreciate this video? Become a Co-Creator today and help me create more inspiring videos here: http://wisdomfromnorth.com/donation/ Thank you so much for your support!!
Follow me on Social Media: | 1real |
FEAR OF TRUMP: BUSH, OBAMA, CLINTON ALL BUYING PROPERTY IN NON-EXTRADITION NATIONS | Email
It appears Bill and Hillary Clinton are making plans to flee the country in the event Donald Trump wins this election.
Reports are circulating that the Clintons have transferred 1.8 Billion dollars from the Clinton Foundation to the Qatar Central Bank, via a facilitation/abatement of JP Morgan Chase & Company for reasons not revealed.
This move of such a large sum of money to the country of Qatar says in itself, Hillary Clinton knows she is going to lose the election, and she doesn’t plan to allow herself to be prosecuted for various high crimes and treason under a Trump Administration.
The country of Qatar happens to be one of a handful of countries that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, thus would be a perfect place for her to run to in escaping justice.
Donald Trump has said many times during his campaign and at the Presidential debates that once he gets into office, he intends to prosecute her on various high crimes from her latest crimes of sending classified material via a personal e mail server. All the way to gun running to terrorist groups in Syria resulting in the deaths of 4 Americans in Benghazi.
Apparently, Hillary is not the only person in Washington who has made plans to escape justice under a Trump Administration. John Kerry has quietly been selling his property in the US for millions of dollars of late, with an announcement of the sale of his $25 million dollar Nantucket mansion in June 2016, as well as the sale of his yacht for $3.9 million in July 2016.
President Barack H Obama has also apparently been making exit plans with his purchase of a $4.9 million dollar seaside mansion in Dubai in January 2016, another non extradition country.
Snopes and other supposed fact checking sites have debunked both the story of Obama’s purchase of the mansion and the firing of Rear Admiral Rick Williams. However, over the last several months, these sites have been busted for lying in trying to debunk such information as the before mentioned, when in fact the information is true.
Snopes and other sites try their best to keep incriminating information from being believed, but the truth has a way of coming out on its own, as it always has. | 1real |
Republican foreign policy veterans in quandary over Trump | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some Republican foreign policy veterans who came out against Donald Trump during the presidential campaign said on Wednesday they were sticking to their guns following his election victory, but a few others signaled that objections to serving in his new administration were softening. Trump’s stunning upset over Democrat Hillary Clinton has created a new dilemma for the Republican national security establishment, much of which had publicly distanced itself from their own party’s candidate, declaring him unfit to lead. They must now decide whether to return to the fold. Some career diplomats, intelligence officials and military officers are also facing a choice of whether to quit their posts because of concern that a Trump presidency would violate their principles, or else stay and try to influence policy from the inside. However, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, “I wouldn’t expect a mass exodus.” About 150 of the Republican party’s most prominent national security specialists signed open letters in March and August in outright opposition to Trump’s candidacy. One said he was “utterly” unqualified for the White House. The other warned that he would be “the most reckless president in American history.” While neither letter said the former officials would never work for Trump, their scathing critique was clearly intended to discourage fellow Republicans from supporting him. Trump responded at the time by deriding them as members of “the failed Washington elite” who “deserve the blame for making the world such a dangerous place.” A number of the signatories contacted by Reuters on Wednesday made clear that they were unswayed from their negative view of Trump and would not work for him. However, they stopped short of urging others to also shun the next administration, which is widely seen as having limited foreign policy expertise at a time when the next president will face the challenges of Syria’s civil war, the fight against Islamic State, a newly assertive Russia and the rise of China. “I don’t expect to be asked. I wouldn’t serve. But there are others who will. It will be a matter of individual conscience,” said Eliot Cohen, who served as counselor to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and helped spearhead the March letter, which was posted on a blog called War on the Rocks and created a stir among Republicans. “I’m concerned about his ignorance, the belligerence, the misunderstanding of how the world works,” Cohen said of Trump, a wealthy real estate developer and former reality TV host who rode to victory on a wave of voter anger toward Washington insiders. Max Boot, a foreign policy adviser to Republican Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and a supporter of the U.S.-led Iraq invasion in 2003, said: “I won’t have anything to do with Trump, but I don’t know about others. I hope good people go into the government.” But others appeared to waver, with some saying decisions on whether to join the Trump administration could depend on how the president-elect behaves during the transition and who he appoints to senior posts. Among the Trump allies said to be in consideration are former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich and one-time United Nations ambassador John Bolton for secretary of state, and General Michael Flynn, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, for national security adviser. Dov Zakheim, a former Pentagon undersecretary who signed one of the dissent letters, said Trump would have to reach out beyond his circle of supporters to find enough qualified people to fill many important jobs. “He will want to show that he is not dividing the Republican party, so he will extend an olive branch to those in the party who opposed him,” Zakheim said. Asked whether he expected to be offered a post, he said: “I have no idea, as it’s not up to me.” Bryan McGrath, a retired US Navy officer and co-organizer of the War on the Rocks letter, said he did not expect that those who signed it “were signing away employment rights, that they weren’t going to work in a Trump administration.” If the president asks for your service, he said, “you have to take that request seriously.” Patrick Cronin, an Asia expert and former third-ranking official at USAID under President George W. Bush, said that despite his earlier opposition to Trump, he eventually briefed his transition team and would continue to provide advice. But he said he was not interested in joining the administration. Michael McFaul, President Barack Obama’s former ambassador to Moscow and a Clinton supporter in the election, said the Republicans had a “deep bench of experience” for enlisting foreign policy experts. Even as Trump prepares to form his foreign policy team, some career diplomats, intelligence officials and military officers are facing a post-election quandary. Some said privately before Tuesday’s vote they would consider retiring or quitting rather than working under Trump, who alarmed them during the campaign by questioning U.S.-led alliances, praising Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting that Japan and South Korea should be allowed to have nuclear weapons and threatening to order the resumption of interrogation methods condemned as torture. Other officials suggested they would wait to see how he acts once in office and who he names to senior posts, saying the responsibility for government service transcended any one president. “If he keeps some of his campaign promises, about the use of torture, for example, many of us have discussed whether we are honor-bound to resign or to stay and try to have some influence from the inside. It’s too early to say,” one CIA officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. | 0fake |
VIDEO: Idiot Destroys Trump’s Hollywood Star, Gets BAD NEWS Seconds Later | VIDEO: Idiot Destroys Trump’s Hollywood Star, Gets BAD NEWS Seconds Later Posted on October 26, 2016 by Robert Rich in Politics Share This
Social media is buzzing about Donald Trump’s Hollywood star being destroyed in California. However, it seems that the man responsible just came forward by making a video – but his stupid stunt turned around and slapped him big time when he got bad news just a short time later.
Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump’s Hollywood star in Los Angeles, California has sustained it’s fair share of vandalism. From people spray painting a Nazi swastika on it to literally taking a crap on it, the most recent stunt was far worse than all the rest.
Seemingly trying to destroy the star for good, a man, who has since been identified as James Otis, used a sledgehammer and pickaxe in order to help him vandalize the well-known emblem. All caught on video by shocked onlookers, Otis could be seen hitting the star with a pickaxe resulting two plates breaking free.
As it turns out, those plates depicted both the Hollywood star television emblem and the presidential hopeful’s name. Since that point in time, Otis has come forward in order to claim his fame – but it took mere seconds for him to realize that not everything is exactly going according to his poorly thought out plan when he promptly got some bad news. Donald Trump’s star before (left) and after (right) (Source: TMZ )
Although the man states that he’s willing to go to jail for his crimes, he may not have actually known what he was getting himself into. According to The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the plaque is (or was) worth a whopping $30,000, meaning that Otis admitted to a felony.
Felony vandalism (damaging over $10,000 worth of property) can result in imprisonment for up to three years in state prison and a fine of up to $50,000. Otis stated that he does intend to turn himself in and has already hired a lawyer, but we’ll see just how tough he is when he has to face a judge.
The tough guy wannabe later added that he “wanted to face Trump in court,” but the idiot must have forgotten that he didn’t destroy Trump’s property, but rather, the state of California’s. Making matters worse for himself, Otis states that he intends to sell the plaques taken from the star on election day, claiming he will donate all the money to Trump’s so-called sexual assault victims.
Unfortunately for him, the more he talked, the more trouble he got himself into. After all, most people know that selling or buying stolen property is a criminal offense as well. We all know that Hillary Clinton’s voters aren’t the smartest in society, but this guy may just take the cake. Then again, he’ll have plenty of time to think about how dumb he is while he’s pissing his life away behind bars. | 1real |
Ireland does not need election amid crucial Brexit talks: Coveney | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ireland does not need an election now that talks on the terms of Britain s exit from the European Union are entering a crucial phase on how to avoid a physical border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Friday. The Irish government was on the verge of collapse on Thursday after the party whose votes Prime Minister Leo Varadkar depends on to pass legislation said it would seek to remove the deputy prime minister in a breach of their cooperation agreement. Ireland does not need an election right now. There is no reason why Frances Fitzgerald should be forced to resign. The issues that are under discussion are under investigation by a tribunal we all agreed to set up, Coveney said. The main opposition party... are risking an election at a time when there are some really, really serious issues for the government to manage in the national interests, he said referring to Brexit negotiations. | 0fake |
Charleston, Dylann Roof and the racism of millennials | America should be shaken to its very core by what happened in Charleston.
The gruesome massacre of nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically black church in Charleston, S.C., may amount to the worst racially motivated terror attack of our generation and a deeply violent reminder that racism and white supremacy continue to course through America’s veins. One cannot help but draw comparisons to the firebombing of a black church in Birmingham, Ala., almost 52 years ago.
The shooting suspect in Charleston has been identified as Dylann Roof, a white 21-year-old. He was arrested (peacefully, one should add) at a traffic stop. Many will argue about what words we will use to describe Roof, whether he should be described as a mentally disturbed kid (a description rarely applied when the alleged perpetrator isn’t a white male) or a rational adult responsible for his alleged actions. His age matters, but not for the reasons you may think.
Roof, who was born in 1994, violently shatters one particularly entrenched myth that society holds about racism — that today’s millennials are more tolerant than their parents, and that racism will magically die out as previous generations pass on. We think that millennials should be lauded for aspiring to be “colorblind.” There is the belief that tolerant young people will intermarry and create a post-racial, brown society and that it will be “beautiful.”
But the truth is that the kids are not all right when it comes to racial equality. Studies have shown that millennials are just about as racist as previous generations:
When it comes to explicit prejudice against blacks, non-Hispanic white millennials are not much different than whites belonging to Generation X (born 1965-1980) or Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964). White millennials (using a definition of being born after 1980) express the least prejudice on 4 out of 5 measures in the survey, but only by a matter of 1 to 3 percentage points, not a meaningful difference. On work ethic, 31 percent of millennials rate blacks as lazier than whites, compared to 32 percent of Generation X whites and 35 percent of Baby Boomers.
Millennials have grown up in a world where we talk about race without racism — or don’t talk about it at all — and where “skin color” is the explanation for racial inequality, as if ghettos are ghettos because they are black, and not because they were created. As such, their views on racism — where you fight bias by denying it matters to outcomes — are muddled and confused. Which gets to the irony of this survey: A generation that hates racism but chooses colorblindness is a generation that, through its neglect, comes to perpetuate it.
The danger in invoking the myth of the presupposed racial tolerance of millennials (and subsequent generations) is that it works to absolve today’s society of actively confronting and undoing the damage of the legacy of slavery, segregation and institutionalized racism. We think racism will just die out with older generations. Why confront America’s racial legacy as long as you believe that the younger generation will do it for you? To put it bluntly, it ignores how the cold logic of racism, white supremacy and anti-blackness has worked for generations and how it continues to work.
A 21-year-old millennial, in 2015, is alleged to have taken a page from the 1960s and assassinated a black political leader: South Carolina State Senator and pastor Clementa Pinckney was among the dead.
A 21-year-old millennial, by allegedly saying “You rape our women,” invoked the centuries-old defense of protecting white women as a justification for the slaughter of black people.
A 21-year-old donned early-20th-century symbols of apartheid and racist colonial regimes in Africa on his Facebook page.
A 21-year-old allegedly copied from the age-old playbook of racial terror, adding another bloody chapter to the long history of assaults on black people at churches in America.
All of these examples are not signs of individual mental illness. From South Africa to the United States, symbols celebrating segregation, assassinations of black community leaders, mass violence and the desecration of sacred spaces for black people are the historical tools of black suppression. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that this massacre occurred in a state that flies the Confederate battle flag, a symbol of white supremacy, at its state house. These symbols and tactics remain in our national conscience, passing on from generation to generation, like a sinister genetic code in America’s DNA.
As long as society refuses to confront this legacy of the ugly sin of racism today, we cannot depend on tomorrow’s generations to come to our rescue. | 0fake |
Trump's call for probe of voter fraud sparks backlash | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would seek an investigation into what he believes was voter fraud in last November’s election, despite an overwhelming consensus among state officials, election experts, and politicians that it is rare in the United States. The announcement drew rebukes from both Republicans and Democrats who said the Republican president’s unsubstantiated claims of large-scale fraud could undermine voting rights efforts as well as confidence in the new U.S. chief executive. In the Nov. 8 election, Trump lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million ballots. Irked by that large figure, he has blamed voter fraud without citing evidence. “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and....even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time),” Trump said on Twitter. “Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” In an interview with ABC News, Trump said none of the illegal votes would have been cast for him. “They would all be for the other side,” he said. White House press secretary Sean Spicer later told a news briefing that the probe would not focus on only the 2016 election. Three Democratic congressmen demanded proof of such fraud and sent a letter to election officials and attorneys general in all 50 U.S. states seeking examples of cases of fraud in November’s vote. Many of the state officials did not need prompting with election officers in several states rejecting Trump’s claims immediately. “Easy to vote, hard to cheat #Ohio,” Ohio’s Republican secretary of state, Jon Husted, said in a Twitter post rebutting Trump’s claim that 3 million to 5 million illegal immigrants voted against him. “That’s impossible,” Democratic Secretary of State Alex Padilla of California said on CNN. There is no history of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections. Leading Republicans, including the top Republican in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, have rejected the claims. Ryan, however, said in an interview Wednesday with MSNBC that if Trump believes there is widespread fraud “the right thing is to get an investigation to get the facts.” Trump won the state-by-state Electoral College tally that decides the presidency, but the historic popular vote gap and allegations of Russian meddling in the election on his behalf have led some to say his victory was not legitimate. Trump’s announcement that he will seek an investigation appeared to be prompted by a White House news briefing on Tuesday in which Spicer confirmed that the president continued to believe millions of illegal immigrants voted in the election. Spicer initially said there was no investigation planned but changed tack after persistent questioning, saying “maybe we will ... anything is possible.” Federal investigations of voter fraud are rare. A five-year probe initiated by Republican President George W. Bush’s administration turned up no evidence of voter fraud and ended in resignations and more investigations for the Department of Justice which enforces federal voting rights laws. “Republicans have used claims of widespread voter fraud to discriminate and restrict access to the ballot box for years,” said Democratic U.S. Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina. Trump’s attorney general nominee, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, has been criticized for his record on voting rights and race relations. A voter fraud case he prosecuted as a U.S. attorney in his home state of Alabama helped derail his confirmation as a federal judge in 1986. Voting rights experts at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice urged Sessions to heed lessons of the past. “In 2007, the Justice Department was upended by scandal because it had pursued a partisan agenda on voting, under the guise of rooting out suspected ‘voter fraud,’” Adam Gitlin and Wendy Weiser wrote in a Jan. 7 report for the center. “DOJ political leadership fired seven well-respected U.S. attorneys, dismissing some top Republican prosecutors because they had refused to prosecute non-existent voter fraud,” they wrote. The firings scandal prompted the resignation of the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, they said. Others expressed concern that Trump’s repetition of falsehoods, including the size of inauguration crowds as well as voter fraud, could undermine public confidence. U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said Trump will need to be believed when he makes the case about a foreign threat and cannot reveal the intelligence behind it. “Our new president is doing deep damage to himself and to our country,” Schiff said on Wednesday at the Center for American Progress think tank. | 0fake |
Filipino lawyers' group challenges Duterte's war on drugs | MANILA (Reuters) - Filipino lawyers on Thursday announced a broad alliance to challenge President Rodrigo Duterte s 16-month war on drugs amid unprecedented scrutiny of the campaign in which more than 3,900 mostly urban, poor Filipinos have been killed. Police say the deaths were in self-defense after armed suspects resisted arrest. Critics dispute that and say executions are taking place, with zero accountability. Lawyers Against Extrajudicial Killings adds to a growing number of voices calling on the government to end the campaign. It is the duty of all lawyers to consistently, uncompromisingly uphold and defend human rights, said Edre Olalia, head of the National Union of People s Lawyers and one of the group s organizers. Duterte s spokesman, Harry Roque, a congressman and human rights lawyer, denied rights violations on the part of the president but welcomed the new group. Unless we can come up with actual evidence that there are extra-legal killings, then we cannot overcome the presumption (of regularity in the discharge of official functions), Roque said. He (Duterte) will not tolerate murders. He will only tolerate killings when it is in line with duty and when the engagement is legal, Roque, who had prosecuted on behalf of murdered journalists, told reporters. | 0fake |
Disney CEO Bob Iger Quits Trump Advisory Council over U.S. Withdrawal from Paris Agreement | Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger has quit his role on President Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum in the wake of the president’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. [In a brief statement on his Twitter account, the executive said he would resign his position on the advisory council as a “matter of principle. ” As a matter of principle, I’ve resigned from the President’s Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal. — Robert Iger (@RobertIger) June 1, 2017, “Protecting our planet and driving economic growth are critical to our future, and they aren’t mutually exclusive,” Iger said in another statement issued through Disney. “I deeply disagree with the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and, as a matter of principle, I’ve resigned from the President’s advisory council. ” Iger — who was a major contributor to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful campaign — became the latest executive to resign his position from the council, after Tesla founder Elon Musk also announced he would quit the council in the wake of Trump’s decision. “Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” Musk tweeted Thursday. Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017, President Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris agreement in a speech from the White House Rose Garden Thursday afternoon. “This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States, ” Trump explained. “I was elected to help the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. ” The President’s Strategic and Policy Forum was established by Trump in December. The council is chaired by Blackstone CEO and Stephen A. Schwartzman and also includes JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, General Electric CEO Jack Welch, Boeing President and CEO Jim McNerney, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and several other business and industry leaders. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0fake |
Iran nuclear deal cannot be renegotiated: Rouhani | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran s president said on Thursday its nuclear accord with world powers cannot be renegotiated, after the Trump administration warned it was weighing whether the deal signed by its predecessor served U.S. security interests. Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to limit its disputed nuclear program in return for the easing of economic sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump called the deal an embarrassment during his first speech at the United Nations on Tuesday. There was some discussion by some people that the nuclear deal isn t very bad but shouldn t stay as it is. (That) it s a deal that s good but we should sit down again and debate to see if it can be improved. If it has flaws we can fix them, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said. They were told clearly and definitively (by us) that the nuclear deal cannot be renegotiated, he told a press conference in Tehran broadcast live on state television after his return from the U.N. General Assembly. Trump told reporters this week he had made a decision on what to do about the agreement, approved by his predecessor Barack Obama along with leaders of Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, but would not say what he had decided. However, although Trump does not like the deal, his speech to the United Nations on Tuesday did not mean Washington would withdraw from the pact, Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said on Wednesday. The prospect of Washington reneging on the deal has worried some of the U.S. allies that helped negotiate it, especially as the world grapples with another nuclear crisis, North Korea s nuclear and ballistic missile development. If Trump does not certify next month that Iran is complying with the accord, the U.S. Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under the deal. U.N. inspectors have verified Iranian compliance with the terms. In contrast with Obama s policy of detente with Iran after decades of mutual hostility, Trump called Iran a corrupt dictatorship on Tuesday and accused it of supporting terrorism and destabilizing the Middle East. (Trump) made big mistakes in this speech, Rouhani said. There were baseless and unfounded accusations. It wasn t worthy of the United Nations or an individual who sees himself as the president of a country. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in the Islamic Republic, also criticized Trump during a meeting Thursday with the Assembly of Experts, a body tasked with choosing the next Supreme Leader. This speech was not a sign of power but rather a sign of anger, frustration and stupidity, Khamenei said, according to a report on his official website. In recent months, tensions have ramped up between Iran and the United States in the Gulf, with both sides accusing each other of provocative naval maneuvers. | 0fake |
Italy holds funeral for 26 Nigerian women drowned in Mediterranean | SALERNO, Italy (Reuters) - Italy held a mass funeral on Friday for 26 young Nigerian women who drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. A Roman Catholic bishop and a Muslim imam both said prayers at the simple ceremony in the southern city of Salerno, with 26 wooden coffins laid out on a stone dais. A single white rose was placed on the lid of each. Just two of the women were identified. It is very likely that these girls were victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation, said Federico Soda, director UN migration agency IOM for the Mediterranean. A recent IOM report had estimated that 80 percent of Nigerian girls arriving in Italy by sea might be trafficking victims. The 26 bodies were retrieved from the sea on Nov. 3 by a Spanish rescue ship, while some 64 people were unaccounted for and feared lost, bringing the total dead to around 90, said Flavio Di Giacomo, an IOM spokesman. Survivors found on nearby rubber boats said the women were all Nigerian and had left Libya hoping to make it to Italy. The only two identified were named as Marian Shaka, who was married, and Osato Osaro. Both were pregnant. Some of those who died were believed to have been as young as 14. Almost 115,000 migrants, mainly African men, have reached Italy so far this year, according to government data released on Friday, against just over 167,000 in the same period last year. IOM said at least 2,925 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean from Jan 1.-Nov. 5 against 4,302 last year. The Italian government has worked with Libyan authorities to block migrants from leaving the north African state, leading to a sharp fall in new arrivals since the summer. The government says its policy has cut the number of sea deaths, while critics say it has left thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in appalling conditions in Libya. | 0fake |
Assange: ‘Trump in Conflict with CIA Over Syria Policy’ | This interview with WikiLeaks head Julian Assange might explain John McCain s recent angry outburst over the Trump Administration s announcement that Assad can stay as leader in Syria. Syrianna Analysis: On the German DW-TV channel, Julian Assange said there is a serious conflict between President Donald Trump and the CIA over Syria. The CIA and other security apparatuses don t want him to change the foreign policy of Washington towards Syria. Listen: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Trump moves to quickly fill his top Cabinet ranks | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he expected to have most members of his Cabinet announced next week, interviewing more candidates at Trump Tower for top jobs in his administration as he prepares to take office on Jan. 20. Trump is still weighing who to choose as secretary of state. The Republican president-elect said on Thursday he had chosen retired Marine Corps General James Mattis as defense secretary and would make a formal announcement on that on Monday. “We have tremendous people joining the Cabinet and beyond the Cabinet. You’ll be seeing almost all of them next week,” Republican Trump, who has never previously held public office, said in an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News. Even without his full foreign policy team in place, Trump had more phone calls with foreign leaders, breaking tradition by speaking with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, the first such contact by a president-elect since President Jimmy Carter adopted a one-China policy in 1979. Trump also invited Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte to the White House next year during a “very engaging, animated” phone conversation, according to a Duterte aide. Duterte has sparred with Democratic President Barack Obama and insulted him. Obama canceled a planned meeting with him in September. A statement issued by Trump’s transition team made no mention of an invitation. Domestically, Trump plans to move quickly after taking office on his goals to overhaul taxation, healthcare and immigration laws, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said in an interview published by the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Top priorities include curbing illegal immigration, abolishing and replacing President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare program, and filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court, Pence told the newspaper. Asked what he would do on his first day in office, Trump told Fox News he may address his campaign pledge to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, though he did not go into specifics. “We could do the wall, we’re going to do some repealing, we’re going to do some executive orders that we think are inappropriate,” Trump told Fox, referring to the possibility of reversing executive orders issued by Obama, a Democrat, during his eight-year term. CEOs TO ADVISE ON POLICY On Friday Trump named an advisory panel led by the chief executive of Blackstone, the world’s biggest alternative asset manager, stacked with executives from some of America’s largest companies, such as Wal Mart Stores Inc, Boeing Co and International Business Machines Corp. On Thursday he claimed success in persuading Carrier Corp, an Indiana an air conditioner maker, to keep about 1,000 jobs in the United States rather than move them to Mexico. But that drew criticism from former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, a Trump supporter who had been reported to be under consideration for a Cabinet job. “When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent,” she wrote in an opinion piece on the Young Conservatives website youngcons.com. “Instead, we support competition on a level playing field, remember? Because we know special interest crony capitalism is one big fail,” she wrote. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had an investment of up to $250,000 in 2014 in United Technologies Corp., the parent company of Carrier. Trump is weighing who to put in charge of the Department of Homeland Security, which enforces immigration law and plays a key role in preventing terror attacks; a director of national intelligence; and several Cabinet posts dealing with energy and the environment. On Friday, Jay Cohen, former under secretary of Homeland Security for science and technology and a retired Navy rear admiral, told reporters in Trump Tower that he interviewed for a position he would not reveal. “Cyber security was discussed, and I believe that President-elect Trump understands fully the magnitude of that challenge,” Cohen said. Trump has narrowed the field for secretary of state to four candidates, including the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, who attacked Trump throughout the 2016 campaign but spoke glowingly of the president-elect after having dinner with him earlier this week. “There was actually good chemistry,” Trump said on Fox. | 0fake |
Afghan security forces killed in 'friendly fire' incident | LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An airstrike by the Afghan Air Force on a checkpoint in Gereshk district in the southern province of Helmand on Sunday killed around 10 members of the security forces and wounded nine others, officials said. The strike hit members of a special militia unit known as Sangoryan, who wear local clothes to blend into areas where the Taliban are active. Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, confirmed the incident but gave no details. The incident is the latest in a series of so-called friendly fire accidents in Helmand, the most recent in July when a U.S. airstrike killed a number of local police members during an operation in Gereshk district. In another incident, in June, at least three members of the Afghan Border Police were killed when a U.S. military aircraft opened fire on them during an operation in southern Afghanistan. Large parts of Helmand, Afghanistan s major opium-producing province, are in the hands of the Taliban. U.S. and Afghan commanders see air power as a vital weapon to prevent the area falling completely to the insurgents. Building up Afghanistan s own air power is a central part of President Ashraf Ghani s four-year strategic plan and the Afghan Air Force has steadily bolstered its capacity to provide logistical support to ground forces as well as air strikes. But one consequence has been an increase in the number of unintended casualties caused by accidents. According to U.N. figures published in July, there was a 43 percent increase in the number of civilian casualties caused by U.S. and Afghan airstrikes in the first half of the year. | 0fake |
Did you know that cinnamon can boost intelligence? | Did you know that cinnamon can boost intelligence?
