title stringlengths 1 456 ⌀ | text stringlengths 1 143k ⌀ | label class label 2
classes |
|---|---|---|
WATCH: Louis CK’s EPIC Answer on Trump vs. Hillary | Comments
Conan O’Brien asked comedian Louis CK who he’s choosing between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in this years election, his answer was amazing! He said:
“I’m going to vote for Hillary because… I think she’s great! It’s not a lesser of two evils. I think she’s great, she’s really talented and I think she’s super smart, I would take her over anybody else that would do it. To me it’s really exciting to have the first mother in the White House, it’s not just about the first woman, it’s about the first mom. Because a mother she’s got it! A mother just does IT. She feeds you, and teaches you, she protects you. She takes care of shit.”
“We’ve had 240 years of fathers. Father after father. Bald Father. Fat Father. Every kind of Father. Fathers are ok. I’m a dad, you’re a dad. A GREAT father can give his kids about 40% of their needs. Any mother, even a not even trying mother can give 200%!”
Watch the rest here, because the ending is truly the best part: | 1real |
The Chronovisor - The Vatican Has A Secret Device To Look Into The Future And Past | « Previous - Next » The Chronovisor - The Vatican Has A Secret Device To Look Into The Future And Past
Several paranormal writers and researchers have spoken out about the extraordinary technological capabilities of the Vatican. It has been sensationally alleged that there is an incredible device kept at the heart of the Catholic Church which allows senior members to see future events and events from the past. It has been said that this device is the secret to explaining the continued influence and power of the Church. The Vatican’s attempts to look into the future
It has been said that the device was constructed in the 1950s by a team of twelve scientists led by Father Pellegrino Maria Ernetti. Father Ernetti had worked as a physicist before moving into the papacy. The team was also supported by a number of renowned scientists from outside of the Church including Enrico Fermi and the rocket scientist, Wernher von Braun. Related Articles Chronicles of the Future: The secret diary of someone who saw the future
The machine, which is referred to as the Chronovisor, apparently looks like an oversized cupboard covered with antennas, cathode ray tubes, dials, and levers. While Father Ernetti has refused to reveal a great deal of information about the functioning of the machine he has admitted that it works by processing residual electromagnetic radiations. Using the machine, it has been said that Ernetti viewed one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s speeches, a Greek tragedy called Thyestes and even the crucifixion of Christ .
However, the Chronovisor has not only been used for historical investigation. In the 1970s, the Vatican decided to use the extraordinary technology to create a rudimentary form of time travel. In the 1970s, it is alleged that people from within the Vatican successfully traveled forward in time to 2013 and where they claim that they saw the Supreme Court building submerged underneath 100 feet of water and significant damage to Washington DC. When this event did not transpire, scientists from within the Vatican suggested that the Chronovisor was not an accurate instrument for predicting the future. It has been suggested that it is only capable of showing one potential outcome of current geopolitical events. Alternatively, it may show realities from alternate universes.
Whether this explanation is correct is now impossible to discern as officials within the Vatican have elected to destroy the device, fearing the potential consequences such advanced technology could have for the world. Now it appears that all traces of the machine have been purged from the Vatican archives. Even Father Ernetti made a deathbed recantation of his claims about the capabilities of the machines. However, according to François Brune, it seems likely that he was pressurized into making this retraction by powerful forces within the Catholic Church.
