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Automakers Knew of Takata Airbag Hazard for Years, Suit Says - The New York Times | At least four automakers knew for years that Takata’s airbags were dangerous and could rupture violently but continued to use those airbags in their vehicles to save on costs, lawyers representing victims of the defect asserted in a court document filed on Monday. The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Takata’s airbags has so far painted automakers as unwitting victims duped by a rogue supplier that manipulated safety data to hide a deadly defect, linked to at least 11 deaths and over 100 injuries in the United States. But the fresh allegations against Ford, Honda, Nissan and Toyota, made as part of a lawsuit in Florida and based on company documents, point to a far deeper involvement by automakers that used Takata’s defective airbags for years. Honda vehemently denied the new allegations on Monday. The three other automakers either declined to comment or said a response would come through legal channels. Last summer, The New York Times reported indications that automakers, rather than being the victims of Takata’s missteps, had pressed their suppliers to put cost before all else. That report focused on General Motors, which is not named in the Florida case, though plaintiff lawyers said they were preparing to take action against the company. The defect has prompted the nation’s largest automotive recall ever, affecting nearly 70 million airbags in 42 million vehicles. The plaintiffs’ filing came hours before Takata pleaded guilty, under a deal announced last month, to charges of wire fraud for providing the false data, a rare outcome for businesses accused of wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors also said last month that they had charged three Takata executives with fabricating test data and fined the Tokyo company $1 billion. “I deeply regret the circumstances that resulted in the agreement today,” Yoichiro Nomura, Takata’s chief executive, said at the federal court hearing in Detroit. The company’s actions were “completely unacceptable,” he said. “Takata is fully committed to ensuring such conduct never happens again,” he added. The allegations in the Florida case came in response to a court document filed by the automakers last week that pointed to Takata’s plea deal to argue that the supplier alone was culpable. But the plaintiffs, who could gain from suing the automakers alongside Takata, argue that the automakers were more deeply involved in the handling of the defect. The fines and costs associated with the scandal have also taken a heavy financial toll on Takata, and it has been searching for a financial lifeline — possibly in the form of a white knight that would effectively take it over. One of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, Kevin R. Dean, filed an objection to Takata’s plea deal on Monday in Detroit, arguing that the automakers were accomplices in the . He urged the judge to reject the agreement and for the Justice Department to further investigate the automakers’ role. The plaintiffs have taken particular issue with the amount set aside for victims in Takata’s plea — a total of $125 million. In contrast, the automakers will have recourse to draw on an $850 million fund to offset continuing recall costs. Judge George Caram Steeh dismissed Mr. Dean’s objections, saying that Takata’s plea deal was in the best interest of the victims. He said any further action against the automakers should be pursued in civil court, and approved the plea deal as is. Randi Johnston, 26, of Farmington, Utah — who was injured in September 2015 when the airbag in her 2003 Honda Civic ruptured and metal shards struck her throat — attended the hearing and said afterward that she was shocked by the judge’s decision. The shards severed most of her vocal cords, leaving her able to speak only in a whisper. “I really don’t have any words right now,” said Ms. Johnston, a plaintiff in the Florida case. The filing by the plaintiffs says emails and internal documents turned over by Honda show that in 1999 and 2000, the automaker was intimately involved in developing a problematic propellant, or explosive, used in Takata’s airbags. The propellant is housed in a steel container called the inflater, which in the Takata case can rupture, shooting metal fragments toward the car’s driver or passengers. That propellant, based on a volatile compound, raised concerns internally at Takata at the time, and long plagued the company’s engineers. During testing of Takata’s inflaters in 1999 and 2000 at Honda’s own facilities, at least two inflaters ruptured, according to the filing. Still, Honda pushed a particularly problematic configuration of the propellant over Takata’s objections, the filing said. Honda chose Takata’s airbags because of their relative “inexpensiveness,” the filing quoted Honda documents as saying. The first recalls of Takata’s airbags did not take place until almost a decade later, when Honda recalled 4, 000 vehicles in 2008. The Times has reported that Honda and Takata became aware in 2004 of an airbag explosion in a Honda Accord in Alabama that shot out metal fragments and injured the car’s driver. But the two companies deemed it “an anomaly” and did not issue a recall or seek the involvement of federal safety regulators. On Monday, Honda strongly y denied the allegations in the plaintiffs’ filing. When it installed Takata’s airbags, it said in a statement, “Honda reasonably believed, based on extensive test results provided by Takata, that they were safe. ” Honda said it believed it reacted “promptly and appropriately” in handling known airbag defects. It also said Takata’s airbags had not necessarily been cheaper than those of its competitors. “Sometimes they were more expensive, sometimes less,” the carmaker said. The filing also cites internal documents from Ford, Nissan and Toyota indicating that cost considerations influenced the automakers’ decision to adopt Takata’s airbags in the early 2000s, despite safety concerns. Toyota used Takata’s airbags “primarily” for cost reasons, even though the automaker had “large quality concerns” about Takata and considered the supplier’s quality performance “unacceptable,” the filing said. In 2003, a Takata inflater ruptured at a Toyota facility during testing, the court filing said. In 2005, Nissan began investigating the use of adding a drying agent to Takata’s airbag inflaters out of concern that exposure to moisture made the propellant particularly unstable, the filing says. Takata engineers had long known that its explosive was sensitive to moisture and adopted it despite internal concerns over its safety. Although patents show that its engineers have long struggled to tame the propellant, the company still maintains that the explosive can be stabilized to withstand moist conditions. Ford chose Takata’s inflaters over the objections of the automaker’s own inflater expert, who opposed the use of Takata’s propellant because of its instability and sensitivity to moisture, the filing said. Ford overrode those objections because it thought Takata was the only supplier that could provide the large number of inflaters Ford needed, the filing says. The filing says that Ford, Honda, Nissan and Toyota were also aware of instances of ruptures years before any recalls. It also mentions the German carmaker BMW and points to circumstantial evidence that BMW was similarly involved in what federal prosecutors, in their criminal complaint and in announcing the Takata agreement, have called a . But BMW has so far refused to submit documents in the case, the filing says. Representatives of Nissan and BMW said the companies could not comment on active cases. A Toyota representative also declined to comment. A Ford spokeswoman said the automaker would respond through appropriate legal channels. | 0fake |
U.N. expert says torture persists at Guantanamo Bay; U.S. denies | GENEVA (Reuters) - An independent U.N. human rights investigator said on Wednesday that he had information about an inmate being tortured at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention facility, despite Washington banning enhanced interrogation techniques almost 10 years ago. The U.S. Department of Defense denied the allegation, saying there was no credible evidence to support it. Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said he had information that Ammar al-Baluchi - accused of being a co-conspirator in the 9/11 attacks on the United States - was being subjected to treatment that is banned under international law. His torture and ill-treatment are reported to continue, a statement from the U.N. human rights office said, without giving details of the source of Melzer s information. In addition to the long-term effects of past torture, noise and vibrations are reportedly still being used against him, resulting in constant sleep deprivation and related physical and mental disorders, for which he allegedly does not receive adequate medical attention, it said. Major Ben Sakrisson, a Pentagon spokesman, said the allegation was not true. These claims have been investigated on multiple occasions in the past and no credible evidence has been found to substantiate his claims, he said. The prison, which was opened by President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects captured overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks came to symbolize harsh detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture. His successor Barack Obama ended the use of enhanced interrogation techniques via executive order in January 2009, and reduced the inmate population to 41, but fell short of fulfilling his promise to close the jail. President Donald Trump asked Congress earlier this year for funds to upgrade the jail, having said during his electoral campaign that he wanted to load it up with some bad dudes . Citing a 2014 Senate investigation, the U.N. statement said al-Baluchi was said to have suffered relentless torture for three-and-a-half years in CIA black sites before being moved to Guantanamo, where he had been in a severely restricted-access facility at Guantanamo Bay for more than a decade. Al-Baluchi, a Kuwaiti-born Pakistani citizen also known as Abdul Aziz Ali, is the nephew and alleged co-conspirator of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Melzer said the ban on torture and ill-treatment was one of the most fundamental norms of international law and could not be justified in any circumstances, and called for prosecution of U.S. officials who had carried out torture. By failing to prosecute the crime of torture in CIA custody, the U.S. is in clear violation of the Convention against Torture and is sending a dangerous message of complacency and impunity to officials in the U.S. and around the world, Melzer said in the statement. He said he had renewed a long-standing request to visit Guantanamo Bay to interview inmates, but he and his predecessors in the role had consistently been denied access. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said that the U.S. constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and requires humane conditions of confinement, including that of solitary confinement. We support the work of the U.N. special rapporteurs and the United States has a long history of engaging constructively on matters within mandates of the special rapporteurs, he said. | 0fake |
WATCH: This Hilarious Video Is The Only Way Palin’s Trump Endorsement Word Salad Makes Any Sense | Sarah Palin s horrific word salad of an endorsement of Donald Trump on Tuesday evening didn t make sense in any language resembling English, but a viral Vine video puts Palin s praise in the only context where it works: In the mouth of Iggy Azalea.In the video from Lindsey Bieda entitled Iggy s freestyle has gotten quite a bit weaker, the words from Azalea s rap breakdown have been replaced by audio of Palin from the Trump announcement.Instead of the Australia-born Azalea s Fancy, we hear Palin s eardrum piercing rhyme: Right wingin , bitter clingin , proud clingers of our guns, our god, and our religions. In case you feel like the creator of the Vine took poor Palin out of context, this is the entire paragraph from that section of the speech, which would probably make the most epic rap video in history if it received the same treatment:Well, and then, funny, ha ha, not funny, but now, what they re doing is wailing, well, Trump and his, uh, uh, uh, Trumpeters, they re not conservative enough. Oh my goodness gracious. What the heck would the establishment know about conservatism? Tell me, is this conservative? GOP majorities handing over a blank check to fund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood and illegal immigration that competes for your jobs, and turning safety nets into hammocks, and all these new Democrat voters that are going to be coming on over border as we keep the borders open, and bequeathing our children millions in new debt, and refusing to fight back for our solvency, and our sovereignty, even though that s why we elected them and sent them as a majority to DC. No! If they re not willing to do that, then how are they to tell us that we re not conservative enough in order to be able to make these changes in America that we know need to be Now they re concerned about this ideological purity? Give me a break! Who are they to say that? Oh tell somebody like, Phyllis Schlafly, she is the Republican, conservative movement icon and hero and a Trump supporter. Tell her she s not conservative. How bout the rest of us? Right wingin , bitter clingin , proud clingers of our guns, our god, and our religions, and our Constitution. Tell us that we re not red enough? Yeah, coming from the establishment. Right.Got that?At least with the Azalea video you don t have to watch Trump off to the side, leering as he watches the grotesque display go on and on and on.Featured image via YouTube/Vine | 1real |
This is What Legal Weed Will Look Like in California | This is What Legal Weed Will Look Like in California
Amidst election madness, a proposition making marijuana legal just passed in California. Here are 10 things you need to know about what that will look like in the golden state.
Although Californians will be able to possess and grow marijuana immediately if it passes, people will not have a place to legally buy non-medical marijuana until stores become licensed. The state has until January 1, 2018 to begin issuing retail licenses. State officials believe it will take almost a year to develop the regulations that will be applied to those who grow, transport, test, and sell cannabis.
While some people are happy about this push to legalize marijuana, others worry about high taxation, and placement of the plant in the hands of wealthy corporations.
Here is an outline of what legal pot will look like in California according to what is outlined in the ballot measure.
You will have to be an adult to legally smoke weed.
The Adult Use of Marijuana Act will allow people who are 21 and older to posses, transport, and buy up to 28.5 grams of marijuana for recreational use.
This expands upon an existing law that allows cannabis to be used for medical purposes.
The initiative will allow adults to grow and use up to 6 marijuana plants on their property. Medical marijuana patients will still be allowed to possess the amount needed to meet their medical needs, even in excess pf the 28.5 gram limit.
You can’t smoke weed everywhere.
You will not be allowed to light up a joint in public areas like sidewalks or in bars. The ballot measure does not allow marijuana to be smoked in public unless it is allowed be local ordinances.
Marijuana can also not be smoke in areas where state law already prohibits tobacco smoking.
Fines will be given to those caught smoking weed while driving a motor vehicle, boat, or aircraft.
There will be fines.
People who are busted smoking in public will be given a fine up to $100. Those caught smoke in a place where tobacco is also prohibited or near a school will be fined up to $250.
21 and over.
It will be prohibited to sell marijuana to non-medical users under the age of 21. Yet, medical marijuana can still be used by people who are under 21. Cannabis products cannot be designed to appeal to children or to easily be confused with commercially sold candy.
Marijuana products will have to be packaged in child-resistant containers, and pot shops will be prohibited from allowing anyone under the age of 21 on their premises.
There won’t be weed commercials on TV.
The marketing of marijuana products to minors is prohibited which means ads will not be allowed to use symbols, language, music, or cartoon characters aimed at appealing to underage people.
It will not be allowed for marijuana to be advertised on billboards located along an interstate highway or state highway that crosses the border of any other state. Ads will not be allowed within 1,000 feet of day-care centers, schools, playgrounds, or youth centers.
Since federal law designated marijuana as an illegal drug, federally regulated television and radio will not advertise it.
If federal law ever changes, Prop 64 includes provisions that require broadcast, cable, radio, print, and digital marketing only to be displayed where at least 71.6% of the audience is expected to be 21 and older.
If you want to sell weed, tell the state.
You will need a state license to open a pot shop and to grow weed for others.
People who grow, process, transport, or sell marijuana must get a state license and pay a fee to cover the cost of the state processing and enforcing the license.
Businesses will not be allowed to sell marijuana within 600 feet of a school, day care center, or youth center.
Those running shops must undergo background checks to obtain a state license, and they can be denied if they have felony convictions involving violence, fraud, drug trafficking, or selling drugs to a minor.
Selling pot? You must abide by these rules.
The Bureau of Marijuana Control inside the state Department of Consumer Affairs will be given the job of creating, issuing, renewing, and revoking state licenses for the transportation, storage, distribution, and sale of marijuana.
Marijuana growers will have to get a license from the state Department of Food and Agriculture. Those who want to form businesses to manufacture and test marijuana products will be licensed and overseen by the state Department of Public Health.
Selling pot without a license will come with penalties and sometimes even jail time.
Selling marijuana without a license can result in a misdemeanor charge with penalties of up to six months in jail and $500 in fines.
Engaging in any commercial activity in regard to weed without a license will come with civil penalties of up to three times the amount of the license fee for each violation.
Marijuana will be taxed.
Prop 64 will allow the state to impose a 15% tax on the retail sale of marijuana. In addition, the state will be able to levy a cultivation tax on growers of $9.25 per ounce for flowers, and $2.75 per ounce for leaves.
The measure will also allow cities and counties to impose their own taxes to cover costs of services, including enforcement.
Medical marijuana patients will be exempt from paying state sales taxes.
California could make a lot of money on pot.
State analysts believe that state taxes could generate up to $1 billion annually.
Ariana Marisol is a contributing staff writer for REALfarmacy.com. She is an avid nature enthusiast, gardener, photographer, writer, hiker, dreamer, and lover of all things sustainable, wild, and free. Ariana strives to bring people closer to their true source, Mother Nature. She graduated The Evergreen State College with an undergraduate degree focusing on Sustainable Design and Environmental Science. Follow her adventures on Instagram. | 1real |
Russia to respond to Twitter ban on Russian media ads: RIA | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it would respond to a decision by Twitter Inc to ban adverts from media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, saying the move flouted international and domestic laws on free speech, the RIA news agency reported. RIA cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying the decision was another aggressive step aimed at hindering the work of Russian media in the United States and the result of pressure from U.S. intelligence agencies. | 0fake |
Jakarta Riots: What Went Wrong? | Region: Southeast Asia An enormous rally shook Jakarta on the 4th November. With unusual zeal, between 50 and 100 thousand protesters managed to trash several parts of the capital. Cars were torched; traffic in the center came to a standstill. Police fired teargas canisters at the protesters and water cannons were used. According to the AP, one elderly man died and scores of demonstrators and policemen were injured. These were the biggest demos in recent years. Considering how many profound problems Indonesia is facing, the country is shockingly compliant. Were these protests against the on-going genocide in Papua, where Indonesian forces are massacring the mostly defenseless local population on behalf of Western companies? Or perhaps, were they against the corrupt turbo capitalist regime, which has governed this virtually collapsed nation ever since the 1965 US-sponsored military coup against the progressive President and the father of the Non-Aligned movement, Sukarno? Frankly, none of the above! In Indonesia, the horrors committed in Papua are not discussed publicly at all, and capitalism remains sacred here; even the poorest of the poor are conditioned to revere it. The riots were actually over alleged ‘blasphemy’, and the participants consisted mainly of hard-line Muslim fundamentalists. Lately, religious ‘topics’ are the only ones that are managing to mobilize crowds of ‘outraged’ citizens. So what went wrong this time? Actually, nothing really! As reported by the BBC and others, “Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian, is the first ethnic Chinese to hold the governor’s post in the capital of the majority Muslim Indonesia.” His nickname is ‘Ahok’, he is extremely popular, and he is one of the very few Indonesian politicians who are determinedly cracking down on corruption while introducing various social programs for the poor. Most Indonesian hardcore Islamists are extreme-right wingers. They regularly attack and disperse even the most ‘benign’ political gatherings where the introduction of free medical care and other social benefits are shyly suggested and discussed. To them, everything social stinks of ‘Communism’, and Communism has been banned here ever since the 1965/66 Suharto bloodlettings. The religious rightwing cannot win politically; therefore it regularly plants seeds of disinformation and chaos. “Ahok said, during a meeting with voters, that there are those who are misleading the population, while using verses of the Holy Koran,” explained Ms. Ira Muslim, a Jakarta-based engineer. “They say that people should not vote for Ahok, because the Koran says that Muslims are not supposed to have a non-Muslim, kafir, as a leader. Nine days later, a man called Buni Yani, edited the official video into a much short version. He omitted several words in the transcript, and the document totally changed its meaning, reading that Muslims are actually deceived by the Koran itself.” Mr. Buni Yani (interestingly a graduate of Ohio University, Southeast Asian Studies) later admitted his deed, which should have closed the matter. But it didn’t. The demands of Ahok’s opponents soon ranged from dragging him to the courts, and to directly murdering him. Several preachers demanded Ahok’s blood, despite the fact that the two largest Muslim organizations in the country ordered their members to stay home and not to join the protests. Professor Isna Wijayani, a lecturer at Bina Darma University in Palembang, explained: “I personally like the way Ahok works. As for those ‘religious statements’, controversy could have been easily resolved if things would have been openly discussed. But Indonesian mass media does not want people to stay calm; it ignites dangerous passions. Anyway, even if Ahok would be guilty of blasphemy, things could have been resolved within the legal framework, not by trashing the capital city.” Most Indonesian linguists agree that there was no trace of blasphemy in the original discourse by the Governor of Jakarta. Ms. Yeyen Maryani from the Ministry of Education and Culture publicly stated it, and so did many others. For now, the riots are over, but the anti-Ahok activists demand that decisive legal action is taken within two weeks, “or else”! * Who is behind this embarrassing mess? Surely it is not just some bunch of religious fanatics. In Indonesia, things are never that simple! Mr. Agus Suhartono shared with me his belief that there are clear signs of the involvement from the highest ranks of the Indonesian political ‘elites’: “The situation in Indonesia is now very dangerous. SBY [Susilo Banbang Yudhoyono, former President of Indonesia, a retired general] has been using his leverage to stir up the conflict at any cost. Ahok incident is just the tip of the iceberg. I am afraid that the real problem is much bigger than that.” Most likely it is: SBY’s son is now running against ‘Ahok’ for the post of Governor of Jakarta. “What do they really want?” Ms. Susy Nataliwati, a researcher of Japanese Studies at the University of Indonesia, asked this rhetorical question: “It appears that they want Ahok to be disqualified from running for his second term in office”. While the Western mass media is only talking about the blasphemy case and the radical Islamist groups, the true issues are much bigger: corrupt, right wing, pro-Western and pro-business elites of Indonesia are jealously guarding their ruling position in this already plundered and devastated archipelago. There is still plenty of booty above and below the surface! After 1965, money and ‘control’ over people is all that matters. Is this the final assault against Ahok, or just a warning? The current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (nicknamed “Jokowi”), began his political career as a ‘pro-people reformist’, but after he encountered determined hostility, even menace, from the true rulers of this country, he lost his courage and briskly converted himself into a spineless ‘centrist’. And how does Islamic extremism fit into all this mayhem? For decades it was actually only a tool of the corrupt generals and extreme right wing market fundamentalists, many of whom were not even Muslims. Andre Vltchek is philosopher, filmmaker, investigative journalist and writer who has recently finished his new novel Aurora , especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.” | 1real |
THE ULTIMATE HYPOCRITE: Who Are The Billionaires Funding Campaign Of Candidate Who Mocks…Billionaires | While Bernie Sanders has pitched himself as the presidential candidate for the little guy tapping into the wallets of voters angry over Wall Street s influence in politics a deeper dive shows Sanders has enlisted an arsenal of millionaire and billionaire backers who have backed his political career since his early Senate runs a decade ago.That big-money support stands in sharp contrast to Sanders calls for corporate fat-cats and the uber-wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes by closing loopholes and removing breaks that benefit the mega-rich.At a rally last Sunday at The Ohio State University, Sanders told a cheering crowd, You can tell a lot about a candidate based on how he or she raises money for his or her campaign. The comment goes hand-in-hand with the theme Sanders has been hammering for months. I am not raising money from millionaires and billionaires, Sanders said during the CNN Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas on Oct. 13. In fact, tonight, in terms of what a political revolution is about, there are 4,000 house parties 100,000 people in this country watching this debate tonight who want real change in this country. Sanders war chest has been driven by smaller donations he raised $26 million in small increments in the third fund-raising quarter.Jeff Weaver, Sanders campaign manager, insists the fancy fundraisers and big-name donors are few and far between and that there is no contradiction in what the Vermont Democrat and self-described socialist practices and what he preaches. We don t have a super PAC, Weaver told FoxNews.com. We rely on small contributions. Average contribution is $27. Are there some, a few people in there who have more money, personal money who give larger contributions? Yeah, of course they do, but within the federal $2700 limit. No, you know, no 50, 100, 2 million contributions. But for years Sanders has enjoyed donations from a handful of wealthy donors including media moguls Leo J. Hindery and Steven C. Markoff.Markoff, who donated to Sanders 2012 Senate campaign, began trading rare coins when he was 11. By 2004, his company A-Mark Entertainment was listed as the 65th largest privately held company in the U.S., and the second largest in Los Angeles.Hindrey, managing partner of the private equity fund InterMedia Partners and former chief executive of AT & T Broadband and of the YES Network, also maxed out on contributions to Sanders. Hindrey, while advocating for fewer tax breaks for the wealthy, is among the biggest Democratic fundraisers in the country.Another big money donor to Sanders campaign is David Geffen, co-founder of DreamWorks Animation and worth a cool $6.9 billion. According to campaign finance records, Geffen donated the max at the time $2,500 to Sanders Senate campaign on Jan. 27, 2012.But Lara Brown, director of George Washington University s political management program, told FoxNews.com that she doesn t see a big push-back from Sanders supporters. By and large, Democrats tend to believe these individuals are giving because they have a strong progressive/liberal orientation in their politics and they are doing this because it equates to them giving to a cause, she said, adding that the same would be true for big-money donors in Silicon Valley and the tech industry.Via: FOX News | 1real |
George W. Bush’s Ethics Lawyer Files Complaint Against FBI Director James Comey | Richard W. Painter wrote in a New York Times an op-ed: The F.B.I.’s job is to investigate, not to influence the outcome of an election.
Such acts could also be prohibited under the Hatch Act, which bars the use of an official position to influence an election. That is why the F.B.I. presumably would keep those aspects of an investigation confidential until after the election. The usual penalty for a violation is termination of federal employment.
And that is why, on Saturday, I filed a complaint against the F.B.I. with the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, and with the Office of Government Ethics. I have spent much of my career working on government ethics and lawyers’ ethics, including two and a half years as the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, and I never thought that the F.B.I. could be dragged into a political circus surrounding one of its investigations. Until this week.
This is the second complaint to be filed against FBI Director Comey. The Democratic Coalition Against Trump has also filed a complaint against Comey for interfering in a presidential election as a federal employee.
Suspicion around Comey’s actions has grown as the FBI Director is not expected to make any additional statements on this matter before the presidential election. Director Comey appears to have set himself for problems after the election as Senate Democrats are making it known that they are open to holding hearings to investigate the FBI investigation if they win back the Senate majority.
Unless Trump wins and Republicans take control of Congress, Director Comey is going to have to answer for his decisions.
As the complaints pile up, it looks like Congressional testimony may be the least of James Comey’s future problems. | 1real |
LA TIMES COLUMNIST Slammed For Mocking Sarah Sanders In ‘Sexist’ Article…What About The Cartoon? | A political reporter for the Los Angeles Times is under fire from all sides for making sexist remarks about White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders in his latest anti-Trump column .WHAT ABOUT THE CARTOON???While David Horsey issued a lame apology for his article, he still has a cartoon up with the article that s a disgusting portrayal of Sarah Sanders. We hope you ll let Mr. Horsey know his lack of ethics is deplorable: David Horsey LA TimesEven left-leaning columnists ripped into Horsey for his body shaming and very snarky remarks against Sanders:California resident, Claire Adida, said: Hey, @latimes and @davidhorsey, you can do better. How about you focus on what she says rather than how she looks? While Adam Serwer, Senior Editor for The Atlantic, wrote: Genuinely confused as to how this column got past an editor. Teen Vogue columnist, Lauran Duca, further added: Things that are true at the same time: 1) Sarah Huckabee Sanders is an unabashed enemy of the truth 2) This profile of her is sexist trash. NASTY ARTICLE:In the article Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the right mouthpiece for a truth-twisting president published Wednesday morning, David Horsey compared Sanders to a chunky soccer mom who organizes snacks for the kids games. Horsey criticized Sanders, who was appointed the role back in July, for not meeting up to Trump s standards, as he suggested the aide does not look like the kind of woman (he) would choose as his chief spokesperson. While the columnist pointed out positive aspects of Sanders part in the Trump administration following the leave of Sean Spicer Horsey veered into the misogynist comments.He said: Rather than the fake eyelashes and formal dresses she puts on for briefings, Sanders seems as if she d be more comfortable in sweats than running shoes. Then added: Yet, even if Trump privately wishes he had a supermodel for a press secretary, he is lucky to have Sanders. WHAT A NASTY MAN! DAVID HORSEY S EMAIL | 1real |
At ‘Doomocracy,’ It’s Fright Night in Brooklyn - The New York Times | Halloween started early this year. I’d put the date at July 18, opening night of the 2016 Republican National Convention. has been nonstop since. The tricks have included a couple of Creature Feature debates, email scandals, xenophobic rants and personal attacks, all of which have too often been received as sordid but tantalizing treats by audience and news media alike. Action in the electoral arena makes any art pale by comparison. But this hasn’t prevented Pedro Reyes, an from Mexico City, from creating his own bit of political high jinks in “Doomocracy,” an elaborately trenchant performance piece presented by the nonprofit Creative Time in the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The setting, on the Sunset Park waterfront, is ideally spooky. If you imagine the concept of a complex translated into power architecture, that’s the terminal. Built in 1919, a military supply depot through two World Wars, it’s monstrous: a complex with two concrete warehouses and enough space to park 20 ships and a train. Although much of it is now given over to light industry and boutique businesses (furniture designers, chocolatiers) the place still projects a mausoleumlike chill, especially at night. And, appropriately, night is when “Doomocracy” happens, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 6 p. m. to midnight. Visitors first gather in a soaring hall dominated by one of Mr. Reyes’s wood sculptures. A surreal fusion of the Statue of Liberty and the Apocalyptic Beast, it hints of disorientations to come. From that starting point, small groups are admitted, one at a time, to the main event under close supervision on what feels like a cross between a guided tour and forced march. (Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.) A group is loaded into a van and driven to a distant location on the terminal campus. As the group nears its destination, a disruption occurs. The van is flagged down by figures who are not, as it first seems, parking attendants, but military police in SWAT gear. They yank the van doors open, flash lights in your eyes, order you out and herd you into a building, barking commands: put your hands on the wall behind your head line up move. You know this is theater, but you also discover that being yelled at and makes your pulse jump disarms your defenses persuades you to do what you’re told. The rest of the show, which is basically a mobile drama in a dozen or more short acts, alternates staged reality with zany satire, though, as usual, Mr. Reyes tends to resist making clear distinctions between modes. For earlier projects, he gathered automatic weapons that were turned in or seized by the Mexican Army from drug cartels and melted them down to make garden shovels and musical instruments. He has also organized exhibitions that have fused performance art, sculpture and psychotherapy. Ambiguity of tone and purpose is one of the elements that makes “Doomocracy” dramatically effective. Another is the pacing established by the performance’s director, Meghan Finn. One scene bangs into another. The SWAT team hustles you down a corridor, then disappears. Now you’re in a polling station, being registered to vote while watching ballots being shredded before your eyes. Next, you take a breather in a comfy suburban living room, only to hear a pair of housewives warn about unwelcome “new additions” to the neighborhood. The duo have barely warmed to their subject when you’re moved on again, into a doctor’s waiting room, where an soccer mom hits you up for a fix. And you go on: to a corporate boardroom to vote on advantageous deals for the privileged (meaning yourself) to an elementary school classroom that teaches false history (slavery wasn’t all that bad) and supplies you with bulletproof shields to an witch hunt (this is the show’s big number) to a factory that markets artisanal Himalayan air to an environmentally ravaged world. (“Only God breathes air this pure. ”) And in one amusing moment along the way, you emerge from an elevator into a cocktail party in a collector’s penthouse. The scene, like the art world itself, is a pure cliché: waiters, an hostess, a Christopher Wool on the wall, and an antsy, importunate artist in residence pitching his latest product. (“It’s about gentrification! ”) There’s more, quite a bit, concluding with an ostensibly nonpartisan, take on the current election battle as a political World Cup match with Earth as the ball in play. Then suddenly you’re on your way out of the show, passing a grumbly street prophet wearing a sandwich board and handing out “Doomocracy” fliers. Given the performance’s speed and the pileup of sensory input, it’s impossible to take everything in. Enough to say that, while all parts of the piece are not equally strong — satire has to be right on the nose, to work, and some of this is too easy — the level of visual invention is high, and the cast of more than 30 actors (among them, a Chihuahua named Dreidel) is impressive. Paul Hufker’s script, with contributions by Nato Thompson, Creative Time’s artistic director, sounded, on a hearing, sharp, and in its talking points, some of which Mr. Reyes cites in the definition of “doomocracy” he has printed in the flier: 1. A form of government in which the supreme power is vested in a tyrant by a terrified general electorate. 2. The esoteric arithmetic that makes the electoral process malleable. 3. A corporate coup d’état in slow motion. 4. Permanent global war waged in the name of freedom. At present, we’re experiencing all of that, not to mention planetary destruction and international homelessness. And if the standard for judging the success of “Doomocracy” is whether it’s weighty enough for its subjects, it fails. Most political art does. In a global media age of perpetually cycling digital drama, it feels dwarfed and static. And the audience that really needs to see it won’t. Mr. Reyes knows this, and he knows you have to make the art anyway, and he makes it well, shrewdly and with upbeat panache. When you emerge from “Doomocracy” you’ve felt the visceral thrill, the thrill that good theater delivers, the sense of having been through something energizing and focusing. You may also feel a reassuring sense that, no, it’s not just you American reality, in 2016, is every bit as out of control as you think it is. Hold onto that reassurance. You’re going to need it. The show wraps up on Nov. 6, two days short of the presidential election. And that event, no matter what the results, will not bring Fright Night to an end. | 0fake |
The Clock Is Ticking And Republicans Still Have No Serious Obamacare Alternative | Republicans keep saying they’ll be ready to act if the Supreme Court upholds the big legal challenge to Obamacare, thereby wiping out financial assistance for millions of people in two-thirds of the states.