Saturday, October 29, 2016 by: Amy Goodrich Tags: cinnamon , intelligence , Parkinsons disease (NaturalNews) Cinnamon is one of the world's most consumed spices. For thousands of years, it has been prized for its medicinal properties and sweet, warming taste. Aside from sprinkling cinnamon on top of your lattes or adding magic to grandma's apple pie, researchers have found that consuming this tasty household spice also might enhance learning skills.Scientists at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that increased ingestion of cinnamon significantly improved the memory of "poor learning" mice. Recently, their findings were published in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology in an article entitled "Cinnamon Converts Poor Learning Mice to Good Learners: Implications for Memory Improvement."The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Alzheimer's Association. How cinnamon affects the brain For the study, lead researcher Kalipada Pahan, a neurology professor at Rush University Medical Center, and his team zoomed in on two key proteins, GABRA5 and CREB, located in the hippocampus region of the brain. The hippocampus is a small part of the brain that generates, organizes, and stores memory. Previous research has shown that lower levels of CREB and higher levels of GABRA5 occur in the brain of poor learners.To see if ground cinnamon could improve the memory of slow learners, the researchers took a group of mice and placed them in a maze with 20 holes. The experiment was focused on watching the mice learn how to locate their target hole.When they tested the mice again after one month of cinnamon feeding, the researchers found that the mice determined to be poor learners had significantly improved their memory and learning skills. They could find their target hole twice as fast.Pahan and his team explained that when cinnamon is ingested the body converts it into sodium benzoate, a chemical compound used to treat brain damage. Furthermore, they discovered that when benzoate entered the mice's brains, it increased CREB, decreased GABRA5, and stimulated hippocampal neurons, which led to improved memory and learning skills."We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," Pahan said.However, no significant improvements were seen in the mice that were considered good learners. But Pahan added that if these results could be replicated in slow learning students, cinnamon could become one of the safest and easiest approaches to convert weaker students to good learners. Cinnamon may halt the progression of Parkinson's disease Pahan and his colleagues previously found that cinnamon had a positive effect on the brains of mice with Parkinson's disease. When cinnamon transforms into sodium benzoate, it works to protect the neurons, normalize brain cells, and improve communication within the brain, which slows down the progression of the disease.Given their promising results, Pahan and his team - supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health – plan on moving forward with testing in human patients with Parkinson's disease."This could potentially be one of the safest approaches to halt disease progression in Parkinson's patients," Pahan said. "It would be a remarkable advance in the treatment of this devastating neurodegenerative disease," he added.Before starting to add cinnamon to all your dishes, know that not all cinnamon is created equal. Pahan explained that there are two major types of cinnamon available in the United States - Chinese or cassia cinnamon and Ceylon cinnamon. While both metabolize into sodium benzoate, Ceylon cinnamon is much better than Chinese cinnamon. Chinese cinnamon contains coumarin, a molecule that can damage the liver . Sources: | 1real |
Jackie Mason: Hillary Clinton Too Untrustworthy To Serve As Bathroom Attendant – She’d Steal The Toilet Paper | Email
During a radio interview, comic legend and political pundit Jackie Mason joked that the only time Hillary Clinton is not lying “is when her mouth is not moving.”“And even then, she is probably lying because she’s probably sitting there thinking of the next lie she is going to tell,” he added.
Mason claimed that Clinton is so untrustworthy that she likely couldn’t land a job as an “attendant in the ladies’ room because they would be afraid that she would steal the towels or the napkins. Even the toilet paper wouldn’t be safe from her.”
Mason was speaking during his regular segment on this reporter’s talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and NewsTalk 990 AM in Philadelphia.
He continued:
Do you think that if she went for any other job besides the presidency that anyone would hire her anywhere? If you saw her resume which is a resume of accomplishing nothing and running from the police three-quarters of her life. She is always either indicted or almost indicted or about to be indicted. Her whole life spent fleeing from the Justice Departments of different countries. Now, this yenta, do you think she would be able to get any other job? …
Would you think they would hire her as a chambermaid? Do you know what all those sheets and pillowcases are worth? Do you think they would trust her with it? After they found out the history of her life. Let’s be honest about it, if you went on a vacation would you let her watch your house while you went on vacation? Would you expect to come back and find anything still there? | 1real |
Pressure builds on Trump to back off wiretap accusations | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers from both parties said on Sunday they had seen no proof to support the claim by Republican President Donald Trump that his predecessor Barack Obama had wiretapped him last year, adding pressure on Trump to explain or back off his repeated assertion. Several Republicans last week urged Trump to apologize for the allegations he made in a series of tweets on March 4. The maelstrom also caused tension with key U.S. allies and threatens to distract Republicans from campaign promises on health care and taxes. “I don’t know the basis for President Trump’s assertion,” U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I do believe he owes us that explanation.” Collins said she supported Trump as president, but she wouldn’t side with him if he “misstated what the facts are.” FBI Director James Comey is expected to be asked about Trump’s claims when he testifies at a rare public hearing on Monday about alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Russia has denied the assertion it was involved in hacked emails and other attempts to influence the race. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee holding the hearing, called Trump’s claims “patently false” and said he expected Comey to say as much on Monday. The Justice Department on Friday delivered documents to congressional committees to help clear up whether the Obama administration spied on Trump. Republican Representative Devin Nunes, who leads the House intelligence panel, said after receiving the material, he saw no evidence of wiretapping. But Nunes, who served on Trump’s transition team, joined the White House in seeking to shift attention away from the controversies by calling for investigations of leaks to the news media. Nunes said on “Fox News Sunday” that leaks to reporters about former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn were criminal and that his panel was probing whether other names were leaked. Trump has been dogged by allegations that his associates had ties to Russian officials. He fired Flynn last month after reports he had discussed sanctions with Russia’s ambassador before Trump took office, without telling other White House officials. “The one crime we know that’s been committed is that one: the leaking of someone’s name,” Nunes said. “Were there any other names that were ... leaked out?” Nunes also said ahead of Monday’s hearing he had seen “no evidence” of collusion between Russia and Trump’s team. But Schiff, the panel’s top Democrat, said there was enough “circumstantial evidence” that he still had questions. Meanwhile, the White House has not backed down on Trump’s surveillance claims. The administration was forced to reassure key ally Britain after White House press secretary Sean Spicer repeated a Fox News analyst’s claim that a British intelligence agency helped Obama wiretap Trump. The British government strongly denied it. The issue led to an awkward moment on Friday at a joint press conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel when Trump was asked about the wiretap claims by a German reporter. Trump said he and Merkel had “something in common,” apparently referring to reports during the Obama administration that Merkel’s phone was bugged. The quip left the German leader looking bewildered. Senior Republican Representative Tom Cole told reporters on Friday that Trump owed Obama an apology. Representatives Charlie Dent and Will Hurd, also Republicans, made similar comments. “I see no indication that that’s true,” Cole said of the wiretapping charge. Unless Trump produces convincing proof, Cole added, “President Obama is owed an apology.” | 0fake |
Romania Points Out Flaws With U.S. Election To Encourage Citizens To Vote | Tomorrow, the U.S. election will take place, and for most Americans, the day couldn’t come soon enough. People aren’t anticipating the 2016 election because they’re looking forward to seeing either... | 1real |
Rubio campaign test: Can money bring U.S. Republicans happiness? | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Marco Rubio, the failed U.S. presidential contender, is battling to hold on to his U.S. Senate seat from Florida in what is shaping up to be the costliest congressional contest of 2016. More than $33 million has been raised and over $24 million spent so far by both parties in the Florida race, according to the latest U.S. Federal Election Commission data. That high price tag testifies, in part, to Rubio’s success in building a national fundraising base as a presidential candidate, even though he was trounced in his own backyard by eventual nominee Donald Trump in the state’s Republican presidential nominating contest. It also underscores Republicans’ firm belief that if they cannot hold Rubio’s seat, they cannot hold the Senate. Rubio’s re-election bid, launched late in the game in June, is bolstered by the deep pockets of the Senate Leadership Fund. The group’s mission is to protect the Republican Senate majority in the Nov. 8 election. It is run by confidants of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. So far, the group has devoted more money to Florida than any other state, spending $3.4 million to attack Rubio’s Democratic opponent, U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group. The Republican fund is sitting on a mountain of cash - at least $40 million on hand for the closing weeks of Senate campaigns nationwide. That looks to be having an impact. Rubio led Murphy by an average of 5.7 percentage points on Wednesday in RealClear Politics’ basket of polls for Aug. 31 to Sept. 19. With that in view, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has decided to scale back its plans for television and internet advertisements for Murphy in Florida to $6 million from $10 million between now and Nov. 8, a DSCC official said. Even the remaining money is being held back until the final three weeks of the campaign, the official added. Instead, Democrats are redeploying into lower-cost media markets in North Carolina, Missouri and Indiana, according to the DSCC, which works to elect more Democrats to the Senate. Until June 22, when Rubio decided he wanted to return to the Senate despite a low attendance record in his first term, Democrats saw Florida as low-hanging fruit. That was because Republicans had fielded a roster of candidates with limited statewide appeal and money-raising ability. Rubio, hoping to remain a rising Republican star with an eye on a 2020 run for president, quickly cleared the field, knocking out his last Republican opponent, a wealthy political novice, and setting up his race against Murphy. As of Aug. 10, Rubio had raised $14.2 million and spent $6.3 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, citing Federal Election Commission figures. Murphy had raised $11.2 million and spent $7.8 million. Despite the money disadvantage, Murphy is by no means vanquished. A Sept. 16-19 poll by Monmouth University had Rubio leading by only 2 percentage points, and showed Murphy enjoying a 14-point lead in Rubio’s home base of South Florida. If the numbers improve further for Murphy, the DSCC could readjust and, like a race-track bettor, scurry to plunk down millions of new dollars in a renewed Florida push. Last week, a Democratic political action committee and the AFSCME labor union announced a $1.8 million anti-Rubio ad campaign as part of a $10 million ad plan. While money plays an outsized role, it is not everything in this freewheeling U.S. election season. For instance, the political fortunes of Republican presidential nominee Trump could benefit other Republicans, including Rubio. Trump has opened a 4-point lead against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Florida, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos polling. In a Senate hallway interview, Rubio downplayed any Trump effect, even a positive one, saying: “I always feel like I need to win my own race.” Rubio has endorsed Trump, but clashed sharply with him when they were presidential rivals. U.S. Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee emphasized the importance of Florida to Republicans’ hopes of keeping control of the Senate. Asked about Democrats refocusing resources from Florida to other states, Wicker said: “If they take their money out and put it someplace else, we’ll combat it there,” adding: “We are going to stay vigilant in the state of Florida.” | 0fake |
Istanbul, Hillary Clinton, Loretta Lynch: Your Friday Evening Briefing - The New York Times | (Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. _____ 1. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said she would accept the recommendations of prosecutors and the F. B. I. about whether to bring charges against Hillary Clinton over her private email server. Ms. Lynch’s statement came after she was criticized for meeting with Bill Clinton at an airport this week. She said the encounter was unplanned and they did not talk about the case. But Republicans and some Democrats said it raised questions about the integrity of the email investigation, which hangs over the presidential election. _____ 2. What should we expect from the Republican convention, just two weeks away? It won’t be “boring” like previous ones, pledged Donald J. Trump, who also said he won’t speak every night. Beyond that, the usually polished and choreographed affair is in flux. But if Mr. Trump’s comments at a Thursday event were any indication — he suggested that a plane overhead was a Mexican aircraft ready for an “attack” — his style may be hard to avoid, even if he’s planning to hew more closely to a script. _____ 3. The number of civilians killed by U. S. airstrikes outside conventional war zones since 2009 is between 64 and 116 people, the Obama administration said Friday. The number comes from 473 strikes that took place between Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 and the end of 2015, and it is much lower than estimates from independent watchdogs. Mr. Obama also issued an executive order requiring the government to disclose the number of civilian deaths annually. Above, a protest against drone strikes in Pakistan. _____ 4. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack in which armed men took hostages in a restaurant in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. A kitchen worker said eight to 10 men entered the restaurant — where about 20 foreigners were dining — opened fire and detonated several explosives. Two police officers were killed in the standoff. The State Department said all its American employees there were safe. _____ 5. If you’re carrying dollars in your wallet, they’re worth more than they were last week — but that’s not necessarily a good thing. Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has investors dumping the pound and the euro, and turning to American currency instead. But that makes U. S. imports more expensive on the global market, complicating the American economy’s already fragile expansion. _____ 6. Austria will have a on its presidential election, in which a candidate, Norbert Hofer, above left, narrowly lost to Alexander Van der Bellen of the Green Party in May. The situation reflects the wider turmoil in Europe over immigration, which was also a prominent issue in Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. Mr. Hofer and his party, the Freedom Party, had campaigned heavily on the migrant issue. _____ 7. Tighter security at airports doesn’t necessarily make us safer — as seen in the attacks on Tuesday at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, where three suicide bombers killed 44 people and wounded hundreds of others. Vehicle screenings begin a mile from the airport and people go through security before they enter the terminal, which is where the attackers were initially turned away, but later returned with guns. Here’s a look at how a typical U. S. airport compares with those in Istanbul and other places. _____ 8. A Mississippi law that would have protected people who object to marriages on religious grounds was struck down by a federal judge minutes before it was to take effect. The judge, Carlton W. Reeves, called it “a vehicle for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. ” Some state leaders pledged to appeal, though the state’s Democratic attorney general expressed reservations. _____ 9. Yuliya Stepanova, above, a Russian athlete who blew the whistle on doping and got other athletes from her country barred, will be among the few from her nation, if any, who can compete at the Olympic Games in Rio. The sport’s governing body ruled that she can compete, and if Olympic officials agree, it’s still an open question whether she would represent Russia — which she fled two years ago — or be a neutral athlete. _____ 10. Gay Talese, above, the storied journalist and author, is defending his coming book, “The Voyeur’s Motel,” after an article raised questions about key facts. It’s a reversal of his initial response to the discrepancies, in which he called the book’s credibility “down the toilet. ” The issue relates to the veracity of the central character, who said he had spied on his motel guests for years. _____ 11. Mosha, a elephant in Thailand, got her ninth artificial leg this week. She lost her leg when she stepped on a land mine at just 7 months old in a part of Myanmar where rebels have been fighting the government for decades. She’s among more than a dozen elephants who have been wounded by land mines in the region. _____ 12. Ah, the Fourth of July. It’s a time to celebrate our nation’s independence, perhaps gathering with family and friends for a barbecue before admiring fireworks at dusk. But there’s an unpleasant side to the holiday: a history of ghastly injuries and, sometimes, death — generally because of those same fireworks. So have a great holiday weekend and, please, be safe! _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 0fake |
Joe Scarborough BERATES Mika Brzezinski Over “Cheap Shot” At Ivanka Trump: “You don’t have to be so snotty!” [VIDEO] | 1real | |
Drug Traffickers Increasingly Involved in Migrant Smuggling | Organised crime is diversifying its activities as traditional drug smugglers are now expanding into the growing market of human trafficking, according to European Union police agency Europol. [Smuggling migrants across the Mediterranean is becoming big business as Italy saw its largest ever recorded number of migrants come into the country in 2016. According to Michael Rauschenbach, Director of the department for combating organised crime at Europol, smugglers make more money trafficking migrants than smuggling drugs and controlling prostitution rings, Deutsche Welle reports. “We have specific information that dangerous criminals draw more and more profit from human smuggling,” Mr. Rauschenbach said Wednesday. He said that people smuggling had become “a very lucrative business” as the money involved was higher and the risks lower for organised criminal gangs. The Europol department director noted the prices for smuggling migrants from North Africa, usually from Libya, to the coast of Italy had also gone up in recent years. One year ago, the cost for a migrant from a West African country to reach mainland Europe was between €3, 000 and €5, 000. Now, according to Rauschenbach, that amount may only cover one stage of the entire trip. In 2016, Europol was able to determine and identify some 15, 000 suspects who they believe are involved in the people trafficking trade. Some of the traffickers have been arrested in Italy, a number of them charged with some of the record numbers of drownings that have occurred over the past year on the Mediterranean. Some of the captured traffickers, many who originate from Africa, have given authorities and the public a glimpse into the horrific world of people smuggling. One man, in particular, became infamous in Italy after authorities discovered images on his mobile phone which depicted organ harvesting from migrants who could not pay their smuggling fees and even in some cases, cannibalism. The increased fees have put many of the migrants in a position of not being able to pay. For some who reach Libya it means returning back to West Africa, but for others, their fate can be much worse. Reports have shown that many children and women end up as sex slaves in Italy and as a result of the migrant crisis, thousands of prostitutes in the country have an African origin. Drugs dealing is another way for migrants to pay back their debt and has become common not only in Italy but also in countries like Austria where police note a large number of street dealers in the capital of Vienna have a West African background. | 0fake |
Police Turn In Badges Rather Than Incite Violence Against Standing Rock Protesters: Report | By Amanda Froelich It should be evident if you’re following news concerning the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota that tension continues to escalate between... | 1real |
WHOA! Why Is Our Classless President Following Porn Sites On Twitter? | Just another classless act in the life of President Barack Obama President Obama s Twitter account, which is run by his Organizing for Action staff, follows 636,000 accounts. Many of them you might expect: Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry. Even Mariah Carey and Snoop Dogg don t really raise an eyebrow. But several accounts on the presidential follow list fit a different theme: Asa Akira, a porn star who has 653,000 followers and, in her Twitter bio, states I have an award-winning asshole. Joanna Angel (390,000 followers), who describes herself as a multiple award winning punk porno princess; Penthouse Pet Of The Year Nikki Benz (808,000 followers); and Ashley Steel (138,000 followers), who writes that she is a Porn Star, Doggy mama, Happiness Junkie, XXX Model, Buddhist, & Total nerd. So why is the official Twitter account for the president of the United States publicly following adult movie stars? Of course, American porn stars are just as American (and just as worthy of the President s ear) as anyone else, but this interaction is nonetheless an unusual move for an elected official s campaign-managed social media account.Neither the Organizing for Action campaign nor the White House immediately responded to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Joe Rospars, Obama s principal digital strategist for both presidential campaigns, said that he was not available to comment.The current presidential candidates seemed to have been more intentional about their follow lists, if for no other reason than that Twitter had blocked auto-following before the start of their 2016 campaigns. Nikki Benz, Penthouse s 2011 Pet Of The Year, has followed Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump. None of them have followed back. Via: Fast Company | 1real |
Jeremy Lin Is Back in New York, and So Is a Glimpse of the Old Linsanity - The New York Times | As a throng of Chinese reporters crowded in front of him, Jeremy Lin briefly cast his eyes toward the distant skyline of Manhattan, the birthplace of Linsanity. It has been four years since Mr. Lin seemed to inspire New Yorkers and Asians around the world with his mystical, mythical string of performances with the New York Knicks. But now, as a member of the Brooklyn Nets, Mr. Lin says he has a different perspective on his fame and his popularity as the first N. B. A. player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent. “When it first started, I’m not going to lie, it was cool, and then it became a burden,” he said at the Nets’ practice facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. “I didn’t really know what I had gotten myself into. One, two, three, four years later, every year I embrace it more. Every year I’m more appreciative, every year I love it more. ” He is 27 now, and it is no longer enough to be just a leader for the Nets on the court. “Chinese people, Asians, they always have a special place in my heart,” he said. “Coming back here, I want to be able to try to inspire the next generation, reach out in the community. ” A Harvard graduate and a son of Taiwanese immigrants, Mr. Lin became an empowering figure not only for Asians, but also for underdogs, Knicks fans and New Yorkers mired in the doldrums in February 2012. The team’s leader, Carmelo Anthony, was injured when Mr. Lin was igniting a turnaround. Enter Mr. Lin, a journeyman who had been cut by two teams. Linsanity, in all its glorious euphoria, erupted. And then, several weeks later, Mr. Lin’s run was over, cut short by a knee injury, combined with the resignation of his coach, Mike D’Antoni. After the season, the Knicks allowed Mr. Lin to depart to the Houston Rockets via free agency. “As soon as he took off that New York uniform, that magic was gone,” said Andrew Kuo, 38, a New artist and ardent Lin fan. The artifacts of that time, like the sandwiches once named for him, grew stale. The puns faded from the lexicon. “The Lin memes are done, it’s O. K. it’s extinct now,” Mr. Kuo said. There is, however, the matter of that “Linsanity No. 17” tattoo on his left forearm. Mr. Kuo laughed and said that it might have been dumb. “But it’s nice to look down and remember it all,” he added. Mr. Lin recalled how he wished he had stopped to enjoy that heady time more while it was swirling around him. As for Linsanity, he may have won the trademark, but he has mixed feelings about it he does not intend to revive it. “Not in a way that I’m offended, but it kind of dehumanizes me to refer to me as a phenomenon,” he said. “I’m going to be here, keep playing my game, and whatever you guys want to call it, it’s up to you guys. ” It was typical humility from a man who at the start of his Knicks career in 2012 was sleeping on his brother’s couch. In what seemed a quaint bookend to that time, Mr. Lin and his trainer, Josh Fan, stayed at an Airbnb rental on Tuesday night, just so they could be near the practice facility in Brooklyn. They turned down the Nets’ offer of a hotel room. Mr. Lin, wearing a new hairstyle featuring tight braids atop his head, was officially introduced on a podium along with five other acquisitions. Yet it is his celebrity that gives the lowly Nets an instant marketing boost while in what is otherwise a rebuilding mode. Since Lin signed his $36 million contract in early July, the team’s sales department has been contacting Asian groups all over New York to offer ticket packages. Brett Yormark, the chief executive of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, said that in response to Mr. Lin’s presence on the team he had scheduled a trip to China to discuss partnership opportunities with travel and packaged good companies. “Our brand is pretty big there, obviously,” he said. As for closer to home? “Obviously, when you think of Sunset Park, that’s an opportunity to ignite a potential fan base,” he said. “Everything is under discussion. ” Mr. Lin’s presence is sure to create ripples along fault lines, even though his fame transcends that rivalry, uniting fans from California to Australia and to Taiwan, where he holds summer basketball camps. He recently returned from his annual visit. “He’s got a lot of fans there,” said Timothy J. Hwang, the New York bureau chief for Central News Network of Taiwan, who was among two dozen Chinese journalists covering Mr. Lin’s news conference. (Mr. Lin gave his first interview in Mandarin.) “He attracts a lot of attention, especially for the younger generation,” Mr. Hwang said. “Basketball is the most popular sport in Taiwan. ” By moving back to the city with the largest Chinese population outside of Asia — 573, 388 residents according to the latest census figures, from 2014 — Mr. Lin will certainly gain a broader, brighter spotlight. “I think he belongs in New York,” said Jimmy Ching, 51, the proprietor of Pacificana, a sprawling dim sum palace in Sunset Park. Last year, Mr. Ching tuned all of the restaurant’s 10 television screens to Knicks games when Mr. Lin played against them as a member of the Charlotte Hornets. “When he was at the Knicks, it was this momentum and the people and the whole area were rooting for him,” Mr. Ching added. “You see it in the Chinese communities. You see it in Brooklyn Chinese community, you see it in Manhattan Chinese community, you see it in the Flushing community. For that to happen, it was something. We pulled together. ” Mr. Lin’s most ardent supporters see a different player now than the relentless, sometimes reckless, guard who once tried to prove his worth. “The definition of Linsanity may have evolved,” said K. P. Chan, 68, a retired banker who lives in Bayside, Queens. “That was just sheer madness, that was epiphany. All the stars were aligned and all of a sudden, he had this breakout out of nowhere. But he has become a much more more complete player. ” Last year, Mr. Chan connected with two California fans via an internet forum to produce a YouTube video that questioned whether N. B. A. referees were neglecting to call flagrant fouls committed against Mr. Lin. As the only in the N. B. A. Mr. Lin represents a new “model minority,” said Peter Kwong, a professor of urban affairs at Hunter College. “On the one hand, he does everything Asians are supposed to do — he went to Harvard — and on the other hand, he’s doing things Asians are not supposed to do: sports,” said Professor Kwong, who specializes in Chinese immigration. “That is the charm of him. ” But the notion of a lack of athleticism among the Chinese seems to be an outdated stereotype, considering the popularity of basketball in Asia and the deep tradition of Asian basketball leagues across this country. “People really don’t understand how some Asian kids could be good,” said Ryan Chin, 15, a mentor in a youth basketball league. “I just want to thank Jeremy Lin. ” | 0fake |
Why Greece and Iran seem willing to take on the world (+video) | As they navigate their respective crises, both Greek and Iranian governments are trumpeting a historical narrative that portrays them as the victim of big-power efforts to subjugate the less powerful.
Who do Greece and Iran think they are?
As global powers find themselves locked in face-offs with two relatively small states – economic powerhouse Germany and the European Union with Greece over its debt, and the United States and five other world powers with Iran over its nuclear program – exasperation is growing among the “bigs” that their smaller counterparts are not bowing to reality and accepting compromise faster than they are.
After all, it’s Greece that risks a full financial collapse without another European bailout, and Iran whose economy has been slammed by international sanctions that will only be lifted if Tehran agrees to a deal limiting its nuclear ambitions and opening its nuclear facilities to inspection.
The major powers in both crises see mounting brinkmanship and intransigence where they feel reason should prevail. But both Greece and Iran are engaging their more powerful interlocutors in a manner that suggests how much they are driven by the more ephemeral motivations of dignity and mutual respect.
The Greek and Iranian examples aren’t the first instances where smaller states have used the scenario of the little guy being stepped on by big, bad bullies to further their cases, particularly with domestic audiences. The imbalance of power in both diplomatic confrontations has seemed to reinforce the determination in Athens and Tehran to stand firm on what they see as their sovereign interests.
But even if the appeal to a sense of national dignity resonates, some diplomatic analysts say taking pride too far can end up closing off escape routes to countries in crisis – ultimately working against their public's interests.
“In both these cases of high-powered negotiations – Greece over its debt crisis and Iran over its nuclear program – the smaller country feels it’s facing the opprobrium of the rest of the world,” says Mark Hibbs, a Berlin-based senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “That has led to an us-versus-them sentiment that has fed off of each country’s strong sense of national pride, and in both cases the leaders have played that card with their populations.”
But in both cases, too much focus on national dignity has helped push the negotiations to the brink of failure, Mr. Hibbs adds – an outcome he says does not serve the interests of either country.
In the Iran case, international negotiations in Vienna that faced a Tuesday deadline were extended to the end of the week, with both sides saying significant progress was made in recent days but that critical sticking points remained.
As for Greece, a referendum Sunday that screamed nationalist pride as voters rejected Europe-imposed austerity measures has been followed by Greek calls for renewed debt-relief talks and a European cold shoulder, particularly from Germany.
As they navigate their respective crises, both the Greek and Iranian governments are trumpeting a historical narrative that portrays them as the victim of big-power efforts to subjugate and dominate the less powerful, some analysts say.
“In both Iran and Greece they have spent decades cultivating a narrative of grievance,” says Peter Feaver, a professor of international relations at Duke University in Durham, N.C. “So in that atmosphere you have [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel transformed into Adolf Hitler, and the America of Obama turned into the America of the 1950s,” when the US engineered a coup in Tehran that installed the late Shah Reza Pahlavi in power, he adds.
To the Western powers and international institutions dealing with Iran on nuclear ambitions and Greece on its debt, “that narrative is beside the point of the matters at hand, it’s not today’s story,” Dr. Feaver says. “But to the Iranian and Greek delegations, that longer historical context does make sense,” he adds. “It serves as a filter for distorting the policy options.”
The narrative of smaller countries confronting the injustices of the world’s arrogant powers is a longtime staple of Iranian rhetoric in particular, Carnegie’s Hibbs says. Iran has claimed an international right to an indigenous nuclear power program since the early 2000s, he notes, and has portrayed international efforts to investigate Iran’s nuclear facilities as a veiled attempt by “the Great Satan” and other world powers to deny Iran an international right.
To a large extent that narrative fell into disuse in Greece as the country joined the powerful club that is the European Union, and then entered the even more restricted inner circle in the Eurozone. But the narrative of the aggrieved has returned with a vengeance, Hibbs says, as Germany’s powerbroker role in the country’s debt-relief negotiations has revived memories of Nazi Germany’s occupation of Greece.
But Hibbs says that both Greece and Iran are “picking and choosing” among historical facts to suit their narrative, leaving aside those that don’t fit the story they wish to tell.
“In both cases there’s a kind of historical amnesia,” he says. “You hear about rights and dignity, but you don’t hear Iranians acknowledging their country’s two decades of systematically violating international obligations” related to the nuclear program, he says.
