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Pastor Who Prayed For Deaths Of Orlando Survivors Just Got Kicked Out Of His Building | Pastor Roger Jimenez made national news after the most recent mass shooting at a gay night club in Orlando when he decided to share what God thinks on the matter specifically that more sodomites should be dead. Unfortunately for him, his god is a spiteful one who doesn t like people putting words in his mouth or Jiminez is simply an intolerant person whom a civilized society will not tolerate. In any case, the good pastor just got some very, very bad news.After the shooting, Jimenez made some remarks that were horrifying even by right-wing Christian standards, explaining that the country shouldn t be mourning the death of 50 sodomites. People say, like: Well, aren t you sad that 50 sodomites died? Jimenez continued in his ravings. Here s the problem with that. It s like the equivalent of asking me what if you asked me: Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today? Um, no, I think that s great. I think that helps society. You know, I think Orlando, Fla., is a little safer tonight, he concluded, adding that he s upset more didn t die: The tragedy is that more of them didn t die. The tragedy is I m kind of upset that he didn t finish the job! The remarks were universally condemned, even by some of the more extreme elements on the right who have not completely lost their sense of humanity. And now, Jimenez is looking for a new place to hold his hate group meetings church services. WMAZ reports that the property management company and owner of the building which Verity Baptist Church calls home will not be renewing Jimenez s lease:The property management company and owner of the building in which Verity Baptist Church and its Pastor Roger Jimenez preside have decided not to renew the church s lease, and have asked church officials to consider moving.Under the terms of the lease, Jimenez cannot simply be evicted, but the company says it can not tolerate tenants who advocate hatred and the taking of innocent lives. We have many places of worship and other religious organizations in the properties we manage, company officials said in a press release. Like all our tenants, their occupancy rights are protected in their leases. But, of course, that won t be an issue once the lease is up in March of 2017, and Jimenez and his hateful friends are told to put their boots to the pavement. If Jimenez leaves early, his lease will be canceled without any penalty. Just as we respect the right of individuals to speak their views, as distasteful as they may be, we also respect the right of others to protest as a reflection of their values, the company says. For decades, the owners and staff at Harsch Investment Properties have supported the LGBT community and many other organizations whose missions are to further respect, dignity and the ability for all individuals to live their lives as they wish. Jimenez is an ideological clone of Tempe Arizona s Pastor Stephen Anderson, who also made some rather horrific remarks about the massacre. Anderson didn t even wait for the bodies to grow cold before he posted a gleeful and celebratory message on YouTube in which he said it was good news that 50 f*ggots a group he, too, calls pedophiles without any evidence died. At least these dangerous predators, these dangerous filthy pedophiles at this gay bar, at least they re off the streets, Anderson, who leads Faithful Word Baptist Church, said. Jimenez has guest preached at Faithful Word on multiple occasions.Watch the pastor s hateful rant below:Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Tonight’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ Is Sure To Make Trump Foam At The Mouth | After a whole week off, and an emotional tribute from Hillary Clinton s portrayer, Kate McKinnon, Alec Baldwin will return to Saturday Night Live as Donald Trump. Baldwin s portrayal of Trump was one of the larger bright spots in an otherwise infuriating and frustrating election cycle, and now that Trump has won the election, Baldwin s reprisal should be a welcome break from all the hate and fear Trump has unleashed.SNL has actually taken quite a bit of flak for portraying Trump and Hillary as equally bad candidates. That will change now, and who knows how. SNL can be quite unpredictable, and given Trump s, ahem, ascendancy, Weekend Update s Colin Jost said: Now it seems easier, in a way, to tell jokes about what Trump s doing specifically because he s in power. If [the candidates] are talking about what they re going to do, it s harder to criticize it than when you start seeing what they re actually doing or not doing. Trump is making white supremacists and other extremists members of his administration right now. He won t like whatever SNL does with him unless Baldwin fawns over him, which is very unlikely. Barring a love fest from the show, Trump will probably downright hate it. He hated it before and tried to convince people that SNL was in on the efforts to rig the election against him:Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me.Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016Maybe now he ll whine that they re trying to foment a rebellion or insurrection against him.Baldwin didn t play Trump the weekend following the election because he was booked, and because he s got small children at home. SNL takes a huge chunk out of his time that goes well into the following day. That doesn t mean he doesn t enjoy doing it he just won t be doing it as much, though: I m going to do it again this weekend, but not all that often. There was a lot of things online that was said about it like why didn t I do it after the election? he told Vanity Fair. I was booked that weekend. Not even other jobs; we have things to do. But we all loved, you, Alec. You do Trump better than Trump does Trump.If you miss Alec Baldwin s portrayal of Trump, then tune into Saturday Night Live and see what he does. It should be pretty awesome. As a reminder, here s Baldwin s portrayal of Trump during the third presidential debate:[ad3media campaign= 1357 ]Featured image by Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images | 1real |
KING OBAMA Just Proclaimed The Month Of June Will Be Dedicated To Celebrating Homosexuality | So let it be said so let it be done.I don t remember anyone asking if Americans were okay with the month of June being dedicated to homosexuality. How quickly we mere citizens have morphed into nothing more than serfs in King Hussein-Obama s kingdom LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2016BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAA PROCLAMATIONSince our founding, America has advanced on an unending path toward becoming a more perfect Union. This journey, led by forward-thinking individuals who have set their sights on reaching for a brighter tomorrow, has never been easy or smooth. The fight for dignity and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people is reflected in the tireless dedication of advocates and allies who strive to forge a more inclusive society. They have spurred sweeping progress by changing hearts and minds and by demanding equal treatment under our laws, from our courts, and in our politics. This month, we recognize all they have done to bring us to this point, and we recommit to bending the arc of our Nation toward justice.Last year s landmark Supreme Court decision guaranteeing marriage equality in all 50 States was a historic victory for LGBT Americans, ensuring dignity for same-sex couples and greater equality across State lines. For every partnership that was not previously recognized under the law and for every American who was denied their basic civil rights, this monumental ruling instilled newfound hope, affirming the belief that we are all more free when we are treated as equals. [ ]NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2016 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.Via: WhiteHouse.gov | 1real |
WATCH: LOUIE GOHMERT Wants LYING Democrat VA Governor McAuliffe Investigated For “Facilitating Violence” In Charlottesville | Why did the Democrat VA Governor throw gasoline on the fire after violent protests broke out in Charlottesville? Why did the radical Democrat governor of Virginia LIE about weapons being stashed around the city of Charlottesville prior to the march? Was he just doing his part as a prominent member of the Democrat Party to help create more racial division in America? Why did he lie about Virginia police officers being underprepared for the violence and chaos that took place, when police officers claim they were completely prepared? Was he trying to shine a negative light on the police force assigned to Charlottesville, as part of the Democrat Party s ongoing plan to undermine the credibility of our law enforcement?Last week, Virginia police officers were speaking out, and setting the record straight. They were not about to remain silent while their governor made up stories to boost his party s race dividing, cop-hating narrative.Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas is not just sitting around and wondering how the Clinton bestie was able to get away with lying about what happened in Charlottesville, while the media ignored Governor McAuliffe s part in inciting violence.Sunday on Fox News Channel s Fox & Friends Weekend, Gohmert called for a Department of Justice investigation of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) and Charlottesville, VA Mayor Michael Signer for possibly facilitating the violence that took place in Charlottesville earlier this month.Gohmert said, The way forward s not gonna be easy. And I think the Justice Department needs a full investigation of the governor, of the mayor. They said in court there would be violence at Charlottesville, and then the witnesses and the photographs show they herded these groups to create violence so they could brag. We need a Justice Department investigation into Kessler. You don t just go all of a sudden from having multiracial roommates and a Jewish girlfriend to all of a sudden being a white supremacist that wants to join the Republican party. There s something very, very wrong in all of this. He added, Like they were the violence at Trump events, they may have been behind this violence getting started. They facilitated it, anyway. -Breitbart | 1real |
Stephen Colbert: GOP ’Kicked America in the Balls’ with Obamacare Repeal Vote | Stephen Colbert believes Republicans in the House “kicked America in the balls” with their passage of the American Health Care Act on Thursday. [During his Thursday night monologue on CBS’ Late Show, Colbert — whose use of a slur to describe the president earlier this week has apparently already been forgotten — railed against the bill, which is meant as a GOP alternative to former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. “The new bill would cut taxes for the wealthy up to $883 billion,” Colbert said during his nearly monologue. “Now listen, if hearing that raises your blood pressure, calm down. You can’t afford the medication anymore. ” Colbert went on to skewer White House chief of staff Reince Priebus for a quote in which he said “the president stepped up and helped us punt the ball into the end zone. ” (The Hill journalist Molly Hooper later said she misquoted Priebus, and that he had said “punch” instead of “punt”). “Yes, a punt into the end zone,” Colbert repeated, quoting what Priebus did not say. “Accurate because it gives you zero points and gives your opponent good field position. ” “I think a more accurate football metaphor might have been, the GOP just kicked America in the balls,” he added. Colbert sparked a social media campaign to get him fired from CBS this week after referring to President Donald Trump’s mouth as “Vladimir Putin’s c*ck holster” during his Monday Late Show monologue. The host addressed the controversy during his Wednesday show, but stopped short of offering an apology. “I don’t regret that. He, I believe, can take care of himself. I have jokes, he has the launch codes. So, it’s a fair fight,” Colbert said Wednesday. “So while I would do it again, I would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be. ” Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0fake |
Trump foundation stops fundraising in New York state | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s charitable foundation has stopped fundraising in New York state, the state attorney general’s office said on Monday, weeks after the office warned that a failure to do so would constitute a “continuing fraud.” The Donald J. Trump Foundation also received an extension to file financial paperwork with the state, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said in a phone interview. The Trump campaign said in a statement: “The Trump Foundation is cooperating with the Office of the NY AG in its investigation of the Foundation and, given the scope of the NY AG’s requests, is working with the NY AG to respond in a reasonable and timely manner.” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman warned the group last month that it was in violation of a state law requiring charitable organizations that solicit outside donations to register with the office’s Charities Bureau. The organization has been under increased scrutiny following reports in the Washington Post suggesting possible improprieties within the small-scale nonprofit organization. Trump’s campaign has suggested that the probe launched by Schneiderman, a Democrat, was politically motivated. Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in the Nov. 8 election, also has ties to a charitable organization, the Clinton Foundation. Trump has called it a “pay-to-play” operation in which the former secretary of state and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, rewarded big donors to the foundation with political access. There has been no evidence that foreign donors to the foundation obtained favors from the State Department while Clinton headed the agency. While some donors were able to obtain meetings with her or senior State Department officials, Clinton has said the fact that they had donated to the foundation did not play a role in her decision to meet with them. | 0fake |
The affair allegations that derailed Kevin McCarthy's quest for the speakership, explained | A lot of people I speak to who aren't deeply involved in American politics are a little confused about what, exactly, is up with the House Republicans these days. Why did Kevin McCarthy remove himself from the running for speaker without even having a vote? And if the problem with McCarthy is that he wasn't conservative enough, why are people talking about Paul Ryan — who isn't any more conservative than McCarthy — as possibly being able to step into the breach? What, in other words, is actually going on?
It's awkward for the media because a key element of the story is a wild allegation for which nobody in journalism seems to have any evidence.
But it's clear at this point that the rumors — whether or not they are true — have started to play an important role in big-picture American politics. So here goes. People are saying that McCarthy, who is married, is (or was in the past) having an affair with Renee Ellmers, a married Republican member of Congress from North Carolina.
McCarthy's opponents on the right helped shove him out of the race by threatening to elevate this rumor from Capitol Hill gossip to national news. This explains why he bowed out without insisting on a vote, and it also explains why people think a person with McCarthy-like views might be able to squeak in.
I have no idea, and nobody else seems to either. It's obviously in neither party's interest to admit it if it is true, but it's also not the kind of thing they would easily be able to disprove if it weren't true. But Politico's team of congressional correspondents reports that Ellmers has thanked colleagues for their "prayers and support," and earlier this week her lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to GotNews, the website that originally published the rumors, calling them defamatory.
Nobody thinks the alleged affair is the actual reason McCarthy faced opposition in his quest for the speaker's gavel. Rather, the affair seems to be a tool that his enemies inside the caucus and in the larger movement used against him.
It's a tool that works on two levels:
The affair allegations matter, in other words, because they raise the possibility that the Freedom Caucus doesn't actually have the votes necessary to block an establishment-friendly choice for speaker from obtaining the 218 votes needed to take over. It's possible that the affair allegations were a crucial difference maker — either in driving a few votes away from McCarthy or in driving him from the field even though he had 218 supporters — and that Paul Ryan or some other figure could unite the party without saying or doing anything substantively different from what McCarthy has done. | 0fake |
Russia may widen designation for media outlets it deems 'foreign agents': Ifax | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia may decide to designate any media as foreign agents if they are financed by a foreign state or citizen, or by a Russian organization that gets foreign financing, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday. Interfax cited a draft regulation from the justice ministry. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law last month that allowed the authorities to designate foreign media outlets as foreign agents in response to what Moscow said was unacceptable U.S. pressure on Russian media. So far, it has been exclusively used to label media sponsored by the U.S. authorities as foreign agents, but the new regulation would appear to go further. Under the existing law media branded foreign agents must provide any news they provide to Russians as the work of foreign agents and disclose their funding sources. | 0fake |
Trump EPA lags behind in environmental enforcement: report | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - During the first six months of the Trump presidency, the Environmental Protection Agency has lagged behind three previous administrations in environmental enforcement, collecting 60 percent less in civil penalties from polluters, a report released on Thursday said. During President Donald Trump’s first six months in office, the Justice Department collected $12 million in civil penalties as part of 26 civil lawsuits. That compares to $36 million in 34 cases during the Obama administration; $30 million in 31 cases under the George W. Bush administration; and $25 million in 45 cases during the Clinton administration’s first six months, the report by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) found. “If this drop-off in environmental enforcement continues, it will leave more people breathing more air pollution or swimming in waterways with more waste,” said EIP Executive Director Eric Schaeffer, who served as the EPA’s head of civil enforcement from 1997 to 2002. The report analyzed consent decrees lodged by the Justice Department from Trump’s first day in office, Jan. 21, through July 31, evaluating penalties paid by companies, the amount those companies will spend on pollution controls and how much pollution these enforcement actions can reduce. Patrick Traylor, deputy assistant administrator at EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, reviewed a copy of the report and said the findings were unfair because it can take months for a consent decree to be lodged. “This ‘snapshot’ ... says much more about enforcement actions commenced in the later years of the Obama administration than it does about actions taken in the beginning of the Trump administration,” he said in a statement. The report also found that value of injunctive relief, or the amount of money violators spend to install pollution controls and clean up, was also lowest in the Trump administration under EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. Under Trump, injunctive relief required in 10 cases totaled $197 million, compared to $710 million in 16 cases under Bush and $1.2 billion in 22 under Obama, the report said. EPA did not collect this data until the later years of the Clinton administration, so results could not be compared. Environmental groups have raised concerns about Pruitt’s close ties to the energy industry, documented in public records of his meetings. When asked about his approach to enforcement and close industry ties in an interview with Reuters last month, Pruitt said the EPA is committed to enforcement and working with states to carry it out. | 0fake |
WATCH HILLARY SQUIRM When Mainstream Media Asks If She Plans To Watch “13 Hours” Movie | Hillary was too busy to be bothered with making Benghazi a safer place for Ambassador Stevens, so it should really come as no surprise that she s too busy to watch 13 HOURS, the true story of Benghazi. By the way, whoever told Hillary that calling the families of the four men killed in Benghazi liars, just as the true story of what really happened under her watch is coming out in theaters nationwide, should be fired One of the enduring mysteries of the Benghazi tragedy is why anyone ever took seriously Hillary Clinton s blaming some obscure maker of a YouTube video for the attack. That mystery, however, is dwarfed by the way the media try to pretend that Hillary s denials of that happening are anything other than bald-faced (that bald-face would be pasty white, wrinkled, and bewhiskered). In testimony elicited by the Benghazi Committee and in released emails, it has become apparent that no one ever thought the video was to blame and Clinton has, herself, attempted to claim that she never blamed the video.Now there is a new wrinkle to the story. Hillary told the families that the video was the cause of the attack that led to the deaths of their family members. Now she is saying they are lying.First, there is her statement when she, shamelessly, stood in the hangar at Dover AFB as the bodies of the dead men returned home:CLINTON: Many others from across the Middle East and North Africa have offered similar sentiments.This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our country. We ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with.Then we have the families themselves:Transcript via TownhallTyrone Woods father (who took notes about their meeting): I gave Hillary a hug and shook her hand. And she said we are going to have the film maker arrested who was responsible for the death of my son She said the filmmaker who was responsible for the death of your son Sean Smith s mother: She s absolutely lying. She told me something entirely different at the casket ceremony. She said it was because of the video. Sean Smith s uncle: Mrs. Clinton really has a problem embracing the truth. Glen Doherty s sister: When I think back now to that day and what she knew, it shows me a lot about her character that she would choose in that moment to basically perpetuate what she knew was untrue. On ABC s This Week, Clinton family retainer, George Stephanopoulos, revisited the issue I have no idea why other than some misbegotten effort to set the record straight and got this response:https://youtu.be/jAUDS-aLGjISTEPHANOPOULOS: Did you tell them it was about the film? And what s your response?CLINTON: No. You know, look I understand the continuing grief at the loss that parents experienced with the loss of these four brave Americans. And I did testify, as you know, for 11 hours. And I answered all of these questions. Now, I can t I can t help it the people think there has to be something else there. I said very clearly there had been a terrorist group, uh, that had taken responsibility on Facebook, um, between the time that, uh, I you know, when I talked to my daughter, that was the latest information; we were, uh, giving it credibility. And then we learned the next day it wasn t true. In fact, they retracted it. This was a fast-moving series of events in the fog of war and I think most Americans understand that.So we have Hillary blaming the video at the arrival of the caskets. We have all four families agreeing that they were told it was a video. We have Hillary on record blaming the video in the week after the attack. And now she says it never happened.This woman is a pathological liar. The sad thing is that she could probably pass a lie detector test. Via: Red State | 1real |
Trump supports completion of Dakota Access Pipeline | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said for the first time that he supports the completion of a pipeline project near a North Dakota Indian reservation, which has been the subject of months of protests by tribes and environmentalists. A communications briefing from Trump’s transition team said despite media reports that Trump owns a stake in Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, Trump’s support of the pipeline “has nothing to do with his personal investments and everything to do with promoting policies that benefit all Americans.” “Those making such a claim are only attempting to distract from the fact that President-elect Trump has put forth serious policy proposals he plans to set in motion on Day One,” said the daily briefing note sent to campaign supporters and congressional staff. Activists have spent months protesting plans to route the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, saying the project poses a threat to water resources and sacred Native American sites. On Thursday, U.S. military veterans were arriving at a camp to join thousands of activists braving snow and freezing temperatures to protest the pipeline. Republican Trump has been a vocal supporter of another high-profile pipeline project, Transcanada’s Keystone XL, which Democratic President Barack Obama denied a permit for last year. Republican North Dakota Senator John Hoeven said he met with Trump’s transition team to discuss the delayed pipeline. “Today, Mr. Trump expressed his support for the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has met or exceeded all environmental standards set forth by four states and the Army Corps of Engineers,” Hoeven said in a statement. “It is important to know that the new administration will work to help us grow and diversify our energy economy and build the energy infrastructure necessary to move it from where it is produced to where it is needed,” he said. | 0fake |
CLINTON GAVE Special Appointment To Estee Lauder Exec After Multi-Million Dollar Donation…Pay To Play! | If you need more proof that the Clinton Foundation was a pay to play operation here it is! Executives from Estee Lauder got face time with Clinton once they donated millions to the Clinton Foundation. The left is trying to say that you can t prove a connection but anyone with half a brain would be able to put two and two together. The Prince of Bahrain tried repeatedly to meet with Hillary Clinton but only after donating $32 million to the Clinton Foundation did he get a meeting.Est e Lauder executive Nancy Mahon was appointed to a government council and received special government employee status after donating to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.Executives at Est e Lauder were among those who got face time with Secretary Clinton after they donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to an AP report. However, Nancy Mahon not only met with Clinton, she also was appointed to a government position after a fund she helped run pledged millions to the Foundation in 2008.Mahon is a senior vice president at Est e Lauder and the global executive director of the MAC AIDS Fund, the cosmetics company s charitable arm. Through the fund, she pledged a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2008. The MAC AIDS Fund ultimately donated between $1 and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.Mahon was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and elevated to chairperson in December 2011, after launching a public-private partnership with the State Department in June.Clinton thanked all our friends at MAC when announcing the partnership to combat gender-based violence in South Africa on June 2, 2011. Soon we will expand this work through a new partnership with the MAC AIDS Foundation, Clinton said. This is a foundation that is well known to me. I ve had the privilege of working with it in the past. Mahon was sworn in as the chairperson of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, or PACHA, on Dec. 2, 2011.Read more: WFB | 1real |
27 Photos That Prove The Earth Is in Serious Danger & It’s Time To Be Worried Now | We Are Change
Often times we are blind to what is happening around us. Just because we cannot see the effects of pollution and over-stripping the Earth of her resources in our own backyards, doesn’t mean that it isn’t a very serious concern. Closing our eyes to these issues is not going to help the problems go away. The world used to be an absolutely beautiful place, but that beauty is slowly being pushed out by the trash of mankind. We are consuming more than what this Earth can handle and pretty soon the Earth will no longer be able to sustain mankind. Here are 27 pictures that will open your eyes to the serious danger that our very existence is in.
H/T Jill Stein & Unreal-Lists
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| 1real |
Clinton Lawyers Push for Recount in “3 Key Swing States That She Lost to Trump” |
It still ain’t over…
It now appears that John Podesta and teams of voting rights lawyers are combing over Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan election results with a fine-toothed comb, county-by-county and are now suggesting possible vote fraud via “irregularities.”
These are the three rust belt states that traditionally swing blue, but went red for Trump in 2016, perhaps in large part due to his message on economy on jobs.
It remains to be seen whether or not the Clinton Team will officially challenge these results or demand a recount, but it is clear that many of Clinton’s fiercest establishment allies will not be lying down.
via MSN.com :
Hillary Clinton is being urged by a group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers to call for a recount in three swing states won by Donald Trump, New York has learned. The group, which includes voting-rights attorney John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society , believes they’ve found persuasive evidence that results in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania may have been manipulated or hacked. The group is so far not speaking on the record about their findings and is focused on lobbying the Clinton team in private.
Last Thursday, the activists held a conference call with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias to make their case, according to a source briefed on the call. The academics presented findings showing that in Wisconsin, Clinton received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots. Based on this statistical analysis, Clinton may have been denied as many as 30,000 votes; she lost Wisconsin by 27,000. While it’s important to note the group has not found proof of hacking or manipulation, they are arguing to the campaign that the suspicious pattern merits an independent review — especially in light of the fact that the Obama White House has accused the Russian government of hacking the Democratic National Committee.
Theoretically, if all three of these states were declared for Hillary rather than for Trump, it would swing the electoral college count towards another Clinton presidency.
group of prominent academics & election lawyers held conference call w/ Podesta and Elias last week lobbying recount https://t.co/EnHq9woAcw
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) November 22, 2016
If that won’t work, there are still electors out there who may dissent when casting their electoral college ballots by mail before December 19th.
Some people never quit.
It’s hard to believe, but there remains an outside chance that the election is still up in the air – at least in the minds of her angry and disillusioned staffers, donors and supporters.
Read more:
It’s Not Over Yet: “They Are Probably Still Trying To Steal The Election” | Calls For Electoral College To Ignore Will Of People
Still Not Over: Two Electors Launch Effort To “Flip the Electoral College” And Block Trump’s Win
Clinton Insider Confesses: Trump Protests Are Just More Pre-Paid “Soros Riots” to Stir Unrest
“Beware of the Shadow Government”: Ron Paul Advises President-Elect
Trump Surrounded By Bankers, Wall St. Insiders Banging on the Door to Get In: “Draining the Swamp?” | 1real |
SWEDISH WOMAN Sexually Assaulted In Broad Daylight By 9 Migrants…Ex-Boyfriend LOSES IT Over Out-Of-Control Migrants…Feminists Attack Victim…Call Her “Racist” [VIDEO] | Swedish resident, Rosa Vidarsdottir tells a harrowing story on Facebook of out-of-control, animal-like migrants who, in broad daylight in front of several people, performed sexual acts on themselves and begged her to partake in their disgusting public display. Rosa s former boyfriend, who goes by The Daddy Monster on Twitter was absolutely enraged about what happened to her and blames politicians in Sweden for allowing this kind of barbaric 14th century behavior to exist in his former homeland.Watch here:My ex was just assaulted by 9 migrants during lunch and was rescued by her boss that saw what happened. #migpol pic.twitter.com/uQV9bGeJDz The Daddy Monster (@pissedfather666) July 29, 2016Here is Rosa s most recent Facebook post (translated) where she explains what happened to her, and brilliantly responds to the so-called feminists who are calling her a racist for exposing these sexual deviant migrants. Her actual post in Swedish language can be found below: I was last Friday 29/7 molested by 9st. Migrants in peterlee centre in the middle of the breezeway on the avenue between hotels highlands and thimons patisserie ? this happened in broad daylight at about 12.30 times in front of several witnesses.One of them begged and begged to get a blow job Another wanted to get laid, one just sat on the grass with his hand down his zipper and jerking off The other whistled and shouted after me miscellaneous compliments This was so scary j vla and gross.My boss saw this happen when he was standing inside the thimons and would order his lunch so he got rushed to my rescue..Of course I called the police and told them about the incident. The police seem to know this gang for apparently they ve molested several other girls at different ages. Now last Wednesday actually when they gave up on the 2st. 13-Year-old girls.Now after I have been contacted by a lot of people, even people who were there around when this happened. They think they have seen the gang, think they know who they are and where they live.A big thank you to you all, the police have been taking part of all of the info that added.To your fabulous feminists who sent threatening messages to me yesterday where you accuse me of racism and saying that this is fiction and then writes that this was right for me.. Well what shall I say to you..Maybe a thank you would be at his place because you just proved my point that you aren t real feminists. You are something else entirely, and you ll get a whole speech in your honor shortly.You other girls and women who have heard of you and sending warmth, love and caring through messages, even though we don t know each other. ? thank you from my heart.What j kla lucky that I wasn t alone but had a colleague, who were in the vicinity. Because I hadn t had a chance against 9 guys alone ?Now, it didn t go so far as to a physical harassment which is fortunate, because they didn t have time to touch me thank God, but that they said if I was going to suck their dicks and they said that they wanted to bang me and their dominant Body language was provocative enough and unpleasant behavior and it said a lot about their mentality.Now I know how the two girls felt earlier in the week, now I know how women in general, have felt when they have been confronted by men in the group who tells them what they want to do with them sexually.I ve never been through anything like this in my entire life. Don t ever want to be with it again.I ve read about this stuff, and feel pity for the women, which is the reason why I ve written a lot about these atrocities and tried to highlight the problem because I felt and believe that you have to do something in order to increase the security of people, but especially for women, and Now, this has also happened to me personally. ?I didn t, I thought that I will stop by for a jog around the lake after work at night, through to stop the bike to the gym in the evening, stop by to go for long walks at night, I would have eliminated any risk for assault or molestation For not in my wildest dreams I would have been able to believe that a guy like that could happen during the day, in the middle of the day and also in front of people.This is not an okay behavior.It s not ok at all. | 1real |
Identity Politics in America: a Post-Mortem | Here is what eight years of President Obama’s “post-racial” reign have wrought.
The weekend before Election Day, Hillary Clinton grinned from ear to ear at a Cleveland rally while reciting a verse from Jay-Z’s remix of Young Jeezy’s “My President is Black.” As the rapper and his Black Lives Matter-promoting wife, Beyonce, beamed on stage nearby, pandersuit-clad Clinton twanged with a stilted accent:
“Remember, Jay memorably said: ‘Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk, and Martin Luther walked so Barack Obama could run, and Barack Obama ran so all the children could fly.'”
This would be comical if not for the noxious cynicism of it all. Clinton may not remember (if she was ever aware in the first place), but the original version of “My President is Black” is a brazen middle finger to nonblack America. Just a few lines after the verse Hillary quoted, the song taunts:
Hello Miss America, hey pretty lady
Red, white, and blue flag, wave for me baby
Never thought I’d say this s—, baby I’m good
You can keep your p—, I don’t want no more Bush
No more war, no more Iraq
No more white lies, the President is black
So the poster granny for liberal white privilege, groveling for black votes, kissed the rings of celebrity Obama BFFs Jay-Z and Beyonce by parroting an inflammatory anthem laced with profanities and radical racialized gloating.
Could there have been a more perfect beclownment to cap Clinton’s phony-baloney “Stronger Together” campaign?
After denigrating millions of Trump supporters as “deplorable” and “irredeemable” earlier this year, Clinton then unctuously confessed on election eve: “I regret deeply how angry the tone of the campaign became.”
Note the classic textbook employment of the passive voice to evade personal responsibility.
The good news is that after being blasted as haters by Clinton’s hate-filled minions, after being slapped down as racial “cowards” by Clintonite holdover Eric Holder, after being lambasted as “xenophobes” and “nativists” by immigration expansionists in both parties, after enduring a string of faked hate crimes blamed on conservatives, after ceaseless accusations of “Islamophobia” in the wake of jihad attacks on American soil, after baseless accusations of “homophobia” for protesting the government’s gay wedding cake coercion, and after mourning a growing list of police officers ambushed and targeted by violent thugs seeking racial vengeance, an undeniable movement of citizens in the 2016 election cycle decided to push back.
When all is said and done, one of the most important cultural accomplishments of Donald Trump’s bid will be the platform he created for Americans of all colors, ethnicities, political affiliations, and socioeconomic backgrounds to defy soul-draining identity politics.
Beltway chin-pullers expediently focused on Trump’s white and conservative supporters who are rightly sick and tired of social justice double standards. But they ignored the increasingly vocal constituency of hyphen-free, label-rejecting American People Against Political Correctness who don’t fit old narratives and boxes.
And the same “Never Trump” pundits and establishment political strategists who gabbed endlessly about the need for “minority outreach” after 2012 were flummoxed by the blacks, gays, Latinos, women and Democrats who rallied behind the GOP candidate.
The most important speech of the 2016 election cycle wasn’t delivered by one of the presidential candidates. It came from iconoclastic Silicon Valley entrepreneur/investor and Trump supporter Peter Thiel who best explained the historically significant backlash against the intolerant tolerance mob and phony diversity-mongers.
“Louder voices have sent a message that they do not intend to tolerate the views of one half of the country,” he observed at the National Press Club last week. He recounted how the gay magazine The Advocate, which had once praised him as a “gay innovator,” declared he was “not a gay man” anymore because of his libertarian, limited-government politics.