With the clock ticking down to a ruling, it’s gotten awfully hard to take the GOP’s vows seriously.
Most experts expect the court to rule on King v. Burwell, as the case is known, on or around June 29, which is the last official day of its term. A victory for the plaintiffs would cut off tax credits that residents in Florida, Texas and 32 other states now use to pay for health insurance they obtain through Healthcare.gov, the federally operated marketplace.
The ranks of the uninsured would swell by more than 8 million, according to an estimate by the Urban Institute. The loss of so many customers would likely force insurance companies to raise premiums and withdraw altogether from some markets, affecting even those customers buying directly from insurers rather than through Obamacare's marketplaces.
Under Supreme Court rules, an order would typically take effect within 25 days of its announcement from the bench. In theory, the court could issue a stay delaying its impact. In practice, legal experts consider such a move both unlikely and of questionable significance, given the tight deadlines that insurers and state regulators face for setting next year's premiums.
Infographic by Alissa Scheller for The Huffington Post.
Leaders of the Republican Party have cheered on the lawsuit, in some cases filing formal friend-of-the-court briefs in support of it. They have also promised -- in op-eds, speeches and interviews -- to craft a “transitional” plan, or some kind of “off-ramp,” if the lawsuit is successful. The goals of such plans, Republican leaders have said, would be to minimize disruption for the people who now depend upon Affordable Care Act tax credits for their insurance, while crafting a long-term replacement scheme that would serve the public better than President Barack Obama’s health care law has.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was among those who made that promise back in early February, shortly after he took over as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. “We have to have a contingency plan,” Ryan said. “We think we need to have an option, a plan, for these states that might find themselves in this difficult position.”
Ryan’s committee, arguably the most powerful in the House, has direct jurisdiction over health care financing. So how many hearings has it held about these contingency plans?
Zero.
Over in the Senate, Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has introduced actual legislation and it has nearly 30 co-sponsors, including Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is the majority leader. But the bill is at best a first draft at legislation and, so far, neither the Finance Committee (which has the most power over health legislation) nor the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (which also has some jurisdiction) has sought testimony or scheduled a hearing -- about either the Johnson bill specifically or, more generally, what to do if the Supreme Court stops the tax credits in those 34 states.
No, in the six months since the Supreme Court announced it would hear King v. Burwell, Republicans in Congress have held exactly one formal hearing that focused on the subject. It took place last week, before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. But the Small Business Committee is among the least powerful in Congress and it has virtually no jurisdiction over health care financing issues. That may explain why it attracted very little interest -- even from committee members, only a handful of whom bothered to show up.
A generous takeaway from that hearing -- and lack of others -- is that Republicans are thinking about and working on health care plans much more intensely behind the scenes. Brendan Buck, Ryan’s spokesman, pointed out to The Huffington Post that Republican leaders have convened a working group to craft a post-King contingency plan -- with Ryan among its leaders. That group is now meeting three times a week, Buck said: “They’re informal, but it’s an active group.”
In addition, several high-profile conservative intellectuals have been talking and writing actively about how Republicans ought to react if the court takes their side -- and what kind of health care plan Republicans should be proposing as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, regardless of how the justices rule. Avik Roy, the Manhattan Institute scholar and Forbes columnist now working with former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s political action committee, has been outspoken on the need for an alternative. Philip Klein, longtime writer on health care and now managing editor of the Washington Examiner, has written a whole book on the subject.
But there's a reason that congressional Democrats spent literally years holding hearings on health care reform and then, in 2009, focusing intensely on legislation for several months. The hearings were sometimes acrimonious and, for reform advocates, the media coverage that testimony and questions generated was a source of never-ending grief. At the same time, these hearings, before the committees that actually had jurisdiction on the issues, were necessary to craft a solution that could accomplish the reform’s main goals and then rally enough support to make it through Congress.
The kinds of plans Republicans seem to have in mind would require making equally difficult trade-offs and uniting even more fractious groups. Johnson’s bill, for example, would limit enrollment in plans only to those who already have them, and it would eliminate the individual mandate -- the requirement that people get coverage or pay a fine -- in all of the states. That would force insurers to raise premiums or maybe exit markets altogether.
Other Republicans have discussed altering the Affordable Care Act's regulation on premiums, so that insurers could charge less to younger people. But reducing premiums for the young means raising them for the old, which might be hard for Republicans to pull off given that older voters are now their political base.
Johnson's bill has gone to the Congressional Budget Office for a formal estimate on its impact, a Johnson spokesperson confirmed. That's meaningful -- and more than can be said of most proposals that Republicans have floated on op-ed pages recently. But if Republicans were serious about crafting a proposal that's capable of avoiding disruption and passing Congress, they would have started hashing out these arguments months ago.
Of course, the absence of a public effort to match the public rhetoric matters only if Republicans are actually serious about passing a plan. They may not be. Their real goals may be purely cosmetic -- to insulate the party from a political backlash should millions of people suddenly lose health insurance and, more immediately, to ease the anxiety of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, either of whom might hesitate to issue a ruling with such potentially devastating consequences to so many people.
The lack of hearings obviously doesn’t prove that Republican leaders have such ulterior, cynical motives. But it makes that theory a lot more plausible. | 0fake |
Tucson Becomes an Unlikely Food Star - The New York Times | TUCSON — There are food deserts, those urban neighborhoods where finding healthful food is nearly impossible, and then there is Tucson. When the rain comes down hard on a hot summer afternoon here, locals start acting like Cindy Lou Who on Christmas morning. They turn their faces to the sky and celebrate with prickly pear margaritas. When you get only 12 inches of rain a year, every drop matters. Coaxing a vibrant food culture from this land of heat and cactuses an hour’s drive north of the Mexican border seems an exhausting and impossible quest. But it’s never a good idea to underestimate a desert rat. Tucson, it turns out, is a muscular food town. Eight months ago it became the only place in the United States designated a City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known by its acronym, Unesco. A years ago, the international agency began including food as a part of cultural heritage worth protecting, recognizing the importance of things like Armenian lavash, the Mediterranean diet and the gastronomic meals of the French. In 2004 the group began a Creative Cities Network to link places where folk art, literature, music and other creative pursuits are being put to use to guide sustainable urban development. In the gastronomy category, Tucson joined 17 other cities, among them Parma, Italy Bergen, Norway and Ensenada, Mexico. “They want towns where the designation will make a difference,” said Jonathan Mabry, Tucson’s officer for historic preservation and an author of the application. To an outsider, Tucson’s star turn may be a bit of a head scratcher. Certainly, the city has plenty of reliably delicious tamales, brilliant renditions of huevos rancheros and devoted eaters who will spend the day debating the best place to get a good raspado. There’s even an outpost of Pizzeria Bianco, Chris Bianco’s Phoenix restaurant, which serves what several critics have called the best pizza in the United States. Still, Tucson has never been high on any list of great food cities. Even Santa Fe, its sister, gets more love. But as people here will tell you, being a great food city is not always about the restaurants. “Tucson has really figured out the connection game,” said Megan Kimble, the editor of the Tucson magazine Edible Baja Arizona and the author of the 2015 book “Unprocessed: My Year of Reclaiming Real Food. ” She pointed to strong advertiser and reader support for the magazine as just one example of the love people have for local food in this city of about 500, 000. The magazine consistently has more advertising pages than any of the other 90 published under the Edible Communities umbrella in the United States and Canada, said Nancy Brannigan Painter, the executive director of Edible Communities. The Unesco designation has been a rallying point for a city that has to balance an annual influx of snowbirds and University of Arizona students with a substantial Native American community, recent immigrants and deep pockets of poverty. “It gives us a reason to have deeper discussions about food and what it means to everyone who lives here,” Ms. Kimble said. Of the many facets of Tucson food culture included in its application, one has risen above the rest: the claim that the city has the longest history of agricultural cultivation in North America. Dr. Mabry was part of a team hired by the city that made the discovery in 2000. He was working as an archaeologist, digging not far from downtown Tucson, when they discovered layer after layer of irrigation trenches, then found some charred corn. They sent it to be carbon dated. It was proof, he said, that Tucson had been built on top of a farming village. The fact is now dropped into even the most casual discussions about Tucson’s culinary assets. “It’s like part of the brand now,” Dr. Mabry said. Cooks here make great use of the food that comes from the desert, finding ways to incorporate agave, cactus pads, amaranth and the tiny wild pepper called chiltepin. Mesquite pods are pounded into sweet flour that is baked into cookies. Descendants of fruit trees introduced in the 1600s by the Rev. Eusebio Francisco Kino, an Italian who explored the Southwestern deserts, offer quince, figs and white pomegranates with soft seeds that taste of apple and grapefruit. Cholla buds, the slippery flowers of a cactus that taste vaguely of asparagus, are chopped into salads and salsas. Members of the Tohono O’odham nation sometimes gather them on the San Xavier Indian Reservation near Tucson and dry them, selling the buds in jars and soup mixes at the San Xavier Farm. “They’re O. K. but it’s not like cholla buds are going to take the country by storm,” said Janos Wilder, a chef who opened his first Tucson restaurant in 1983. “But they’re neat because it’s an absolutely unique and important story. It takes its place in a larger context. ” A lot of the food from the Sonoran Desert is like that. “I thought it was a wasteland when I first came here, but slowly my eyes opened up,” he said. To celebrate the new designation, Mr. Wilder has spent the better part of the summer at his latest restaurant, Downtown Kitchen and Cocktails, cooking a different menu based on each of the new cities of gastronomy. This week, he’s preparing the food from Phuket, Thailand. Tucson’s passion for its food culture goes well beyond the kitchen. People embrace new ventures and cheer creative solutions to help people eat better. When the lines at the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona nearly doubled during the economic crash in 2008, the people who run it helped clients build gardens in their backyards and sell extra produce on consignment at the bank’s farmers’ markets. Not far from downtown, a nonprofit group is recreating a Spanish colonial walled garden like the ones Father Kino built. The Mission Garden project is a history lesson on four acres, tracing agricultural practices that began on the site with the Hohokam and Tohono O’odham tribes. The county’s libraries tuck seed banks into old card catalogs. If you want to plant tomatoes, or the little brown tepary beans that were long a staple of the Southwestern Native American diet (and don’t require much water to grow) simply check them out with a library card. If you save some seeds from your crop and bring them back, all the better. The city’s devotion to creating livelihoods from its heritage foods is part of what appealed to Unesco, said Gary Paul Nabhan, a expert who advised the city on its application. Mr. Nabhan, a MacArthur Fellow and director of the Center for Regional Food Studies at the University of Arizona, has written more than 30 books, most of them about the plants and cultures of the Sonoran Desert. Mr. Nabhan, an ecumenical Franciscan brother who helped start Native a nonprofit organization that saves and distributes Southwestern heirloom seeds, is a proponent of what he calls desert terroir, and the ingredients that make up what he calls borderland cuisine. One of them is white Sonora wheat, one of the oldest varieties grown in North America. Father Kino introduced it to the Tohono O’odham farmers, who welcomed it as a winter crop and used it to make the precursor to the thin, stretchy wheat tortilla that is the foundation of Mexican border cooking. Don Guerra, a cult star among the nation’s bread bakers, uses it in the loaves he bakes in an Italian deck oven he installed in his Tucson garage. His bakery, Barrio Bread, produces 900 loaves a week for people who order it online. “Tucson has a kind of approach to food,” he said. “People want others to succeed, especially if you can make food from this region. ” The Unesco honor has lifted a town that sometimes doubts its place in the cultural hierarchy. “It’s like a new point of pride,” he said. “For so long we’ve been this poor cousin of Phoenix. ” But Tucson will always be Tucson, a place people either love or hate. “There’s no one who’s ambivalent about it,” said Ms. Kimble, a Los Angeles transplant. “But once it gets in your soul, it’s in there. ” | 0fake |
Clinton, Sanders Let Loose in New York Debate | RealClearPolitics | BROOKLYN, N.Y.—With a critical primary contest just days away, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met on a Brooklyn stage Thursday night for what could be their final debate.
And, unlike their first debate many months ago and others in between, the candidates did not pull a single punch, underscoring the high stakes for both of them: Clinton, wanting to wrap up the primary and focus her energy and resources on the general election; Sanders, hoping to prolong the race through the summer.
"If you’re both screaming at each other, the viewers won’t be able to hear either of you," CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer said at one point during the debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Given both Clinton and Sanders’ intimate familiarity with the state, each tried to hammer home policy differences through a New York lens, from issues such as Wall Street influence to gun control to foreign policy as it relates to Israel. But the arguments put forth echoed messages each has been pushing for some time, and aren’t likely to influence the outcome of Tuesday’s contest in New York.
Sanders has stepped back from questioning Clinton’s qualifications, but he did re-engage on his concerns about her judgment.
"Does Secretary Clinton have the intelligence, the experience to be president? Of course she does, but I do question her judgment,” he said. “I question a judgment which voted for the war in Iraq, the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country; voted for virtually every disastrous trade agreement which cost us millions of decent-paying jobs. And I question her judgment about running super PACs which are collecting tens of millions of dollars from special interests, including $15 million from Wall Street.”
For her part, Clinton questioned Sanders’ depth of knowledge, invoking a New York Daily News editorial board meeting in which the Vermont senator struggled to answer questions on breaking up big banks and on foreign policy. “I think you need to have the judgment on day one to be both president and commander-in-chief,” she said.
Clinton also reminded the audience of her connections to New York and to President Obama, whose legacy she says she would like to build upon. “The people of New York voted for me twice to be their senator,” she said. “And President Obama trusted my judgment enough to ask me to be secretary of state for the United States.”
Clinton’s embrace of Obama throughout this primary process figures to help mobilize key coalitions that propelled his presidential victories, especially in the diverse and voter-rich New York City. She has argued that she has not only more pledged delegates than Sanders, but also more votes—even more than Obama had in building his lead over her in 2008, she noted. She is also hoping to calm concerns among Democrats that a prolonged primary would hurt the party in the general election, noting that the race between herself and Obama eight years ago went on longer than this one has and the party was still able to unite and win that November.
“Where we stand today is that we are in this campaign very confident and optimistic,” she said, but “I’m not taking anything for granted, or any voter or any place.”
For his part, Sanders continued to mobilize his base in a way that underscored Clinton’s potential vulnerabilities in trying to unite the party down the road.
“Establishment politicians are never going to address the crises we face,” he said of his rival. “You can’t take money … and expect the American people to expect you’re going to stand up to these special interests.”
The race has become much more heated in recent weeks, a notable shift in a party primary that had been largely, and unconventionally, cordial, especially in contrast to the Republican contest. Sanders has escalated his attacks in an effort to keep pace, raising questions about Clinton’s judgment, harping on her vote for the Iraq War and her acceptance of large sums of money for speeches given to Goldman Sachs and Verizon, among others.
Sanders again called on Clinton to release the transcripts of her paid speeches. She deflected, even when pressed again by the moderators, by pushing Sanders to release his tax returns.
For her part, Clinton has hit Sanders on the issue of gun control, invoking the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, and criticizing her opponent over legal loopholes that give immunity from lawsuits to gun manufacturers. “We hear a lot from Senator Sanders about the greed and recklessness of Wall Street,” Clinton said. “But what about the greed and recklessness of the gun lobby.”
Asked about the daughter of the Sandy Hook principal calling on Sanders to apologize for his stance on the issue, the Democratic socialist declined, but said he supported the right of the families to sue the manufacturer of the AR-15 used to kill children in the massacre. The issue of gun control figures to be a mobilizing factor among Democrats, particularly in New York, a state that both candidates claim as home turf: Clinton is a current resident who represented New York for eight years in the U.S. Senate, and Sanders was born and raised in Brooklyn.
But each see the significance of the state differently. Clinton hopes an overwhelming win here will halt Sanders’ momentum and bring the primary closer to a conclusion, allowing her to shift focus to the Republican opponents. For Sanders, who has won the past seven contests but still lags behind in the delegate count, a win would keep alive some hope of clinching the nomination and deliver a blow to the Clinton campaign’s morale.
Defeating Clinton in her adopted home state appears unlikely at this point for Sanders. The former secretary of state leads by nearly 14 points there, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. One recent NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll shows Clinton has expanded her lead over the past few days. The two candidates were tied in upstate New York, according to the poll. Sanders does best among younger voters (under age 45) and those who consider themselves very liberal.
New York’s closed primary system will also pose a challenge for Sanders, as independent voters are a key part of his base. The campaign has worked to persuade such voters to register as Democrats in order to vote for him. After having twice won New York statewide, Clinton is no stranger to campaigning in the state. She has won endorsements from unions and the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who ran her Senate campaign, as well as African-American leaders. Clinton’s message of building upon the legacy of Obama figures to serve her well there.
But Sanders was able to draw 27,000 people for a rally in Greenwich Village. The image of a packed Washington Square Park, near the campus of NYU, captured the energy his campaign has generated, particularly among young people. The event also underscored a challenge Clinton could have if she becomes the nominee in galvanizing Sanders’ supporters for a victory in the general election.
While Clinton continues to pile up delegates even as Sanders wins states, given the proportional allocation involved, his continued presence and influence have prolonged the race. He has also continued to show overwhelming fundraising prowess, hauling $44 million recently, which forces Clinton to take time away from the trail to raise money.
Clinton will attend fundraisers in California over the weekend before heading back to campaign in New York City. After the debate, Sanders boarded a plane to Rome for meetings at the Vatican, and is expected to return Saturday evening.
Sanders has pledged to stay in the race through to California in June. Asked if he would take the fight all the way to the Philadelphia convention, he said: “I think we're going to win this nomination, to tell you the truth.”
The Clinton campaign, however, believes the momentum, math, and map will be in her favor next week and beyond.
“I'm going to work my heart out here in New York until the polls close on Tuesday. I'm going to work in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Maryland, all the way through California,” she said. “And when we end up with the number of delegates we need, we will unite the party and have a unified convention.” | 0fake |
Indonesia president nominates air chief to replace controversial military head | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo has nominated the chief of staff of the air force to be the new head of the armed forces (TNI), to replace a controversial general who is due to retire in April. Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto has close ties to the president and was previously in charge of an air base in the city of Solo, on the island of Java, when Widodo was its mayor. Since then, Tjahjanto has been promoted a number of times including to inspector general of the defense ministry and the president s military secretary. Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto is considered capable and qualified to become TNI commander, presidential spokesman Johan Budi told reporters on Monday after confirming the nomination. The proposal had been sent to the parliament, which needs to approve it, he said. Abdul Kharis Almasyhari, chairman of a parliamentary commission with oversight of defense and security, said the commission would do a fit and proper assessment of the nomination, which hopefully could be completed by a Dec. 14 recess. The outgoing armed forces chef, General Gatot Nurmantyo, who will step down at the end of his term in April, has often courted controversy over what analysts see as his political ambitions. He has been accused of whipping up nationalist sentiment by promoting the notion that Indonesia is besieged by proxy wars waged by foreign states looking to undermine it. In October, Widodo said the armed forces should stay out of politics and ensure their loyalty was only to the state and the government - a statement many believed referred to Nurmantyo s actions. There has been speculation that Nurmantyo would seek to run for vice president or even president in 2019. Nurmantyo has not confirmed any political ambitions. He told a briefing in October the military was neutral in practical politics . | 0fake |
U.S. senator: Launch probe if inappropriate Trump campaign, Russia contacts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress should launch a bipartisan investigation if there were any inappropriate contacts between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian officials, fellow Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Wednesday. “If there were contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign operatives that was inappropriate, then it would be time for the Congress to form a joint select commission to get to the bottom of all things Russia and Trump,” Graham said. The New York Times has reported that members of Trump’s presidential campaign had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials before the election. | 0fake |
Activists urge Apple to drop apps that play up Philippine drugs war | MANILA (Reuters) - A group of civil society organizations has demanded that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) remove from its app store games it said violated the tech firm s guidelines and promoted violence and killings commonplace in the Philippines war on drugs. The group named several apps featuring characters based on Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and his national police chief, Ronaldo Bato dela Rosa, who engage criminals in gun battles and fistfights. These games valorise and normalise the emerging tyranny of Duterte s presidency and his government s disregard for human rights principles, the Asian Network of People who Use Drugs (ANPUD) said in an open letter to Apple s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The group listed 131 organizations from numerous countries as supportive of the Oct. 10 complaint to Apple, among them groups working on human rights, youth and drug policy reform. They urged Apple to issue an apology for hosting such insensitive content . Thousands of Filipinos have been killed in Duterte s 15-month-old war on drugs, a campaign that has caused international alarm. Human rights groups say state-sponsored executions are taking place, an assertion the authorities vehemently reject. The group said games such as Fighting Crime 2 , Duterte knows Kung Fu , Duterte Running Man Challenge , Tsip Bato and Duterte Vs Zombies might seem harmless and fun but were offensive and distasteful because in reality, murder and impunity had prevailed. Duterte Running Man Challenge was not available for download on Friday, and three of the app developers could not be reached for comment. Ben Joseph Banta, a managing partner of Ranida Games, which developed Tsip Bato , said the game sought to discourage drug use with the use of banner messages opposing drugs that were visible to players. The aim of our game is not to promote violence, Banta said in an emailed response, adding that it featured supplemental digital content against the use of illegal drugs. We understand the human rights groups and we re very much open to make changes in the game in order to remove the stigma that the game is promoting violence, he said. | 0fake |
Are You Ready for Aftermath of the Election? Will There Be An Election? | Previous Are You Ready for Aftermath of the Election? Will There Be An Election?
I recently interviewed geopolitical and prepping expert, Bob Griswold of Ready Made Resources . We discussed the election and the false flag attacks that could like between the now and preventing the election.
Most importantly, Bob the provided the listeners with some very low-cost and effective means of prepping for the coming disasters that are coming our way. | 1real |
TRUMP WAS RIGHT! Why The Heck Is This Liberal Political Hack Moderating Tonight’s Debate? | If you watch CNBC at all you know John Harwood is a HUGE liberal political hack so why the heck is it ok for him to moderate tonight s debate? Couldn t they find anyone else? Look out for lots of jabs and unfair tactics focusing on the two frontrunners. It s fine to ask questions but these liberal animals will hit below the belt. Watch for it Why in the world is liberal journalist John Harwood moderating Wednesday s Republican debate? And where the heck is his conservative media partner? Wednesday night s debate will be hosted by CNBC at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. It will be moderated by Harwood along with CNBC s Carl Quintanilla and Becky Quick and is supposed to focus on economic issues, though previous CNBC debates have strayed far from that topic. Harwood frequently angers conservatives for his partisan takes on the news. I mostly laugh off his predictably liberal views because I don t take him that seriously. But that only leads us back to figuring out why he s moderating this Wednesday s debate. Let s just look at a few examples of how he covers news. The Headlines Below Tell You Most of What You Need to Know: Harwood works for both CNBC and The New York Times. You can get something of a feel for his predictable but conventional liberal takes from the headlines of just his most recent pieces: *On the Economy, Republicans Have a Data ProblemTax *Plans of G.O.P. Favor the Rich Despite Populist Talk *Timing Gives Sanders a Lift in His Quest *Republicans Vow to Erase Obama s Record, but Such *Promises Are Rarely Kept *Outsiders Stir Politics, but Often Fail to Win or Govern Well *Angry Bent of Party Let Trump Rise *Bernie Sanders: A Revolution With an Eye on the Hungry Children Read more: The Federalist | 1real |
How Will Clinton – Comey Affect Gold Prices? | Home » Gold » Gold News » How Will Clinton – Comey Affect Gold Prices?
What happens to gold and silver prices when the markets suddenly and violently un-price a Hillary Clinton Presidential Victory?
From Keith Weiner :
Twice this past week, the prices of the metals spiked. Once on early Monday due to a cause unclear to us. The second on Friday late morning (Arizona time) due to, get this, additional problems for Democrat Hillary Clinton. The stock market dropped at the same time that the prices of the metals surged. Call it the confidence speculation.
The price of gold ended the week +$10, and that of silver +$0.18.
Was it speculation? Or was it, this time for once, stackers going bananas buying up metal along with dried food, barrels of water, prime bunker real estate, and lead (ammo)?
Before we get to that, we want to tackle a fallacy that comes up over and over again. How do you define or measure the value of money?
The same school of thought that gives us the Quantity Theory of Money — which Keith has debunked decisively , and which we have spent so many words in this Report addressing its implications for the price of gold — offers a simple answer. Tempting, because it sounds so simple, it’s utter rubbish. What’s the idea?
You measure the money by its purchasing power . Prices are measured in money. So why not reverse it, and measure the money by … prices?! Well, for one thing, it’s circular. Self-referential. Infinite recursion , in the terminology of computer science.
But more importantly, this view lumps taxes, regulations, labor law, lawsuits, compliance and you name it, all together. If the government adds a costly new tax which wipes out half an industry, you can bet (literally!) that the product of the remaining companies will sell at higher prices. Maybe much higher prices.
But does this mean that the money has gone down in value? That it is on the path to hyperinflation, even? No.