This article (The Chronovisor - The Vatican Has A Secret Device To Look Into The Future And Past ) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with full attribution and a link to the original source on Disclose.tv Related Articles | 1real |
Saudi minister says has 'confirmed information' on plot to kill Hariri | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s Gulf Affairs Minister Thamer al-Sabhan said the personal security detail of Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri, who resigned on Saturday, had confirmed information of a plot to kill him. Speaking in an interview on Future, an Arabic television channel owned by Hariri, he said Hariri was in Riyadh, adding there were security threats to the prime minister and the kingdom is keen on his safety . | 0fake |
White House Proposes New Rules to Steady Insurance Markets Under Health Law - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — The Trump administration proposed new rules on Wednesday to stabilize health insurance markets roiled by efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, by big increases in premiums and by the exodus of major insurers. The move came a day after Humana announced that, starting next year, it would completely withdraw from the public marketplaces created by former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. The proposed rules, backed by insurance companies, would tighten certain enrollment procedures and cut the health law’s open enrollment period in half, in hopes that a smaller but healthier consumer base will put the marketplaces on sounder financial footing and attract more insurance companies in states with limited choices. But part of the market’s problem stems from President Trump’s determination to repeal the health law while the White House and Congress struggle to find a politically acceptable replacement. Even as the Department of Health and Human Services worked to answer insurance company concerns, the Internal Revenue Service and Congress were taking steps that could add uncertainty to the jittery insurance economy. On Capitol Hill, conservatives declared that they are not about to accept a health law replacement that remotely resembles the Affordable Care Act. And the I. R. S. adopted a policy for the coming tax season that could weaken the requirement for people to have insurance. The tax agency said it was reversing one aspect of an Obama administration plan after Mr. Trump, on his first day in office, issued an executive order instructing agencies to reduce burdens imposed by compliance with the Affordable Care Act wherever legally possible. The proposed rules signal the Trump administration’s urgency in trying to keep other insurers from fleeing the market after Humana’s departure. The company said on Tuesday that it was losing money by insuring too many sick people without enough healthy ones enrolling. Humana had already scaled back its participation to 11 states this year, from 19 in 2016. Mark T. Bertolini, the chief executive of Aetna, said Wednesday that the marketplaces were in “a death spiral,” and at a conference sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, he declined to say if his company would participate next year. And Molina Healthcare, one of the few insurers that seemed to be financially successful under the health law, reported on Wednesday that it was losing money in the marketplaces. It threatened to drop out if its concerns about a program requiring the company to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to other insurers were not addressed. Dr. Patrick H. Conway, the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the rules proposed on Wednesday “will help protect Americans enrolled in the individual and small group health insurance markets while future reforms are being debated. ” But Democrats and consumer groups denounced the proposed rules, saying they would make it more difficult for people to enroll and increase costs for some consumers. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee, said the rules sent “a clear message to the American people: Patients are not a priority, and insurance companies are back in charge. ” Under the proposed rules, the annual open enrollment period would be reduced to about six weeks from two months. The shorter time frame would be similar to the open enrollment periods for Medicare and for many health plans. But the administration acknowledged that the shorter period “could lead to a reduction in enrollees, primarily younger and healthier enrollees” who often sign up near the deadline. Other parts of the rules would limit opportunities for people to hold off on buying insurance until they get sick, a phenomenon that has loaded many health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act with more expensive, sick customers than they expected. By manipulating a system that now precludes insurers from rejecting customers with medical conditions, consumers are avoiding the purchase of insurance when they are healthy and rushing in when they need it, insurers say. The rules also would require consumers to provide “supporting documentation” to prove they were eligible to enroll in health plans through HealthCare. gov outside the standard open enrollment season. The administration estimated that 650, 000 people annually could have their enrollment delayed because of the new requirement to verify eligibility. People can sign up after the deadline if they experience certain “life changes” like having a baby, getting married or losing insurance. Insurers have told the government for several years that people who sign up in a special enrollment period use up to 50 percent more services than those who sign up in the regular enrollment season. Insurers and Republican members of Congress welcomed the proposed changes, which will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, giving the public until March 7 to comment. Final rules are likely to be issued in March or April. Insurers must decide by early May what kinds of health plans they will offer in 2018. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and chairman of the Senate health committee, said the proposals were “important first steps to rescue a collapsing Obamacare individual market. ’’ But insurers cautioned that the proposed rules, while helpful, would in no way provide a solution if, in a few weeks, Republicans introduce legislation to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as the requirement for most Americans to have coverage. Christopher W. Hansen, the president of the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society, said the tighter restrictions on special enrollment periods could “cause problems for cancer patients,” delaying treatment and reducing their chances of survival. Changes being made by the I. R. S. could weaken incentives for people to obtain insurance. The tax agency said it would accept and process tax returns even if taxpayers failed to indicate whether they had coverage, qualified for an exemption or were paying the penalty for going without insurance. The individual mandate, requiring most Americans to have insurance, was to be enforced through the tax system. The I. R. S. said the requirement was “still in force until changed by Congress. ” The government can deduct the amount of any penalty from refunds that would otherwise be sent to taxpayers. But it is unclear how it will use this authority. In the rules proposed Wednesday, the Trump administration said that it would generally allow states to determine whether insurance plans had enough doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to serve patients. The hope is that would lure more insurers into the market. Additionally, insurers could refuse to provide new coverage to consumers who failed to pay premiums owed in the previous year. If an insurer terminates coverage for nonpayment of premiums, it could require consumers to pay all premiums owed to that insurer before restarting coverage. And insurers would be allowed to sell health plans covering a smaller share of expected costs. The administration said consumers would have “more coverage options” as a result, but it acknowledged that some consumers could see increases in their deductibles and other costs. | 0fake |
Republican Governor Refuses Medicaid Expansion: ‘People Still Die If They Have Insurance’ | Is it utter contempt, or incredible stupidity? Actually, it s probably both. Republicans are well known for their utter contempt of every other person that exists who doesn t give them tons of money. The latest example of this phenomenon is just impossibly stupid as you will read below.Idaho s Republican governor, Butch Otter, said something so stupid that I think it means he s too stupid to be able to understand just how ridiculous it sounds. The statement came in response to the Republican-controlled state legislature not being able to figure out if it s a good idea to expand Medicaid. It would help 78,000 Idahoans to not be forced to make the choice between medical bill-induced bankruptcy or death. Somehow this is a difficult choice.Governor Otter, re-asserting his dominant position as the alpha-stupid person of the state s right-wing clown show, said this: I see plenty of people that die every day in hospitals and they have insurance. And they re in the hospital. But they still die. Source: Boise State Public RadioOtter then went on to contradict his own Republican Speaker of the State House. The governor said that there would be no special legislative sessions to address the severe coverage gap for the people of Idaho, implying that he doesn t feel its worth considering. The speaker, though, had promised there was a firm commitment by the Idaho House to do something about the severe lack of medical coverage for so many in the state. So, which is it going to be?Conflicting statements aside, what the governor said was just amazingly stupid. He literally is saying that it s pointless to help people afford to see a doctor because of the fact that some people who have seen a doctor at some point still die.Just what the hell can you possibly say to something like this?This is one of the reasons we can t get anything done in this country. Republicans make it completely impossible to have any form of factual conversation about anything because they adopt a position completely devoid of all logic. You can t argue with stupid.Featured image via YouTube screen capture | 1real |
Syrian government forces will march to Raqqa soon, Iranian official says | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces will advance soon to take Raqqa city, which U.S.-backed fighters seized from Islamic State last month, a senior Iranian official said on Friday. Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iran s Supreme Leader, also accused the United States of seeking to divide Syria by stationing its forces east of the Euphrates river. We will witness in the near future the advance of government and popular forces in Syria and east of the Euphrates, and the liberation of Raqqa city, he said in televised comments on a visit to Beirut. Since early in the Syrian war, Iran has provided critical military support to the Damascus government, helping it regain swathes of land from rebels and militants. Last month, U.S.-backed militias declared victory in Raqqa, Islamic State s former headquarters in Syria, after months of fighting with the help of the U.S.-led coalition. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, is also battling Islamic State in eastern Syria with U.S.-led air strikes and special forces. The SDF assault in Deir al-Zor has focused on territory east of the river, which bisects the oil-rich province. The Syrian army, with Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, is waging its own separate offensive against Islamic State there, mostly to the west of the river. The U.S.