“The lie behind the buzzword of diversity could not be made more clear,” Thiel noted. “If you don’t conform, then you don’t count as diverse, no matter what your personal background.”
Trump’s eclectic coalition was bound by that common thread: disaffected individuals tired of being told they don’t count and discounted because their views do not properly “match” their gender, chromosomes, skin color or ethnicity. That is exactly why the more they and their nominee were demonized, the stronger their support grew.
“No matter what happens in this election,” Thiel concluded last week, “what Trump represents isn’t crazy and it’s not going away.”
He’s right. I too often take for granted my own personal awakening about the entrenched tribalism of identity politics at a crazy liberal arts college in the early 1990s. The liberation from collectivist ideology is profound and lasting. Witnessing so many outspoken newcomers arrive at this enlightenment, however circuitous the route, has been the most encouraging and underappreciated phenomenon of the 2016 campaign.
Michelle Malkin is a senior editor at Conservative Review. For more articles and videos from Michelle, visit ConservativeReview.com. Her email address is malkinblog@gmail.com.
COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM
| 1real |
Does Putting Three Dots And A Question Mark At The End Of A Headline Make People Curious Enough To Click…? | 0 Add Comment
STUDIES have shown that websites which fill their pages with headlines that end with three dots and a question mark have to do very little else to attract thousands of clicks from unsuspecting web users.
The findings come after a year-long internet study, which found that content hosting sites can survive simply by exploiting the human brain’s natural tendency to seek the answer to a question that is seemingly directed straight at them, even if they have very little interest in the subject at hand.
Web users are just as likely to click through on headlines such as ‘Did Amy Huberman show too much flesh at last night’s event…?’ as they are on headlines such as ‘Can this tractor pull this other tractor up a hill…?’, meaning that little or no effort is required to run a thriving media empire.
“Can this kitten reach his food…? Does this grandmother know all the words to Lose Yourself…? Who cares, it’s all clicks” said one entertainment website owner.
“Once we worked out the old three dots and a question mark formula, then we knew we were set for life. People just can’t help but click on that. It’s like catnip for the bored mind”.
It is believed that the success of the formula is so great, that all news will come in that format in the near future. Already, Brian Dobson is working on his delivery of news headlines such as ‘Were there many people killed in the Middle East today…?’ and ‘Did the government get the 8th amendment sorted out…?’. | 1real |
Bait and Switch Elections | Posted on October 26, 2016 by Admin
By Vekar
One thing I have yet to see anyone bring up is how this “election” could be bait and switch at the last minute. In order to understand this however I need to explain the unique possibilities the NWO has created with these two “candidates” and how this is in fact a very old card from the 1900’s.
First we have Trump, everyone loves Trump because Trump is not Hillary, therefore he must be better, it is an argument based on the following: Stalin killed 47 million and one while Mao killed 47 million and TWO so Stalin is better than Mao! Trump is outright the “let’s go back to sleep” candidate, Hillary is not. Already I have seen and heard more than enough about how if only Trump goes in then at least four more years have been bought and the nation will survive juts four more years.
From the so called “militia” and “patriots” at AWRM and the “Intelligence” Report they yammer that if only Trump goes in then we can POSTPONE the coming war or buy ourselves more time to prepare, after all, they claim “time favors us not the enemy.” All this bearing in mind that Trump has gone back on his word many times, changed his mind, flip flopped on illegals, wants a bigger police state, is the most hated in the media, etc. Now let’s compare the next runner up quickly.
Hillary, it is currently chic to hate Hillary, you’re not in style if you like her, she will end the nation, doom the world and so on. Never mind that both Trump and Hillary were put up by the NWO, you are not allowed to run otherwise, this is old news. She is going to cause more war, she is a liar, cheat, she betrayed the nation, etc. Yet both her and Trump met with Netanyahu behind closed doors and apparently received his blessing to proceed, it is a trap and we should all know it and see it clearly. She is also the darling of the media.
Both of them have in common the 1900’s rise to power theme of Lenin and Hitler, both take after these two for both nations (Germany and Russia) were in collapse or outright collapsed, debauchery was the rule as well as corruption. Hillary is like Lenin, she is going in red banners flying and the Cheka on her heels to remove any “undesirables.” She is going to finish the job and push the agenda to the hilt even if it takes war to do it. Trump on the other hand is following Hitlers script, offering hope without promising anything except a bigger government, more powerful police state, etc. Trump will also see the plan to fruition but there is a subtle nuance between these two: one is offering to do it with an iron fist in a velvet glove the other is simply the iron fist.
Now comes the problem people are not seeing: if they force Hillary in despite all the public outrage then we know for a fact they have reached a level of preparation that is adequate to dealing with public backlash, even insurrection should it be minor or full. If they put Trump in then they are taking the back street approach because they have not gathered the resources yet to put us down and need to put someone in who will quiet the public just like Obama did for a time. This election is about purchasing time; nothing more, nothing less.
If Trump is put in then already we can see that most are going straight back to bed and not getting up for another four years at minimum, maybe eight. The militias and other “patriot” groups will declare a “partial victory” and that they can bury their guns again and whistle Dixie. They are mortified of having to take action so Trump is their obvious choice. Hillary on the other hand represents that steamroller coming down the hill at full tilt, they do not want that and seek to avoid it rather than fight it. The reality is time does NOT favor us here, time favors the enemy. If time favored us then we would not be here, diminished and in dire straits. Imagine how much could have been avoided had the militia stood up during Waco, again time favored the enemy. Ruby Ridge? Time favored the enemy as they whittle away and build their power base up bit by bit. They are not fools.
Consider those two possibilities then consider this: If Trump goes in and goes along with the “war with Russia” if indeed that is the plan for WW3 they laid out more than SIXITY years ago admittedly, people are FAR more willing to join Trumps army and go fight than they would Hillary. Something else to consider is perhaps they want a second civil war. Put Hillary in KNOWING it will cause an insurrection, fake one which we know they can do… Have Trump “reluctantly” take the reins and like Davis lead the way in marching the fools single file into the enemy guns just like the first one causing mass casualties for nothing. A second civil war of this sort would favor the enemy for it would absolutely end the nation, but who would fight for Hillary? Oh right, THAT’S why they are bringing in all those foreigners and foreign troops! Just change the uniform quickly and voila! Some would suggest this would favor the American Nationals… Not really, rather than fight intelligently for the Bill of Rights they would be fighting for TRUMP! They would be fighting to bleed us dry like the Confederates did in the civil war fighting “by the rules” and it cost them dearly. Only by fighting by OUR OWN RULES can we win, Trump would allow them to guide the slaughter one way or another all the while weakening us. Remember, the end game is to destroy ABSOLUTELY the last vestiges of Americans and our culture, whatever may be left of it, which is not much if anything.
Perhaps the above is where those warning about the “coming breakup of America” will occur, perhaps, perhaps not, but they now have the OPTION to do so! I want you to think on all this and let your mind run wild with other possibilities, but just remember that they are right now lining the ducks up (you) while the firing squad is forming up and loading their rifles. No matter WHAT you believe will be the outcome of this and no matter what happens one way or another know that this is all preplanned and they would NEVER allow this situation unless they had a humdinger of a plan hidden just beneath the surface, I hope I scratched that surface for you. Like you, they have a plan A, B, C and D, it is why they have succeeded for more than two centuries! Do not take them for the fool, they have proven they are not.
So maybe we will get Trump and the populace will quiet down while the communists march on with a different uniform, Cheka versus Gestapo. Then again Hillary might go in and just finish things and be done with it or prep the nation for the next phase. No matter what happens, be ready for it and do not let them sucker you into believing this honest or that TRUMP is honest! They are both in on it together! They merely represent two different paths for them to reach their ultimate goal! Share this: | 1real |
Trump or Clinton? Israelis fret, but either is a likely ally | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Most of the world follows U.S. presidential elections closely, but Israel can seem particularly obsessive, endlessly assessing which candidate will better protect its interests and breaking down their every comment for policy clues. As America votes on Tuesday, a cartoon in the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz captured a sense of that fretfulness, depicting friends sitting outside a typical falafel stand and discussing in nerdy detail how the ballot will turn out. “There’s no way he’d lose Utah and Arizona, and you can’t count on North Carolina,” one says to the other. “They’d need to win Pennsylvania and hopefully Florida,” the other replies. The fact is, despite all the nervous introspection, both Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are likely to be reliable for Israel, continuing the broad policy mix U.S. presidents have pursued since the 1980s. It’s the Palestinians who may have more to worry about. Over the past four years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had a fractious relationship with Barack Obama, openly campaigning against the U.S. deal on Iran’s nuclear program, including condemning it in a speech to Congress. But ultimately that did not stand in the way of the Obama administration’s agreeing a new, $38 billion, 10-year military aid package for Israel. And while the U.S. president has criticized Israel for building more settlements on land the Palestinians seek for their own state, the censure has never gone beyond words, essentially leaving Israel free to build. Analysts say that standoff-ish approach is likely to continue whether Clinton or Trump becomes president, and there are other reasons for Israel to expect a warmer embrace from the next administration than it has had from Obama. Netanyahu has been careful not to show favoritism, meeting both candidates and saying much the same thing afterwards. Clinton, a former New York senator and U.S. secretary of state, has repeatedly emphasized that she will protect Israel’s interests. Trump has said he will move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a popular line that would all but enshrine Jerusalem as the country’s capital. “We enjoy and appreciate the strong bipartisan support we get,” said Lior Weintraub, vice-president of The Israel Project, a pro-Israel lobby group, and a former chief of staff at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. “We believe either president will continue the tradition of the many presidents from both sides of the aisle of fostering the alliance on every front, from security to culture.” While polls show most Israelis favor Clinton, Trump has a hard-core following among some national-religious Israelis, many of whom are originally from the United States. When it comes to policy, Israeli analysts see Clinton as having a better handle on the issues, and the people who are likely to handle the Middle East if she is elected are more familiar faces than those in Trump’s circle. The question is what it may mean for the Palestinians. With deep internal divisions and little prospect of a resumption of peace talks with Israel, Palestinian observers believe neither candidate has their best interests at heart. “Either of them will maintain the U.S. commitment to aid Israel, the two have publicly angered the Palestinians in electoral speeches,” said analyst Hani Habib. “The only difference was that Trump promised to move the U.S. ambassador to Jerusalem while Clinton kept silent. “Any betting on either of them is a losing bet,” he said. (This version of the story was refiled to restore the dropped word ‘will’ in paragraph two) | 0fake |
This Is What REAL Christians Do When Their Priest Preaches To Ban Abortion (VIDEO) | The members of a Roman Catholic church in Poland have demonstrated to the world how compassionate Christians can shut down priest when they preach politics, not religion, from the pulpit.The women were at a Roman Catholic church in Gdansk, which is spearheading the outlawing of abortion in the Eastern European country. The Priest began reading a letter to the congregation in favor of the ban, which triggered a large number of mostly female worshippers to stand, turn their back on the Priest, and leave the church.As The Journal reports:The message from Poland s Catholic bishops, presented at churches nationwide, called on lawmakers to back the proposal being considered by Poland s right-wing government.The move would tighten what are already some of Europe s most restrictive laws on pregnancy termination. Current legislation, dating from 1993, already bans all terminations except when pregnancy results from rape or incest, poses a health risk to the mother, or if the foetus is severely deformed.Pro-life activists support even tougher legislation but the move has sparked a backlash and thousands of marchers took part in a protest outside the country s parliament in Warsaw yesterday, as well as in several other cities.The move is in sharp contrast to Christian conservatives in the United States, who are actually rallying behind candidates and religious leaders who wear their prejudice and intolerance on their sleeve. Even Pope Francis is being pilloried by the Christian Right in America for his refusal to hate and preach against Muslims.In fact, there is not a candidate left in the GOP race for president who believes in a woman s reproductive rights over her own body. Donald Trump believes women should be punished for having abortions. Ted Cruz would outlaw abortion, with no exceptions even in cases of incest or rape. Even the candidate who is selling himself as the moderate, John Kasich, also calls for a total ban on abortion. There is no pro-choice version of the Republican message anymore.In economic policy, the ultra-right of the conservative movement has killed off the Eisenhower Republicans the GOP lawmakers and voters who believed in investment, taxation and welfare as the pillars which support free enterprise and a stable, prosperous society. At the same time, the evangelists have killed any hope of social liberalism in the party.What s left behind is a cold, cruel, and crazy mob, who simply do not care about facts, evidence or rational discussion. They are zealots. Let us hope that for the sake of the Republican Party, and the country, that a complete slaughtering in election 2016 brings everyone back to their senses. https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10153656792786939/?__mref=message_bubbleFeatured Image via Screengrab | 1real |
IT’S ALL THE RAGE: LIBERAL WRITER DECIDES TO CHANGE HER BODY TO MATCH HER GENDER NEUTRAL MIND | As the years pass, people are doing more and more horrible things to themselves like severe mutilation to deny your gender. Of course, they might not look at it in those terms but most sane people wouldn t go to the extremes to be a nonbinary person. It s funny because we have people pretending to be a different race and people pretending to be a different or neutral gender. The world really has gone mad This is just so wrong on so many levels. This woman is severely disturbed. Author Lore Graham has now classified herself as a nonbinary person with no gender. She had her breasts, uterus, cervix and ovaries removed after taking testosterone. Now, her body is evidently in harmony with her mind and is just as screwed up. What kind of doctor would do this for a patient? If I were a doctor, I would have refused on the grounds that the patient wasn t mentally stable and that it would actually hurt the patient in the long run. Graham needs serious mental help. What she has done now can t be undone and she ll have to live with it. If she can that is. If she ever regains mental equilibrium, she may find that hard to do.From Mad World News:With the exception of rare genetic abnormalities, everyone who walks the earth is considered one of two genders male or female. Well, that was until an unsatisfied woman from Boston, Massachusetts decided that she hated being a gender and did the unimaginable to her body and it wasn t a sex change. Author Lore Graham is a self-described nonbinary person, or rather, someone who chooses not to be defined by a gender. Although she was born a female, she always despised her breasts, ovaries, and uterus. Instead of accepting her gender, she decided to do something rather extreme about it. I felt weird having breasts and I despised my body s ability to get pregnant, Lore explained, according to IJ Review. I started taking testosterone three years ago, which improved my mental health and body image but didn t solve the problem of my chest or uterus. Although the testosterone helped her body, she still felt out of harmony. In order to achieve happiness, she underwent both a mastectomy and hysterectomy this summer, ridding her body of the pesky breasts and uterus she was born with. On the day of the mastectomy in June, Lore was concerned that she may still be unhappy with the way she looked after the procedure. You would think that someone undergoing such a major surgery, especially an elective one, would be certain that what they were doing was the right move. After all was said and done, Lore was relieved and happy with her boyishly flat chest. A month later, Lore underwent the second procedure the removal of her uterus, cervix, and ovaries. Everything went well, and Lore only complained that her abdomen hurt but luckily my vagina didn t, and the doctor said everything had gone swimmingly. Well, that was until she was required to pee before she was discharged from the hospital. Unfortunately, due to the procedure, she temporarily couldn t urinate on her own. After spending some time dealing with the hassle of a catheter shoved in her urethra, she made a full recovery, much to her delight. Lore is very pleased with her newly surgically mutilated body. If desired, I put on a shirt. That s it. No bras, no binders, no support or compression, no back pain, no worrying about what type of shirt, nothing, explained Lore, according toDaily Mail. I live in my own body, that I ve customized to better harmonize with my brain, and it s working wonderfully. That says a lot doesn t it? Let s repeat that, customized to better harmonize with my brain. Yet, the liberal left denies that what Lore and people like her are experiencing is a mental disorder. In what other circumstance would cutting off appendages or ripping out organs unnecessarily to better harmonize with the brain not be considered a psychiatric disorder? Unfortunately, our world has become a place where you can pick and choose whether you want to be male, female, or neither, and obvious mental issues are ignored in the name of political correctness. What happened to enjoying and being thankful for the body God gave you and addressing psychiatric disorders when they present themselves, rather than denying them as to not offend the disturbed? What s with the androgynous craze? It s just sick, twisted and perverted. Not only that, the government is promoting it and pushing it on children. Whatever freakish perception this woman has of herself, she is still a woman. God made her that way and rather than learning to accept and embrace her identity, she is butchering it. What? Because she didn t want to wear a bra? She wanted to go shirtless? Move to France you could have saved yourself a bunch of money and pain. I wonder if she realizes by doing this she has significantly reduced her life expectancy. I wonder if a doctor even bothered to tell her that. I don t know why she is concerned with the way she looks, she is way past that burden. I can t believe no one intervened for this poor, delusional woman.Read more: Patriot Update | 1real |
Timeline: From TVs to microwaves, White House tries to explain wiretapping charge | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday distanced itself from a news report it embraced a day earlier that Britain’s top-secret eavesdropping agency monitored Trump Tower at former U.S. President Barack Obama’s behest. The White House had cited the report by a Fox News analyst as it sought to defend President Donald Trump’s charge that Obama’s administration wiretapped him during the 2016 election. Over the past two weeks, Trump and his aides have pressed the claim in numerous ways, including suggestions that Trump may have been monitored through microwaves and television sets. The White House has provided no proof to support Trump’s allegation and the heads of U.S. House and Senate intelligence panels, including from Trump’s Republican Party, have rejected it. Here is a chronology of the administration’s assertions: MARCH 4: In a series of early morning tweets, Trump accuses Obama of having his wires tapped and calls him a “bad (or sick) guy.” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer says the White House’s top lawyer was examining options for pursuing the claim. MARCH 5: The White House cites reports of potentially politically motivated investigations, and says Trump wanted the congressional intelligence committees to examine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016. MARCH 6: Spicer suggests monitoring may have been broader than a wire tap, might have been conducted under a secret foreign intelligence eavesdropping warrant and that “there is substantial reporting out there from individuals and from sources” that such surveillance occurred. MARCH 7: Spicer says while there is no new proof of Trump’s allegation, the president has absolutely no regrets about his tweets and that he was “not walking anything back or regretting.” MARCH 12: Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway suggests in an interview with the Bergen County Record newspaper that the monitoring may have been conducted through television sets or “microwaves that turn into cameras.” MARCH 13: Conway says her comments the previous day were misconstrued but continues to air the allegation about the president and wiretapping at Trump Tower. Spicer says Trump’s charges were based on reporting by a number of news organizations, including Fox, the BBC and the New York Times. Trump’s use of the word “wiretapping ... spans a whole host of surveillance types of options,” Spicer says. MARCH 14: Spicer says Trump is extremely confident the Justice Department would find evidence proving his allegation. MARCH 15: Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Intelligence Committee say they have seen no evidence of wiretapping. The White House defends Trump’s allegation, and Trump says in a Fox News interview that, “We will be submitting things before the committee very soon that hasn’t been submitted as of yet. But it’s potentially a very serious situation.” MARCH 16: The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, separately say there is no proof of Trump’s charge. Spicer says there is no question that surveillance techniques were used. He cites a litany of news reports to justify the allegation. They include an assertion by a Fox News analyst, former New Jersey Judge Andrew Napolitano, that he had been told by unidentified intelligence officials that Obama obtained transcripts of Trump’s conversations from Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, the British agency that monitors overseas communications. MARCH 17: The administration backs away from the Fox News report after the British government said it was assured by the White House that it would not repeat Napolitano’s allegation, dubbed “nonsense” by a GCHQ spokesman. “Mr. Spicer was simply pointing to public reports, not endorsing any specific story,” said a White House official. | 0fake |
Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan Meet with Donald Trump Promise ‘Bold Agenda’ - Breitbart | House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell met with President Donald Trump Monday in the Oval Office. [The two Republican leaders spoke to reporters after the meeting, which preceded the president’s joint address to members of Congress on Tuesday. “We’ve got a bold agenda ahead of us, and the president is going to lay it out and why it’s going to make a difference in people’s lives,” Ryan said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he looked forward to a “positive upbeat” message from Trump, promising that the Republicans’ agenda would be “exactly the same as the Trump agenda. ” Ryan said House Republicans would be rolling out a House plan to repeal and replace Obamacare with a better plan that would give Americans “choice and freedom” instead of a mandatory plan that was in a “death spiral. ” That plan would likely be released in the spring, he confirmed. Reporters asked Ryan whether he would support Trump’s budget, even though it was unlikely to include entitlement reforms to Social Security and Medicare. “Repealing and replacing Obamacare is fundamental entitlement reform,” Ryan replied. | 0fake |
Deutsche Bank ignores U.S. Trump/Russia query: Democratic staffer | FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany’s largest bank has failed to respond to a request from Democrats on a U.S. House of Representatives panel for details about U.S. President Donald Trump’s possible ties to Russia, a Democratic staffer said on Sunday. Several Democrats on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee sent a letter last month to John Cryan, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank, seeking details that might show if Trump’s loans for his real estate business were backed by the Russian government. The letter asked for details of internal reviews of Trump’s transactions and gave the prominent German bank until Friday to respond. The bank’s response did not address any of the numerous questions posed in the letter and its Frankfurt headquarters declined to comment, as it has in the past. “Deutsche Bank’s outside counsel has confirmed receipt of our May 23, 2017, letter but did not provide substantive responses to our requests,” a Democratic member of the staff told Reuters in an email on condition of anonymity. The congressional inquiry is also seeking information about a Russian “mirror trading” scheme that allowed $10 billion to flow out of Russia. “Congress remains in the dark on whether loans Deutsche Bank made to President Trump were guaranteed by the Russian government, or were in any way connected to Russia,” the Democrats wrote in their request to Deutsche Bank. “It is critical that you provide this committee with the information necessary to assess the scope, findings and conclusions of your internal reviews,” they said. The Democrats cannot compel Deutsche Bank to hand over the information. The House committee has the power to subpoena the documents, but Republican committee members - who make up the majority of the panel - would have to cooperate. No Republicans have signed the document request. Citing media reports, the Democrats had called for the bank to hand over any documents tied to internal reviews of Trump’s personal accounts at the bank. They also said the bank should state publicly that it had reviewed both the “mirror trading” scheme and Trump’s accounts. Mirror trading involved buying stocks, for example, in Moscow in rubles, with related parties selling the same stocks shortly thereafter through a bank’s London branch. The House panel request to Deutsche Bank came as Trump was mired in controversy over FBI and congressional probes into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Moscow has denied the allegations, and Trump has denied any collusion. | 0fake |
DEMOCRAT LAWMAKER Puts Forth Bill Requiring Wife’s Permission For Men To Obtain Viagra Prescription | Leave it to a Democrat to waste everyone s time and money by putting forth legislation she knows has no chance of passing, as a means to convince legislators they need to make it easier to kill an unborn child. A Kentucky lawmaker has put forward a bill that would require men to visit a doctor at least twice and obtain a signed permission slip from their wives before they could obtain a prescription for the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.State Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, a Democrat, acknowledged to the Louisville Courier-Journal that the bill has no chance of passing. However, she said the bill was a response to several anti-abortion measures, including a recently ratified law that requires a woman seeking an abortion to get counseling at least 24 hours in advance from a health professional.In an opinion piece, Marzian said her bill is meant to illustrate the absurdity of government encroachment into women s personal and medical decisions currently running amok in the Kentucky General Assembly and [Gov. Matt] Bevin administration. Marzian s bill specifies that only married men can obtain Viagra and a prospective patient must make a sworn statement with his hand on a Bible that he will only use a prescription for a drug for erectile dysfunction when having sexual relations with his current spouse. Other state lawmakers have filed similar bills to make political points. In 2012, a bill from an Ohio state senator required men to get a psychological evaluation before getting a Viagra prescription and last year a South Carolina state representative filed a bill that would require men to wait 24 hours before getting a prescription.Marzian has also said she would file a bill requiring potential gun buyers to undergo counseling from victims of gun violence 24 hours in advance of the purchase. Via: FOX News | 1real |
CHELSEA CLINTON CRITICIZES President Trump Over Policy On Transgenders In Military…Forgot Whose Policy BANNED Openly Gay Soldiers From Serving In Our Military | The unaccomplished Chelsea Clinton, wife of unemployed and perpetually vacationing husband Marc Mezvinsky, and daughter of America s most famous grifters, Bill and Hillary Clinton, took to Twitter to criticize President Trump s ban on transgenders in the military. It s worth noting that the woman whose wedding was paid for by the charitable Clinton Foundation, has assumed a new role, as the self-assigned new Democrat leader. There s only one problem with Chelsea s criticism she neglected to mention her father s ban on any military member who dared to be honest about being gay.Apparently in a hypocritical liberal s world, it s okay to ban openly gay military members, but it s hateful and a violation of human rights to ban openly transexual members of our military. Who better to make a policy that forces thousands of troops to keep secrets about their sexual lifestyle than the impeached former President Bill Clinton right Chelsea?Yesterday, the Washington Post tweeted about the hit piece they did on Trump s transgender ban:Analysis: Trump s stance on LGBT rights has always been confusing https://t.co/tNaSKJ082u Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 26, 2017Chelsea replied:No. President Trump has consistently failed to support LGBT equal rights, dignity & safety in the U.S. & around world (e.g. Chechnya/Russia) https://t.co/nXY5uYjz4S Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) July 26, 2017Don t Ask, Don t Tell (DADT), byname for the former official U.S. policy (1993 2011) regarding the service of homosexuals in the military. The term was coined after Pres. Bill Clinton in 1993 signed a law (consisting of statute, regulations, and policy memoranda) directing that military personnel don t ask, don t tell, don t pursue, and don t harass. When it went into effect on October 1, 1993, the policy theoretically lifted a ban on homosexual service that had been instituted during World War II, though in effect it continued a statutory ban. | 1real |
Obama's remarks on Orlando shooting: 'We will not give in to fear' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Sunday said Americans would stand united and “not give in to fear or turn against each other” in the wake of a nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, that killed 50 people. Following is the full text of remarks, Obama delivered at the White House: Today, as Americans, we grieve the brutal murder - a horrific massacre - of dozens of innocent people. We pray for their families, who are grasping for answers with broken hearts. We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city. Although it’s still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate. And as Americans, we are united in grief, in outrage, and in resolve to defend our people. I just finished a meeting with FBI Director Comey and my homeland security and national security advisers. The FBI is on the scene and leading the investigation, in partnership with local law enforcement. I’ve directed that the full resources of the federal government be made available for this investigation. We are still learning all the facts. This is an open investigation. We’ve reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer. The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terrorism. And I’ve directed that we must spare no effort to determine what - if any - inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups. What is clear is that he was a person filled with hatred. Over the coming days, we’ll uncover why and how this happened, and we will go wherever the facts lead us. This morning I spoke with my good friend, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, and I conveyed the condolences of the entire American people. This could have been any one of our communities. So I told Mayor Dyer that whatever help he and the people of Orlando need - they are going to get it. As a country, we will be there for the people of Orlando today, tomorrow and for all the days to come. We also express our profound gratitude to all the police and first responders who rushed into harm’s way. Their courage and professionalism saved lives, and kept the carnage from being even worse. It’s the kind of sacrifice that our law enforcement professionals make every single day for all of us, and we can never thank them enough. This is an especially heartbreaking day for all our friends - our fellow Americans - who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The shooter targeted a nightclub where people came together to be with friends, to dance and to sing, and to live. The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub - it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights. So this is a sobering reminder that attacks on any American - regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation - is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country. And no act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans. Today marks the most deadly shooting in American history. The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle. This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well. In the coming hours and days, we’ll learn about the victims of this tragedy. Their names. Their faces. Who they were. The joy that they brought to families and to friends, and the difference that they made in this world. Say a prayer for them and say a prayer for their families - that God give them the strength to bear the unbearable. And that He give us all the strength to be there for them, and the strength and courage to change. We need to demonstrate that we are defined more - as a country - by the way they lived their lives than by the hate of the man who took them from us. As we go together, we will draw inspiration from heroic and selfless acts - friends who helped friends, took care of each other and saved lives. In the face of hate and violence, we will love one another. We will not give in to fear or turn against each other. Instead, we will stand united, as Americans, to protect our people, and defend our nation, and to take action against those who threaten us. May God bless the Americans we lost this morning. May He comfort their families. May God continue to watch over this country that we love. Thank you. | 0fake |
Microsoft Unveils Its First Desktop PC - The New York Times | Microsoft is trying to light a creative spark under the struggling personal computer industry. On Wednesday, the company, which is based in Redmond, Wash. unveiled a desktop personal computer that turns into a digital drafting table. Surface Studio, as the new device is called, is the company’s first desktop PC, and a reminder of Microsoft’s growing presence in the hardware side of the industry that it once left entirely to its partners. At an event in New York, Microsoft also announced an update to its Windows 10 operating system that is designed to make creating, manipulating and viewing objects easier. The new Microsoft machine is a handsome specimen of the PC category best exemplified by Apple’s iMac. It has a sleek aluminum body with screen that rests on top of a stand. Microsoft also showed a new accessory device called the Surface Dial that augments computer mice, giving users a precise way to zoom in images and perform other actions. “This is a product that we believe truly brings out the creator in all of us,” said Panos Panay, a Microsoft corporate vice president. The new Microsoft PC will not be for everyone though, if only because of its $2, 999 price tag. It will go on sale in limited quantities this holiday season, Mr. Panay said. Architects, product designers and engineers are among the likely targets for the product. Surface Studio stands out from others in that its display is touch sensitive, effectively making it a gargantuan tablet that can be manipulated with hands and a stylus. A hinge in its stand allows users to position the screen at an angle so they can write and draw on it more naturally. J. P. Gownder, an analyst at Forrester Research, thinks the new device allows Microsoft to participate in the high end of the PC market, where profit margins tend to be fatter. During its most recently reported quarter, Microsoft said it had $926 million in Surface revenue, up 38 percent from the same period a year earlier. But like previous Surface computers from Microsoft, including a laptop and tablet, Surface Studio is also intended to inspire other PC makers, Mr. Gownder said. “Without the vision that the Surface team has provided, frankly, the PC industry would be in worst shape than it is anyway,” Mr. Gownder said. Sales in the PC market have been in a long slump. Shipments of new PCs in the third quarter fell 3. 9 percent from the previous year, according to IDC, the technology research firm. Microsoft said a new version of its operating system that would be released early next year, Windows 10 Creators Update, is aimed at responding to the interest in imagery inspired by new technologies like virtual reality. The company demonstrated how a image of a sand castle can easily be captured on a smartphone and then edited into a greeting card on Windows 10 with a new application that comes with the software. The company’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, said Microsoft’s new products were meant for the people who needed more than a regular consumer’s computer. “We are the company that stands for the builders, the makers, the creators — that’s who we are,” Mr. Nadella said. “Every choice we make is about finding that balance between consumption and creative expression. ” Microsoft also said several hardware companies, including HP, Dell, Lenovo and Asus, would release virtual reality headsets next holiday season that work with Windows 10 PCs. The headsets will start at $299, hundreds of dollars less than comparable headsets. | 0fake |
Trump Calls Out Anti-Fascists By Name, But FBI And DHS Say The Alt-Right Acts Like ISIS — And Goes Unmentioned | Ever since the Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia claimed the life of Heather Heyer, the entire spectrum on the Right from moderates all the way to Alt-Right terrorists has been scrambling to figure out a way to blame it on the Left. That s natural. It was a murder, after all. Nobody wants to take the blame for anything bad they re responsible for, let alone the murder of an innocent victim. But Donald Trump has been especially adept at seemingly calling out radical groups, while never actually explicitly naming the radical group that is to blame.It s not like he doesn t know the phrase Alt-Right. It s in the news every day. He sure as hell knows the word Antifa. That s the many in his many sides comment after Heyer s murder, which he doubled down on two days later. In fact, the word came out of his mouth in accusation at his Phoenix rally last Tuesday. Someone even made a joke about it: pic.twitter.com/9fANLcaXXN Chris Stephens (@ChrisStephensMD) August 23, 2017The only time I can remember Trump saying the words alt-right in reference to Charlottesville was in Trump Tower: What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, the alt-right ? Do they have any semblance of guilt? As YOU say.So why won t he address the Alt-Right? They are a terrorist group, by any definition. What s more, they identify as Christians, persecuted for their identity, justifying their actions with appeals to us over them. That s pretty reminiscent of another radicalized, religious extremist group that feels persecuted, hates outsiders and gay people, treats women like chattel, and uses terror and death to achieve their aims.Only those guys are brown.Here in America, though, ISIS and groups like them that is to say, radical Islamic terrorists have nothing on white Christian males. A joint intelligence bulletin from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security found that the group we softly label white supremacists were responsible for 49 murders in 26 terror attacks over the last decade and a half. That s more than any other group in America. That report from two agencies tasked with American safety literally says that radicalized white Christian males are the most dangerous people in the country.Part of Trump s unwillingness to name the Alt-Right as the terror group they are comes from their Goebbels-like effectiveness with propaganda. If they can make it seem like there actually are two sides to the conflict that led to Heyer s death (and countless other injuries, physical, mental, and personal), they can paint their own side as justified in opposition to it. They achieve this with troll-led petitions that seem legitimate, and by posing as members of the Left and doing horrible things. Remember that kid who would break something, then leave a piece of it in his brother s room so his parents would bust the wrong boy? That s the Alt-Right.But the other part of Donald Trump s inability to name names when it comes to the Alt-Right is simple: They are his biggest fans, and he loves them, terrorism be damned.Featured image via Stephen Maturen/Getty Images | 1real |
WATCH DONALD DISCUSS OUR MILITARY At FL Rally And See Why He’s Beating Rubio And Bush In Their Home State | Love him or hate him he s shaking it up and putting the Republican establishment on notice. They re will be no more business as usual if Donald occupies our White House. Trump actually believes he s working for us and not for corporate America or special interest groups, and that s why America is supporting him in a YUGE way!https://youtu.be/sxqNZDl-6EYHere is the latest Real Clear Politics polling data in Florida: | 1real |
Paul Ryan is an endangered species: How congressional extremists could easily doom his speakership | Barring that, what will actually happen is that Obama will veto the bill. Darn, so close, guys. And we were all so sure the 62nd time would be the charm.