Taxation is not a monetary phenomenon.
Further, suppose you look at prices in different cities. For example, things are cheaper in Yuma Arizona, than in New York City. Can we compare the Yuma dollar purchasing power to the New York City dollar? Of course not. It’s the same US dollar!
We contend that there is only one way to measure the value of the dollar. Look at its price in gold. As of Friday, that is 24.4 milligrams.
And how do you measure the value of an ounce of gold? Let’s make an analogy to gold’s abundance. We content that gold is the most abundant commodity (with the exceptions of air and water). How is that? We measure abundance, not by absolute quantity, but by a ratio of stocks to flows. It would take all the gold mines in the world many decades to produce the amount of gold now known to be held in human hands (which number we believe is underestimated substantially). No other commodity (except silver) comes remotely close to this.
The approach to measuring gold’s value is similar. The value of the next ounce (N+1) is measured relative to the prior (N). Let’s look at water to contrast with gold.
Suppose you’re walking through the Arizona desert in July. The temperature might be 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49C). You get so thirsty that you could die very quickly. You walk up to someone selling gallon jugs of water. What would you pay for the first?
It’s worth nothing less than your life.
How about the second? You will need it to walk back to civilization. The third? A spare. The fourth? Zero, zilch, nil.
Value(1) = ∞ Value(3) = 1 Value(4) = 0
The value of each unit of water is not merely lower than the previous unit, but massively lower.
For gold (you knew this was coming) the value is flat. That is, anyone will happily accept the fourth gold coin just as the first. And the 104 th the same as the 101 st .
This is an important feature for money, is it not? It means that any business, no matter how large, can keep its books using gold. Even as the balance sheet grows, the value of the unit of account — the numeraire — remains constant.
Kind of like how engineers rely on the constant length of the meter stick, no matter how tall the building. Imagine if they used some sort of rubber band to measure length and the higher the skyscraper, the shorter the rubber band shrank! Construction above one story would be impossible.
Well, if the unit of account varied in value as water does, economic calculation beyond a simple subsistence farm would be impossible.
Read on for the only true picture of the fundamentals of the monetary metals. But first, here’s the graph of the metals’ prices.
The Prices of Gold and Silver
Next, this is a graph of the gold price measured in silver, otherwise known as the gold to silver ratio. It didn’t move this week.
The Ratio of the Gold Price to the Silver Price
For each metal, we will look at a graph of the basis and cobasis overlaid with the price of the dollar in terms of the respective metal. It will make it easier to provide brief commentary. The dollar will be represented in green, the basis in blue and cobasis in red.
Here is the gold graph.
The Gold Basis and Cobasis and the Dollar Price
Could the scarcity (i.e. cobasis, the red line) be rolling over? It’s too early to tell, but bears watching.
The fundamental price of gold barely budged, though it’s about twenty bucks below the market price.
Now let’s look at silver.
The Silver Basis and Cobasis and the Dollar Price
Last week, we asked:
The big question this week: does the buying of metal remain strong, or is this just another flash in the pan?
So far, the buying has held up. The fundamental price is up just about as much as the market price.
Let’s put this in perspective. Below is a graph showing not the prices of the metals, but premium vs discount. The green region at the bottom represents discount, and thus a safe place to buy. The red region at the top represents danger, as you’re overpaying.
Note that silver has not been offered at a discount in quite some time. This does not mean that the price has to crash tomorrow morning. But it does mean you’re paying a speculative premium. Maybe you will get a chance to unload to the next speculator at an even higher price, but maybe not.
Gold was in discount through around the end of April. It tipped into discount at the end of August. It’s now selling at a premium, though not a large one.
The Premium on gold and silver
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CFTC poised to lose sole Democratic commissioner Bowen in coming months | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. derivatives regulator is about to lose its sole Democratic commissioner in the coming months, with Sharon Bowen announcing on Tuesday she intends to step down. Bowen announced her plans at a public meeting on Tuesday, saying she will try to time her departure around when the U.S. Senate confirms another Commodity Futures Trading Commission member nominated by President Donald Trump. Trump has thus far nominated three new Republican members of the CFTC, including its Acting Chairman Chris Giancarlo. He will need to nominate two Democrats to round out the five-member panel. | 0fake |
Breitbart Fails HARD In Trying To Prove Polls Are Biased | We have roughly 92 billion opinion polls going around regarding the presidential election, and right now, they all show Trump and Hillary either locked in a dead heat, or Hillary leading, across the nation and in key states. Of course, this means the polls are rigged, or at least biased, right? Right. So Breitbart, being of sound editorial judgment, commissioned Gravis to conduct their own poll. The results?Hillary leads Trump 42 percent to 37 percent.That s in a four-way race, not a two-way. The poll surveyed 2,832 people on August 9, and carries a 1.8 percent margin of error. So Hillary is outside of even that.Alex Marlow, editor-in-chief at Breitbart, has this to say about their poll: It s an open secret that polls are often manipulated and spun to create momentum for a particular candidate or issue. Breitbart News Network s first national poll marks the start of a major initiative to give our readers an accurate assessment on where the American people stand on the key topics and people of the day without the mainstream media filter. It s pretty telling when the poll you conducted, with the intent of being as neutral as possible, brings back the same results as the polls you think are biased. This poll has Hillary leading Trump by five percent. In a four-way race, Reuters/Ipsos most recent poll likewise has Hillary leading by five points, Economist/YouGov has her up by six points, and even Rasmussen Reports has her up by three points.But Trump s crowds are huge and Hillary s aren t, so of course the polls are screwy. Breitbart and Gravis are trying to put a positive spin on it, though, saying that the poll reveals areas where Trump can reach more voters. For some reason, Doug Kaplan, managing partner at Gravis, thinks things like 11 percent support for Trump from the black community presents a problem for Hillary. His rationale seems to be based only on the fact that Hillary has less support from the black community than Obama did in 2012.Hillary also won big when it came to the question, Do you agree or disagree? Donald Trump/Hillary Clinton would fight for people like me. Overall, only 39 percent feel that Hillary would fight for them, and Trump had 38 percent of that. However, when it came to Muslims, a stunning 84 percent said they think she ll fight for them.Obviously, Trump won t have that kind of support from the Muslim community. Not with his Islamophobic remarks toward them.Overall, Breitbart walked away from this with egg on their face, because they sought to prove one thing and failed miserably. In the end, all they showed is that either Gravis is biased, too, or that (gasp!) the polls are more accurate than the right would like to believe.Photo of Hillary by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. Photo of Donald Trump by Alex Wong/Getty Images. Images merged by Rika Christensen | 1real |
Saudi Arabia poised to be reelected to UN Human Rights Council | Saudi Arabia poised to be reelected to UN Human Rights Council Source: RT
As the death toll in Yemen surpasses 10,000, Saudi Arabia, one of the principal parties in the conflict, is poised to be reelected to the UN human rights body. Saudi airstrikes are responsible for the majority of the nearly 4,000 civilian deaths in Yemen.
A secret ballot vote at the UN General Assembly on Friday will select the 14 members of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), or a third of its 47 members. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, China, and Japan are running for the four seats from the Asia-Pacific region, and are all expected to secure seats.
Riyadh’s term at the UNHRC would be the third in a row, and its presence at the body has been increasingly puzzling to human rights groups, given its record of twisting arms at the UN to hush up its rights abuses.
In June, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon publicly admitted that Saudi Arabia threatened to withdraw funding from numerous programs due to an upcoming report on violations of children’s rights. The report would list the Arab kingdom among violators over the toll its military campaign and blockade of Yemen has taken on children. The threat resulted in Saudi Arabia’s removal from the blacklist, even though Riyadh’s tactics had been exposed.
“The report describes horrors no child should have to face,” Ban Ki-moon told reporters at the time. “At the same time, I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund many UN programs.”
“It is unacceptable for UN member states to exert undue pressure,” the secretary-general added, pledging to review the removal of the Saudis from the list.
This incident of Saudi Arabia working against UN human rights efforts is far from being isolated. In Yemen, the kingdom used control of air traffic to prevent foreign journalists, employees of international aid organizations, and UN officials from visiting the war-torn country and reporting on the situation there.
In September, it used diplomatic pressure against the Netherlands after it introduced a resolution at the UNHRC that would launch an independent investigation into airstrikes on Yemen. The Dutch proposal failed and an Arab version was passed, one which entrusted the probe to the exiled Yemeni government, which the Saudis want to put back into power through its military actions.
Domestically, Riyadh’s policies often run against those of the UN human rights body. Seven petitions to allow special rapporteurs for the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to investigate abuses in Saudi Arabia remain pending , some for over a decade.
The kingdom was also reported to persecute its own subjects who cooperate with UN investigations. For instance, human rights defender Mohammed al-Qahtani, who contributed to several UNHRC reports, was accused of things like “distorting the reputation of the country” and “provoking international organizations to adopt stances against the kingdom.” He is currently serving a lengthy prison term.
While far from being the only authoritarian regime with a seat at the UNHRC, Saudi Arabia maintains some of the most restrictive domestic policies. Homosexuality and conversion from Islam to another religion are punishable by death. Sentences include corporal punishment, as highlighted by the case of blogger Raif Badawi who is to be flogged 1,000 times while serving a 10-year sentence for “insulting Islam.”
Saudi Arabia is also one of the world’s most enthusiastic executors. The number of beheadings spiked under King Salman with 157 executions reported in 2015, and 124 between January and September 2016. Share This Article... | 1real |
Morning Joe Destroys Corrupt Clinton Foundation (Laughable) “Total Corruption” | Abby Martin Exposes What Hillary Clinton Really Represents ‹ › Since 2011, VNN has operated as part of the Veterans Today Network ; a group that operates over 50 plus media, information and service online sites for U.S. Military Veterans. Morning Joe Destroys Corrupt Clinton Foundation (Laughable) “Total Corruption” By VNN on October 28, 2016 'Pay for Play' and 'Quid Pro Quo' 'Shut Down The Foundation'
Inside the Clinton’s Foundation and Personal Gains They are bragging that they can shake down foundation clients, for Bill Clinton money… This is sleazy… Joe Scarborough.
Follow the money. | 1real |
UKIP’s Paul Nuttall: ’Islamist Extremism is a Cancer Within Our Society’ | UKIP leader Paul Nuttall has used a landmark speech to brand Islamist extremism a “cancer within our society” proposing a range of robust actions to ensure it is “cut out”. [The Liverpudlian MEP described how, in the past, the police and MI5 had “foiled plot after plot in the nick of time” but are now “being overwhelmed by the impossible scale” of the problem. He criticised an establishment which has been complacent in allowing Islamists to “set up home in Britain” since the 1980s, on the mistaken assumption that they would not attack the country which had given them shelter. Nuttall also singled out particular actions undertaken by Theresa May in her former role as Home Secretary for denunciation, such as the massive police cuts carried out at the behest of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Geroge Osborne, and the abolition of control orders in favour of weaker TPims at the behest of former Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. The moment in 2015 that @theresa_may was told her government attacks and cuts on police were dangerous, by a police officer of GMP. pic. twitter. — Andrew Scattergood (@AJScattergood) May 24, 2017, Nuttall also condemned the establishment’s tendency to “whip up cries of racism” against individuals and group who attempted to raise the alarm against the growing threat posed by mass immigration and the promotion of multiculturalism over integration, as well as failure to openly acknowledge the problem. “For far too long politicians in this country have lacked the courage to name the source of terror in our midst,” he said. “It is Islamist extremism. ” He described how he was “condemned” by opposition chiefs from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and the Scottish and Welsh separatist parties as recently as the June 1st general election debate in Cambridge. “Islamist extremism is a cancer within our society,” Nuttall repeated Tuesday, appearing to feel vindicated by the recent attacks in London. Pakistan Home of London Terrorist Who Came to UK as Child Refugee Raided, Had Access to Tunnels Under Parliament https: . — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 6, 2017, Nuttall pledged to rapidly reverse the cuts to police numbers, estimating that it would cost £1. 2 billion to replace the 20, 000 constables who have been lost since the Tories returned to power in 2010. “In these times of terror we need more bobbies on the beat,” he said, emphasising the importance of the ordinary community policing which the Police Federation claima has “collapsed” in recent years, causing local intelligence to “dry up”. Nuttall also pledged to tackle the “rampant radicalisation within our prisons” by reversing cuts to prison funding and officer numbers, and to train 4, 000 new border guards to “properly control our borders” — which experts now believe to be “porous” particularly along the coast. Asked how he would fund these changes, along with a “major increase in resources for MI5” the UKIP leader pointed to £35 billion in savings identified in his party’s manifesto, mainly from reducing the ballooning foreign aid budget, cutting the controversial High Speed Rail 2 project, and changing the Barnett formula — described as a “terrible mistake” by its late creator — which sees Scotland receive higher levels of funding than elsewhere in Britain. Armed with a baton, our brave officer faced the London Bridge attackers. We’re extremely proud of him and every single emergency responder. https: . — BTP (@BTP) June 4, 2017, Nuttall also called for a national debate on whether or not we should “routinely arm our police” after a British Transport Police officer was forced to take on the three London Bridge attackers with an extendable baton, leaving him hospitalised and in a very serious condition. Nuttall suggested the time has come to accept we now live in different times and pointed out that in Brussels and Strasbourg, where his work as an MEP takes him regularly, armed police are a commonplace sight. THE ENEMY WITHIN: Scale Of Terror In The UK — 23, 000 Suspects Monitored Including 400 Who Fought For ISIS In Syria https: . — Fox Nation (@foxnation) June 4, 2017, Nuttall also echoed Colonel Richard Kemp, a former COBRA committee member and commander of British forces in Afghanistan, in calling for Islamic State volunteers holding British nationality to have their “passport revoked [and] their citizenship removed” ensuring they “never be allowed to return to this country”. He said he would “make no apologies for taking nothing off the table to ensure our people are kept safe”. However, he stopped short of joining Colonel Kemp in calling for foreign nationals on the terror watch list to be deported or interned, and ruled out following U. S. President Donald Trump’s lead in attempting to impose restrictions on travel to and from failed states such as Libya and Syria, which have become major hotbeds of Islamic radicalism. That’s right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won’t help us protect our people! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017, In terms of the growth of radical extremism at home, Nuttall said “we must demand more from the Muslim community itself,” referencing statistics which suggest that “only one in eight referrals to Prevent” — the government’s programme — “come from the Muslim community itself”. He also accused the Labour Party of being “culpable” in thwarting efforts to counter extremism by opposing Prevent, singling out Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham for his opposition to the programme in particular. The UKIP leader also demanded the Government “close down mosques where extreme Wahhabi or Salafist versions of Islam are preached” and to bar the funding of religious institutions in Britain by Saudi Arabia and Qatar the latter of which was recently isolated by key Arab nations for its alleged support for overseas extremism. Nuttall also urged officials to release the findings of an investigation into Saudi funding of British religious institutions in particular, which are reportedly being suppressed. Leaked Hillary Clinton emails show U. S. allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar supported ISIS https: . — Salon (@Salon) October 12, 2016, Finally, Nuttall acknowledged that Theresa May had been “complacent at best” as home secretary, but said that the dangers posed by the Tories “pales into insignificance” beside the prospect of a Labour Government in which Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott would be responsible for national security. Corbyn, he alleged, had “gone out of [his] way to befriend terror groups both in Northern Ireland and the Middle East” throughout his political career. With only a few exceptions, including Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, and Frank Field, Labour candidates “cannot be trusted on Brexit and cannot be trusted on national security” he said. He advised voters to bear this in mind when considering who to vote for in constituencies where a UKIP candidate is not standing — but told journalists that this sort of “tactical voting” strategy was a for this particular election. | 0fake |
Senate votes to block 'sanctuary cities' bill after tense debate on floor | The Senate on Tuesday voted to block the controversial legislation cracking down on the so-called "sanctuary cities" that shield residents from federal immigration authorities.
Following an impassioned speeches by Texas' Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and New Jersey's Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez arguing, respectively, for and against the Sanctuary Cities Bill, the Senate voted 54-46 against the legislation.
The bill has divided Congress along partisan lines and gained national attention in the wake of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's harsh words on immigration and the shooting death of a California woman over the summer by an undocumented immigrant.
"We are witnessing the most overtly nativist and xenophobic campaign in modern U.S. history," Menendez said on Tuesday. "We've hit a new low with the extraordinarily hateful rhetoric that diminishes immigrants' contributions to American history — and particularly demonizes the Latino community by labeling Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals."
The bill, which went up for procedural vote on Tuesday, was authored by Louisiana Sen. David Vitter. It would have punished jurisdictions that prohibit the collection of immigration information or don't cooperate with federal requests, blocking them from receiving certain grants and funds.
Republicans have pushed the bill since the July 1 shooting of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco. The man charged in the killing was in the country illegally despite a long criminal record and multiple prior deportations. The man, Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, had been released by San Francisco authorities despite a request from federal immigration authorities to keep him detained.
"Today, the Senate had an opportunity to send the message that defiance of our laws will no longer be tolerated," Cruz said in a press release after the vote. "While Senate Democrats chose partisan loyalty over protecting the lives of Americans, I will continue fighting to stop illegal immigration."
He added: "Defiance of our immigration laws is inexcusable. Sanctuary cities and the illegal reentry offenders that they harbor are a threat to the safety of the American people. And they must end now."
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said before the vote that the bill would threaten cities' ability to police and compared it to Republican presidential candidate Trump's comments earlier this year that some immigrants in the country illegally are "criminals" and "rapists."
"This vile legislation might as well be called 'The Donald Trump Act,'" Reid said.
San Francisco and hundreds of other jurisdictions nationally have adopted policies of disregarding federal immigration requests, or "detainers," which advocates say can unfairly target innocent immigrants and hurt relations between immigrant communities and law enforcement authorities.
The House passed legislation similar to Vitter's bill this summer, which the White House also threatened to veto. In its veto threat of the Senate legislation, the White House said the bill could lead to mistrust between the federal government and local governments.
The Obama administration has said that the best way to get at the problem is comprehensive immigration overhaul, something House Republicans have blocked for years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Marvel Vows To Boycott Georgia If Discriminatory Religious Liberty Bill Becomes Law | The studio of superheroes will leave Georgia rather than make movies in a state that bullies gay people.The First Amendment Defense Act passed the Republican-dominated Georgia legislature earlier this month, but has yet to be signed by Governor Nathan Deal.Should the bill become law, it will allow conservative Christians to use their religion as a shield to justify bigotry and discrimination toward same-sex couples and give religious organizations the ability to fire gay employees at will.The bill has caused an uproar and many companies have stopped or are threatening to stop doing business with the state if it becomes law.That includes the NFL, which promptly told Georgia officials that such a blatantly discriminatory law would cost Atlanta the Superbowl bid they have been desperately seeking.And now Marvel and Disney have made an even bigger threat.As most of us know, many of Disney s Marvel films are shot in Georgia because of the state s advantageous tax incentives. Captain America: Civil War was just recently filmed at Pine Wood studios in Atlanta and such a massive production means jobs for people in Georgia and a boost in the economy.But if Georgia chooses to enshrine bigotry into law, Marvel will take their heroes elsewhere. Disney and Marvel are inclusive companies, and although we have had great experiences filming in Georgia, we will plan to take our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law, Disney said in a statement that should worry Georgia officials to the core.It makes sense that Disney would pull the Marvel Cinematic Universe away from Georgia if this bill passes. After all, it s hard to imagine trying to film characters who believe in equality, fairness, and inclusiveness in an environment that promotes the exact opposite.Georgia would be well-advised to scuttle this bill before it costs them dearly. Because pissing off Captain America is not a good idea.Featured Image: Marvel s The Avengers | 1real |
OAS says Honduran vote results in doubt due to 'irregularities' | TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Observers cannot be certain of the results of Honduras Nov. 26 presidential vote due to irregularities, errors and systematic problems, the top representative of the Organization of America States (OAS) in Honduras said on Monday. Former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga and head of the OAS mission to Honduras told reporters that electoral authorities should carry out a wider recount after a ballot count pointed to a win for incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez. | 0fake |
Homeowner Shoots, Kills Man Who Allegedly Brought 7-Year-Old Son Along for Home Invasion - Breitbart | A father who allegedly brought his son along for a home invasion was shot and killed Friday by a female homeowner. [The incident occurred around 1:40 pm in San Antonio, Texas. According to the San Antonio the suspect allegedly tried to break in through a window in the very room where the homeowner happened to be asleep. The female homeowner heard the suspect trying to make entry into her home, armed herself, and fired at least two rounds. Police arrived in time to transport the alleged intruder to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The woman was in her and the alleged intruder was his . Police also discovered the alleged intruder’s son at the scene. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said of the young boy, “We’re gonna get help for him. ” AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 0fake |
MEALS ON WHEELS Shuts the Lyin’ Lefties Up With Truth After MoveOn.org’s Fake News [Video] | Below is the comment in red that MoveOn.org put up before the video. Notice how they say NOTHING about the budget but just state that the program helps people. They re clearly fear mongering with vague information and NO FACTS. If you would like to go to the post on Facebook and hammer them with the statement below that s DIRECTLY from Meals on Wheels, here s the link: MoveOn.org Facebook Post On Meals on Wheels Trump wants to cut Meals on Wheels Meals on Wheels America is one program Donald J. Trump wants to cut in his federal budget plan. It s especially outrageous because according to one Meals on Wheels director, we re delivering a meal but we re delivering a lot more because sometimes we re the only people that this person may see Share the message. Notice how the people in the video just speak about how the program helps people BUT doesn t discuss budget? That s because they re only fear mongering and nothing else Shame on them!MEALS ON WHEELS CAME OUT WITH A STATEMENT TO CLEAR THINGS UP: The nationwide Meals on Wheels network, comprised of 5,000, local, community-based programs, receives 35% of its total funding for the provision of congregate and home-delivered meals from the federal government through the Older Americans Act, administered by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living. Other federal funding sources that support Meals on Wheels program operations may include the Community Development Block Grant, Community Services Block Grant or the Social Services Block Grant. In addition, programs rely on contributions from state or local governments, private donations and other resources to cover the rest, demonstrating one of the best examples of a successful public-private partnership. Meals on Wheels America, the largest and oldest national organization representing senior nutrition programs across the country, receives only 3% of its funding from the government, specifically to run the National Research Center on Nutrition and Aging. | 1real |
U.S. Senate candidate Moore's spokesman resigns as allegations roil campaign | (Reuters) - The communications director for U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore has resigned amid the Alabama Republican’s efforts to combat allegations of sexual misconduct that have roiled his campaign. News of the departure of John Rogers came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump defended Moore from accusations by multiple women that Moore pursued them as teenagers when he was in his 30s, including one who has said he initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14. Moore has denied any wrongdoing and has accused the women of conspiring with Democrats, media outlets and establishment Republicans in an effort to tarnish his reputation. Reuters has not independently confirmed any of the accusations. “As we all know, campaigns make changes throughout the duration of the campaign,” campaign Chairman Bill Armistead said in a statement on Wednesday. “John made the decision to leave the campaign last Friday - any representations to the contrary are false - and we wish him well.” Fox News journalist Dan Gallo said on Twitter that Brett Doster, a Moore campaign adviser, told him: “Unfortunately John just did not have the experience to deal with the press the last couple of weeks, and we’ve had to make a change.” Doster did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moore, 70, a conservative Christian and former Alabama chief justice, won the nomination for the Dec. 12 special election in a hotly contested primary against incumbent Senator Luther Strange. Strange, who was appointed to fill the Senate vacancy left by Jeff Sessions, now U.S. attorney general, was backed by Republican leaders, including the president, while Moore’s campaign attracted support from insurgent right-wing figures like former Trump strategist Steve Bannon. Trump told reporters on Tuesday, however, that he might yet campaign for Moore, who he said “totally denies” the misconduct allegations, and that Democratic nominee Doug Jones was a liberal who should not be elected. The president’s stance stood in contrast to the reactions from most Republicans in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who have called on Moore to step aside. Jones released a campaign advertisement on Wednesday featuring the nine women who have accused Moore of improper conduct. “They were girls when Roy Moore immorally pursued them,” the narrator says, as photos of the women as young girls flash on the screen. “Will we make their abuser a U.S. senator?” | 0fake |
We must call him a terrorist: Dylann Roof, Fox News and the truth about why language matters | Language can obscure as much as it reveals. It’s important, now more than ever, to be clear, to call things by their proper name; to do otherwise is to risk confusion where none exists. What happened in Charleston was terrorism. Period. And terrorism, whatever else it is, is not senseless; it’s precisely the opposite.
Terror is a tactic, not a cause. This is a crucially important distinction. Terrorists are calculating: they do what they do in order to inspire fear. If Dylann Roof had decided, on a whim, to gun down the first people he encountered – that would be senseless. But Dylann Roof was no nihilist. He believed in something. He was a racist. And he was propelled by specific ideas – about history, about black people, about white supremacy, and about various other cultural mythologies. “You rape our women, and you’re taking over our country, and you have to go,” he remarked just before filling that church and those bodies with holes. These are not the words of a mentally ill person committing a senseless act; they are the cold, clear thoughts of a man on a mission, a man who knows exactly what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. And this is why Dylann Roof is a terrorist.
It’s been troubling to watch the media vacillate in their coverage of this story. Was it a hate crime? Was it terrorism? If there’s clarity about anything at all here, it’s about the motivations of the killer. He’s a terrorist, and he told us so. He wanted to send a message. Was he motivated by hate? Sure. But the act itself was terroristic by any measure.
As many have pointed out, the media is unsure about what constitutes terrorism only when white people are the perpetrators. White men with guns are “lone wolves” or “mentally ill” or depraved criminals. Brown men with bombs are very obviously “terrorists.” This is a double standard with consequences. “Terrorism” is a word that resonates; it inspires urgency and collective action, both of which are needed if we’re to deal with the underlying problems. If white people can’t, by definition, be terrorists, then the term has no practical meaning; it’s about the actor, not the act. If terrorism is something only brown people do, then we should be honest and admit that. We should say that terrorism is about the color of the criminal, not the intent of the crime.
Equivocating about the nature of the crime has an additional consequence: It diminishes the role of ideas. We can think of the human brain as a piece of hardware, and of ideas as software motivating behavior. Rather than focusing on the mental state of the murderer, we should be talking about the ideas that inspired the murders. Dylann Roof believed his country was under assault by black people. He walked into that church and killed those people under the delusion that he was a soldier in a war. The question is why did he think this? Where did he get this idea?
We can’t know for sure, but here’s what we do know: Everyone saw this coming. In 2013, the DHS released a report warning of a growing danger from right-wing extremists. Indeed, officials believed domestic terrorism to be a greater threat than Islamic militants. Echoing this theme, the Southern Poverty Law Center found that domestic hate groups, often under the guise of “patriot groups,” have increased significantly since 2008, the year Obama was elected. I don’t know whether Dylann Roof was an active member of any of these groups, but it’s clear that he believed in and espoused their ideology. These findings ought to have inspired concern from the political and media establishment. However, because of the confusion about what terrorism is and who terrorists are, there was nothing but outrage on the right. House Republican Leader, John Boehner, dismissed the report as “offensive and unacceptable.” Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis called it “political and ideological profiling.” Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin wrote that it “was one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read.” These people failed us. They failed, in part, because they were too consumed with foreign enemies to notice the presence of internal ones. They failed because they refused to see what was right in front of their faces. And they failed because they remained blind to the power of ideas, of rhetoric. For years, right-wing demagogues have propagated this myth that the country was under siege by black people and immigrants and communists and radical liberals and so on. Much of the Tea Party movement was motivated by this ideology. Conservative leaders decided, for political reasons, to indulge this, to capitalize on it. Perhaps that was wise as a political strategy, but there are consequences: You whip people into a frenzy for long enough, someone, eventually, is going to cross that line. Dylann Roof crossed that line. He was a homegrown terrorist. And he was the product of a nativist ideology of white supremacy, the flag of which flies still over the state capitol of South Carolina. Perhaps now we can reckon with the roots of this truth. That starts with calling it what it is: racially-motivated terrorism. | 0fake |
Defense Secretary Mattis addresses confusion over carrier | RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis looked to address confusion over a U.S. aircraft carrier group on Wednesday, saying that its schedule had been disclosed earlier to be transparent. “The bottom line is, in our effort to always be open about what we are doing we said that we were going to change the Vinson’s upcoming schedule,” Mattis told reporters, referring to the Carl Vinson strike group. “We don’t generally give out ships schedules in advance but I didn’t want to play a game either and say we were not changing a schedule when in fact we had,” Mattis said. There had been confusion after U.S. President Donald Trump boasted early last week that he had sent an “armada” as a warning to North Korea even as the aircraft carrier strike group he spoke of was still far from the Korean peninsula. The U.S. military’s Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the Carl Vinson strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now “proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered”, it said. | 0fake |
Clinton Promises To Scrap ‘Pointless’ FBI If Elected | 0 Add Comment
ON the verge of being elected, the first female president of the United States of America, Hillary Clinton admitted her first official act in office would probably be replacing FBI director James Comey or failing that, just scraping the FBI altogether.