-led coalition and the Russian military have been holding deconfliction meetings - to prevent clashes between planes and troops - though the two offensives have sometimes come into conflict. The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State has repeatedly said it does not seek to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s military. After capturing Raqqa, the SDF said the people of the majority Arab city would decide their own future within the framework of a decentralized, federal, democratic Syria. The Kurdish-led SDF pledged to protect the frontiers of (Raqqa) province against all external threats and to hand control to a civil council from the city. But last week, Damascus said it deemed Raqqa occupied until the Syrian army took control. With Islamic State near defeat in Syria, rivalry between Damascus and Kurdish-led forces is emerging as a fault line that could draw the United States in more deeply and complicate Russian diplomacy. Syria s main Kurdish groups hope for a new phase of negotiations to shore up their autonomous regions in the north. The Syrian government, however, has asserted in more forceful terms its claim to territory under SDF control including oil fields in the east. | 0fake |
The Washington Post NAILS Hannity For Lying About Trump Rescuing Marines | Sean Hannity told a massive lie to make Donald Trump look like a hero and he got busted for it by real journalists.In May, the Fox News host published an article on his website claiming that the Republican nominee sent his planes to give transportation home to 200 United States Marines who were stranded at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in 1991 after they returned from the Gulf War. Trump even touted the story of his supposed generosity and heroics. The Trump campaign has confirmed to Hannity.com that Mr. Trump did indeed send his plane to make two trips from North Carolina to Miami, Florida to transport over 200 Gulf War Marines back home, Hannity bragged.Not so fast, says the Washington Post.According to WAPO, not only is Trump fibbing about sending HIS plane to help the Marines, he had absolutely nothing to do with helping the troops.As usual, Hannity relied on a source who passed along rumors that Trump sent his plane to pick up the Marines. Cpl. Ryan Stickney told a story that he heard from someone else that Mr. Trump found out about it and sent the airline down to take care of us. WAPO noted, however, that Trump s private plane was certainly not involved because it was the wrong color and only had enough seats for 24 people. Basically, Trump s own plane would have had to make ten trips or he would have to have owned ten planes. And let s face it, Trump s not that rich.In fact, it was a pair of Boeing 727s from Trump s failed airline with a capacity of 130 seats each that came to save the day and those had already been contracted out to the military long before they were needed at Camp Lejeune. It turns out when Trump bought the shuttle (Trump Shuttle) from Eastern Airlines, he made a bad deal, accepting an additional five planes instead of a lower purchase price because the market had turned south, The Post reports. So some of those extra planes were contracted out to the U.S. military to ferry personnel in the United States during Operations Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991. So Trump is taking credit for something he had no part of and Hannity is lying in order to make the candidate he backs look good.WAPO even spoke to Lt. General Vernon Kondra, the man in charge of all airlift operations, and he didn t hesitate to swat down the claim that Trump personally came to the rescue.Kondra said the notion that Trump personally arranged to help the stranded soldiers made little sense. I certainly was not aware of that. It does not sound reasonable that it would happen like that. It would not fit in with how we did business, he told The Fact Checker. I don t even know of how he would have known there was a need. In conclusion, WAPO slammed Hannity for not doing his homework and for reporting rumors as facts and gave Trump the maximum number of Pinocchios.Despite the rumors on base, it s clear that Trump had nothing to do with the dispatch of the jet to the troops stranded at Camp Lejeune. The aircraft that ferried the troops was part of the Trump Shuttle fleet, at a time when Trump barely had control over the airline and was frantically trying to negotiate deals with bankers to prevent the collapse of his business empire.Trump Shuttle had a contract with the military, and this flight home was part of that contract. Simple as that.Sean Hannity needs to prominently correct this article. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, earns Four Pinocchios for confirming a story that is easily debunked.Thus far, Hannity has not thrown a temper tantrum about being outed as liar, but stay tuned. It s likely he may very well do so since he has a problem with facts and the real journalists who report them.Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
A discontented Michigan town: America should have seen Trump coming | ALGONAC, Mich. (Reuters) - Back in April, there were already early signs in this quiet Michigan town of the rural American discontent that helped propel Donald Trump to election victory, even if it was underestimated by the Washington establishment, pollsters and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. On a return visit after Tuesday’s election, Reuters found that many of Algonac’s 4,000 residents were jubilant that Trump had captured the White House, although there were also echoes of what some people said seven months ago: that he is an uncertain, high-stakes gamble. But the bare fact of his success drew only shrugs: Who else did city folks really expect would win? Reuters first visited this town on a bend of the St. Clair River in April after results from the Republican and Democratic parties' primary elections suggested it might be a hotbed of the dissatisfaction with the status quo that would become a dominant force by November. (reut.rs/2fAVJQY) It was a town in a county in a state that all disproportionately turned out in the primaries for the unexpected outsider candidates: the Republican Trump, a rich real-estate developer