Now, this was only possible because the Senate passed a similar bill through the budget reconciliation process, which is not subject to minority filibusters and allows bills to pass with a simple majority vote. So Ryan didn’t really do anything different than his predecessor John Boehner would have, legislatively speaking. But he did get to tweet out a spiffy new: #OnHisDesk. Which in Washington is now preferable to the actual hard work of writing and passing legislation that might impact your constituents’ lives in tiny but positive ways.
Hashtags and demagoguery aside, what the GOP has actually done is start off the New Year – and the 10-month push to Election Day – by voting to take away healthcare from millions of Americans.
The larger point here is that, while it is still early in his tenure, so far the best evidence suggests that Paul Ryan’s House of Representatives is going to be pretty much as worthless as Boehner’s, at least this year: Do the bare minimum to keep the lights on and the government performing its basic functions, then placate the GOP’s angry right wing by letting them pass “messaging” bills that President Obama will laugh right out of the Oval Office.
We’ve already seen the House take on an omnibus spending bill just before Christmas that Ryan needed Democratic votes to pass while the GOP’s Freedom Caucus was screaming for his head. This was pretty much how Boehner used to operate. The former speaker was an amiable party hack who didn’t really want to shut the government down to placate the gremlins that run through right-wingers’ minds whenever they see a line item for Planned Parenthood in the government’s budget. Such shutdowns might get the base excited, but they are bad for the business leaders and lobbyists who so recently held some semblance of control of the party
So Boehner would listen to the extremists, pat them on their heads, pay lip service to the idea that, say, repealing Obamacare was worth giving thousands of federal employees indefinite and unpaid vacations, and then at the last minute go negotiate with Nancy Pelosi to keep the lights on. This was a terrible way to run the nation, and it eventually cost Boehner his job.
There was never any reason to believe any of this would change with Ryan at the helm. But when the GOP was begging him to take the job, party leaders sold him as the only man who could unite his fractious caucus. Ryan himself promised the far right that he would return to them some of the power Boehner had yanked, that he would listen to their concerns without condescension, and that he would take action on the issues most important to them. He was helped by Boehner secretly negotiating one final spending deal with Obama, which allowed Ryan to pass the latest omnibus while telling conservatives that, gosh darn it, he hated to vote for such a monstrosity but his wily predecessor left him no choice. None of this is to say that Ryan and Boehner are ideologically similar. Ryan has long been a zealot on supply-side economics, demonstrating a Randian belief in radically cutting the size of government, mostly on the backs of the poor. Boehner, on the other hand, while generally conservative, never met an ideological principle he wouldn’t trade away for a bottle of Scotch and someone else paying his greens fees. But Ryan is pragmatic enough to understand his goals are unreachable by full-frontal assault. So you get him passing the omnibus and following it up with this latest attempt at repealing Obamacare. You have him slamming President Obama’s mild executive actions on guns (over which at least one Republican is threatening to shut down part of the executive branch), which keeps anyone from noticing the giant gift the business wing of the party is about to hand Volkswagen and its lobbyists after the automaker was caught earlier this year in a systemic violation of the Clean Air Act. In terms of the results he’s getting in the House, Ryan is basically Boehner with cleaner lungs and minus the rambling, wine-drunk press conferences. It remains to be seen whether this two-faced act will carry out through the entire year. The far right has been grumbling, and Ryan’s approval ratings have dropped. If the GOP thinks it has a real shot at winning the White House while retaining control of both houses of Congress, Ryan might be able to keep the right wing in line by pointing out the bonanza that will result for them with President Ted Cruz in the Oval Office. But if a Democrat takes the oath of office a year from now, far-right Republicans – and the GOP electorate in general – will be screaming very loudly for his scalp. | 0fake |
Republican Carson cuts staff but vows to campaign on | (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said he intends to continue campaigning through the Republican National Convention in July after a report on Thursday said he planned a major downsizing of his flagging campaign. The Washington Post reported that Carson planned to eliminate 50 staff positions, or nearly one-half his staff. Carson, in an appearance on the Fox News Channel, said the cuts have been months in the making after an examination found “inefficiencies” in his campaign. “It’s the same kind of thing I would do as president,” the retired neurosurgeon said. “There is a lot of money being wasted, a lot of inefficiency in government and just because you have the funds to continue that inefficiency doesn’t mean that you should do it.” The bulk of the cuts will come from his field offices and headquarters in Virginia, the Washington Post said, citing an internal memo and campaign officials. Carson will also reduce salaries for campaign workers, it said. Carson finished fourth among Republican presidential hopefuls in the Iowa caucuses on Monday with less than 10 percent of the vote. The newspaper said other cost-saving measures included possibly using commercial flights instead of private planes and limiting Carson’s travel team to a select few advisers. “We will be able to continue the campaign right until Cleveland,” Carson said, referring to the convention. “But obviously you always make appropriate adjustments to make sure you can accomplish your goal.” His most senior staffers will remain on the campaign team, according to the Post. (Reporting by Clarece Polke; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Jeffrey Benkoe) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage. | 0fake |
CLOAKED ORDER: Who’s Really Behind ‘New Authority’ for CIA Drone Strikes? | 21st Century Wire says Earlier this week, the mainstream media reported that the Trump administration granted the CIA a new secret authority broadening their ability to conduct drone strike operations against suspected terrorists. The new drone provision said to be without oversight from the Pentagon, was brought to our attention by unnamed sources published in the Wall Street Journal But is this the full story?As big media rushed to condemn the Trump administration over the supposedly brand new drone policy given to the CIA, the public has been left without a complete picture.While the new powers allowing the CIA to conduct larger-scale drone operations overseas should be of concern to the public you have to wonder if it was truly issued by the Trump administration or already under place during the Obama administration.While it s no secret that Trump has openly discussed being tough on terror and might be involved with the CIA drone order in some capacity, we should also consider the fact that many Obama and Democratic Party loyalists would like nothing more than to paint the new president in a less than agreeable light, potentially looking to create a political tripwire to derail his first term.Over the past few years the Obama administration was said to be shifting more drone operations away from the CIA but was that what really happened?In 2015, the NY Post published the following: President Obama secretly granted the Central Intelligence Agency more flexibility to conduct drone strikes targeting terror suspects in Pakistan than anywhere else in the world after approving more restrictive rules in 2013, according to a published report. The Wall Street Journal, citing current and former U.S. officials, reported that Obama approved a waiver exempting the CIA from proving that militants targeted in Pakistan posed an imminent threat to the U.S. In particular, the drone report outlined that while on the surface it appeared that Obama issued a directive to get rid of signature strikes conducted by the CIA many of the changes specified in the directive either haven t been implemented or have been works in progress. A signature strike can be conducted without presidential approval against any suspected militants.The NY Post then admitted that CIA had in fact a much broader latitude to target individuals under the Obama administration: The paper also reports that the CIA s Pakistan drone strike program was initially exempted from the imminent threat requirement until the end of U.S. and NATO combat operations in Afghanistan. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported the following drone statistics under Obama: Pakistan was the hub of drone operations during Obama s first term. The pace of attacks had accelerated in the second half of 2008 at the end of Bush s term, after four years pocked by occasional strikes. However in the year after taking office, Obama ordered more drone strikes than Bush did during his entire presidency. The 54 strikes in 2009 all took place in Pakistan.Strikes in the country peaked in 2010, with 128 CIA drone attacks and at least 89 civilians killed, at the same time US troop numbers surged in Afghanistan. Pakistan strikes have since fallen with just three conducted in the country last year. QUESTION: Is it possible that the CIA drone policy was just transferred from one administration to another?More from the Wall Street Journal below (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton). By Gordon Lubold and Shane Harris Wall Street JournalPresident Donald Trump has given the Central Intelligence Agency secret new authority to conduct drone strikes against suspected terrorists, U.S. officials said, changing the Obama administration s policy of limiting the spy agency s paramilitary role and reopening a turf war between the agency and the Pentagon.The new authority, which hadn t been previously disclosed, represents a significant departure from a cooperative approach that had become standard practice by the end of former President Barack Obama s tenure: The CIA used drones and other intelligence resources to locate suspected terrorists and then the military conducted the actual strike. The U.S. drone strike that killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in May 2016 in Pakistan was the best example of that hybrid approach, U.S. officials said.The Wall Street Journal continues here READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Donald Trump Jr.’s Skittles Tweet Fits a Pattern - The New York Times | Donald Trump Jr. — a close political adviser to his father, Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for president — posted on Twitter on Monday night an image of a white bowl full of Skittles. The image came with this text: “If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful? That’s our Syrian refugee problem. ” Mr. Trump, 38, the candidate’s oldest child, then got an earful. Hillary Clinton’s campaign called the post “disgusting. ” A stream of social media users denounced it as both flippant and fearmongering, noting the infinitesimal odds of being killed in a terrorist attack by a refugee. Even the parent company of Skittles weighed in. But Mr. Trump’s comparison of men, women and children displaced by a horrific civil war to a chewy candy was hardly the first time he had been accused of poor taste. If his sister Ivanka Trump has become known for her polish and message discipline, he has distinguished himself by wading frequently into the shadowy waters of white supremacy, incendiary language and conspiracy theories. Other political candidates and officeholders, including Hillary and Bill Clinton, have also had relatives attract unflattering attention. But rarely are those family members so central to a campaign. Donald Jr. Ivanka and Eric Trump — the children from the elder Mr. Trump’s first marriage, to Ivana Trump — all spoke at the Republican National Convention and have been key players in their father’s White House run. This month, Donald Trump Jr. invoked the Holocaust when he argued to a Philadelphia radio station that the news media gave Mrs. Clinton a pass on “every indiscrepancy. ” If Republicans had done what she had, he said, “they’d be warming up the gas chamber right now. ” (He later claimed this was a reference to capital punishment.) He recently shared a Twitter post by Kevin MacDonald, a psychologist who has written about “Jewish influence” for a website devoted to “white identity, interests and culture” and who has testified on behalf of a Holocaust denier. A few days before that, Mr. Trump shared on his Instagram account a picture showing the faces of his father, himself and several Trump supporters with Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character that has been as a mascot by the “” an informal assembly of white nationalists, conservatives and internet provocateurs. “A friend sent me this,” Mr. Trump wrote of the image, adding that he was “honored” to have been included in it. The Trump campaign declined to make Donald Jr. available for comment, instead releasing a statement that echoed his derision of political correctness and applauded him for speaking “the truth. ” His allies and friends came to his defense. “It’s remarkable to me to see the level of outrage about a metaphor used by Don Jr. ,” the Republican nominee, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, said in an interview with NBC News. Todd Silverman, a friend from the University of Pennsylvania, said Mr. Trump “is not . ” Told about the Twitter accounts Mr. Trump had echoed and his “gas chamber” remark, Mr. Silverman, who is Jewish, said only, “That is not consistent with the person I know. ” Mr. Trump and his siblings have appeared at rallies and advised their father, who has generally eschewed traditional political consultants, on strategy. The elder Mr. Trump, a supporter, often mentions that his sons are avid hunters. Donald Jr. and Eric invited journalists to watch them hunt pheasants in Iowa before the caucuses there, and Donald Jr. once posed holding the tail of a dead elephant and other animals killed during an African safari. The siblings have also taken out big game within their father’s campaign: They pushed successfully to oust his onetime campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Donald Jr. also has a big role in the family business, as an executive vice president whose portfolio includes expanding the company’s real estate, retail, hotel and golf interests. He has also had a taste of reality stardom, appearing as an adviser on “The Celebrity Apprentice,” an iteration of his father’s hit show “The Apprentice. ” He lives with his wife and five children in New York, where he has flirted with the notion of running for mayor. “I like to keep optionality,” he said when asked on CNN if he would consider a run. The Trump campaign has called the scrutiny of his Twitter posts unfair. “We’re truly living in remarkable times,” said Jason Miller, a spokesman for the campaign. “The media’s run out of things to attack Mr. Trump on, and so now they scour the social media accounts of his family looking for things to blow out of proportion. ” Appearing this month on “Good Morning America,” Donald Jr. was asked by George Stephanopoulos about his use of the frog picture, which Mr. Stephanopoulos called a “ symbol of the white supremacist movement. ” “I’ve never even heard of Pepe the Frog,” Mr. Trump said. “I mean, bet you 90 percent of your viewers have never heard of Pepe the Frog. ” He added: “I thought it was a frog in a wig. I thought it was funny. ” Mr. Trump’s father has also employed his Twitter feed in ways many have found offensive. He has reposted messages from white supremacists’ accounts, and in July he posted an image of Mrs. Clinton, a pile of cash and a star in the shape of the Star of David. He quickly deleted the post and said it was not intended to be but he later said it should not have been deleted. Around that time, his son was retweeting social media users. In March, Donald Jr. appeared on a radio show where one of the interviewers had had David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader now running for the Senate in Louisiana, as a guest on his affiliated show. The interviewer, James Edwards, is the host of “The Political Cesspool,” which has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “racist and . ” Mr. Trump’s Skittles post on Monday, which drew almost 24, 000 “likes” by Tuesday afternoon, seemed almost tame by comparison. Its argument is one that many have made, sometimes using MMs, against accepting Syrian refugees, and it is consistent with the Trump campaign’s talking point that Mrs. Clinton’s more inclusive stance toward refugees threatens Americans. In a year marked by anxiety over terrorist attacks, 53 percent of respondents in an Associated Press poll in July thought the United States should allow fewer refugees to enter the country, as opposed to 11 percent who believed more should be allowed in. The Wrigley company, which makes Skittles, was careful not to take a position on the matter, though it was clearly not on board with being seen as a symbol of it. “Skittles are candy,” a company official said in a statement. “Refugees are people. We don’t feel it is an appropriate analogy. ” | 0fake |
The Monsanto Tribunal Is Over. How Did It Go? And What Happens Now? | Editor’s Note: The Monsanto Tribunal happened from October 14th through 16th in The Hague, Netherlands. The People’s Assembly was a parallel event, where farmers, consumer movements, and their associated networks discussed how we can feed the world in a safe way. Both events are now over, so what happens now? Read the article below to find out.
READ: Monsanto “Crimes Against Humanity” Tribunal Officially Begins October 14th In Hague Netherlands
The hearings of the Monsanto Tribunal were very impressive, and so was the People’s Assembly. During the last two days of the event, the world watched witnesses’ testimonies, lawyers’ pleas, and the first impressions of the judges. At the Tribunal, 750 people participated in The Hague representing 30 nationalities from all over the world, thousands of people followed online on the livestream and social media, and the Tribunal received a lot of press attention.
Both victims and experts thanked us for giving them a voice on this important international platform — and a very well documented voice in this new process to hold corporations accountable for their acts.
The chairwoman of the Tribunal, Judge Tulkens, expressed the importance of the Tribunal in an interview with the French newspaper, Le Monde:
The questions of the access to water and to healthy food are old. Those are not new issues coming out of the mind of angry activists. Those issues, just like the right to a healthy environment are likely to become more important with climate change. It is our duty to set legal tools to face those issues. The Monsanto Tribunal is a step and a tool within this dynamic.”
The Tribunal received quite a lot of media coverage. From French and German TV news programs to many newspapers and radio programs in various countries. See the links on our social media platforms (and later on the website).
Did Monsanto attend the Tribunal? Monsanto was invited to the Tribunal, but decided not to appear for their defense. We did get their attention though. They issued a statement in 5 languages saying that we are ‘pushing’ the wrong issues, since the real discussion is about feeding the world. Monsanto fails to see feeding the world in a safe way was exactly the topic of the Tribunal and of the discussion farmers, consumer movements, and their associated networks had in the parallel People’s Assembly.
Many eminent speakers stressed that Monsanto and agribusiness giants like them do not feed the world. Rather, they are involved in producing commodities, feed for animals, fuel for cars, and sugar for the food industry at a very high cost for human health and environment. This is production that feeds profit, not people. It’s the small- and medium-scale farmers that are actually feeding the world.
What is the purpose of the Monsanto Tribunal and the People’s Assembly? This Tribunal and People’s Assembly are about showing the tremendous costs of industrial farming for humans, for health, and for nature . They are also about standing up to Monsanto and their likes, and stopping them from poisoning our world and controlling our food supply. One way to do this is by showing the true cost of the current global food system, and the very real alternatives that exist.
Nnimmo Bassey at the opening said :
Being an ambassador to this Tribunal is like being an ambassador to mother Earth. If mother Earth could speak, Monsanto ought to be in jail long before now. Food is a celebration, it is culture, it is life. This is a struggle not against one multinational corporation, it is a struggle for life, it is a struggle for liberty. A struggle to stop big companies from colonizing our food systems, colonizing our agriculture, holding mother Earth as a slave for their profits.”
If you want, you can follow the Monsanto Tribunal on Facebook , where many pictures and videos have already been posted. You can also see them if you have no Facebook yourself. In the coming weeks, we will continue to release short interviews of the witnesses, experts and lawyers, as well as the speakers in the People’s Assembly. We will also add all of this to our website , including all the hearings of the Tribunal and the written testimonies in different languages. Please be patient, we will keep you informed!
What happens now that the Tribunal is over? The judges are now thoroughly reviewing the evidence from legal briefs and witness testimonies to answer the six questions posed in the Tribunal’s terms of reference. They will then present a legal advisory opinion, hopefully soon but if necessary next spring: we will supply logistic support, but the timing is up to them.
As Judge Tulkens said:
We will try to deliver the legal opinion before December 10th, the International Day of human Rights. It will be addressed to Monsanto and to the United Nations. From this legal opinion, other jurisdictions can be involved and more judges will step in. We, as the judges [at the Monsanto Tribunal]have seen, heard, noted and deliberated. Chances are that the international law will take into consideration new issues such as the ones related to ecocide.”
What you can do to help We would like to thank you and all the volunteers for your amazing support. This would not have been possible without you. Stay tuned, follow us on social media, show your support and share messages wherever and whenever you can. Ask friends to sign their support . Together we will put an end to the era of poisoning and exploiting the world and move onward to a system where we work with nature instead of waging a war against it.
Note: Image from the Monsanto Tribunal.
Originally published on the Monsanto Tribunal website .
Via: Food Revolution
h/t Stillness in the Storm
| 1real |
Illinois faces fiscal meltdown as budget deadline looms | CHICAGO (Reuters) - With a budget deal elusive and a midnight Friday deadline fast approaching, Illinois faces a crisis that threatens everything from its education system to government payrolls and the likelihood of becoming the first U.S. state ever with a junk credit rating. Illinois, which has gone a record-setting two straight years without a complete spending plan due to an impasse between its Republican governor and Democratic legislature, is poised to start fiscal 2018 on Saturday budget-less again. The consequences would be dire for the nation’s fifth-largest state, which has a $15 billion backlog of unpaid bills. S&P has warned that starting a new fiscal year without a budget that reduces a chronic structural deficit could trigger a downgrade to BB-plus. That would put Illinois on the same financial footing as Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Portugal. “The lack of a budget makes all the difference here,” said S&P analyst Gabriel Petek, who voiced concerns about the state’s ability to control its finances and cash flow. Even the agency that oversees elections is not immune. A top Illinois State Board of Elections official told Reuters the agency faces the loss of certain cyber security protections beginning in September because of an unpaid $9,000 bill. The board is among 21 state election authorities the U.S. Homeland Security Department confirmed were targeted by Russian hackers during the 2016 election. An immediate casualty is the state lottery. For the first time, Illinois suspended sales of Powerball and Mega Millions tickets and announced a delay in payments after Saturday on any prizes exceeding $25,000. The lack of a state budget threatens serious disruption to schools during the next six weeks. Out of Illinois’ 401 public school systems, 144 expect to have less than 90 days of operating cash at fiscal year-end, said Robert Wolfe, chief financial officer for the Illinois State Board of Education. “If there is no budget, it is doubtful we can open our doors on August 15th,” said Ralph Grimm, school superintendent in Galesburg, Illinois. Public universities, which have suffered a steep drop in state funding, now fear further erosion in student enrollment, the loss of accreditation, and bruising spending cuts. Lindsay Perez, a suburban Chicago mother, and her 9-year-old daughter Elena, who survives on a Medicaid-funded ventilator, described for reporters on Thursday the horrific situation of losing some of her medical supplies because of the budget crisis. The girl, who was born without a lung, urged politicians to pass a budget. “If you could try hard enough, you could do it,” she said. Meanwhile, Illinois risks intervention from federal judges overseeing consent decrees requiring the state to fund medical and other services for the disadvantaged. A U.S. judge is weighing how much more Illinois must allocate to pay down $3.1 billion in Medicaid bills to ensure continued medical care for 3 million poor and disabled residents. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, whose office pays the state’s bills, has pledged to fully cover debt service on bonds, but essential payments for pensions and payroll could face reductions if the judge orders a higher priority for Medicaid. Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan offered reporters a murky response on Thursday when asked if a resolution to the fiscal mess could be struck with Governor Bruce Rauner by the midnight Friday deadline. “Oh sure, if everybody is reasonable,” Madigan said of a potential breakthrough. “It could’ve been done two years ago.” The long odds that Madigan and Rauner, who posted a Twitter photo of himself at his desk waiting for a “balanced budget,” could strike a deal appeared to worsen with Thursday’s abrupt resignation of Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, respected by both parties as an expert negotiator. “I really tried hard. It’s time for someone else to take the reins,” she told reporters. | 0fake |
WHOA! MSNBC Let Sheila Jackson Lee Do Entire Interview With…A Nosebleed? [Video] | Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee did an entire interview on MSNBC Monday morning with what appeared to be a nosebleed dripping down her lip Why didn t anyone at MSNBC tell her to wipe her nose when she was off camera? Notice at the beginning of the interview, a staffer is off camera trying to tell her about the problem but she shoos the person away MSNBC Anchor Chris Jansing did the entire interview with Lee like this!Sheila Jackson Lee Does Entire MSNBC Interview With A Nosebleed #TRUMP #CyberMonday #MondayMotivaton #FakeNewsTrophy #CFPB #TheStorm #FollowTheWhiteRabbit #TickTock @LowInfoTweeter pic.twitter.com/MACn5ZdLoK John Dee -Deplorable (@GaltsGultch) November 27, 2017Daily Caller reported: Get away, she said when MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing cut to her camera, while motioning for someone to get out of the camera shot.The unidentifiable liquid underneath her nose was immediately visible and stayed there throughout the interview, which lasted just under ten minutes. It s not totally clear what the liquid is, but based on the placement underneath the nose and the dark color, we can only guess that it is a nosebleed.The MSNBC producers apparently didn t think to do Jackson Lee a favor and tell her to wipe her nose while they weren t showing her on screen. The good news is that the supposed nose bleed matched the color of Jackson Lee s red blazer. | 1real |
Trump and Ryan: Health Bill May Test Marriage of Convenience - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — President Trump, once the master pitchman for namesake vodka, steaks and casinos, seems disinclined to attach his surname to the health care bill some allies have derided as “Ryancare. ” He assured Americans on Thursday of the “improvements being made” to legislation that Speaker Paul D. Ryan initially suggested would scarcely change, amid grumblings that the White House is fuming over the plan’s rollout. And Mr. Ryan, Mr. Trump’s partner in the endeavor after a year of campaign criticisms and mistrust, is insisting that all is going according to plan. “I would say that there is no intrigue, palace intrigue, divisions between the principals,” Mr. Ryan told reporters on Thursday, allowing that perhaps some “ staffers” felt differently. “We have a president,” he added, brandishing a fluency in the language of Trump, “who likes closing deals. ” For months, the halting union of Mr. Trump and Mr. Ryan has weathered a stark divide in political ideology and style — a mutual acknowledgment, at least so far, that each man was critical to the other’s outsize governing ambitions. But with the health care bill staggering through the House, its fate uncertain, their alliance is facing an essential test, as White House officials and congressional leaders stare down the prospect of failing at their first major legislative heave. In less than two months, the party divisions that Mr. Trump exploited in his thundering campaign have resurfaced in the health care fight, even as Republicans control the White House and Congress. Already, some allies of Mr. Trump are moving to distance him from the potential fallout, privately suggesting that the speaker was never to be trusted in the first place. Administration officials have expressed frustration that there was not a better explanation of the approach described by the House Republican leadership after the bill was unveiled, lamenting the resulting confusion. In recent days, Mr. Ryan has blitzed the news media, including several outlets often hostile to the speaker, to make the case for the bill more forcefully than the president has seemed interested in doing himself. But Mr. Ryan has made clear that he alone does not bear the weight of the present challenge. “It’s not my bill,” he told CNN, noting that the White House had helped Congress draft it. “It’s our bill. ” As if for emphasis, he also noted that he talks to the president almost every day. For the president and the speaker, passage of the bill is about more than the health care debate it is a matter of demonstrating that major legislation — with the weight of the White House behind it — can sweep through a Republican Congress. On Capitol Hill, Republicans are already confronting concerns that a stumble on the first major agenda item would imperil future efforts on tax reform and a border wall. “The legislative window closes a lot sooner than people imagine,” said Peter Wehner, a former director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives under President George W. Bush, who has known Mr. Ryan for two decades. “It’s open the first year, and you better get things done. If you win, that builds on itself. And if you lose, that builds on itself. ” In an effort to appease conservatives, the White House is warming to a shortening of the Medicaid phaseout period in the current bill, among other changes, aiming to move the bill through the House and daring moderate Senate Republicans to stand in its way. Soon, Mr. Trump could take to the road himself to pressure potentially reluctant members in their states, according to a person briefed on the discussions. On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence sought to galvanize House Republicans at a session in the basement of the Capitol, where members dined on and sought reassurances. Mr. Pence insisted that Mr. Trump was “spoiling for a fight” to see the process through to completion, according to an attendee. But while the White House has said publicly that collaboration has been smooth, the bill’s struggles have not gone unnoticed in Mr. Trump’s orbit. On Monday, a curiously timed report appeared on the website Breitbart, often a repository of tea leaves for members of Mr. Trump’s circle. (It was once run by Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, a vocal Ryan critic in his old job.) Hours after the release of a damaging analysis on the health bill from the Congressional Budget Office, the site published leaked audio of Mr. Ryan telling House members last October that he could no longer defend Mr. Trump’s campaign. The content of the tape was not news Mr. Ryan’s view at the time was clear, just after the release of the “Access Hollywood” video in which Mr. Trump boasted of sexually assaulting women. But to admirers of Mr. Ryan, the message of the leak was unsubtle. “An audience of one,” Charlie Sykes, the longtime Wisconsin radio host and friend of Mr. Ryan’s, wrote on Twitter. It is not yet clear if the criticisms of Mr. Ryan are resonating with Mr. Trump. The president has been in regular contact with some Republican opponents of the bill in Congress, such as Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. And while Mr. Trump has suggested that he will be able to blame Democrats for installing the Affordable Care Act in the first place, some of his advisers are dubious. Mr. Trump has also told people that if this effort fails, he will try again in two years. Christopher Ruddy, a friend of Mr. Trump’s and the chief executive of Newsmax Media, said the current plan betrays how the president has traditionally viewed government programs. “Trump should trust his own instincts,” said Mr. Ruddy, who wrote a column suggesting that Mr. Trump seek a bipartisan consensus bill. The administration figure perhaps the most invested in finding a legislative fix is Reince Priebus, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, who is close with Mr. Ryan. While in Detroit on Wednesday, Mr. Trump pointed to Mr. Priebus and said he “may one day run a car company or maybe not,” before adding that he was doing a “great job. ” At a later event in Tennessee, after failing to mention the bill earlier in the day, Mr. Trump promised to “repeal and replace horrible and disastrous Obamacare,” repeatedly plugging the current legislation. Mr. Ryan — who during the campaign called Mr. Trump’s attacks on a judge of Mexican heritage “the textbook definition of a racist comment” — has scarcely said a cross word about him since the election. (He did allow on Thursday that he had “seen no evidence” to support Mr. Trump’s claim that President Barack Obama had wiretapped him.) The president’s assessment of Mr. Ryan has vacillated at least as much. In 2012, Mr. Trump thought Mr. Ryan was a dangerous choice as Mitt Romney’s running mate, and he was deeply critical of the congressman’s budget proposals to trim entitlement programs. After Mr. Ryan distanced himself in October, Mr. Trump savaged him as a “weak and ineffective leader. ” But by December, the two had reconciled. At a rally together in Wisconsin, Mr. Trump compared Mr. Ryan to “a fine wine” whose “genius” he had grown to appreciate. Then came the hedge: “Now, if he ever goes against me, I’m not going to say that. ” | 0fake |
The Israeli Trumpess | What will Donald Trump do if he loses the elections in a week and a half from now, as most polls indicate?