Accused of politicizing his role as the FBI’s director and wilfully manufacturing a scandal that has implicated Clinton in some wrongdoing while failing to specify just what, who or why he is investigating anything, Comey remained defiant.
“Well, it’s not a bad way to spend your last few days in a job before being fired, ya gotta go out with a bang,” Comey explained.
Comey remains under fire for reopening an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s much publicised personal email server, while refusing to give any details, just days before the November 8th polling day.
Clinton’s campaign has asked for the public to be given all relevant information on the investigation so there can be no cynical insinuation of illegality without a shred of proof, however, the candidate herself admitted if elected ‘shit will go down’.
“More like Federal Bullshit Investigators, am I right?” Clinton shared with a rally of her supporters this morning, “I am not a petty person, but Comey’s desk better be cleared out come November 9th or he’ll suffer a fate more graphic than illicit images sent to minors by idiot politicians who have nothing to fucking do with my campaign,” Clinton added in a calm fashion.
In a rare moment of candour, Clinton’s rival for president, Donald Trump, gave his support to the Democratic candidate.
“Shit, maybe my whole crazy bullshit about a shadowy network of people trying to fix elections for one side is actually a real thing,” Trump explained before correcting himself and calling for Clinton’s execution instead. | 1real |
Hero of Novorossiya: Honoring the death of Arsen Pavlov aka "Motorola" | Thu, 27 Oct 2016 13:01 UTC Arsen Pavlov, or Motorola, was the leader of the Sparta battalion in the war for Donbass. The people of Novorossiya (aka the Donbass) have suffered a terrible loss. Arsen Pavlov better known to the world as Motorola was assassinated in a brutal terrorist bombing on October 16, 2016. He was a beloved commander and a hero to the people of the Donbass, to Russia, and to people all over the world who oppose the fascist junta in Ukraine and US imperialism. The murder was no doubt ordered by the empire in revenge for Russia's intervention in Syria which one year later appears to have decisively shifted the war. On every front the SAA are making advances and winning new victories especially in the battle to fully liberate Aleppo from NATO's terrorist death squads. Thankfully after the treacherous bombing at Deir Ezzor Russia was in no mood to give into the empty threats of full scale nuclear war the empire claimed it was prepared to launch in order to halt the liberation of Eastern Aleppo. Slowly the SAA are making gains on multiple fronts in Eastern Ghoutha, in Homs, in Aleppo. Arsen Pavlov was born in the Komi Republic at 15 he became an orphan and moved in with a grandmother. He joined the Russian Naval Infantry where he gained the callsign Motorola. He joined as a conscript but volunteered to reenlist and served in the 2nd Chechen War where he gained valuable experience, and they say became addicted to war. He was a bit of an adrenaline junky which added to his charisma since he was paradoxically cheerful in the most dangerous situations. He had a great sense of humor which came through even to non-russian speakers like myself but he was even more beloved in Russia and Ukraine for his hilarious narrations of the war in Ukraine. He was involved in the war in Ukraine from the start. He visited Maidan where he overheard some Ukrainian fascists saying that they would kill ten Russians for every Ukrainian they lost. He decided to join the anti-maidan movement participating in counter-protests in Eastern Ukraine in Karkov and other cities before heading to Crimea to aid the people in fulfilling their long held dream of reuniting with Russia. It was in Crimea that he met Igor Strelkov who was impressed with his military experience and cheerful daring. Thus Motorola was one of the small group of men he brought with him to Slavyansk where a handful of veterans worked with the brave locals managing keep the Ukrainian Military tied down for months allowing vital time for Donetsk and Lugansk to solidify their defenses . In Slavyansk Strelkov and Motorola would become legends. Motorola became well known early on because not only was he a brave fighter he was also a master of information war. It was Motorola who filmed many of the early battles of the war and also helped sympathetic journalists cover the war from the front lines. He well understood that the wars of today are fought not just on the battlefields but on the internet, on youtube, on social media. He helped mobilize Global support for Novorossia's war to remain independent of fascist Ukraine inspiring volunteers from around the world. He was also able wage psychological warfare on the Ukrainians using his instincts as a prankster. He managed to convince the Ukrainians that there were 300 Chechen special forces aiding the Novorossian's in the area by playing a recording of the Muslim call to prayer every day. The paranoid Ukrainians fell for it and did not dare to invade the area. Motorola would go on to fight in many of the major battles of the war. He was not one of those commanders who lead from behind. Instead Motorola often fought on the front lines with his men. How could he ask his fighters to risk their lives when he would not do the same he would explain when questioned. Thus like the legendary Mozgovoi Motorola was reported dead many times in the course of the war by the Ukrainian media always reappearing to make a mockery of such claims. To do justice to his heroic actions in the war in Ukraine would require writing a history of much of the war since he was at so many famous battles Nikolayevka Semyonuka, Ilovaisk, Debaltsevo, Donetsk. He became the commander of the Spartak Battalion and was instrumental in liberating Donetsk airport from the fascist self styled "cyborgs." He had a beautiful and courageous wife and three children. He was Officially declared a Hero of Novorossia and honored in Last years victory parade celebrating both the victory over fascism in "The Great Patriotic War" as World War 2 is known in Russia but also the victories in the 2014-2015 wars of independence that saw the NATO backed Fascist Ukrainian army and it's death squad allies thoroughly smashed. Arsen Pavlov with his wife Yelena Kolenkina Read the rest of the article here . Comment: Further reading: The commander of the Sparta battalion of the Donetsk People's Republic and famous defender of Donbass known by his callsign "Motorola," Arsen Pavlov, was killed today, October 16th, by a bomb in his apartment building's elevator. The incident has been officially confirmed as an assassination carried out by Ukrainian special forces. | 1real |
Trump Is A MONSTROUS Threat To A Vital Government Function That Nobody Is Talking About | When people talk about the threat that Donald Trump poses to the U.S., they generally talk about things like education, the environment, consumers, workers, immigrants, minorities, and so on. His Make America Great Again slogan is nothing more than hot air, and anybody who s been paying attention knows it. But there s one absolutely vital government function that Trump threatens that nobody s talking about. It s a safe bet that most of us actually haven t even thought of it, despite his warning to federal agencies to prepare for massive budget cuts.It s the U.S. Census. And the Census is something we need. Population counts determine the number of U.S. Representatives a state gets, and they also determine how the states districts get redrawn. Even states with independent commissions depend on the Census to know how best to draw district lines.Census data is also used for federal programs affecting things like education, veterans services, rural development, transportation, housing and more. The Census determines the allocation of funding for the following:And so much more, including in the private sector businesses can use Census data to determine everything from optimal location to understanding both the local labor force and the local consumer population. Of course, most of this is stuff that the Trump administration and the Republican Party see as wastes anyway, but they ll be hard-pressed to actually cut funding for all of this in a budget without facing massive backlash.Hmm. Now that we re thinking about it, maybe sabotaging the Census would be their way of gutting all these programs.That list, while a ton, isn t all. There s also what Trump s stance on immigration could do. ICE has been sweeping cities for undocumented immigrants, even targeting courthouses as immigrants show up for hearings and appointments about pretty much everything. In fact, a judge in Washington State reported hearing that undocumented immigrants are missing court dates, even if they were seeking a protective order against an abuser.We have the growing hate and fear of Muslims to contend with, too while they aren t being arrested and deported (yet), they could worry that answering the Census will expose sensitive information and make them more vulnerable to harassment and attack.For these reasons, immigrants and other minorities may find themselves far less willing to participate in the 2020 Census. And in communities that have high immigrant and/or minority populations, that could result in bad undercounts. Undercounts that are bad enough could result in districts, especially those that are done by independent commissions, being inadvertently redrawn in ways that don t accurately represent the states populations.It could also result in impoverished, high-immigrant communities seeing necessary federal dollars drain away from programs they depend on.Now, okay, the Census is still three years away. But Trump s funding cuts have already forced them to scrap plans for some new field offices that would help the Census go more smoothly, and has also forced them to cancel the dry runs they do every decade in the run-up to the actual Census. That tells us that just conducting the 2020 Census is very likely to be problematic.They re asking us to do it online this year (partly as a cost-cutting measure, because of course), which raises cybersecurity concerns and could exacerbate immigrants and minorities fears of having ICE come knock at their door, or having asshat racists attack and/or harass them. Following hacks courtesy of everyone from Russia to the Shadow Brokers (who recently hacked the NSA), they re going to have one hell of a time convincing us that our data will be safe and secure.The problems Trump and the GOP are causing for the Census are nothing to shrug at. So much of the way this country is run depends on an accurate Census count, and they re going to have a really difficult time.Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images | 1real |
How Did Lightning Kill More Than 300 Reindeer? - The New York Times | Somewhere Santa is mourning. More than 300 reindeer were found dead in Norway on Friday, their bodies sprawled across a hillside on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau. Experts say that lightning most likely caused the grisly sight. But for many people who have seen images and video of the eerie scene that answer has raised some suspicion. How could a lightning strike create so many casualties? “Lightning does not strike a point, it strikes an area,” said John Jensenius, a lightning safety specialist with the National Weather Service. “The physical flash you see strikes a point, but that lightning is radiating out as ground current and it’s very deadly. ” It’s possible that a single bolt could have hit one or two reindeer directly, he said, but the majority of the carnage was caused by ground current. When the electric discharge touches down it spreads out in search of places to travel. The reindeer, with their four hooves on the grass, presented potential pathways where that current could flow. “The electricity would go up one leg of the body and stop the heart and go down and out another leg,” he said. “In an instant, of course. ” The same thing can and does happen to humans, Mr. Jensenius said, but animals are particularly vulnerable because they have more legs and their legs are further apart. The greater the distance between two legs, the greater the chance that electricity will try to flow through them, and the stronger that charge will be. Though the reindeer were in a herd when they died they did not have to be touching to get electrocuted. They only had to be touching the ground within an area about 160 to 260 feet in diameter from where the strike or strikes hit. The 323 reindeer most likely dropped dead from cardiac arrest where they stood and did not go flying in the air, like in some movies. Mr. Jensenius said that it’s likely the lightning would have struck that location whether the reindeer were there or not. He added that this case is unusual because of the large number of reindeer that were killed, but that it isn’t uncommon for livestock to be felled by lightning. The most cattle ever killed by lightning is 68 according to the Guinness World Record. There are also reports of lightning apparently striking many types of animals, including 53 pigs and 143 goats in China, 16 bulls in Scotland, a giraffe at Disney World, and even one historical account of two bolts killing 654 sheep in Utah. Lightning is dangerous to people as well, and in June of this year more than 70 people in India were killed by lightning. Mr. Jensenius said that we can learn from the reindeer’s misfortune. “It should be a lesson to the people as to what can happen in a thunderstorm,” he said. “When thunder roars, go indoors. ” | 0fake |
Usain Bolt Stripped of Gold Medal After Relay Teammate Found Guilty of Doping - The New York Times | Usain Bolt is no longer a Olympic gold medalist. Bolt and the Jamaican team have been stripped of their relay gold medal from the Beijing Games in 2008 because one runner, Nesta Carter, was found guilty of a doping violation, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday. Bolt won the 100 meters, the 200 and the 4x100 relay at the last three Summer Olympics, for a total of nine gold medals, tied for the most of any track athlete. Carter initially tested negative after the race in 2008. But his sample was one of many retested by the I. O. C. last year. It was found to contain a prohibited stimulant, methylhexaneamine. Carter’s lawyer told Reuters on Wednesday that he intended to file an appeal of the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Olympic officials last year intensified scrutiny of samples from past Olympics after Russia was found to have executed an elaborate, doping scheme. Dozens of athletes from the Beijing and London Games have been found, upon retesting of their stored samples, to be guilty of doping violations. Many were medalists. It is standard practice for Olympic officials to store urine samples for up to a decade so they may conduct additional tests, often with more advanced, newly developed techniques. Carter was also a part of the winning 4x100 relay team in London in 2012, but no announcement about the status of that medal has been made. The I. O. C. directed the international track federation to “modify the results” of the 2008 event. Trinidad, Japan and Brazil were second, third and fourth in the race and would each move up a notch. The United States dropped the baton in its heat and did not make the final. The I. O. C. also told the Jamaican federation to secure the return of the physical gold medals. The other two team members in the final were Asafa Powell and Michael Frater. The Jamaican team finished in 37. 10 seconds, which was a world record at the time. When one member of a team tests positive, it is typical for the entire team to be stripped of its medals, although there have been exceptions. Marion Jones lost two relay medals from 2000 after doping violations, but her teammates were allowed to keep theirs after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. When news of Carter’s positive test first emerged last year, Bolt told The Guardian, “It’s heartbreaking because over the years you’ve worked hard to accumulate gold medals and work hard to be a champion — but it’s just one of those things. ” He added, “If I need to give back my gold medal, I’d have to give it back it’s not a problem for me. ” The I. O. C. also announced on Wednesday that Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia was disqualified from the 2008 long jump, in which she won the silver medal, and the triple jump because of a positive test. Bolt, regarded as the greatest sprinter in history, has said he will retire from the sport after this summer’s world championships in London. | 0fake |
This Video Shows Trump Backing Racial Violence In A Shocking Way We Haven’t Seen Before | Donald Trump moved a step closer to officially sanctioning racial violence being committed in his name by telling multiple media outlets that he would be take a look at paying the legal fees for John McGraw, who punched a black protester at a Trump rally in North Carolina.Appearing on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, Trump accused the protester of being very taunting and being very loud, very disruptive and sticking a certain finger up in the air so he would take a look at paying the legal fees.While Todd is usually complacent with conservative Republicans on his show making bizarre allegations, even he appeared to be taken aback with Trump s show of solidarity, and asked if the leading Republican candidate was condoning the attack. Trump argued that he had not condoned the assault, despite doing just that, and said, maybe [the attacker] doesn t like seeing what s happening to the country. The man who Trump says he has instructed his legal team into looking into helping was no benign protester. Multiple videos showed McGraw sucker punching the protester as he was being taken out of Trump s rally. In a video posted right after the incident, McGraw proudly said, The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. McGraw was arrested and has been charged with assault, disorderly conduct and communicating threats. The police department is also investigating why McGraw was not arrested immediately on site by the police officers tasked with maintaining security at the Trump rally.Trump has repeatedly made up racial and ethnic scapegoats for his mostly white base of supporters to blame for society s ills and problems, feeding into a narrative pushed for decades by white supremacists and white power groups. He has blamed Latinos, black activists, and Muslims for problems like terrorism, drugs, unemployment and even the failure to say Merry Christmas. It is an audience primed to explode into violence, and as Secretary Hillary Clinton said, If you play with matches, you re going to start a fire you can t control. That s not leadership. That s political arson. Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
TIME TO GO? 84-Yr Old Supreme Court Justice Ginsberg Tells College Audience 3-Term Male U.S. Senator Is A Female [VIDEO] | Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg erroneously labeled South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham as one of the women of the Senate on Monday.Ginsburg s misstatement came in her remarks upon accepting an Allegheny College award given to her and the late Justice Antonin Scalia for civility in public life. Hours after Justice Neil Gorsuch was sworn in to replace Scalia, Ginsburg took to the podium in calling on lawmakers to work together, but mistakenly identified South Carolina s senior senator as a woman. I thought back to the 1993 confirmation of my nomination to the court the hearing was altogether civil, the vote was 96 to 3. For Justice Scalia, the vote was unanimous, Ginsburg said. Let s hope members of Congress, the members that Allegheny College has already honored Vice President Joe Biden and Senator John McCain, the women of the Senate, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Lindsey Graham let s hope that they and others of goodwill will lead in restoring harmonious work ways. Via: FOX News | 1real |
BREAKING: Cruz Names Carly Fiorina As His VP Running Mate | After suffering debilitating losses in five northeastern states Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania and his alliance with John Kasich crumbling after only two days, Ted Cruz needed to find a way to stop GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.And he found the way at least he thinks he does.The Cruz campaign announced Wednesday afternoon that failed CEO, failed Senate candidate, failed presidential candidate and largely disliked Carly Fiorina will be the Texas Senator s VP running mate.Simply put, this is Ted Cruz sad, pathetic attempt at a hail Mary to pander to female GOP voters (who loath Trump). And what s even sadder is Cruz only picked Fiorina out of sheer logistics not because he necessarily likes her or thinks she would be a good Vice President. According to Politico:The hope within the campaign is that Fiorina will help Cruz in California, which will award 172 delegates on June 7. Fiorina is scheduled to give the keynote address at this weekend s California Republican Party convention, speaking hours after Cruz takes the stage.The move comes at a time of growing desperation within Cruz circles. Some in the campaign worry that the Texas senator will lose Indiana on Tuesday and lose other key states in May, paving the way for a Trump nomination.Yes, the women who helped dent Silicon Valley and lost a statewide election to Barbara Boxer by 10 percent is the perfect choice for Cruz s California comeback. As it becomes increasingly clear that Trump s negative image will spell certain doom for the GOP in November, Cruz has literally taken it upon himself to pull a John McCain circa 2008. Only this time America knows who Fiorina is, and they don t like her very much.Fiorina suspended her campaign after poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire and subsequently endorsed Cruz, traveling he country as a surrogate for his campaign.The decision was two weeks in the making as reports surfaced the Cruz campaign was heavily vetting the former CEO, and placed her at the top of a serious contender list for V.P. Never before has a losing candidate pulled such a desperate maneuver to save their campaign. Hopefully this comes back to bite them both in the behind. The GOP is tired of panderers.Featured image via Gerardo Mora/Getty Images | 1real |
Jackie Mason: GOP Needed 8 Years to Fix Obamacare, Give Me 10 Minutes | In these trying times, Jackie Mason is the Voice of Reason. [In this week’s exclusive clip for Breitbart News, Jackie takes Republicans to task for what he claims is severe dysfunction surrounding their effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. “There was supposed to be a doctor for every person, and you could keep your doctor … turns out, your doctor’s now a plumber, and you can’t find him, and if you find him, he has nothing to say to you because you’re getting on his nerves, because he’s working for practically nothing,” Jackie says. “And you could keep your doctor … but you’ll have to keep him in the basement because otherwise he’s gettin’ the hell out of there. ” Jackie says that now that Republicans have the White House and Congress, they can finally make good on their promises to the American people to overhaul the health law. Only problem is, they don’t know how. “In eight years you can’t figure out what to replace it with?” he asks. “I could tell you in ten minutes. Give me fifteen. Do I need eight years? And then at the end of eight years, I have no idea what the hell I wanted to talk about?” “Stop criticizing if you have nothing to do. And if you were gonna do something, let’s hear what. And if you don’t know what, keep your mouth shut. ” Still, Jackie does want one provision written into any new healthcare law, and it’s got to do with Nancy Pelosi. Watch the full video above. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0fake |
TPP countries to discuss agreement in principle on trade deal: Japan | DANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - The remaining 11 countries in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal will discuss a proposal for an agreement in principle to proceed after the withdrawal of the United States, Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Thursday. Ministers from the 11 countries are meeting in the resort of Danang in Vietnam on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. We have collectively reached the stage where we can discuss a proposal for a final package for an agreement in principle of the TPP, Motegi told ministers from the other countries. I would like to emphasize once again the importance of reaching an agreement in principle right here. | 0fake |
CRITICALLY WOUNDED GOP Rep. Steve Scalise Stood By Trump When Others Deserted Him…Recently Made Adorable Birthday Video Message With Trump For His Daughter [VIDEO] | Trump-hating, Bernie Sanders supporter and domestic terrorist James T. Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, Illinois, was killed by Capitol Police after firing up to 100 rounds from an assault rifle at a baseball park in Alexandria, Virginia, leaving five injured including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise at 7am on Wednesday.Scalise s condition worsened throughout the afternoon and was deemed critical by hospital staff after he he was released from emergency surgery on his hip.Two Capitol Police officers were shot as they bravely returned fire on Hodgkinson while the lawmakers scrambled across the field to safety. Congressional staffer Zachary Barth and lobbyist Matt Mika were also shot but both are expected to recover. Daily MailDuring the 2016 election, Congressman Steve Scalise was a supporter of Donald Trump. Unlike some Republicans, Scalise continued to support his party s nominee after the leaked Access Hollywood tape on which Trump could be heard bragging about grabbing women by the private parts.Steve Scalise stood by Trump, even after the Access Hollywood tape leak when so many Republicans abandonedHe is one of us pic.twitter.com/5t54yEnWKq Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) June 15, 2017 Let me be clear, Donald Trump will do more to rebuild our middle class, get our economy moving again, strengthen our national defense, and appoint Supreme Court Justices who uphold our Constitution rather than rewrite it, Scalise told The Advocate. Those are the reasons I ve supported Donald Trump for President and that is why I will continue to do so. In March, Donald Trump recorded a special message for Steve Scalise s daughter on her birthday:.@POTUS has an important message for my daughter Madison on her 10th birthday! pic.twitter.com/GRlz1YJECh Rep. Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) March 17, 2017Steve Scalise was also a supporter of President Donald Trump s original travel ban signed in January. ISIS has said they want to infiltrate a lot of these refugee programs and we ve seen them carry that out in Europe, Scalise said. So we want to make sure that people who are coming into the United States aren t being infiltrated by terrorist organizations and until that can be done I think this freeze from certain countries, where we cannot vet, makes a lot of sense. Heavy | 1real |
U.S. treads water on cyber policy as destructive attacks mount | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Trump administration’s refusal to publicly accuse Russia and others in a wave of politically motivated hacking attacks is creating a policy vacuum that security experts fear will encourage more cyber warfare. In the past three months, hackers broke into official websites in Qatar, helping to create a regional crisis; suspected North Korean-backed hackers closed down British hospitals with ransomware; and a cyber attack that researchers attribute to Russia deleted data on thousands of computers in the Ukraine. Yet neither the United States nor the 29-member NATO military alliance have publicly blamed national governments for those attacks. President Donald Trump has also refused to accept conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections using cyber warfare methods to help the New York businessman win. “The White House is currently embroiled in a cyber crisis of existential proportion, and for the moment probably just wants ‘cyber’ to go away, at least as it relates to politics,” said Kenneth Geers, a security researcher who until recently lived in Ukraine and works at NATO’s think tank on cyber defense. “This will have unfortunate side effects for international cyber security.” Without calling out known perpetrators, more hacking attacks are inevitable, former officials said. “I see no dynamics of deterrence,” said ex-White House cyber security officer Jason Healey, now at Columbia University. The government retreat is underscored by the departure at the end of July of Chris Painter, the official responsible for coordinating U.S. diplomacy on cyber security. No replacement has been named and the future of the position in the State Department is in flux. Some of Trump’s cyber officials have publicly highlighted a strategy to focus less on building global norms and more on bilateral agreements. Trump and the Kremlin have said Russia and the United States are in discussions on creating a cyber security group. But at the big Black Hat and Def Con security conferences this week in Las Vegas the U.S. government will have an unusually light footprint. Past government speakers have included a head of the National Security Agency and senior Homeland Security officials. A session featuring U.S. law enforcement officials discussing the purported theft by Russia of hundreds of millions of Yahoo account credentials was pulled at the last minute. A spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the presentation was canceled because the Yahoo expert slated to talk, Deputy Assistant Director Eric Sporre, had been reassigned to run the Tampa FBI office. The policy vacuum left by the United States is also affecting private security firms, which say they have grown more cautious in publicly attributing cyber attacks to nation-states lest they draw fire from the Trump administration. Trump suggested in an April interview that the security firm CrowdStrike, which worked on investigating the election hack of the Democratic National Committee, might not be trustworthy because he was told it was controlled by a Ukrainian. It is not. Cyber policy veterans are particularly alarmed about the lack of U.S. and NATO response to the destructive attack, dubbed NotPetya, in June that struck computers worldwide but was especially harmful for Ukraine, which is in armed conflict with Russia in the east of the country. Cyber security experts, such as Jim Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a government veteran who advised former President Barack Obama, believe Russia carried out the attack. The Russian defense ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lewis and others predicted that Trump will not publicly accuse Russia, and NATO has only said it appears to be the work of a government agency somewhere. “If you are not ringing alarm bells in an eloquent way, then I think you’re dropping the ball,” said retired CIA officer Daniel Hoffman, who worked on Russian issues. “When we fail to do enough, that just emboldens them.” | 0fake |
BATON ROUGE COP KILLER Had “Inspirational” YouTube Channel, Was Racist Member Of Farrakhan’s Nation Of ISLAM: “My Religion Is The Religion Of ‘Justice'” [VIDEO] | This cop killer was a hateful, racist sub-human. He not only hated white people and cops, he bragged about it. The scary thing is, much like ISIS, who has no trouble recruiting people with hate in their hearts, there are no shortage of people to carry out Obama s war on cops in America. These are terrorists and our very own President has inspired these people to act on their hate for Whites, for cops and for America. This, is Obama s real legacy The 29 year old ex-marine, Gavin Eugene Long, who ambushed and killed three unsuspecting Baton Rouge police officers on Sunday morning, hated those who did not share his skin-tone and harbored a particular hatred for the police. As revealed in the hours after the shootings, a Youtube account operated by Long under the handle I Am Cosmo where the alleged killer posted dozens of clips, provides insight into what motivated the young man to kill three police officers and wound three more on his 29th birthday.In the Youtube videos, Long rants against crackers, and makes multiple references to the July 5th killing of Alton Sterling at the hands of police officers only five miles away from Sunday s attack. The videos also detail that Long is a member of the Nation of Islam, labelled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its black supremacist and racist views towards Jews, Asians, and whites which the group s leaders argue have sucked the blood from and exploited the black community.As Daily Caller details, the 29-year-old was a native of Kansas City, Missouri and was honorably discharged from the Marines in 2010 after reaching the rank of E-5. He preferred to go by the name Cosmo Ausar Setepenra rather than Gavin Eugene Long.In a video published on Thursday, the racist shooter says that If I would have been there with Alton Clap before promoting a book that he wrote that discusses black liberation ideology. I wrote it for my dark-skinned brothers, said Long. If you look at all the rebels like Black Panthers, Huey P. Newton, Malcolm X, and Elijah Muhammad, they was light-skinned. But we know how hard y all got it. https://youtu.be/kGuUq6eUoFwThe assailant also suggested that the black community should buy only from black-owned businesses rather than working for the white people. In one video Long is heard lamented working for the white people. He encouraged one man riding in his vehicle as he filmed using a body camera to shop only at black-owned businesses. He brought up a hypothetical scenario in which a family member who wanted to buy carpet was forced to buy from non-black business owners saying Who s she going to f with? The cracker, the Arab, the Chinese? These Arabs, these Indians, they don t give two fucks about us, said the shooter.Come to think of it, he may have a point. Via: Zero HedgeThis loser has his own Youtube channel. If you care to stomach has cancer-like rhetoric, you can find his channel HERE. | 1real |
Trump St. Patrick’s Day Hats Disappear After Shamrock Mix-Up - The New York Times | St. Patrick’s Day will soon be upon us, and Team Trump would like you to know that for just $50 you can purchase a green “Make America Great Again” hat embroidered with a symbol that has nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day. The hats went on sale last week in advance of the holiday, celebrated on March 17, and had a clover — instead of a shamrock — stitched on the back. A clover is not a symbol of Ireland. It is just a plant. On Wednesday afternoon the hats disappeared from Mr. Trump’s online store. A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump did not respond to questions about why the hats were taken off the website. The original advertisements for the hat encouraged Mr. Trump’s supporters to “capture the luck of the Irish. ” Social media users, especially those in Ireland — where Mr. Trump is deeply unpopular — were quick to pounce, as was the news media there. The Irish Independent, a popular daily newspaper, described the clover as “a sugary, oat piece that you’ll find in a box of Lucky Charms cereal” that “has nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day or Ireland. ” Mixing up the number of leaves on a shamrock is an easy mistake to make, especially in the United States, where St. Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated even by people with no substantive connection to Ireland. The Obama campaign made the same mistake in 2012, producing a line of campaign swag covered in clovers (it soon reversed course.) Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, himself an used a clover on Twitter last year. Even the Irish beer company Guinness is not immune: It used a clover in a series of advertisements in Canada last year. Niall O’Dowd, the publisher of several media outlets, said these were par for the course on St. Patrick’s Day in the United States, where some of the finer points of Irish culture often get lost in the melee of parades and bar crawls. (In case you’re wondering why the shamrock is part of the holiday at all, legend has it that St. Patrick used its three leaves to illustrate the Holy Trinity in Christianity.) “That sort of things is so common,” Mr. O’Dowd said. “It’s not exactly that they’ve used a clover. ” Another common misunderstanding is referring to the holiday as “St. Patty’s Day,” he said. (The Independent sneered about the American pronunciation: “St. Patty’s Day as they insist on calling it. ”) “Patty” is not the nickname used for a man named Patrick. It is the nickname used for a woman named “Patricia. ” Men named Patrick — including the saint honored on March 17 — are referred to casually as “Paddy. ” Like many Americans, the Republican Party made that mistake, too, in its advertisement for the Trump hat. Mr. O’Dowd said he thought that misspelling was a forgivable offense. “If you listen to an Irish accent it does sound like ‘Patty’s Day,’” he said. “People get offended by it, but I think it’s one of those things that gets overblown. People’s intent is noble, and that’s just how the word sounds to them. ” | 0fake |