“You don’t hear the Greeks saying they’re in this mess because of past [financial] commitments they didn’t honor,” Hibbs adds. “At some point, you’d like part of the picture to be the Greeks facing their responsibilities in addressing their problems.”
Duke’s Feaver agrees that Greece has played up the “powerful narrative of big countries imposing things on a smaller country” when it should be looking at its own role in its difficulties.
But he also sees a danger in equating the Greek and Iranian cases, when the game he sees Iran playing is much more about expansive ambitions than about addressing grievances.
“Iran is a country with imperial ambitions and it plays a much more problematic role in the region, and that does figure in the nuclear talks,” Feaver says. “Greece’s peccadilloes are much more of the ordinary sort,” he adds, “things like a dysfunctional public sector and overspending and petty corruption. So in that sense it’s not fair to lump them together.”
Moreover, he says that the Greeks face real-life upheaval and impoverishment as a result of coming to terms with Germany and the EU that go beyond the ephemeral injuries of a supposed wounded national pride.
“The Greeks are being asked to do things that are not just a matter of pride, but which would be very disruptive of Greek citizens’ lives,” he says. “But in material terms, what is being asked of Iran [in the nuclear talks] does not put in jeopardy the average Iranian citizen – although it may be problematic for the military part of the Iranian state.”
The injured dignity argument may have won the Iranian regime some points at home, and it may even resonate with other “small” states.
But Feaver says Western powers, and in particular the US, should stand up to it and address it for the negotiating tactic that it is.
“I think President Obama wants to say, ‘Wait a minute Iran, this is not about the little guy defying the strong, it’s not about the powerful trying to dominate the weak; this is about the rule of law.’ ” | 0fake |
Islamic State seizes new Afghan foothold after luring Taliban defectors | JAWZJAN, Afghanistan/KABUL (Reuters) - When a Taliban commander defected to Islamic State in northern Afghanistan a few months ago, his men and the foreign fighters he invited in started to enslave local women and set up a bomb-making school for 300 children, officials and residents said. The mini-caliphate established six months ago in two districts of Jawzjan province marks a new inroad in Afghanistan by Islamic State (IS), which is claiming more attacks even as its fighters suffer heavy losses in Iraq and Syria. Qari Hekmat, a prominent Taliban leader in Jawzjan, switched allegiance around six months ago, according to local people who have since fled, raising the movement s black flag over the local mosque and forcing residents to swear fealty to IS s leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. They started killing a lot of people and warned others to cooperate, said Baz Mohammad, who fled Darz Aab district after his 19-year-old son was recruited into IS at the local mosque. IS in Jawzjan has now attracted the attention of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which will launch an offensive in the north in the next few days, U.S. Army General John Nicholson said on Tuesday. U.S. air strikes and special forces have been pounding the main Afghan foothold of IS fighters in the eastern province of Nangarhar, but that has not prevented the movement from stepping up attacks. IS has claimed at least 15 bombings and other attacks in Afghanistan this year, including two in Kabul last month, killing at least 188 people. The number of attacks is up from just a couple nationwide last year. It is unclear whether the all the attacks claimed by IS were carried out by the group, or linked to its central leadership in the Middle East. Afghan intelligence officials say some of the attacks may in fact have been carried out by the Taliban or its allied Haqqani network and opportunistically claimed by IS. Yet the sheer number of attacks plus the targeting of Shi ite mosques, an IS hallmark, indicates the movement is gaining some strength, though their links to the leadership in the Middle East remain murky. Some analysts see IS as an umbrella term covering groups of fighters in Nangarhar s mountains, armed gangs in northern Afghanistan and suicide bombers in Kabul. Little is known about what ties them together. IS in Afghanistan never was such a solid, coherent organization, even from the beginning, said Borhan Osman, an International Crisis Group analyst. In Jawzjan, Islamic State gained its pocket of territory in much the same way it did in Nangarhar - through defection of an established militant commander. Hekmat s Taliban fighters had long held sway in Darz Aab and Qushtepa districts, with the Afghan government having little control, residents who fled to Shiberghan, some 120 km away (75 miles), told Reuters. But when Hekmat had a falling-out with the central Taliban leadership and switched allegiance, his men were joined by about 400 IS-affiliated fighters from China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Chechnya and elsewhere, according to Darz Aab s district chief, Baz Mohammad Dawar. Foreign militants have long operated in the border areas of Afghanistan, and in Jawzjan they had typically moved from place to place, occasionally cooperating with the Taliban. But once they came to stay, life changed for the worse, according to three families and local officials who spoke to Reuters, even by the war-weary standards of Afghanistan. IS took our women as slaves, or forcefully made them marry a fighter. The Taliban never did that, said Sayed Habibullah, a Darz Aab resident. The Taliban had mercy and we spoke the same language, but IS fighters are foreigners, much more brutal and barbaric. The fighters also forced some 300 children into IS training. In the school, IS allocated two classes for the children to learn about guns and bombs, said Ghawsuddin, a former headmaster in Darz Aab who, like many Afghans, goes by one name. Islamic State emerged in Afghanistan more than two years ago, when members of the Pakistani Taliban swore allegiance to the relatively new global Islamist movement that at the time had seized vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. By June 2015, newly IS-aligned fighters had crossed into Afghanistan and seized around half a dozen districts in Nangarhar, scorching Taliban poppy fields and forcing them to flee. (reut.rs/2j2l6Oy) Soon after, U.S. forces began air strikes and dispatched special forces to assist Afghan troops in fighting Islamic State - also known by the Arabic acronym Daesh. Nicholson, the commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, said on Tuesday that some 1,400 operations had been conducted against IS since March, removing over 1,600 from the battlefield and cutting off their outside finance and support. Daesh has been unable to establish a caliphate in Afghanistan, Nicholson said, adding We see no evidence of fighters making their way from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan, because they know if they come here they will face death. . Even if IS is not bringing in new fighters - though that remains a fear - it is another obstacle to Afghan security after 16 years of war against the Taliban. Whether it is Islamic State or Taliban, they are our enemy, said Jawzjan police chief Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani. And they have to be eliminated. | 0fake |
How a $15 minimum wage went from ‘extreme’ to enacted | What once was considered “pie in the sky” is slowly becoming law. In New York, state legislators just agreed to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour, with the full effect beginning in New York City by December 2018. California just passed a compromise raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. New Jersey and the District are planning to move similar laws. After New York and California, nearly 1 in 5 (18 percent) in the U.S. workforce will be on the path to $15 an hour.
How did this reform go from being scorned as “extreme” to being enacted? Consensus politicians don’t champion it. Pundits and chattering heads tend to ignore it. Many liberal economists deride it as too radical. The idea moved only because workers and allies organized and demanded the change.
Three years ago, fast-food workers walked off the job in what began the “fight for $15 and a union.” With the federal government as the largest low-wage employer, federal contract workers demonstrated repeatedly outside the Pentagon, Congress and the White House, demanding executive action under the banner of a “Good Jobs Nation.”
Progressive politicians added their voices. In Seattle, Kshama Sawant, an engineer and economist running under the banner of Socialist Alternative party, won a seat on the city council in 2013. She made a $15 minimum wage a centerpiece of her campaign and pushed it when in office. The Service Employees International Union, one of America’s largest unions; business leaders such as Nick Hanauer; and political leaders such as Seattle Mayor Ed Murray helped build the coalition needed to get it done. Now wages in Seattle are headed to $15. And in SeaTac, the airport district that passed a $15 minimum wage in a referendum, the wage is in effect now.
In New York, insurgent mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio made raising the minimum wage central to his campaign. He and the Working Families Party joined with striking low-wage workers, labor and community groups, and city council members. Zephyr Teachout’s surprisingly strong challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) put pressure on him to act.
At the national level, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) joined with demonstrating contract workers. The CPC lobbied President Obama to use his executive power to raise wages for federal contract workers. The president responded with three historic executive orders, lifting the minimum wage for contract workers to $10.10, cracking down on wage theft and other workplace violations, and extending paid leave to contract employees.
Obstacles remain. Today, 42 percent of American workers earn less than $15 an hour. And the right to a union has been trampled by relentless and at times lawless corporate resistance. The Republican leadership in Congress refuses even to allow a vote on raising the national minimum wage that, at $7.25 an hour, means full-time workers can’t even raise their families out of poverty.
But now Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, says that “the Fight for $15 launched by underpaid workers has changed the nation’s economic trajectory, beginning to reverse decades of wage inequality.”
Contrary to the business lobby, an analysis by economists at the University of California at Berkeley shows that New York’s increases will not lead to job losses. The higher wages will generate billions in new consumer spending; the increased sales will offset the costs to businesses. In Seattle, the unemployment rate reached an eight-year low after the initial increases in the minimum wage last year.
This movement continues to build. The Fight for $15 and Good Jobs Nation initiatives will ratchet up their walkouts and demonstrations this month. On Monday, an interfaith coalition of religious leaders issued a call for “moral action on the economy.” They will press presidential candidates to pledge to “issue an executive order to make sure taxpayer dollars reward ‘model employers’ that pay a living wage of at least $15 an hour, provide decent benefits and allow workers to organize without retaliation.” As Jim Winkler, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, summarized: “This election is fundamentally about whether the next president is willing to take transformative executive action to close the gap between the wealthy and workers.”
Sanders has made $15 and a union a centerpiece of his campaign. He has urged Obama to take executive action and surely will sign the pledge. Hillary Clinton supports raising the minimum wage to $12.50, allowing cities to go higher. Her position on the pledge is unknown. The Republican candidates — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — oppose raising the minimum wage and would likely repeal Obama’s executive orders on low-wage contract workers if elected.
With inequality reaching record extremes, childhood poverty the worst in the industrial world and more Americans struggling simply to stay afloat, this country is desperately in need of bold reform. Yet bold ideas are repeatedly mocked as unrealistic and blocked by entrenched interests and conservative politicians. What the activists and low-wage workers have shown with their fight for $15 is that the changes we need will come if people organize and force them. Many commentators deride Sanders’s call for a political revolution, but that may be the most realistic idea of them all.
Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s archive or follow her on Twitter. | 0fake |
SEX OBJECTS FOR HILLARY…Jennifer Lopez Shakes A*S On Stage In Thong For Crooked Hillary…You Can’t Make This Stuff Up! [VIDEO] | Pop star Madonna got raunchy while introducing comedian Amy Schumer at a performance in New York City Tuesday night, promising the crowd sexual favors in exchange for their support of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. If you vote for Hillary Clinton, I will give you a blowjob. OK? the 58-year-old Rebel Heart singer told an audience at New York s Madison Square Garden Tuesday night. I m really good. I m not a douche, and I m not a tool. I take my time, I have a lot of eye contact, and I do swallow. BreitbartWatch the classless Lopez perform for Hillary here:.@JLo booty shake @HillaryClinton GOTV concert Miami Florida pic.twitter.com/zrFokjtKpH Tamara Gitt (@tamaragitt) October 30, 2016And then there s this special act in Lopez s concert for Hillary. Every mom supporting Hillary will want to teach her daughters to try this at home How to spin this.https://t.co/iKfSnjDf7c pic.twitter.com/D0HDStnGiA Arma Obscurum (@ShootingHipster) October 30, 2016J-Lo campaigns with Hillary at last night's rally in Miami. pic.twitter.com/Dr6yqCdBH8 Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) October 30, 2016And finally, the Champion of Women joined da ho and her ex on stage:Hillary Clinton joins Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony on stage https://t.co/jnBiRtZ1BD pic.twitter.com/xNaA2XNLoj Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) October 30, 2016 | 1real |
Boiler Room EP #67 – The Choice of a Screwed Generation | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Andy Nowicki of Alt Right Blogspot, Jay Dyer from jaysanalysis.com and ACR s big wave surfer, Stewart Howe. Tonight the Boiler Gang is talking about the Liberal Left feeling BURNT by the way Bernie flopped over to endorse Hillary after having his nomination stolen by hook and crook as revealed by the wikileaks hacks. We unfortunately, once again, as though forced by a week of news happenings, dive deep into project Mockingbird/Gladio style stage managed terror events. We discuss a growing swath of bought and paid for FAKE news, the repealing of the Smith Mundt Act effectively legalizing LYING to the public at the behest of the crime syndicates that own and run the mainstream media. A candid chat about the ugly effects of the divide and rule tyranny imposed upon us by the propagandists and social engineers with lines drawn in the sand based on identity politics is rounded out by a scathing review of Michelle Obamas comments at the DNC by E.T. Williams. We d be remiss if we didn t cover some highlights and lowlights from the RNC/DNC, as well, on this very special 67th edition of Boiler Room.Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY!Reference Links: | 1real |
Ethnic clash in Nigeria leaves four police officers dead: official | YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Muslim cattle herders are suspected of killing four police officers in the northeastern Nigerian state of Adamawa, a police official said on Friday. The four officers were killed on Thursday night defending a village in the Numan region from the herdsmen, who attacked the settlement as a reprisal for an earlier deadly clash, said Othman Abubakar, a police spokesman for the state. In the earlier clash, unidentified attackers killed more than 30 cattle herders in Numan. Numan has recently become a flashpoint for clashes between the herders and Christian farmers, which occur frequently across broad swathes of Nigeria, as each group contests the other s rights to land for pasture and agriculture. | 0fake |
Gunman Stages Deadly Attack on Police Station in Kazakhstan - The New York Times | MOSCOW — A gunman stormed a police station on Monday in Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, and killed three officers and two civilians in an attack attributed to radical Islamist motivations. The attack elevated concerns about the spread of terrorism in former Soviet Central Asia as an oil bust ripples through regional economies and the Islamic State’s footprint expands. The police in Almaty said the attacker wrested a rifle from a guard at a police station, wounded him and then used the weapon to kill three police officers. As the battle raged, the gunman shot and killed one of the two civilian victims before hijacking his Toyota Corolla. He was later caught by the police and taken into custody. Early on Monday, officers said that two men had attacked the police station. But later, in a clarification, they said that the second suspect was in fact a hostage — a taxi driver who had been forced to drive the gunman to the scene of the attack. Tass, the Russian news agency, reported that more than a dozen other people were wounded, and a local news portal said seven police officers were in intensive care with gunshot wounds. The authorities alternatively described the rampage as the work of criminals on the run after killing a woman over the weekend, or of Islamic radicals — though the two theories are not mutually exclusive. On Monday evening, President Nursultan Nazarbayev called the shooting a terrorist attack. Security officials said the suspect, a resident of western Kazakhstan, had converted to fundamentalist Salafi Islam while serving a prison term for robbery. Kazakhstan, an oil producer with major investments from Chevron and Exxon, has been a bastion of stability for most of the period. But the oil price collapse and subsequent devaluation of the currency is straining the government. Last month, security forces killed two dozen attackers identified as sympathizers of the Islamic State in the northwestern town of Aktobe after the militants stole guns from sporting goods stores and attacked the police and a national guard base. | 0fake |
RIDICULOUS! MUSLIMS Chant “Allah” And Protest With Call To Prayer Inside Dallas Airport [Video] | Muslims take time away from protest to pray at DFW airport. #MuslimBan #MuslimBanprotest @ldelucaDMN pic.twitter.com/vJboEDYNuW DMN Photo (@dallasnewsphoto) January 29, 2017 | 1real |
Judith Miller: It’s what was left unsaid in Trump’s speech that matters most | What was important about Donald Trump’s much anticipated foreign policy speech Wednesday is what he didn’t say. There was no mention by the self-declared Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee of his determination to build a wall between Mexico and the United States and get the Mexican government to pay for it.
There was only a passing reference to his frequent criticism of illegal immigrants, the theme that helped launch his presidential campaign last summer.
There was no mention of letting South Korea and Japan acquire nuclear weapons, or of walking away from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the organization which protected Europe from Soviet aggression which he said earlier had outlived its usefulness.
Though he called the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran a “disaster,” he did not say that he would tear it up on day one or insist that it be renegotiated. He simply declared that Iran would not be permitted to get a nuclear weapon, which is precisely what President Obama said prior to signing his controversial agreement with Teheran.
Mr. Trump did not say he would defend Israel at all costs, though he called the Jewish state “our great friend and the one true democracy” in the Middle East.
He condemned the Obama administration’s abandonment of Middle Eastern Christians, but said nothing about how he would protect them from what he called the “genocide” being perpetrated by ISIS and other jihadi groups.
While he vowed to destroy the Islamic State “very, very quickly,” he gave no clue as to how he would defeat the group which now has billions of dollars in its coffers, tentacles in nine states, and tens of thousands of Arab and foreign fighters battling to build an Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq and spread the group’s perverse interpretation of Islam throughout the world. And he did not repeat his claim that President Bush “lied” about Saddam’s having WMD to invade Iraq.
The tone of the billionaire real estate developer’s remarks at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel was also a departure from his often stream-of consciousness diatribes masquerading as speeches.
Mr. Trump read the carefully crafted, but still emotional 40-minute speech on a TelePrompter, inserting some of his trademark verbal grace notes on an impromptu basis.
The speech, his first serious attempt to ally foreign and American concerns about his knowledge of foreign affairs – contained almost none of his earlier jaw-dropping prescriptions for restoring America’s economic and military greatness.
It is unclear whether the speech will reverse the perception abroad of Mr. Trump as a foreign policy amateur, a businessman too ignorant of world affairs and ill-disciplined to learn about them – “Berlusconi with nukes,” as one foreign pundit called him, a reference to Italy’s flamboyant, controversial ex-prime minister.
Mr. Trump mainly repeated his populist themes and his determination to pivot from what he called the “Obama-Clinton” foreign policy, which he said had alienated traditional allies and friends and led the nation’s foes to loose respect for the U.S.
While many Republicans and even some Democrats would agree with his stark critique of some the administration’s contradictory, sometimes too-little, too-late initiatives – a “complete and total disaster,” Mr. Trump called Mr. Obama’s foreign policy – he offered few concrete remedies for restoring the economic strength which he said underpins America’s ability to project power abroad. “I’m on the only one, believe me, I know them all,” he said of his rivals, “who knows how to fix it.” Or, in other words, trust me.
Again and again, he vowed to move toward an “America first” model in domestic and foreign policy, seemingly unaware that “America First” was the slogan of the isolationists who fought to prevent Roosevelt from aiding Britain and other allies threatened with Nazi and Japanese aggression prior to World War II.
His pledge to prevent American companies from moving abroad – how legally he would do that he did not say – and force America’s allies to pay more for their own defense by tougher negotiations with them suggested there remain similar gaps in his knowledge of American law and foreign affairs. Studies have shown that it is cheaper to base the 28,000 American troops in South Korea there than it would be to keep them at home; and South Korea already pays half of those costs.
But critics of President Obama’s foreign policy are likely to dismiss Mr. Trump’s gaffes and contextual omissions as quibbles, and welcome his call for a more robust military, a tougher stance against Islamic radicalism at home and abroad, and an America-centric foreign policy. Republican "realists" will also welcome his call to deploy force "when there is no alternative," a pledge which mirrors the isolationist mood of part of his party and the country.
One of the toughest sections of Mr. Trump’s speech was his withering critique of Hillary Clinton’s expertise and performance as Mr. Obama’s secretary of state.
Predictably, he criticized her record of having supported the war in Iraq and other military interventions abroad -- an implicit criticism of President George W. Bush as well. He also accused of her of having “misled” the nation about the attack on America’s consulate in Benghazi, where the U.S. ambassador and “three brave Americans” were killed. Instead of “taking charge” that night, he said, “Hillary Clinton decided to go home and sleep. Incredible,” he said. “She was not awake to take that call at 3 o’clock in the morning.”
That was not only vintage Trump, but a precursor of what lies ahead if Mr. Trump, indeed, wins the nomination.
Judith Miller, a Fox News contributor, is an award-winning writer and author, and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. The author of several books, her latest is "The Story: A Reporter's Journey" (Simon & Schuster, April 7, 2015) now available in paperback. Follow her on Twitter @JMFreeSpeech.
| 0fake |
Limbaugh Perfectly Sums Up Why the Left's Unwilling to Face Why Trump Really Won | Go to Article
The day after Donald Trump’s historic upset of the “inevitable” Hillary Clinton, Rush Limbaugh took to the radio waves to help out all the left-wing “Drive-By” media struggling to understand what they had just witnessed — though they probably weren’t thrilled to hear his summa | 1real |
How Putin Derailed the West | Here's something interesting from The Unz Review... Recipient Name Recipient Email =>
“Nation state as a fundamental unit of man’s organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force: International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation-state.”
— Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Between Two Ages: The Technetronic Era”, 1971
“I’m going to continue to push for a no-fly zone and safe havens within Syria….not only to help protect the Syrians and prevent the constant outflow of refugees, but to gain some leverage on both the Syrian government and the Russians.”
— Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Third Presidential Debate
Why is Hillary Clinton so eager to intensify US involvement in Syria when US interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have all gone so terribly wrong?
The answer to this question is simple. It’s because Clinton doesn’t think that these interventions went wrong. And neither do any of the other members of the US foreign policy establishment. (aka–The Borg). In fact, in their eyes these wars have been a rousing success. Sure, a few have been critical of the public relations backlash from the nonexistent WMD in Iraq, (or the logistical errors, like disbanding the Iraqi Army) but–for the most part– the foreign policy establishment is satisfied with its efforts to destabilize the region and remove leaders that refuse to follow Washington’s diktats.
This is hard for ordinary people to understand. They can’t grasp why elite powerbrokers would want to transform functioning, stable countries into uninhabitable wastelands overrun by armed extremists, sectarian death squads and foreign-born terrorists. Nor can they understand what has been gained by Washington’s 15 year-long rampage across the Middle East and Central Asia that has turned a vast swathe of strategic territory into a terrorist breeding grounds? What is the purpose of all this?
First, we have to acknowledge that the decimation and de facto balkanization of these countries is part of a plan. If it wasn’t part of a plan, than the decision-makers would change the policy. But they haven’t changed the policy. The policy is the same. The fact that the US is using foreign-born jihadists to pursue regime change in Syria as opposed to US troops in Iraq, is not a fundamental change in the policy. The ultimate goal is still the decimation of the state and the elimination of the existing government. This same rule applies to Libya and Afghanistan both of which have been plunged into chaos by Washington’s actions.
But why? What is gained by destroying these countries and generating so much suffering and death?
Here’s what I think: I think Washington is involved in a grand project to remake the world in a way that better meets the needs of its elite constituents, the international banks and multinational corporations. Brzezinski not only refers to this in the opening quote, he also explains what is taking place: The nation-state is being jettisoned as the foundation upon which the global order rests. Instead, Washington is erasing borders, liquidating states, and removing strong, secular leaders that can mount resistance to its machinations in order to impose an entirely new model on the region, a new world order. The people who run these elite institutions want to create an interconnected-global free trade zone overseen by the proconsuls of Big Capital, in other words, a global Eurozone that precludes the required state institutions (like a centralized treasury, mutual debt, federal transfers) that would allow the borderless entity to function properly.
Deep state powerbrokers who set policy behind the smokescreen of our bought-and-paid-for congress think that one world government is an achievable goal provided they control the world’s energy supplies, the world’s reserve currency and become the dominant player in this century’s most populous and prosperous region, Asia. This is essentially what Hillary’s “pivot” to Asia is all about.
The basic problem with Washington’s NWO plan is that a growing number of powerful countries are still attached to the old world order and are now prepared to defend it. This is what’s really going on in Syria, the improbable alliance of Russia, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah have stopped the US military juggernaut dead in its tracks. The unstoppable force has hit the immovable object and the immovable object has prevailed…so far.
Naturally, the foreign policy establishment is upset about these new developments, and for good reason. The US has run the world for quite a while now, so the rolling back of US policy in Syria is as much a surprise as it is a threat. The Russian Airforce deployed to Syria a full year ago in September, but only recently has Washington shown that it’s prepared to respond by increasing its support of its jihadists agents on the ground and by mounting an attack on ISIS in the eastern part of the country, Raqqa. But the real escalation is expected to take place when Hillary Clinton becomes president in 2017. That’s when the US will directly engage Russia militarily, assuming that their tit-for-tat encounters will be contained within Syria’s borders. It’s a risky plan, but it’s the next logical step in this bloody fiasco. Neither party wants a nuclear war, but Washington believes that doing nothing is tantamount to backing down, therefore, Hillary and her neocon advisors can be counted on to up the ante. “No-fly zone”, anyone?
The assumption is that eventually, and with enough pressure, Putin will throw in the towel. But this is another miscalculation. Putin is not in Syria because he wants to be nor is he there because he values his friendship with Syrian President Bashar al Assad. That’s not it at all. Putin is in Syria because he has no choice. Russia’s national security is at stake. If Washington’s strategy of deploying terrorists to topple Assad succeeds, then the same ploy will be attempted in Iran and Russia. Putin knows this, just like he knows that the scourge of foreign-backed terrorism can decimate entire regions like Chechnya. He knows that it’s better for him to kill these extremists in Aleppo than it will be in Moscow. So he can’t back down, that’s not an option. ORDER IT NOW
But, by the same token, he can compromise, in other words, his goals and the goals of Assad do not perfectly coincide. For example, he could very well make territorial concessions to the US for the sake of peace that Assad might not support.
But why would he do that? Why wouldn’t he continue to fight until every inch of Syria’s sovereign territory is recovered?
Because it’s not in Russia’s national interest to do so, that’s why. Putin has never tried to conceal the fact that he’s in Syria to protect Russia’s national security. That’s his main objective. But he’s not an idealist, he’s a pragmatist who’ll do whatever he has to to end the war ASAP. That means compromise.
This doesn’t matter to the Washington warlords….yet. But it will eventually. Eventually there will be an accommodation of some sort. No one is going to get everything they want, that much is certain. For example, it’s impossible to imagine that Putin would launch a war on Turkey to recover the territory that Turkish troops now occupy in N Syria. In fact, Putin may have already conceded as much to Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan in their recent meetings. But that doesn’t mean that Putin doesn’t have his red lines. He does. Aleppo is a red line. Turkish troops will not be allowed to enter Aleppo.
The western corridor, the industrial and population centers are all red lines. On these, there will be no compromise. Putin will help Assad remain in power and keep the country largely intact. But will Turkey control sections in the north, and will the US control sections in the east?
Probably. This will have to be worked out in negotiations, but its unlikely that the country’s borders will be the same as they were before the war broke out. Putin will undoubtedly settle for a halfloaf provided the fighting ends and security is restored. In any event, he’s not going to hang around until the last dog is hung.
Unfortunately, we’re a long way from any settlement in Syria, mainly because Washington is nowhere near accepting the fact that its project to rule the world has been derailed. That’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? The bigshots who run the country are still in denial. It hasn’t sunk in yet that the war is lost and that their nutty jihadist-militia plan has failed.
It’s going to take a long time before Washington gets the message that the world is no longer its oyster. The sooner they figure it out, the better it’ll be for everyone.
MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition . He can be reached at . (Reprinted from Counterpunch by permission of author or representative) | 1real |
HEY BERNIE SANDERS! There’s No Such Thing As Equality…Ever! | Bernie Sanders likes to talk about how everyone will be equal using other people s money. It s the most asinine concept and it s not like it hasn t been tried before. We love Larry Elder s personal take on equality and the common sense reasons there will NEVER be total equality especially INCOME EQUALITY:Is there a more brain-dead concept than to empower the government to fight income inequality ? What sane, normal, rational human being thinks that human talent, drive, interests and opportunity can or should result in equal outcomes?Despite my love of athletics, I knew in third grade that my friend, Keith, could run much faster than I could. For two years I played Little League ball, and I got better at it. But no matter how hard I tried or how many hours I spent, I could not hit, run or throw as well as my friend Benji.Later in life, I started playing tennis, and I became quite passionate about it. But most of the people I played against had started playing years earlier, and most had taken lessons for years. I got better, but given my competitors head start, the gap remained.Financial planners advise clients to start early and stick to some sort of game plan. Is there any wonder that those who do so will have more net worth than those who started later, or who lacked the discipline to follow and stick to a plan? How is government supposed to address these unequal outcomes?Most entrepreneurs experience failure before hitting on an idea, concept or business that makes money. Even then, it takes 20 to 30 years of long hours and sacrifice, along with occasional self-doubt and a dollop of luck, to become a multimillionaire.I recently saw a movie starring Cate Blanchett. She is a very good actress, but she is also strikingly beautiful. Is there any doubt that her good looks, over which she had no control, are a factor in her success? Is it unfair that an equally talented actress, but with plain looks, will likely have an unequal career compared with that of Blanchett?Speaking of acting, most who venture into that field do not become successful, if success is defined as making a living as an actor. These overwhelming odds still do not deter the many young people who flock to Hollywood every year to make it. Had a would-be actor dedicated that same drive and personality to some other profession, success would have been more likely, if less enjoyable. Should the government intervene and take from the successful non-actor and give to those who unsuccessfully pursued a long-shot acting career? An ex-actor told me of her recent lunch with a friend she had met when they both left college and pursued acting. While the ex-actor moved on to a different, successful career, her friend stuck to acting, through thick and thin. The actor informed her friend that she recently turned down a commercial. Why? What struggling actor turns down this kind of work? Turns out, through some sort of assistance program, said the friend, the state of California is assisting with her mortgage. She has no obligation to repay the money, and she will continue to receive the assistance as long as her income is not above a certain level. How does this strengthen the economy? The ex-actor, through her taxes, subsidizes the lifestyle of the actor, who admits turning down work lest she be denied the benefits.But this is exactly the world sought by Bernie Sanders a government that taxes the productive and gives to the less productive in order to reduce income inequality. In the real world, two individuals, living next door to each other, make different choices about education, careers, spouses, where to live, and if and how to invest. Even if they make exactly the same income, one might live below his or her means, prudently saving money, while the other might choose to regularly buy new cars and fancy clothes and go on expensive vacations. Is there any question that the first person will end up with a higher net worth than the latter? Is their inequality something that government should address?Although Beyonce is a good singer, is there any question that there are others with superior voices? But Beyonce is also blessed with unequally good looks, charisma and perhaps better management maybe better than the other two ladies in her musical trio, Destiny s Child, whom she once sang with. Three singers, in the same group, have had unequal outcomes.Communism, collectivism and socialism rest on the same premise that government possesses the kindness, aptitude, judgment and ability to take from some and give to others to achieve equality. Karl Marx wrote, From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. And that s the problem. The statement implicitly acknowledges that some have more aptitude, drive, energy and ability than others. To take from some and give to others reduces the initiative of both the giver and the givee.This is the fundamental flaw with income redistribution, the very foundation of communism, socialism and collectivism. One would think that Bernie Sanders would have figured this out by now. But wisdom among 74-years-olds, like outcome, is not distributed equally.Larry Elder is a best-selling author and radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an Elderado, visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder.Via: Black Community News | 1real |
Trump slaps travel restrictions on N.Korea, Venezuela in sweeping new ban | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Sunday slapped new travel restrictions on citizens from North Korea, Venezuela and Chad, expanding to eight the list of countries covered by his original travel bans that have been derided by critics and challenged in court. Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia were left on the list of affected countries in a new proclamation issued by the president. Restrictions on citizens from Sudan were lifted. The measures help fulfill a campaign promise Trump made to tighten U.S. immigration procedures and align with his “America First” foreign policy vision. Unlike the president’s original bans, which had time limits, this one is open-ended. “Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet,” the president said in a tweet shortly after the proclamation was released. Iraqi citizens will not be subject to travel prohibitions but will face enhanced scrutiny or vetting. The current ban, enacted in March, was set to expire on Sunday evening. The new restrictions are slated to take effect on Oct. 18 and resulted from a review after Trump’s original travel bans sparked international outrage and legal challenges. The addition of North Korea and Venezuela broadens the restrictions from the original, mostly Muslim-majority list. An administration official, briefing reporters on a conference call, acknowledged that the number of North Koreans now traveling to the United States was very low. Rights group Amnesty International USA condemned the measures. “Just because the original ban was especially outrageous does not mean we should stand for yet another version of government-sanctioned discrimination,” it said in a statement. “It is senseless and cruel to ban whole nationalities of people who are often fleeing the very same violence that the U.S. government wishes to keep out. This must not be normalized.” The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement the addition of North Korea and Venezuela “doesn’t obfuscate the real fact that the administration’s order is still a Muslim ban.” The White House portrayed the restrictions as consequences for countries that did not meet new requirements for vetting of immigrants and issuing of visas. Those requirements were shared in July with foreign governments, which had 50 days to make improvements if needed, the White House said. A number of countries made improvements by enhancing the security of travel documents or the reporting of passports that were lost or stolen. Others did not, sparking the restrictions. The announcement came as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments on Oct. 10 over the legality of Trump’s previous travel ban, including whether it discriminated against Muslims. Trump has threatened to “destroy” North Korea if it attacks the United States or its allies. Pyongyang earlier this month conducted its most powerful nuclear bomb test. The president has also directed harsh criticism at Venezuela, once hinting at a potential military option to deal with Caracas. But the officials described the addition of the two countries to Trump’s travel restrictions as the result of a purely objective review. In the case of North Korea, where the suspension was sweeping and applied to both immigrants and non-immigrants, officials said it was hard for the United States to validate the identity of someone coming from North Korea or to find out if that person was a threat. “North Korea, quite bluntly, does not cooperate whatsoever,” one official said. The restrictions on Venezuela focused on Socialist government officials that the Trump administration blamed for the country’s slide into economic disarray, including officials from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service and their immediate families. Trump received a set of policy recommendations on Friday from acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke and was briefed on the matter by other administration officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a White House aide said. The rollout on Sunday was decidedly more organized than Trump’s first stab at a travel ban, which was unveiled with little warning and sparked protests at airports worldwide. Earlier on Sunday, Trump told reporters about the ban: “The tougher, the better.” Rather than a total ban on entry to the United States, the proposed restrictions differ by nation, based on cooperation with American security mandates, the threat the United States believes each country presents and other variables, officials said. Somalis, for example, are barred from entering the United States as immigrants and subjected to greater screening for visits. After the Sept. 15 bombing attack on a London train, Trump wrote on Twitter that the new ban “should be far larger, tougher and more specific - but stupidly, that would not be politically correct.” The expiring ban blocked entry into the United States by people from the six countries for 90 days and locked out most aspiring refugees for 120 days to give Trump’s administration time to conduct a worldwide review of U.S. vetting procedures for foreign visitors. Critics have accused the Republican president of discriminating against Muslims in violation of constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and equal protection under the law, breaking existing U.S. immigration law and stoking religious hatred. Some federal courts blocked the ban, but the U.S. Supreme Court allowed it to take effect in June with some restrictions. | 0fake |
Trump on Twitter (Dec 28) - Global Warming | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Together, we are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! bit.ly/2lnpKaq [1814 EST] - In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up! [1901 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 0fake |
21WIRE.TV Members Newsletter – Feb 18, 2017 | In this newsletter we ll include key updates on 21WIRE.TV premium content, as well as our GLOBAL:SITREP situation report, with exclusive commentary and analysis not covered yet at 21WIRE SEE MEMBERS NEWSLETTER HERESUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Saudi-led coalition allows first aid ship into Yemen's Hodeidah port: local officials | DUBAI (Reuters) - A ship carrying 5,500 tonnes of flour docked in Yemen s Hodeidah port in the Red Sea on Sunday, the first after more than two weeks of a blockade by a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement, local officials said. Saudi Arabia and its allies closed air, land and sea access to the Arabian Peninsula country on Nov. 6, to stop what it calls a flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The action came after Saudi Arabia intercepted a missile fired towards its capital Riyadh. Iran has denied supplying the Houthis with weapons. The delivery is the first aid to arrive through Hodeidah port, controlled by the Houthis, after the coalition allowed a flight carrying humanitarian aid workers to the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday. The ship is 106 meters long and carries 5,500 tonnes of flour, one of the Yemeni officials said. Aid agencies said the blockade had worsened the humanitarian crisis in Yemen where the war has left an estimated 7 million people facing famine and killed more than 10,000 people. The coalition gave clearance for U.N. flights in and out of Sanaa from Amman on Saturday, involving the regular rotation of aid workers. After re-opening Sanaa airport, UNICEF has also sent vaccines there. The charity Save the Children said an estimated 20,000 Yemeni children under the age of five were joining the ranks of the severely malnourished every month, an average of 27 children every hour . | 0fake |
BREAKING: Miami Woman BUSTED On Election Fraud — Guess Which Party It Benefited? | BREAKING: Miami Woman BUSTED On Election Fraud — Guess Which Party It Benefited? By Karen Shiebler
We have all heard Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump whining about voter fraud. He has been repeating the idea to his followers, encouraging them to go to the polls to watch out for the “rigged” election .
Naturally, Trump and his minions are warning that the election is being stolen from him. His accusations imply that Democrats are stealing votes from Republicans.
Election officials in all of the key states, many of whom are Republicans themselves, have assured the candidate that the election is not in fact rigged.
Now, however, we have some actual proof of voter fraud.
The Miami Herald reports that a 74 year old Florida woman has been arrested in Miami Dade county, after witnesses noted that she was marking ballots. The woman, Gladys Coego, was a temporary worker hired by the county elections office. She was supposed to be opening ballots that had been mailed in to the office.
Her job was to simply check for any paper tears. Instead, in violation of the law, she looked for ballots that had not been marked for the mayoral vote. On those ballots, she marked the name of Republican candidate Raquel Regalado.
At least one coworker saw her marking those ballots before turning them in, and reported her actions to supervisors.
A supervisor then observed her using a pen that she’d snuck into the office to mark the ballots. Having been caught by the boss, Coego admitted what she had done. No reason was given, and there are no known ties between Coego and the Regalado campaign.
Ms. Coego turned herself in to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. It is expected that she will be charged with two counts of felony for illegally marking other people’s ballots.
There are only two counts because only two of the ballots were definitely changed by Ms. Coego. Authorities do think, though, that more ballots were affected, based on what her coworkers observed.
So why did this older lady run the risk of changing the marks on official ballots?
Why, because she really wanted the Republican candidate for mayor to win, that’s why. Although she herself is registered without a party affiliation, the votes that she changed were in favor of the Republican Regalado.
So. It still looks like the Trump campaign is dead wrong when it claims there is “widespread” voter fraud going on. And it looks like they’re wrong about which side is cheating, too.
I swear. You can’t make this stuff up.
Featired image via YouTube Screengrab .
About Karen Shiebler
Karen is a retired elementary school teacher with many years of progressive activism behind her. She is the proud mother of three young adults who were all arrested with Occupy Wall Street. To see what she writes about in her spare time, check out her blog at "Empty Nest, Full Life" Connect | 1real |
Perfect Match? Evidence Leans Towards Sarah Palin Endorsing Donald Trump At Iowa Event (IMAGE) | Donald Trump set tongues wagging with a tweet on Monday promising a special guest scheduled to appear with him at campaign event in Iowa on Tuesday, January 19. His campaign announced: He ll be making a major announcement & bringing a special guest. Now, after some sleuthing by some conservatives online, it appears that the guest may be none other than failed Republican presidential candidate and half-term governor Sarah Palin.Eagle-eyed campaign watchers found a flight on a private jet that left Anchorage International Airport, and five hours later touched down at Des Moines International Airport.Since her campaign flameout, Palin has kept her brand alive at the center of conservative politics. She has been a featured speaker at the CPAC conference and regularly has pumped out books targeted at conservative readers. A pay-per-view video venture of hers was less successful and recently shuttered. Palin recently put her gated Arizona mansion up for sale.Palin may be accused by some conservatives of being disloyal to Trump rival Ted Cruz, who she endorsed and campaigned for in the past.But Palin has also been a booster of Donald Trump. Last November she said his nomination was a strong possibility. I think it s a very real possibility because people are really tired of professional politicians who, you know, won t call it like they see it and maybe don t have life experiences that allow them to prove a track record of success, the former vice presidential nominee said in a radio interview with WBT Charlotte s News Talk radio on Thursday. That s refreshing about Trump, she said. He s a fighter. We know he s gonna put America first, and he really nailed it early on what the main problems are in America right now, so it s a very real possibility. In 2011 when there was speculation Palin might challenge President Obama in 2012, she took her bus tour to New York City and had a weird pizza date with Trump and his wife, Melania.While mostly a laughingstock to the public at large, Republican base voters remain enamored with Palin, and may view an endorsement by her of the reality TV star as a signal to select him as their candidate as the Iowa caucus waits only a couple of weeks away.Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
GENERAL FLYNN: The Right Stuff…You’re In Good Hands America! [Video] | 1real | |
Christiane Amanpour Rips The Media A New One Over Coverage Of Hillary Clinton’s Pneumonia (VIDEO) | If you ve subjected yourself to cable news over the last few days, you ve probably noticed a non-stop barrage of coverage of the most pressing issue of the week. Hillary Clinton is *gasp* human, and she sometimes succumbs to germs.If anything, the fact that Hillary made an appearance at New York s 9/11 Memorial Service, despite the fact that she had pneumonia, is a testament to her stamina, not a sign of weakness, but the media has turned it into just another way Hillary is deceiving the public.This tactic might backfire on the media. Nearly every woman can relate to the idea of trying to forget they are sick, so they can get s**t done, whether that s**t includes taking care of a household or taking care of a country (or anything in between).CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour is pretty angry. Her network has been among the worst in the non-stop bullying of a woman recovering from a common illness. So, Amanpour took to the air to beg the media, Can t a girl have a sick day or two? Finally tonight, imagine a world where you can t slow down, you absolutely cannot, can t get sick. This weekend after attending a 9/11 memorial in New York after more than a year of relentless campaigning, the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, fell ill and these pictures have boomeranged across the world. Several hours later the campaign revealed the former secretary of state had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday. But surely this can t be a case of a human being having an off day. Nope. Like so many things Hillary, the media are having a field day, off to the races with another debilitating case of indignant outrage. This must be another typical Clinton conspiracy to fool them with total transparency breakdown. Talk about a transparency breakdown what about Donald Trump s tax returns? Where are they? Can t a girl have a sick day or two? Don t get me started because when it comes to overqualified women having to try 100 times harder than underqualified men to get a break or even a level playing field, well we know that story. And then, to hammer home the double standard, Amanpour talked about the male presidents who have suffered from their various forms of frailty. And seriously now, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce rose to that role after earning the nickname Fainting Frank for twice collapsing in two battles in 1847, she continued. Who could ever forget George Bush senior throwing up all over the Japanese prime minister and then fainting at a state dinner? And he oversaw the fall of the Soviet Union and won the first Gulf War. Considering the media outrage over Hillary failing to tell them she had pneumonia on Friday, consider the media activity shielding some great American presidents, agreeing for instance, not to show these photographs of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose Polio kept him confined to a wheelchair, but did that stop his New Deal for America or winning World War II? And then there is everyone s favorite president, John F Kennedy. Now he saved the world from possible nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban missile crisis, called for a new frontier in space and generally inspired whole generations around the globe while the press kept secret his painful struggle with Addison s disease. Leading the world in sickness and in health if the boys can do it, why not the women? Here s the video courtesy of Media Matters:The bottom line is, human bodies are flawed, and even the most healthy of us occasionally gets sick. Treating that as a moral failing is insulting to all women, not just to Hillary Clinton.Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
“Organic” Food From China Found To Be Highly Contaminated | With more and more people learning about the importance of eating healthy and safe produce, consumer demand for all things “organic” has skyrocketed. In the US alone, annual organic food sales have... | 1real |
If Your Biological Plumbing Doesn’t Match Sign On Door You’ll Have To Use Another Bathroom If This Bill Passes | PC is killing our country. This is called fighting back While counterculture crackpots are working themselves into a lather over the prospect that, in some places, men who think that they re women can go tinkle in the same restroom where a 6-year-old girl is pulling down her panties, one state legislator has decided that it might be time to push back.Indiana State Sen. Jim Tomes, who probably accepts basic biology and believes that people born with a penis are male, proposed a bill that would make it a Class A misdemeanor for trannies to use a bathroom that doesn t correspond to their birth gender.Last week, Tomes uttered the following line that s sure to ignite tempers among the social justice mob: If you were born a man, then you are obliged to use the males restroom. What s next? A hereditary monarchy?Anyone convicted of a Class A misdemeanor could face a year in prison and as much as a $5,000 fine.It should be noted, though, that the language in the legislation makes exceptions for janitors, first aid providers, and parents accompanying children under the age of 8.The bill does, however, cover schools. So if it passes and Little Boy Twinkletoes decides that he needs to use the girls locker room after gym class, then he s facing charges.Indiana saw some action in the culture war last year when the state passed a religious freedom law. That law was widely opposed by American liberals, who hate religious freedom.Via: DownTrend | 1real |
North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile a Day Before U.S.-China Summit - The New York Times | SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast on Wednesday, a day before President Trump was to host his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, at his estate in Florida for their first summit meeting. The missile test is likely to intensify differences between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi over how to deal with the recalcitrant government in North Korea. The timing is also a deep embarrassment for Mr. Xi as the leader of China, which for decades has been the North’s closest ally. China accounts for about 90 percent of the North’s trade and is a major supplier of oil for the country. But in the eyes of Washington, China has been reluctant to use its economic leverage forcibly enough to stop the North’s growing nuclear and missile threats. “The United States has spoken enough about North Korea,” Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said in a statement. “We have no further comment. ” There was no immediate reaction from state news media in China. Mr. Xi was in Finland when the test was carried out. In Seoul, the South Korean capital, acting President Hwang ordered a meeting of security cabinet ministers to assess the test and the North’s growing missile menace. The missile took off from Sinpo, a town on North Korea’s east coast, and flew 37 miles before splashing into the sea, the South Korean military said in a statement. Initial assessments indicated that the type of missile was a said Cmdr. David Benham of the Navy, a spokesman for the United States Pacific Command. is the name the United States uses to refer to the a new ballistic missile North Korea launched for the first time in February. The February missile test took place while Mr. Trump was hosting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan at his club. “The North American Aerospace Defense Command determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America,” Mr. Benham said, referring to the missile launched on Wednesday. It was the first test from North Korea since a launch on March 22. That test was considered a failure, with the projectile exploding within seconds of launching, according to American and South Korean defense authorities. But by launching a missile on Wednesday, North Korea apparently sought to pull attention to its growing missile and nuclear weapons threats a day before the United summit meeting. To Mr. Trump, the test is a new reminder that North Korea’s leader, Kim is determined to develop a missile that can one day carry a nuclear warhead across the Pacific. Before the summit meeting, Mr. Trump increased pressure on China, saying that it was time for Beijing to rein in its Communist ally. In an interview with The Financial Times published on Sunday, he said, “If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. ” But he did not say how. But China has insisted that the United States should the North in dialogue to work out a compromise. Analysts say that despite its irritation with North Korea’s nuclear programs, China does not want to destabilize its government, for fear that it might set off open conflict on the Korean Peninsula that would unleash a flood of refugees into northeastern China. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi will probably use another missile test by the North to stress the merits of their conflicting approaches on the North. North Korea has conducted a series of nuclear and tests since 2006 in an effort to develop a small and sophisticated nuclear warhead and an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching targets as far away as the United States. North Korea rattled the region in February when it successfully launched the . That missile uses a technology that American experts say will make it easier for the country to hide its arsenal in its numerous tunnels and launch its missiles on very short notice. Then, on March 6, the North launched four ballistic missiles into the sea near Japan. By firing the four missiles simultaneously, North Korea tried to flaunt an ability to launch multiple missiles at American bases in Japan and at American aircraft carriers around the Korean Peninsula, South Korean defense officials said. The ability to launch a barrage of missiles increases the chances of breaching antimissile defenses. Largely because of North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests and Mr. Kim’s bellicose talk, the government in Seoul agreed to a United States proposal to put an antimissile system in South Korea. The deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, began last month, and the announcement was made a day after the launch of the four missiles. China, which had long considered the system a threat to its own security and strongly opposed it, warned that the deployment, in Seongju, South Korea, could set off a new arms race. China’s news media, in angry editorials, urged boycotts of South Korean products, which led to protests against South Korean businesses in China and canceled tours to South Korea. The Thaad system has not won universal approval within South Korea. Moon a liberal candidate running to replace the ousted conservative president, Park has expressed misgivings over the Thaad system, citing China’s fury. | 0fake |
Jon Stewart Returned To CRUSH Trump With Colbert, And It Was SPECTACULAR (VIDEO) | Well, it happened, folks. Jon Stewart made yet another triumphant return just in time for the election, and he definitely had a message to share DO NOT ELECT DONALD TRUMP.While making an appearance on The Late Show with his old pal Stephen Colbert, the duo made sure the clear message of making sure Trump loses was front and center.Stewart appeared as the Mayor of Candytown in an effort to get out the vote.The hilarious sketch showed how shocked Stewart was to hear that Trump had, in fact, been elected as the Republican nominee. Then, when the little orphan in the sketch tried to say she didn t know which nominee was worse, Trump or Hillary Clinton, Colbert and Stewart shouted He s worse! very loudly in unison.Making a surprise appearance was none other than Broadway s new Hamilton star Javier Mu oz, to again drive the point home to get out and vote.It has become more apparent than ever that pretty much all of sane America knows that Donald Trump cannot be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office. However, to make sure he s never even remotely near the White House, everyone, and I mean everyone, has to get out and vote!In the meantime, watch all the hilarity go down here:Feature image via video screen capture | 1real |
Wild elephants trample two Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: police | COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Wild elephants trampled to death two Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh on Monday when they rampaged through a settlement where the refugees were taking shelter after fleeing a military offensive in neighboring Myanmar. More than 410,000 refugees from Myanmar have poured into Bangladesh since Aug. 25 when attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts triggered a Myanmar army operation that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing. There are elephants in the forest, close to the place where many Rohingya refugees are clearing forest to make huts, police official Chailau Murma told Reuters. An elderly person and a toddler were killed when the elephants rampaged through the area, he said. Three other people were taken to hospital to be treated for injuries, a refugee camp leader said. Police said the elephants later disappeared back into the forest. The refugees are facing dire conditions with insufficient food, water, medical care and shelter, and regular drenchings from monsoon rains that have turned roads into quagmires. Bangladeshi authorities say they aim to move everyone out of so-called spontaneous sites, usually beside roads where people try to make shelters wherever they are, into one big camp where aid supplies can be properly distributed. | 0fake |
Military Expert Vows To Take Trump Up On His Challenge | Donald Trump, like any bully, loves to talk crap, but when his victim stands up to him, he always, every single time, backs down. While Trump is a bit beyond the age of schoolyard scuffles (don t tell him that), he does like to challenge people who are much smarter than him to intellectual scuffles. One such smart person is retired Col. Jeff McCausland, who is a military expert one Trump thinks he can teach a couple things. McCausland says, bring it on. Trump won t.McCausland is a visiting professor of international security studies at Dickinson University. He s the former dean of the Army War College. He s also a retired army colonel, so, yes, he knows a thing or two about military strategy. He says Trump doesn t know a damn thing about it.Trump, when asked about it by George Stephanopoulos, couldn t leave well enough alone. Instead, Trump said about McCausland, You can tell your military expert that I ll sit down and I ll teach him a couple of things. McCausland, on Dickenson University s website, had a response for Trump: I can t wait to sit down with Mr. Trump and hear what he has to teach me about military strategy. I m happy to compare my record of over 45 years working in national security affairs with his any time. First, let s review Donald Trump s record on military strategy. He never served in the military and never served the government. During the primary campaign, Mr. Trump also made it very clear that he had no understanding of the nuclear triad or nuclear strategy. This is perhaps the most important thing any potential commander-in-chief needs to understand. He goes on to talk about specifics and how Trump is literally wrong about everything, but especially his assertion that Mosul is a disaster. The attack on Mosul is turning out to be a total disaster. We gave them months of notice. U.S. is looking so dumb. VOTE TRUMP and WIN AGAIN! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2016McCausland wrote: When it comes to the question of the Mosul offensive, Mr. Trump doesn t understand that 99.9 percent of the troops involved are Iraqi. War remains politics by other means, as Clausewitz once said. The Iraqi government has had a political imperative to publicly state that they would liberate Mosul since it was occupied by ISIS over two years ago. It is the second largest city in the country, and consequently Prime Minister Abadi has had a political imperative to reassure the Iraqi people that this was a goal. Iraq is a sovereign state, which has always been a goal of U.S. policy, so once cities like Ramadi or Fallujah in southwestern Iraq were liberated, everyone knew Mosul was next. He also criticized Trump s plan to take the oil from Iraq, saying that it would take a mind boggling number of troops and would create a lot of casualties. He also says that the population of Iraq would never stand for it. Why would they. Plus, it s a war crime. Not that Trump cares about that.In the end, he simply says, I reassert my statement to the New York Times: Mr. Trump doesn t know a damn thing about military strategy. The fact is, Trump has literally zero experience with military strategy. Like so many rich kids, he never served in Vietnam. In fact, the man who touts his stamina on the campaign trail was excused from the war for having bone spurs on the heels of his feet. Trump is dangerous, and as so many have said, he should be allowed within miles of the nuclear codes.Featured image via Dickinson.edu. | 1real |
Asked about two states, Netanyahu says he wants to focus on 'substance' not 'labels' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday said that he wanted to focus on “substance” and not “labels,” when asked about support for a two-state solution for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. “Rather than deal with labels, I want to deal with substance,” Netanyahu said during a news conference with President Donald Trump at the White House. “There are two prerequisites for peace. First the Palestinians must recognize the Jewish state ... Second, in any peace agreement, Israel must retain the overriding security control over the entire area west of the Jordan River,” he said. | 0fake |
Top Clinton Adviser: She Didn’t ‘Contemplate Losing’ the White House - Russia News Now | Politics Top Clinton Adviser: She Didn’t ‘Contemplate Losing’ the White House
A top campaign adviser to Hillary Clinton said the former Democratic nominee “really didn’t contemplate losing” the presidential election to her opponent Donald Trump.