He has already declared that he will recognize the results – but only if he wins.
That sounds like a joke. But it is far from being a joke.
Trump has already announced that the election is rigged. The dead are voting (and all the dead vote for Hillary Clinton). The polling station committees are corrupt. The polling machines forge the results.
No, that is not a joke. Not at all.
This is not a joke, because Trump represents tens of millions of Americans, who belong to the lower strata of the white population, which the white elite used to call “white trash”. In more polite language they are called “blue collar workers”, meaning manual workers, unlike the “white collar workers” who occupy the offices.
If the tens of millions of blue-collar voters refuse to recognize the election results, American democracy will be in danger. The United States may become a banana republic, like some of its southern neighbors, which have never enjoyed a stable democracy.
This problem exists in all modern nation-states with a sizable national minority. The lowest strata of the ruling people hates the minority. Members of the minority push them out of the lower jobs. And more importantly: the lower strata of the ruling majority have nothing to be proud of except for their belonging to the ruling people.
The German unemployed voted for Adolf Hitler, who promoted them to the “Herrenvolk” (master people) and the Aryan race. They gave him power, and Germany was razed to the ground.
The one and only Winston Churchill famously said that democracy is a bad system, but that all the other systems tried were worse.
As far as democracy is concerned, the United States was a model for the world. Already in its early days it attracted freedom-lovers everywhere. Almost 200 years ago, the French thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote a glowing report about the “Democratie en Amerique”.
My generation grew up in admiration of American democracy. We saw European democracy breaking down and sinking into the morass of fascism. We admired this young America, which saved Europe in two world wars, out of sheer idealism. The democratic America vanquished German Nazism and Japanese militarism, and later Soviet Bolshevism.
Our childish attitude gave way to a more mature view. We learned about the genocide of the native Americans and about slavery. We saw how America is seized from time to time by an attack of craziness, such as the witch hunt of Salem and the era of Joe McCarthy, who discovered a Communist under every bed.
But we also saw Martin Luther King, we saw the first black President, and now we are probably about to see the first female President. All because of this miracle: American democracy.
And here come this man, Donald Trump, and tries to rip apart the delicate ties that bind American society together. He incites men against women, whites against blacks and hispanics, the rich against the destitute. He sows mutual hatred everywhere.
Perhaps the American people will get rid of this plague and send Trump back where he came from – television. Perhaps Trump will disappear like a bad dream, as did McCarthy and his spiritual forefathers.
Let’s hope. But there is also the opposite possibility: that Trump will cause a disaster never seen before: the downfall of democracy, the destruction of national cohesion, the breaking up into a thousand splinters.
Can this happen in Israel? Do we have an Israel a phenomenon that can be compared to the ascent of the American Trump? Is there an Israeli Trump?
Indeed, there is. But the Israeli Trump is a Trumpess.
She is called Miri Regev.
She resembles the original Trump in many ways. She challenges the Tel Aviv “old elites” as Trump incites against Washington. She incites Jewish citizens against Arab citizens. Orientals of eastern descent against Ashkenazis of European descent. The uncultured against the cultured. The poor against all others. She tears apart the delicate ties of Israeli society.
She is not the only one of her kind, of course. But she overshadows all the others.
After the elections for the 20 th Knesset, in March 2015, and the setting-up of the new government, Israel was overrun by a band of far-right politicians, like a pack of hungry wolves. Men and women without charm, without dignity, possessed by a ravenous hunger for power, for conspicuousness at any price, people out for their own personal interest and for nothing else. They compete with each other in the hunt for headlines and provocative actions.
At the starting line they were all equal – ambitious, unlikable, uninhibited. But gradually, Miri Regev overtakes all the others. All they can do, she can do better. For every headline grabbed by another, she can grab five. For every condemnation of another in the media, she gets ten.
Benyamin Netanyahu is a dwarf, but compared to this bunch he is a giant. In order to remain so, he appointed each of them to the job he or she is most unsuited for. Miri Regev, a rude, vulgar, primitive person became Minister of Culture and Sports.
Regev, 51, is a good-looking woman, daughter of immigrants from Morocco. She was born as Miri Siboni in Kiryat-Gat, a place for which I have deep feelings, because it was there that I was wounded in 1948. Then it was still an Arab village called Irak-al-Nabshiyeh, and my life was saved by four soldiers, one of whom was called Siboni (no connection).
For many years, Regev served in the army as a public relations officer, rising to the rank of Colonel. Seems that one day she decided to do public relations for herself, rather than for others.
Since her first day as Minister of Culture, she has supplied the media with a steady stream of scandals and provocations. Thus she gradually overtakes all her competitors in the Likud leadership. They just cannot compete with her energy and inventiveness.
She declared proudly that she sees her job as the elimination of all anti-Likud people from the cultural arena – after all, “that’s what the Likud was elected for.”
All over the world, governments subsidize cultural institutions and creative people, convinced that culture is a vital national asset. When Charles de Gaulle was the President of France, he was once approached by his police chiefs with the request to issue an arrest warrant for the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, because of his support for the Algerian freedom fighters. De Gaulle refused and said: “Sartre too is France!”
Well, Regev is no de Gaulle. She threatens to withdraw government subsidies from any institution that publicly opposes the policy of the right-wing government. She demanded the cancelation of the program of an Arab rapper who read from the works of Mahmoud Darwish, the adored national poet of the Arab citizens and of the entire Arab world. She demanded that all theaters and orchestras perform in the settlements in the occupied territories, if they want to keep their subsidies.
This week she won a resounding victory when Habima, the “national theater”, agreed to perform in Kiryat-Arba, a nest of the most fanatical fascist settlers. Indeed, no day passes without news of some new exploit by Regev. Her colleagues explode with jealousy.
The basis of Israeli Trumpism and of Miri Regev’s career is the deep resentment of the Oriental – or Mizrahi – community. It is directed against the Ashkenazim, the Israelis of European descent. They are accused of treating the Orientals with disdain, calling them “the second Israel”.
Since those recruits of Moroccan descent saved my life near the birthplace of Miri Regev, I have written many words about the tragedy of Mizrahi immigration, a tragedy of which I was an eye-witness from the first moment. Many injustices were committed by the established Jewish population against the new immigrants, mostly without bad intentions. But the greatest sin of all is rarely mentioned.
Every community need a sense of pride, based on its past achievements. The pride was taken away from the Mizrahim, who arrived in the country after the 1948 war. They were treated as people devoid of culture, without a past, “cave-dwellers from the Atlas mountains”.
This attitude was a part of the contempt for Arab culture, a contempt deeply embedded in the Zionist movement. Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky, the right-wing Zionist leader and forefather of the Likud party, wrote in his time an article entitled “The East”, in which he expressed his disdain for Oriental culture, Jewish and Arab alike, because of its religiosity and inability to separate between state and religion – a barrier to any human progress, according to him. This article is rarely mentioned nowadays.
The Oriental immigrants came to a country that was predominantly “secular”, non-religious and Western. It was also very anti-Arab and anti-Muslim. The new immigrants understood quickly that, in order to be accepted in Israeli society, they must get rid of their traditional-religious culture. They learned to distance themselves from everything Arab, such as their accent and their songs. Otherwise it would be difficult to become part of the country’s new society.
Before the birth of Zionism – a very European movement – there was no enmity between Jews and Muslims. Quite the contrary. When the Jews were expeled from Catholic Spain, many centuries ago, only a minority immigrated to anti-Semitic, Christian Europe. The vast majority went to Muslim lands and was received with open arms all over the Ottoman Empire.
Before that, in Muslim Spain, the Jews achieved their crowning glory, the “Golden Age”. They were integrated in all spheres of society and government and spoke Arabic. Many of their men of letters wrote Arabic and were admired by Muslims as well as Jews. Maimonides, perhaps the greatest of Sephardic Jews, wrote Arabic and was the personal physician of Saladin, the Muslim warrior who vanquished the Crusaders. The ancestors of these Crusaders had slaughtered Jew and Muslim alike when they conquered Jerusalem. Another great Mizrahi Jew, Saadia Gaon, translated the Torah into Arabic. And so on.
It would have been natural for Oriental Jews to take pride in this glorious past, as German Jews take pride in Heinrich Heine and French Jews in Marcel Proust. But the cultural climate in Israel compelled them to give up their heritage and pretend to admire solely the culture of the West. (Eastern singers were an exception – first as wedding performers and now as media stars. They became popular as “Mediterranean singers”.)
If Miri Regev were a cultured person, and not merely a Minister of Culture, she would have devoted her considerable energy to the revitalization of this culture and giving back pride to her community. But this does not really interest her. And there is another reason.
This Mizrahi culture is totally bound up with the Arab-Muslim culture. It cannot be mentioned without noticing the close relationship between the two for many centuries, during which Muslims and Jews worked together for the advancement of mankind, long before the world heard of Shakespeare or Goethe.
I have always believed that restoring pride was the duty of a new generation of peace-lovers that will arise from among the Mizrahi society. Lately, men and women from this community have reached key positions in the peace camp. I have high hopes.
They will have to fight the present culture minister – a minister who has nothing in common with culture, and a Mizrahi woman who has no Mizrahi roots.
I hope for a Jewish-Mizrahi revival in this country because it can advance Israeli-Arab peace and because it can strengthen again the loosened ties between the different communities in our state.
As a non-religious person I prefer the Mizrahi religiosity, which has always been moderate and tolerant, to the fanatical Zionist-religious camp that is predominantly Ashkenazi. I have always preferred Rabbi Ovadia Josef to the Rabbis Kook, father and son. I prefer Arie Der’I to Naftali Bennett.
I detest Donald Trump and Trumpism. I dislike Miri Regev and her culture. | 1real |
SHOCKING VIDEOTAPED INTERVIEW WITH BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA’S “BROTHER”MALIK: ‘I’d like to see him (Barack) be for real, not so deceptive’ | In a shocking interview with Joel Gilbert, producer of Dreams From My Real Father, Malik talks about having to come through the back door at the White House or being asked to come at night so no one sees him. He talks about everything that Barack s Aunt Zetouni did for him when he needed her, and how he wouldn t contribute a penny for her funeral. He left it up to the poor villagers in Kenya to figure out how to get her body back to her home country. He also reveals how Barack has never contributed a dime to help a family member in Kenya. Ever since President Barack Obama was elected president, many have wondered who Obama really is and what he stands for. Undisclosed and unreported to the mainstream media, Joel Gilbert, who produced the film, Dreams From My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception, has released an interview with Obama s brother Malik Obama, the Freedom Post reported on Friday. Gilbert conducted the 12-minute interview with Malik Obama on April 10, 2015 and was published on April 22, 2015.The interview shows clips of President Obama speaking of how his father grew up and herded goats and then Gilbert told Malik that Obama had deceived Americans when Obama stated that he would cut the deficit, support Israel, and that Obamacare is not a tax and how he felt about it. Malik responded to Gilbert and said, Well, the way that he s turned and become a different person with the family is the same way that I see him behaving politically. He says one thing and then he does another. He s not been an honest man, as far as I m concerned, in who he is and what he says and how he treats people. Gilbert then asked Malik on how he felt about being the oldest brother in the family, Malik responded with disappointment and said, Disappointed disappointed, used, used and also betrayed. In the beginning, I didn t think that he was a schemer. His real character, his real personality, the real him, is coming out now. Malik also spoke on how he and Obama s family back in Kenya feel no respect from Obama and was hurt and crushed that Obama would act that way to them. I don t understand how somebody who claims to be a relative or a brother can behave the way that he s behaving, be so cold and ruthless, and just turn his back on the people, Malik said. He said were his family. WATCH INTERVIEW HERE:Joel Gilbert came to the front lines of Obama really is when his book and film was released. The film and book chronicles the life of President Obama, based in part on two years of research, interviews, newly unearthed footage and photos, and the writings of alleged real father of President Obama, Frank Marshall Davis as well as Obama himself. The film and book also chronicles Barack Obama s life journey in Socialism and Marxism, from the day he was born through his election to the Presidency.Via: The Examiner | 1real |
‘Alien Megastructure’ Star Targeted by $100 Million SETI Search | By Mike Wall
If intelligent aliens actually do live around Tabby’s star , astronomers are determined to find them.
The Breakthrough Listen initiative, which will spend $100 million over the next 10 years to hunt for signals possibly produced by alien civilizations, is set to begin studying Tabby’s star with the 330-foot-wide (100 meters) Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, project team members announced Tuesday (Oct. 25).
“The Green Bank Telescope is the largest fully steerable radio telescope on the planet, and it’s the largest, most sensitive telescope that’s capable of looking at Tabby’s star given its position in the sky,” Breakthrough Listen co-director Andrew Siemion, who also directs the Berkeley SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement.
“We’ve deployed a fantastic new SETI instrument that connects to that telescope, that can look at many gigahertz of bandwidth simultaneously and many, many billions of different radio channels all at the same time so we can explore the radio spectrum very, very quickly,” Siemion added.
The observations will take place for 8 hours per night for three nights over the next two months, with the first observations set to take place Wednesday (Oct. 26), project team members said.
Tabby’s star, officially known as KIC 8462852, lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth. Observations by NASA’s Kepler space telescope showed that the star dimmed dramatically several times over the past half-decade or so, at one point by a whopping 22 percent. These occasional brightness dips — which were first reported last year by a team led by Yale University postdoc Tabetha Boyajian (hence the star’s nickname) — are far too substantial to be caused by an orbiting planet, astronomers have said.
So researchers have offered up a number of alternative explanations for the dimming to date. Perhaps a cloud of comet fragments periodically blocks the star’s light, for example, or maybe some unknown structure in the depths of space between Earth and Tabby’s star is responsible.
It’s even possible that the brightness dips are caused by an “alien megastructure” — an enormous collection of energy-gathering solar panels, for example.
Astronomers have stressed that the megastructure hypothesis is a long shot, but long shots shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand, Breakthough Listen team members said.
“I don’t think it’s very likely — a one-in-a-billion chance or something like that — but nevertheless, we’re going to check it out,” Dan Werthimer, chief scientist at Berkeley SETI, said in the same statement . “But I think that E.T., if it’s ever discovered, it might be something like that. It’ll be some bizarre thing that somebody finds by accident … that nobody expected, and then we look more carefully and we say, ‘Hey, that’s a civilization.'”
A number of other research teams have already searched for signals coming from Tabby’s star, and all of those searches have come up empty so far.
Siemion, Boyajian and astronomer Jason Wright, who’s based at Pennsylvania State University, will discuss the planned Tabby’s star observations during a video chat from the Green Bank Telescope site on Wednesday at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT). You can watch it live here:
Source: Live Science
| 1real |
GOP Poll Workers Accused Of Cheating Dem Voters On Super Tuesday (AUDIO) | Independent voter Chris Sullivan went to the polls in Princeton, Texas on Super Tuesday, intending to cast a ballot in the Democratic primary.Sullivan says that a poll worker at Princeton High School, located in Collin County, Texas, instructed him to select any voting machine, saying that it didn t matter if he was voting for a Republican or a Democrat.Once Sullivan had selected a machine, however, he says it locked his vote in for a Republican candidate.As a result of being locked into a republican ballot, Sullivan says he was unable to cast his vote in the primary election.Following the debacle, he took to voice his outrage at having his vote stolen by GOP cheats.Image credit: screen capture, Chris Sullivan on FacebookAddicting Info spoke to Sullivan on March 2.He clarified what happened further, saying, It wasn t that I was directed to the wrong line I was specifically told by one of the people at the desk that it didn t matter what party I chose, I could vote for anyone. Sullivan also told us that the poll worker he spoke to was clearly not neutral. I was standing behind a couple and the woman (poll worker) asked if they were voting republican. When they said yes, she replied good cause I already locked you in. It might be easier to dismiss what happened to Sullivan as an error, as opposed to deliberate cheating, had he not overheard the same worker giving very different instructions to the Republican couple.Sullivan also told us that he felt like there was a strong push to vote Republican, from the poll workers.While he s not sure if any other Collin County voters had a similar experience, Sullivan says that he has already contacted attorneys for the Bernie Sanders campaign to report what happened. He also plans to report his experience to the Texas Attorney General s office today.As reported here, Democratic voters in Georgia also may have had their votes stolen, thanks to Republican dirty tricks.Brianna Fleener was one of many Democratic voters who were issued Republican ballots in Lowndes County, GA. I show up, I fill out the paper and I give it to the man at the counter, Fleener told ValdostaToday. Next, I was given a card to insert into the machine, and when I pulled up the screen I realized I was given the wrong ballot. Fleener says that several other Democratic voters were also given Republican ballots. As I look around, I notice I m not the only one. Turns out that anyone voting Democrat received a Republican ballot. After making some phone calls, we were told we could fix it, but we were showing up in the system as voted when none of us had casted our ballots. Democrats may not have been the only ones cheated out of their votes by the GOP on Super Tuesday.Austin s KLBJ radio station was flooded with calls claiming that voting machines were flipping votes from Donald Trump to other GOP candidates.Listen to the vote flipping accusations, reported to KLBJ, via Raw Story on YouTube: Image credit: imagebuddy.com, photoshop | 1real |
Restaurant, retail calorie disclosure rule in flux under Trump | LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A much-delayed U.S. rule requiring restaurants and retailers to clearly display food calorie counts has been pushed back again, and could be rewritten or scrapped as the Trump administration rebuffs Obama-era regulations. Notice came shortly after the U.S. Department of Agriculture relaxed some school lunch rules that were part of former first lady Michelle Obama’s signature effort to fight childhood obesity. The Food and Drug Administration late on Monday extended the compliance date for the calorie labeling rule from May 5, 2017, to May 7, 2018, to enable further consideration of ways to cut costs and make requirements more flexible. The rule was designed to help U.S. consumers, who eat and drink about one-third of their calories away from home, battle the bulge. It is part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, also known as Obamacare, which the Trump administration has vowed to repeal and replace in a bid to slash regulations it considers harmful to business. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who oversees the FDA, said in a statement his agency believed in promoting sound nutrition and applauded the delay. “Imposing burdensome rules that leave business managers and owners worried about harsh potential penalties and less able to serve their customers is unwise and unhelpful,” Price said. The rule’s opponents, including Domino’s Pizza Inc, movie theater operators, and convenience and grocery stores, have pushed for delays over the years. But even if the calorie disclosure rule is killed at the federal level, it is unlikely to go away. Chains like Panera Bread Co and McDonald’s Corp, have been displaying such information for years in compliance with rules set by California, New York City and other jurisdictions. Panera in 2010 became the first national chain to post calorie counts for its salads, sandwiches and pastries. Sara Burnett, Panera’s director of food policy and wellness, said customers want to know what is in the food they eat, so the chain will continue to comply with the federal law as it was written. “It’s information that helps our guests make informed decisions,” Burnett said. | 0fake |
The Top Ten Reasons We NEED A Liberal Supreme Court | One way or another, the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will change the course of American history.Scalia s death leaves the court with eight justices, four liberal and four conservative.The next justice appointment has the potential to determine the nature of the court for years to come. While a liberal justice will tip the balance in favor of progressive and liberal ideas, a conservative justice, like Scalia or worse, will tip the balance in the opposite direction.As we ve seen in recent years, decisions made the Supreme Court impact the lives of American citizens in critical ways.While there are an infinite number of reasons that we need a liberal court, here are the top ten issues most likely to be impacted by a change in the political balance of the court in the near future1. LaborLabor unions and the rights of American workers are facing constant attacks, both from billion-dollar corporations and the right-wing state politicians who represent their interests.In the immediate future, a liberal court could influence the outcome of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case which has the potential to cripple organized labor in the U.S.The was argued before the Supreme Court in January, 2016, but a ruling has not been handed down by the court. In the case that the court s ruling was a 5-4 decision, the case will have to be heard again, once a replacement for Scalia has been appointed.2. Separation of Church and StateOn Tuesday, February 9, Rabbi Adele Plotkin was removed from a meeting of the Chino Valley, Arizona City Council. His crime? Protesting the council s on-going prayers in the name of Jesus.In defense of their actions, the council cited the Supreme Court s ruling in Greece v Galloway. In December 2013, the court ruled 5-4 that government officials in the town of Greece, New York, did not violate the Establishment Clause by opening meetings with Christian prayers.In May of 2014, the justices reversed their opinion in the case, even as many arguments remained unsettled.To understand just how not settled the case actually is, here s the overview from the 2014 case update:Judgment: Reversed, 5-4, in an opinion by Justice Kennedy on May 5, 2014. Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas join the majority opinion except as to Part II-B. Justice Alito filed a concurring opinion, in which Justice Scalia joined. Justice Thomas filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Justice Scalia joined as to Part II. Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion. Justice Kagan filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer, and Justice Sotomayor joined.This case is just one of many with the potential to erode or destroy the Establishment Clause, which prevents public resources from being used to promote religious doctrine, and protects all Americans from being forced to accept the religious beliefs of whoever happens to be running their local, state or federal government on any given day.3. LGBT DiscriminationOn June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court issued its historical ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, otherwise known as the gay marriage decision. Since that decision, right-wing nuts across America have attempted to enshrine discrimination against the LGBT community into local, state and even federal law.Under the guise of religious freedom, conservatives have attempted to get away with everything from refusing service to gay couples to firing LGBT employees in the name of Jesus.As we ve seen in recent years, there s no end to right-wing creativity, when it comes to anti-gay discrimination. Whether they re trying to ban sodomy and oral sex or illegally refusing to sign marriage licenses, LGBT rights remain under attack all across the country.A liberal Supreme Court is of monumental importance in protecting the LGBT community from religious bigotry and anti-gay bias.4. Money in PoliticsA liberal court could open the door to restoring the integrity of U.S. elections.The disastrous Supreme Court ruling in the 2010 Citizens United Case has allowed unlimited amounts of corporate money to flow into our political system.In a 5-4 decision, the conservative court ruled that money is a form of speech. Under the pretense, the court found that limiting the amount of money flowing through the political system equates to suppression of speech on the part of the government.While the American public overwhelmingly disapproved of the court s decision in the Citizens United case, as long as the court maintains a conservative bias, there s little chance that the ruling will be overturned.There is plenty of room to challenge the decision with a liberal leaning court.5. Women s RightsThe rise of the Tea Party in America has brought with it an unprecedented number of attacks of women s rights.From state-enforced vaginal ultrasounds to disturbing attempts to exclude pregnant women from healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the right wing war on women threatens the health and well being of more than 50 percent of the American population.At stake in America is every woman s right to life, along with her right to self-determination and body autonomy. As the right wing continues to try to give more rights to a zygote than the woman whose body it inhabits, a liberal court is a critical last line of defense against these attacks.6. EnvironmentLess than a week ago, a 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court temporarily blocked President Obama s climate change regulations from taking effect.As the New York Times reported on February 9,The 5-to-4 vote, with the court s four liberal members dissenting, was unprecedented the Supreme Court had never before granted a request to halt a regulation before review by a federal appeals court.At stake here is much more than whether or not the president s efforts to reduce carbon emissions will become a reality.The case, brought by representatives of the fossil fuel industry, challenges the Environmental Protection Agency s right to create and enforce environmental regulations at all.7. HealthcareAfter years of legislative and legal battles over the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court finally upheld the Constitutionality of President Obama s signature healthcare law in 2012.But this decision has not stopped right-wing fanatics from attacking various parts of the law, bringing case after case to the Supreme Court, in an attempt to undermine the court s original decision.As recently as January, 2016, the court refused to hear another challenge to the law. The challenge was filed by an artist who said that being forced to pay for healthcare violates his rights. He was joined by Sens. John Cornyn (Texas) and Mike Lee (Utah), and right-wing nut Ted Cruz wrote an absurd amicus brief in support of the case.While a more liberal-leaning court will likely dissuade further attempts to overturn the law, the opposite would be true if Scalia were somehow replaced with a right-wing extremist.8. Voting RightsIn June of 2013, a 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court struck down the most important provisions of the Voting Rights Act.What s more, in a string of cases brought before the court in 2014, the conservative majority consistently ruled in favor of those who sought to restrict voting rights, rather than expand them.Rulings made it possible for states to introduce voter ID laws, although it s long been established that such laws negatively impact people of color. The same justices ruled in favor of allowing states to restrict early voting and restrict voter access to the polls.A liberal leaning court is vital to protecting and restoring the right of every citizen to participate in elections.9. ImmigrationIn January, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to President Obama s executive actions on immigration.As the New York Times reports here, when agreeing to hear the case,The justices raised the possibility of a broad decision by taking the unusual step of adding their own question to the case, asking the parties to address whether Mr. Obama had violated his constitutional obligations to enforce the nation s laws. The answer to that question could significantly alter the scope of presidential power in realms far beyond immigration.Confident that the court s conservative majority would find cause to rule against the Constitutional authority of a liberal, Black president, the five right-leaning justices had clearly planned to take the lead in the case.The outcome of the case is likely to be entirely different, however, with a liberal-leaning majority.10. PoliceThe Supreme Court is regularly charged with the duty of defining what police can and cannot do under the Constitution.The five justices that made up the court s conservative majority have given police more and more leeway.For example, in June of 2015, the court expanded the rights of law enforcement officers to perform warrantless searches.Prior to that, the court ruled that a police officer cannot be held liable for violating a citizen s rights, as long as the officer claims he didn t know law.The court also granted immunity to police officers who shot a mentally ill woman inside a healthcare facility.While it s questionable that the addition of a liberal justice would influence the outcome of cases involving law enforcement, it certainly can t make the situation worse. Unfortunately, even some of the supposedly liberal justices currently on the court have sided with conservatives, helping to expand the rights of police, which necessarily means narrowing the rights of ordinary citizens.As stated earlier, these issues are by no means the only ones that will likely be impacted a shift in the political leanings of the court.President Obama has vowed to appoint a replacement for Justice Scalia, in spite of threats of obstruction from the republicans in Congress.Given that many of the policies that the president has fought for over the past eight years hang in the balance, there s little doubt that he will find a way to ensure that a liberal justice is appointed in Scalia s stead.Image credit: wikimedia commons | 1real |
Factbox: Republican side-deals build support for Senate tax bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans were considering a raft of last-minute changes to their sweeping tax bill on Friday, as they edged toward a final vote that could move Congress to year-end enactment of tax cuts for businesses and individuals. Deals include a higher tax deduction for owners of pass-through businesses and a phase-out of full expensing for business capital investments. To pay for these changes, Republicans say they will no longer repeal the alternative minimum taxes for corporations and individuals and will raise tax rates on the repatriation of corporate profits held overseas. Senate Republicans have yet to unveil a final bill for adoption. But here is an unofficial list of anticipated changes, according to lawmakers and lobbyists. * PASS-THROUGHS: Senators Ron Johnson and Steve Daines announced their support for the tax bill after securing agreement on a bigger tax break for the owners of pass-through enterprises, including small businesses, S-corporations, partnerships and sole-proprietorships. An original 17.4 percent deduction would rise to 23 percent. * FULL EXPENSING: Senator Jeff Flake, who was a holdout over deficit concerns, agreed to vote “yes” after Republican leaders agreed to change a provision allowing the full expensing of business capital investments to sunset after five years. Flake worried that Congress would be unable to eliminate the benefit cold turkey, allowing it to bleed red ink for years to come. But the Arizona Republican says the change would instead phase out full expensing over three years beginning in year six. * RETIREMENT SAVINGS: Senator Susan Collins said she persuaded Republican leaders to retain catch-up contributions to retirement accounts for church, charity, school and public employees. * MEDICAL EXPENSES: Collins also said she was able to include language to reduce the threshold for deducting unreimbursed medical expenses for two years to 7.5 percent of household income from 10 percent. * STATE AND LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES: Collins has proposed an amendment that would retain a federal deduction for up to $10,000 in state and local property taxes. * INDIVIDUAL ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: Rescinding a proposed repeal of the AMT and instead increase exemption levels and phase-out thresholds is also on the table. * CORPORATE ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: So is rescinding a proposed repeal of the corporate AMT. * REPATRIATION: Another change could be to increase tax rates on U.S. corporate profits held overseas to 14 percent for liquid assets and 7 percent for illiquid holdings, up from 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively. | 0fake |
Lotte chief gets suspended prison sentence; free to run firm | SEOUL (Reuters) - A Seoul court on Friday found Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin guilty of breach of trust and embezzlement and sentenced him to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, leaving him free to try and revive the conglomerate after steep losses in China. The Seoul Central District Court cleared the executive of some counts of breach of trust and one embezzlement charge. I apologize to the public, Shin said as he left court, without commenting further. Prosecutors had sought a ten-year jail term for Shin on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust after a probe since 2016 into the retail-to-chemicals group. The ruling will come as a relief to Lotte at the end of a tough year during which it became the highest-profile corporate victim of a Beijing-Seoul spat over South Korea s installation of a U.S. missile defense system. South Korea s fifth-largest conglomerate said, We respect the court s decision. Lotte Group executives and employees will further unite to contribute to economic progress and do our best to meet our social responsibility. The prosecution did not have an immediate comment. Legal experts said the prosecution was likely to appeal. Shin is the subject of another ongoing trial related to a bribery scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye. Prosecutors are seeking a four-year jail term and a fine of 7 billion won ($6.49 million). In the meantime, Friday s ruling means Lotte, with 110.8 trillion won worth of assets, avoids a leadership vacuum for the time being as it navigates mounting China losses and an uncertain recovery. Shunned in China, its key market, after it was pressed by Seoul to provide land for the THAAD missile defense system, Lotte s third-quarter China hypermarket sales were nearly wiped out to about $278,000 from around $264 million a year earlier. Nearly all Lotte Mart stores in China have been shut for much of the year with local authorities citing fire safety issues, and the group has now put the business up for sale. But the sale is likely to be delayed past the end-2017 deadline Lotte had sought, Lotte Corp official Choi Min-ho said, without giving a reason. Lotte s businesses in South Korea, including its major duty-free operations, that had counted on big-spending Chinese tourists, remain under pressure amid curbs on Chinese tour groups traveling to the country. South Korea s credit rating agencies have downgraded or cut their outlook for corporate bonds of the group s flagship retailer Lotte Shopping and Hotel Lotte [HTLOT.UL], citing hurdles in improving their financial stability. Lotte, which shelved plans for an estimated $4.5 billion IPO of Hotel Lotte amid the investigation, is now battening down the hatches as a difficult year draws to an end. Lotte Shopping has frozen wages for its department store business this year for the first time since 2009, three Lotte officials said this week, declining to be identified as the matter was sensitive. While Lotte confirmed wages had been frozen, the retail-to-chemical conglomerate declined further comment. However, one of the officials from the department store business said: Wages have been frozen due to various factors, but the THAAD issue was one of them. | 0fake |