20 TIME DEPORTED MEXICAN Laughs While Being Sentenced For Sodomy, Kidnapping and Sexual Assault In SANCTUARY STATE of Oregon…Tells Victims’ Relatives: “See All You Guys In Hell!” [VIDEO] | Next time you see a Democrat lawmaker, thank them for supporting sanctuary cities and states, and making every American less safe A Mexican man who was deported from the US 20 times has been convicted of 10 counts including sexual assault in Oregon. On Friday, Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in a Portland courtroom after pleading guilty to kidnapping, sexual assault, sodomy and several other counts, KOIN reported.Martinez smiled throughout the trial, and as he left, he gave one grim parting shot to his two victims relatives: See all you guys in Hell. The first attack occurred early on the morning of July 24, when Martinez entered the Northeast Portland home of a 65-year-old woman through a window she had left open to cool the house.Wielding a metal rod, Martinez told the woman to get down on the ground, where he bound and blindfolded her, threatened to murder her, and then sexually assaulted her, KGW reported.He stole the woman s purse and car; she called the police from a neighbor s home, and they located the vehicle and put it under surveillance.While they kept an eye on the car, however, Martinez was stalking his second victim in a parking garage on the corner of Northeast 21st Avenue and Northeast Halsey Street.He approached her carrying a knife and made her get into her car; as he got in after her she attempted to escape, but he was able to grab her and start slamming her head into the ground.The woman called out for help and as passersby approached, Martinez attempted to steal her car, then fled on foot when it failed to start. Police caught him minutes later.Two relatives of one of the victims, and one of the victims herself spoke during the sentencing phase Friday, in which Martinez often grinned.A brother of one victim told Martinez: Sergio, no sentencing is enough. I rather you rot in Hell. Deputy District Attorney Amity Girt, the prosecutor on the case, said: We had some very powerful victim impact statements that said it all. It was really breathtaking to hear the far-reaching consequences of violent crime, the emotional injury. Under the agreement that spared Martinez a possibly longer sentence if he had been found guilty at trial, he pleaded guilty to 10 counts, including first-degree burglary, sodomy, sex abuse, kidnapping, robbery, and second-degree assault.Martinez s lawyer, Jonathan Sarre, said his client suffers from some mental illnesses; often such people may do inappropriate things in these situations. However, he acknowledged that a doctor had declared Martinez competent to stand trial.Martinez had been freed from jail in Portland a week before the attacks; he was in there for interfering with police and providing a false birth date.He was released despite a request from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the Multnomah County Sheriff s Office to hold him so the agency could take him into custody.Oregon became America s first sanctuary state when it adopted a law in 1987 preventing law enforcement from detaining people who are in the United States illegally but have not broken other laws. Daily Mail | 1real |
BAM! ANN COULTER EXPOSES DELTA: Flight Attendant Group Confirms She Was Targeted | Wow! Conservative Ann Coulter was in fact targeted by Delta employees who wanted to make the popular Republican uncomfortable. Coulter tweeted out a screenshot of a back and forth that confirms the employees decided to mess with her because of her political affiliation:BEWARE OF @DELTA REPUBLICANS. Texts from a flight attendant: It was political. @Delta still won t give a reason. pic.twitter.com/Tcxp2DlPa0 Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 18, 2017In case you missed it: CONSERVATIVE FIREBRAND ANN COULTER DESTROYS Delta Airlines On Twitter For Kicking Her Out Of Reserved Seat There are some people you probably shouldn t cross. Donald Trump is one, and conservative author and political analyst Ann Coulter is the other one Conservative columnist Ann Coulter flew into a fit of fury Saturday after Delta Airlines booted her from her reserved Comfort+ seat which comes with 3 additional inches of legroom and gave it to another passenger.In a two-hour tweeting tantrum,she quoted her exchange with a flight attendant: Why are you taking me out of the extra room seat I specifically booked? she asked.Their answer, she said, was I don t know. Before Coulter posted a picture of the woman Delta gave her extra-legroom reserved seat to, she tweeted this:Suckiest @Delta moved me from my PRE-BOOKED SEAT & gave it to some woman, not elderly, child, or sick. I have pictures so don t lie, @Delta! Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017But at least @Delta was nice @ it, summarily snatching my ticket from my hand & ordering me to move w/o explanation, compensation or apology Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017The 6-foot-tall Coulter, who is 55, tweeted a picture of the woman who got her aisle seat on the flight from LaGuardia to Florida, noting, Delta didn t give my extra room seat to an air marshal or tall person. NYP.@Delta didn t give my extra room seat to an air marshall or tall person. Here s the woman given my PRE-BOOKED seat: pic.twitter.com/iDNB8xXXOd Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 15, 2017The long-legged Coulter, who still appeared to furious about Delta s decision to boot her from her reserved seat with extra legroom, tweeted again to Delta about the daschund-legged woman who they gave her seat to:So glad I took time investigate the aircraft & PRE-BOOK a specific seat on @Delta, so some woman could waltz at the last min & take my seat. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 15, 2017Hey @Delta, if it was so important for the dachshund-legged woman to take my seat, she should have BOOKED THE SEAT IN ADVANCE. Like I did. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017The sharp-tongued conservative firebrand continued to rip into Delta Airlines in a series of tweets criticizing their customer service:.@Delta motto: "How can we make your flight more uncomfortable?" Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017.@Delta employee questionnaire: What is your ideal job: Prison guard? Animal handler? Stasi policeman? All of the above: HIRED! Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017A Delta spokesman said it appeared Coulter was in the same extra-room row, just in a different seat. But he promised to look into it. | 1real |
Living Through the Death of Capitalism | Living Through the Death of Capitalism Feeling my unborn child as I ponder the death of an economic system By Joe Brewer / medium.com Now is the time to hold strong to our humanity. The world is changing quickly and much is at stake. It is even possible that our entire global civilization will collapse in our lifetime. This is a very difficult concept to sit with — yet sit with it we must, for now is a time of great consequences. A four hundred year old economic system is dying. We can feel the pain all around us. It shivers in the outstretched hands of the homeless. Gets expressed as death rattles in the species going extinct on a daily basis. Entire societies have tattered the social fabric of trust as inequality skyrocketed in the last few decades. It is experienced as fear, anger, sadness, humiliation, shame, and despair. Every person alive today has a responsibility to bear witness, provide hospice care to the dying, and participate in midwifing new ways to structure social life. This is our burden to be alive in the early part of the 21st Century. Yet so many among us are still behaving like children. They call each other names. Pick fights between parochial tribal groups. Bitch and moan when things don’t go their way. And hoard precious wealth in a time of increasing global scarcity. Now is the time to behave like grownups. Because the threats now upon us are very serious. I say this as a man who is about to become a father. My wife and I chose — with eyes wide open — to bring a child into this world in the midst of great upheaval. We believe deeply and firmly in humanity and are investing our blood in the future. This is not something we do lightly. It is a great responsibility to continue the human race even as billions starve and there now lurks a very real possibility that our child will live through the collapse of the Earth’s first globalized civilization. This unborn child has prospects to live into the 22nd Century. What will be seen through their eyes? Will there be a saga of unraveling the biosphere for our precious home planet? Might the death throes of capitalism take down the safety nets of a stable climate? Will our child bear witness to the final days of humanity? We cannot say even how long his or her survival will be secure. Yet we carry forth knowing what must be done. Humanity is in the crucible of change now. It is an all-hands-on-deck transition — away from life destroying economic practices based on wealth hoarding and extraction and toward life affirming practices of regeneration and renewal. Let me state this seriously and succinctly. According to the Stockholm Resilience Institute, there are nine “planetary boundaries” that represent thresholds for a viable global civilization. Cross even one and the entire edifice will fall into ruin. While there remains uncertainty about where these thresholds are, the best scientific evidence available today tells us that we have probably already crossed four of them. We are currently in overshoot and collapse . There are time lags in the system so the unraveling may not happen until the middle of this century. Instead of thinking about putting our child through college in 20 years, we must grapple with scenarios of tremendous upheaval and disruption. They will need to be a survivalist and servant to others in need. Notions of stable careers and long-term planning may never be a possibility in this child’s life. I write these words not out of despair, but as an affirmation of the most rugged hopefulness I can muster. I was trained in climate science and I know what is coming. I have studied the rise and fall of empires so I am aware that fascist dictators and resource wars are likely to arise in the turmoil of the coming decades. Yet still I gently touch the swollen belly of my wife and feel our baby kicking and turning in her womb. I have felt the heartbeat of a new life and will do all I can to ensure that humanity makes it through to the other side. This is what it feels like to live through the death of capitalism. Eyes wide open even if tears may well up in them. I look to the horizon where shimmers of beautiful alternatives await. It doesn’t have to be like this. We can do better. We must do better. In truth, there are already hundreds of millions of people actively struggling against the wealth extracting juggernaut that is Western development — expressed as colonialism in early years, then later in the various forms of trade agreements, structural debt repayment programs, illicit resource wars fueled by propaganda, and the full apparatus of wealth extraction that is in place today. We needn’t wonder why a mere 60 people have the same aggregate wealth as 4 billion. This is an outcome designed into the core logic of extraction that arises when private owners extract rents (what is commonly called profits) from the valuable labor of other people. It only took four hundred years for this system to run itself out. What no one could have predicted then was that the human population would explode and our fingerprints on the Earth would grow from tiny scratches here and there to deep scars that can be viewed from space. This is our legacy as a species right now. It is the bed we have prepared for our own children and grandchildren to lie down in. And it is our responsibility to carry through the dark times we are now in so that future generations can thrive in whatever ways make sense to them. I am with you, fellow humans. I believe in us. Let us not fall into despair or acquiesce as extremism rears its ugly head around the world — as it did recently in the United States . For it will be the beacons of light we carry that will show others the way forward. For my part, I am working with social movements to connect the dots of wealth extraction and training change makers in the art and science of intentional social change. I have seen with my own eyes that millions of peasant farmers are organizing across Latin America and India; students are protesting outrageous debt in Mexico, Greece, and Spain; indigenous peoples are coming together across the North American continent to protect their sacred lands. We are gathering our strength for the collective transition. Of the 7.4 billion humans alive today, several hundred million are already organizing to drive the system to change. There is much to be hopeful about in this struggle. We each have a role to play. And time is of the essence. Onward, fellow humans. Want to support Joe Brewer's work? Make a contribution here . 4.3 · | 1real |
Phoenix mayor calls for probe of county's handling of presidential nominating vote | PHOENIX (Reuters) - Phoenix’s mayor on Wednesday urged a federal probe into the local county’s handling of voting in Arizona’s presidential nominating contest, questioning whether minority voters were granted a fair chance to cast their ballots. Greg Stanton asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate a decision by Maricopa County officials to slash the number of polling locations in Arizona’s most populous county and leave minority-heavy areas with seemingly fewer sites. The Democratic mayor called the vote “a fiasco” after voters had to wait in line for several hours on Tuesday to cast their ballots. Donald Trump won the state’s Republican contest, while Hillary Clinton won on the Democratic side. “Because of the unacceptably disparate distribution of polling locations, I respectfully request the U.S. Department of Justice investigate what took place [...] to ensure all voters are treated equally,” Stanton said in the letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. He said it was the latest in a series of moves by county and state officials that had created “a culture of voter disenfranchisement.” Complaints of long waits at the polls – some as long as five hours - were common, with hundreds of voters still trying to vote long after the polls closed. There also were reports of polling stations running out of ballots. The county’s top election official took the blame on Wednesday for making the cost-cutting decision to cut the number of polling sites to 60, compared with the 200 in 2012. County Recorder Helen Purcell said she underestimated the number of people who would vote, in part citing the rise in mail-in ballots. “If we had to do it all over again, we would have done it differently, but I take the blame for that,” Purcell told the county Board of Supervisors. “We were not prepared, that was our fault.” Arizona Governor Doug Ducey a Republican, said the long lines were unacceptable and called on election officials to evaluate what went wrong and what could be done to prevent a repeat. | 0fake |
Trump puts five-year lobbying ban on his political appointees | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Saturday put restrictions on the kind of lucrative lobbying gigs his White House aides and other administration officials can accept after they leave government. Trump, a Republican businessman whose campaign was based in part on getting rid of Washington insiders, had pledged during last year’s election campaign to “drain the swamp” of political practices that he said made politicians beholden to business interests. On his executive order making good on that pledge, Trump said his appointees would agree to refrain from lobbying their own agency for five years after leaving, and would not lobby any government appointee for two years. Trump’s order also requires his officials to agree to a lifetime ban on working on behalf of foreign governments or foreign political parties. Trump himself has come under pressure to distance himself from his business interests, and put his sons in charge of his company, which owns hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world. Ethics watchdogs have said the arrangement does not prevent conflicts of interest. | 0fake |
11:11: 2016 – ‘The Lifting’ | Leave a reply
Gillian MacBeth Louthan – The 11:11 doorway will issue a time out, not for bad behavior but for examination of the new patterns of light. Like a spider’s web, messages are hidden sculpted in sacred geometries and codes. What is sacred seeks an outlet a place of shelter. As we move past the previous markers of this years limitations, we begin to dimensionally float like an island in a gust of hurricane force wind. Everything floats like ivory soap causing all of us to feel a little nauseous like altitude sickness and seasickness wrapped in one big burrito.
We truly have become almost Island like, moving ever so slightly with the changing dimensional tides, no longer attached to any outcomes. Everything tries to right itself like an upside down cake. The winds of change are dominant and push us in directions we would not choose on our own. Like a multi colored autumn leaf, we allow that ‘which is’, to buffer our shift. We are quickly learning Dimensional riff is not a place for sissies.
Learning to float is ‘a must’. The cells of your body and heart sound with glee as you bring love into your future via intent and word ‘This is the time of your life’ spend it well, with reverence for all. Find the bounty in your hearts desires. You will learn to skate the highways and byways of dimensional conversion as all of Earth enters a new hologram in 2017.This ‘mother of all holograms’ will support the smaller projections within her own body like a great sturgeon before it gives birth to millions of eggs.
Everyone will unwrap themselves before the holidays. at the time of the winter solstice you will see the true diamond light that lives inside. Reflections of realism fill the room as thick as frankincense and myrrh. Faces show the topographical map of worry as lines are crossed. Sometimes a road once traveled ends, we are all under construction.
Everything serves the Light and one should have no regrets on any level. Words will have much more punch and you who have called energy with your mutterings will see the end results. We all walk forward with our hearts in our hands on bended knee with humble thoughts. We, who wear the Codes of Light, do so throughout time, never ceasing to trust what lives in our divine blueprint. We have been cut from a blessed cloth and sewn into a holy vessel.
11:11 is a doorway or gateway into your highest potential as a human seeking complete divine memory. One is a singularity within ‘all that is’. The ‘one’ seeks itself through mirror-like reflections of the world around it. This doorway offers an opportunity to surpass any limitations you have unknowingly set for yourself. One to one to one – enter the oneness hidden deep within your being at the center point of your soul. SF Source www.thequantumawakening.com | 1real |
Gingrich: ’Comey May Be Under Investigation’ - Breitbart | Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich pointed out that no one knows who is under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller in the Russian collusion probe. Gingrich said former FBI Director James Comey, “deliberately leaked to a college professor to leak to “The New York Times” for the purpose of getting a special counsel. ” He added, “Comey may be under investigation. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
Border agreement puts floor under EU/UK trade talks: Irish foreign minister | DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Brexit agreement on the Irish border that assures Northern Ireland will remain aligned with the European Union s customs union and single market puts a floor under what is possible in negotiations on trade after Britain leaves the EU, Ireland s foreign minister said. What it means is any deal that is done has to be better than the default position, otherwise we won t be able to agree it, Simon Coveney told national broadcaster RTE after the deal was struck early on Friday. I think what that does is, it puts a floor under what is possible in terms of the outcome that we can t fall below, so Ireland obviously has a huge interest in the phase two negotiations. | 0fake |
SHARE THIS EVERYWHERE! DISEASED REFUGEES Get SSN and Passport Upon Arrival to the U.S. [Video] | 1real | |
Trump’s Involvement In Houston Chemical Plant Explosion Will Set Your Hair On Fire | In the aftermath of the historic flooding that accompanied Hurricane Harvey s high winds and torrential rains, there was a surprising effect on the Arkema chemical plant east of Houston on Greens Bayou. The facility was inundated with so much water that it lost power, and that s when the chemical reactions began. When stored at improper temperatures, the organic peroxides at Arkema are unstable, leading to popping sounds, smoke, and eventually fire.Those fires emitted a smoke that many in the area described differently. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the emissions were like standing over a barbecue pit or something like that, where you get smoke in your eyes, according to NBC News. Richard Rennard, a representative of Arkema, described what came from the plant a little more cautiously:[The emissions are] noxious, certainly. I don t know the composition of the smoke.A deputy was, in fact, taken to the hospital after inhaling the fumes coming from the plant.But after officials warned everyone in a nearly two-mile radius that more explosions could follow, questions about whether the plant was following proper safety protocols began to arise. That s when Arkema s connection to the Trump EPA came to light.The International Business Times got their hands on federal records that showed Arkema successfully lobbied EPA Chief Scott Pruitt and a number of Republicans in an effort to delay new safety regulations for chemical plants that were passed by the Obama administration. Those rules, crafted after the chemical plant disaster in West, Texas 200 miles from Houston, would have taken effect in March. They also would have directly affected Arkema.In their letter opposing the new regulations, Arkema used standard conservative trope: That the rules would likely add significant new costs and burdens to the corporate audit process. Those costs, of course, would be on top of the more than $90,000 in OSHA fines assessed to the Crosby Arkema plant this year alone, all for serious violations. But it was nonetheless Arkema s conclusion that the final rule includes a litany of costly changes that have not been shown to increase safety. That seems a little less than true at this point.Although Texas Governor Greg Abbott has blocked public access to state records of just what chemicals are stored in which facilities, the AP reported that the Arkema plant also housed sulfur dioxide and methylpropen, which are, respectively, toxic and flammable. Storage of these chemicals would have required Arkema to file a risk management plan with the EPA which would have triggered the new Obama-era rules.If Trump hadn t struck them down, that is.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
Obama Unlikely to Vow No First Use of Nuclear Weapons - The New York Times | President Obama, who has weighed ruling out a first use of a nuclear weapon in a conflict, appears likely to abandon the proposal after top national security advisers argued that it could undermine allies and embolden Russia and China, according to several senior administration officials. Mr. Obama considers a reduction in the role of nuclear weapons as critical to his legacy. But he has been chagrined to hear critics, including some former senior aides, argue that the administration’s nuclear modernization plans, costing up to $1 trillion in coming decades, undermine commitments he made in 2009. For months, arms control advocates have argued for a series of steps to advance the pledge he made to pursue “a world without nuclear weapons. ” An unequivocal pledge would have been the boldest of those measures. They contend that as a practical matter no American president would use a nuclear weapon when so many other options are available. Former Defense Secretary William J. Perry said in a recent interview, “It’s the right time,” noting that the pledge would formalize what has been America’s unspoken policy for decades. But in the end, Mr. Obama seems to have sided with his current advisers, who warned in meetings culminating this summer that a declaration would rattle allies like Japan and South Korea. Those nations are concerned about discussion of an American pullback from Asia prompted by comments made by the Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry also expressed concern that new moves by Russia and China, from the Baltic to the South China Sea, made it the wrong time to issue the declaration, according to senior aides in the Defense and State Departments. Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz, whose department oversees the nuclear arsenal, joined in the objections, administration officials confirmed. The New York Times interviewed more than a administration officials involved in or briefed on the nuclear debate. All insisted on anonymity to describe internal administration deliberations on nuclear strategy. The United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the end of World War II in 1945 — the only example in history of a first use, or any use, of nuclear weapons in warfare. Almost every president since Harry S. Truman has made it clear that nuclear weapons would be used only as a last resort, so the pledge would have largely ratified unwritten policy. Administration officials confirmed that the question of changing the policy on first use had come up repeatedly this summer as a way for Mr. Obama to show that his commitment to reducing the role of nuclear weapons in American strategy — and thus the risk of nuclear exchanges — was more than rhetorical. But the arguments in front of the president himself were relatively brief, officials said, apparently because so many senior aides objected. Mr. Carter argued that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Kim the North Korean leader, could interpret a promise of no first use as a sign of American weakness, even though that was not the intent. The defense secretary’s position was supported by Mr. Kerry and Mr. Moniz, two architects of the Iran nuclear deal, who cautioned that such a declaration could unnerve American allies already fearful that America’s nuclear umbrella cannot be relied upon. Mr. Trump talked explicitly in interviews about withdrawing military forces from Asia unless Tokyo and Seoul paid more for their presence, and said in March that he was willing to see them build their own nuclear arsenals rather than depend on Washington. According to one senior administration official, Mr. Kerry told Mr. Obama that a pledge would also weaken the nuclear deterrent while Russia is running practice bombing runs over Europe and China is expanding its reach in the South China Sea. Mr. Obama and his national security team have rejected a second option: “ ” nuclear missiles ready to fire on short notice. The fear is that in a crisis, “ ” the weapons could escalate a conflict. Earlier, Mr. Obama and his aides also decided against eliminating one element of the “triad” of and weapons. The idea was to remove the missiles based in silos across the American West, which are considered outdated and vulnerable to a first strike. But the Pentagon argued strongly that the missiles were the part of the system with which they had the most assured communications, and that it was too risky to get rid of them. In the past year, arms control advocates, including some of Mr. Obama’s former aides, have argued that Mr. Obama still has time to repair his reputation as an atomic visionary. “Let Obama be Obama,” Andrew C. Weber, an assistant secretary of defense for atomic programs from 2009 to 2014, said in an interview. Mr. Weber strongly opposes the White House’s recent approval of a nuclear cruise missile. “The defense complex is doing a press, so things are going to be very hard to change,” he said. Mr. Obama’s favorite nuclear strategist in his first term, the retired vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James E. Cartwright, wrote in a New York Times article last month with Bruce G. Blair of Princeton University, a former Minuteman launch officer, that “nuclear weapons today no longer serve any purpose beyond deterring the first use of such weapons by our adversaries. ” “Our nonnuclear strength, including economic and diplomatic power, our alliances, our conventional and cyber weaponry and our technological advantages, constitute a global military juggernaut unmatched in history,” they concluded. Mr. Obama made the eventual elimination of nuclear arms a centerpiece of his 2008 presidential campaign. In contrast, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has said little this year about her nuclear plans, and Mr. Trump has argued for a major military buildup. Once Mr. Obama took office, his ambitions were frustrated. While he achieved a major arms control treaty, New Start, in 2010 — driven through the Senate by Mr. Kerry — it came at a price: He won Republican votes by agreeing to a sweeping plan to modernize the American nuclear arsenal and build a new generation of weapon carriers, including bombers, missiles and submarines. In 2013, some of Mr. Obama’s former national security officials criticized the plan, saying his original vision was in danger of being turned on its head. The doubters included Philip E. Coyle III and Steve Fetter, who had recently left White House posts. One study estimated the modernization cost at $1 trillion over three decades. The Federation of American Scientists, a private group in Washington, released an analysis showing that Mr. Obama had dismantled fewer nuclear warheads than any other War president. Inside the White House, Mr. Obama asked for new ideas to advance his agenda before leaving office. In May, he went to Hiroshima — the first American president to do so — and reaffirmed his vision of a nonnuclear world. “We must have the courage to escape the logic of fear,” he said at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. “We may not realize this goal in my lifetime. But persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe. ” Ten days later, Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, outlined possible efforts in a speech to the Arms Control Association, a private group in Washington. His list included putting more nuclear material under tight security, reaffirming a global ban on nuclear testing and revisiting the administration’s plans to modernize the nuclear arsenal. It was an agenda sure to please his audience, but one that would largely fall to the next administration to execute. The president, Mr. Rhodes said, “will continue to review these plans as he considers how to hand the baton off to his successor. ” That review included the pledge. Behind the scenes, Mr. Carter argued that a ban on first use would be unwise. If North Korea used biological weapons against the South, he and other Pentagon officials said, the United States might need the option of threatening a nuclear response. Mr. Kerry argued that Japan would be unnerved by any diminution of the American nuclear umbrella, and perhaps be tempted to obtain their own weapons. The same argument, he said, applied to South Korea. Mr. Kerry and Mr. Carter have not taken public positions in large part because they do not want to appear to influence Mr. Obama as he makes a decision. Had Mr. Obama issued the declaration, officials conceded, the next president could have rejected it. In an interview this year, Mr. Trump bristled at the idea, saying he would never want to weaken America’s leverage. Mrs. Clinton has not spoken on the issue during her campaign. But a policy would have been hard for either to undo. Military experts say the next president would hesitate to reverse such a decision since the quick reversal would confuse allies and possibly fray important coalitions. | 0fake |
How Influential French Author Alain Soral Become Red Pilled | Alain Soral is an influential French-Swiss thinker, author, and filmmaker. His beliefs are summarized as “French Third Position,” basically a third party for those that reject the traditional left and right political views, and there have been Third Position movements in many European countries over the past several decades.
Major beliefs of Soral’s ideology include nationalism, political sovereignty, social conservatism, anti-globalism, anti-immigration, anti-feminism, anti-bankster, and a non-interventionist anti-war foreign policy. A major slogan of Third Position is “Reconciliation” between the Labor Left and the Values Right—economic policy which values individual work and labor, and social policy focused on nationalism and traditionalism.
Early Life
Alain Soral was born in 1958 in southeastern France. He attended a well-regarded private Catholic school, before enrolling in the distinguished National School of Fine Arts in Paris, founded in 1648, and later transferred to study under the philosopher and economist Cornelius Castoriadis, a famous 20th century thinker.
Castoriadis
Castoriadis favored autonomous societies that are self-aware of their autonomy and independence, and believed societies should provide legitimacy for their laws and government actions. Historically, this was often done through absolute monarchy by invoking religion and God, with the monarch having a direct connection to the almighty (What God has commanded is what we must institute with the law).
Modern capitalist societies proved their legitimacy through circular tautology; that is they claimed that capitalism was logical and just, and therefore whatever a capitalistic society deemed profitable was therefore logical and just. A just autonomous society was always questioning and challenging its laws, but at the same time adhering to, respecting, and upholding the law.
Castoriadis described modern society as a struggle between creative imaginary and capitalist imaginary:
“The repetition of empty forms, of conformism, apathy, irresponsibility, and cynicism at the same time as it is that of the tightening grip of the capitalist imaginary of unlimited expansion of “rational mastery,” pseudorational pseudomastery, of an unlimited expansion of consumption for the sake of consumption, that is to say, for nothing, and of a technoscience that has become autonomized along its path and that is evidently involved in the domination of this capitalist imaginary. The other road should be opened: it is not at all laid out. It can be opened only through a social and political awakening, a resurgence of the project of individual and collective autonomy, that is to say, of the will to freedom. This would require an awakening of the imagination and of the creative imaginary”
Post-University
Soral loved books and knowledge, studying radicals from throughout the political spectrum. He was a dragueur de rue (street pick-up artist) when the PUA movement was virtually unknown. He developed a skill at attracting young, narcissistic, valueless city girls and claimed to bed hundreds of women, and published a book on game in 1996. His experiences with these women led him to develop strong anti-feminist beliefs.
He developed a strong dislike for the French Bobos—Bourgeois bohemians, younger wealthy highly educated narcissistic hedonists interested in fashion and trends. Perhaps something like rich hipsters, but less retro, more fashionable and trendy.