and television star who had never held political office; and democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont who had emerged as Clinton’s closest rival for the Democratic Party nomination. Trump went on to win his party’s nomination, while Sanders was beaten by Clinton. Even though they came at the problem from very different perspectives, both men had fired up a town that was in a sour mood, striking a chord with their talk of a rigged economic system and their loud disgust at the decline of American manufacturing. Algonac leans Republican, and, on both visits, it took no time at all to find Trump fans, and only a little longer to find Sanders fans. But it took days of asking around to find someone with a warm word for Clinton. On Tuesday, the vote in Algonac was 68 percent for Trump, 27 percent for Clinton. Residents of Algonac can easily list the relatives and neighbors who have struggled with the painful decline of manufacturing or who were forced to move after auto factories with well paid union jobs an hour away in the Detroit area shut down or moved abroad. Older residents recall decades back when Algonac was still a proud self-sufficient manufacturing hub, employing scores of locals at the Chris-Craft factory, which turned out photogenic wooden boats that remain prized by wealthy collectors. Pete Beauregard has turned the factory into a harbor club where the town’s summer visitors stow their boats. “The rural area is going to want to be heard,” he said, delighting in Trump’s victory. Up the road, Jay DeBoyer was in a dive bar he had worked in as a younger man, drinking an afternoon glass of water and dressed in a suit he had worn to deliver St. Clair County’s final elections results to the courthouse in his role as county clerk. “The center of the country is what put Donald Trump in office,” he said. “If the economy’s okay, they shut their mouths and go to work,” he said, describing the sort of people who live in places like Algonac, where 97 percent of residents are white. “But if you start to smack them, when you start telling the guys working in a coal mine in West Virginia, ‘For the good of the country, we’re going to put you out of a job, for the good of cleaner air we’re going to put you out of a job,’ then you start to create a constituency of people that fall into a category of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’” Mentioning Clinton, a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, tended to draw scorn among Algonac residents in April, even among some Democrats who said they viewed her as untrustworthy. Her election loss and emotional concession speech this week appeared not to soften this, with some expressing their ill-feeling in crude terms. “Trump That Bitch,” reads a tall wooden sign alongside the main road into town, evoking a familiar anti-Clinton slogan among Trump fans. Seeing it being photographed, Paul Paulus, 73, wandered out from the building where he was regreasing old tractors to boast he had built it entirely himself. Some of his neighbors, particularly women, had told Reuters on both visits that, even if they disliked Clinton, they despaired at the insults and coarse language that Trump and his fans had reveled in. Paulus described his victory over such qualms. “They had tried to get the township to take it down,” he said, smiling at the memory of the fight as he looked up at his sign. “But the township said it’s not coming down as ‘bitch’ is not a bad word. It’s a female dog.” Jan Evans, a devout 64-year-old Christian who runs a store making slogan t-shirts for the local schools’ sports teams, said she thought there were better ways to talk about people. But she sympathized with the sort of anxiety that moved people to support Trump. She recently learned that her monthly health insurance premiums under Obamacare, a healthcare law that Trump has said he will repeal and replace, would go from $120 to $357. But she worried that Trump’s victory would not help, either; she did not know what his healthcare plans were as he has not given details. She said that when she voted, she filled out down-ballot lines for local and state elections and left the presidential vote until the end to give her more time to think. “Neither one really deserved it,” she said of Clinton and Trump. Her pen hovered for quite a while, but she declined to say where on the ballot it landed. “Everybody, they’re a little bit frightened, they’re hopeful, they know we need change,” she said of Trump’s victory. “But this is the change?” | 0fake |
PORTLAND RIOTS: Is Obama Risking A Dangerous Game Of Violence And Anarchy? [Video] | 1real | |
As Hillary Clinton heads to Iowa, 5 questions she'll face | DES MOINES, Iowa —True-blue Democratic activists at a party fundraising dinner Friday night were positively giddy to have two possible presidential contenders there live and in person — Martin O'Malley and Jim Webb — and their frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, ready to dive into the race.
But they've got plenty of questions on their minds for Clinton, who kicked off her campaign Sunday, and her potential challengers for the Democratic nomination. Here's what they had to say in interviews with The Des Moines Register at the Polk County Democrats' Spring Dinner:
1. WILL CLINTON START TO STAND FOR SOMETHING?
It has been nearly eight years since Clinton campaigned here, and no one knows what to expect, said many of the activists gathered at a labor union hall in Des Moines.
They're wondering: Has she grown into a more conservative Democrat over the years? Or will she take cues from ultra-left heartthrob Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and have the guts to stand tall on progressive issues? Will she have what it takes to capture the aspirations of the people?
"I'm a Hillary supporter, but I haven't closed my mind to say, 'It's Hillary or nobody,'" said Joan Thorup, a Des Moines Beaverdale resident who has already met O'Malley three times. "Things may have changed since the last time I saw her on the campaign trail."