The unnamed adviser told People magazine on Wednesday that campaign staff were unsure of what Clinton would do next. – READ MORE Related | 1real |
REVEALED: OOPS! Russian Ads Facebook’s Zuckerberg Turned Over To Congress Was Supporting HILLARY and Another Radical Leftist Group | On September 6, 2017, liberal media elites believed they found the missing link between Donald Trump and the Putin regime.A Russian firm linked to pro-Kremlin propaganda had advertised on Facebook during the election. The company spent only $100,000 on the Facebook ads but liberals believed this was enough to flip the election to Trump.President Trump mocked the media s hysteria over the release of the Russian ads that were certain to FINALLY connect Donald Trump and his campaign once and for all to the Kremlin.The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017Washington Post was so certain the Donald Trump was behind the Facebook ads that they ran a series of stories that would lead there readers to believe there was no chance the ads purchased by the Russians could be for any other reason than the promotion of Donald J. Trump. Here is just an example of what you ll find if you go the Washington Post news site and search Russian Facebook ads:What you won t find included in that list is the ACTUAL story that provides EVIDENCE that the Russians were buying ads in an effort to DEFEAT Donald J. Trump.But alas, thanks to Gateway Pundit, a post buried in a Reddit from the Washington Post that clarified who the Russians were supporting with their ad dollars.Hint: It wasn t Donald Trump and it wasn t a unity group either. Why wouldn t the Russians want to see the next leader of the greatest nation on earth who is a known entity, someone who is quick to sell America s uranium to Russian, and someone who will sell a favor at the drop of a hat in return for a contribution to their slush fund, aka The Clinton Foundation?Here s the Reddit post: | 1real |
Jurors in U.S. Senator's bribery trial told to keep talking | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The judge in the bribery trial of Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey told a jury on Monday to continue deliberating after the panel said it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, according to defendant’s spokesman. U.S. District Judge William Walls sent the jurors home for the day and told them to resume their deliberations on Tuesday, Steven Sandberg, a representative for Menendez, said in an email. A representative for the court clerk’s office and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Menendez is on trial on charges that he accepted private flights, campaign contributions and other bribes from a wealthy patron, Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, in exchange for official favors between 2006 and 2013. Lawyers for Menendez and Melgen have told the jury in Newark, New Jersey, that they did nothing wrong and that their actions stemmed from a close, brother-like relationship. If Menendez is convicted, Republicans will be presented with a chance to gain a seat in the closely divided U.S. Senate, as his replacement would be named by Republican Governor Chris Christie. Christie will remain in office until Jan. 16, when Democratic governor-elect Phil Murphy will take his place. The jury, beginning its first day of deliberations with a new member after another panelist was allowed to leave for a previously scheduled vacation, sent the judge a note on Monday afternoon saying they were deadlocked and could not reach a verdict on any of the counts, the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper reported. “Is there any additional guidance and what do we do now?” the jury asked the judge in their note, according to the newspaper. The judge then heard from attorneys from both the prosecution, who argued that the jury had only begun their deliberations again three hours earlier that day, and Menendez’s attorney, who argued for the judge to declare a mistrial, the Star-Ledger said. Walls concluded that it would be appropriate for the jury to continue their deliberations. If found guilty of all charges, Menendez could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. | 0fake |
NATO calls for more troops for face-off against Putin | WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS NATO calls for more troops for face-off against Putin Largest military build-up on Russia's borders since Cold War Published: 9 mins ago
(Haaretz) NATO will press allies on Wednesday to contribute to its biggest military build-up on Russia’s borders since the Cold War as the alliance prepares for a protracted quarrel with Moscow.
With Russia’s aircraft carrier heading to Syria in a show of force along Europe’s shores, alliance defense ministers aim to make good on a July promise by NATO leaders to send forces to the Baltic states and eastern Poland from early next year.
The United States hopes for binding commitments from Europe to fill four battle groups of some 4,000 troops, part of NATO’s response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and concern it could try a similar tactic in Europe’s ex-Soviet states. | 1real |
FATHER OF BENGHAZI VICTIM TY WOODS SPEAKS UP AGAINST HILLARY: “My son would still be alive…” [Video] | 1real | |
CrossTalk: Donald and Vladimir | Leave a Reply Click here to get more info on formatting (1) Leave the name field empty if you want to post as Anonymous. It's preferable that you choose a name so it becomes clear who said what. E-mail address is not mandatory either. The website automatically checks for spam. Please refer to our moderation policies for more details. We check to make sure that no comment is mistakenly marked as spam. This takes time and effort, so please be patient until your comment appears. Thanks. (2) 10 replies to a comment are the maximum. (3) Here are formating examples which you can use in your writing:<b>bold text</b> results in bold text <i>italic text</i> results in italic text (You can also combine two formating tags with each other, for example to get bold-italic text.)<em>emphasized text</em> results in emphasized text <strong>strong text</strong> results in strong text <q>a quote text</q> results in a quote text (quotation marks are added automatically) <cite>a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited</cite> results in: a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited <blockquote>a heavier version of quoting a block of text...</blockquote> results in: a heavier version of quoting a block of text that can span several lines. Use these possibilities appropriately. They are meant to help you create and follow the discussions in a better way. They can assist in grasping the content value of a comment more quickly. and last but not least:<a href=''http://link-address.com''>Name of your link</a> results in Name of your link (4) No need to use this special character in between paragraphs: ; You do not need it anymore. Just write as you like and your paragraphs will be separated. The "Live Preview" appears automatically when you start typing below the text area and it will show you how your comment will look like before you send it. (5) If you now think that this is too confusing then just ignore the code above and write as you like. Name: | 1real |
6.6 Earthquake Destroys Ancient Buildings In Italy | The medieval basilica of St Benedict in Norcia, the town closest to the epicentre, was among buildings destroyed. The Basilica of St. Benedict is destroyed, flattened by most recent earthquake. #Terremoto pic.twitter.com/GQDl64LhFn
— The Monks of Norcia (@monksofnorcia) October 30, 2016
An evacuation of buildings in the region deemed vulnerable to seismic activity last week, following strong aftershocks from August’s quake, may have saved lives.
Tremors from this latest earthquake were felt in the capital Rome, where the Metro system was shut down, and as far away as Venice in the north.
The head of the national civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said there had been extensive damage to many historic buildings but no deaths had been registered.
“About 20 people are injured. As far as people are concerned, the situation is positive, but many buildings are in a critical state in historic centres and there are problems with electricity and water supplies,” he added.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised that everything will be rebuilt, saying resources will be found.
“We are going through a really tough period,” he said. “We must not allow the profound pain, fatigue and stress that we have now to turn into resignation.”
Pope Francis mentioned the quake in his Sunday blessing in Rome’s St Peter’s Square.
“I’m praying for the injured and the families who have suffered the most damage, as well as for rescue and first-aid workers,” he said to loud applause.
According to Ansa the cathedral of Saint Maria Silver and the town hall were also reported to have been damaged along with the 4th century church in Rome commonly known as ‘St Paul’s Outside the Walls’.
The news agency reported that cornices fell and cracks appeared in the walls after the quake struck central Italy and shook many buildings in the capital. | 1real |
Ululations, tears as white Zimbabwean farmer returns to seized land | RUSAPE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - The last time white Zimbabwean farmer Rob Smart left his land it was at gunpoint, forced out in June by riot police armed with tear gas and AK-47 assault rifles. He returned on Thursday to ululations and tears of joy from former workers and their families who were also kicked out - a jubilant return and the first sign that the president who has replaced Robert Mugabe is making good on a vow to stop illegal land seizures and restore property rights. Scores of jubilant black Zimbabweans nearly knocked the 71-year-old off his feet as he and his two children stepped out of their car and onto their land for the first time in six months. Smart s case was taken up by Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe s then vice-president who heard of Smart s violent eviction while at an investment conference in Johannesburg. Mnangagwa became president last month following a de facto coup that ended 93-year-old Mugabe s rule. In the latter half of his 37 years in power, Zimbabwe s economy collapsed, especially after the seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms under the banner of post-colonial land reform. Land ownership is one of Zimbabwe s most sensitive political topics. Colonialists seized some of the best agricultural land and much of it remained in the hands of white farmers after independence in 1980 leaving many blacks effectively landless. Twenty years later, Mugabe authorized the violent invasion of many white-owned farms and justified it on the grounds that it was redressing imbalances from the colonial era. White farmers complained that well connected people used state security forces to force them off their farms, sometimes in the middle of harvesting, even after the Mugabe government indicated, some four years ago, that land seizures were over. We are overjoyed, over the moon. We thought we would never see this day coming, Smart s son, Darryn, told Reuters. Getting back to the farm has given not just us, but the whole community hope that it s a new Zimbabwe, a new country. Rob Smart, whose father said he started the farm from virgin bush in 1932, expressed confidence in the new government s pledge to protect the commercial farming sector, a mainstay of the struggling economy. It s early days but so far what they (the new government) said they are going to do they are doing, he told Reuters. We just hope this whole incident will give hope to other farmers, who ve had the same situation. Mnangagwa, who is under pressure to revive the economy ahead of elections next year, said on Thursday that he was resolute about the changes he was introducing. There is no business as usual. Things have changed, it s a new era, he said at a meeting with business leaders in South Africa. I m from the military. If it s left turn then it s left turn . If it s right turn it s right turn . No confusion. Mnangagwa s new agriculture minister, Perrance Shiri, last week ordered illegal occupiers of farms to vacate the land immediately, a move that could ultimately see some white farmers who say they were unfairly evicted return to farming. Shiri, a military hardliner who was head of the air force before being picked for the crucial ministry this month, called for unquestionable sanity on the farms . For 83-year-old Anna Matemani, whose late husband worked on the farm, Smart s return was long overdue. I m so happy he is finally back. He always helped us and the farm provides jobs for many of our young people, said the grandmother of 15, who grew up and raised her children on the farm and witnessed Rob s birth, wiping away tears. Some of the Smarts joy subsided as they walked into their ransacked farmhouses. The occupiers had looted property, including clothes, the children s toys, three guns, bottles of 100-year-old wine and Smart s late father Roy s medals from when he served with the Police Reserve Air Wing in the former Rhodesia. I m sad about my grandfather s medals, Darryn Smart said, surveying a ransacked room. You can buy tables and chairs, you can t buy that family history. But thank goodness we re here. | 0fake |
#NoDAPL: Angry Man Fires 7 Shots Into Air Near Standing Rock Water Protectors | 16 mins ago 2 Views 0 Comments 0 Likes New Zealand's country's entire east coast and urged residents in low-lying areas to evacuate and seek higher ground. Waves of up to two meters (6 feet) could be possible for up to two hours, it said. Anna "That's reasonably significant so people should take this seriously," she told Radio New Zealand. New Zealand's Geonet revised up its estimated magnitude of the quake to 7.5, from 6.6 earlier. USGS Zealand's South Island. A 6.3 quake there in February 2011 killed 185 people and caused widespread damage. The "The whole house rolled like a serpent and some things smashed, the power went out," Chris Hill, a fire officer in Cheviot, a coastal town near the quake's epicenter, said officials had gone door to door evacuating residents. Learn More: https://www.yahoo.com/news/magnitude-7-4-earthquake-strikes-near-christchurch-zealand-112145924.html http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/ https://twitter.com/i/moments/797788639014989826 http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22autoUpdate%22%3A%5B%22autoUpdate%22%5D%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22grayscale%22%2C%22feed%22%3A%221day_m25%22%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-45.736859547360474%2C-192.777099609375%5D%2C%5B-38.410558250946075%2C-175.198974609375%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%5B%22plates%22%5D%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3A%5B%22restrictListToMap%22%5D%2C%22search%22%3Anull%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22timezone%22%3A%22utc%22%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%5B%22list%22%2C%22map%22%5D%2C%22event%22%3A%22us1000778i%22%7D https://www.essentialdrugstore.com/ B Rich: https://twitter.com/Brian_T33NO https://www.youtube.com/c/BRichOfficial Erick M: https://twitter.com/letmeexplainit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcwB6XtfJtyWW4DXKoZVn5A ToBeFree: https://twitter.com/da52true https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvdTd5-p_sBE8oTjUOqPpPg EnterThe5t4rz: https://twitter.com/Enterthe5t4rz https://www.youtube.com/user/Enterthe5t4rz Save On Official DAHBOO7 Gear with Code "5off" http://dahboo7.deco-street.com http://foodforliberty.com/dahboo7/ You can also cut cable bills forever and save $75 with code "tigerstream75" https://tigerstream.tv/go/tigerstream7/ | 1real |
French-Japanese Flawed Steel InReactors Dooms The Nuclear Industry | GET VISIBLE! Advertise Here. Find Out More Reactors Dooms The Nuclear Industry By Yoichi Shimatsu 9-17-16 A murky web of international supply chains is being exposed in the flawed-steel parts scandal rocking the French and Japanese nuclear industries. Serious anomalies have been discovered in key steel components for the European Pressurized Water Reactor (E-PWR) being constructed at Flamanville, France, on the English Channel. The recent exposure of brittle steel has led to a sullen admission by nuclear-tech supplier AREVA of metallurgical defects in at least 400 different types of reactor parts produced by its subsidiary Le Creusot Forge since 1964. Oddly, nearly identical inconsistencies in steel alloys were found in parts imported from Japan for the Flamanville project. Dozens of steel items, which have also been supplied to nuclear plants worldwide, were produced by the Japan Casting and Forging Company (JCFC), a joint venture of three of that nations biggest defense contractors, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metals. Its industrial base in Kitakyushu on the southern island of Kyushu was a major hub of weapons production by Yawata, the forerunner of Nippon Steel, which supplied the Imperial Navy, including the armor for the super-battleship Yamato, and Mitsubishi Aircraft, which built the Zero attack plane. The list of defective steel parts reveals how the allied French and Japanese nuclear industries are now joined at the hip like mutant twins. Mitsubishi and AREVA are partnered in the ATMEA third-generation PWR design program. AREVA is a shareholder in Japan Steel Works, based in northern Hokkaido, a producer of 6-ton single-cast reactor vessels. TEPCO has been allied with AREVA for the decommissioning of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. These interlocking relationships hidden under global marketing campaigns make it difficult to tell where key components are actually sourced. How did Le Creusot Forge evade detection of its defective components for more than two decades? What accounts for the chronic failure of the French and European nuclear-regulatory agencies, along with the UN watchdog IAEA, to properly inspect key parts for the worlds biggest nuclear reactors? Did defective steel have a role in innumerable accidents and leaks at nuclear plants in Japan, Britain, France and the United States? Is endemic bribery of high-ranking politicians and state bureaucrats by the energy industry at the root of a blanket cover-up of radioactive releases and equipment breakdowns at nuclear stations worldwide? While the quick answers are obvious to anyone whos not a nuclear apologist on the secret payroll, further exposure of the ugly details is important toward breaking the code of silence that grips the nuclear sector and large utility companies along with their political flunkies, who together comprise a nuclear mafia that operates exactly like an organized crime family. Meltdowns in the Works Its important to remember that AREVA and Mitsubishi represent the creme de la creme of the global nuclear industry as producers of third-generation PWRS and advanced pressurized water reactors (APWRs). Other major players are still stuck with antiquated systems such as boiling water reactors (BWRs), including Hitachi-GE, Toshiba-Westinghouse, and their Russian and Chinese competitors. These nuclear players, beset with the wreckage at Fukushima, still try to redeem their horrid performance record with slick graphics and fast talk, as if those meltdowns in Japan never happened. If the undisputed technology leaders are covering up hundreds of defective components, then the rest of the pack must be over their heads in production problems and technical failures. The global scale of Areva and Mitsubishis debacle is just one indicator of a grossly inefficient and incompetent global nuclear technology industry. Among the nuclear facilities stuck with shoddy components from Creusot, JCFC and Mitsubishi: Reactor vessel cover heads (RVCH, sealing below and on top of the cylindrical reactor vessel): - 15 reactor closure units in the United States; - 3 units in Sweden - 1 in Brazil - in planning, Hinkley Point in Britain, the Sinop plant in Turkey, a project in Jordan, proposed plant in Indonesia, and 10 planned reactors in Vietnam. Steam Generators (SG), a high-pressure chamber that powers the electricity turbines: - 15 units in France; - 10 units in Belgium, now under guard due to terrorist threats; - 6 units in Mexico JCFC channel heads, which move coolant water into the steam-pressure unit: - 18 reactor vessels at 9 nuclear plants in France; - 13 reactor vesselss at 6 nuclear plants in Japan, including two restarted Mitsubishi reactors at Kyushu Electrics restarted and operational Satsuma-Sendai plant, located near several faults. JCFC also produces 5-ton reactor vessels, which are cast as single block and not welded as in the more vulnerable Chinese and Russian designs. The durability of these PWR vessels, which operate under high temperature and pressure, has been fundamentally challenged by the rapid breech of the much heavier and thicker-walled boiling waters reactors at Fukushima. Mitsubishi had planned to install neutron reflectors to raise efficiency while limiting high-speed particle damage to APWR reactor vessels, but has so far failed to admit how these reflectors can act like beryllium mirrors that intensify chain reactions inside nuclear bombs. Notably, the U.S. Department of Energy withdrew its participation in Mitsubishi APWR development immediately after the Fukushima reactor meltdowns, which proved that nuclear reactors are bombs waiting to be detonated. Zones of Weakness Suspecting quality-control problems at the Flamandville project, lAutorite de Surete Nucleaire (ASN), or French nuclear safety authority, in 2014 ordered AREVA to conduct material tests on its steel components. That occurred seven years after the E-PWR project was started at the existing nuclear plant site in view of Jersey and Guernsey islands and located on the same peninsula as Calais. In April 2015, the ASN announced: The results of these tests revealed the presence of a zone in which there was a high carbon concentration, leading to lower than expected mechanical toughness values. Initial measurements confirmed the presence of this anomaly in the reactor vessel head and reactor vessel bottom head of the Flamanville European Pressurized Reactor (EPR). That is bad news indeed, since it was the top head that got blown off at the Fukushima Dai-ichi No.3 reactor on March 15, 2011, sending a mushroom cloud into the jet stream moving toward North America while showering cascades of metallic micro-pellets containing radioactive isotopes over northern Japan. The bottom head plates of all three melted-down reactors at Fukushima were breached, allowing molten uranium and plutonium to flow like lava into the soil below the plant and subsequently releasing an unstoppable stream of radioactive isotopes into the Pacific Ocean to cause the greatest extinction event in human history. Even though nuclear engineers predict most criticality events in civilian reactors to be less damaging than the Fukushima catastrophe,, the vulnerability of the vessel heads is a serious threat that can wipe out all of Frances agricultural and livestock production overnight, as well as pose a lasting threat to public health across Europe. Chernobyl is proof of that. Not Quite Carbon Copies The mechanical lab tests on the Creusot heads showed 0.22 percent of carbon content in the steel alloy, significantly higher than the 0.16 limit. While a variance of 0.06 percent may not seem like much, it could mean the difference between a near-accident and a reactor breach that ends in a total meltdown. Carbon is the prevalent alloy in the steel-making process. A higher carbon content forms stronger bonds with steel atoms by creating a cubic cage-like structure. As shown in carbon-steel knives, however, an increasing amount of carbon makes hardened steel more brittle. In contrast, low carbon steel is softer but also more ductile. Malleability or toughness (as in resilience) is desirable in pots, kettles and nuclear reactors, since these vessels must expand when heated and shrink while cooled, without breakage or fracturing after repeated use. Pressurized water reactors operate at temperatures of more than 300 Celsius and internal pressures of about one metric ton per square inch. In event of an uncontrolled nuclear reaction, however, both temperature and pressure can rise rapidly. There can also be an additional threat from the Wigner effect of neutron bombardment, which blows apart iron atoms in the crystal matrix of steel. Inside pockmarked steel, radioactive releases hasten a reactor breach. Under sufficient heat and cooling, steel anneals, or rebuilds its crystal structure. But that will not happen during a meltdown due to rising internal temperatures, as shown at Fukushima, ad water-cooling becomes a futile gesture once a reactor is holed. A folk saying often wrongly attributed to King Richard III goes: For want of a nail the shoe was lost. for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the rider was lost . . . and so on to the loss of a kingdom. The global nuclear industry is now suffering an avalanche of losses due to a minuscule surplus of 0.06 percent of carbon in steel, sparking a change of events that threatens the future of nuclear power. Complicated Traceability The only publicly stated recommendation from the French nuclear authority was to install a mechanical analysis laboratory inside the Creusot Forge facility in the Saone-et-Loire district. A modern engineering facility like Creusot already has equipment with computer controls and monitoring systems, which have failed to solve the carbon anomalies. Technology may have reached the limits of materials science, and the brittleness program may not be fixable. Omitted from the ASN safety review, AREVA, Le Creusot Forge, JCFC or Mitsubishi is any mention of the underlying cause of the potentially dangerous anomaly in the carbon content of steel components. Exactly where and when in the production process does the metallurgical ratio structure of steel become inconsistent? For people unfamiliar with steel-making, a basic perception problem is rooted in the assumption that steel is impermeable. At the nano-level, however, the lattice of iron is a sponge-like material, which allows passage of gases like oxygen (the cause of rust) and carbon monoxide (which depletes rust). Despite its limitations, no other metal can match the strength and cost-effectiveness of steel. In the steel-making process, carbon is released inside a blast furnace by burning coke, a porous form of coal after its impurities have been removed by intense heat. The burning coke melts the pellets of ion ore. Carbon monoxide gas from coke combustion is reductive(removes oxygen) and restores iron oxide (rust) back into pig iron. Then oxygen is introduced to bond with the carbon monoxide to form carbon dioxide, which is then removed from the blast furnace. In the next phase, oxygen lowers carbon levels inside the steel, emitting more carbon dioxide, leaving the end product of low-carbon steel with fairly uniform consistency. It is not possible to maintain uniformity of carbon content through many rounds of reheating. The steel block is repeatedly heated for hot forging, which involves heavy-duty hammering of the metal after it becomes ductile in a gas-fired oven. The forging required for curved reactor vessel covers and channel heads likely puts sufficient stress on the steel to displace carbon atoms. The final results can be affected by the uneven contours of the object and differing densities of the metal, especially where it has been heavily forged, potentially causing displacement of carbon into denser clusters. That at least is a plausible explanation for the carbon anomalies as opposed to the closed-mouth silence from the nuclear industry, which has been totally unable to explain why it produces hundreds of types of products with metallurgical flaws. There are possible industrial design solutions to this morass of failed production techniques, but thats none of my business. Then again, there may be no solution to the fundamental problem of carbon drift in steel-making, at least nothing that is within reasonable cost to a nuclear industry already beset by 300-percent contact overruns at Flamanville. Qualifications at Question Who am I to impudently challenge the entire nuclear establishment over issues of quality-control that are heading toward another Fukushima-scale disaster? One does not have to be a genius to figure out whats wrong with the nuclear industry. My blue-collar competence comes from being a former licensed welder and a millwright (an equipment fixer) at U.S. Steel Southworks in Chicago and also in the seamless tube mill at Republic Steel in Gary, Indiana, where products of large dimension on a massive scale were produced from molten steel to build oil tankers and the Alaska pipeline. Working in the industry can inspire cynicism about corporate assurances of product quality. Once on the midnight shift at the 92-inch plate mill, I witnessed an entire train of defective inch-thick steel clanking back to the steelworks. Instead of lining a super-tanker, the vast stacks of brittle metal was left to rust in a huge pile of scrap. Inspection reports were routinely fudged or completely faked to placate the corporate bosses, whod do anything to fill an order to earn revenues for the near-bankrupt facility. On the other hand, there were outstanding moral examples of otherwise unheralded team leaders and champions of workers rights, but thats another story, which the latecomer to Southside Chicago named Barack Obama knows nothing about. The nearly century-old mill, a vast maze of wreckage on the shore of Lake Michigan where long ore ships from open-pit mines in Minnesota docked, was littered with giant ingots glowing red as they set to cool, the only trustworthy source of heat against the icy winter gusts. Despite the constant risks of injuries and accidental death, metalwork was still practiced as an art by older workers at the fire-spewing ovens, as they judged the readiness of steel in its stages by noticing subtle changes in its glowing hue, faint differences in the smell of its fumes, and the onset of scintillating sparks. My knowledge of steel actually began before then as a weekend blacksmith during university days, when I helped my welding instructor set up forges in an old barn near the rocky site of the fateful war dance of The Prophet Tenskwatawa who emboldened Chief Tecumsahs Shawnee warriors against the encroaching 4th U.S. Infantry in the Indiana territory during the year prior to the War of 1812. Blood and steel on the land that was once the worlds greatest stand of hardwood forest, since decimated down to flat fields of gene-modified corn and soybeans. Although a power hammer was installed in the beamed barn with hard effort, the dull mechanical beast was rarely used since nothing could match the ring of a hammer dropping in rhythmic cadence onto red-hot metal over an anvil. At the forge, my hand turned the rotary bellows to raise blue flames out of the self-made coke, while my eyes stared into that fiery cradle of every civilization that has ever risen and fallen since the start of the Iron Age, from the Hittites and the Mycenaeans of Homer, the Aryan realm of Zoroaster to the Mauryan Empire of the Buddhist king Asoka, to ancient China, Rome, the Arab world and Europe, and culminating in the Industrial Revolution, on down to that very hour when B-52s were mercilessly pummeling Vietnam with tons of ordnance. Steel holds the power over life and death, crafted into swords or ploughshares, and therefore must be imbued with virtue and justice, as pledged by every master swordmaker and authentic gunsmith. Only in our time has a crazed pseudo-scientific priesthood willfully and foolishly violated the sacred union of fire and metal, so that their abominable faith in atom-splitting can be proven in a false cosmology disguised as scientific theory, while bringing devastation upon humanity, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Chernobyl and Fukushima, and on until their abuse of technology ends with the total extinction of life on this planet. The demented cult of nuclear believers have since thrown their support behind Shinzo Abe, a minion of the apocalyptic guru of the Aum Shinrikyo cult and his predecessor, the founder of Sukyo Mahikari, Yoshikazu Okada. In an exhortation that resonates in todays defect-ridden global nuclear industry, the militarist Okada urged his followers to plant nuclear bombs everywhere, and to occasionally detonate an atomic explosion to keep lesser peoples in fear and servitude. Every reactor is a time bomb ticking down to zero hour. That heinous injunction, which explains the murderous secrecy of Japans nuclear industry, and for that matter of the entire global nuclear sector, is the only explanation for the installation of defective reactors in more and more countries. Intentional or not, their common endgame is mass death through the spread of radioactivity, sending a plague of cancer everywhere and afterthe Fukushima meltdowns the start of a global extinction event. Theirs is the mad vision of the Final War preached by Shoko Asahara, now apparently pardoned of the death penalty for his role in the gassing 20,000 subway commuters at the morning rush hour in Tokyo, that opening act in this last harvest of souls. Against grotesque lies of the deceivers, along with public indifference and mental servitude, rusted metal must be purged with fire. After iron is refined in smoke and purified in flames to become steel, and metal rod is hammered into blade, then as a thin blue wave ripples toward the tapered edge, ready for quenching with a thrust into cold water, the sword is tempered. Honest men will rise and step forward to their calling so that life might triumph over evil. | 1real |
Bill Gates Has Sent A Letter To High Schoolers That Could Change The World And P*ss Off The GOP | Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates has written a letter directly to America s high school children that could change the world and it is going to truly p*ss off Republicans.Every year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation releases its annual letter. But never before has it been directly addressed to high school students. This year s letter was all about energy, how we consume it, how we create it, and how climate change should be the number one issue for us all. Now that the Republican Party has tied itself to the oil industry-funded climate change denial, they could have alienated themselves from a generation who can save humanity from itself. The GOP has become, literally, the only political party in the developed world to endorse the scientifically-bogus denial of climate change.As Business Insider reports:The basic premise of the letter is that many people around the world still don t have access to electricity. Those people about 18% of the world s population deserve access to cheap, clean energy. And that clean part is very important: We need to get carbon dioxide emissions, which drive climate change, down to zero by the end of the century, in order to avoid dramatic, long-term changes to the world s climate.While achieving this goal will require an energy miracle, Gates calls on Highschoolers to get involved in making that miracle happen because it is these lofty aspirations that distinguish human beings from their fellow animals. He writes:When I say miracle, I don t mean something that s impossible. I ve seen miracles happen before. The personal computer. The Internet. The polio vaccine. None of them happened by chance. They are the result of research and development and the human capacity to innovate.In this case, however, time is not on our side. Every day we are releasing more and more CO2 into our atmosphere and making our climate change problem even worse. We need a massive amount of research into thousands of new ideas even ones that might sound a little crazy if we want to get to zero emissions by the end of this century.This is the message and the attitude that speaks to the Manifest Destiny of America. This is the reason that Republicans will rail against this message with every tool in their arsenal. Because the only thing that ever beats of Project Fear, is Project Hope. At it s core, America is a hopeful nation of dreamers and doers. By sending this message to High Schoolers, Bill and Melinda Gates might just help change the world. They may trigger that hope and ambition in a new generation, and make it immune to the nay-saying and anti-intellectualism of the American Right. In doing so, they won t just save America from itself, but humanity too.Featured image via Flickr Creative Commons | 1real |
Sex workers reject ‘biased’ BBC prostitution documentary | Sex workers reject ‘biased’ BBC prostitution documentary Sex workers reject ‘biased’ BBC prostitution documentary By 0 47
Sex workers say the BBC’s ‘Sex, Drugs & Murder: Life in the Red Light Zone’ documentary, which portrays the lives of women in the Holbeck area of Leeds, Britain’s first legal red light district, is “biased” and unrepresentative.