He joined the French Communist Party, motivated by his dislike of the bobos, and his camaraderie with the working man. The Communist Party, along with the Front National, were among the few opponents of the creation of the EU. Soral studied the works of Marx and other Marxists before leaving to join the far right Front National, where he was a speechwriter for Marie Le Pen. He noted that both Communists and Front National members were strongly nationalistic, and indeed many workers left the Communist Party to join FN around this time.
He became a strong critic of feminism and minority politics (gay, feminist, and Islamist or other racial multicultural groups). After Front National performed poorly in the 2007 elections, he formed Equality and Reconciliation , seeking to consolidate ideas on the left and right who believed in nationalism, patriarchy, anti-communism, anti-immigration, and anti-Zionism. E&R is an alternative news site, with some tendencies to the American alt-right, pro-nationalist, and critical of modern culture and feminism. He describes it as “Left for the workers and Right for morals.”
He is a boxer, and since 2004, has coached boxing. He records videos, has a regular feature naming the “cunt of the month,” and his works and website are very popular despite harsh attacks against him in the mainstream media.
Summary Of Views Trolling a feminist
Not much is available in English of Soral, and even English subtitles on his many videos are hard to find. I have but a cursory understanding of French, so I have relied on secondary sources and translations. His major beliefs are:
Anti-Feminism Views feminism as not pro-work, as women have always worked, but instead as anti-family and anti-mother. Discusses two classes of feminists: freaks and bitches. The real struggle is between rich and poor, not man and woman, who are naturally attracted to each other. He has attacked women’s magazines as altering the social conscience and relegating women to the status of objects. Stresses self-improvement and virility in men.
Anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism Opposed to valueless consumption and consumerism. In favor of bankster-free economics, and an end to the nanny state. Opposes “desire society” and the cult of celebrity.
Anti-imperialism Opposed to the Globalist Empire, and American Imperialism, attempting to spread its cultural, ideological, economic, social views everywhere and to destroy all nation-states.
Anti-Zionism Has attacked Jewish lobbying and intervention in French affairs. Made statements criticizing the Jewish people for being ostracized in societies around the world, throughout history, which earned him an immediate and harsh media blackout. He makes a distinction between French Jews and Zionism, saying that Zionists are opposing the interests of France and French Jews.
Anti-communitarianism Favors nationalism, not communitarianism. Calls communitarianism “a poison.” Opposed to ethnic, racial, sexual, Islamist or feminist communitarianism, which is opposed to morality and national standards. Opposes the public effeminate, homo and transsexual society, and laments the lack of strong male role models. Makes a strong distinction between homosexuality and the Gay Pride community movement, which promotes drag queens, parties, vulgar parades, and hypersexualization.
Anti-vulgarity Opposes vulgar language, dress, and speech, especially in women. Has said he prefers publicly wearing the Muslim veil to thong underwear. Would go crazy at a Slutwalk. Critic of profanity and vulgarity; proponent of morality and modesty.
Islam Feels the “menace of Islam” is an artificially created and manipulated threat; primitive Islamic society is not a real threat to modern western states, and capitalistic globalist interests manipulate the region to destroy the anti-globalist anti-feminist culture of Islam, to foster animosity between social groups, to possibly create a clash of civilizations, or world war, leading to a full globalist takeover, and to loot Mideast nations, and that the fundamental values of moderate Islam are perfectly compatible with French moderate Catholic views.
Anti-modern culture and mainstream media Opposed to the decline in western values and culture, and the sorry state of mainstream media, who has labeled him a pariah.
Le Neo masculinité
Many like-minded red pill men are turned off by the left-right politics in America. The third position combines right views on nation, morality, and law, with some left positions on social issues and economics. I believe if both the left and right hate you, you are probably doing something right. The ideas here strongly resonate with neomasculinity. Soral’s ideas are stimulating and interesting and definitely deserve further investigation.
An excellent summary of Soral and his beliefs is available here .
Read More: What Is Neomasculinity?
| 1real |
LAST MAN STANDING’S TIM ALLEN On Why He Wasn’t Allowed To Call Obama A “Communist” On TV And Why Hillary Reminds Him Of HERPES | Before ABC cancelled Tim Allen s number one show Last Man Standing, Allen spoke with the Hollywood Reporter. They asked him why he has such strong political views. They wanted to know if he was a fan of Donald Trump s, what he thought of Hillary and Bill Clinton, and if it s really true that he wanted to run an episode that included raising a communist flag over the White House when Barack Obama was President. Whose idea was it for Mike Baxter to have loud, conservative political views?I brought that to the table. I wanted to be provocative. Mike Baxter is an educated Archie Bunker.Definitely. But you know what? I ve earned it. I don t say that lightly. I ve been on a successful show and learned from the best. But I find Last Man Standing actually rougher than Home Improvement. We re getting away with a lot of stuff. I m really shocked. This is a meaner, sharper comedy than I m used to. There s a lot of times our very liberal writing staff will come up with stuff that even my character would say, I don t know if I can say that. How much is playing this right-leaning character an outlet for you to express your own political views?It s getting more and more comfortable. These guys know me so well that they re writing stuff that is exactly what I would ve said. It s a marvelous thing when you have lib eral people writing for [a show like this]. I believe Stephen Colbert was like that. He was pretending to be a conservative, I think. Someone said that. I never got that, but maybe I didn t watch it enough.Has the line between you and your character blurred over the years?For most of my life, I ve been taxed above 38 percent. When you re a young guy working the road and literally close to half of what you make goes to people who don t help you at all but just bitch about it the whole time, that s where I come from. I come from no taxation without representation, and it manifests itself in very peculiar points of view.How are you different from Mike?He s milder than I am. You wouldn t want to hear what I have to say. Escalate Mike Baxter with profanity and that s basically me. He s much more tepid because he s a business owner. Mike Baxter is calmed way down, and I m definitely not that guy.What riles you up the most?Unearned responses, unearned praise, unearned income: I have opinions about it. When you watch the debates, on both sides you see clowns who say shit that ain t ever going to happen, but lately, one party is the free shit party. They are just telling people they re going to get all sorts of free shit. When you say you re going to get free education, free healthcare f , free brown loafers of course, everybody s going to say yes to that.But you don t mean it. That s how you rack up debt, and debt is killing us. Whatever party is going to get us out of debt is my party.Who scares you?Well, we asked the female writing staff if they d vote for Hillary just because she s a woman, and they all said yes. So then the question was, So if Sarah Palin was the female? They all choked and they had to say, Oh God, yes, we d vote for her. I didn t quite buy it. I don t think you should vote for somebody just because they re tall, thin, yellow, green, whatever. Bernie Sanders, as nice a guy as he is, none of that shit s going to happen. And Trump can t send everybody to Mexico or whatever the f he said. But give that guy the roads, bridges, infrastructure, power grid just have him fix that shit for four years. He s good at that. And he s a businessman so he understands how debt load works. Forget the stupid shit he says about immigrants. That s just ignorant. But he might be able to do the stuff that really needs fixing.So you re not opposed to Trump?I m not opposed to anybody if their workload matches their bullshit load.Why has the show gone after Hillary but not Trump?It s a little surprising to me. We have a very liberal writing staff, so I m surprised they haven t taken a shot at him. But we re not sure he s going to last, whereas the Clintons are like herpes: Just when you think they re gone, they show up again.Didn t you try a bit about Obama raising the communist flag at the White House that never made it to air?We got network notes saying you can t call the president a communist. So, of course, I really wanted to. I do it in rehearsal all day long. | 1real |
Trump FRANTICALLY Spins Illuminati-Like Global Conspiracy Theory To Explain His Death Spiral | Since disgusting revelations came to light that show the Republicans horse crap-covered, diseased nutsack of a nominee is actually a sexual predator, Trump has been frantically trying to cover his ass in every way imaginable. There is no line he will not cross, no level to which he will not sink, in order to turn the whole thing around in a pathetic attempt to come out smelling like roses. That includes pushing ever-wilder conspiracy theories about how the nefarious Hillary Clinton is behind all of this.Yes, Trump wants people to believe that this is all a worldwide smear campaign specifically intended to derail his candidacy. His asinine cease-and-desist letter to The New York Times revealed that (along with the true intent of the lawsuit threat), and so do the growing, nutty conspiracy theories he was touting in West Palm Beach today: The most powerful weapon deployed by the Clintons is the corporate media: the press. Let s be clear on one thing, the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. They re a political special interest, no different than any lobbyist or any other financial entity with a total political agenda and the agenda is not for you, it s for themselves.Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any costs, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy. For them, it s a war. And for them, nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation. Believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it. Oh, it s a war all right, but it s a war against the evil that pervades Trump and his loyal, minion-y followers. Nobody s destroyed Trump s life but Trump himself. When it comes to the women he s assaulted he s out to destroy their lives, and the lives of members of the press, for daring to report the truth about him. He is so not a victim.Trump s followers are dead certain that this election will be stolen from them, and Trump is playing that like a master violinist. For Trump, it s simple: The election is stolen if he loses. The election is fair if he wins. End of story.His minionish cult of followers see it the exact same way.But wait! It gets better. He also drew connections between his assault victims coming forward, Wikileaks, and Hillary: These claims are all fabricated, they are pure fiction, and they are outright lies It s not coincidence that these attacks come at the exact same moment and all together at the same time as Wikileaks releases documents exposing the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine. Coincidence or not, nothing changes the fact that he s a sexual predator who has no business being anywhere near a position of such power and responsibility as the presidency.As he continued to speak, his descent into madness became clearer: We ve seen this [corruption] first hand in the Wikileaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends, and her donors. The funny thing is that those emails reveal nothing of the sort. Time pointed out that a lot of things he said there are invented. As The Atlantic put it, they show a political candidate being political. Is that good? Not necessarily. However, they don t reveal anything nearly as horrific as what s come out about Trump recently.It s time for the cowardly GOP to actually come forward as a unified party and do something about this man. He s beyond help at this point.Featured image by Joe Raedle via Getty Images | 1real |
G4S suspends nine staff at UK migrant center, says to investigate conduct | EDINBURGH (Reuters) - British outsourcer G4S has suspended nine members of staff at an immigration removal center while it investigates a BBC report alleging abuse in the treatment of migrants, the company said on Friday. We have received written allegations of abhorrent conduct at Brook House and on that basis we have deemed it serious enough to suspend the staff involved, a spokeswoman for G4S said. She said the company had not yet seen footage of the alleged incidents, however. BBC Panorama, a flagship documentary program, said on its website that an investigation revealed chaos, incompetence and abuse in the treatment of migrants in a program which will be aired next week. The incident has been reported to the police, the spokeswoman said. Officers were not immediately able to comment. The kind of behavior alleged is completely unacceptable, and does a great disservice to the vast majority of staff who do a great job in very difficult circumstances, the spokeswoman said. The issue highlights the difficulty of running sensitive services for the government and the potential reputational damage for outsourcing companies. Earlier this year an investigation at the G4S-run Medway Secure Training Centre resulted in allegations of abuse and mistreatment of youngsters. The center is now run by the government s National Offender Management Service. Brook House, near Gatwick Airport, is staffed by more than 200 employees and has around 500 occupants. More than 14,000 people passed through it in the last year. The unit houses a mix of those who have not fulfilled their visa requirements and criminals who are being deported. | 0fake |
Voting to elect president of South Africa’s ANC closes: delegate | JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Voting for the new leader of South Africa s ruling ANC ended on Monday about ten hours after delegates began casting ballots for either Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa or Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a senior party source told Reuters. Voting for top 6 is done, said the source, referring to the position of president of the African National Congress and the party s five other senior posts. | 0fake |
Prominent Attorney And Law Professor Points Out That Trump Can Be Impeached For False Accusation Against Obama | When Donald Trump falsely accused President Obama of wiretapping him he committed an impeachable offense.That s what Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe wrote in response to Jonathan Turley on Tuesday after Turley claimed that Trump can t be impeached for posting bad tweets. During an appearance on Morning Joe, Turley claimed that Trump could not be impeached for accusing President Obama of wiretapping him because the Constitution was written before Twitter was invented. There s no penalty to the president for bad tweets, the George Washington University law professor claimed. There s no impeachment for bad tweets, he continued, arguing that the impeachment clause doesn t apply because Twitter postdated the impeachment clause. Basically, Turley is saying that the Constitution only applies to society as it was in the 18th century, which is the kind of bullshit that conservative originalists use as an excuse to block progress.Well, Tribe was watching on Tuesday and he fired off a series of tweets slamming Turley. Using power of W[hite] H[ouse] to falsely accuse predecessor of impeachable felony does qualify as an impeachable offense whether via tweet or not, Tribe concluded.1/On @JoeNBC @JonathanTurley says Trump s false claim that 44 wiretapped him cdn t be impeachable because #Twitter didn t exist when the Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 7, 20172/Impeachment Cl. was written in 1787. What s he mocking? Stupid versions of originalism? The gravity of T s abuse of power? POTUS himself? Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 7, 20173/Using power of WH to falsely accuse predecessor of impeachable felony does qualify as an impeachable offense whether via tweet or not Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 7, 2017In fact, Trump is not only abusing his power by falsely accusing a former president of a crime, he opened himself up to a defamation lawsuit.Just as a reminder, here is what Trump wrote about President Obama on Saturday.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Trump offered absolutely no proof to back up his claims and he still hasn t offered any. FBI Director James Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have both strongly refuted Trump s claim.The bottom line is that the Constitution absolutely applies here because it would be meaningless if it only applied to the world as it existed in 1787.Featured image via Aude Guerrucci-Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Russia says retreat of Syrian opposition figures good for peace | MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday that the resignation of radically minded Syrian opposition figures such as Riyad Hijab would help unite the disparate opponents of President Bashar al-Assad around a more realistic platform. Hijab, a former Syrian prime minister, stepped down on Monday as head of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) which was formed nearly two years ago with Saudi backing to bring together political and armed opponents of Assad. The retreat of radically minded opposition figures from playing the main role will make it possible to unite this motley opposition internal and external on a more reasonable, realistic and constructive platform, Russia s Rossiya 24 state television showed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying at a news briefing. We will support the efforts made by Saudi Arabia in this respect. After intervening decisively in Syria s war in 2015 to support Assad, Russia now hopes to build on the collapse of militant group Islamic State to revive a political process to end the more than six-year-old war. Hijab is one of up to 10 HNC members who have quit the opposition umbrella group, including Riyad Naasan Agha, who told Reuters its work had now been brought to an end . Agha said the HNC, which has insisted on Assad s removal from power at the start of a political transition, had been marginalized ahead of a conference of the Syrian opposition which Saudi Arabia is due to host this week. The expanded conference aims to forge a united position ahead of a new round of U.N.-backed peace talks toward ending the conflict that erupted in 2011. But Yahya al-Aridi, an HNC member who will be taking part in the Riyadh conference, said: The HNC is not finished ... it is a technical group with a particular function to carry out, which is negotiations. There are other Syrians who are still committed to the rights of Syrian people for freedom and liberty, Aridi said. Hijab did not spell out his reasons for stepping down in a statement on Monday night. The Syrian opposition has long been weakened by ideological and political divisions, exacerbated by ties to regional states with competing agendas such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia countries that have been at loggerheads since June. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Agha said HNC members including Hijab and himself had not been invited to the Nov. 22-24 conference, and in practical terms its work has been brought to an end . Agha said he did not know who had taken the decision to marginalize the HNC but would not blame the Saudi hosts. Russia is behind overturning the scales of the opposition to be in the interest of Assad and not against him, he said. | 0fake |
JOHN CONYERS’ LAWYER Threatens ‘If This Nonsense Continues, This Is Just a Harbinger of What’s to Come’ [Video] | Rep. John Conyers lawyer, Arnold Reed, threatened with what s to come during a press conference today: This, ladies and gentlemen, I promise you, if this nonsense continues, this is just a harbinger of what s to come, Reed said while defending the congressman during the press conference in Detroit.IS REED TRYING TO BLAME THE ACCUSER OR IS CONYERS READY TO NAME NAMES?Marion Brown, a former staffer to Conyers, revealed herself this week to be one of the accusers. In a Thursday interview with the Today Show, she alleged Conyers violated her body and would frequently proposition her for sex. You boo d up with him at the Barrister s Ball? LAWYER FOR JOHN CONYERSREED PUSHES BACK:Reed pushed back against the allegations and showed several signed statements of former Conyers staffers that stated they didn t witness any harassment or sexual misconduct from the congressman.Reed made us head for the Urban Dictionary when he said the victim was boo d up with Conyers: This means kissing in public or in a relationship Mr. Campbell indicates that he never saw anything and verified that the congressman hired the accuser s daughter. But there became a problem all hell broke loose when the congressman fired the daughter. And then, all of a sudden, we get this sexual harassment, sexual allegation problem. Here s the predator that she s talking about at the Barrister s Ball, 2011 Barrister s Ball, Reed said as he held up a photograph that appeared to be of Conyers and Brown next to each other, posing for a picture. She [Brown] said that he took every opportunity during hours to harass her. He was an animal. But you boo d up with him at the Barrister s Ball? You want to get angry and mad when the congressman defends himself? Reed continued.READ MORE: WFB | 1real |
Republican senator: Obama administration already has funds for Zika | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration has no immediate need for funding to combat the Zika virus because money remains unspent from fighting the two-year-long Ebola outbreak, a member of the Republican Senate leadership said on Tuesday. Lawmakers are debating what resources are needed as Zika spreads in South and Central America and the Caribbean and raises fears of the possibility of birth defects. But while Democrats joined with the administration to call for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding, Republicans say there is no need for immediate action and intend to have hearings on Capitol Hill, including a meeting with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell on Tuesday. “We all believe this needs to be dealt with,” said Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, who will chair a hearing about Zika on Thursday. “There’s still money left that was appropriated for Ebola,” Blunt told reporters. “So there’s no immediate shortage of money for the administration to do what they think needs to be done.” He said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the National Institutes of Health have received additional funding. Most of the money sought by Obama would be spent in the United States on testing, surveillance and response. A Republican aide said the government had $1.49 billion left in Ebola funding as of Dec. 31, 2015. The Ebola outbreak began in West Africa in December 2013. The CDC received a $272 million increase for 2016, the aide said. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services were not immediately available to comment. Democrats rejected the Republican agenda of hearings and called for action on Obama’s plan. “All the lip service in the world isn’t going to protect America from the Zika virus,” said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak an international health emergency on Feb. 1, citing a “strongly suspected” relationship between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size that can result in developmental problems. Brazil is investigating more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly and has identified evidence of Zika infection in 17 of these cases. But much remains unknown about Zika. | 0fake |
Which GOP Candidates Own Guns And How Does The NRA Rate Them? | Republican presidential candidates were asked if they owned a gun. Here s how they stacked up:A profile on each the remaining GOP candidates, including their NRA rating can be found here:Donald Trump owns a handgun. Here he is pictured receiving a ceremonial rifle at a military academy Photo: Getty Images Donald Trump appears to be part of a rare breed: a New Yorker with a handgun.New York City has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country and applicants for a gun license go through a lengthy process and must be interviewed in person by police.But a 2010 list of gun owners in the city showed Mr Trump had a carry business license, which allows him to carry a concealed handgun on his person. To get a carry business license you must prove you have a valid reason to carry a gun related to work for example if you work with cash and might be targeted for robbery. It is unclear what reason Mr Trump gave in order to obtain his license but he could argue his public profile makes him a potential target.The billionaire was cagey during an interview with NBC earlier this year, saying he still had a gun and a license but it was none of your business if he ever used it. A spokeswoman declined to give details.Mr Trump has flitted between being a Democrat, Republican and independent in recent years and his positions on gun control have shifted also.In 2000, he wrote that he backed Bill Clinton s ban on assault weapons and supported a slightly longer waiting period for buying a gun. He appears to have recanted and no longer supports any new gun controls. The problem is once you get into that you start getting into a situation, the slippery slope, where all of a sudden you are going to really violate the Second Amendment. I don t want to do anything to violate the Second Amendment. Jeb Bush is one of the only Republican candidates who does not own a gun and seems to have little personal interest in firearms. But he was avowedly pro-gun during his eight years as governor of Florida and earned an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA). Mr Bush signed the 2005 Stand Your Ground law, which allows citizens to stand their ground and open fire if they believe are they in danger, even if they have a chance to escape the situation.The next year he signed six gun bills into law, a package he refers to as the Six Pack of Freedom .Mr Bush has been bullish on gun rights on the campaign trail and said in September that the US government should not be involved in gun laws and that regulations should be left to individual states. He has attacked Donald Trump for his past support for Bill Clinton s assault weapons bans.Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas Photo: AP The senator from Texas owns a .357 Magnum revolver and a Beretta Silver Pigeon II hunting shotgun. The Magnum is for self-defence while the shotgun is used for hunting trips, where Mr Cruz mainly shoots birds.His campaign declined to say whether he has a license to carry a concealed weapon.Mr Cruz was solicitor general of Texas before coming to the Senate and was involved in two landmark Supreme Court cases which came down in favour of gun owners.He is a favourite of the NRA as a result and in 2010 the gun lobby group gave him an award in honour of his exemplary activities in the support and protection of the right to Keep and Bear Arms .Florida Senator Marco Rubio Photo: Javier ManjarresJeb Bush does not own a gun but his fellow Floridian, Marco Rubio, has a Taurus .357 Magnum revolver.The senator said he shoots two to three times a year with his wife, Jeanette, and has a license to carry a concealed gun. He bought the gun in February 2010 just as he was mounting his campaign for the US Senate.Mr Rubio was involved in passing the controversial Stand Your Ground laws in Florida while he was in the state House of Representatives but some NRA figures said they thought he could have done more on guns rights and he was given an A ranking in 2010. He talked the talk, but he didn t walk the walk, Marion Hammer, an NRA lobbyist, told the Tampa Bay Times in 2009.Correction: The NRA initially gave Marco Rubio s rating as a B+. They have since said that was wrong and his rating is an A. We have corrected the story and the graphic to reflect this.Republican presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Photo: AP Photo/Cheryl SenterThe governor of New Jersey is one of just three Republican candidates who does not own a gun and he has often been at odds with the gun lobby.His state has a tradition of strong gun laws and Mr Christie has done little to loosen them during his time in office. While he vetoed a bill that would have limited gun magazines to 10 rounds, he has also said there must be a balance between gun rights and public safety. The NRA gave him a C when he ran for re-election in 2013.Mr Christie was excluded from the NRA s annual convention earlier this year and criticised the gun lobby group after it ran a television ad featuring Barack Obama s children.Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson Photo: AP Photo/Ross D. FranklinAn acclaimed neurosurgeon turned populist politician, Ben Carson says he is extremely pro-second amendment .He owns a gun which he says is for self-defence and for protecting his home and family.While he says he does not shoot frequently, he did recently go trap shooting.Mr Carson was criticised by some gun rights advocates in 2013 when he suggested that semi-automatic weapons should be available in rural areas but not in major cities. It depends on where you live. I think if you live in the midst of a lot of people, and I m afraid that that semi-automatic weapon is going to fall into the hands of a crazy person, I would rather you not have it, he said at the time.He has since called the second amendment the baton of freedom to be passed on to future generations.Rand Paul s campaign confirmed that the Kentucky senator owns multiple guns but, in keeping with his libertarian views on privacy, declined to give details.Mr Paul has an A rating from the NRA but was not invited to their annual convention this year because of his links to the National Association for Gun Rights, a pro-gun group that is even more strident than the NRA.The senator from Kentucky has linked freedom from gun control laws to his broader message of liberty.Republican presidential candidate Gov. John Kasich Photo: AP Photo/Jim ColeThe governor of Ohio has a Sig Sauer 9mm handgun and earned an A- ranking from the NRA during his re-election campaign in 2014.During his time in office he has signed several pro-gun laws and earned praise from activists in his state.But the relationship has not always been so warm. In 1994, when Mr Kasich was a Congressman, he voted for Bill Clinton s ban on assault weapons. The NRA gave him an F ranking in response and endorsed his Democratic opponent in the 2010 race for governor. Gun owners don t ever forget things like that, said Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association. But as governor he s signed everything he could and he s been very good on this issue .Lindsey Graham shooting an AR-15 Photo: FacebookThe South Carolina senator has one of the largest gun collections of any of the candidates. A spokeswoman said he has around a dozen guns including rifles, shotguns and a handgun.Among them is an AR-15 rifle stamped with the insignia of his Air Force unit. He also owns a Sweet-16 Browning, given to him by his father when he was a teenger.Mr Graham s campaign describes him as an excellent shot and earlier this year he took donors to a shooting range in Utah. He was given an A- rating by the NRA ahead of his last election in 2014.Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina Photo: AP Photo/Charlie RiedelThe businesswoman has six guns in her home but they belong to her husband, Frank. My husband is the gun owner in our house, she told the NRA in April.Mrs Fiorina said she is not a hunter or a target shooter but is a firm supporter of the right to bear arms. It is our God-given right and it is our Constitutional right, she said.She was given an A ranking by the NRA when she ran for the Senate in 2010. She lost to incumbent Democrat senator Barbara Boxer, who has been one of the Senate s most outspoken voices on gun control.Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee Photo: Getty Images The former Arkansas governor named his most recent book God, Guns, Grits and Gravy and wrote in it that in the world that I come from and choose to live in, gun control means that you hit the target .He owns quite a few guns, and claims to have bought his first, a .22-calibre rifle, when he was only nine years old.He also owns more than one assault rifle. He says in his book that he hunts ducks with a Benelli Super Black Eagle .12 gauge, and deer with a Weatherby .300-magnum rifle.He opposes waiting lists ( anyone who needs a gun for self-defense probably needs it now, not two or three weeks from now ) and was the first American governor to have a concealed-carry license.His platform states that the second amendment is the last line of defense against tyranny .A spokeswoman for the governor of Louisiana said he owns a gun but declined to give details.However, the staunchly conservative Mr Jindal s Instagram feed shows him and his family posing regularly with weapons.One picture shows him cradling a weapon at a gun store in Iowa. Mr Jindal suspended his campaign briefly in July after a gunman killed two people and himself in a cinema in Lafayette, Louisiana. He called for states to strengthen their gun laws to ensure that people with reported mental illnesses could not purchase guns.Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum Photo: AP Photo/Evan VucciThe former senator from Pennsylvania did not respond to the survey but said in 2011 that he owned seven guns.An aide to Mr Santorum told the Daily Caller website that his favourite is a Kimber 1911 pistol.He has a lifetime A+ rating from the NRA after consistently voting against gun control measures.He took a break from campaigning in 2011 to go pheasant hunting in Iowa, and afterward spoke breathlessly about the moment his son John shot his first bird. There s only one thing better than getting a bird, and that s watching your son for the first time getting a bird, he said.Republican candidate for president and former New York Governor George Pataki Photo: EPA/CJ GUNTHERThe former governor of New York keeps a shotgun at his home for hunting and protection.But that has not saved him from an F rating by the NRA the worst ranking of any of the 17 Republican candidates.He earned the gun lobby s wrath in 2000 by signing a set of strict gun laws which banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. They were passed in response to a series of high-profile killings in New York, including a massacre on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993, which left six people dead.Via: UK Telegraph | 1real |
BREAKING: MITT ROMNEY Speaks To Reporters Following Dinner With Trump [VIDEO] | https://youtu.be/Ai5ayloRa-0 | 1real |
Hispanic Crowd Boos Marco Rubio off Stage | Hispanic Crowd Boos Marco Rubio off Stage Rafael Bernal, The Hill, October 25, 2016
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) took the stage in Orlando at Calle Orange, a Puerto Rican-themed festival, on Sunday when some in the crowd started booing, NPR reported .
The jeering got louder as the Cuban-American senator, seeking reelection after dropping his presidential bid earlier this year, was introduced.
And when the emcee asked for applause as Rubio took the same, boos drowned out any supporters in the crowd, NPR added.
“Thank you for having me today,” Rubio said in Spanish. “I want you to enjoy this day. We’re not going to talk about politics today. Thank God for this beautiful day, and for our freedom, our democracy, our vote, and our country. God bless you all, thank you very much.”
He left the stage to more boos from the crowd, according to the report.
{snip}
Rubio is running against Rep. Patrick Murphy (D), and the latest average of polls in the race shows Rubio ahead by about 3 points.
Murphy’s campaign seized on the Sunday incident and blasted out video it says shows the booing. It also noted that Murphy attended the festival “with a leader for Puerto Rican communities, Rep. Nydia Velazquez,” while “Marco Rubio was booed off the stage.”