Several union members taking a smoke break outside the United Auto Workers hall where the dinner was held said the last time they heard Clinton speak, at the Harkin Steak Fry in September, she said nothing substantive.
Asked how she can reignite a blaze of passion in Iowa, Earl Agan Jr. answered, "I don't think she can." He's business manager for the Operative Plasterers & Cement Masons' International Association Local No. 21 and Area 561 Iowa. "We've had too many Clintons and Bushes. I won't vote for her."
Agan blanches at news reports about Clinton's family foundation accepting millions of dollars from Middle Eastern countries known for violence against women, sex discrimination and other human rights abuses. "It doesn't play well," he said.
But several of Agan's fellow labor activists said if Clinton gives some home-run speeches detailing how she'd deal with income inequality, she could win allegiance.
Other Iowa Democrats said they're confident that the corporate marketing geniuses who have taken leaves of absence from their high-powered jobs to help the Clinton campaign will know how to refresh an older brand.
2. WHAT WILL THE DIVIDING LINES BE?
What tack can possible Democratic challengers like former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley and former senator Jim Webb of Virginia take to successfully pry Iowa voters away from Clinton?
"I'm not sure how they'll draw distinctions," Patty Judge, a former lieutenant governor, said after listening to both men's speeches. "They're both great guys, and they both have a great story to tell, but how they're going to distinguish themselves, I don't know."
Several Democrats, describing the economy and personal prosperity as base issues, said the dividing line will be ideas for championing the middle class. Some have voiced misgivings about Clinton's corporate connections, said Rick Smith, an Urbandale-based Democrat known as a super-activist.
Other Democrats said they'll be hunting for the contender who's most fierce on climate change.
Another likely litmus test will be the Iraq war and what Clinton says about dealing with the Islamic State and the instability it has spawned. Some anti-war Iowans will never forgive Clinton for her "yes" vote 12 years ago in favor of going to war in Iraq, several activists said.
And the general election may well turn on foreign policy, Smith predicted.
In Webb's Iowa speech Friday night, his refrain was that he took principled stances. It wasn't easy to be one of the earliest to say the Iraq war was wrong, he said. But five months before the vote, he wrote a guest piece for the Washington Post saying the war was going to be a "strategic blunder," he said.
3. WILL ANY LABORERS MIGRATE TO THE GOP?
A moderate GOP presidential candidate who supports construction of projects like the Keystone XL and Bakken pipelines could attract Democratic building trades workers tired of the Big Environmental lobby blocking projects that could put Iowa laborers to work.
Several union members told the Register that the reality is that the United States isn't going to divest from oil, and they believe the country can have pipelines and a clean environment at the same time.
O'Malley opposes the Keystone line and told the Register he didn't know details about the Bakken line, which would cross Iowa, but likely opposes it. Clinton has yet to fully explain her position on the Keystone pipeline. Webb is a proponent of it.
Iowa activists are also worried that Republicans will out-Democrat the Democrats with compelling populist ideas. Republicans will argue that the GOP can best help working people improve their lives.
"I often hear people say there's no difference in the parties. I try not to get mad but say, 'Can we talk'?" Smith told the dinner audience.
4. WILL CLINTON ENGAGE IN A REAL BATTLE WITH FELLOW DEMOCRATS?
Every activist the Register interviewed at the dinner proclaimed joy that O'Malley and Webb appear on the cusp of presidential bids. They also still hope Warren and Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders run, partly to pull Clinton to the left.
"I'm open to them all," said Desmund Adams, a Clive businessman. "I don't think the passion is connected to the candidate. The passion is connected to the politics."
"Folks want to see a Democrat win. That's what pays the bills," said Adams, who has launched an exploratory committee as he considers running for Congress in Iowa's 3rd District.
Several Democrats said they will be watching to see whether Clinton engages in a real battle with her challengers, rather than ignoring them or pussy-footing around them with kind words.
5. WILL CLINTON SHOUT DOWN THE GOP?
Not only do Iowa Democrats want a vigorous Democrat-on-Democrat fight for the caucuses, they want to see their presidential contenders play hard with the GOP, hitting back with satisfying, quotable one-liners.
"We cannot let them get away with these misstatements, these constant misstatements of the facts," Smith said.