They argue the program buys into stereotypes and general ignorance, including the view that women are driven into prostitution by drug habits rather than economic pressures brought on by austerity.
Read more
The show follows the daily lives of Sammi Jo, Stacey, Debi and Kayleigh, who sell sex to pay for their addictions. They work in an area also known as Red Light Zone, where women can sell sex between 7pm and 7am without being arrested.
Sammi Jo, who had to be taken from her parents as a child due to abuse, said she turned to drugs and drink “as a comfort.”
Mother-of-three Kayleigh recounted how despite her family’s attempts to help her get clean she would quickly relapse.
“I came off of it and within two days I robbed my brother’s PlayStation games to go sell for money, and that just led into a routine of, I’d have heroin, go work, and I’d have heroin to forget about working,” she told the program.
“It’s just a total vicious cycle.”
But sex workers union English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) believes the show is “biased” and shows only the darker side of the industry.
“This BBC3 film is yet another biased piece on the sex industry,” a spokeswoman for the group told RT.
“Most street-based sex workers are not drug users yet the film chooses to focuses only on women on drugs. It ignores the truth that in many areas around the UK the majority of sex workers are on the streets because of benefit cuts and sanctions.
“If the press ignore that they are colluding with the government in hiding the devastating consequences of their austerity policies, 80 percent of which have targeted women.”
The group said the Red Light Zone provides Leeds sex workers with a safe environment to operate.
According to local police, prostitutes have been three times more likely to report violent incidents since decriminalization came into place in Holbeck. In the first year, between 2014 and 2015, 61 violent incidents were reported to the police. The previous year only 49 cases of assault were reported.
“Some women were glad to work in the Leeds ‘no arrest zone’ because it meant they weren’t being constantly harassed by the police,” the ECP spokeswoman added. Immigration raids
The ECP said it is the police themselves who are endangering the lives of sex workers.
“Since the immigration crackdown everyone is on edge and hiding from officials. Women feel that once again the police are prioritizing criminalization over protection and this is deterring them from reporting violence,” the group complained.
Last week the London Metropolitan Police raided six massage parlors in Soho and Chinatown, arresting 24 people – 17 of whom were seized on “suspicion of immigration offenses.”
The Met released a statement saying the operation was “aimed at bringing to justice those who seek to profit from the exploitation of vulnerable people.”
The ECP, however, claims the swoops are “part of a racist witch-hunt against migrant sex workers, which has got worse since Brexit, even though women have the right to be here under EU law.”
Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license. | 1real |
Polish President Duda says hopes Turkey will join EU | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland hopes Turkey will eventually join the European Union, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Tuesday, days ahead of an EU summit which will discuss the frayed relations between Brussels and Ankara. The EU, particularly heavyweight member Germany, has become increasingly critical of Turkey since President Tayyip Erdogan launched large-scale purges of state institutions, the military, the judiciary and academia after a failed coup in July 2016. Poland has supported and (also) today supports Turkey s EU accession efforts, Duda told a joint news conference with Erdogan during his visit to Warsaw. I hope Turkey and the EU will continue on the same path ... leading to a full membership for Turkey. EU leaders will discuss the bloc s deteriorating ties with Ankara on Oct. 19 during a two-day summit. Turkey s 12-year-long accession talks, already dogged by disputes on a range of issues, have ground to a halt since the post-coup crackdown, in which more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 - including judges, journalists and soldiers - have been sacked or suspended. Within the EU, Poland has traditionally been among the most staunch supporters of enlargement, including Turkey s accession. Erdogan, speaking alongside Duda, reiterated his criticism of the EU s accession policy, saying the bloc should announce the end of talks if it doesn t mean to accept Turkey. We won t bother you any further and you don t bother us, he said. | 0fake |
Al Gore: Global Warming a ’Principal’ Cause of the Syrian Civil War, Brexit - Breitbart | Thursday in London at Advertising Week Europe 2017 during an interview with Empire Terri White, former Al Gore said climate change was a “principal” cause of the Syrian Civil War and Brexit. Gore said, “I was just in the Persian Gulf region and the scientists for the lat couple of years, one of the lines of investigation they have been pursuing has led them to the conclusion that significant areas of the Middle East and North Africa are in danger of becoming uninhabitable. And, just a taste of this, to link it to some of the events that the UK and the European Union are going through and I know that’s another source of stress because we are now on the eve next week of the Brexit process — but think for a moment about what happened in Syria. You know we look at the gates of hell opening, they long since have opened, but before the gates of hell opened in Syria, what happened was a extreme drought. ” “The scientists have published these peer review studies for several years now showing exactly why it’s related to the climate crisis. From 2006 to 2010, 60 percent of the farms in Syria were destroyed and had to be abandoned and 80 per cent of the livestock were killed. The drought in the eastern Mediterranean is the worst ever on record — the records only go back 900 years, but it’s historic. And 1. 5 million climate refugees were driven into the cities in Syria, where they collided with refugees from the Iraq War. And Wikileaks revealed the internal conversations in the Syrian government where they were saying to one another ‘we can’t handle this, there’s going to be a social explosion’. There are other causes of the Syrian civil war, but this was the principal one. And those in the region recognize that. And it has unleashed, with other factors an incredible flow of refugees into Europe which is creating political instability in Europe and which contributed in some ways to the desire of some in the UK to say ‘Whoa we’re not sure we want to be a part of that anymore.’ And you can go through the list of countries around the worlds where stability and political success of governance is really challenged. Some countries have a hard time even in the best of seasons but the additional stress this climate crisis is causing really poses the threat of some political disruption and chaos of a kind the world would find extremely difficult to deal with. ” ( Grabien) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
null | I will be a camera and would like to know if there is any live streams for the Washington d.c. area. Can some one please post a time for those of us who do not even trust facebook. I have heard 7 and 12. I will go. I will love to learn and also support. I can take a hit and smile. I have extreme self control. I would gladly die with my body limp in the hopes some one else with step up behind me. My girlfriend said if some thing happens she would have a hard time not fighting we both agree that no matter if or if not life after life;then it will probably do some good so please do not start stuff this day. I believe that destruction of property may be needed but not yet. As some anon said above this can be a place for knowledge. We can grow this day. We can grow internally. We can grow our idea.i will look forward to meeting our family. You will be a great idea to see forming in a street. It is sad we have to meet mask to mask but i feel one day we will tell our kids we were there. We said no that day and i hope even more that one day we will be able to have the ability to say that to them. The only true hope at least one of the non- violent things you can do you do and be safe. Love and wishes | 1real |
Trump, Clinton clash in dueling DC speeches | Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, now at the starting line of a general election race, traded shots across the capital Friday in dueling addresses before two very different D.C. audiences -- each warning the other would take the country backward.
Trump headlined the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” summit while Clinton addressed a Planned Parenthood national conference.
Trump, looking to solidify his standing with evangelical Christians, offered assurances Friday that he would “restore respect for people of faith” -- and stressed the “sanctity and dignity of life.”
If there was any doubt he wanted to throw Clinton's Planned Parenthood speech into sharp relief, he took on his presumptive rival later in his remarks. Trump warned Clinton would "appoint radical judges," eliminate the Second Amendment, "restrict religious freedom with government mandates," and "push for federal funding of abortion on demand up until the moment of birth."
He also cast her support for bringing in Syrian refugees as a potential clash of faiths. "Hillary will bring hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom have hostile beliefs about people of different faiths and values," he said.
Clinton, meanwhile, in her first speech as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, said a Trump presidency would take the country back to a time “when abortion was illegal … and life for too many women and girls was limited.”
Clinton thanked the nonprofit women’s health group and abortion provider for their support in the Democratic primary race. In January, Planned Parenthood backed Clinton, offering its first-ever primary endorsement in the group’s 100-year history.
Clinton made it clear that women’s issues would be a staple of her campaign, promising abortion rights supporters that she would “always have your back” if elected president.
Clinton repeated claims that Trump wants to “take America back to a time when women had less opportunity” and freedom.
“Well, Donald, those days are over. We are not going to let Donald Trump -- or anybody else -- turn back the clock,” she told the cheering crowd.
Before arriving at the event, Clinton held a private meeting at her D.C. home with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has been rumored to be a consideration for running mate.
Echoing some of the attacks Warren has made in recent days, Clinton attempted to elevate the importance of this election.
“We are in the middle of a concerted, persistent assault on women’s health across the country,” warned Clinton, who said the 2016 election was “profoundly different” than previous elections.
In what is a campaign trail staple of hers, Clinton highlighted Trump’s insults toward women and asserted that it would be “hard to imagine depending on him to defend the fundamental rights of women.”
Trump, meanwhile, continued calling Clinton, “crooked Hillary” and referred to her ongoing email scandal. He took her to task on her domestic and foreign policy stances.
Trump was interrupted by protesters at the annual gathering of evangelical Christians. The protesters shouted “Stop hate! Stop Trump!” and “refugees are welcome here.”
Trump called the chants “a little freedom of speech” but added it was also “a little rude, but what can you do?” | 0fake |
IT ONLY TOOK ONE TWEET FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP For Billionaires To Open Up Their Wallets For This “FIGHTER!” | A week after President Trump endorsed Ron DeSantis for Florida governor via Twitter, a handful of billionaires have thrown their support behind the three-term Republican congressman, per Politico.Here s President Trump s tweet endorsing Rep. Ron DeSantis for governor of Florida. Trump tweeted: Congressman Ron DeSantis is a brilliant young leader, Yale and then Harvard Law, who would make a GREAT Governor of Florida. He loves our Country and is a true FIGHTER! Congressman Ron DeSantis is a brilliant young leader, Yale and then Harvard Law, who would make a GREAT Governor of Florida. He loves our Country and is a true FIGHTER! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2017Why it matters: The monetary support DeSantis has received could prove instrumental in his race, because, in a state as big as Florida, where a week s worth of saturation TV during next year s general election could cost as much as $3 million, cash is king, per Politico.Supporters include casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, hedge fund heiress Rebekah Mercer, investment tycoon Foster Friess, as well as other donors who have funded Trump s 2016 campaign and the conservative Koch brothers network, per Politico. AxiosRepresentative Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is a fighter. Here s an example of how DeSantis took on the fake Trump-Russian collusion story:Sun Sentinel DeSantis, who hasn t officially announced his candidacy, thanked Trump in a press release with the headline, President Trump Backs Ron DeSantis for Governor of Florida. I m grateful to have the president s support and appreciate what he has done, DeSantis said, adding praise for Trump achievements that have pleased conservatives: recognizing Jerusalem as Israel s capital, signing the tax reform legislation, and appointing conservative judges.DeSantis, a Republican from Ponte Vedra Beach, has been a strong supporter of Trump.In August, he proposed cutting off funding for special counsel Robert Mueller s investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.DeSantis proposal, which went nowhere, would have stopped money for the investigation 180 days after it becomes law. And it would have prevented Mueller from investigating matters that occurred before Trump announced his presidential campaign.Also in August, DeSantis used an appearance at the Palm Beach County Republican Party s annual lobsterfest to advertise his pro-Trump credentials.As he delivered a combination political speech and invocation, the big screens at the front of the room flashed a picture of DeSantis, his wife, their infant daughter, the president and First Lady Melania Trump outside the White House.DeSantis said the president complimented his wife on her appearance.At that Palm Beach County appearance, and at events throughout the state, DeSantis has been laying the groundwork for a 2018 candidacy for the Republican nomination to run for governor.Here s Ron DeSantis blasting the press and our government agencies for giving Barack Obama a free pass over his support for Hezbollah:The Trump effect: DeSantis reflects the shifting type of Republican candidate under Trump: he s a Fox News contributor, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, a supporter of Trump s recent decision to make Jerusalem the home of the U.S. embassy in Israel, and he opposes Special Counsel Bob Mueller s Russia probe (even calling for it to end after just six months). | 1real |
WATCH: DIAMOND AND SILK Make A Surprise Visit To “THE VIEW” and It Might Be The Funniest Thing You’ve Ever Seen | They re President Trump s #1 fans and they ve been with him from the start of his campaign. The wildly popular, hilarious and outspoken Diamond and Silk duo have been hitting it out of the park on YouTube with their videos that rely entirely on pro-Trump commentary. They never use vulgarity or threats and their videos are always G-rated (Well, okay, a few of their videos may be PG-13). Apparently supporting the President of the United States now violates YouTube s monetization policies. Their videos have received millions of hits and had such an effect on liberals that Youtube recently made the decision to pull 95% of their revenue.Conservative Trump supporters Lynnette Hardway and Rochelle Richardson of North Carolina, know they re never going to get an invitation to leftist The View show, so, by using a few special effects, Diamond and Silk have decided to make a surprise visit to The View hags and give them a piece of their mind. The result is hilarious!Watch, as Diamond and Silk school Whoopie, Joy Behar and the rest of the liberal hags on The View about who is, and who is not our President, and remind them of what the President s role is and what is expected of Congress.Enjoy:.@DiamondandSilk have been anxious to get Whoopi & the ladies from The View straighten out because they've gotten a lot of stuff twisted. pic.twitter.com/ddkgKcW7yF Diamond and Silk (@DiamondandSilk) September 9, 2017 | 1real |
Friend from university is an arse now | Friend from university is an arse now 31-10-16 A MAN who bumped into an old university friend has discovered that he is now a total dickhead. Julian Cook lost contact with former housemate Martin Bishop for over eight years ago, during which time Bishop has become a money-obsessed macho twat who thinks he is the bollocks. Office worker Cook said: “Instead of talking about old times he kept asking me what sort of car I have. “Then he blathered on about ‘taking home serious Ks’ from ‘folio development resales’, assuming I knew what that meant because otherwise I would not be a proper man. “The worst bit was when he told me about some fringe political group he’s into called Libertarian England. No, actually it was when he said ‘pussy alert’ when a woman walked past. “He probably just works and socialises with dipshits, but I wouldn’t rule out one of those injuries that turns you into a psychopath. Maybe he fell off a raft at a team-building weekend and hit his head on the riverbed. “We parted on friendly terms but now he wants me to join his ‘weights oriented gym’ and go to a lapdancing club, which is odd because he used to be into Star Trek Generations .”
Share: | 1real |
White House says Obamacare enrollment a priority | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Getting more Americans to enroll for health insurance under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law known as Obamacare is a top priority of his administration until President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, the White House said on Thursday. “We would be focused on ... maximizing the opportunity that currently is available for millions of Americans to go to healthcare.gov during the open enrollment period and sign up for healthcare,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing. Sylvia Burwell, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, tweeted on Thursday that Nov. 9 was HealthCare.gov’s best day with 100,000 sign-ups since it began selling the 2017 Obamacare plans on Nov. 1. The government’s goal is for more than 13.8 million sign-ups initially. Trump has said that he plans to repeal Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act. Insurers have said that 2017 Obamacare plans will remain in place and that any changes would affect 2018 plans. Earnest said that people should not worry about what could happen to the healthcare exchanges under the Trump administration. “These are benefits that are available to them today. We certainly would encourage people to sign up and capitalize on the good opportunity that’s there,” he said. Obama met with Trump on Thursday for the first time in a one-on-one, 90-minute meeting in the White House Oval Office. Trump also released a review of his goals to overhaul healthcare on his website, reiterating that he would repeal the Affordable Care Act. Trump’s pledge to repeal Obamacare may not be easy. He does not have the votes in Congress for an outright repeal and will have to cut away at its financing first, health policy experts say. | 0fake |
The East Lobs a Blockbuster-Hopeful to the West With ‘The Great Wall’ - The New York Times | LOS ANGELES — “The Great Wall,” an epic fantasy film that cost at least $150 million to make, opens with Matt Damon fleeing on horseback through red stone formations in Northwest China. A snarling swarm of green monsters is hot on his heels. One fast plot twist later, he stands atop a monumental stone wall, one guarded by thousands of Chinese warriors in dazzling uniforms. Cut to generals with furrowed brows fretting in Mandarin as the monsters come tumbling over a hill. Will their megastructure do its job? The same question, more or less, faces “The Great Wall” as it begins its global theatrical release. The movie, filmed entirely in China, was engineered not just as escapist entertainment but also proof that the Chinese film industry can serve up global blockbusters too — that event films can rise in the East and play in the West. The last film to become a breakout hit in North America was “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which awed with its martial arts and stunt work and took in a surprising $180 million in 2000, after adjusting for inflation. “If this doesn’t work, then I don’t know what will,” said Stanley Rosen, a professor at the University of Southern California who has studied China’s efforts in recent years to emerge as a moviemaking superpower. “The film addresses a lot of the previous issues that China has faced as it’s tried to internationalize its film industry, like language and the lack of internationally known stars. ” “The Great Wall” passed its first test. Released in Chinese theaters on Friday, the movie collected a strong $67 million in tickets over its first three days, according to the Beijing box office tracker Ent Group. The film’s total after five days was $82 million, as much as “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” collected in China during its entire run. “Step 1 went really, really well,” said Thomas Tull, chief executive of Legendary Entertainment, which produced “The Great Wall” with Universal Pictures, China’s Le Vision Pictures and China Film Group. “Given market conditions, I feel like it was a big success,” Mr. Tull added, noting that the Chinese box office has lately been in a funk, with growth slowing sharply, partly because of a glut of fantasies. Even so, “The Great Wall” remains a long way from the box office threshold Legendary ultimately hopes to hit in China — $200 million or so for its full run — and some analysts were underwhelmed by turnout given the marketing push the film received. Before its release, expectations for the film had become as considerable as the epochal structure for which it was named. Marketing efforts included two trailers, three music videos, 60 online video ads and stunts in 260 shopping malls owned by the Dalian Wanda Group, the Chinese conglomerate that bought Legendary for $3. 5 billion in January. “It’s too soon to say,” Mr. Tull said, when asked whether he thought the film, which drew mixed reviews in China, would be profitable. The crucial test lies ahead. “The Great Wall” arrives in North American multiplexes on Feb. 17. Movie executives say prospects in the United States and Canada come down to one question: Are ticket buyers ready to embrace a film that is very much Chinese, even if it does have an American star in a lead role? “It’s daunting,” said Peter Loehr, a Legendary executive in Beijing and one of the film’s producers. “I do hope it works, but I don’t know. ” The People’s Daily, the Communist Party newspaper, even weighed in on “The Great Wall” this week, publishing a commentary following what it called “lively online criticism” of the film. “Even if it is successful in overseas markets, the road on which Chinese culture goes out to the world is bound to be bumpy,” the article said. Directed by Zhang Yimou, known for films like “House of Flying Daggers” and for orchestrating the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, “The Great Wall” finds Mr. Damon in ancient China as William Garin, a bedraggled European mercenary. Garin and his partner (Pedro Pascal, known for Netflix’s “Narcos”) soon discover that the wall was not, as history tells it, erected to keep out invading nomads, but rather to protect against the mythical creatures that rush the wall every 60 years in an attack on humanity. Garin spends much of the film learning about the Chinese culture of and sacrifice. Meanwhile, there are astounding action sequences as the wall is defended (similar to the siege of Minas Tirith in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”) and a subplot involving sneaky Westerners, who covet China’s “black powder. ” Chinese stars include Andy Lau, Jing Tian and the pop idol Lu Han. Industrial Light Magic handled the visual effects. To appeal to international audiences, about 80 percent of the dialogue is in English. (Those portions were subtitled in Chinese for the Chinese run Western audiences will get a version that is 20 percent subtitled in English.) Mr. Zhang’s extreme pacing and use of effects that come straight at viewers are likely to stand out as a departure from Hollywood’s usual cinematic language, but Ms. Jing’s character may best sum up the cultural needle the movie tries to thread. Her general is at once the supreme leader (in keeping with a recent trend in Hollywood movies to depict women as every bit as tough as men) and strikingly demure when not in battle (something the filmmakers felt made her more viable to Eastern audiences). Trying to appeal to everyone often warps the result. Movie executives, citing past experiences, say that audiences leave thinking that something was off the mark, even if they aren’t quite sure what. “The biggest challenge in the film was integrating the two cultures,” Mr. Zhang said in an interview in Beijing this month. “We knew it would not be enough to rely on the novelty of the film’s Chinese elements to attract Western audiences. So we spent a lot of energy and time working on the story. ” Part of the plot — the inclusion of a white hero — has incited controversy. Some critics, judging the film by its trailers, accused Mr. Zhang of giving Mr. Damon a part that should have gone to an Asian actor, a practice known as whitewashing. In truth, the role was written specifically as . Mr. Damon was sought for the part because he is a proven box office star around the world, including in China. “There are five major heroes in our story and he is one of them — the other four are all Chinese,” Mr. Zhang said in a statement when the outcry erupted online in August. “The Great Wall” will attract additional scrutiny when it arrives in the United States because it comes as some lawmakers question China’s increasingly aggressive efforts to use motion pictures to promote itself. But the movie, if successful, could foster more collaboration between Chinese and American filmmakers. It qualified under Chinese rules as an official “” a coveted governmental status that entitles film companies to a greater share of the ticketing revenue. receive 43 percent of ticket sales, compared with 25 percent for typical Hollywood imports. American studios have struggled to meet the requirements, which mandate the inclusion of “Chinese elements,” a nebulous umbrella term that touches on everything from the film’s financing to its casting, story line and shooting location. “The Great Wall” was filmed in locations across China, including in Qingdao, the eastern port city where the real behemoth Dalian Wanda is building an $8 billion movie facility and tourism complex to attract American productions. “I have a feeling that Qingdao is going to be calling a lot of us back over the next few years,” Mr. Damon said in an interview. “It’s pretty incredible. ” But does he think “The Great Wall” will be a hit on his home turf? “I’m not really the target audience for the movie,” he said. “It’s really fun and spectacular in the true meaning of the word. But, then again, I don’t know how to predict what that will mean. ” | 0fake |
‘We The People’ Against Tyranny: Seven Principles For Free Government | Videos ‘We The People’ Against Tyranny: Seven Principles For Free Government “As I look at America today, I am not afraid to say that I am afraid.”— Former presidential adviser Bertram Gross | November 7, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! Dozens of protestors demonstrating against the expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline wade in cold creek waters confronting local police, as remnants of pepper spray waft over the crowd near Cannon Ball, N.D., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016.
As history teaches us, if the people have little or no knowledge of the basics of government and their rights, those who wield governmental power inevitably wield it excessively. After all, a citizenry can only hold its government accountable if it knows when the government oversteps its bounds.
Precisely because Americans are easily distracted—because, as study after study shows, they are clueless about their rights—because their elected officials no longer represent them—because Americans have been brainwashed into believing that their only duty as citizens is to vote—because the citizenry has failed to hold government officials accountable to abiding by the Constitution—because young people are no longer being taught the fundamentals of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, resulting in citizens who don’t even know they have rights—and because Americans continue to place their trust in politics to fix what’s wrong with this country—the American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer towards a pervasive authoritarianism.
This steady slide towards tyranny, meted out by militarized local and federal police and legalistic bureaucrats, has been carried forward by each successive president over the past fifty years regardless of their political affiliation.
Big government has grown bigger and the rights of the citizenry have grown smaller.
However, there are certain principles—principles that every American should know—which undergird the American system of government and form the basis for the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for.
The following seven principles are a good starting point for understanding what free government is really all about.
First, the maxim that power corrupts is an absolute truth. Realizing this, those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights held one principle sacrosanct: a distrust of all who hold governmental power. As James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, proclaimed, “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” Moreover, in questions of power, Thomas Jefferson warned, “Let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” As such, those who drafted our founding documents would see today’s government as an out-of-control, unmanageable beast.
The second principle is that governments primarily exist to secure rights, an idea that is central to constitutionalism. In appointing the government as the guardian of the people’s rights, the people give it only certain, enumerated powers, which are laid out in a written constitution. The idea of a written constitution actualizes the two great themes of the Declaration of Independence: consent and protection of equal rights. Thus, the purpose of constitutionalism is to limit governmental power and ensure that the government performs its basic function: to preserve and protect our rights, especially our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and our civil liberties. Unfortunately, the government today has discarded this principle and now sees itself as our master, not our servant. The obvious next step, unless we act soon, is tyranny.
The third principle revolves around the belief that no one is above the law, not even those who make the law. This is termed rule of law. Richard Nixon’s statement, “When the President does it, that means it is not illegal,” would have been an anathema to the Framers of the Constitution. If all people possess equal rights, the people who live under the laws must be allowed to participate in making those laws. By that same token, those who make the laws must live under the laws they make. However, today government officials at all levels often act as if they are royalty with salaries and perks that none of the rest of us are afforded. This is an egregious affront to the citizenry.
Fourth, separation of powers ensures that no single authority is entrusted with all the powers of government. People are not perfect, whether they are in government or out of it. As history makes clear, those in power tend to abuse it. The government is thus divided into three co-equal branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Placing all three powers in the same branch of government was considered the very definition of tyranny. The fact that the president today has dictatorial powers would have been considered a curse by the Framers.
Fifth, a system of checks and balances, essential if a constitutional government is to succeed, strengthens the separation of powers and prevents legislative despotism. Such checks and balances include dividing Congress into two houses, with different constituencies, term lengths, sizes and functions; granting the president a limited veto power over congressional legislation; and appointing an independent judiciary capable of reviewing ordinary legislation in light of the written Constitution, which is referred to as “judicial review.” The Framers feared that Congress could abuse its powers and potentially emerge as the tyrannous branch because it had the power to tax. But they did not anticipate the emergence of presidential powers as they have come to dominate modern government or the inordinate influence of corporate powers on governmental decision-making. Indeed, as recent academic studies now indicate, we are now ruled by a monied oligarchy that serves itself and not “we the people.”
Sixth, representation allows the people to have a voice in government by sending elected representatives to do their bidding while avoiding the need of each and every citizen to vote on every issue considered by government. In a country as large as the United States, it is not feasible to have direct participation in governmental affairs. Hence, we have a representative government. If the people don’t agree with how their representatives are conducting themselves, they can and should vote them out. However, as the citizenry has grown lazy and been distracted by the entertainment spectacles of modern society, government bureaucrats churn out numerous laws each year resulting in average citizens being rendered lawbreakers and jailed for what used to be considered normal behavior. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people’s reach; they teach people to appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to make use of it. Without local institutions a nation may give itself a free government, but it has not got the spirit of liberty.
Unfortunately, we are now governed by top-heavy government emanating from Washington DC that has no respect for local institutions or traditions.
These seven vital principles have been largely forgotten in recent years, obscured by the haze of a centralized government, a citizenry that no longer thinks analytically, and schools that don’t adequately teach our young people about their history and their rights.
Yet here’s the rub: while Americans wander about in their brainwashed states, their “government of the people, by the people and for the people” has largely been taken away from them.
The answer: get un-brainwashed.
Stand up for the founding principles.
Make your voice and your vote count for more than just political posturing.
Never cease to vociferously protest the erosion of your freedoms at the local and national level.
Most of all, do these things today.
If we wait until the votes have all been counted or hang our hopes on our particular candidate to win and fix what’s wrong with the country, “we the people” will continue to lose.