Rubio’s campaign shared a video with The Hill Monday that it says counters what the Murphy campaign sent out and shows him being greeted enthusiastically as he moves through the crowd.
{snip}
Festival attendants said they disapproved of Rubio’s endorsement of Trump, who is deeply unpopular among Hispanics.
“When we have someone like Trump, who hits our Mexican brothers, our Latino brothers, then you jump on that bandwagon after all that stuff he says not only about you personally . . . as a Latino, you’re a freaking sellout. I would not vote for him if they paid me,” Calle Orange attendant Angel Marin told NPR about Rubio.
{snip} | 1real |
Obama 'concerned' about U.S. State Department handling of classified information | WARSAW (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday he was concerned about how the State Department handles classified information but cast this as part of a government-wide challenge in the age of email, texts and smartphones. FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday recommended against prosecuting Hillary Clinton or her aides for their “extremely careless” handling of classified information on the private email server that she used as secretary of state. Comey said the FBI had found evidence that “the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information that’s found elsewhere in the U.S. government.” Asked about the FBI director’s assessment, Obama told reporters in a news conference: “I am concerned.” “The advent of email and texts and smart phones is just generating enormous amounts of data,” Obama added, saying that this, in turn was “putting enormous pressure on the department to sort through it, classify it properly.” Obama said that if one classified too much, the benefits of the information evaporated because it took too long to process. “It reflects a larger problem in government,” he added. Clinton has said her use of a private email server was a mistake. | 0fake |
They Said What?!: Find Out What Denzel Washington, Meek Mill, And Kesha Have To Say | Email Ever wonder what’s on the mind of today’s most notable people? Well, don’t miss our unbelievable roundup of the best and most talked about quotes of the day: “ For me, God isn’t some big man sitting on a cloud. He’s medium-sized, hanging onto that cloud for dear life. ” —Denzel Washington On faith “ The people who are around you when you get your advance? Those aren’t your real friends. It’s when you’re out on the Atlantic trying to catch the big kahuna, the Mola mola , the sunfish, and you’re out there all day but you realize fame doesn’t bring you everything and it sure won’t bring a damn sunfish to the starboard bow, and so you cry so much your boat fills with tears and sinks and you yell for help until an endurance swimmer swimming to New York finds you and drags you ashore? That’s your real friend. ” —Meek Mill “ Music is the paper towel we use to soak up the spilled water of silence. ” —Kesha | 1real |
Russia-US Plutonium Deal No Longer In Effect | Russia-US Plutonium Deal No Longer In Effect 11/02/2016
RUSSIA TODAY President Vladimir Putin has signed an act suspending a 2000 agreement between the US and Russia on reprocessing weapons-grade plutonium extracted from decommissioned warheads.
The bill has already been published on Russia’s official legal information website, meaning it’s now in force.
It mentions that a decision to restore the agreement can only be made by Russia’s president.
The deal between Moscow and Washington was ratified in 2000. As a means to safely utilize weapons-grade plutonium, it suggested a specific procedure to turn it into nuclear plant fuel. Starting from 2018, it was planned to reprocess 34 tons (68,000 pounds) of plutonium, which would have been enough to produce thousands of nuclear weapons, RIA Novosti reported.
Yet, while Russia has prepared the infrastructure necessary for the process, the US said it found the procedure too costly and instead opted for mixing plutonium with special dilutants to store it indefinitely.
Russia suspended the deal “ due to drastic changes of circumstances, the rise of threat to strategic stability as a result of hostile actions of the US towards the Russian Federation and the inability of the US to provide for the accepted obligations to utilize the excess weapons-grade plutonium in accordance with the agreement ,” the new bill read.
For the agreement to be resumed, Washington should reduce the US military presence on the territory of NATO members that joined the bloc after 2000, cancel its Magnitsky Act which bans entry to the US to a list of Russian citizens, as well as lift other anti-Russian sanctions and compensate the loss Moscow suffered as a result of such policy.
The bill on suspension – which is a “ forced measure ,” according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – was first submitted by the president’s office earlier this month and then approved by parliament.
Commenting on the suspension of the deal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said that it would not affect any of Moscow’s other commitments related to international nuclear security and does not interfere with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. | 1real |
VIRGINIA DMV Issues Vulgar License Plate Bashing President Trump…Recall! | How did this man get this license plate? How did it pass the DMV s rules of no vulgarity? It s obvious that it s a plate that bashes President Trump but someone in the DMV let it pass through. Now he s going to fight for his right to keep an obviously vulgar license plate? Maybe he should grow up and have a decent plate on his car. The Trump-bashing is childish and this guy was a teacher!What does this license plate say? Don Butler of Richmond, a former teacher, says he chose the F and the K because they re the first and last letters of the word flunk, and President Donald Trump has flunked. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, however, says he needs to give up the plate.The letters FTRU MPK grace the back of his Lexus SUV.But the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles sent Butler a letter demanding he send back the plate because it violates state rules.Butler requested a hearing, and he ll make his case to keep the plate on Monday morning. There s no question that it s an anti-Trump message, he said in a phone interview Friday.But the former middle school teacher and retired lawyer says he doesn t understand DMV s concern. The F and K in the plate are the first and last letters of the word flunk, he said, and that s why he choose them. I think that Trump has flunked miserably, he said. Apparently they re trying to read something else into it. I have no idea what they think it means. SUUUUURE! IT S PRETTY OBVIOUS THAT IT S VULGAR!READ MORE: RICHMOND | 1real |
OOPS: Trump Just Accidentally Confirmed He Leaked Israeli Intelligence To Russia (VIDEO) | On Monday, Donald Trump once again embarrassed himself and his country by accidentally revealing the source of the extremely classified information he leaked to Russia earlier this month.While it was speculated that the source of the information was Israel, Trump made things crystal clear during a press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Pussygrabber explained that he never not once said Israel during his conversation with the Russian recipients of the leaked information. Not a single time. Just so you understand I never mentioned the word or the name Israel, Trump said. I never mentioned it during that conversation. They were all saying I did, Trump said, gesturing to reporters. So you had another story wrong. Never mentioned the word Israel . He may not have said the word Israel, but according to reports Israeli intelligence officials were shouting at US counterparts over the leaked information.Now, he accidentally-perhaps-on-purpose confirmed where it came from.Watch it happen below:President Trump says he never mentioned the word Israel in his Oval Office meeting with Russian officials https://t.co/84ZCW64hcE CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 22, 2017Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Turkey calls on Barzani to cancel northern Iraq referendum | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey made a directly appeal to the president of the northern Iraqi Kurdish region on Friday, calling on him to cancel an independence referendum planned for Sept. 25, warning that Ankara viewed the vote as illegal and unacceptable. In a statement, Turkey s National Security Council called on Massoud Barzani to stop the referendum, saying it retained the rights defined in bilateral and international agreements if the vote were held. It did not elaborate on the nature of those rights. The statement followed a meeting of the council, which was chaired by President Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan is also due to hold a cabinet meeting later on Friday. | 0fake |
BRUTAL NEW BENGHAZI AD Exposes Hillary’s Embarrassing Incompetence [VIDEO] | You can run but you can t hide | 1real |
Is A GOP Civil War Coming? RNC Chair Accidentally Spoke The Truth About 2016 Nomination Process | Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus committed the grave Republican sin of being honest during a radio interview recently. While discussing the details of the Republican convention delegates, Priebus possibly without realizing it heavily implied something many have been suspecting: the fact that the Republican party will try to steal the nomination from Donald Trump.Priebus was attempting to explain the process of how Republican delegates work, and seemed to be justifying the concept of them not voting to represent the will of the people from their home states. He came right out and admitted that at the later stages of balloting, delegates will not be bound to candidates and can vote for whomever they want to nominate regardless of the popular vote in the state primaries. The big giveaway, though, was the following statement he gave after that: By the way, this is a nomination for the Republican Party. If you don t like the party, then sit down. The party is choosing a nominee. To say that won t sit well with Trump voters and possibly even Cruz voters is an understatement. Trump s crew won t agreeably sit by only to see the Republican establishment walk away from them and install their preferred candidate as the nominee in his place.Reince didn t exactly come out and say it plainly, but he definitely is starting to lay out a framework of plausible deniability when it comes to a possible up-ending of the nomination process. By trying to explain away how a sleeper candidate can be squeezed in at the last minute, and spreading out the blame among many different delegates some of whom are virtually unknown to regular voters the RNC can just throw up their hands and say there was nothing they could do, because of the rules. Many sources have been hinting at either Paul Ryan or Mitt Romney being rolled out as the panic-button replacement for Trump. The importance of this can t be understated. A very sizeable amount of the 2016 RNC delegates were previously in the camp of the Romney/Ryan ticket in 2012, and the odds favor a majority of them jumping ship to one of those two in lieu of Trump if a legitimate opportunity to do so arose.If the Republicans keep on this track and risk it all in an anything but Trump move, 2016 could be historical for the fact it might split the GOP permanently.Listen to the full interview where the RNC chair accidentally tells the truth below:[soundcloud url= https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/257440153 params= auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true width= 100% height= 450 iframe= true /]Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty | 1real |
More Than 60,000 Migrants Reach Europe By Sea in 2017 | BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — The International Organization for Migration says more than 60, 000 migrants have reached the shores of Europe so far in 2017, a sizeable decrease compared to the same period last year. [The based U. N. agency said Friday that 60, 521 migrants and refugees had entered Europe by sea with over 80 precent of them landing in Italy. The remainder arrived in Greece, Cyprus or Spain. That figure excludes an estimated 6, 000 men, women and children who have been rescued since Tuesday. The organization has also recorded at least 1, 530 deaths on the Mediterranean in 2017, the vast majority in the waters between Libya and Sicily. That figure is higher than the same period last year. Between 2016, the agency documented 193, 333 migrants and refugees arriving at sea and 1, 398 fatalities. | 0fake |
Ausbildung französischer Soldaten in der Führung von Daesch | Ausbildung französischer Soldaten in der Führung von Daesch Voltaire Netzwerk | 26. Oktober 2016 français Español italiano Am 22. September 2016 sahen Arbeiter bei der Reinigung der Umgebung einer verlassenen Höhlenunterkunft nahe der Kirche Saint-Florent an der Ausfahrt von Saumur (Frankreich) drei Männer, die überstürzt in einem weißen Lieferwagen flohen. Als sie in die Grotte eindrangen, entdeckten sie Videomaterial, einen Generator, Zeitschriften in arabischer Sprache und die Fahnen von Daesch.
Bei der Beschwichtigung der Aufregung in der Bevölkerung, bei der Polizei und Gendarmerie und dem Unterpräfekten erklärte Arnaud Nicolazo de Barmon, der Kommandant der Militärschulen von Saumur, dass es sich nicht um Terroristen handele, sondern um eine Übung des teilstreitkräfteübergreifenden Zentrums für die nukleare, radiologische, biologische und chemische Verteidigung (CIA NBCR).
Wenn dies mitten im Ausnahmezustand der Fall war, hat die CIA NBCR gegen die Vorschriften zur Bekanntmachung dieser Übung vor ihrer Durchführung bei verschiedenen Kommunalbehörden verstoßen. Darüber hinaus ist nicht einsichtig, inwiefern dieses Material irgendeinen Nutzen für Übungen zur nuklearen, radiologischen, biologischen und chemischen Gefahrenabwehr haben sollte.
In denselben Räumlichkeiten der CIA NBCR in Saumur befinden sich Schulen, die auf Nachrichtendienste und das Gefecht der Verbundenen Waffen spezialisiert sind.
Seit Beginn der Ereignisse in Syrien 2011 ist dort die Anwesenheit französischer Streitkräfte nachgewiesen. 2012 waren 19 französische Soldaten, die gefangen genommen worden waren, an der libanesischen Grenze dem Generalstabschef der Streitkräfte, Édouard Guillaud, zusammen mit anderen Soldaten, die dem Islamische Emirat von Baba Amr zugeordnet waren, übergeben worden. Der Tod von französischen Soldaten in Begleitung islamistischer Truppen ist an vielen Orten bescheinigt worden, besonders 2013 in Sanayeh. Obwohl Frankreich 2014 al-Qaida gegen Daesch unterstützt hat, wurde 2016 die Anwesenheit französischer Offiziere im Kalifat von mehreren Zeugen bestätigt.
Im November 2014 gab das Pentagon bekannt, in Samarda einen Agenten des französischen Auslandsnachrichtendienst (DGSE), David Drugeon, der innnerhalb der al-Qaida arbeitete, getötet zu haben, während das französische Verteidigungsministerium jede Verbindung zu dem Opfer dementierte. Im Anschluss bestätigte die US-amerikanische Presse, David Drugeon habe Mohamed Mera (Attentat von Toulouse und von Montauban) und die Brüder Kouachi (Attentat gegen Charlie Hebdo ) ausgebildet.
Frankreich hat sich nie offiziell dazu bekannt, Soldaten auf syrischem Boden zu haben, obwohl es zugegeben hat, dort ein gemeinsames Hauptquartier mit verbündeten Spezialkräften zu unterhalten.
Übersetzung
Sabine | 1real |
'Death to blasphemers' increasing as political rallying cry in Pakistan | SWABI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Three police officers stand daily guard at the tomb of Pakistani student Mashal Khan to prevent religious hardliners from fulfilling threats to blow up the grave of the 23-year-old beaten to death over rumors he blasphemed against Islam. His grieving family, now also under police protection, say they have little hope the shocking campus killing will prompt a re-examination of blasphemy laws that carry a death penalty, or action against the mob justice that often erupts in such cases. On Friday, there was more evidence the opposite is happening. A new political party that has made punishing blasphemers its main rallying cry won a surprisingly strong 7.6 percent of the vote in a by-election in Peshawar, 60 km (36 miles) from where Mashal Khan was killed six months ago. Death to blasphemers! Death to blasphemers! was a common chant of supporters of the Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan party at its campaign rallies in the conservative northwestern city. The party s relatively strong showing - and a separate outcry over a proposed change to an election law that outraged the religious right - has elevated blasphemy into a potent political issue in the run-up to a general election in 2018. While Tehrik-e-Labaik (Movement of the Prophet s Followers) is unlikely to break out of single digits in coming votes, its rapid rise, along with another ultra-religious party, could create an additional challenge for the ruling Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The PML-N party s leader, Nawaz Sharif, was ousted as prime minister in July by the Supreme Court, and opposition leader Imran Khan - who spearheaded the legal case that removed him over unreported income - is seeking to press the advantage. In this week s Peshawar by-election, former cricket star Imran s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party swept to a comfortable victory to retain the parliamentary seat, winning 34.8 percent of the vote. Sharif s PML-N had 18.9 percent, narrowly coming in third to the regionally strong Awami National Party that won just 40 more votes. But the gains by the Labaik party - formed just last year - have grabbed attention. Labaik draws most of its support from the Barelvi branch of Sunni Islam, the largest sect in Pakistan that is traditionally considered moderate. Though the party does not publicly talk about its funding, the Barelvis have a network of mosques and madrassa religious schools that collect donations. The party emerged out of a protest movement against the state s execution of Mumtaz Qadri, a bodyguard of the governor of Punjab province who gunned down his boss in 2011 over his call to reform Pakistan s blasphemy laws, among the world s harshest, to prevent abuses. Qadri is considered a hero by the party, and its candidate in Peshawar, Muhammad Shafiq Ameeni, was equally supportive of Mashal Khan s killers, although the student s death was not a main feature at campaign rallies. It was state s responsibility to punish a blasphemer, no two opinions, but when state doesn t do its job and someone does kill, he shouldn t be punished as a murderer, Amini said, referring to the 57 people who face trial over Mashal Khan s death. In Pakistan, allegiance to Islam is the official line of most major parties, but ultra-religious parties have so far remained on the fringes. Labaik is one of two new ultra-religious parties formed in roughly the past year. Together, Labaik and the Milli Muslim League (MML) gained about 11 percent of the vote in last month s by-election in Lahore and 10.4 percent in Peshawar, whereas the established religious parties, such as Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam, combined had 5.3 percent in the 2013 national election. Blasphemy is such an effective wedge issue in Pakistan because there is almost no defense against an accusation. For that reason, say critics, blasphemy laws are often invoked to settle personal scores and to intimidate liberal journalists, lawyers and politicians. Dozens of Pakistanis are sitting on death row after being convicted of insulting Islam s prophet, a specific charge that carries a mandatory death sentence, though no executions have been carried out in recent decades. Now, political parties may be in danger of facing blasphemy accusations themselves. Earlier in October, the PML-N found itself in the middle of a firestorm when it voted through seemingly small changes to the nation s electoral law. The changes, among other things, turned a religious oath in the electoral laws stating that Mohammad was the last prophet of Muslims into a declaration using the words I declare . The alterations prompted accusations of blasphemy from the religious right and the government quickly retreated, terming the change a clerical mistake and apologizing in parliament. Labaik has vowed to hold a mass rally on Nov. 6 to demand the lawmakers responsible be prosecuted for blasphemy. Even before the Labaik party s political debut, politicians found promising swift action against blasphemers an easy way to appeal to conservative voters. In March, then-prime minister Sharif issued a public order to prosecute anyone posting blasphemous content online. The next month, Mashal Khan was accused of online blasphemy and beaten to death by fellow students and religious activists as onlookers filmed the scene. Sharif said he was shocked and saddened by the senseless display of mob justice . At least 67 people have been killed over unproven blasphemy allegations since 1990, according human rights groups. Mashal Khan s father, Iqbal, said his son was the victim of false rumors. The family has received death threats from right-wingers and Mashal s sisters had to drop out of school. The snakes our country nurtured are now biting us, the father said, two days before the Peshawar by-election, standing beside his son s gave strewn with flowers, lace and poetry. Learning of the Labaik party s gains a few days later only made him more pessimistic about the government s ability to stop abuse of blasphemy accusations. I know very well, I m not going to get my son back, he said. But this only adds to my pain. | 0fake |
Trump populism comes to Canada as Conservatives seek leader | OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada’s answer to Donald Trump is a pediatric surgeon and former cabinet minister who, like the U.S. president-elect, is railing against immigration and political elites. Kellie Leitch, 46, has vaulted to the front of the race to lead the opposition Conservative Party by pushing a hard-right “Canadian values” platform that taps into discontent over the sluggish economy and Canada’s acceptance of 37,000 Syrian refugees. Leitch is ahead of about a dozen candidates in the most recent opinion polls on the Conservative leadership election, scheduled to be held on May 27, 2017. The candidate chosen by party members will be their flag bearer for the October 2019 general election, against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. “Elites pretend this isn’t an issue, but Canadians want to talk about it (immigration),” Leitch said in an interview last week from her farmhouse in rural Ontario. She has professed admiration for Trump’s embrace of the ordinary voter, and acknowledged similarities in their agendas. “I am talking about screening immigrants, I am talking about building pipelines, I am talking about making sure Canadians have jobs, so yeah, some of the ideas and language are the same,” said Leitch, an energetic and plain-spoken former labor and women’s affairs minister. Just as Trump did not initially have the backing of mainstream Republicans, Leitch has alienated many in her party establishment who fear that she will struggle to win Canada’s urban, mainly immigrant, voter base in the general election. One of the reasons why the Conservatives had managed to hold power for almost a decade was their successful push into immigrant communities under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had convinced the party that rising immigration made newcomers a must-win constituency. Canada takes in about 300,000 immigrants every year. “She may believe that swimming away from the broad center of the Conservative electoral coalition, the one that wins elections, may make sense. History and demographics argue otherwise,” said Hugh Segal, who has known Leitch for more than 25 years. Segal is a former senator and chief of staff to former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Still, a November poll by Mainstreet/Postmedia showed Leitch led a 12-candidate Conservative race with 19 percent support, and separate data showed she led fundraising as well. The pool of candidates running has since swelled to 14, and more may join, including businessman and reality TV star Kevin O’Leary, who has also drawn comparisons to Trump. “There is absolutely room for a populist surprise in Canada,” said pollster Frank Graves of EKOS Research. “The type of forces driving Brexit and Trump are very much at work in Canada, albeit somewhat more muted.” In a year marked by ultra-conservative movements in Europe and the United States, Leitch’s vault from relative obscurity to Conservative front-runner is in part boosted by media fascination with the parallels between her “Canadian values” and Trump’s “Make America great again.” Like Trump, Leitch has been accused of being racist and targeting Muslims with her proposal to make every immigrant go through a face-to-face interview before letting them in. She denies those charges, and says her screening plan is aimed at ensuring each immigrant is a good fit for Canada. “Even if my colleagues are concerned about the backlash of the media or other elites, that’s okay with me because I’m quite comfortable ... I don’t view it as racist in any way,” said Leitch, a practicing Catholic from the traditionally conservative, oil-rich province of Alberta. Trudeau was elected in October 2015 and promised to accept more Syrian refugees more quickly than the Conservatives, who had been in power for nearly 10 years. But his timeline proved too ambitious, and sparked public criticism that the government was too rushed to adequately screen refugees for security concerns. Amid dissatisfaction with the economy and other issues, Trudeau’s approval rating has fallen 10 percentage points to 55 percent in the last three months, according to a December Angus Reid poll, though he remained more popular than any recent prime minister. While much can change in the next three years before the general election, Graves, the pollster, said a Conservative victory is possible in part because Canada’s economic malaise has sparked the same kind of working class resentment that helped propel Trump to victory. Canada’s economy has been hurt by a two-year slump in oil prices, weak business investment and disappointing non-energy exports. The economy contracted in October and the manufacturing sector logged its biggest decline in nearly three years. “The reason Trump got his momentum is he was the only candidate who was prepared to talk about immigration,” said Martin Collacott, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, a Conservative think-tank, and a former ambassador. “If Kellie Leitch plays it right, and refines her message, she could probably get quite a bit of support.” | 0fake |
Hezbollah’s Candidate Becomes Lebanese President After Sunni Compromise | Hezbollah’s Candidate Becomes Lebanese President After Sunni Compromise Posted on Nov 1, 2016
By Juan Cole / Informed Comment
Lebanon finally has a president, Michel Aoun . In accordance with the country’s national pact, he is a Maronite Christian (a Catholic uniate church), and happens to be a former general. The US and Israel won’t be pleased that he is a strong ally of the Shiite Hizbullah party-militia and a backer of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. (Most Levantine Christians are either neutral or pro-Assad; virtually none support the Syrian rebels, now mainly fundamentalists).
Well, Americans who are eager for their own presidential election to be over with should imagine what it would be like for the contest to go on another 2.5 years before it was resolved. That’s what Lebanese have had to put up with. Of course, it has a parliamentary form of government, so most power is anyway in the hands of the prime minister and the cabinet. But still and all, not being able to elect a president has been a black mark on the parliament. The parliament, which hasn’t been able to supply the Lebanese with water, electricity or garbage collection, and which has twice extended its term of service since 2013, so that it is well past its sell-by date, could hardly take more black marks.
Lebanon has been deeply polarized since 2004, when it was occupied by thousands of Syrian troops who had originally come during the civil war of 1975-1989. Syria liked the then president, and wanted to see his term extended for three years without a new election, which contravened the constitution. Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri angrily resigned over this Syrian pressure, and then, it is likely, the Syrian secret police or a Lebanese client of same, blew Hariri up on 14 February 2005.
Maronite Christians and Sunni Arabs (Hariri was Sunni) then mobilized in vast crowds to demand that Syria withdraw from Lebanon beginning March 14 (which became their name). They were countered by the Shiite Hizbullah, which had demonstrated in favor of Syria on March 8. But in the end Syria couldn’t stay, and withdrew its troops.
In a great irony, one of the demands of March 14 was that Gen. Michel Aoun be allowed to return to Lebanon, which he did. But after a while he left the coalition and allied instead with Hizbullah and Syria.
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Politics in Lebanon is kaleidoscopic.
In the past nearly two and a half years, Hizbullah has been trying to get Aoun elected. But the election of the president is by parliament and it needs a 2/3s majority to prevail. Anti-Hizbullah forces just stayed away from scheduled votes and denied the chamber a quorum. There are 128 members of parliament ordinarily, but one resigned last year and so there are only 127 (since no new parliamentary elections have been held since 2013). On Monday, Aoun fell short of the required 86 votes for a 2/3s majority on the first ballot. After that, the candidate could be elected with a simple majority. The next two votes were voided because they turned up 128 ballots, meaning someone voted twice. On the fourth ballot the box was brought in the center of the parliamentary chamber and a close eye was kept on it, so only 127 votes were cast. Aoun received well over the required majority at that point, with 83 votes. Another 36 protest votes were case blank, and 7 were voided because of unspecified irregularities.
Aoun succeeded because he was not boycotted by the Future Bloc of Saudi-backed Sunni politician Saad Hariri (son of the slain former PM). Hariri had had his own candidate, Sleiman Frangieh, who, however, is just as pro-Syrian as Aoun.
Hariri used to be fabulously wealthy (his father had worked in Saudi Arabia and built the family fortune there), but the rumors are that his wealth is largely gone. He has had trouble paying his employees, from all accounts. Saudi Arabia considers Lebanon to be too pro-Iranian, and cut it off from a $3 bn grant, and Hariri had depended deeply on Saudi backing. He faces opposition in his own party. So some analysts (see the al-Jazeera clip below) think that Hariri has been so weakened that he finally agreed to let Aoun become president.
Aoun’s platform is strengthening the Lebanese army to fight ISIL and al-Qaeda and doing something about the burden of 1.5 million Syrian refugees (Lebanon is only a country of 4 million).
His election is a win for Hizbullah, his long-time ally, but since Hariri joined in backing him, it isn’t really a loss for the Sunni Arabs of Lebanon, who may be making their peace with the likelihood that the al-Assad regime will survive in some form. Lebanon’s Sunnis had strongly supported the Syrian revolution of 2011 and after, and tend to be favorable toward the remnants of the Free Syrian Army. But many of them have to be concerned about the influence among the rebels of an al-Qaeda-linked group, the Levantine Conquest Front, and the continued challenge of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). Both al-Qaeda and Daesh had footholds in Syrian villages along the Lebanese border.
Aoun says his first order of business is to have parliament change the country’s unwieldy electoral law, which distributes seats on a sectarian basis (and on the basis of an outdated set of statistics going back in some cases to the 1930 census).
Lebanon held successful municipal elections last spring. But most Lebanese are not holding their breath that governmental gridlock will end any time soon. And with Depression-style unemployment, the country has other problems than the political ones. TAGS: | 1real |
San Francisco Symphony Replaces Canceled North Carolina Concerts With a Pride Benefit - The New York Times | When the San Francisco Symphony canceled an upcoming pair of concerts in North Carolina to protest the state’s law curbing protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, it suddenly found itself with a hole in its calendar. It found a pointed way to fill it. Michael Tilson Thomas, the orchestra’s music director, is planning “Symphony Pride,” a gala concert to highlight the musical contributions of lesbian and gay composers, with the money it raises going to four nonprofit organizations that provide services for L. G. B. T. people. Given the contributions gay composers have made to American music, from the to Broadway, Mr. Thomas said in an telephone interview that he was surprised to discover that the orchestra had not done a similar concert before. “It just seemed to me to be something that would have happened a number of times,” said Mr. Thomas, who is gay. “But as it turns out, no, as far as we know it hasn’t happened. ” The pride concert, which will be held on April 4 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, will feature music by composers including Lou Harrison, Henry Cowell, Meredith Monk and John Cage. Audra McDonald will perform a selection of songs by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Kander and Ebb she will also narrate Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait. ” In December, the San Francisco Symphony canceled concerts it had planned to give on April 5 and 6 in Chapel Hill, N. C. joining a growing list of artists who have shunned the state, including Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and the violinist Itzhak Perlman. The orchestra did so to protest a law, commonly known as House Bill 2, that nullified local ordinances establishing protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and required people in public buildings to use restrooms that correspond with the gender listed on their birth certificates. Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat who was elected in November, has been trying to persuade the legislature to repeal the measure, which he has called a hindrance to attracting business to the state. “It’s the old story,” Mr. Thomas said. “Once people in society figure out a way of depriving this group of people of their rights, well, it’s very easy to go on and think of some other group they can deprive of their rights next. ” Most of the proceeds of the “Symphony Pride” concert will go to Larkin Street Youth Services, the Transgender Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Trevor Project. Asked if the orchestra might host future pride concerts or galas, Mr. Thomas replied, “As my mother would have said, ‘From your lips to God’s ears. ’” | 0fake |
Trump Takes The Kosher Seal | Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Security Question: What is 4 + 2 ? Please leave these two fields as-is: IMPORTANT! To be able to proceed, you need to solve the following simple math (so we know that you are a human) :-) Doom and Bloom | 1real |
Trump, Bush, Fiorina: Three questions, three answers at second GOP debate | If they’d known the 2016 Republican contest would end up this way – a monument to one billionaire’s ego – CNN and its GOP partners could have switched Wednesday’s presidential debate from the Reagan Library to a more appropriate venue: Hearst Castle, just up the California coast.