IS ROMNEY SERIOUSLY THINKING ABOUT ENTERING THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE? | As if this presidential race couldn t get any crazier rumors abound that Mitt Romney might jump in and stir things up a bit. The problem is that Romney failed in his strategy of being Mr. Nice Guy and not attacking which really let Obama just steamroll over him in 2012. Not a good idea!Colorful former Trump adviser Roger Stone thinks 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney is thinking about getting back in the presidential race. Stone tweeted his suspicion, and told CNN he had heard that Romney was considering a run from his sources.The move could indicate Romney sees an opportunity to better confront and challenge front-runner Donald Trump. Some see current establishment standard bearer former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as flailing. Trump has mocked Bush for being just flat on the campaign trail and Sunday called him a low energy candidate.Romney publicly considered a third run as recently as January, but decided against it, after he lost most of his valuable donor base to Bush, and the massive prospective Republican field proved too unpredictable.Romney ran for president in 2012, and lost the nomination to Sen. John McCain in 2008. Romney supporters point to Ronald Reagan s three attempts at the White House 1968, 1976, before his successful win in 1980, as evidence that Romney has a chance.The man who floated this rumor, Trump s former adviser Stone, has a history almost as colorful as that of his former boss. Stone was an aide to President Richard Nixon, and remains one of Nixon s staunchest defenders. He is known for his penchant for expensive but elaborate dress clothes, which are often a departure from the more understated nature of most political menswear.He has been described as a self-admitted hit man for the GOP by the Daily Beast, is a popular presence on Twitter, and allegedly, has a tattoo of his former boss Nixon on his back.Via: Washington Examiner | 1real |
Gunfire heard in Eritrea's capital as protests break out, U.S. embassy says | NAIROBI (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Eritrea said it has received reports of gunfire in several parts of the capital, Asmara, after protests erupted in one of Africa s most secretive nations. The embassy advises U.S. citizens to avoid the downtown area where protests appear to be more prevalent, it said in a statement late on Tuesday. Avoid areas where demonstrations are taking place and exercise caution when in the vicinity of any large gatherings, protests, or demonstrations. It was not immediately clear what had caused the protests. Opposition outlets said the incidents were triggered after the government tried to close down an Islamic school in a predominantly Muslim district. In some footage posted online, shots are heard being fired to disperse crowds. Via Twitter, Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel downplayed the protests, saying: Small demonstration by one school in Asmara dispersed without any casualty. Eritrea, which sits on the Red Sea coast next to one of the world s busiest shipping lanes, seceded from Ethiopia in 1991 after a three-decade war for independence. Conflict broke out once again seven years later over a border spat with neighboring Ethiopia, and the UN has since accused the government in Asmara of committing crimes against humanity under the guise of national security. A U.N. Commission of Inquiry report last year said that atrocities - including an indefinite military national service program that amounted to mass enslavement - had been committed since the country s independence and were ongoing. Eritrea denies the charges. | 0fake |
Violence Erupts at Berkeley Antifa “Rally Against Hate”: Cops Chased, Female Reporter and Trump Supporters Attacked by Antifa {Video] | The Antifa thugs and anarchists decided to show up today for a Rally Against Hate which we could all be a part of Who isn t against hate, right? Making Trump supporters out to be hateful is what they want so desperately but THEY repeatedly show up to be the ones causing the violence and chaos.Antifa in Berkeley trying to murder a Trump supporter with pipes and sticks. pic.twitter.com/XgMcki9jXV Hector Morenco (@hectormorenco) August 27, 2017They want to hijack the narrative and say that all those who don t believe what they do are white supremacists and Nazis . Note the very professional banners they had out today wonder who paid for those?The problem is that we re on to these rent-a-mob domestic terrorists but why aren t the mayor, cops and those who are in charge in Bereley smart enough to put a stop to the violence and bullying by the Antifa terrorists? Can you answer that question? If you can, you ve been paying attention to what s happening all across America. Democrat Mayors and other leaders see it as an advantage when the cops are told to do nothing When they stand down then the crowd gets more and more violent and then the media finishes the job by lying about who started the violence and who was behind it from the beginning. See the pattern now?ONLY A HANDFUL OF TRUMP SUPPORTERS AND THEY GOT BEAT UP FOR WHAT?Where are the police? A masked terrorist army has invaded #Berkeley pic.twitter.com/OIdVSVRmRE Mark Dice (@MarkDice) August 27, 2017LOOK WHO JOINED ANTIFA TODAY THE SOCIALISTS!Antifa greet @DSA arrival to MLK park in Berkeley. pic.twitter.com/9MOTo18OGd Shane Bauer (@shane_bauer) August 27, 2017Why are the Berkeley cops standing down and letting the Antifa thugs run them out of MLK Park in Berkeley?Antifa chase cops out of MLK plaza in Berkeley. Police fire teargas. pic.twitter.com/tz5kQWFWD0 Shane Bauer (@shane_bauer) August 27, 2017 A woman attacked my photographer and I This is typical of Antifa. They re all about violence and shutting down the media. Scary times A woman attacked my photographer and I. #BerkeleyProtest #berkeley .@KTVU pic.twitter.com/LlzG9dBN4n Leigh Martinez (@LeighMartinezTV) August 27, 2017 | 1real |
Missouri lawmakers override gun, voter ID vetoes | KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - Missouri lawmakers pushed through bills on Wednesday eliminating the need for permits to carry concealed weapons and requiring voters to show a photo identification before casting a ballot, overriding Democratic Governor Jay Nixon’s vetoes of the bills. Both votes by the Republican-controlled state House and Senate reached the two-thirds majority required to enact legislation over the governor’s veto. The weapons bill abolished a state law requiring a permit, training and background checks for people who want to carry a concealed weapon in the state. The House voted 112-41 to override Nixon’s veto and the Senate voted 24-6. Supporters of the bill said it will make the state safer by allowing more residents to carry firearms in self-defense, while still banning certain criminals and mentally incompetent people from having a gun. In vetoing the bill in July, Nixon said the measure struck an extreme blow to sensible safeguards against gun violence. Earlier on Wednesday, the state Senate voted 24-7 and the House 115-41 to override Nixon’s veto of a bill requiring voters to produce a government-issued ID instead of less official identification such as a utility bill or bank check. The bill would not take effect until 2017, after this year’s presidential election, and only if voters in November pass a state constitutional amendment in support of the new law. That is necessary because the Missouri Supreme Court ruled 10 years ago that such a statute violated the existing state constitution. Courts in recent months have blocked voter ID laws passed in several states by Republican-led legislatures after civil rights groups argued the measures were discriminatory against poor and minority voters. In Missouri, voters without a photo ID can still vote if they sign an affidavit swearing that they lack any type of identification. However, election officials can take their picture, and steps must be taken to get a photo ID for later use, with the state covering the cost. Supporters of the bill said it will help prevent voter fraud. “Why not have more certainty in the election process?” Republican Representative Justin Alferman, the bill’s main sponsor, said in a statement before the vote. Opponents had argued that the ID requirement places an undue burden on young, minority and low-income voters who tend to support Democratic candidates. “Putting additional and unwanted barriers between citizens and their ability to vote is wrong and detrimental to our system of government as a whole,” Nixon said in explaining his veto. | 0fake |
Cheerleading Assassination: Are Hollywood and Politicians Going Too Far? | 21st Century Wire says Everyone has the right to air their perceived grievances about anything, including President Trump, that is one of the benefits of living in America. But there is a point where expressing grievances or protesting against policies or politicians can shift from legal protest, assembly and expression of free speech to inciting or promoting violence. We ve seen some interesting cases of public figures coming close to and maybe crossing that line during the last week.Some Hollywood celebrities, entertainers and politicians may have taken the concept of free speech a little too far when trying to express their disdain for President Trump. Celebrities Madonna and Ashley Judd lashed out with bizarre tirades during the Women s March in the wake of the Trump inaugural festivities.The antics of the celebs at the DC Women s March was a hot topic of discussion on Sunday Wire Ep #170 with Patrick Henningsen and Hesher in the final segment of the show.Madonna went as far as to say she d thought about blowing up the White House which she now claims was said in metaphor only, but still got her a lot of negative attention from the media, from Trump supporters and even caught the attention of the Secret Service.What Madonna and those cheering her on actually want and what they are planning to do to achieve it is as clear as mud after this protest. If the Revolution she speaks of is metaphorical only, then what are the goals of her and the rest of the protesters when she speaks of revolution? Chants of, We Chose Love! after statements, hypothetical or metaphorical, about revolution and blowing up the White House send a very confused message.Madonna claims that her comments about the White House were taken out of context, listen to the full recording and you be the judge.Warning Madonna s speech may not be appropriate for the work place or around young children due to profanity.The singer later claimed, on her Instagram page, that she is a nonviolent person and that she was not promoting violence when she said a revolution was starting after good did not win this election. Yesterday s Rally. was an amazing and beautiful experience. I came and performed Express Yourself and thats exactly what i did. However I want to clarify some very important things. I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it s important people hear and understand my speech in it s entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context. My speech began with I want to start a revolution of love. I then go on to take this opportunity to encourage women and all marginalized people to not fall into despair but rather to come together and use it as a starting point for unity and to create positive change in the world. I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking at things one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt. However, I know that acting out of anger doesn t solve anything. And the only way to change things for the better is to do it with love. It was truly an honor to be part of an audience chanting we choose love . #revoltutionoflove #revolutionoflove *******************************************************A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on Jan 22, 2017 at 10:49am PSTKatie Rich of Saturday Night Live was suspended for what even she herself now concedes was an insensitive tweet about Barron Trump, 10 year old son of Donald Trump. Jumping on the bandwagon of ridiculing all things Trump, Rich tweeted out that, Barron will be this contry s first homeschool shooter. Rich was suspended indefinitely by SNL after the tweet and her Twitter account was later deactivated after she tweeted an apology. Her name did not appear in the credits for the next broadcast of SNL on Saturday.Could it be that people are actually being held responsible for their over-reach on social media and on their self perceived Hollywood soap boxes? Certainly not in all cases, but the Katie Rich case is a great example of how one can ruin a career with a single mean spirited, politically fueled Tweet aimed at a ten year old.As we turn to a political example, we find a Swedish politician who s stepped down from his position after a Facebook post where he asked if someone could shoot him when talking about Donald Trump.Municipal council member, Roland Peterson, went too far on his criticism of Donald Trump and provoked an angry response from his fellow party and council members.More on this phenomenon from RT RTA municipal council member of a Swedish town called Kalmar has resigned due to a Facebook post he made asking if someone could shoot America s new president, Donald Trump. I believed that Donald Trump would calm down after he became the president [of the US]. But how wrong I was! He exceeded my worst fears! Could anyone shoot him? Swedish Social Democratic Party member Roland Peterson, a municipal official in Kalmar s Soedermoere district, wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday, though he removed it an hour later.Nonetheless, Peterson decided to step down as member of both his party and the Soedermoere Municipal Council and Planning Board after making the post, announcing his resignation on Monday morning. After my blunder on Facebook, there is a risk that I will become a burden for the Social Democrats in Kalmar. I do not want it, so I chose to leave all my posts, Peterson wrote in a letter to his party members, as cited by the local Oestra Smaland newspaper.Person s post provoked an angry reaction from his party members and fellow councilors. It is good that he [Peterson] removed it [the post], councilor Johan Persson told Oestra Smalan, adding that people should never call for violence regardless of their opinion of Donald Trump or other issues.The Social Democrats leader in Kalmar, Roger Holmberg, denounced the post as inappropriate and idiotic, while stressing that even thinking about the idea of violence is completely wrong. He told Swedish broadcaster STV that he had had a conversation with Peterson and said that new party members would receive training in working with social media.Holmber said that Peterson is deeply remorseful, explaining that he did not understand the impact of the post in the social media. Peterson told STV that he would have never written the post if he had considered the consequences, while promising he will never do it again. He also explained to Oestra Smalan that it was Trump s environmental policy that had deeply upset him. He [Trump] risks the future of the entire Earth, he said, adding that now, when the world has started going in the right direction, Trump plans to increase oil and coal production.Trump s ideas about the environmental are a source of controversy in the US. Social media went into meltdown after Trump s inauguration when certain hot topic issues disappeared from the White House website, including climate change.Many mainstream media outlets initially reported on the conspicuous disappearances, but are adopting a more cautious wait-and-see approach for the time being.Anti-Trump angst was running high both in the US and abroad after his inauguration. On Saturday, Donald Trump s first full day in the White House, thousands of women marched through US cities to protest Trump and call for the protection of civil liberties and diverse cultures Continue this report at RTRead More Election News at: 21st Century Wire Election CoverageSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Ivanka Trump Attends Women’s Panel In Germany; Gets Her A**S Handed To Her (VIDEO) | It s no secret that the rest of the world is appalled and incensed that America elected a bumbling, incompetent, dangerous buffoon like Donald Trump to be president for the next four years. They, unlike half of our nation, knew that Trump would be unfit to hold that office, and Trump has not disappointed on that front since he was sworn in on January 20th. Even worse, he has treated the presidency like some kind of monarchy, and used it to enrich himself and his family, all while installing his daughter and son-in-law in key positions. The world is watching, and they do not like what they see. Case in point the less than warm welcome that Ivanka Trump received when she attended a women s conference in Germany.Ivanka took to the stage to praise her daddy dearest, and to try and smooth over the fact that the whole world knows that Trump is a huge misogynist. That s easy to see; after all, there s literally years of evidence of that fact on tape. Nevertheless, Ivanka plowed on, saying her father is a tremendous champion of supporting families. She also tried to follow that line of bullshit by saying that the orange man baby encouraged me and enabled me to thrive. That may be true, but the one thing he wants to encourage, Ivanka, is for you to hop into the sack with him. I think you know that. Your father doesn t give a damn about women, the nation, the world, the American people, or anything else except himself and his own ego. You should be ashamed of yourself. Your father has done nothing for women since he s been in office; in fact, he has defended serial sexual harasser Bill O Reilly, taken steps to defund Planned Parenthood for good, and rolled back protections for women in the workplace. Champion of women indeed.Ivanka, you are just as much of an embarrassment as your disgusting father, and you got the exact kind of reception you deserved.Watch Ivanka get her comeuppance below:Featured image via Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Fortune | 1real |
Sean Hannity Just Made A Bizarre Implication About Philando Castile’s Girlfriend (VIDEO) | Sean Hannity made a bizarre implication during a segment of his conservative talk radio show The Sean Hannity Show on Friday. During the segment, Hannity called into question the motives of Philando Castile s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds .The conservative pundit is curious to know why the woman decided to live stream Castile s death to Facebook rather than do something to help her boyfriend rather than help him. We ve had two instances where these police shootings have gone down. One is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the other one in Minnesota. I ve never saw more bizarre video in my life than the one in Minnesota, where a woman is with her boyfriend, he s shot by the policeman, and she s live facetiming this thing to the world, commenting on it I m just like, how about helping the person that s been shot? We ll figure out the particulars later, but it was more important I guess to get the video, Hannity said. The implication that Hannity is making, as far as I can tell, is that Castile s girlfriend was more concerned with using the situation to further the agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement than Castile himself.Which would, of course, be complete nonsense. What exactly else is one supposed to do in a situation like that? She was in a car sitting next to her dying loved one who was just shot multiple times at close range.She did what nearly anyone else would do in that situation. She bore witness and gathered as much evidence as she could to show the world the tragedy that just occurred in front of her.The right wing is so desperate to try and vilify the victims of police brutality and to discredit the Black Lives Matter movement they will try and spin every story of a POC s death at the hands of the police to fit their narrative.You can watch a video capture of the segment below.Featured image from Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images | 1real |
Conway: We’re Seeing ’Hysterical’ Democratic Party ’Unravel in Front of Our Eyes’ - Breitbart | Thursday on “Fox Friends,” discussing the Democrats opposition to President Donald Trump’s nominees, White House aide Kellyanne Conway said we were seeing the Democratic Party “unravel in front of our eyes” because of what she called “a bunch of crybabies. ” Conway said, “The Democratic Party, we’re seeing it unravel in front of our eyes and revealed in front of our eyes. A bunch of crybabies who say that they’re going to oppose the Supreme Court nominees before they even know the person’s name and academic credentials and impeccable judicial record. They are holding up our nominees to the cabinet. I was told yesterday this is the longest that the nation has gone without a secretary of the Treasury at least in modern times, if not the longest, it’s darn close to it. ” “We need a secretary of Treasury, folks, for those who actually go to work in the morning and need the dollar to flourish,” she continued. “We need a secretary of Treasury to be running things. This obstinateness and obstruction is a modern Democratic Party. I think it’s going to cost them because they’re hysterical about everything now. There’s no gradation of hysteria, everything makes them cry and scream. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
Who will Hillary Clinton’s ‘basket of deplorables’ comment actually alienate? | "To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the 'basket of deplorables,'" Hillary Clinton said at a New York fundraiser on Sept. 9. "The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that, and he has lifted them up." (Video: The Washington Post / Photo: AP)
Hillary Clinton's declaration Friday night at a New York fundraiser that "half" of Donald Trump's supporters fit into a "basket of deplorables" seems, in its tersest formation, like a stupid comment to make. The New York Times's Michael Barbaro sums up that sentiment.
But my summary above is not a fair condensation what Clinton said — and the fuller context makes it clear what she was aiming at.
"To just be grossly generalistic," Clinton said according to a transcript from BuzzFeed's Ruby Cramer, "you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up."
She talked a bit about how Trump has interacted with that racist element and then continued. "But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here … but that other basket are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures — they're just desperate for change. … Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."
Trump's campaign — and Trump himself — quickly tried to make hay from the first part.
But there are two ways in which this differs from something like President Obama's "cling to guns and religion" comments from another fundraiser in 2008.
The first is that the "clingers" remark disparaged something that was positive: a person's religion or their cultural affinity for gun ownership and sportsmanship. It was a dismissal of things of which people were proud. Clinton, however, was saying that half of Trump's base was motivated by negative inclinations: racism, sexism. No one is going to say, "Hey, how dare you disparage my family's history of being racist."
Trump's tweet said she insulted his supporters, but Clinton clearly delineated between two groups of supporters, and she offered words of understanding to the latter. So let's break the electorate out into four groups and consider how the comment will play.
1. Clinton supporters. They support Clinton; it seems unlikely they'll be put out.
2. Racist/sexist/xenophobic/Islamophobic Trump supporters. How big a group is this? It's hard to say. Clinton's spokesman Nick Merrill tried to defend his boss's use of "half" by saying on Twitter that the racist/xenophobic types "appear to make up half of his crowd" at events. (Update: Clinton issued a statement on Saturday apologizing for implying it was "half" of Trump supporters.) We do know that 7 percent of Trump supporters think the candidate is racist, suggesting that they themselves don't see racism as a dealbreaker. Regardless of the actual fraction of the Trump base this group constitutes, Clinton's not likely to change their minds away from their preferred candidate, either.
3. Non-'deplorable' Trump supporters. This group will go one of two ways. They'll either a. see Clinton's remarks as insulting them as a whole, or b. be reminded that there are elements of Trump's base of support that makes them uncomfortable. That sense may spur them to be less enthusiastic to go vote for Trump in November.
But notice: Either way, there's no loss for Clinton! If she spurs some Trump supporters to reconsider, the loss is to Trump.
[Republicans think Hillary Clinton just made her own ’47 percent’ gaffe. Did she?]
4. Undecided voters. They'll go one of two ways, too, it seems. Some may think Clinton was being rude and be less likely to support her. Some may similarly be reminded about elements of Trump's base that they don't like and be less likely to back him.
This is a much smaller group than the number of Trump backers, mind you. In the current RealClearPolitics average, Trump backers are about 43 percent of the electorate and undecided voters are about 12 percent. If Clinton sways 5 percent of the (let's say) 90 percent of Trump backers who aren't "deplorables" to rethink their support, that's 2 percent of the overall electorate. If she loses 10 percent of the undecideds, that's 1.2 percent of the electorate.
That's assuming the shorthand here doesn't collapse into "Clinton insulted all Trump supporters." This is the point that Barbaro was making. Clinton may have been trying, once again, to separate out non-racist/sexist/xenophobic Trump backers by pointing to those supporting Trump who do hold those objectively deplorable views. It's a tricky line to walk — but compared with "clingers," for example, she's in a slightly better position.
And then there's that other thing about Obama's "clingers" comment: He won anyway — twice. | 0fake |
New Accuser Confirms She Got Roy Moore Banned From The Mall (VIDEOS) | Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore (R- Of Course) has a mounting list of women who say that he sexually harassed or assaulted them when they were teenagers. Another piece of that story is the rumor that Moore was so creepy with the girls that he was banned from a local mall in his hometown of Gadsden, Alabama. That rumor had been unsubstantiated until now.Becky Gray was working at the Gadsden Mall when she encountered Roy Moore, then an assistant district attorney. She was in her early 20 s, and he was in his 30 s. She said that Moore had taken a creepy liking to her, and constantly visited her at the mall. According to Gray, Moore hung out at the mall on Friday and Saturday nights like teenagers do. She says of the situation: I mean, you ve got to understand when you re that age, somebody in their 30s might as well have been 40 or 50 to me anyway. He d come back through [the department store] and if I was working, he would stop by and chit chat and that sort of thing, and it just kind of got creepy to me. Every Friday and Saturday night, he was down at the mall. Nobody his age is at the mall! You know, parents are dropping off their 12 year olds and 13 year olds, 14 year olds. I mean, come on, I just thought that was really creepy even way back then. Roy Moore repeatedly harassed Becky Gray at work, and she went to her manager about his behavior: I went to my manager and talked to him about it and asked him, basically, what could be done. Later on, he came back through my department and told me that [Moore] had been banned from the mall. In addition to Becky Gray s account, there is an account that Moore was banned from the mall by a man named Greg Legat who also worked there at the time. Here is video of his confirmation:So, every bit of this is true, in other words. Roy Moore actually hung out at the mall in order to creep on little girls and young women working there or hanging out there with their friends. This man is completely unfit to be a United States Senator, and if the people of Alabama elect him, he should be immediately expelled.Here is video of Becky Gray s account of Moore s mall banning, via ABC News:Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
Lindsey Graham Ready to Go Nuclear for Gorsuch - Breitbart | WASHINGTON, D. C. — On Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham ( ) said that if Democrats tried to filibuster Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court, he would vote for the “constitutional option” to permanently end filibusters of nominees to the nation’s highest court. [For the first time in American history, in 2003 Sen. Chuck Schumer ( ) persuaded Senate Democrats to use the upper chamber’s rule on legislation to block a final vote on judicial nominations, at that time blocking several of George W. Bush’s nominees to the federal appeals courts. Republicans then considered the constitutional option — also called the “nuclear option” — to restore the practice of always allowing votes on judges, by ruling that filibusters apply to legislation, but not to nominations. A decade ago, Graham became part of the “Gang of 14,” which negotiated allowing most of the stalled nominees to get a final confirmation vote in exchange for not abolishing the filibuster in the future. Then in 2014, it was Sen. Harry Reid ( ) who led Democrats in going nuclear over presidential nominations to the executive branch and every federal court except the Supreme Court. Republicans said the only reason Reid did not include the High Court at the time is that there were no vacancies at the time. With Schumer taking things to a new level and vowing to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee, Graham ended months of commentators’ speculation by telling Mike Gallagher’s radio show: If my Democratic colleagues choose to filibuster this guy, then they will be telling me that they don’t accept the election results — 306 Electoral [College] votes — that they’re trying to delegitimize President Trump. And that’s not right, and we would have to change the rules to have the Supreme Court like everyone else. There are 52 Republicans in the Senate. It would therefore take eight Democrats to reach 60 to invoke cloture on Gorsuch, or for all but two of the Republicans to hang together on the procedural question to clarify that the constitutional option applies to all presidential nominations, including those to the Supreme Court. Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski. | 0fake |
null | When you say 'the server' Obama didn't know exactly which serial number was associated with this piece of hardware, so you can say it was factual that "Obama himself denied any knowledge of the server". He did not have knowledge of the color of the ribbon cable between the hard drive, he did not know how much memory was associated with it. All he knew was something about the tax payers didn't have to cover the cost of the machine. For this he was glad. | 1real |
As North Korea threat looms, Trump to address world leaders at U.N. | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea’s nuclear threat looms large this week over the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York, where diplomats are eager to hear U.S. President Donald Trump address the 193-member body for the first time. North Korean diplomats will have a front-row seat in the U.N. General Assembly for Trump’s speech on Tuesday morning, which will touch on the escalating crisis that has seen Trump and Pyongyang trade threats of military action. Despite his skepticism about the value of international organizations and the United Nations in particular, Trump will seek support for tough measures against North Korea, while pressing his “America First” message to the world body. “This is not an issue between the United States and North Korea. This is an issue between the world and North Korea,” Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said on Friday. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - who, like Trump, took office in January - plans to meet separately with “concerned parties,” including North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, on the sidelines of the 72nd General Assembly. “The solution can only be political. Military action could cause devastation on a scale that would take generations to overcome,” Guterres warned on Wednesday. A week ago, the 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted its ninth sanctions resolution since 2006 over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said U.N. sanctions had banned 90 percent of the Asian state’s publicly reported exports, saying of Pyongyang on Friday: “This is totally in their hands on how they respond.” Haley told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday that Washington had “pretty much exhausted” its options on North Korea at the Security Council. Ri is due to address the General Assembly on Friday. Some leaders will also push Trump not to give up on a 2015 deal curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions in return for a lifting of U.N., U.S. and European sanctions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was time to “fix it - or cancel it.” The foreign ministers of Iran, the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and France - the parties to the agreement - are due to meet on Wednesday ahead of an October deadline for Trump to tell Congress if he believes Tehran is sticking to what he has described as “the worst deal ever negotiated.” When asked on Friday what Moscow’s message would be for Washington, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said: “Stay in the JCPOA (the nuclear deal).” A senior U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We are faced with real uncertainties with respect to North Korea and it’s a bit dangerous ... to add another source of uncertainty with respect to Iran.” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday his country would not be bullied by the United States and would react strongly to any “wrong move” by Washington on the nuclear deal. Iran and North Korea will also feature heavily during a ministerial Security Council meeting on Thursday, at the request of the United States, to discuss the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. While leaders and diplomats are also due to meet on longer-running crises including Libya, Syria, South Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Yemen and Iraq, a last-minute addition has been Myanmar, where the United Nations has branded violence against Rohingya Muslims as “ethnic cleansing.” Britain is due to host a ministerial meeting on Monday to seek a way to get Myanmar authorities to end a military offensive in the country’s Rakhine state that has sent more than 400,000 minority Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh. Following Trump’s announcement that the United States would withdraw from a landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, several high-level gatherings are planned on the sidelines of the General Assembly to bolster the deal. “Climate change is a serious threat,” Guterres told reporters. “Hurricanes and floods around the world remind us that extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent and severe, due to climate change.” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to hold the door open for the United States to remain in the Paris climate accord “under the right conditions.” “The president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue,” Tillerson said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” program on Sunday. Trump will seek to boost support for reforming the United Nations, which he once called “a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” The United States is the largest U.N. contributor and Trump has complained that Washington pays too much. “The United Nations, of course, holds tremendous potential to realize its founding ideals, but only if it’s run more efficiently and effectively,” McMaster said on Friday. | 0fake |
So someone stuck a “don’t waste electricity” on the photocopier and the reply nailed that the maths was massively wrong | Next Prev Swipe left/right So someone stuck a “don’t waste electricity” on the photocopier and the reply nailed that the maths was massively wrong
@Notinaboyband over on Twitter says, “A while ago energy saving posters went up in the office. Now someone has responded, and I like it very much.”
“A photocopier left on standby overnight wastes enough energy to make 30 cups of tea”
“So leaving the photocopier on, once in sleep mode would not use enough energy to hear half a cuppa…”
This is why you should never patronise engineers. | 1real |
The Most Interesting Chart In The World – Part 2 | The Most Interesting Chart In The World - Part 2 By Lee Adler. In Part 1 of this report you saw the rollercoaster shape of the European Central Bank balance sheet. The ECB’s assets grew massively under the long term loan program known as LTRO in 2011 and 2012. Then the central bank’s assets fell just as massively when the ECB allowed those loans to be repaid. You need to login to view this content.