Whether we ever realize it not, the enemy is not across party lines, as they would have us believe. It has us surrounded on all sides.
Even so, we’re not yet defeated.
We could still overcome our oppressors if we cared enough to join forces and launch a militant nonviolent revolution—a people’s revolution that starts locally and trickles upwards—but that will take some doing.
It will mean turning our backs on the political jousting contests taking place at all levels of government and rejecting their appointed jesters as false prophets. It will mean not allowing ourselves to be corralled like cattle and branded with political labels that have no meaning anymore. It will mean recognizing that all the evils that surround us today—endless wars, drone strikes, invasive surveillance, militarized police, poverty, asset forfeiture schemes, overcriminalization, etc.—are not of our making but came about as a way to control and profit from us.
It will mean “ voting with our feet ” through sustained, mass civil disobedience.
As journalist Chris Hedges points out, “There were once radicals in America, people who held fast to moral imperatives. They fought for the oppressed because it was right , not because it was easy or practical. They were willing to accept the state persecution that comes with open defiance. They had the courage of their convictions. They were not afraid.”
Ultimately, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People , it will mean refusing to be divided, one against each other, by politics and instead uniting behind the only distinction that has ever mattered: “we the people” against tyranny. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Mint Press News editorial policy. Be Sociable, Share! | 1real |
BREAKING REPORT: Trump Is Terrified; Asking Lawyers If He Could Pardon Himself | While Donald Trump hasn t exactly made an admission of guilt in the Russian scandal, but in a shocking story that just broke in the Washington Post, he s at least privately entertaining the idea that he will be prosecuted and possibly found guilty. Now he s asking if he can pardon family members, staff and even himself.Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe, according to one of those people. A second person said Trump s lawyers have been discussing the president s pardoning powers among themselves.Trump s legal team declined to comment on the issue. But one adviser said the president has simply expressed a curiosity in understanding the reach of his pardoning authority, as well as the limits of Mueller s investigation. This is not in the context of, I can t wait to pardon myself, a close adviser said.Source: Washington PostThis report comes in the same day a New York Times interview was published with Trump. In the interview, he appeared to threaten Special Counselor Robert Mueller if Mueller dared look into Trump s personal finances:Asked if Mr. Mueller s investigation would cross a red line if it expanded to look at his family s finances beyond any relationship to Russia, Mr. Trump said, I would say yes. He would not say what he would do about it. I think that s a violation. Look, this is about Russia. Mueller didn t care, though. On the same day the interview was printed, it was revealed that Mueller s office is indeed investigating Trump s businesses, which may be why the sudden interest in Trump pardoning everyone around him, including himself.As for whether he can do that, well, the Constitution and history are unclear. No President has tried to pardon himself. Nixon thought about it before he resigned and his lawyer advised him that it was within his realm of authority. Note that a president doesn t have to wait till there are convictions to grant pardons.So what would happen if Trump attempted a self-pardon? First, some pardon fundamentals: Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives the president the power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. Pardons thus can only cover federal criminal offenses and cannot thwart an impeachment (which technically is not a criminal prosecution anyway). .The prosecutor s argument, while much more complicated, is a stronger one. First, a textual argument: The word pardon means something inherently bilateral, something that a sovereign bestows upon a subject. Consider more colloquially that you can beg someone else s pardon, but you never seek or receive one from yourself. While there is admittedly no explicit limitation on self-pardons, there is no need for one, because a self-pardon is by definition not a pardon. Other examples show that the pardon power is subject to inherent limitations like this. For instance, the law is clear that a pardon cannot be prospective it can only reach offenses committed before the pardon is issued but that limit is not spelled out in the Constitution either. It is implicit in the definition of a pardon as opposed to a suspension of the law.Source: Foreign PolicyWhether or not it can be done, it would set a very bad precedence and one that even the most partisan Republicans in Congress would find toxic. It could also be very bad for Trump s businesses.Featured image via Sean Gallup/Getty Images | 1real |
Travel: Philip Marsden’s ‘Rising Ground’ and More - The New York Times | Once there were just nomads, their wanderings no more than necessary for survival. But then came the stockades their successors built and the settlements in which they huddled — and suddenly travel changed, becoming what for most would henceforth be a pursuit more elective than essential. There were many motives for it. Sheer curiosity — what’s beyond the fence? — came first. Then a need to trade, to inhabit, to conquer, to preach, to take part in a pilgrimage, to migrate and settle anew, to wage a war or to seek refuge. These and any of a thousand other proddings of the sharp stick would send travelers out on the road. Before long, humankind had been whipped into a frenzy of wandering, one that has never let up. And nowadays, with technology and low cost combining to create a perfect storm of wanderlust, we see the results: the vast Lunar New Year crowds at a Chinese railway station, the lethal scrums at the hajj in Mecca, the endless security lines at Heathrow and Kennedy and Sheremetyevo, all vivid testimony to the unanticipated backwash of our pathological desire for ceaseless mobility. And yet just why, fretted Blaise Pascal back in the 17th century, when all of this seemed to get going, why the urge to engage in so much movement? Why all this transnational Brownian motion? Surely all of man’s ills must stem, the philosopher wrote, from his simple inability to remain quiet and alone, serenely in the comfort of his own home. When confronted with this season’s tottering tower of new travel literature, I found it easy to sympathize with poor Pascal. Well over 40 books arrived on my desk, ranging widely in their geographical reach, but most nonetheless possessed of a certain predictability — an urgent need to escape here, a frantic need to impress there, a pressing need to inquire and explore and explain what goes on in the faraway. Only a handful could possibly be chosen for a closer look. A small sampling of those that, with profound regret, had to be left by the wayside, may indicate the scale and manic scope of this tarantella of travel writing: A former cult member tries to bicycle around the world. A man with an appetite for fish walks the coast of India, sampling as he goes. A Canadian waitress who swears like a fishwife goes on holiday to Boracay. A man walks, illegally, along the Keystone XL pipeline. Sixteen schoolboys canoe their way from Montreal to the mouth of the Mississippi. An Englishman visits all of the Central Asian “stans” — except the most interesting one, Turkmenistan, with its revolving statue of the former president and an ice rink built in the desert. An expatriate Briton writes admiringly about Holland. A Hungarian writes similarly about China. Someone writes a sentence that includes the words “the atopic character of literary space” and supposes it will appeal to a reviewer of travel books. An oenophile goes in search of the finest wines grown in Georgia, not here but in the Caucasus. A Floridian who has visited more than 60 countries tells us about himself. A radio reporter immerses herself in the dubious delights of the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. In the end, I sifted what I thought might be some pearls from the sand. And there’s an irony in my first choice, one Pascal would like, since Philip Marsden’s RISING GROUND: A Search for the Spirit of Place (University of Chicago, $27. 50) doesn’t require the author to venture very far from his home in Cornwall, yielding a travel book that involves little real, physical travel. And yet Marsden’s essays about landscape and history and the habitations and habitants of that mysterious, familiar but deeply unknown fingerlike peninsula at England’s lower seagirt end are deft and exquisite, filled with the learning of a supremely man and composed in a lilting, finely chased prose. I immersed myself for hours in the comforting blanket of this book, lulled into fond memories of my own. My very first job as a reporter, based in the gritty mining northeast of England, once required me to visit Cornwall, but there was no budget and I had to hitchhike and camp out on Bodmin Moor. In a cafe near Liskeard, I met a wandering American student of quite astonishing beauty, and she spent an evening with me under one of the granite tors, a place called the Cheesewring. She cooked for me and played Joni Mitchell songs on her guitar. And then, for fun, she tried to balance a pile of small stones on the grass, intending to echo those that had been piled by nature on the tor. Almost half a century later, Marsden observes a woman at the very same place. She “picked a flattish stone and added it to one of the cairns, the that had been put up by recent visitors. The stone kept falling off and she bent down close to position it. Very gently she released her finger and thumb. She held them there for a moment. This time the stone was still. ” If deep and erudition defines Marsden’s book, learning and assimilated high culture similarly mark out Andrew Dickson’s wonderfully imaginative WORLDS ELSEWHERE: Journeys Around Shakespeare’s Globe (Holt, $35) which appropriately appears around the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. For this, unlike most of the literary reassessments produced to mark the moment, demands of Dickson many thousands of miles of hard slogging as he seeks to inquire into the playwright’s appeal around the world and to discover the plays being performed with often wild and eccentric enthusiasm in the most improbable places. China is perhaps one of the more predictably bardolatrous countries Dickson visits, where young Chinese (they and their elders raised on the Lambs’ “Tales,” still hugely popular more than a century after they appeared in translation) have become in recent years among the most numerous and raucous fans of the man officially known as Shashibiya. Dickson reminds us that when Wen Jiabao, then China’s premier, came to England in 2011, he flew first to a small airport outside Birmingham and hared off to Stratford to pay homage. He left behind as a gift an edition of “Love’s Labour’s Lost” rendered into putonghua and wrote an elegantly calligraphed paean, “He brings sunshine to your life,’ ’u2009Gives your dreams wings to fly” — which, though more Elton John than Li Bai, does suggest a certain fondness. And given that Marx revered Shakespeare, it was for much of China’s recent history an officially approved fondness. So Dickson treks around to experience Shakespeare with Chinese characteristics — notably watching an “Coriolanus” being performed in Beijing, with two local bands called Suffocated and Miserable Faith playing a noisy continuo. In Shanghai, he meets a once and now again famous Shakespearean actor, Jiao Huang, and watches him weep as he explains why he had not been on the stage for nine years during the 1960s. It was, of course, the time of the Cultural Revolution. “If you were passionate about Western plays, you would be so severely criticized that you couldn’t lift your head. . ’u2008. ’u2008. I lived in a cowshed. I experienced everything. My house was destroyed. ” Such an encounter, which amply repays the price of admission, also transmutes a Shakespeare book (in which Dickson also ventures to Nevada City, Munich, Durban, Kolkata and Gdansk, among other cities) into a true travel book, of the best kind. Of a more traditional kind is WALKING THE NILE (Atlantic Monthly, $26) by Levison Wood. I mean no disrespect for the behatted, bandannaed and Wood, who was bred by all appearances out of Bear Grylls by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, when I note that, like all too many of the newly empireless British, he has a perverse liking for epic stunts — his other travel book, WALKING THE HIMALAYAS (Little, Brown, $27) comes out almost simultaneously. What elevates this perfectly reasonable northbound wander through Africa, from the trickle of the river’s source in Rwanda to where it debouches by the grubby gravel of an Egyptian beach, is how Wood deals with the very lowest point of the trip, when one of his party falls desperately ill and dies. He was Matthew Power, a young man from Vermont who had made something of a name for himself as an adventuresome reporter. Men’s Journal had commissioned him to meet up with Levison Wood (“Captain Wood, I presume?” clearly had to be his first words when they joined forces in the scorching uplands of Uganda) and to walk with him toward South Sudan. looking yet unused to the extreme heat, Power never made it: “I found Matt hunkered down in the elephant grass,” a plainly frightened Wood writes. “He was sipping from the water pack attached to his rucksack, through a thin tube. There was something almost ghostly about his face: pale, white and flushed red in equal measure. ‘Are you O. K. Matt? ’’u200a” He was dying of hyperthermia. Wood knew the symptoms, had seen them before in Afghanistan. He got out his satellite phone and called — for medical advice, for a helicopter, for help. Gunshots were fired in the air. But no one came. One of his companions lit a fire to create a landing zone for a chopper, but lit it in the wrong place, and the flames swept toward the party and their charge. They tried to carry him out, but he stopped breathing, his pulse vanished. They took his body to the top of a hill, wrapped him in a tarp and whispered a prayer. And then, the next day, after the rangers had come and the formalities had been completed in the closest town, Power’s photographer picked up his cellphone and dialed the New York number of Power’s wife. And told her the terrible news about her husband’s death, about what happened to the man who had come out to Africa, as Wood puts it, “so that he could write about me on my indulgent, pointless, selfish trek. ” I was near tears when I read that passage. It cast a shadow over the adventure, from which neither the adventure nor the book’s eventual account ever really recovered. I confess I had an instinctive initial dislike of what seemed to be a truly indulgent, pointless and selfish trek undertaken by a troubled young woman from Texas named Clara Bensen, whose NO BAGGAGE: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering (Running Press, $25) recounts her adventure traveling from Istanbul to London, quite deliberately baggageless. She had little more than an cotton sundress, a slim leather purse holding three pairs of underwear, her iPhone and iPad Mini, a pen and notebook and a toothbrush — and a boyfriend named Jeff, whom she had met on the dating site OkCupid and about whom she knew very little, other than that he taught environmental science at a college in Brownsville and had a young daughter, who would stay home with her mother. (Baggage there, of course. Half the point of the book.) Near the start of what turned out to be an absorbing and tale, Bensen refers to Baudelaire’s admiration for the life of the flâneur, citing the “immense joy” of being able “to be away from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at home to see the world, to be at the center of the world, and yet to remain hidden from the world. ” And with gusto, courage and a palpable sense of joy, so Bensen goes on to enjoy her brief wander through the southeastern corner of Europe, as far away from Texan certainty as her budget allowed her to go. We learn perhaps a little too much about her feminine plumbing crises en route and the history of her various mental troubles back home among her evangelically minded family. But she arrives back in Texas with her relationship with Jeff intact and her eyes widened to the wondrous realities of the world. I was happy for her, and I hope she travels once more, returning with another notebook. Finally, and by deliberate sartorial contrast, there is Rush Loving Jr. ’s THE HOBO: The Many Wondrous Adventures of a Man Who Loves Trains (Indiana University, $35) which has all too many pictures of the looking men in business suits who ran, for good or for ill, some of the various railroads with which this former Fortune editor is acquainted. Loving loves trains — indeed, some years ago he wrote a book with a title professing just that — and he has a stiffly mannered approach to the delights of passage, the kind that made E. M. Frimbo so beloved a character of the old New Yorker. His is by no means a good book — neither a good bad book nor a bad good book. But for those few of us who are attracted to a sentence that begins, “Then the Golden Arrow took off over the flatlands of the Midwest, highballing for Chicago, passing Crestline at 12:44, Fort Wayne at 2:02 and Valparaiso at 3:54,” it is an essential book. And how much nicer a sentence that is than all that piffle about the atopic character of literary space, an indigestible confection that deserves to be tossed from one of Loving’s trains, to languish by the wayside forever. But Wait. There’s More. No need for sleuthing. The books mentioned at the top of this essay are: THIS ROAD I RIDE, by Juliana Buhring (Norton, $26. 95) FOLLOWING FISH, by Samanth Subramanian (Thomas . Martin’s, $25. 99) IT’S ONLY THE HIMALAYAS, by S. Bedford (Brindle Glass, $15. 95) TRESPASSING ACROSS AMERICA, by Ken Ilgunas (Blue Rider, $27) THE LAST VOYAGEURS, by Lorraine Boissoneault (Pegasus, $27. 95) POSTCARDS FROM STANLAND, by David H. Mould (Ohio University, $24. 95) WHY THE DUTCH ARE DIFFERENT, by Ben Coates (Nicholas Brealey, $19. 95) DESTRUCTION AND SORROW BENEATH THE HEAVENS, by Laszlo Krasznahorkai (University of Chicago, $30) HOW TO TALK ABOUT PLACES YOU’VE NEVER BEEN, by Pierre Bayard (Bloomsbury, $25) FOR THE LOVE OF WINE, by Alice Feiring (Potomac Books, $24. 95) THE JOYS OF TRAVEL, by Thomas Swick (Skyhorse, $24. 99) and PUTIN COUNTRY, by Anne Garrels (Farrar, Straus Giroux, $26). | 0fake |
ANTIFA THUGS MANHANDLED At Anti-Sharia Rally After Fighting, Throwing Urine And Yelling “F*ck the Pigs!” [Video] | Antifa thugs showed up to cause trouble at a March Against Sharia being held by conservatives. Things got out of hand when the Antifa thugs started fighting with the rally goers who had gathered at the St. Paul, MN State Capitol. Watch below and you ll see these thugs harassing cops and fighting. One Antifa thug even threw urine at reporter Lauren Southern:Antifa just threw piss on @Lauren_Southern Beverly Hills Antifa disavows this & we think Lauren is lowkey thicc afpic.twitter.com/DrahKBx45h Beverly Hills Antifa (@BevHillsAntifa) June 10, 2017Listen to the Antifa protesters yelling f*ck the pigs and harassing the cops:Just moments ago, the people from #MarchAgainstSharia who were fighting with protesters were taken out the exit of a surrounding building: pic.twitter.com/Udcj0aUTBK Miguel Ot rola (@motarola123) June 10, 2017ANTIFA GOT MANHANDLED they deserved every minute of it:Antifa just got man handled. #Resist pic.twitter.com/mXyMKl8ElN Beverly Hills Antifa (@BevHillsAntifa) June 10, 2017Another scene of chaos as someone is brought down by State Patrol outside the St. Paul State CapitolAnother scene of chaos as someone is brought down by State Patrol outside the St. Paul State Capitol. pic.twitter.com/32S8f3M4Vb Miguel Ot rola (@motarola123) June 10, 2017 | 1real |
ANTIFA: Self-Appointed Radical Revolutionaries or Neoliberal Thought Police? | Antifa (Photo: Twitter)Diana Johnstone 21st Century Wire Fascists are divided into two categories, the fascists and the anti-fascists ~ Ennio FlaianoIn recent weeks, a totally disoriented left has been widely exhorted to unify around a masked vanguard calling itself Antifa, for anti-fascist. Hooded and dressed in black, Antifa is essentially a variation of the Black Bloc, familiar for introducing violence into peaceful demonstrations in many countries. Imported from Europe, the label Antifa sounds more political. It also serves the purpose of stigmatizing those it attacks as fascists .Despite its imported European name, Antifa is basically just another example of America s steady descent into violence.Historical PretensionsAntifa first came to prominence from its role in reversing Berkeley s proud free speech tradition by preventing right wing personalities from speaking there. But its moment of glory was its clash with rightwingers in Charlottesville on August 12, largely because Trump commented that there were good people on both sides . With exuberant Schadenfreude, commentators grabbed the opportunity to condemn the despised President for his moral equivalence , thereby bestowing a moral blessing on Antifa.Charlottesville served as a successful book launching for Antifa: the Antifascist Handbook, whose author, young academic Mark Bray, is an Antifa in both theory and practice. The book is really taking off very fast , rejoiced the publisher, Melville House. It instantly won acclaim from leading mainstream media such as the New York Times,The Guardian and NBC, not hitherto known for rushing to review leftwing books, least of all those by revolutionary anarchists.The Washington Post welcomed Bray as spokesman for insurgent activist movements and observed that: The book s most enlightening contribution is on the history of anti-fascist efforts over the past century, but its most relevant for today is its justification for stifling speech and clobbering white supremacists. Bray s enlightening contribution is to a tell a flattering version of the Antifa story to a generation whose dualistic, Holocaust-centered view of history has largely deprived them of both the factual and the analytical tools to judge multidimensional events such as the growth of fascism. Bray presents today s Antifa as though it were the glorious legitimate heir to every noble cause since abolitionism. But there were no anti-fascists before fascism, and the label Antifa by no means applies to all the many adversaries of fascism.The implicit claim to carry on the tradition of the International Brigades who fought in Spain against Franco is nothing other than a form of innocence by association. Since we must revere the heroes of the Spanish Civil War, some of that esteem is supposed to rub off on their self-designated heirs. Unfortunately, there are no veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade still alive to point to the difference between a vast organized defense against invading fascist armies and skirmishes on the Berkeley campus. As for the Anarchists of Catalonia, the patent on anarchism ran out a long time ago, and anyone is free to market his own generic.The original Antifascist movement was an effort by the Communist International to cease hostilities with Europe s Socialist Parties in order to build a common front against the triumphant movements led by Mussolini and Hitler.Since Fascism thrived, and Antifa was never a serious adversary, its apologists thrive on the nipped in the bud claim: if only Antifascists had beat up the fascist movements early enough, the latter would have been nipped in the bud. Since reason and debate failed to stop the rise of fascism, they argue, we must use street violence which, by the way, failed even more decisively.This is totally ahistorical. Fascism exalted violence, and violence was its preferred testing ground. Both Communists and Fascists were fighting in the streets and the atmosphere of violence helped fascism thrive as a bulwark against Bolshevism, gaining the crucial support of leading capitalists and militarists in their countries, which brought them to power.Since historic fascism no longer exists, Bray s Antifa have broadened their notion of fascism to include anything that violates the current Identity Politics canon: from patriarchy (a pre-fascist attitude to put it mildly) to transphobia (decidedly a post-fascist problem).The masked militants of Antifa seem to be more inspired by Batman than by Marx or even by Bakunin.Storm Troopers of the Neoliberal War PartySince Mark Bray offers European credentials for current US Antifa, it is appropriate to observe what Antifa amounts to in Europe today.In Europe, the tendency takes two forms. Black Bloc activists regularly invade various leftist demonstrations in order to smash windows and fight the police. These testosterone exhibits are of minor political significance, other than provoking public calls to strengthen police forces. They are widely suspected of being influenced by police infiltration.As an example, last September 23, several dozen black-clad masked ruffians, tearing down posters and throwing stones, attempted to storm the platform where the flamboyant Jean-Luc M lenchon was to address the mass meeting of La France Insoumise, today the leading leftist party in France. Their unspoken message seemed to be that nobody is revolutionary enough for them. Occasionally, they do actually spot a random skinhead to beat up. This establishes their credentials as anti-fascist .They use these credentials to arrogate to themselves the right to slander others in a sort of informal self-appointed inquisition.As prime example, in late 2010, a young woman named Ornella Guyet appeared in Paris seeking work as a journalist in various leftist periodicals and blogs. She tried to infiltrate everywhere , according to the former director of Le Monde diplomatique, Maurice Lemoine, who always intuitively distrusted her when he hired her as an intern.Viktor Dedaj, who manages one of the main leftist sites in France, Le Grand Soir, was among those who tried to help her, only to experience an unpleasant surprise a few months later. Ornella had become a self-appointed inquisitor dedicated to denouncing conspirationism, confusionism, anti-Semitism and red-brown on Internet. This took the form of personal attacks on individuals whom she judged to be guilty of those sins. What is significant is that all her targets were opposed to US and NATO aggressive wars in the Middle East.Indeed, the timing of her crusade coincided with the regime change wars that destroyed Libya and tore apart Syria. The attacks singled out leading critics of those wars.Viktor Dedaj was on her hit list. So was Michel Collon, close to the Belgian Workers Party, author, activist and manager of the bilingual site Investig action. So was Fran ois Ruffin, film-maker, editor of the leftist journal Fakir elected recently to the National Assembly on the list of M lenchon s party La France Insoumise. And so on. The list is long.The targeted personalities are diverse, but all have one thing in common: opposition to aggressive wars. What s more, so far as I can tell, just about everyone opposed to those wars is on her list.The main technique is guilt by association. High on the list of mortal sins is criticism of the European Union, which is associated with nationalism which is associated with fascism which is associated with anti-Semitism , hinting at a penchant for genocide. This coincides perfectly with the official policy of the EU and EU governments, but Antifa uses much harsher language.In mid-June 2011, the anti-EU party Union Populaire R publicaine led by Fran ois Asselineau was the object of slanderous insinuations on Antifa internet sites signed by Marie-Anne Boutoleau (a pseudonym for Ornella Guyet). Fearing violence, owners cancelled scheduled UPR meeting places in Lyon. UPR did a little investigation, discovering that Ornella Guyet was on the speakers list at a March 2009 Seminar on International Media organized in Paris by the Center for the Study of International Communications and the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. A surprising association for such a zealous crusader against red-brown .In case anyone has doubts, red-brown is a term used to smear anyone with generally leftist views that is, red with the fascist color brown . This smear can be based on having the same opinion as someone on the right, speaking on the same platform with someone on the right, being published alongside someone on the right, being seen at an anti-war demonstration also attended by someone on the right, and so on. This is particularly useful for the War Party, since these days, many conservatives are more opposed to war than leftists who have bought into the humanitarian war mantra.The government doesn t need to repress anti-war gatherings. Antifa does the job.The Franco-African comedien Dieudonn M Bala M Bala, stigmatized for anti-Semitism since 2002 for his tv sketch lampooning an Israeli settler as part of George W. Bush s Axis of Good , is not only a target, but serves as a guilty association for anyone who defends his right to free speech such as Belgian professor Jean Bricmont, virtually blacklisted in France for trying to get in a word in favor of free speech during a TV talk show. Dieudonn has been banned from the media, sued and fined countless times, even sentenced to jail in Belgium, but continues to enjoy a full house of enthusiastic supporters at his one-man shows, where the main political message is opposition to war.Still, accusations of being soft on Dieudonn can have serious effects on individuals in more precarious positions, since the mere hint of anti-Semitism can be a career killer in France. Invitations are cancelled, publications refused, messages go unanswered.In April 2016, Ornella Guyet dropped out of sight, amid strong suspicions about her own peculiar associations.The moral of this story is simple. Self-appointed radical revolutionaries can be the most useful thought police for the neoliberal war party.I am not suggesting that all, or most, Antifa are agents of the establishment. But they can be manipulated, infiltrated or impersonated precisely because they are self-anointed and usually more or less disguised.Silencing Necessary DebateOne who is certainly sincere is Mark Bray, author of The Intifa Handbook. It is clear where Mark Bray is coming from when he writes (p.36-7): Hitler s final solution murdered six million Jews in gas chambers, with firing squads, through hunger an lack of medical treatment in squalid camps and ghettoes, with beatings, by working them to death, and through suicidal despair. Approximately two out of every three Jews on the continent were killed, including some of my relatives. This personal history explains why Mark Bray feels passionately about fascism . This is perfectly understandable in one who is haunted by fear that it can happen again .However, even the most justifiable emotional concerns do not necessarily contribute to wise counsel. Violent reactions to fear may seem to be strong and effective when in reality they are morally weak and practically ineffectual.We are in a period of great political confusion. Labeling every manifestation of political incorrectness as fascism impedes clarification of debate over issues that very much need to be defined and clarified.The scarcity of fascists has been compensated by identifying criticism of immigration as fascism. This identification, in connection with rejection of national borders, derives much of its emotional force above all from the ancestral fear in the Jewish community of being excluded from the nations in which they find themselves.The issue of immigration has different aspects in different places. It is not the same in European countries as in the United States. There is a basic distinction between immigrants and immigration. Immigrants are people who deserve consideration. Immigration is a policy that needs to be evaluated. It should be possible to discuss the policy without being accused of persecuting the people. After all, trade union leaders have traditionally opposed mass immigration, not out of racism, but because it can be a deliberate capitalist strategy to bring down wages.In reality, immigration is a complex subject, with many aspects that can lead to reasonable compromise. But to polarize the issue misses the chances for compromise. By making mass immigration the litmus test of whether or not one is fascist, Antifa intimidation impedes reasonable discussion. Without discussion, without readiness to listen to all viewpoints, the issue will simply divide the population into two camps, for and against. And who will win such a confrontation?A recent survey* shows that mass immigration is increasingly unpopular in all European countries. The complexity of the issue is shown by the fact that in the vast majority of European countries, most people believe they have a duty to welcome refugees, but disapprove of continued mass immigration. The official argument that immigration is a good thing is accepted by only 40%, compared to 60% of all Europeans who believe that immigration is bad for our country . A left whose principal cause is open borders will become increasingly unpopular.Childish ViolenceThe idea that the way to shut someone up is to punch him in the jaw is as American as Hollywood movies. It is also typical of the gang war that prevails in certain parts of Los Angeles. Banding together with others like us to fight against gangs of them for control of turf is characteristic of young men in uncertain circumstances. The search for a cause can involve endowing such conduct with a political purpose: either fascist or antifascist. For disoriented youth, this is an alternative to joining the US Marines.American Antifa looks very much like a middle class wedding between Identity Politics and gang warfare. Mark Bray (page 175) quotes his DC Antifa source as implying that the motive of would-be fascists is to side with the most powerful kid in the block and will retreat if scared. Our gang is tougher than your gang.That is also the logic of US imperialism, which habitually declares of its chosen enemies: All they understand is force. Although Antifa claim to be radical revolutionaries, their mindset is perfectly typical the atmosphere of violence which prevails in militarized America.In another vein, Antifa follows the trend of current Identity Politics excesses that are squelching free speech in what should be its citadel, academia. Words are considered so dangerous that safe spaces must be established to protect people from them. This extreme vulnerability to injury from words is strangely linked to tolerance of real physical violence.Wild Goose ChaseIn the United States, the worst thing about Antifa is the effort to lead the disoriented American left into a wild goose chase, tracking down imaginary fascists instead of getting together openly to work out a coherent positive program. The United States has more than its share of weird individuals, of gratuitous aggression, of crazy ideas, and tracking down these marginal characters, whether alone or in groups, is a huge distraction. The truly dangerous people in the United States are safely ensconced in Wall Street, in Washington Think Tanks, in the executive suites of the sprawling military industry, not to mention the editorial offices of some of the mainstream media currently adopting a benevolent attitude toward anti-fascists simply because they are useful in focusing on the maverick Trump instead of themselves.Antifa USA, by defining resistance to fascism as resistance to lost causes the Confederacy, white supremacists and for that matter Donald Trump is actually distracting from resistance to the ruling neoliberal establishment, which is also opposed to the Confederacy and white supremacists and has already largely managed to capture Trump by its implacable campaign of denigration. That ruling establishment, which in its insatiable foreign wars and introduction of police state methods, has successfully used popular resistance to Trump to make him even worse than he already was.The facile use of the term fascist gets in the way of thoughtful identification and definition of the real enemy of humanity today. In the contemporary chaos, the greatest and most dangerous upheavals in the world all stem from the same source, which is hard to name, but which we might give the provisional simplified label of Globalized Imperialism. This amounts to a multifaceted project to reshape the world to satisfy the demands of financial capitalism, the military industrial complex, United States ideological vanity and the megalomania of leaders of lesser Western powers, notably Israel. It could be called simply imperialism , except that it is much vaster and more destructive than the historic imperialism of previous centuries. It is also much more disguised. And since it bears no clear label such as fascism , it is difficult to denounce in simple terms.The fixation on preventing a form of tyranny that arose over 80 years ago, under very different circumstances, obstructs recognition of the monstrous tyranny of today. Fighting the previous war leads to defeat.Donald Trump is an outsider who will not be let inside. The election of Donald Trump is above all a grave symptom of the decadence of the American political system, totally ruled by money, lobbies, the military-industrial complex and corporate media. Their lies are undermining the very basis of democracy. Antifa has gone on the offensive against the one weapon still in the hands of the people: the right to free speech and assembly.***Diana Johnstone is author of the introduction to her father s memoir, From MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning, by Paul H. Johnstone (Clarity Press).READ MORE FASCIST NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Fascist FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
RNC’s Hilariously Delusional Election Model Predicts Obama Might Vote Trump | The Republican Party is not well we know it and they know it.After getting roasted in the last general election, the Republican Party conducted a fittingly named autopsy on what would need to change before 2016 in order for the party to successfully compete with Democrats. The overall conclusion was that the party needed to do a much better job of reaching out to young people and minorities. Instead, they nominated Donald Trump a man who launched his campaign by accusing Mexicans of being rapists and who has been endorsed by several factions of the Ku Klux Klan.But rather than mourn the loss of their party, Republicans are just fudging the numbers just so they can get out of bed in the morning. Like Karl Rove screaming that the election wasn t over long past the time when the election was over, the party is trying to unskew the numbers that give Democrats a massive advantage going into November.And just how grim does it look for Republicans? Here s the latest projection for how the election might play out if Clinton does get the nomination.But you wouldn t know it if you worked in the Republican National Committee. Their independent database has some laughably optimistic assumptions about voters.One prominent example: the current President of the United States, Barack Obama, has been a staunch Democrat for his entire political career. Recently, he has repeatedly said he would vote for the Democratic nominee in November and he s lashed out against Trump, calling him both hateful and ignorant. It s hard to imagine another human being whose vote is more predictable. And yet There s a 95 percent likelihood Obama will vote in the 2016 general election, the database predicts, based on computer modeling. It also shows an 83 percent chance Obama will side with his party s nominee, while suggesting a 10 percent shot he ll back the Republican candidate. By the RNC s metrics, Obama has a 10 percent chance of voting for Donald Trump, and an additionally, there s roughly another 10 percent chance of voting for an Independent candidate It s baffling to think about how the RNC arrived at those numbers. One humorous conclusion is that while Republican politicians try to score cheap political points by labeling President Obama a radical leftist, their own calculations acknowledge he lies well within the current political spectrum. In other words, when they tell their supporters that Obama is a socialist, they know it s a lie.This is how the RNC fudges the numbers slightly so they can turn around and say they have a chance. The model doesn t go overboard. It simply puts its thumb on the scales a little. However, this slight lie will have big implications in how the actual election plays out. Obama, along with millions of voters, will, in fact, vote for Democratic candidates whether the RNC wants them to or not. As such, these white lies are merely an exercise in wishful thinking.It s becoming increasingly clear that the Republican Party is what happens when your brain has been exposed to dangerous levels of Fox News for years. The delusions get grander and more incredible, and the defense of those delusions gets more aggressive. The right-wing media has convinced even its own politicians that Obama is deeply unpopular, a failed statesman and a radical. He is none of those things and so the Republicans are perpetually stunned by his success.By way of one example, let s consider the fact that Mitt Romney actually believed right up until election night that he was going to win. This flew directly in the face of all the known data (including Nate Silver s career-making predictions). He and his team rejected any of the information that didn t adhere to their ideological belief that everyone hated Obama as much as Fox News had told them they did.And he got walloped.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
U.S. Transportation nominee Chao hits no roadblocks in confirmation hearing | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s choice to run the U.S. Transportation Department, Elaine Chao, defended the president-elect’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan as a “bold vision” on Wednesday in an overwhelmingly friendly Senate confirmation hearing. While there is criticism of Chao, in particular on environmental issues, there is no significant opposition to her nomination and she is expected to be confirmed. She served as labor secretary under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 and was the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. She was deputy secretary of transportation under President George H. W. Bush. She was introduced by her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The top-ranking Democrat on the committee, Florida’s Bill Nelson, noted his wife’s friendship with Chao. Chao will take a leading role in Trump’s plans to rebuild crumbling U.S. roads and bridges with a $1 trillion fund. He would offer private investors who put money into projects an 82 percent tax credit but critics say it is unclear how they could recoup investments in most projects without sharply increasing costs for users of most roads and bridges. Chao described the plan to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation as a “bold vision” and acknowledged the need to work on the issue of paying investors back. “For them (partnerships) to be truly effective, there need to be revenue streams that need to be assured,” she added. “We all know that the government doesn’t have the resources to do it all.” Chao is nominated to head a department with such wide-ranging responsibilities as oversight of the nation’s airports and highways, fuel-economy rules for autos and probes into auto makers for safety recalls of key parts like airbags. She declined to take positions on issues like whether the job of air traffic control should be privatized, concerns over the safety of shipments of crude oil by rail, foreign airlines like Norwegian Air Shuttle’s push to move into the U.S. market and regulation of developing technology like autonomous vehicles and drones. Chao faced no questions about her memberships on corporate boards. Chao is on the board of Wells Fargo & Co which has struggled since September after it agreed with regulators to pay $190 million in fines and restitution to settle charges that its employees wrongly created as many as 2 million accounts without customer authorization. Chao is an immigrant from Taiwan who arrived in the United States at age 8. Her father, James S.C. Chao, is founder of the Foremost Group, an international shipping company. | 0fake |
null | 8:20 PM
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
8:33 PM
HaloPro2121
lol
9:08 PM
my frogadier is totally OP
only like 16 more levels untill it evolves to greninja
HaloPro2121
nice
i know
but i dont know how im going to fix that clock
HaloPro2121
????