After all, William Randolph Hearst and Donald Trump have this much in common. Each ran for president (Hearst, as a Democrat, in 1904). Neither was a fan of those who habla español (Hearst cheerleading for the Spanish-American War). Both plutocrats would have you believe they cared about ordinary folks (Hearst’s slogan: “the people who work for a living”).
Hearst turned out to be a political flop. And Trump? It’ll take a few more GOP debates to see what fate has in store for the man who builds not castles but towers and resorts bearing his name.
There were three threshold questions going into Wednesday night’s festivities:
1. Could the GOP’s troika of non-politicians – Trump, Dr. Ben Carson and business executive Carly Fiorina – show they’re more than a protest vote?
2. Could former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush put forward a passion and wit that his friends insist he possesses, but he seems loath to display?
3. Could Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a hot commodity earlier this summer, breath new life into a campaign that’s stalled in the early-primary states?
The answers to those questions:
1. Trump showed no growth – same old Donald; same vagaries about domestic and foreign policy. Carson spoke only when spoken to, a startling low-key alternative to other attention-starved debaters (maybe it’s part of Carson’s strategy that social media trumps television). We’ll get to Fiorina in a moment.
2. Bush showed improvement over his performance in the Cleveland Fox News debate (granted, a low bar to clear). Two moments to remember: when he stood up to Trump and stood up for his brother (“he kept us safe”); at the end of the debate, when he chose “Eveready” as his Secret Service name (“it’s very high energy, Donald”). That should quell his nervous financial base – for now.
3. Another rough night for Walker, already not popular in California GOP circles for bailing on the state party’s convention. Back to Wisconsin for the governor and figuring what to do in Iowa.
If we can call two occurrences a trend, then here’s a big problem with the GOP debates thus far. Instead of a level playing field for the candidates, imagine a radial spoke with Trump at the center of the scheme. For the non-Donalds, the close-up moments tend to be Trump-related – and in a bad way (Bush, for example, asked to respond to Trump’s comments about his wife’s Mexican heritage). Is this because what Trump has to say is all that compelling, or are the moderators trying to keep the big audiences from clicking their remotes?
And that leads us to Carly Fiorina, the star of the Reagan Library debate.
Five weeks ago, I wrote this column about the former Hewlett-Packard executive after her bravura performance at the first of the two debates in Cleveland. Her performance that night jump-started her campaign, bumped her poll numbers and (with the candidate’s persistent shaming of CNN) landed her a spot in prime time.
On Wednesday in Simi Valley, as in Cleveland, she aced it. No other GOP hopeful could match Fiorina’s depth and clear conciseness on defense strategy (missile defense, strengthen the 6th Fleet).
No one was tougher on Hillary Clinton (who else could get away with repeatedly calling her a liar?). Fiorina had the good sense to handle the Trump face-slap with dignity – saying, in effect, that voters are smart enough to know what the man intended (Trump’s feeble attempt to close out that segment by saying he thought she was attractive? Maybe his flattest moment of the night).
Bonus points for Fiorina: she was the only one of the bunch who didn’t pander to the question about a new face on the $10 bill, spinning it into a call for women to be recognized as equals, not an interest group.
Trump, in fact, had several flat moments – taking a swipe at Rand Paul’s hair; saying he didn’t mean to slur Columba Bush, then refusing to apologize to her in person. Most disturbing of all: the ideas cupboard is still lightly stocked.
Does this mean we’ve reached the end of Trump Fever? One doubts it. The GOP is headed for an uncomfortable stretch during which the party will be at odds with itself over government shutdowns, Planned Parenthood funding and fallout from the Iran deal. That’s fuel for the fire for an anti-politician like Trump (it might also give Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a needed boost).
Besides, Trump is good for ratings, which might be why CNN began the debate with an uncomfortable Donald-related question (as did Fox News in its debate). But CNN took matters a step further: clumping the candidates close together; keeping them on the stage for long stretches between bathroom breaks, preventing candidates from speaking for long stretches – all ways to elevate tension.
Maybe Trump isn’t going away anytime soon. But on Wednesday night, there were signs that the act’s beginning to wear thin.
And Carly Fiorina? On the debate stage, she wears it well.
Bill Whalen is a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where he analyzes California and national politics. He also blogs daily on the 2016 election at www.adayattheracesblog.com. Follow him on Twitter @hooverwhalen. | 0fake |
HILLARY 2016: THE CHAMPION OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE IS SELLING THEM OVERPRICED CHACHKIES | We ve seen the overpriced t-shirts before from other candidates but The Hillary Clinton store takes it to a new level . everyday items made by everyday people ? Gag! Something about this is just so snake oil salesmanish you know, like a grifter who comes into town selling overpriced chachkies The champion of the little people isn t above selling them overpriced T-shirts.Or $65 hoodies, $35 tote bags and $25 onesies, all of which were hawked at a tent set up at Hillary Rodham Clinton s coming-out party on Roosevelt Island. Clinton also wrapped up her big speech with a pitch for cash. I want you to join me in this effort . . . Go to hillaryclinton.com, she said. Those who followed her instructions were met with the message: Just go ahead and donate! with suggested amounts of $5 to the upper limit $2,700. Clicking past pitches for donations on the site takes visitors to the Clinton store, where everyday items made by everyday Americans include a $55 throw pillow, a $35 baseball cap, a $25 pair of pint glasses and a $30 tee proclaiming, Women s Rights are Human Rights (available in women s sizes only).Via: NYP | 1real |
U.S. panel urges probe on whether China weakening U.S. militarily | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. advisory commission warned on Wednesday that China’s growing military might may make it more likely to use force to pursue its interests and called for a government probe into how far outsourcing to China has weakened the U.S. defense industry. The annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission pointed to a growing threat to U.S. national security from Chinese spying, including infiltration of U.S. organizations, and called on Congress to bar Chinese state enterprises from acquiring control of U.S. firms. The release of the report to Congress comes a week after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election. Trump, an outspoken Republican who has vowed to take a tougher line in trade and security dealings with China than President Barack Obama, will take office on Jan. 20. The panel is a bipartisan body set up in 2000 to monitor the national security implications of the U.S. trade and economic relationship with China and to make recommendations to Congress for legislative and administrative action. Its report also called on Congress to back more frequent U.S. Navy freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest trade routes where China’s building of artificial islands with military facilities has raised concerns about future freedom of movement. Beijing and its neighbors have conflicting territorial claims there. The commission said ongoing reforms of the People’s Liberation Army would strengthen Beijing’s hand and noted that China was close to completing its first domestically produced aircraft carrier. “China’s pursuit of expeditionary capabilities, coupled with the aggressive trends that have been displayed in both the East and South China Seas, are compounding existing concerns about China’s rise among U.S. allies and partners in the greater Asia,” the report said. “Given its enhanced strategic lift capability, strengthened employment of special operations forces, increasing capabilities of surface vessels and aircraft, and more frequent and sophisticated experience operating abroad, China may also be more inclined to use force to protect its interests,” it said. The panel said that U.S. responses to the threat from Chinese intelligence gathering had suffered from a lack of a coordinated effort by U.S. intelligence agencies. It said Congress should also direct the U.S. Government Accountability Office to prepare a report “examining the extent to which large-scale outsourcing of manufacturing activities to China is leading to the hollowing out of the U.S. defense industrial base.” “This report should also detail the national security implications of a diminished domestic industrial base (including assessing any impact on U.S. military readiness), compromised U.S. military supply chains, and reduced capability to manufacture state-of-the-art military systems and equipment,” it said. The commission’s report also recommended that Congress call on the U.S. State Department to produce educational materials to alert U.S. citizens overseas and students going to China to the dangers of recruitment efforts by Chinese agents. | 0fake |
Two Muslim Men Shot To Death In Queens, Locals Blame Trump (VIDEO) | Two Muslim men were shot to death in broad daylight while walking in the New York City borough of Queens on Saturday. Both men were dressed in traditional Muslim clothing. One of the men, Ala Uddin Akongi, was a local Imam. He was killed instantly. Akongi s aide was shot and severely wounded. He was taken to the hospital where he died from his injuries. The gunman is still at large. Police are not currently treating the double-homicide as a hate crime, as the gunman s motive for the crime is not yet known.The New York Daily News reports that: Imam Alala Uddin Akongi, the married father of three, was a revered religious leader since his arrival in Queens from Bangladesh less than two years ago. His assistant, 65-year-old Thara Uddin, died about four hours after the attack.The shooter left his victims lying in their own blood just one block from the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in Ozone Park, where the two prayed together only minutes earlier.The imam s nephew said Akongi had no problems with anyone in the neighborhood. Khairul Islam. A local resident, was quoted as saying that: That s not what America is about. We blame Donald Trump for this Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia. Another local, Rahi Majid, said that: I m not sure what kind of an animal would kill that man. He would not hurt a fly. You would watch him come down the street and watch the peace he brings. Violent attacks against Muslims have been sharply increasing in the United States and the world since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and 2015 turned out to have a far higher number of attacks than usual.You can watch a video report on the story, below:You can watch the NYPD s statement on the shooting here:NYPD on slain imam in Queens. pic.twitter.com/gGOaWCeP6y Matthew Chayes (@chayesmatthew) August 13, 2016Featured image from video screenshot via Youtube | 1real |
George Takei Just B*tch-Slapped Trump After He Claimed He Won The Popular Vote (TWEETS) | If you ve been paying attention, you know that Donald Trump is doing everything he can to discredit any recount efforts, which is weird when one considers some tweets he sent out Sunday regarding people who allegedly voted illegally. In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally, Trump tweeted, adding that winning the popular vote which he did not do is so easy that he would have campaigned in 3 or 4 states. In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016It would have been much easier for me to win the so-called popular vote than the Electoral College in that I would only campaign in 3 or 4 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016states instead of the 15 states that I visited. I would have won even more easily and convincingly (but smaller states are forgotten)! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016Sure, he has no evidence that anyone voted illegally, but if he truly believes this, why isn t he embracing the recount efforts that are currently underway? Surely they will prove once and for all that most Americans like him. Or not. Probably not. Definitely not. In any case, George Takei is sick of Trump s shit. Our president must act presidential, each word measured and supported, Takei tweeted in response to this latest in a seemingly endless series of President-elect Asterisk s monumentally stupid statements. You, sir, are a disgrace and an embarrassment. Our president must act presidential, each word measured and supported. You, sir, are a disgrace and an embarrassment. https://t.co/GA9mBMt1Iq George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 27, 2016He s right. If Donald Trump doesn t make you feel embarrassed as an American, there is something wrong with you.Featured image via Getty Images (Matt Hayward/Joe Raedle)/screengrab | 1real |
SHERIFF CLARKE On Obama’s Final Days: “Obama’s Like A Tenant Who’s Been Evicted From A Property, And He’s Gonna Trash The Place On The Way Out The Door” [VIDEO] | 1real | |
Fifa 17 – The special arrivals season playthrough – Vs Chelsea and Coulchester | Support Us Fifa 17 – The special arrivals season playthrough – Vs Chelsea and Coulchester | 1real |
The “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” Do-It-Yourself” Kit | 1real | |
Re: No Matter What Happens, We Won’t Know Who The Next President Will Be Until December 19th | Archives Michael On Television No Matter What Happens, We Won’t Know Who The Next President Will Be Until December 19th 8th, 2016
Most Americans assume that their votes decide who the next president will be, but that is actually not the case. It is that will elect the next president, and they don’t meet until December 19th. And the truth is that all of the members of never meet in one place. Rather, electors gather together in all 50 state capitals on the second Wednesday in December, and it is at that time that the next president and vice president are officially elected. Of course members of have voted according to the will of the people about 99 percent of the time throughout our history, but with how crazy this election has turned out to be you never know what might happen. For example, later on in this article you will see that one elector in Washington state has already publicly stated that he will not cast his vote for Hillary Clinton. If other “faithless electors” emerge, that could potentially change the entire
If you are not familiar with the basics of how works, here is a pretty good summary from Wikipedia …
Even though the aggregate national popular vote is calculated by state officials, media organizations, and the Federal Election Commission , the people only indirectly elect the president, as the national popular vote is not the basis for electing the president or vice president. The President and Vice President of the United States are elected by , which consists of 538 presidential electors from the fifty states and Washington, D.C. . Presidential electors are selected on a state-by-state basis, as determined by the laws of each state. Since the election of 1824 , [35] most states have appointed their electors on a winner-take-all basis, based on the statewide popular vote on Election Day . Maine and Nebraska are the only two current exceptions, as both states use the congressional district method. Although ballots list the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates (who run on a ticket ), voters actually choose electors when they vote for president and vice president. These presidential electors in turn cast electoral votes for those two offices. Electors usually pledge to vote for their party’s nominee, but some “ faithless electors ” have voted for other candidates.
A candidate must receive an absolute majority of electoral votes (currently 270) to win the presidency or the vice presidency. If no candidate receives a majority in the election for president or vice president, that election is determined via a contingency procedure established by the Twelfth Amendment . In such a situation, the House chooses one of the top three presidential electoral vote-winners as the president, while the Senate chooses one of the top two vice presidential electoral vote-winners as vice president.
In an attempt to make sure that their electors vote according to the will of the people, 29 states have passed laws that impose penalties on “faithless electors”. In many cases the punishment consists of a fine, but that may not be enough to keep some electors in line this time around. According to ABC News , one elector that was supposed to be committed to Hillary Clinton has already announced that he is refusing to vote for her despite the fact that he will get hit by a $1,000 fine…
One elector has already said he won’t vote for Clinton, despite a fine. Robert Satiacum, a member of Washington’s Puyallup Tribe, says he believes Clinton is a “criminal” who doesn’t care enough about American Indians and “she’s done nothing but flip back and forth.”
Satiacum faces a $1,000 fine in Washington if he doesn’t vote for Clinton, but he said he doesn’t care.
“She will not get my vote, period,” he told The Associated Press.
And there are 21 states that do not impose penalties on “faithless electors” at all.
So while it is true that over 99 percent of all Electors throughout our history have voted the way that they were supposed to, that may not happen in 2016.
There is also the possibility that the winning candidate could die or become incapacitated between Election Day and December 19th. If that happens, the electors that are supposed to be committed to the winning candidate would be free to vote for someone else. archives.gov …
If a candidate dies or becomes incapacitated between the general election and the meeting of electors, under federal law, the electors pledged to the deceased candidate may vote for the candidate of their choice at the meeting of electors. Individual states may pass laws on the subject, but no federal law proscribes how electors must vote when a candidate dies or becomes incapacitated. In 1872, when Horace Greeley passed away between election day and the meeting of electors, the electors who were slated to vote for Greeley voted for various candidates, including Greeley. The votes cast for Greeley were not counted due to a House resolution passed regarding the matter. See the full Electoral College vote counts for President and Vice President in the 1872 election.
As to a candidate who dies or becomes incapacitated between the meeting of electors and the counting of electoral votes in Congress, the Constitution is silent on whether this candidate meets the definition of “President elect” or “Vice President elect.” If the candidate with a majority of the electoral votes is considered “President elect,” even before the counting of electoral votes in Congress, Section 3 of the 20th Amendment applies. Section 3 of the 20th Amendment states that the Vice President elect will become President if the President elect dies or becomes incapacitated.
If a winning Presidential candidate dies or becomes incapacitated between the counting of electoral votes in Congress and the inauguration, the Vice President elect will become President, according to Section 3 of the 20th Amendment .
Our Constitution really should be amended to deal with a situation where a winning candidate dies between Election Day and vote, but up until now that has not happened.
So the cold, hard reality of the matter is that we will enter a period of great uncertainty between November 8th and December 19th. Even though the American people will have spoken, we will not have a “President-elect” yet, and if something happens to the winning candidate that could throw us into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
And of course if the election results are very tight and a few “faithless electors” throw the election in the opposite direction on December 19th, that could create an enormous constitutional crisis as well.
Following the vote of on December 19th, a joint session of Congress takes place on January 6th of the following year to formally declare the winner …
The Twelfth Amendment mandates that the Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election. [53] The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors. [54] Since the Twentieth Amendment , the newly elected House declares the winner of the election; all elections before 1936 were determined by the outgoing House.
Two weeks later, the winning candidate will be inaugurated on January 20th, and at that point the next president will begin to serve.
It would be a whole lot simpler and more rational to just allow the American people to directly elect the president, and it would probably take a major crisis in order to get the kind of constitutional amendment that is needed to do that.
But for now the system is what it is, and that means that the election is not over until it is over.
So November 8th is definitely not the end of the story, and the craziest chapters of this election season may still be yet to come. | 1real |
Van Jones: Trump’s Paris Pullout ’One of the Dumbest Moves in Politics’ History, Nothing-Burger for Base - Breitbart | On Friday’s “Outfront” on CNN, former Obama administration green jobs czar and network contributor Van Jones said President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord was “one of the dumbest moves in politics” history and a “big ”for his base. Jones said, “Trump has said basically it took 25 years for 190 countries to come together and now he says he wants to start something on his own. Nobody is saying they want to do that. In fact, what has happened is exsactly what people predicted. He had created the biggest power vacuum on the planet by calling that press conference. And now you see China rushing forward, California rushing forward, and what he’s actually done is give a tremendous gift to his opponents. You see the emerging of what you can call a green growth alliance where cities and states and businesses and tribes and governments are coming together, going around the president of the United States. He gave away power. ” He continued, “The one thing nobody’s talked about is that he also threw his own base under the bus. His rustbelt base needs jobs. Had he doubled down, they could be building wind turbines right now, smart cars right now, smart batteries, solar panels. Instead, he gave all that away to Germany. He not only gave his opponents a huge opportunity he gave his base a big nothing burger when they could have had jobs. It was one of the dumbest moves in politics. It’s going to go down in history. Not just bad for the planet, bad for Donald Trump and his voters. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
Obama sanctions Russia for intervening in 2016 election | HONOLULU (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday authorized a series of sanctions against Russia for intervening in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and warned of more action to come. “These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior,” Obama said in a statement. “These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia’s aggressive activities. We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized,” he said. Obama said a report by his administration about Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election would be delivered to Congress in the coming days. | 0fake |
CNN: Trump Pushes Congress to Quickly Fund Wall - Breitbart | Deputies for Donald Trump are pressing Hill Republicans to appropriate funds by April for a quick start to the construction of a border wall, according to CNN. [The quick spending for the wall would be legally authorized by a 2006 law, which allows the federal government to build 700 miles of fencing on the border. “It was not done in the Obama administration, so by funding the authorization that’s already happened a decade ago, we could start the process of meeting Mr. Trump’s campaign pledge to secure the border,” GOP Rep. Luke Messer told CNN. But the Hill appropriations would break a promise, CNN says: The move would break a key campaign promise when Trump repeatedly said he would force Mexico to pay for the construction of the wall along the border. In fact, Trump did not claim he would force Mexico to pay the initial costs of the wall, which likely will reduce the huge financial and civic costs imposed by illegal immigration on American communities. Trump’s demand for quick funding from Congress may help the administration overcome opposition from Democratic and GOP legislators who may try to slow and delay Trump’s border enforcement priorities. So far, senior GOP leaders have promised they will support Trump’s demand for border security, but they have resisted growing public pressure — and his campaign promise — to reduce legal immigration and companies’ use of . “We want President Trump to have all the tools he needs to build the wall,” Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican in the House leadership, told CNN on Thursday. We’re in talks with him on the details of it as they’re still putting together their team. We still got a few months before there’s another funding bill that’s going to move. We’re going to work with him to make sure we can get it done. We want to build a wall. He wants to build a wall. Once the wall’s construction is underway with U. S. funding, Trump will be better positioned to extract some form of payment from Mexico. Illegal immigration costs American taxpayers $113 billion a year, according to a 2010 estimate. The annual legal immigration of workers also costs Americans many billions in welfare, and reduces salaries and wages. The drug trade also imposes huge costs on American communities. | 0fake |
March’s Biggest Hit? A Pregnant Giraffe Named April - The New York Times | She is probably the only internet sensation in Harpursville, N. Y. a hamlet of about 3, 500 people in the Southern Tier region: April, a very pregnant giraffe, whose livestream video has attracted millions of viewers. But April’s instant stardom — the stream, which was posted about three weeks ago by Animal Adventure Park, where she lives, has been viewed nearly 20 million times on YouTube — is raising hopes that the attention will yield an economic boost for the region, a former manufacturing powerhouse that has struggled in recent years. The audience that has tuned in online to watch and wait for April to give birth has translated into phone calls, emails and a surge of interest in the animal park, now closed for the winter, said its owner, Jordan Patch. Mr. Patch said he had received dozens of inquiries about which airport was closest to the park (Greater Binghamton Airport) the nearest hotels (also in Binghamton, about 20 minutes away) and where visitors could camp (Chenango Valley State Park). “It’s phenomenal,” Mr. Patch said, adding that the Southern Tier, a line of counties north of Pennsylvania, had long sought recognition as a great part of New York to visit. Mr. Patch said the idea for the livestream arose from the many emails and calls he was receiving from local residents asking for updates on the pregnancy of April, a reticulated giraffe. The livestream allowed her fans to monitor her progress on their own, theoretically freeing Mr. Patch to attend to other matters. It did not work out that way. “I’m answering a lot more emails now than I was before,” he said. “It’s absolutely overwhelming. We are inundated with messages and emails, media interviews and requests. ” Interest has poured in from Canada, India, Ireland and Scotland. The BBC called the calf’s arrival the most anticipated birth since Prince George was born in 2013. “In fact, the media spotlight is arguably greater,” the publication noted. The livestream was removed from YouTube briefly in February after complaints that it was showcasing nudity and sexually explicit content, Mr. Patch said. Mr. Patch believes the complaint came from people who do not believe in keeping animals in captivity. A spokeswoman for YouTube declined to comment on why the video was taken down but said it was back up in an hour. The animal park — about 20 acres with more than 200 animals, including spotted hyenas, black bears, zebras, wildebeest, and a collection of monkeys and primates — has embraced the attention. A GoFundMe page has been set up and April merchandise is being sold to raise money, and there are plans to hold a naming contest once the calf is born. “We still scoop poop, feed animals and we have a living collection that depends on us that we have to maintain,” Mr. Patch said. “On the park side it’s business as usual. ” The park acquired April, a mother of three, in September 2015, in hopes that she would bear her fourth child with the help of a male giraffe, Oliver. Within a month the two were mating, Mr. Patch said. Forecasting a gestation period of about 15 months, Mr. Patch’s staff predicted that April would give birth in January or February of this year. But they may have calculated the date of conception incorrectly. “Like every other animal in the world, just because you connected doesn’t mean you conceived,” Mr. Patch said. The livestream of April is now being viewed nearly five million times a day. And though some viewers have complained about the long wait, the delay has allowed interest to build, encouraging local officials. “You pray for something like this to happen when you’re a community of our size,” said Jennifer Conway, president and chief executive of the greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, which manages tourism for Broome County. | 0fake |
PORTRAIT OF HILLARY Sets Off Security Dogs…Briefly Shuts Down Art Tent | A portrait of Punk Hillary set off two security dogs at an Art Miami tent we think they know a criminal when they see one. The truth is that the police still don t have an answer of on this mystery. We just want to know who would pay $4,000 for such a horrendous portrait of Crooked Hillary .Via Tampa Bay Times:When two security dogs reacted to a suspicious crate before an Art Miami tent opening early Saturday morning, Miami police officers briefly shut down the area for a few hours to investigate the possible threat.But when they opened up the offending crate, officers found something else instead: a punky portrait of Hillary Clinton in a studded jacket and shaggy pink haircut, in a neon picture frame to match.Fair director Nick Korniloff said that the two dogs reacted to the crate during a pre-show check shortly after 8 a.m., prompting organizers to clear the site. Both the Art Miami tent and a tent for Context, connected by a tunnel, were closed off. The package was then searched and the painting of the former Democratic presidential candidate was found inside.Police officers ran the 16 inch by 20 inch acrylic-on-wood artwork through an X-ray machine, which turned up no suspicious material. We had to err on the side of caution, Korniloff said. Both tents eventually reopened around 10 a.m.After the delay Saturday morning, both paintings were hung side-by-side in the Context tent, in a booth for a gallery called Spoke Art based in both New York and San Francisco.Gallery owner Ken Hashimoto said police still were unsure Saturday morning what about the art had caused the dogs to react.WE THINK THEY KNOW A CRIMINAL WHEN THEY SEE ONE READ MORE: TAMPA BAY | 1real |
null | I know I won't but a ton of stupid Merican in cities might. | 1real |
New contender emerges to become Wall Street's top cop: sources | NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Miller, a white collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, has emerged as a candidate to succeed Preet Bharara as the next Manhattan U.S. attorney, according to people familiar with the matter. Miller, a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in New York, has in recent weeks spoken with officials in the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House as well as members of Congress about the job, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the private discussions. The administration’s interest in Miller for the prestigious post has not been previously reported. Edward McNally, a partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres, has been viewed as the leading candidate among at least four people said to have been under consideration, according to sources and media reports. It is not clear who is now favored to get the position, which requires the President’s nomination and is subject to confirmation by the Senate. Spokespeople for Morgan Lewis, Kasowitz and the Department of Justice declined to comment. The White House did not respond to questions about Miller as a candidate. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is considered one of the most important posts in the U.S. justice system. It entails overseeing more than 200 prosecutors handling high-profile cases ranging from terrorism to wrongdoing on Wall Street, cyber attacks and corruption. In addition to Wall Street cases, whoever is chosen will inherit the office’s investigation into a scandal at Fox News Channel over payments to settle sexual harassment claims and the prosecution of a Turkish gold trader in a politically charged case that has angered Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Miller, 43, was an assistant U.S. attorney under Bharara from 2009 to 2014. During that time he was on a team of prosecutors involved in the office’s crackdown on insider trading and was lead counsel in prosecutions of narcotics-related cases, as well as mail fraud and embezzlement schemes. Bharara’s former deputy Joon Kim is currently acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney. Bharara was fired in March after refusing to resign along with 45 other U.S. attorneys from the Obama administration. The dismissal was a surprise because Bharara was asked by Trump in November to stay on. Bharara had built a strong reputation as Wall Street’s top cop and for going after political corruption, regardless of party. Both Miller’s and McNally’s law firms have ties to U.S. President Donald Trump. Sheri Dillon, a partner at Morgan Lewis, took part in Trump’s January news conference on his plans to avoid conflicts of interest. Kasowitz has handled various cases for Trump for more than a decade and David Friedman, a former name partner at the firm, was confirmed in March as U.S. ambassador to Israel. Miller and McNally are both Republicans. Before his stint under Bharara, Miller served as a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s counterterrorism section and as assistant general counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency. While at the CIA, he assisted in prosecuting Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was found guilty of lying and obstructing a probe into who blew the cover of a CIA officer in a case that fueled debate over the Iraq war. Miller’s former and current colleagues described him as a talented, “by-the-book” lawyer who - if chosen - could be expected to protect the office’s culture of independence. “David Miller would be a fine choice,” said Carrie Cohen, a partner at Morrison Foerster whose time as a prosecutor in Manhattan overlapped with Miller’s. “Appointing someone who previously worked in the office bodes well for bringing the types of cases it has historically brought, without fear or favor.” McNally, 61, has had a wide-ranging career in law and government. He was interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois in late 2005 and 2006 and, during the 1980s, he worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan under Rudolph Giuliani. He also has served as a White House speechwriter under President George H.W. Bush, was general counsel for homeland security and terrorism and spent three years as senior counsel in the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Other names that have cropped up in media reports as contenders for the post are Marc Mukasey, a defense lawyer whose father served as attorney general under Republican President George W. Bush and Edward O’Callaghan, a partner at Clifford Chance. O’Callaghan and Mukasey did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Besides Giuliani, who went on to become New York City Mayor and more recently a Trump adviser, past U.S. Attorneys for Manhattan include James Comey, now FBI director, and Robert Morgenthau, who was the inspiration for the first district attorney on the television series, “Law & Order.” According to his Linkedin profile, Miller has made a foray into television as a consultant for “Billions,” a Showtime TV drama that was reportedly inspired in part by Bharara’s investigation into hedge fund manager Steven Cohen. | 0fake |
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