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Exclusive: Displaced Rohingya in camps face aid crisis after Myanmar violence | SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Around 120,000 displaced people - mostly Rohingya Muslims - in camps in Myanmar s Rakhine state are not receiving food supplies or healthcare after the U.N. and aid groups suspended operations following government accusations of supporting insurgents. Nearly 400 people have died in fighting in the far north of the state after Rohingya militants attacked police posts and an army base a week ago, provoking a major army counteroffensive. The impact from the conflict has now spread, including to the state capital Sittwe further south, where some 90,000 Rohingya have lived in camps since an outbreak of communal violence rocked the city in 2012, killing nearly 200 people. A further 30,000 Rohingya are housed in camps elsewhere in the state, while a small number of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists displaced in the 2012 violence also live in separate camps. As a result of the disruption of activities in central Rakhine state, many people are currently not receiving their normal food assistance and primary healthcare services have been severely disrupted, said Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The U.N. and international aid groups had already evacuated all non-critical staff from the north of the state amid intensifying fighting and after the office of national leader Aung San Suu Kyi repeatedly published pictures of World Food Programme (WFP) energy biscuits allegedly found at an insurgent camp. Suu Kyi s office also said it was investigating aid groups support for the insurgents in one incident. Now contractors working for the WFP, a U.N. agency, have refused to carry food to the camps in Sittwe and elsewhere. Staff with international aid groups who run clinics inside the large, densely populated camps have also been afraid to show up for work, leading to the closure of facilities, U.N. sources and aid workers told Reuters. Local staff were afraid of being intimidated by Rakhine Buddhist hardliners, and some worried about being attacked by Muslims, the sources said. Sanitation is also a major problem - contractors cleaning latrines in the camps have also refused to work and the latrines are overflowing in the monsoon rains, increasing the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases, they said. The treatment of Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Rohingya, who have long complained of persecution in Buddhist majority Myanmar, is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi. The top U.N. human rights official, Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein, has criticized Suu Kyi s office for irresponsible suggestions that aid agencies may have assisted Rohingya militants calling themselves the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). #WFP Aid & #ARSA terrorists : #Myanmar Govt asking #WFP, Aid for civilian or terrorists? #Rakhine #Myanmar, said Suu Kyi s spokesman, Zaw Htay, in a tweet on Thursday. Tin Maung Swe, secretary of the Rakhine state government, confirmed that workers have refused to work for the WFP. Laborers who carry the WFP food bags don t want to contract with them any more. People who have made contract with WFP refused to work for them, he said. He added that residents were disgusted with the organization following the government s accusations. Tin Maung Swe also said that the government was trying to find a different way to support the organization . Rakhine Buddhist leaders have long bemoaned the presence of international agencies, who they accuse of favoring the Rohingya. Aid offices in Sittwe were sacked during 2014 riots. The discovery at a suspected militant camp on July 30 of WFP-branded biscuits intended for malnourished children had further stoked tensions even before last week s attacks. Accusations against the U.N. have been spread on social media by nationalist hardliners, stoking fears of another outbreak of communal violence in a state that has long been divided along religious and ethnic lines. International aid agencies operating in Myanmar issued a statement on Thursday condemning the insurgent attacks and subsequent violence, and urging all stakeholders to cease the spread of misinformation . The OCHA s Peron said the disruption was already being felt. Humanitarian aid normally goes to these vulnerable people for a very good reason, because they depend on it, he said. In addition to the closure of camp clinics, Rohingya who have been referred to the main hospital in Sittwe for more serious complaints were finding it hard to travel there, said the hospital s chief doctor Kyaw Naing Win. There have been some constraints for them to come to the hospital because of the tighter security control after recent clashes, he said, but added the hospital did not discriminate against them. Kyaw Naing Win said he arranged for the state government to provide security for 17 Muslim patients who were discharged from the hospital on Thursday. Even before the recent violence Rohingya camp residents faced severe restrictions on their movements around Sittwe. Talks between government and relief agencies are scheduled for next week, aid group sources told Reuters. Possible solutions might include the government providing security escorts for food convoys, they added. (This story has been refiled to remove extraneous words in paragraph 6) | 0fake |
What to Expect During Juno’s Mission to Jupiter - The New York Times | With the exception of the sun, Jupiter is bigger than everything in the solar system put together. But little is known about the interior beneath its colorful cloud stripes. Now that Juno has arrived at its destination, it will orbit the planet 37 times over the next 20 months, with the hopes that it will collect data and images that offer clues to the origins of our solar system and the formation of the planets and moons. Several spacecraft have flown past Jupiter, beginning with Pioneer 10 in 1973. NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, entering orbit in 1995, dropped a probe into Jupiter’s atmosphere, sending back data that showed Jupiter had strong, turbulent winds and offering details about the composition of its atmosphere. During its eight years at Jupiter, Galileo confirmed ideas of how Jupiter’s diaphanous rings formed out of dust particles blasted off Jupiter’s small inner moons. It measured the sizzling temperatures of volcanoes on Io, one of the planet’s four large moons, and it found evidence of oceans on the other three moons of Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. Unlike Galileo, Juno will be in an orbit passing over Jupiter’s poles, providing a first close look at those regions. With repeated close passes over the cloud tops, the spacecraft will measure microwave emissions, the gravity field and the magnetic field, offering glimpses into what is deep inside Jupiter. It might seem odd to care about the water on Jupiter, but it is one of the main issues that Juno scientists are focusing on. “That’s in some ways our premier measurement,” said Steven Levin, the mission’s project scientist. On Mars, NASA’s strategy seeks to find out whether there was water there that would have ever made Mars cozy enough for life. Jupiter, with its crushing gravity and radiation, clearly is not a hospitable place for life, but that’s not why scientists are interested about water there. Rather, the question is, “Where’s the oxygen?” Jupiter has greater concentrations than the sun of most of the heavier elements like nitrogen and carbon, except for oxygen, which is scarce. Thus, scientists expect that oxygen atoms have each been tied up with two hydrogens to form water molecules. The measurements collected by Juno of microwave emissions emanating out of Jupiter will tell both the temperature and how much water there is, because water molecules absorb microwaves. If Juno finds a lot of water, that suggests Jupiter formed farther from the sun in the colder, icier regions and later migrated to its current orbit. Why does Jupiter have more of the heavier elements, anyway? That’s a mystery, too. One hypothesis is that the heavier elements came from comets that crashed into Jupiter and it absorbed them. Does Jupiter have a rocky core at its center? Measuring Jupiter’s gravity field will tell the distribution of mass within. If there is a rocky core, planetary scientists will have to explain how rocky bodies formed that early in the solar system. If there is not, then Jupiter formed out of a collapse of a gas cloud, much as the sun did. Jupiter is almost entirely hydrogen and helium, the two simplest and most abundant elements in the universe. Cool these two gases, and they change to a liquid. Inside Jupiter, hydrogen is believed to undergo another transformation, to a metal. Scientists have not been able to recreate metallic hydrogen on Earth. In laboratory experiments, hydrogen, squeezed to tens of millions of pounds per square inch between two diamonds, has remained stubbornly nonmetallic. The pressure inside Jupiter is hundreds of millions of pounds per square inch. By studying Jupiter’s magnetic fields, probably generated by currents of metallic hydrogen, scientists will receive hints about the properties of this elusive substance. Lots. “I’m confident it’s going to work,” Scott Bolton, Juno’s principal investigator, said before the announcement Monday night that the spacecraft had arrived, “but I’ll be happy when it’s over and we’re in orbit. ” Some of the ways that this could have turned into a bad day: If Juno blew up. In August 1993, NASA’s Mars Observer spacecraft vanished. An inquiry concluded that a fuel leak caused the spacecraft to spin quickly and fall out of communication. While Juno’s setup is different, there is always a chance of an explosion with rocket fuel. If the engine did not fire at all. The Japanese probe Akatsuki was all set to arrive at Venus in December 2010, but its engine didn’t fire properly, and Akatsuki sailed right past Venus. Last year, Akatsuki crossed paths with Venus again, and this time, using smaller thrusters, it was able to enter orbit. If it crashed into something. Jupiter does not possess the majestic rings of Saturn, but it does have a thin ring of debris orbiting it. Juno passed through a region that appeared clear, but that did not mean it actually was. Even a dust particle could cause significant damage, as Juno was going 130, 000 miles per hour relative to Jupiter. If it flew too close to Jupiter and was ripped to pieces. In one of NASA’s most embarrassing failures, the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft was lost in 1999 because of a between English and metric units. Climate Orbiter went far deeper into Mars’ atmosphere than planned. Juno traveled within 2, 900 miles of Jupiter’s cloud tops, so a miscalculation could have been catastrophic. If the computer crashed. On July 4 last year, the mission controllers of the New Horizons spacecraft that was about to fly by Pluto experienced some nervous moments when the spacecraft stopped talking to them. The computer on New Horizons crashed while trying to interpret some new commands and compressing some images it had taken, the electronic equivalent of walking while chewing gum. The controllers put New Horizons back in working order within a few days, and the flyby occurred without a hitch. For Juno, the scientific instruments have been turned off for its arrival at Jupiter. “We turn off everything that is not necessary for making the event work,” said Dr. Levin, the project scientist. “This is very important to get right, so you don’t do anything extra. ” The intense barrage of radiation at Jupiter could have knocked out Juno’s computer, even though it is shielded in a titanium vault. Usually, when there is a glitch, a spacecraft goes into “safe mode” to await new instructions from Earth, but in this case, that would have been too late to save Juno. The spacecraft had been programmed to automatically restart the engine to allow it to enter orbit. “If that doesn’t go just right, we fly past Jupiter, and of course, that’s not desirable,” Dr. Bolton said. Juno has been executing an automated sequence of actions since Thursday. A timeline of Juno’s arrival (all Eastern time): 9:13 p. m. Start of transmission of single frequency “tones” that will provide updates on the spacecraft’s condition. 9:16 p. m. Juno begins turning away from the sun to position the engine in the right direction to slow the spacecraft for its arrival at Jupiter. 10:41 p. m. With the main antenna pointing away from the sun, Juno switches to a smaller antenna for sending the tones. 10:45 p. m. Juno adjusts itself to eliminate any wobbling. 10:56 p. m. Juno speeds up its spin rate from two rotations a minute to five rotations a minute, a process that takes about five minutes. 11:18 p. m. The main engine begins firing. 11:38 p. m. The spacecraft has slowed down enough to be captured into orbit around Jupiter. 11:53 p. m. The main engine shuts off, leaving Juno in the desired orbit. 11:55 p. m. The spacecraft starts slowing its spin rate back down to two revolutions per minute. 12:07 a. m. Tuesday Juno changes direction to point its antenna back at Earth. 12:11 a. m. Juno ends the transmission of status tones and switches to its antenna. 12:16 a. m. Juno begins transmitting detailed telemetry, although it may take 20 minutes or longer to lock into the signal. The first two highly elliptical orbits will be 53 days in duration, lasting until . Then Juno will fire its engine again on Oct. 19 to move to a orbit when the science measurements begin in earnest. Three solar panels provide a mere 500 watts to power Juno and its instruments. On Nov. 3, people will be able to start voting on where Juno should point its camera. On the 37th orbit, on Feb. 20, 2018, Juno is to make a suicidal dive into Jupiter, ending the mission, the same way the Galileo spacecraft was disposed in 2003. That is to ensure there is no possibility that Juno would crash into Europa and contaminate it with microbial hitchhikers from Earth. Europa is regarded as one of the most likely places in the solar system to look for life. It took five years to get to Jupiter, and the mission costs $1. 1 billion, yet Juno will have a far shorter stay than the eight years Galileo spent exploring Jupiter in the moons. The close approaches to Jupiter means Juno will pass through intense bombardment of the radiation belts. As the mission progresses, Juno’s orbits will receive more direct hits of radiation. In the best outcome, the mission might be extended for a few months. But over time, the spacecraft’s electronics will fail. | 0fake |
EgyptAir Flight 804: Final moments questioned | (CNN) The search for EgyptAir Flight 804 continues, amid contradicting reports about the aircraft's final moments.
After it disappeared en route from Paris to Cairo last week, some debris from the plane -- including life vests, personal belongings and parts of wreckage -- has been recovered.
Small fragments of human remains have also been found, and officials in the Egyptian capital are trying to identify and match them to victims. Families of the victims have nearly completed giving DNA samples to help with the grim task, EgyptAir's vice chairman Ahmed Adel told CNN on Tuesday.
But it remains too early to determine from examining the remains whether or not there was an explosion on the flight, an official at the morgue told CNN.
Adel said that media reports suggesting otherwise were "all speculation."
"Any high velocity impact leads to defragmentations, and this is not indicative of what caused the accident," he said. "Let's not jump to conclusions."
A key focus of the search is for the plane's fuselage and the critical black boxes, which are expected to provide vital clues about what happened to the aircraft. Adel said EgyptAir had no information about the location of the fuselage, and that the multinational search team was focusing on an area "about the size of Connecticut."
At the heart of the confusion over the final moments of the flight are conflicting reports from Greek and Egyptian authorities.
The flight was at 37,000 feet when it lost contact above the Mediterranean early on May 19, shortly before the aircraft was scheduled to exit Greek airspace and enter Egyptian airspace.
Initially, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said that, upon entering Egyptian airspace, the aircraft swerved "90 degrees left and then 360 degrees" before plunging dramatically.
Asked Tuesday about the conflicting accounts, Adel said that "the decisive information is going to come from the black boxes, and they have not been retrieved yet."
Time is working against the investigators -- as is the scope of the search area, with teams searching in waters as much as 10,000 feet deep. Egyptian and French submersibles are working in the area, in an attempt to find the flight data and cockpit voice recorders before their transponder batteries expire.
"The investigators are up against the clock," said aviation analyst Justin Green. "If they don't find the black boxes in the next 30 days the job of finding them is going to be much harder because the black boxes may no longer be sending out a sonar ping which will help them identify it."
A representative of an organization devoted to families of French passengers said relatives aren't sure they can trust the Egyptian investigation and want more involvement from France.
Stephane Gicquel, secretary general of the French National Federation of the Victims of Catastrophes, said "there will be a way to track the investigation put in place by the French government with an appointed official to defend the interests of the families in the weeks and years to come."
Gicquel said the families are distrustful of Egypt, in part due to how the country "cooperated very badly with the French authorities" during the investigation of the 2004 crash of a jet carrying mostly French tourists taking off from the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egyptian government and airline officials have promised to be transparent in the investigation into what happened to the plane.
The Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry investigative committee is being led by Ayman al-Moqadem, the investigator also in charge of the inquiry into the October crash of a Russian Metrojet airliner over Sinai. That disaster, which killed all 224 aboard, is widely believed to be the work of terrorists.
A preliminary report of the investigation will be available within a month, Moqadem told state media Sunday.
On Saturday, French aviation officials revealed that an automated system aboard the plane sent messages about smoke in the front of the aircraft just before it crashed into the sea early Thursday en route from Paris to Cairo.
France's revelation confirmed flight data that CNN obtained from an Egyptian source. That technical data -- transmitted through Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, or ACARS, which sends messages between planes and ground facilities -- shows the plane transmitted 11 electronic messages after it departed Paris.
The first two messages showed engines were functional, but the next message at 00:26 GMT stated a rise in the co-pilot window temperature and sent out messages of smoke in locations such as the lavatory and avionics compartment below the cockpit. The alerts continued until the plane vanished from radar screens.
A screen grab of data has time stamps that match the approximate time the aircraft went missing, although aviation experts cautioned the alerts don't necessarily mean a fire occurred on the Airbus A320 or that the crew even knew about the alerts, which are automatically transmitted.
There have been electrical problems with window anti-ice heaters in A320s. In 2003, the Federal Aviation Administration required windshields replaced in all A320s in the United States. It's not known whether Egypt followed the FAA directive.
With little physical evidence, the possibilities about what happened to the plane remain wide open, from a bomb to a mechanical malfunction to pilot error or even an intentional crash.
No group has claimed responsibility for taking down the jet, and as of now, investigators have found nothing implicating the flight crew or security officials aboard the plane, an Egyptian official said.
Checks of the passenger manifest have so far resulted in no hits on terror watch lists, officials with knowledge of the investigation said.
The jet had routine maintenance checks in Cairo before it left for Paris, the airline said. Earlier Wednesday, the jet was also in Eritrea and Tunisia, data from flight-tracking websites show. | 0fake |
U.S. top court to set guidelines for Trump treatment of non-citizens | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court will decide three cases in coming months that could help or hinder President Donald Trump’s efforts to ramp up border security and accelerate deportations of those in the country illegally. The three cases, which reached the court before Democratic President Barack Obama left office, all deal broadly with the degree to which non-citizens can assert rights under the U.S. Constitution. They come at a time when the court is one justice short and divided along ideological lines, with four conservatives and four liberals. The justices will issue rulings before the end of June against the backdrop of high-profile litigation challenging the lawfulness of Trump’s controversial travel ban on people traveling from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The most pertinent of the three cases in terms of Republican Trump administration priorities involves whether immigrants in custody for deportation proceedings have the right to a hearing to request their release when their cases are not promptly adjudicated. The long-running class action litigation, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of thousands of immigrants detained for more than six months, includes both immigrants apprehended at the border when seeking illegal entry into the United States and legal permanent residents in deportation proceedings because they were convicted of crimes. The case also could affect long-term U.S. residents who entered the country illegally and have subsequently been detained. The Trump administration has said it wants to end the release of immigrants facing deportation and speed up the process for ejecting them from the country. A decision in the case requiring additional court hearings could have very direct implications for the administration’s plans, said ACLU lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham, especially since immigration courts currently have a backlog of more than 500,000cases. The ACLU estimates that up to 8,000 immigrants nationwide at any given time have been held for at least six months. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official was unable to immediately confirm data on length of detention but said that in fiscal year 2016, the average daily count of detainees was just under 35,000. “If Trump wants to put more people in deportation but does not increase the number of immigration judges, then people are going to have to wait longer and longer to get a hearing,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell Law School. The Trump administration has pledged to sharply curtail illegal immigration, with initiatives such as building a wall along the U.S-Mexican border and hiring thousands of federal agents to police the border and arrest and deport immigrants who live in the United States but entered the country illegally. Trump has also threatened to withhold federal funding from so-called “sanctuary cities” that offer protections to immigrants who could face deportation. CROSS-BORDER SHOOTING The other cases to be decided concern whether U.S. government officials can be sued over mistreatment of non-citizens in two separate contexts. One will decide whether the family of 15-year-old Mexican teenager Sergio Hernandez, who was killed while on Mexican soil by a U.S. agent firing from across the border in Texas, can sue under the U.S. Constitution. It is a scenario that the lawyers for Hernandez’s family say could become more frequent if the Trump administration acts on its proposal to increase the number of border guards by 5,000, raising the prospect of similar confrontations. The court hears arguments in that case on Feb. 21. The second is a civil lawsuit brought by immigrants, mainly Muslims, who were detained in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and claim they were mistreated. The group of Muslim, Arab and South Asian non-U.S. citizens say they were held as terrorism suspects based on race, religion, ethnicity and immigration status and abused in detention before being deported. The long-running case focuses on whether senior officials in the administration of Republican President George W. Bush can be sued for their role in directing the action. The Obama administration argued that the court should be wary of extending liability to the actions of senior officials, especially when it implicates national security and immigration. Based on the skepticism of the justices during the Jan. 18 oral argument, the court seems likely to rule against the detainees. Chief Justice John Roberts expressed concern that permitting such lawsuits against senior U.S. officials would become “a way of challenging national policy” through litigation seeking monetary damages against the individuals who implemented the policy. The three cases are separate from litigation over the legality of Trump’s travel ban, which could also ultimately be decided by the high court. The key case on that front is now pending before an appeals court in San Francisco after a three-judge panel upheld a lower court decision to put the ban on hold. Language in the upcoming rulings that address the rights of non-citizens and analyzes how courts should review govenrment action on immigration and national security could have relevance in that case, legal experts say. Anil Kalhan, an immigration law professor at Drexel University’s Kline School of Law, said the furor over the treatment of non-U.S. citizens affected by the travel ban could bleed over into how the court approaches the cases. “It might be the atmospherics of what’s going on now might lead to a closer look from the justices,” he said. (This story has been refiled to correct spelling of Ahilan Arulanantham in paragraph six.) | 0fake |
NATO Considers Russian Warships Sailing in Mediterranean 'Acceptable' | Get short URL 0 9 0 0 NATO is tracking the movement of the Russian Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea, considering its presence in the international waters close to the alliance's member states acceptable, Germany’s Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — On October 15, the Russian Northern Fleet’s press service said that a group of warships headed by the aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov and accompanied by the Pyotr Veliky battle cruiser, the Severomorsk and the Admiral Kulakov anti-submarine destroyers, and support vessels was sent to the Mediterranean to hold drills and strengthen capabilities.
NATO officials have expressed concerns that the group could be used to support Damascus in the ongoing Syrian civil war. "It is acceptable that the Russian aircraft carrier operates in the international waters, though considering the current situation we will keep a close eye on it," she said. ... | 1real |
Obama, on last trip to Europe, warns against nationalism, populism | ATHENS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama, stung by the surprise victory of Donald Trump in last week’s U.S. election, warned on Tuesday against a rise in nationalism and said a backlash against globalization had stoked populist movements at home and abroad. Obama said distrust of elites and governing institutions had fed success in the U.S. election for Senator Bernie Sanders, who challenged Hillary Clinton in a drawn-out Democratic primary contest, and for Trump, a former reality TV star who bested the former secretary of state in the U.S. presidential race. “When you see a Donald Trump and a Bernie Sanders, very unconventional candidates, have considerable success, then obviously there is something there that’s being tapped into: a suspicion of globalization, a desire to rein in its excesses,” Obama said in Greece at the start of a farewell tour of Europe. Though he rejected a direct comparison between the U.S. election and Britain’s “Brexit” referendum in June to leave the European Union, Obama said the common theme of antipathy to globalization was at play, spurring populist movements on the left and right in Europe. Trump garnered support on the back of promises to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, ban Muslims temporarily from entering the United States and rip up trade deals that he said had hurt American workers. Obama, who campaigned vigorously for Clinton, opposed those positions and is fighting now to keep his legacy accomplishments on healthcare, climate change, and nuclear diplomacy alive in the face of Trump’s promises to dismantle them. Since the election, however, Obama has promised to ensure a smooth and peaceful transition of power, largely backing off his criticism that Trump is unfit to serve as U.S. commander-in-chief. While reiterating that commitment about a transition on Tuesday, Obama seemed to renew his criticism of some of Trump’s electoral tactics with a warning about divisions worldwide. “I do believe, separate and apart from any particular election or movement, that we are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’” he said. “I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common as opposed to those things that separate us,” he said. Unity in Europe in the aftermath of World War Two has created five decades of unprecedented peace and prosperity, he said. “In the United States, we know what happens when we start dividing ourselves along lines of race or religion or ethnicity. It’s dangerous,” he said. | 0fake |
Know-Nothing Trump Reverses Yet ANOTHER Position On Foreign Policy | Donald Trump spent months on the campaign trail bashing NATO, the cornerstone of global security after World War II. However, President Obama said Monday that Trump is now committed to NATO, the alliance he once referred to as obsolete. Trump told President Obama that he plans to stick with NATO, according to The Hill. He expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships, Obama said. And so, one of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to NATO and the Transatlantic Alliance. I think that s one of the most important functions I can serve at this stage during this trip. is to let them know that there is no weakening of resolve when it comes to America s commitment to maintaining a strong and robust NATO relationship and a recognition that those alliances aren t just good for Europe, they re good for the United States, he continued. And they re vital for the world. So, why the change of heart? Trump had no idea how to lead a country. Even Trump was surprised over the scope of the new job he was elected to do. He has zero political experience, after all. Trump s team reportedly was unaware of the fact that he needed to hire a full White House staff upon taking the Oval Office.And now, Trump is going to learn how to be a leader from President Obama.Trump aides didn t know entire West Wing had to be hired; Obama, after meeting Trump, plans to spend more time w himhttps://t.co/ZLTpsqSwGe pic.twitter.com/x4edzsf8uY Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) November 14, 2016That s right. The man conservatives hate is going to babysit Donald Trump and hold his little hands to guide him through the process. Trump thought this would be an easy job. For years, conservatives said Obama wasn t experienced enough and called him the Community-Organizer-In-Chief. For the record, Obama had many years worth of experience.Just to keep score here: Trump is not going to fully repeal Obamacare. Mexico is not going to pay for the wall. And he s now embracing NATO. Trump voters have been played for suckers.Photo by Mark Wilson via Getty | 1real |
Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga agree on ceasefire, Kurdistan says | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters reached an agreement on Friday to stop fighting in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said, although the status of any ceasefire remained unclear. A spokesman in Baghdad for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State earlier said the deal covered all fronts in the conflict, which broke out after Kurdish authorities held an independence referendum last month in areas of northern Iraq. However, he later told Reuters that the truce had not been officially agreed, while an Iraqi military spokesman declined to comment. According to the KRG, which is based in the Kurdish autonomous region s capital of Erbil, the ceasefire entered effect at 1 am on Friday (2200 GMT Thursday). The ceasefire is holding, Vahal Ali, the director of KRG President Masoud Barzani s media office, told Reuters. Diplomatic efforts are underway to set a date for talks to start between Erbil and Baghdad. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi urging for dialogue to start, the Iraqi central government said in a statement. Iraqi government forces, Iranian-backed militias and Kurdish troops fought alongside each other to defeat Islamic State, also called ISIS, but the alliance has faltered with the militants largely defeated in the country. Iraqi government forces and the Tehran-backed Popular Mobilisation launched a surprise offensive on Oct. 16 in retaliation to the Sept. 25 independence referendum organized by the KRG. The offensive aims to capture disputed territories, claimed by both the KRG and the Iraqi central government, as well as border crossings and oil facilities. The city of Kirkuk, which lies in an oil producing area, fell to Iraqi forces without much resistance on Oct. 16 but the Peshmerga began to fight back as they withdrew closer to the Kurdish autonomous region. The most violent clashes happened in the northwestern corner where Peshmerga are defending land crossings to Turkey and Syria and an oil hub that controls KRG crude exports, located in the region of Fish-Khabur. Speaking in Geneva on Thursday, Tillerson said he was disappointed that the parties have been unable to reach an entirely peaceful resolution and that he had encouraged Abadi to accept the KRG overtures for talks on the basis of the Iraqi constitution . Both parties are talking with one another, but it is not an official ceasefire, U.S. Colonel Ryan Dillon, the spokesman of the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad, told Reuters, correcting an earlier statement in which he said a ceasefire had been agreed, In an interview with Kurdish TV Rudaw, Dillon called on the two sides to extend the deal to a complete halt in hostility and refocus our efforts on defeating ISIS . We are encouraging dialogue, we are trying to get the tensions down, he added. Abadi demanded on Thursday that the Kurds declare their referendum void, rejecting the KRG offer to suspend its independence push to resolve a crisis through talks. We won t accept anything but its cancellation and the respect of the Constitution, he said in a statement during a visit to Tehran. The KRG proposed on Wednesday an immediate ceasefire, a suspension of the referendum result and starting an open dialogue with the federal government based on the Iraqi Constitution . The fall of Kirkuk was a major blow to the Kurdish drive for independence championed by Barzani, as it halved the region s oil export revenue. | 0fake |
Army chief says Pakistan should 'revisit' Islamic madrassa schools | QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan s army chief on Thursday criticized madrassas that have mushroomed nationwide for mostly teaching only Islamic theology, saying the country needs to revisit the religious school concept. Modernizing madrassa education is a thorny issue in Pakistan, a deeply conservative Muslim nation where religious schools are often blamed for radicalization of youngsters but are the only education available to millions of poor children. General Qamar Javed Bajwa s remarks, apparently off-the-cuff during a prepared speech, were a rare example of an army chief criticizing madrassas, which are often built adjacent to mosques and underpin Islamisation efforts by religious hardliners. Bajwa said a madrassa education in Pakistan was inadequate because it did not prepare students for the modern world. I am not against madrassas, but we have lost the essence of madrassas, Bajwa told a youth conference in Quetta, the capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan. Bajwa said he was recently told that 2.5 million students were being taught in madrassas belonging to the Deobandi, a Sunni Muslim sub-sect that shares the beliefs of the strictly orthodox Wahhabi school of Islam on the Arabian Peninsula. So what will they become: will they become Maulvis (clerics) or they will become terrorists? Bajwa asked, saying it was impossible to build enough mosques to employ the huge number of madrassa students. We need to look (at) and revisit the concept of madrassas...We need to give them a worldly education. Pakistan has over 20,000 registered madrassas, though there are believed to be thousands more unregistered ones. Some are single-room schools with a handful of students studying the Koran. Security services have kept a close eye on madrassas associated with radicalizing youths and feeding recruits to Islamist militant outfits that have killed tens of thousands of people in the South Asian country since 2000. But only a handful of the schools have been shut down, the authorities hand stayed by fears of a religious backlash. Islamist hardliners hold great sway in Pakistani society, with the capital, Islamabad, paralyzed for nearly three weeks last month by a blockade staged by a newly formed ultra-religious party. Bajwa said poor education was holding back the nation of 207 million people, and especially in madrassas. Most of them are just teaching theology. So what are their chances? What is their future in this country? The military last year proposed a plan to deradicalize religious hard-liners by mainstreaming some into political parties, a plan initially rejected by the civilian government but which now appears to be taking form. | 0fake |
CONFIRMED: Russia deploys Kuznetsov aircraft carrier to defend Syrian coast | ALEXANDER MERCOURIS | THE DURAN R ussia’s use of its aircraft carrier in the Syrian conflict is principally intended to learn lessons for the design of more potent such warships in the future, rather than to change the situation in Syria itself. The Russian navy’s deployment of aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean has provoked a very confused response in the Western media.
On the one hand it is described as a major escalation, as if was a US style super carrier. On the other hand there has been a great of deal of derision , with the ship called an obsolete rust bucket dangerous mainly to its crew. Where does the truth lie? The Admiral Kuznetsov is the first and only Russian aircraft carrier capable of launching fighter aircraft conventionally. The preceding Kiev class carriers were smaller ships, which could only launch a small number of aircraft vertically. Contrary to what reports say, Admiral Kuznetsov is by the standards of navy carriers a relatively new ship. She was launched in 1985, commissioned in the then Soviet navy in 1990, but only became operational after prolonged trials in 1995. The US navy currently operates 10 Nimitz class supercarriers. If the age of a ship is determined by its date of launch; then three of the US navy’s Nimitz class supercarriers are older than Kuznetsov; if by date of commission, then five are; if by entry into service then six are. The Russian navy had no previous experience of operating carriers, so the lengthy time scale of her sea trials between commission and entry into service is not surprising. In addition what undoubtedly extended this period before her full entry into service was the political and economic crisis Russia experienced during the 1990s. Given the severity of this crisis, it is a wonder a ship as large and complicated as Kuznetsov was brought into service at all. Either way talk of Kuznetsov as some sort of archaic ship from a bygone era is exaggerated, whilst jokes about Kuznetsov being “….practically old enough to have been deployed in the 1905 Russo-Japanese war….” are simply silly. The Admiral Kuznetsov is expected to deploy off Syria, carrying 15 warplanes, including new MiG-29K/KUB fighters and the Su-33a, shown here. Aircraft carriers as it happens tend to be long-lived ships. Coral Sea, a US Medway class carrier, served in the US Navy from 1947 to 1990. By the standards of aircraft carriers Kuznetsov is not an old ship. What is true about Kuznetsov is that because she was the first of a type of ship of which the Russians had no previous experience, and because of the fraught period during which she was commissioned and brought into service – which made it impossible to sort out her teething problems properly – Kuznetsov suffers by comparison with US navy carriers from design flaws and from engine problems. The ship’s engines are unreliable, because they are insufficiently powerful for a ship of this size. The Russians when they built Kuznetsov lacked suitable nuclear reactors for this type of ship (they were designed for the intended follow-on Ulyanovsk carrier, which because of the 1990s crisis was however never built). They also lacked conventional engines large enough for a ship of this size, which was roughly twice as heavy as the largest other ship the Russian or Soviet navy had commissioned before. The Russians accordingly came up with a complicated solution of using multiple steam turbines and turbo-pressurised boilers to make up for the lack of power of the individual engines. Like all complicated arrangements, this arrangement is unreliable and prone to breakdown, with the engines experiencing stress especially in heavy seas. To compound the trouble with the engines, they were built by a plant in what is now independent Ukraine. As political relations between Russia and Ukraine deteriorated, servicing of the engines by this plant became increasingly erratic, and has now stopped completely. It is these problems with the engines that account for the practice of accompanying Kuznetsov on long range deployments with a tug. The tug in question – the Nikolai Chiker – is the most powerful tug in the world. This same tug played a key role in successfully hauling Kuznetsov’s uncompleted sister ship Varyag from Ukraine to China in 2005, where she has now become the Chinese carrier Liaoning. The fact Kuznetsov is accompanied by a tug on long range deployments has provoked some derision. However it is common practice in any navy to accompany large surface warships with service ships, and accompanying Kuznetsov with a tug ensures in Kuznetsov’s case that the carrier will get to where the Russian naval staff are sending it. The engine problems will not affect Kuznetsov’s Mediterranean deployment when the carrier finally reaches its position. Kuznetsov suffers from other problems, which are unsurprising given that Kuznetsov is so much bigger and so different to any other ship the Russian navy has ever previously commissioned, and the unhappy times when it was launched. The arduous deployment of the Russian flotilla. Everything is harder for the Russians. (BBC) There are for example known to be problems with Kuznetsov’s water pipes, which have a history of breakdowns and of freezing up in Arctic weather. These problems too however will not affect Kuznetsov’s capabilities as a warship when the carrier finally reaches the eastern Mediterranean, and the close proximity of Russian bases in Sevastopol and Tartus means they can be dealt with quickly if they arise. Once this deployment is ended Kuznetsov will go through a lengthy refit, which unlike previous refits is intended to be practically a rebuild. With Russia developing a new range of much larger and more powerful engines, Kuznetsov’s current unsatisfactory engines will finally be replaced, and the other teething problems like the problem with the water pipes will finally be addressed. Ultimately this is a potent warship, bigger than any other carrier other than those operated by the US navy, and once the refit is done it will be a powerful asset. In the meantime the ship already provides the Russian fleet with a carrier capability matched by no other navy apart from that of the US.