you know from the beginning of the pokemon adventure
HaloPro2121
oh
élol
9:13 PM
i had throw it out the window hitting alonzo in the face then killed him
HaloPro2121
ahahahhahhahahhahahahaha
hes so flabby
HaloPro2121
i wish i could do that laugh crying emoji | 1real |
Trump Calls for Investigation into the Clintons’ Russian Ties | President Donald Trump took to Twitter Monday evening and asked why aren’t congressional lawmakers probing the various deals, transactions, and connections former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have to Russia. [“Why isn’t the House Intelligence Committee looking into the Bill Hillary deal that allowed big Uranium to go to Russia, Russian speech,” read Trump’s first tweet, which was followed by, “ … money to Bill, the Hillary Russian “reset,” praise of Russia by Hillary, or Podesta Russian Company. Trump Russia story is a hoax. #MAGA!” Why isn’t the House Intelligence Committee looking into the Bill Hillary deal that allowed big Uranium to go to Russia, Russian speech … . — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017, … money to Bill, the Hillary Russian ”reset,” praise of Russia by Hillary, or Podesta Russian Company. Trump Russia story is a hoax. #MAGA! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017, Trump’s assertion that of State Clinton “allowed big Uranium to go to Russia” and Bill Clinton’s “Russian speech” were allegations first reported by The New York Times (NYT) and based on research from the NYT bestseller Clinton Cash, authored by Breitbart News Peter Schweizer. The facts found in Clinton Cash, reported by the NYT, and deemed accurate by establishment media reveal how Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State coincided with the influx of tens of millions of dollars from foreign sources into the Clinton Foundation which resulted in favorable actions for Russia’s government. Indeed the Clinton Foundation had received millions in donations from several investors in Uranium One, a company in which a majority stake was sold to Russia’s nuclear energy agency, Rosatom, in a lucrative deal needing approval from Clinton’s State Department and eight other federal agencies. “The sale gave the Russians control of of all uranium production capacity in the United States,” The New York Times confirmed. The “deal,” as Trump points out, refers to how donations to the Clinton Foundation from executives of Uranium One had exceeded $145 million, according to the New York Times. In fact, those Clinton Foundation donations from uranium investors spiked just as the deal for Russia’s Rosatom to secure Uranium One was being finalized. A troublesome series of undisclosed donations came from former Uranium One chairman Ian Telfer. Telfer made four foreign donations totaling $2. 35 million to the Clinton Foundation while the uranium deal was being negotiated. However, the Times noted, “those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well. ” “We made mistakes, as many organizations of our size do, but we are acting quickly to remedy them,” The Clinton Foundation admitted at the time. But Hillary Clinton’s failure to disclose the millions in donations her family foundation received from Teller was a direct violation of the Memorandum of Understanding she signed with the Obama administration promising to disclose all foreign donations during her tenure as Secretary of State. More troubling still, was the $500, 000 speech Bill Clinton delivered in Moscow that was paid for by “a Russian investment bank that had ties to the Kremlin” at the time of the Uranium One deal, the New Yorker confirmed. “Why was Bill Clinton taking any money from a bank linked to the Kremlin while his wife was Secretary of State?” asks the liberal publication. Trump’s calls for a federal investigation into the Clintons’ Russia ties come amid a partisan push to link the President and his aides to Russian and collusion during the presidential campaign. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson | 0fake |
Oregon Right-Wing Terrorist Makes CHILLING Confession: ‘I Came Here To Die’ (SCREENSHOTS) | If anyone questions whether or not the Bundy-led right-wing terrorists who violently took over a federal building in Oregon are actually violent terrorists, they need only ask Capt. Moroni, one of the reported more than 100 armed men who seized control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge over the weekend. Bundy s people demand nothing short of complete surrender of the land to the conservative terrorist cell, a move they allegedly made in support of two felons and arsonists who don t want their brand of help. While some like ABC and CNN seek to downplay this action, the rest of us see it for what it is: the Stupid Part of America has finally mobilized its militia and is willing to kill or be killed to achieve their goals. Though early estimates have said 100 to 150 men were holding down the newly-established terrorist base, OPB s Amanda Peacher says that only a few dozen men are occupying the federal building. According to Peacher, federal employees were warned to steer clear of the wildlife refuge in a memo that reads: Our top concern is employee safety. All employees are accounted for, and the Refuge will be closed until further notice. Employees of all land management agencies in the area will operate from alternate worksites, telework, or administrative leave. No matter how many people are there, one man to whom Peacher spoke revealed that not only are the insurrectionists willing to use violence to accomplish their goals but they are ready and willing to die in the process. A man who would identify himself only as Capt. Moroni told Peacher I didn t come here to shoot, I came here to die. A series of tweets from Peacher detailed not only the chilling admission, but showed that the Bundy Army is already establishing supply lines to fuel their mini-revolution: Since an unarmed demonstration by African-American protesters over the unjust killing of one or more black men attracts a heavily-armed force, surely law enforcement is responding heavily to this very real terrorist threat. There were no law enforcement agents visible in the area around the refuge. A man with a goatee beard and wraparound sunglasses stood guard, armed with an AR-15-style rifle, and refused entry to the federally owned facility, writes The Guardian s Jason Wilson. One of the occupiers, who declined to give his name or affiliation, citing operational security, confirmed that the heavily-armed men would be camping on the site because it s public land and they view themselves to be The People. It s time we stop coddling right-wing extremists. If they want a war, let s give them one. It will be short-lived.Featured image via Twitter | 1real |
Off to College? Maybe These Devices Should Go Along - The New York Times | WHEN Vanessa Arreola, 18, starts her freshman year at Stanford University this fall, the top item on her wish list is a MacBook Pro. She said she wouldn’t consider a tablet because she prefers a traditional keyboard. She relies on apps like Google Docs for documents and Google Slides for presentations, which are available through a web browser. “A tablet is just like your cellphone, but bigger,” she said. “I don’t see a point of getting a tablet. ” But Claire Ashcroft, 19, who studies public health at Brigham Young University in Idaho, said the opposite. Half of her textbooks are digitized, and she uses apps like Microsoft Excel and Word — so her ideal school device would be a Windows machine with a touch screen, like a Microsoft Surface tablet. The polarizing responses illustrate how shopping for technology gadgets has become increasingly complex for parents. In the past, the dilemma for most students was whether to get a Windows PC or a Mac. Now, because of a proliferation of different computing forms with the rise of mobile devices, the debate has shifted toward whether to buy a computer or a tablet — and which operating system on top of that. Then there are the different types of software and tools that students use, like flashcard apps or readers for digital textbooks, some of which are for mobile devices and others for computers. To make season easier, parents should have a conversation with their children about what devices and which operating system to buy based on their student’s area of studies and the apps they use. I also compiled a guide to some of the best products, including computers, mobile devices, audio accessories and food gadgets. The list was curated after testing dozens of products and interviewing five college students about the tools that help them do homework and get through cramming sessions. (While this list focuses on college students, many of whom will be getting their own computers for the first time, some items would also be a good fit for high schoolers.) The students I polled were split on whether a laptop or tablet would be the best study tool. In general, students in fields would probably benefit from a laptop, which can handle multitasking more easily and run more powerful apps than tablets. For designers and liberal arts majors who are using more lightweight apps for writing essays or drawing sketches, a tablet may be a better fit. For students in fields, like Ms. Arreola, the $899 MacBook Air stood out as the most versatile and convenient computer. It can run both the Mac and Windows operating systems, weighs only 2. 4 pounds and has at least nine hours of battery life. It also has an excellent keyboard and ports for plugging in accessories like a display, mouse or phone charger. For those seeking a tablet, devices like the $599 iPad Pro or $499 Microsoft Surface 3 should work well. The ability to remove the keyboard for reading digital books or to use a stylus to make drawings would come in handy on either of these devices. Chances are that your son or daughter already has a smartphone, given that on average, children are getting their first smartphones at age 10. But if they have a iPhone or Android device, it may be a good time to get a speedier, more capable phone. The best ones on the market come from Apple and Samsung Electronics: the iPhone 6s and Samsung Galaxy S7. Which one you pick should partly depend on your child’s computing device, since iPhones are more tightly integrated with Apple devices and Android devices generally mesh better with Windows computers. There are two caveats. First, Apple is expected to release a iPhone this fall so if you go the Apple route, it would be wise to wait a few months. Second, these are phones that cost roughly $700, which could easily blow your budget. If price is a concern, there are plenty of excellent smartphones. The iPhone SE, which has most of the same guts as the iPhone 6s but a smaller screen, is a solid option at $399. For Android devices, I like Huawei’s Nexus 6P, which also costs $399. It has a nice look and feel and works with Project Fi, Google’s cellular service. With the amount of shuffling around that students do on campus, I also recommend a battery pack to give smartphones more juice throughout the day. Anker’s PowerCore Slim 5000, about $20, is affordable and provides about two full charges to a smartphone in a compact battery pack. audio gear is a sound investment for students. Roommates can be loud distractions from schoolwork and sleep, plus a bit of music can ease the pain of typing out a tedious essay. That makes it worthwhile to invest in a pair of headphones. My favorite set is the Bose QuietComfort 35. They are wireless, comfortable and extremely effective at filtering out noise, plus they sound great. At $350, they are pricey but will provide comfort and nice sound for many years. Another useful audio device is the $180 Amazon Echo, the speaker that responds to voice commands. It can stream music from services like Spotify and Pandora and also dictate a student’s calendar events. When set up with an power outlet, like ’s Smart Plug, the Echo could even be used to turn on an electric kettle for boiling water for tea or coffee first thing in the morning, if you say, “Alexa, turn on the kettle. ” Speaking of water kettles, a food gadget or two will not go amiss in students’ lives, especially if the devices offer a shortcut to downing some caffeine or gobbling up ramen. A great electric kettle for quickly boiling water is Bonavita’s $55 BV3825B Gooseneck. The stainless steel kettle can boil up to a liter of water and has a long gooseneck spout that lets you smoothly pour water into a teapot, french press or cup of noodles. For a fast and inexpensive gadget to make coffee, check out the $30 AeroPress. You place the AeroPress chamber on a mug, add one scoop of ground coffee, add hot water and plunge the coffee through a filter into the mug. It makes cheap coffee taste delicious. For heating up food, I recommend a toaster oven instead of a microwave. A toaster oven is not only capable of heating up microwave dinners, but it can also toast bagels and leftover slices of pizza or even roast a chicken leg. Breville’s $150 Mini Smart Oven evenly heats up foods and will get students through times of desperation. In the end, it’s up to students to use their imaginations to get the most out of their gear. Ms. Ashcroft, the Brigham Young student, said her favorite study tool during her freshman year was her iPhone 5 — she uses the apps Quizlet and StudyBlue to study with digital flashcards and notes. But she would like a Microsoft Surface tablet. “If we’re talking wishful here, I would choose that,” she said. “I have a couple of friends with those, and I think they’re pretty nice. ” | 0fake |
Bob Creamer Admits To Daily Calls With The Clinton Campaign And More… | Bob Creamer Admits To Daily Calls With The Clinton Campaign And More… Bob Creamer Admits To Daily Calls With The Clinton Campaign And More… October 26, 2016, 3:20 pm by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton Leave a Comment 0
NoisyRoom.net
Disgraced Robert Creamer is having even more of his dirty laundry aired by James O’Keefe and Project Veritas. Wonder how his commie wife, Congresswoman and fellow Marxist, Jan Schakowsky , feels about that. It would seem that Creamer was beyond cozy with the Clinton campaign. He has been on daily morning calls with the campaign with his input. He’s also, not surprisingly, worked directly with Obama to organize “issue campaigns.”
Robert Creamer has been a political organizer and strategist for almost four decades. He and his firm, the Strategic Consulting Group, work with many of the country’s most significant issue campaigns. He was one of the major architects and organizers of the successful campaign to defeat the privatization of Social Security. He worked to end the war in Iraq, pass universal healthcare, change America’s budget priorities and enact comprehensive immigration reform. He’s been a very busy little Marxist.
His clients have included labor unions, public interest groups and advocacy organizations like MoveOn.org, Americans United for Change and USAction. He has also worked on hundreds of electoral campaigns at the local, state and national levels.
Now he is best known for getting caught up in a sting by Project Veritas. He also accepted a foreign donation for a Democratic Super PAC for $20,000. Then he returned it once he suspected he was being set up. A little too late, Bob. That donation was from Project Veritas themselves.
From Breitbart :
Disgraced Democratic operative Robert Creamer participated in daily calls with the Hillary Clinton campaign, and worked directly with President Barack Obama to organize “issue campaigns.”
Creamer makes the admissions in the latest undercover video release from James O’Keefe and Project Veritas, which captured Creamer describing his activities.
O’Keefe also reports that Creamer accepted a foreign donation for a Democratic super PAC.
In this fourth video in the series, “Rigging the Election,” Creamer tells a journalist with Project Veritas that he does indeed work for the Clinton campaign and is in fact in charge of “overseeing” activities at the Trump rallies: “I mean frankly I spend most of my time overseeing the Trump event rallies, I mean that’s what I do for the Clinton campaign.” He has actively choreographed “bird dogging” at Trump’s rallies to gin up violence. He’s also placed infiltrators in Donald Duck costumes at Trump events. So lame. This has been going on for more than a year.
Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, flat out lied last week and said he never worked with Creamer. But O’Keefe’s videos expose that whopper of a lie.
In this latest video, Creamer details some of his connections: “Every morning I am on a call at 10:30 that goes over the message being driven by the campaign headquarters … I am in this campaign mainly to deal with what earned media with television, radio, with earned media and social media, not with paid media, not with advertising.” Even more damning is a conference call mentioned where they discussed a woman potentially coming forward against Trump to accuse him of inappropriate behavior.
Creamer has known and worked with Obama since the 1980s, during his community organizing days. He goes on to add: “I do a lot of work with the White House on their issues, helping to run issue campaigns that they have been involved in. I mean, for immigration reform for the… the health care bill, for trying to make America more like Britain when it comes to gun violence issues.”
I assume there will be even more videos to come. Creamer has resigned from Americans United for Change over all this and his reputation is now trashed. This is what happens when you make your living scheming against others. Eventually you get caught up in it as well. Fresh out of sympathy for Creamer. 0 | 1real |
Liberal CNN Commentator Blames Republicans for Obamacare’s Rising Premiums | Washington Free Beacon October 27, 2016
CNN commentator Angela Rye on Wednesday blamed the failure of Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare for the newly announced double-digit premium increases in the president’s signature health care law.
“It’s not just Hillary Clinton that needs to tackle this but also Congress,” Rye said on CNN’s New Day. “The reason we are in the position that we are in right now frankly, Alisyn, is because Republicans fell short of their promise to repeal, which is what they said they wanted to do, and replace.”
Host Alisyn Camerota stopped Rye before she got any further and reminded her that President Obama had promised premiums would go down.
Most states will see health care premiums under the Affordable Care Act increase by an average of 25 percent, according to data released this week by the Obama administration. Indiana will see its rates slightly go down, but other states like Arizona will see costs skyrocket by 116 percent. Members of the administration have been quick to soften the blow of the increase by reminding people that a majority of those on the Obamacare exchanges would be receiving tax credits to help pay for the now more expensive health insurance plans. 8:17 | 1real |
Priceless: Yelpers Review The Moron Militia Occupied Oregon Wildlife Preserve (IMAGES) | When the right-wing terrorists took over the Malheur National Wildlife Preserve, the first thought many had was of the guy pointing his weapon at a BLM agent from between Jersey barriers when the Cliven Bundy incident happened. When we learned that it was Bundy s own sons leading the charge to free a remote corner of Southeast Oregon from oppression, those fears were multiplied.Then something magical happened. Within hours we learned that the occupation would be a gathering of nitwits the likes of John Ritzheimer who were too stupid to bring enough supplies to feed themselves for a camping trip, never mind a standoff that Ammon Bundy said would last years.We learned that the desperate plea for snacks was foolish not only because these were supposed to be those survivalists we all hear about being prepared for the zombie apocalypse but because the local authorities suggested they just go to the store since nobody was watching them.The frightening became stupid and then completely ludicrous. Now what we have left is a group of armed idiots in a standoff with nobody occupying a taxpayer-funded retreat in a bird sanctuary, threatening to give the land back to the loggers. It was never going to go over well.At least we can laugh. If nothing else the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom have provided the internet with enough material for memes by the truckload, humor articles, op-eds and satire pieces for miles and enough YouTube parodies to last the winter if you re bored enough to watch them all.One of the most enjoyable reads you ll have during this debacle has to be Yelp, where reviewers have gone out of their way to make your tour of the preserve a memorable one. From large Cheeto-begging mammals spotted on the trails to toothless creatures in need of our support and protection, yelpers have made the incredibly ridiculous world of the Bundy Moron Militia even more absurd and it is magnificent.Here are some images of the best Yelp has to offer. Enjoy! Toss in a few funny pictures for good measure and the humiliation of Ammon Bundy ands friends is just about complete: You can visit the comments HERE. Yelp has been cleaning them as they come in, as their policy is to not take a political stance on anything, but new ones are popping up all the time. Special thanks to Elizabeth Preston of Winning Democrats for these awesome screencaps!Featured image via Yelp | 1real |
Scottish independence case helped by "Brexit chaos": Sturgeon | EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Britain s struggles to chart a way out of the European Union are boosting the case for Scottish independence, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday, but she shied away from committing to a date for another referendum vote. Scotland rejected independence by a 10 percentage point margin in a 2014 vote, and polls indicate that support for it has not shifted significantly since then. We will consider the (independence referendum) timing again when we have more clarity on what we face, Sturgeon said, speaking as her Scottish National Party (SNP) began a three-day conference in Glasgow. People watch the chaos that is engulfing the UK right now and people look ahead and see the damage that is likely to be done by this unfolding disaster that is not just Brexit but this incompetent and chaotic approach to Brexit being presided over by (Conservative Prime Minister) Theresa May, she told the BBC. I think the case for Scotland s future in Scotland s hands (...) is becoming greater and stronger by the day. Sturgeon, who heads the devolved Scottish government, saw her party lose more than one third of its seats in Britain s June election after it mistimed a push for another vote on secession. It subsequently put the plan on hold. Brexit has put the union of the UK s four nations under strain because Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain while Wales and the larger England voted to leave. Britain s main parties are fighting over what new relationship is needed with the bloc after 40 years of shared trade and politics. May has seen her authority over the Conservatives erode since a June s snap election in which she lost her parliamentary majority. That means Britain still has a choice over the shape of its future trading relations, Sturgeon argued. I believe so, so strongly, not for ideological reasons but for hard practical reasons, it would be an act of monumental folly for the UK to come out of the single market. | 0fake |
McConnell announces 'Plan B' to stop Iran deal | Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced a "Plan B" to halt a nuclear deal that would lift sanctions against Iran.
The measure, which Republican aides said likely would be voted on Thursday, would prevent President Obama from lifting the sanctions until Iran releases four jailed Americans and recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
McConnell made the announcement as Democrats prepared for a second time to filibuster a resolution of disapproval of the nuclear deal. Soon after McConnell's remarks, 42 Democrats again filibustered the resolution, preventing it from getting the 60 votes needed to advance.
"My strong preference is for Democrats to simply allow an up-or-down vote on the president's Iran deal." McConnell said. "But if they're determined to make that impossible, then at the very least we should be able to provide some protection to Israel and long-overdue relief to Americans who've languished in Iranian custody for years. Either way, this debate will continue." | 0fake |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.