The Russian carrier passing through the English Channel. In saying this it is important to stress however that the US navy carrier force – with its 10 nuclear powered supercarriers – dwarfs the capability of any other navy, including Russia’s, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Neither the Kuznetsov, nor any other carrier the Russians might build, nor any other navy, can match or rival it. A more pertinent criticism of Kuznetsov is that though Kuznetsov is a large ship (at 55,000 tonnes standard weight and with a 305 metre length Kuznetsov is midway between a US Medway class carrier and a US Forrestal class supercarrier) the air group it carries at 40-50 aircraft is relatively small (by comparison a smaller US Medway class carrier carried an air group of 75-80 aircraft in the 1980s). This suggests that Kuznetsov is inefficient in its use of its spaces, a fact which again reflects Russian inexperience designing this sort of ship when Kuznetsov was built. However it also partly reflects differences in Kuznetsov’s intended role. At the time Kuznetsov was built the Russians did not envisage using their carriers for the sort of long range carrier type operations carried out by the US navy. Unlike US navy supercarriers Kuznetsov prioritises air defence of the fleet rather than long range strikes. That explains why Kuznetsov’s fighter aircraft take off from the carrier using a ski jump rather than steam catapults. Ski jump takeoffs put less stress on the pilots and shorten takeoff times, enabling more aircraft to take off from the carrier more quickly, which can be important in an air defence situation. The penalty is that aircraft are limited in the loads they can carry by comparison with aircraft launched by steam catapults. For air defence – the purpose for which Kuznetsov was designed – this is unimportant since fighter aircraft carrying out air defence missions only carry light air to air missiles rather than heavy air to ground missiles and bombs. However it does significantly reduce the air group’s capability to carry out long range strikes. Combined with the relatively small size of the air group, this means that Kuznetsov’s ability to carry out long range ground strikes is fractional compared to that of a US navy supercarrier. If Kuznetsov is not really designed to carry out long range ground strikes, why are the Russians deploying Kuznetsov off the coast of Syria? The plan to deploy Kuznetsov to the eastern Mediterranean was made many months ago, long before the recent collapse in relations with the US over Syria. The decision therefore can have nothing to do with deterring the US from declaring a no fly zone over Syria, as some people are suggesting. Most likely the intention is to gain experience operating aircraft against ground targets from an offshore carrier. This is not something the Russians have ever done before. Even if Kuznetsov’s capability to do it by comparison with a US navy supercarrier is marginal, the fighting in Syria does at least give the Russians an opportunity to try it out to find out how it is done and what it involves. That way they can learn lessons that will help them with the design of the far more powerful ships that are to come (see here and here ). In other words the deployment of the Kuznetsov to the eastern Mediterranean is essentially a training exercise. It does not merit either the derision or the hype that has been created around it. | 1real |
MSNBC Admits Plan to Suppress Bernie Sanders Voters in California | 21st Century Wire says What is wrong with Chris Matthews?In the following clip from RT America s Redacted Tonight, host Lee Camp looks at a stunning revelation from MSNBC s Chris Matthews, who once famously said he had a strange feeling up his leg while watching Obama talk; a feeling that he described as an objective assessment .Matthews flat out states that there is a plan in place at MSNBC to announce Hillary as the clear winner, hours before anything is officially declared, to make people think they will be wasting their time by going out to vote for Bernie.This is a stunning example of the dirty tricks that the mainstream media will play to further their preferred establishment candidate s position in the race: EVERYTHING ON ELECTION 2016: 21st Century Wire Election Files | 1real |
The Powerful Act Immoral as they Also Suffer from Herd Mentality | Waking Times
The people at or near the top of the power pyramid are just as vulnerable to being sheep as we all are. In fact, they’re even more likely to fall to pressure from their peers because they have so much more at stake if they make the wrong choice.
That stake is money, power and other forms of capital. It’s their entire lifestyle at risk. If they rock the boat, there goes their business deals, their favors, their prioritization.
And these aspects of their life most likely define their identity, as sad as that might be.
That’s because all these consequences are of a nature which do not account for honor, integrity and morality. Connecting with the self to become an authentic man or woman is one of the real successes in life, so if they disregard this basic tenet to being human, then they’ve sold their soul for nothing less than a false path.
These sorts of people have a lot of influence that they’re failing to utilize for the benefit of humanity, as well as the environment. The core effect they could achieve is based in helping people to expand their understanding, and therefore their consciousness, to facilitate bringing about an era of truth, justice, peace and abundance for humankind.
Who exactly is being referenced here? They include celebrities, politicians, bureaucrats, military and police personnel, journalists, business moguls, so-called self-help gurus and pretty much anyone who is connected to the oligarchical families that are orchestrating the grand plan of global governance.
Now of course not all of them are alike. But let’s face it; how many of those with a massive social influence are speaking out against not just the peripheral problems, but the core ones such as the scams embedded into our system itself?
Fuck all; that how’s many.
Entering into their minds, it’s easy for them to be persuaded by the fear if they talk about some of the seriously uncomfortable truths of the world they’d be labeled as a conspiracy theorist. Yet the reality is that many conspiracy ‘facts’ are backed up with so much evidence they are simply ‘matter as fact’.
Like so many of us do, the truth needs to be shared. We all need to hear, understand and embody it into our thoughts and actions.
Simply, it stands to reason that we all need to play our part, especially those who have taken on a role with societal responsibility.
In any case, there are obviously many other reasons why these people don’t speak up. Examples include that they’re: subtly pretending to themselves that nothing is happening, ensuring they are a very unconscious person; turning a blind eye, even though they know and feel it; just simply ignorant of how the world works, like most people; psychopaths and/or sociopaths, where they’re involved in deeply disgraceful ideologies and practices; programmed and conditioned to support the status quo; dazed and confused in an overwhelming game of so-called power; a fake and weak human being; and/or in the drift of an existential crisis, which means their tide might actually turn. Final Thoughts
In the awakening community, we talk a lot about the people having the ultimate power, because we’ve got the numbers. So, if we want the sham of our system to cease, then all we have to do is organize to at least some degree to bring about the next steps of our societal evolution.
Well, what about all these people embedded in the parasitic culture that has hijacked humanity’s future? Can’t they be a beacon of light too?
Of course they can. To do so, they, like all of us, need to do their proper research and open their minds and hearts to both the madness and magic that permeates our existence of duality. If they do, they’ll deeply connect with their true role as a light shining into the darkness.
After all, no shadows exist when the light is shone from all angles. About the Author
Phillip J. Watt lives in Australia. His written work deals with topics from ideology to society, as well as self-development. Follow him on Facebook or visit his website . This article ( The Powerful Act Immoral as they Also Suffer from Herd Mentality ) was originally created by Phillip J. Watt and is re-posted here with permission. ~~ Help Waking Times to raise the vibration by sharing this article with friends and family… | 1real |
Rosneft restaurera une ancienne résidence des Romanov près de Saint-Pétersbourg | Rosneft restaurera une ancienne résidence des Romanov près de Saint-Pétersbourg 28 octobre 2016 TASS Le 25 octobre, le ministre russe de la Culture Vladimir Medinski a annoncé que le palais de Ropcha, dans la banlieue de Saint-Pétersbourg, serait loué à la compagnie pétrolière d’État Rosneft pour une durée de 99 ans. Le groupe va faire restaurer le monument en ruines et permettre aux touristes de visiter la résidence. Alors, que sait-on sur le palais et combien d'argent faudra-t-il pour le restaurer ? Facebook
Ropcha. Crédit : Lori/Legion-Media Pourquoi le palais est-il célèbre ?
Le palais de Ropcha est une ancienne résidence des Romanov datant du XVIIIe siècle. Il fut construit sur ordre de Pierre le Grand et devait évoquer la station thermale de Karslbad (République Tchèque). Ensuite, durant le règne de l’impératrice Elisabeth, un nouveau palais de deux étages fut construit par l’architecte italien Bartolomeo Rastrelli, et un grand parc fut installé.
Après la révolution de palais qui vit la destitution de Pierre III, celui-ci y fut exilé et y mourut dans des circonstances douteuses. Après la Révolution d’Octobre, le palais fut nationalisé et abrita une pisciculture, un sovkhoze et d’autres installations agricoles.
Le palais avant 1917. Crédit : domaine public
En 1944, le palais fut brûlé par les troupes allemandes en retraite. Après la guerre, la propriété fut restaurée, il y fut d’abord stationné une unité aérienne, puis le bataillon de défense chimique du district militaire de Leningrad.
Dans les années 1960, le palais fut placé sur protection de l’État, et il fut classifiéà la fin des années 1970. Lire aussi : Gatchina, ce pavillon de chasse qui est devenu un palais Combien d’argent faudra-t-il pour restaurer les ruines ?
Bien que le palais soit inscrit au patrimoine mondial de l’ Unesco depuis 1990 et soit protégé par l’État, la plupart de ses bâtiments sont en ruines. Le palais fut sérieusement endommagé par une série d’incendies à la fin des années 1980 et au début des années 1990. En 2016, cinq colonnes du portique de la façade se sont effondrées. Après cette dernière catastrophe, le ministère russe de la Culture eut alloué 15 millions de roubles (220 000 euros) à des travaux urgents pour sauver le monument.
Le palais est en ruines aujourd'hui. Crédit : Kommersant.
Au palais de Peterhof, on fait la constatation que de nombreux bâtiments de Ropcha sont fortement endommagés, et certains, comme les ponts et les équipements hydrauliques, sont totalement détruits. Le coût total de la restauration pourrait dépasser les 5 milliards de roubles (72 millions d’euros). Lire aussi : La Nouvelle-Hollande, un îlot de détente en plein cœur de Saint-Pétersbourg Pourquoi l’État cherche-t-il des investisseurs pour restaurer ces monuments ?
La grande difficulté et le coût de la restauration du patrimoine ne permettent pas toujours de mener ces travaux grâce à l’argent public. Il est donc souvent fait appel à l’argent de compagnies privées et de mécènes. Par exemple, la restauration du palais de Gatchina près de Saint-Pétersbourg fut largement financée par la banque VTB et l’usine de spiritueux de Gatchina, mais le monument resta propriété de l'État.
Crédit : Kommersant.
L’État peut décider de vendre aux enchères ou de louer des éléments du patrimoine culturel avec obligation de les restaurer. Depuis le 1er janvier 2008, il est possible de privatiser des monuments d’importance non seulement locale et régionale, mais aussi fédérale.
Il existe plus de cent exemples de telles privatisations assorties d’obligation de restauration. C’est ainsi qu’a récemment été ouvert à Saint-Pétersbourg le complexe Nouvelle Hollande, reconstruit grâce aux investissements de la société Novaya Gollandia development de Roman Abramovitch.
Version abrégée d’un article de TASS Lire aussi : | 1real |
NANCY PELOSI Has Awkward Brain Freeze When Asked To Say Something Nice About Trump [Video] | Yes, another brain freeze moment from Nancy Pelosi Why does she do this to herself? She continues to be the poster child for term limits!Comedian James Corden challenged Pelosi to say something nice about several prominent Republicans but he asked last about Trump Say one nice thing about Paul Ryan, Corden said, holding up a picture of the Speaker of the House.After some awkward silence, Pelosi acknowledged that Ryan is a gentleman. Corden followed up with Ted Cruz. Memorized the Constitution, Pelosi said. That s a good thing. It s a good thing, it s not a nice thing about him, Corden persisted. Ok, Ted Cruz, good father, Pelosi replied. Ok, time for the big dog, Corden said, pulling out a picture of Trump. Is there one nice thing you can say about Donald Trump? Flag pin, Pelosi said, pointing to the pin on Trump s lapel. I don t know that that counts, Corden said, That s not about Donald Trump, he probably didn t even put that on himself. Is there one nice thing you can say about Donald Trump? he repeated.Several seconds later, Pelosi replied: I hope so. I hope I can. But not today? Corden said. President, Pelosi said after another long pause. He s president. You can t think of one nice thing to say about him? Corden prodded. He s nice to me, Pelosi said. Is he? Is he respectful? Corden said. Yeah, respectful, Pelosi said. Read more: American Mirror | 1real |
TN First Sgt. Cites ‘Toxic Leadership’ In Curse-Filled Resignation Letter (VIDEO) | After more than 20 years of service within the National Guard, First Sgt. Dennis Carter submitted his resignation, effective May 31, 2016. In the letter, Carter shreds what he describes as the toxic leadership that exists at the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, located in Lebanon, TN.The now-retired First Sergeant directed his anger at his superior officers, writing that the Senior NCO s leadership abilities are so substandard I doubt he could lead a pack of Kindergartners to the playground, nor would they follow him. He also had harsh words for others, including a Colonel. Carter wrote that his leadership style is so toxic that his social security number should be replaced with the telephone number of the poison control center The former Sgt. didn t just submit the resignation letter to his superiors, he posted it on social media as well.WSMV published a redacted version of Carter s letter on June 24. Read it for yourself below.Image credit WSMV via Dennis CarterCarter is not the first one to criticize or question the leadership of Tennessee-based National Guardsmen.The U.S. military launched a criminal investigation into sexual misconduct involving the 775th Engineering Detachment. The investigation involved allegations that at least half of the Guardsmen had sexual relations with prostitutes in an area of the world which was known for sex trafficking.The investigation revealed that many of the girls the Guardsmen had sex with were under the age of 18.As WSMV reports here:The military documents show a lieutenant said there were ring leaders who told the soldiers what to say and how to stay out of trouble.Another soldier told investigators that some of the men bragged about the sex and that a medic handed out condoms.When the soldiers were later interviewed, the documents show one sergeant made a spontaneous statement that several of the women (referring to the prostitutes) were younger than his daughter. The investigation also revealed that some of the soldiers allowed the prostitutes to enter a room with weapons and secret documents.A second investigation was opened after authorities found evidence of drug use by at least one of the soldiers.In February, WSMV reported that the Tennessee National Guard promotes individuals who have engaged in serious misconduct violations. Video published here shows two Guardsmen being pulled over by the TN Highway Patrol for DUI. These men should have been removed from duty, but were promoted instead.During an interview with WSMV, Carter blasted TN National Guard Leadership, saying: I m out, so I don t have anything to lose. But there are a lot of people that are still in and there s a lot of horror stories that have been done badly by the leadership in the guard. Watch the interview below, courtesy of WSMV. WSMV Channel 4 Image credit: video screen capture courtesy of WSMV | 1real |
The White House’s Overflowing In-box | The White House’s Overflowing In-box Written by Ralph R. Reiland Email
No matter whether it’s Trump or Clinton who wins the election, the victor will be confronted with an inbox brimming over with acute social and economic difficulties.
Nevertheless, regarding unemployment, the latest jobs report from the Department of Labor, issued October 7, recapped September’s economic performance and portrayed the following semi-buoyant state of affairs: “Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in September, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.”
Conversely, the Labor Department’s report also verified the weakening level of job creation in the U.S. economy: “Thus far this year, job growth has averaged 178,000 per month, compared with an average of 229,000 per month in 2015.”
Reporting the level of joblessness by the millions, the Labor Department stated the following: “The unemployment rate, at 5.0 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 7.9 million, changed little in September. Both measures have shown little movement, on net, since August of last year.”
Setting the official number of unemployed persons in the U.S. economy at 7.9 million adds up to a huge undercounting of the actual the level of U.S. joblessness and a far-reaching case of public sector malfeasance, as evidenced by the jobless figures contained in recent column, “Men Need Help. Is Hillary Clinton the Answer?” October 21, 2016, by Susan Chira, a senior correspondent and editor on gender issues for The New York Times.
“If Hillary Clinton wins this election and becomes the first female president of the United States, American men may well be one of her most urgent problems,” writes Ms. Chira. “Consider some startling statistics: More than a fifth of American men — about 20 million people — between 20 and 65 had no paid work last year.” That 20 million with no work is more than double the official jobless number of 7.9 million.
Continues Chira, “Seven million men between 25 and 55 are no longer even looking for work, twice as many black men as white.” None of those seven million unemployed individuals are counted as unemployed by the Labor Department because they’ve not been sufficiently active in looking for work in the previous four weeks. Rather than being counted as unemployed, they’re authoritatively pigeon-holed by the D.C. bureaucracy as “discouraged” rather than jobless.
“There are 20 million men with felony records who are not in jail, with dim prospects of employment, and more of these are black men,” reports Chira, while also citing forecasts of higher levels of unemployment on the horizon: “Lawrence H. Summers, the former Treasury secretary and now a professor of economics at Harvard, estimates that a third of men between 25 and 54 without college educations could be out of work by midcentury.”
Similarly, women in the workforce are not exempt from the insecurities and joblessness being doled out in the labor market. “Economists and scholars have assembled a trove of disturbing data about the plight of men, even as they acknowledge that women’s employment has stalled for the past 15 years as well,” writes Chira.
Regrettably, the seemingly endless months of backbiting in the election focusing on Trump’s incivility and the Clinton staff’s practice of smashing her communication devices with hammers will do nothing to fix the problem of this increasingly marginalized and dispirited workforce.
Ralph R. Reiland is an Associate Professor of Economics Emeritus at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. | 1real |
Calexit Yes | David Swanson | 1real |
White House domestic advisers take lead on refugee decision: officials | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC) is taking the lead on a decision about how many refugees to admit to the United States next year, two current and three former officials said, a move that may empower those who wish to reduce immigration. The council, which reports to U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for policy Stephen Miller, an architect of Trump’s initial travel ban, is adopting a role traditionally handled by National Security Council and State Department officials. The shift may strengthen the hand of officials who, like Trump himself, wish to cut the number of refugees resettled in the United States, against foreign policy experts who view the issue through an international humanitarian lens and say taking them in is vital to getting others to keep their borders open. The bureaucratic maneuver appears to be part of a wider Washington fight over steps that the Trump administration has taken to limit immigration to the United States. These include two Trump executive orders, both challenged in court, temporarily banning most refugees from entering as well as most visits by citizens of six Muslim-majority nations; an internal debate over the cost of resettling refugees; and a crackdown on illegal immigration. By law, the president must tell Congress before the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year how many refugees he believes need to be resettled in the United States in the next year. It is not known how many refugees Trump will decide to admit. The DPC’s enhanced role may reflect a White House tendency to view the issue through a political prism given Trump’s focus in his 2016 election campaign on curbing immigration and its popularity with his base, the current and former officials said. “They see it as continuation of a campaign issue about keeping America safe” rather than as “a humanitarian issue about helping people who were fleeing persecution and war overseas,” said one former official who spoke on condition of anonymity. In his original Jan. 27 executive order, Trump said some people admitted as refugees “have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes” and called for tighter vetting. “Deteriorating conditions in certain countries due to war, strife, disaster, and civil unrest increase the likelihood that terrorists will use any means possible to enter,” he added. Critics argue refugees are the most heavily vetted group to come to the United States and highly unlikely to pose a threat. The White House and State Department did not respond to requests for comment. Miller was the keynote speaker at a 2015 awards ceremony of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group which aims to limit immigration. DPC member John Zadrozny has worked for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which seeks to lower immigration to a level that “more closely reflects past policy.” In both his travel ban executive orders, Trump has ordered the United States to accept a maximum of 50,000 refugees for permanent resettlement in the fiscal 2017 year ending Sept. 30, less than half the 110,000 President Barack Obama authorized. That would be the lowest level of refugee resettlement in the United States since fiscal 2007, when 48,282 were admitted. As of July 21, the United States had taken in 50,334 so far in fiscal 2017, according to official data. (For a graphic of U.S. refugee admissions see: tmsnrt.rs/2h0PQRC) However, it would track with the original guideline set by the Refugee Act of 1980, which capped admissions at 50,000 for fiscal 1980, 1981 and 1982 unless the president found more were justified on humanitarian or other national interest grounds. From fiscal 1983, the 50,000 cap did not apply. Proponents argue that the United States needs to take in refugees for many reasons, not least to help make the case to states such as Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon accepting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees to keep their borders open. “There has been so much talk recently of the alleged security implications of letting refugees in, but the administration doesn’t seem fully cognizant of the national security implications of keeping refugees out,” said Rebecca Heller of the International Refugee Assistance Project, which sued to block Trump’s travel ban executive orders. “Our allies in the Middle East, on whom we depend in the partnership to defeat (the Islamic State group), rely on U.S. refugee resettlement to relieve the strain placed by refugees on their domestic infrastructure,” she added. | 0fake |
Republicans Were Just Told To Stop Talking About Healthcare Repeal Because It’s Political Suicide (DETAILS) | Remember when Republicans were told to stop talking about rape because they were repeatedly sticking their foot in their mouths? Well, now they are being told to stop talking about their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.Ever since Republicans giddily started preparing to repeal the landmark healthcare law, they faced a sea of angry constituents at town hall events across the country. As the GOP dug in their heels to strip healthcare from millions of Americans, their own voting base began to realize that their own healthcare was threatened as well and that the law they referred to as Obamacare wasn t so bad after all.In fact, many realize that the law saved their lives and they don t want Republicans to repeal it and put their lives back in jeopardy.But Republicans shoved their bill through the House without even reading it and getting the CBO to score it. The bill lets states opt out of requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, which have now been defined as including sexual assault, pregnancy, cancer, acne, asthma, diabetes, sleep apnea, Alzheimer s disease, and a whole host of other conditions and medical problems, a list of which you can find here.This pretty much would allow insurance companies to discriminate against millions of Americans, conservatives included.The bill also slashed $880 billion from Medicaid, which covers millions of low-income Americans, in order to fund a tax gift for the wealthy. Again, millions of Americans, including conservatives in red states, got healthcare because the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid.Understandably, most Americans are pissed at Republicans, especially after House Republicans celebrated taking healthcare from people by throwing a beer party on Capitol Hill and smiling and laughing about it at the White House Rose Garden while Donald Trump spiked the football.And Americans have been flocking to town halls ever since to shame Republicans for their actions. Many Republicans have even been too cowardly to even attend their own town halls to face the music.Those who have shown up have only angered their constituents even more by lying about what s in the bill and making any lame excuse they can think of to justify stripping healthcare from millions.That s why a conservative consulting firm in now telling Republicans to stop talking about repealing the Affordable Care Act.According to Raw Story,In a memo issued this week by conservative firm WPA Intelligence, lawmakers were cautioned to avoid using the term full repeal because it is highly unpopular.So, it appears that Republicans may now go to their constituents and claim that their bill is only a partial repeal even though it is, in fact, a full repeal.Make no mistake, this consulting firm knows that Republicans are committing political suicide. That s why they warned them to stop talking so much about the healthcare repeal.But the damage has already been done and will get even worse if Republicans send the bill to Trump for his signature.The American people, including conservative voters, now know that Republicans were full of shit when they insisted that a full repeal was the only way to fix the Affordable Care Act. The fact is that these problems can be easily fixed if Republicans are willing to work with Democrats. Instead of admitting they were wrong, Republicans doubled down and now they get to experience the consequences in 2018 when a Democratic wave could very well sweep them out of power in Congress.Featured Image: Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 1real |
White House budget slashes 'countering violent extremism' grants | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The budget proposal unveiled by the White House on Tuesday cut all funding to a Department of Homeland Security program known as “countering violent extremism,” which provides grants to communities to counter radicalism through outreach. The program, whose roots go back to the Obama administration, has come under scrutiny by the Trump administration and some congressional Republicans who favor law enforcement, rather than community outreach, to fight what they see as a growing Islamic extremist threat. At the beginning of the administration, some White House and DHS officials considered changing the name of the program to “countering Islamic extremism,” and refocusing the funding only on grants that dealt with the Islamic community, not other communities that may have extremist views like white supremacists. The Trump administration has frozen $10 million in grants allocated at the end of the Obama administration under the countering violent extremism program and has yet to reallocate the funds. The funding cuts proposed by the budget would reduce the $50 million currently allocated for the program down to zero for fiscal year 2018. Congress must vote to pass the budget and it will likely be amended before being enacted. | 0fake |
LIKE A BAD PENNY: OBAMAS CRASH Music Awards to Boast About Their Connection to Music Legend [Video] | THE OBAMAS ARE LIKE THE CLINTONS They just keep turning up like a bad penny. Who knows why they keep popping up everywhere but some say Michelle might run for POTUS in 2020 They must not have gotten the message in the 2016 election .GO AWAY! Note to Barack: STOP criticizing President Trump. You make yourself look like a bigger loser than you already are! It s not about you anymore!This appearance reminds us of the odd Oscars show when Michelle wore a new weave with bangs and a glam gown to give out the best picture award:Barack and Michelle Obama for some strange reason appeared at the 2017 American Music Awards, serving as a warm-up act for the winner of the life-time achievement award, Diana Ross:The Obamas discussed how important Ross s music is to them. When we heard Diana Ross was getting the lifetime achievement award, our first reaction was, she doesn t have it yet? Obama said in a pre-taped appearance. Her artistry resonates with folks of every race, background, and walk of life, Michelle Obama said. And today her voice is still as pure, her beauty is undeniable, and her showmanship is on point as back when she was a Supreme. WHY WE AWARDED HER THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM ???Obama said he and his wife s affinity for Ross is why he awarded her the presidential medal of freedom. We still listen to Diana around the house, Obama said. that s why we gave her the presidential medal of freedom last year. But, this is a big deal too. Diana Ross, we love you, Michelle said, with her husband echoing: We love you much. | 1real |
PREDICTION: White House Lies Will Force Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein To Quit | The first reason the White House gave for President Donald Trump s firing of former FBI Director James Comey was that the president had received a recommendation from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. This excuse was bolstered by the memo Rosentein had given that was critical of Comey, though it did not explicitly call for the president to fire Comey.For his part, Rosenstein was not happy that the actions Trump took around Comey were blamed on that memo. Rosenstein has already demanded the White House correct the record about this. As a consequence, Trump himself told Lester Holt that the decision to fire Comey was all his. By all accounts, Rosenstein is a man of integrity. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Rosenstein left the impression that he couldn t work in an environment where facts weren t accurately reported The deputy attorney general objected to statements by White House aides citing Mr. Rosenstein s critical assessment of Mr.Comey s job performance to justify the firing. If that is true, there is no way Rosenstein is going to have a long tenure in the Trump Department of Justice. Not only does this administration have a hard time telling the truth, they have hard time knowing what the truth is. This week alone, they claimed Rosenstein convinced the president that Comey should be fired, that Trump wanted Comey gone because of how badly he treated Hillary Clinton and that Comey told Trump that he wasn t under investigation. The only one of these three statements that even has a chance of being credible is the first, and it has been shot down.This all comes after months and months of lies and misstatements. The New York Times put together a list of all of the Tweets Trump has put out since he entered the White House. The number of lies that he has told just through that medium is staggering.Rosenstein has a serious decision to make. How seriously does he want to be taken? How much of his reputation is he willing to sacrifice? The chances seem good that he will have to bring on a special prosecutor to look into the Russia/Trump campaign link. That is one way to salvage his reputation. That may lead to his firing. Whether he quits or is fired, his days in this administration are numbered.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. | 1real |
Hillary Clinton Clinches the Nomination. Will Bernie Sanders Fight On? - The New York Times | Democrats will vote in six states on Tuesday, just hours after Hillary Clinton secured enough superdelegates, according to a survey by The Associated Press, to make her the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. But the focus will be on just one of those states: California, the nation’s most populous state and a liberal stronghold, where Senator Bernie Sanders is hoping to seize a victory to make the case for staying in the race until the party’s convention in July. The question of the day is not whether Mrs. Clinton will declare victory, but in what terms, and how she will begin to frame the general election race against Donald J. Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee. But there will also be something to watch on the Republican side, as Mr. Trump is expected to hold a news conference in New York to mark the end of primary season. He has been heavily criticized — including by many in his own party — for his attacks on a federal judge’s Mexican heritage, and he faces questions about how he will respond. Voting will also take place on Tuesday in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. Here are a few of the dynamics we’ll be watching: In her speech Tuesday night, Mrs. Clinton will become the first woman to claim victory in a major party’s presidential nominating fight. She has intermittently emphasized the historic nature of her candidacy, and it may work to her benefit to stress that theme amid Mr. Trump’s continuing struggles with female voters. But Mrs. Clinton also has a broader choice to make, about how to position herself in one of the moments of her campaign: Will she move to calm Sanders supporters and consolidate support on the left, or reach out to moderates and Republicans who may be wary of Mr. Trump? Will she go after Mr. Trump in hard language, or focus on sketching a positive rationale for her own election? Her choices Tuesday night could set the shape of the race between now and the conventions in July. The slim path available to Mr. Sanders narrowed even further Monday evening with the news report that Mrs. Clinton had crossed the threshold through support from party leaders. In order to press forward, Mr. Sanders is in dire need of an upset win in California. By taking the nation’s most populous state, his supporters hope, Mr. Sanders could claim a mandate to keep fighting all the way to the convention in Philadelphia. He is likely to face intensifying pressure from Democrats — including the White House — to get out of Mrs. Clinton’s way. But Mr. Sanders has never been a creature of the Democratic Party. His natural mode is defiance. As Mrs. Clinton aims to rally Democrats, it is in Mr. Sanders’s power to make that process easy or acutely uncomfortable. His reaction to Tuesday’s results may signal which path he intends to take. Mrs. Clinton is favored to win the primary in New Jersey and has a narrower lead over Mr. Sanders in California polls. She is poised to secure her party’s nomination regardless of what happens in each state, but sweeping both would lend her candidacy an especially formidable air at the start of the campaign against Mr. Trump. Capturing California, one of the most racially diverse states, would hand Mrs. Clinton a useful symbolic victory as she prepares to compete with a Republican whose support has come overwhelmingly from whites. Republican concern about Mr. Trump is approaching a high: His last remaining primary challengers dropped out of the race more than a month ago, but the real estate developer has done little in that time to gird himself for a contest with Mrs. Clinton. Over the last week, Mr. Trump has inflicted more damage to his candidacy than Senator Ted Cruz or Gov. John R. Kasich ever did. He has struggled to answer newly detailed and troubling allegations that his defunct educational company, Trump University, committed fraud, and he has repeatedly criticized a federal judge who is hearing a lawsuit against him, accusing the judge, who is of Mexican descent, of having a conflict of interest. It will take a firm performance by Mr. Trump on the podium in Westchester County on Tuesday night to reassure Republicans that he is up to the job of fighting Mrs. Clinton. Another undisciplined and combative outing could raise the party’s anxiety to the level of panic. President Obama has appeared eager, even impatient, to take part in the campaign, and he has already gone after Mr. Trump repeatedly. But Mr. Obama has been somewhat constrained so far by the Democratic primaries. While he has been critical of Republicans, he has not yet made a case for Mrs. Clinton as a better alternative. The White House has indicated that may change this week, once Mrs. Clinton has the Democratic nomination in hand. A presidential endorsement would be seen by many Democrats as a signal to Mr. Sanders that it’s time for him to leave the race. And Mr. Obama, who has long been adept at belittling Mr. Trump, could be an effective advocate for Mrs. Clinton as she seeks to energize the Democratic coalition and set the terms of debate against an unpredictable opponent. | 0fake |
WATCH: TRANS ARTIST DEMONSTRATES How She Collected 200 Gallons Of Pee To Make Resist Trump “Art” While Crowd Watches | So much hate. So much anger. So much time on their hands. But oh yeah Trump s the one the left just doesn t get A trans artist has turned 200 gallons of her urine into an art exhibit to protest against President Trump.A Vice News video shows artist Cassils, who goes by the pronoun they, preparing for their Monumental art exhibit that allegedly takes aim at President Trump rescinding former President Obama s rule on trans bathrooms. The Obama administration rule had mandated schools allow trans students to choose the bathroom they prefer to use instead of using one based on their anatomy. Under the Trump administration s new guidance, the states can choose their own bathroom policies.According to Cassils website, the PISSED sculpture of the Monumental exhibit involves all of the urine Cassils has passed since the Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era policy. Audio from the Gavin Grimm case is also played in the background.***WARNING***This video can t be unseen.Via MRCTVFor anyone who s interested the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York City, that proudly features Resist Trump artwork will be displaying and promoting the trans artist and her giant cube of pee in their gallery. Here are just a few screenshots promoting they s work on their Facebook page : | 1real |
When CIA and NSA Workers Blow the Whistle, Congress Plays Deaf | Store When CIA and NSA Workers Blow the Whistle, Congress Plays Deaf It’s pretty clear that those intelligence agencies — not the elected representatives of the people — are running the show in Washington Patrick G. Eddington | The Intercept - October 27, 2016 Comments
DO THE COMMITTEES that oversee the vast U.S. spying apparatus take intelligence community whistleblowers seriously? Do they earnestly investigate reports of waste, fraud, abuse, professional negligence, or crimes against the Constitution reported by employees or contractors working for agencies like the CIA or NSA? For the last 20 years, the answer has been a resounding “no.”
My own experience in 1995-96 is illustrative. Over a two-year period working with my wife, Robin (who was a CIA detailee to a Senate committee at the time), we discovered that, contrary to the public statements by then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell and other senior George H. W. Bush administration officials (including CIA Director John Deutch), American troops had in fact been exposed to chemical agents during and after the 1991 war with Saddam Hussein. While the Senate Banking Committee under then-Chairman Don Riegle, D-Mich., was trying to uncover the truth of this, officials at the Pentagon and CIA were working to bury it.
At the CIA, I objected internally — and was immediately placed under investigation by the CIA’s Office of Security. That became clear just days after we delivered the first of our several internal briefings to increasingly senior officials at the CIA and other intelligence agencies. In February 1995, I received a phone call from CIA Security asking whether I’d had any contacts with the media. I had not, but I had mentioned to CIA officials we’d met with that I knew that the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” was working on a piece about the Gulf War chemical cover-up. This call would not be the last I’d receive from CIA Security about the matter, nor the only action the agency would take against us.
In the spring of 1995, a former manager of Robin’s discreetly pulled her aside and said that CIA Security agents were asking questions about us, talking to every single person with or for whom either of us had worked. I seemed to be the special focus of their attention, and the last question they asked our friends, colleagues, and former managers was, “Do you believe Pat Eddington would allow his conscience to override the secrecy agreement he signed?” | 1real |
House intelligence chief has seen no evidence to back Trump wiretap charge | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee said on Tuesday he had seen no evidence to support President Donald Trump’s allegation he was wiretapped by then-President Barack Obama during the 2016 presidential campaign. Republican Representative Devin Nunes said if Trump’s assertion were true, the leaders of Congress and chairmen of its two intelligence committees, known collectively as the “Gang of Eight,” should have been briefed. “I have not seen that evidence,” Nunes told a news conference. “I think the bigger question that needs to be answered is whether or not Mr. Trump or any of his associates were in fact targeted by any of the intelligence agencies or law enforcement authorities.” Trump made the accusation in tweets on Saturday, providing no evidence. An Obama spokesman denied it. Trump has since pressed the House and Senate intelligence committees to expand probes into allegations that Russia meddled in the U.S. election to look into his charge. “We are supposed to be kept up to speed on any pertinent counterintelligence investigation,” Nunes said. “If Trump or any other political campaign, or anybody associated with Trump, was under some type of investigation, that clearly should have risen to the Gang of Eight level.” Adam Schiff, the top committee Democrat, also said it did not appear that the group had been appropriately briefed. Schiff said it was “a scandal” that Trump had levied that accusation against Obama. He said the intelligence panel would address the issue and deal with it quickly. Nunes said his committee planned public hearings as part of its Russia probe, beginning with one on March 20 at which Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, were called to testify. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates were also invited. Nunes said the panel would not issue subpoenas for that hearing. “But if we have to, we will subpoena all information that is pertinent to this investigation if people either ... don’t want to appear or if the appropriate agencies do not provide the information we ask for.” Schiff addressed speculation that the issue was too partisan for Congress to conduct a credible investigation. “To be honest, we don’t know yet. I can’t say for certain that will be possible,” he said at news briefing several hours after Nunes’. | 0fake |
What This Poll Says About Bernie Sanders And Republicans Should TERRIFY The GOP | Senator Bernie Sanders is the most popular senator in the United States and a new poll proves it. The latest Morning Consult poll to come out has found that, out of all the lawmakers serving in the United States Senate, the Vermont senator has the highest approval ratings among his constituents.The poll revealed that a whopping 75 percent of Sanders constituents approve of his performance. Only 21 percent of Vermont residents who were polled disapprove of the senator.In contrast to the glowing endorsements Sanders received from his constituents, Mitch McConnell had the lowest approval rating of any U.S. senator. A measly 44 percent of the Kentucky lawmaker s constituents approved of his performance in office, while 47 percent disapproved of him. McConnell has earned himself a special achievement, being the only senator to have more of his constituents disapprove of his performance than approve.Sanders and McConnell were also voted the most liked and least liked, respectively, in September of 2016 and have held on to their titles since then.The runners up for the least liked were Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who came in second with a disapproval rating of 43 percent and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who was in third place at 40 percent.According to the Morning Consult website, more than 85,000 registered voters were included in weekly online national polling from January 2017 through March 2017 to determine the latest Senator & Governor Approval Rankings. In each poll, they were asked whether they approved or disapproved of the senator in question and were then asked a series of questions about his/her performance that they could answer with strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, strongly disapprove, or don t know / no opinion. This poll does not account for the fact that Bernie Sanders is loved far and wide, not just in Vermont. After building one heck of a movement during the Democratic presidential primaries, he has remained a powerful voice in politics and maintains a loyal following across the country.Featured image via Scott Eisen/Getty Images | 1real |
U.S. follows Mexico in backing disputed Honduran vote result | WASHINGTON/TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday followed Mexico in signaling that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez had won a heavily disputed presidential election last month, lending weight to his legitimacy in spite of ongoing opposition protests. The Honduran electoral tribunal at the weekend declared U.S. ally Hernandez the winner of the Nov. 26 election in spite of widespread misgivings about the count, which turned in favor of the incumbent after suddenly halting with the opposition ahead. Violent protests have broken out in Honduras over the vote, and the Organization of American States (OAS) urged the country to hold new elections to resolve the dispute. That proposal has, however, been rejected by senior Honduran officials. Hernandez s rival Salvador Nasralla traveled to Washington this week to urge the United States not to recognize the vote, but a senior U.S. State Department official said that his government had no evidence that would alter the results. At this point ... we have not seen anything that alters the final result, the official told reporters, saying Washington may wait to make a definitive judgment in case the opposition presents additional evidence of fraud in the election. Mexico on Tuesday congratulated Hernandez for being declared victor. Mexico s step, which followed the recognition of Hernandez by Colombia and Guatemala, strengthened the incumbent s hand and could tilt other countries in his favor. The Mexican statement, and its review, indicates that a call for a new election is a pretty dramatic outcome in this case, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Washington may hold off on making a final judgment until the end of a five-day period when the opposition can produce further evidence to contest the results, the official added. He said a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state met with Nasralla, who has accused Hernandez of stealing the election. He did not have any new (allegations of) fraud (or) evidence to present to us, and I think we are going to work through this quickly to get to a definitive U.S. statement, he added. The Mexican statement is going to have a strong influence on whether we think we can move forward sooner. The Mexicans seem pretty certain in their statement. Hernandez on Wednesday named a new head of the armed forces, Rene Orlando Ponce, who quickly indicated on local radio that solving the impasse would be for Honduras alone. We re not going to accept any interference beyond Honduran law, he said. | 0fake |
null | So he didn't question where he was sending emails... that her name was on adress, ..The President had no knowledge of his Sec of State actions... i find this very difficult to believe and insulting... | 1real |
Intel chief ‘absolutely’ forgot about NSA data sweep program, attorney says | The National Security Agency's massive data collection program has prompted lawsuits, internal reviews and a fierce congressional debate over whether to scrap it.
But Director of National Intelligence James Clapper apparently forgot the program even existed during a key hearing two years ago.
Robert Litt, the DNI's general counsel, revealed the major memory lapse during a panel discussion Friday hosted by the Advisory Committee on Transparency. He was offering an explanation as to why, in a now-infamous exchange several months before Ed Snowden-leaked materials surfaced on the NSA program, Clapper told a Senate committee that the government does not "wittingly" sweep up information on millions of Americans.
He wasn't lying, Litt said. Rather, "It was perfectly clear that he had absolutely forgotten the existence of the 215 program."
The claim may be startling for the lawmakers, civil liberties advocates and transparency groups who have debated the program intensely since it was revealed in a series of media reports in mid-2013.
The 215 program allows the NSA to collect so-called "metadata" on phone calls -- including the number called and the date and time of the call -- then stores it in a database that it queries using phone numbers associated with terrorists overseas. Officials say they don't use the information for any other purpose, and that the legal powers that enable the program are essential to the hunt for terrorists. Opponents say the seizure and search of telephone company records violates Americans' expectations of privacy under the Fourth Amendment.
Clapper's early 2013 testimony created a congressional controversy after the Snowden revelations showed the NSA was gathering data on Americans.
At the hearing, Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden asked Clapper whether the NSA "collects any type of data at all" on millions of Americans.
Clapper told Wyden: "No sir, it does not." Asked for clarification, he said "not wittingly."
Clapper later apologized, sending a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee admitting his answer was "clearly erroneous." He said that he "simply didn't think" of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and was thinking of a different provision of a different law.
Litt offered more details on Friday of what happened behind the scenes of that hearing. He said they were only notified the day before that Wyden would ask that question.
"The DNI did not get a chance to review it," Litt said. "He was hit unaware by the question."
Litt, whose comments were first reported in The Hill, said it was not "an untruth or a falsehood" on Clapper's part. "This was just a mistake on his part. We all make mistakes," he said.
He said he realized Clapper forgot after personally telling him he had been wrong. He said Clapper was thinking about a separate program used to sweep up Internet information on foreigners. Litt said he should have corrected the mistake right away.
Litt's explanation comes as the courts and Congress debate the program anew.
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the bulk collection of Americans' phone records is illegal. The court all but pleaded for Congress to sharpen the boundaries between security and privacy rights.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are weighing the renewal of the USA Patriot Act, including data collection provisions. The House is slated to vote next week on a bill to reauthorize the law while also ending the government's dragnet collection of records.
But Senate leaders, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, have spoken forcefully for a competing measure to reauthorize the law as-is.
Across Congress, the political divisions cut along complex lines. Libertarian-leaning Republicans like Sen. Ted. Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul are aligned with many liberal Democrats, insisting that a secret intelligence agency should not be storing the records of every American phone call. But other Democrats and Republicans say the program is needed now more than ever given the Islamic State group's determination to inspire terrorist attacks on American soil.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 0fake |
Ryan disappointed on Senate healthcare vote, but 'we should not give up' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Friday he was disappointed with the Senate’s failure to pass healthcare legislation but urged Republican senators not to give up as their colleagues in the House moved on to tax reform. “I am disappointed and frustrated, but we should not give up. I encourage the Senate to continue working toward a real solution that keeps our promise,” Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, said in a statement. He said the House would move on to tax reform including cutting taxes for middle class families. | 0fake |
97% of Voters in Bankrupt Puerto Rico Want Statehood - Breitbart | The banner headline will read 97 percent of Puerto Rico voted for statehood, but only 23 percent of voters cast ballots on June 11 due to opposition boycotting. [Of the 2, 458, 036 registered voters in Puerto Rico, about 548, 387, or 97 percent, of Puerto Ricans voted in a referendum for the territory to become America’s 51st state, while approximately 16, 960, or 3 percent, were opposed, according to the Wall Street Journal review of early returns. Turnout was just 23 percent. Governor Ricardo Rosselló and his New Progressive Party [Republican] held the referendum, despite filing on May 3 for the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States. The island and its utility ran out of cash and defaulted on its $73 billion of debt. After the filing, Breitbart News reported that Puerto Rico’s public pension plans have only $1. 8 billion in assets to pay $45 billion in liabilities. The New Progressive Party, referred to as PNP in Spanish, pushed the “yes” vote for statehood. President Barack Obama provided the $2. 5 million in funding to hold the referendum. But with the PNP narrowly winning the governorship in 2016, the Republican Party’s GOTV ( ) operation funded social media and TV ads in favor of statehood. Jennifer Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner and only nonvoting member of Congress, is a strong advocate of statehood as a leader of the PNP. Just after taking office in January, she introduced statehood legislation into Congress, but found little interest in the idea that Puerto Rico would pick up two U. S. Senators. Congressional Democrats with Puerto Rican heritage, including Luis Gutiérrez ( ) and Nydia Velázquez ( oppose statehood and urged the islanders to boycott the referendum, according to the Associated Press. Puerto Rico currently suffers from a poverty rate of 45 percent and 12. 4 percent unemployment. The Republicans blame the island’s depression on the confusing status of being a territory. But Democrats enjoy spending the $22 billion in federal subsidies that the territory receives. Puerto Rico faces a huge battle against vulture capitalist hedge funds that have bought its defaulted bonds for as little as 25 percent of face value. The vultures claim that Puerto Rico can regain its solvency by raising taxes and firing tens of thousands public sector workers. Bloomberg reported on Election Day that Puerto Rico and the vultures will soon face off next week in a New York federal bankruptcy court “over who owns cash collected by the government’s sales tax agency, known by its Spanish acronym Cofina. ” The island claims that despite not making any bond payments, it needs the cash to avoid beginning to miss payroll and disability payments by around November 1. Investors claim their bonds should be paid first. | 0fake |
WE WILL NOT COMPLY! VA Residents Refuse To Obey Leftist Governor’s Ban On Confederate Flag License Plates | The first shot against PC tyranny in Virginia has been fired!Earlier this year, after racist terrorist Dylann Storm Roof was charged with shooting nine black people in a Charleston, South Carolina, church, the media and Democrats across the nation embarked on a crusade to wipe the Confederate flag from society.One of the crusaders, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, decided to get rid of license plates containing the Confederate flag altogether and informed those with such license plates that they had until October to hand the license plates over to the Department of Motor Vehicles.Those found driving with the plates will be charged with a misdemeanor.On Friday, local station WAVY reported that the vast majority of citizens with such license plates have refused to comply with the government s flag-recall notice. The DMV stated that just 187 Virginians had returned their license plates out of 1,600 who had received a recall notice.One of those who has refused to heed the call is Kevin Collier, commander of the Stonewall Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, whose great-great-great-grandfather fought with the Confederacy. Next thing you know, they re going to say you can t wear blue on Monday or you can t wear yellow on Thursday, he told WAVY. Where s it going to end? The answer: It isn t. In forwarding the regulation, McAuliffe said the Confederate flag was unnecessarily divisive and hurtful. He added, Even its display on state-issued license tags is, in my view, unnecessarily divisive and hurtful to too many of our people. Apparently, McAuliffe missed the fact that the victims in Charleston did not suffer from hurt feelings thanks to license plates, but from murder at the hands of a racist renegade criminal. But government s job is now to protect feelings rather than lives. Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
By Announcing New Jobs, Corporations Help Themselves Too - The New York Times | Donald J. Trump won’t be sworn in until Friday but big business has already thrown him a veritable inaugural ball. A series of companies, among them Ford, Lockheed Martin, Amazon and Sprint, have all announced plans in recent weeks to hire and invest in the United States. A who’s who of executives from boardrooms here and overseas have made the pilgrimage to Trump Tower and sought the ’s blessing. The drumbeat of announcements — on Tuesday it was the turn of General Motors and Walmart — is not just about winning good headlines or a favorable mention from the tweeter in chief, however. While the jobs and investments are real enough, all of these corporate behemoths will soon have business before the new administration, with moves expected on mergers, trade policy, tax reform, defense contracts and regulation. Signaling to the and his team that they are on board now also provides chief executives with more leverage down the line. “It might be an attempt to buy good will, but I don’t blame them for trying to do that,” said Tom C. Korologos, a longtime Republican strategist and an adviser at the law firm DLA Piper in Washington. “It’s a new administration, and companies are nervous and don’t know what to expect. ” Ultimately, the new administration’s decisions will be formulated far from the limelight in conference rooms at federal agencies in Washington or behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. The money riding on the outcome runs into the trillions. And on issues, the companies will need to make a strong case. Detroit automakers, for example, are concerned that Washington will impose tariffs on cars made in Mexico, but they are eager for wiggle room on new standards at home. Walmart is worried about rising trade tensions with China, where many of the products it sells are made. Lockheed Martin, whose chief executive, Marillyn A. Hewson, met with Mr. Trump on Friday and promised to create 1, 800 new jobs, depends on the government for more than 70 percent of its $46 billion in revenue. United Technologies, which agreed to preserve 850 jobs at its Carrier unit in Indianapolis after public pressure from Mr. Trump, gets about 10 percent of its sales from Washington. On a call with the news media on Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, cited a new pledge by Bayer to invest $8 billion in the United States and create 3, 000 jobs. “The reason for this commitment and expansion is because of the ’s focus on creating better business climate here in the United States,” he said. What Mr. Spicer didn’t mention is that Bayer, the German chemical giant, faces intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators in Washington and Europe over its plan to buy Monsanto, based in St. Louis, for $57 billion. If Bayer cannot win approval from the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, it will be costly, with Bayer obligated to pay Monsanto $2 billion under the deal’s terms. Last week, the chief executives of the two companies met with Trump and made their case for the merger, which some advisers to Mr. Trump have criticized. Mr. Korologos played down the idea that big business would get specific favors in exchange for hiring or investing. But he acknowledged that many of the announcements were choreographed for maximum political impact. “There’s too many hoops to jump through and too many institutions for it to be a simple quid pro quo,” he said. “But what Trump is doing is very unusual, and these decisions weren’t made 48 hours ago or after a tweet. They were in the works for a long time. ” Mr. Spicer did point out that Bayer’s decision to hire and invest more in the United States had not been disclosed previously — unlike some highly promoted announcements that were essentially recycled versions of previous news releases. In other cases, companies are talking up hiring plans now, after earlier decisions to quietly shed workers. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said Tuesday it would create about 10, 000 jobs when it opens about 60 new stores, plans that had already been announced last year. The additions to the work force are largely in line with Walmart’s typical hiring practices for new stores, according to a company spokesman, Lorenzo Lopez. Months before it announced the new stores last year, Walmart said it could lose as many as 16, 000 workers by closing 154 of its American locations and 115 stores overseas. Mr. Lopez said on Tuesday that “a lot” of the workers who had been affected by the store closures were able to move to surrounding Walmart stores. In the case of the auto industry, Mr. Trump’s criticism of imports of vehicles has prompted companies to defend their American manufacturing presence aggressively and announce new investments, some of which had long been in the planning stages. Last week, the chief executive of Fiat Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, admitted that plans for 2, 000 new jobs in the United States had been under consideration long before Mr. Trump won the presidency in November. “The decision has been in the works for a long time, dating back to 2015,” Mr. Marchionne said during an appearance at the Detroit auto show. “It is just a continuation of the retooling of the U. S. manufacturing base. ” But Mr. Trump’s immediate — and positive — reaction to the announcement underscored how closely the is following the automotive job picture, and how his keen interest in American manufacturing is influencing automakers. On Tuesday, General Motors, the largest American automaker, announced $1 billion in new investment in its American factories that would create or retain 1, 500 jobs. The automaker also said it was moving production of axles from Mexico to the United States and creating 450 American jobs, and would continue to add thousands of new technology jobs over the next few years. In a statement, G. M. said the plans had been “in the works for some time. ” Yet the timing of the announcement was no coincidence, given Mr. Trump’s interest. “There’s no question there is an emphasis on job creation in the U. S. right now,” said Patrick E. Morrissey, a G. M. spokesman. “This was good timing for us to share what we are doing. ” Indeed, on Tuesday, Mr. Trump publicly thanked G. M. and Walmart via Twitter within hours of their announcements. Companies are also closely attuned to where government policy is headed, and want to show they are getting with the program, said Bruce P. Mehlman, founder of Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen Thomas, a lobbying firm whose clients include Fiat Chrysler, Procter Gamble and Walmart. “In 2009 and 2010 under President Obama, it was sustainability, and in 2017 with Trump it’s domestic manufacturing,” Mr. Mehlman said. For automakers, that is an important issue as G. M. and many other companies make cars in Mexico for sale in the United States. The automaker has so far declined to stop importing cars from Mexico. But the entire auto industry is bracing for potential changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement that could disrupt their intricate production structure in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Industry analysts see the widely publicized announcements of new jobs as attempts by car companies to both blunt the ’s criticism and curry favor with the incoming Trump administration. “Retaining and growing jobs in the U. S. is a political hot button right now,” said Michael Harley, an analyst with the auto research firm Kelley Blue Book. “The timing of the announcement shows General Motors is more than willing to play the new administration’s publicity game. ” | 0fake |
Trump tells Russia to 'rein in' Syria's Assad during meeting with minister | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump urged Russia to “rein in” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, the White House said on Wednesday. “Trump emphasized the need to work together to end the conflict in Syria, in particular, underscoring the need for Russia to rein in the Assad regime, Iran, and Iranian proxies,” the White House said in a statement. | 0fake |
The Many Faces of Iowa’s Caucus Voters | Iowa’s caucuses are the embodiment of retail politics, typically rewarding candidates who build support—and enthusiasm—one county at a time. Social conservatives have asserted their influence in recent years, with conservative Rick Santorum narrowly edging out the more centrist Mitt Romney in 2012. But the state isn’t a monolith, and demographic characteristics may help handicap the Republican race.
Data from The Wall Street Journal/NBC News polls suggest a GOP primary electorate defined by three broad lanes: a highly religious bloc that supports socially conservative candidates such as Ted Cruz and Ben Carson; a more moderate slice of voters with higher incomes and education levels who back ‘establishment’ candidates like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush; and a third constituency of Donald Trump supporters representing a secular, populist movement.
Viewed through that lens, here’s a look at where each type of candidate might build a winning coalition in Iowa.
Related article: How Donald Trump Happened: The Demographics Behind His Supporters » | 0fake |
ST PAUL, MN PUBLIC SCHOOLS ‘White Privilege’ TRAINING ASKS TEACHERS: “When do you wear the hood?” | Minnesota the hotbed of liberalism and diversity in the Midwest While teachers blow the whistle on the breakdown of discipline for black students in St. Paul Public Schools, a photo has emerged from an equity training that might leave some to wonder what s actually being taught to teachers.Aaron Benner, a fourth grade teacher in the district, told EAGnews about how black students are frequently not held accountable for their actions due to white privilege training for teachers and administrators. As a black man I can say that they are hurting black kids, Benner said. I ve never seen anything as idiotic as PEG. Everything we do, PEG is at the forefront. It s so comical. PEG says shouting out in class is a black cultural norm, and being on time is a white cultural thing. It s so demeaning, so condescending to black kids. If a white person were making claims like this, black people would be in an uproar. You are not doing kids any favors by making excuses for them because they are black. It s not a matter of culture if you re talking about norms that all cultures need to abide by you cannot throw things or attack your teacher, regardless of your race. Now, a source has provided photographic evidence of the tenor of some of the white privilege training being administered to St. Paul teachers.According to the source, the photo is from a training this year at Bruce Vento Elementary during a staff meeting.It features a figure wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood with the question, When do you wear the hood? The principal allegedly displayed the picture and asked the staff to sit in silence and reflect on it for 3 to 4 minutes. The source refused to elaborate out of fear of retribution.Another source said, This picture and the idea that it would be helpful in some way is totally unbelievable. An email to Scott Masini, principal of Bruce Vento, was not immediately returned.Last May, the Pioneer Press reported the St. Paul district had spent at least $1.2 million on such training from Pacific Educational Group, a San Francisco-based company that conducts similar trainings in school districts across America.Last fall, the Star Tribune reported St. Paul schools inked a $246,500 contract with PEG for equity training $133,500 less than the agreement approved for 2013-14. Bruce Vento Elementary s website details the district s equity plan, which includes examining the presence and role of Whiteness. Via: EAG NewsFrom the Un-Fair Campaign which originates in Duluth, MN: This campaign is about white privilege and so these suggestions are focused on what white people can do. Use the resources listed below to learn more.Learn how historically white privilege has benefited you and other white people. Accept that you have unearned privilege and advantages write them down Start seeing/hearing the privileges and advantages you have:Below is a White Privilege video put together by the Un-Fair Campaign: | 1real |
WATCH: Sexist Breitbart Editor Gets His A** Handed To Him By ABC Reporter | Breibart editor Milo Yiannopoulos is the obnoxious little twerp who got banned from Twitter for inciting his fans to viciously attack comedian Leslie Jones in an effort to humiliate her.Now karma has finally turned the tables on Yiannopoulos.During an interview with ABC s Terry Moran that will air on Nightline this Friday, Yiannopoulos was the one who got humiliated this time as Moran took this asshole who has the maturity of a 12-year-old boy to school.Yiannopoulos began by calling himself a virtuous troll who is doing God s work. If Leslie Jones were right here, would you say, You look like a dude ? Moran asked. Yeah, probably, Yiannopoulos replied. You would say that to her? a disgusted Moran said.Once again, Yiannopoulos has zero remorse for his ugly attack and said he would do it again, which led to Moran smacking the Breitbart bully down. Then you re an idiot, Moran told him.Yiannopoulos argued that he is not responsible for what his fans do even though it was his sexism and hate that made Jones a target for harassment in the first place. Does Justin Bieber have an obligation to his fans? I m sorry for being popular. But I am not responsible for what 350,000 people on the Internet say. I m responsible for what I say. Yeah, and what you said incited your fans to attack as if they were your own personal army of Internet trolls. If Justin Beiber launched a Twitter tirade against Selena Gomez that resulted in his fans attacking her, he would be responsible for it. Just like Yiannopoulos is responsible for the attack on Jones.Words have consequences and Yiannopoulos is finding that out the hard way.Moran responded by putting Yiannopoulis in his place with an epic smackdown that is incredibly enjoyable to watch. You re going to go after somebody s body to denigrate their ideas? What grade are you in? Are you a 13-year-old boy? Because somebody doesn t have a weight that you think is proper? That s revolting. And Yiannopoulos responded by being a misogynist asshole. I ll tell you what s revolting. What s revolting is the body positivity movement. What s revolting is this idea now that you can tell women that they ll be healthy at any size. Here s the video via YouTube:Trolls like Yiannopoulos should be banned from using the Internet entirely. He should not have a platform to bully others and spread his hate. And of course, he s a supporter of Donald Trump, which makes him even more of a prick. But you can bet that sexist trolls like Yiannopoulos will become even more emboldened if the Republican nominee should win in November, which makes it even more important that he lose by a humiliating landslide.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
OBAMA ATTEMPTS TO ENERGIZE Zombie Democrat Base By Reminding Them He Used To Hate Hillary Too | If the Democrat voters don t care if they re voting for a woman who is under criminal investigation after putting our national security at risk, or that she will bring her husband, a serial sexual assaulter who was previously impeached after lying about having sex with an intern in our White House, why would they care if Obama once despised her? Concerned that Hillary Clinton is still struggling to generate excitement, President Barack Obama is preparing to campaign for her by reminding voters there was a time he didn t like her so much, but he came around and they should too.That s the only way, Obama and aides working with him think, that she ll have the positive mandate she ll need to govern. Winning the White House by just not being Trump won t help win House and Senate races, and it won t give her the support she needs if and when she s the new president, trying to keep the public and Congress behind her agenda.Watch Bob Hope give a brilliant description of Democrats here: You want people to feel as passionate about Hillary Clinton being president as they do about stopping Donald Trump. If this isn t a close race, it s still going to matter a great deal for her presidency, said David Plouffe, Obama s 2008 campaign manager and now an outside political adviser to both the president and the campaign. That s one place where we need to see some improvement, on the intensity side of the Clinton question. That imperative will define Obama s message when he hits the trail for his rescheduled joint rally with Clinton, which will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 5. He can make the case as the highest profile convert to be her supporter, said White House communications director Jen Psaki. Via: Politico | 1real |
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