Des Moines Democrat Sophia Douglas noted Republicans' furor over Clinton using a private email server as secretary of State, which has thwarted public scrutiny of her messages. After dealing with plenty of "faux scandals" like that, she said, "The Clintons should know better by now."
Douglas said the GOP battle cry over the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attacks that killed four Americans didn't seem to rattle Clinton. "I loved how she was looking at them like, 'I can eat you for breakfast, lunch and dinner,'" Douglas said. "She knows how to throw a punch, and she knows how to take a punch."
When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker goes on his anti-labor rants, the Iowa activists said they want their candidates to stand up to him and explain to Iowans how repugnant that is.
And they're fed up with the GOP contenders dominating the newspaper headlines and airwaves.
"It drives me crazy," said Jerry Tormey, an Urbandale Democrat. "We're not getting equal time. and they're saying such ludicrous stuff. So we need Hillary.
"And we need Martin O'Malley," Tormey added. "And we need Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders." | 0fake |
Turkey to close air space to Northern Iraq, work with Baghdad on border | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Monday it would close its air space to Iraq s semi-autonomous Kurdish region and work to hand control of the main border crossing into the region to the central Iraqi government. The attempt to put the Habur border gate under control of the Iraqi central government signals a change of policy from Ankara, which had previously threatened to close the gate after Kurds in northern Iraq voted for independence. The Habur gate is the main transit point between Turkey and Iraq s semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government. The Sept. 25 referendum, in which Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence, has alarmed Baghdad, Iraq s neighbors and Western powers, all of whom fear further regional conflict could arise from the vote. Ankara, which has been battling a three-decade insurgency in its own mainly Kurdish southeast, fears an independent Kurdish state on its borders would heighten separatist tension at home. Planes going to or coming from the Kurdistan Regional Government will not be able to use Turkish air space, government spokesman Bekir Bozdag told a news conference following a cabinet meeting where the decisions were taken. The cabinet has decided to start work on handing over the control of Habur border gate to the Iraqi government, he added. Turkey tightened controls at the Habur border gate in the immediate aftermath of the referendum and suspended flights to northern Iraq. It has also held joint military exercises with Iraqi troops on the border. However, it has not yet implemented threats to impose wider sanctions on the Kurdish region or to cut off the hundreds of thousands of barrels of Kurdish oil exported daily via Turkey to world markets. The cabinet decision followed a meeting of Turkey s security council, which was chaired by President Tayyip Erdogan and had advised the cabinet to take such steps. The cabinet also took the advice of the security council and extended for another three months the state of emergency which was imposed after the failed coup attempt in July 2016. The extension for a fifth term will ensure that Turkey will have spent nearly one and a half years under emergency rule. | 0fake |
Britain's PM May, husband have no direct offshore investments | LONDON (Reuters) - Neither the British Prime Minister Theresa May nor her husband have any direct offshore investments, her spokesman said on Monday, after leaked documents revealed investments by wealthy individuals across the globe. Neither the prime minister or Mr May have direct offshore investments, their investments have been declared to the cabinet office and are held in a blind trust, he told reporters. The nature of a blind trust is just that, this is a well established mechanism in protecting ministers in their handling of interests. | 0fake |
Unprincipled WaPo Editors Damned Comey Critics - Now Join Them | From the first piece headlined James Comey is damaging our democracy : First, the FBI director, James B. Comey, put himself enthusiastically forward as the arbiter of not only whether to prosecute a criminal case — which is not the job of the FBI — but also best practices in the handling of email and other matters. Now, he has chosen personally to restrike the balance between transparency and fairness , departing from the department’s traditions.
From the second piece by notorious mud-slinger Dana Milbank: I’ve long believed in Comey’s integrity. But if he doesn’t step forward and explain his October Surprise, he may inadvertently wind up interfering in the political process — perhaps even reversing the outcome of a presidential election — in a way that would have made J. Edgar Hoover gape.
And the third strike : FBI Director James B. Comey’s stunning announcement that he has directed investigators to begin reviewing new evidence in the Clinton email investigation was yet another troubling violation of long-standing Justice Department rules or precedent, conduct that raises serious questions about his judgment and ability to serve as the nation’s chief investigative official .
Back to the July 7 editorial: “It appears damage is being done to the rule of law,” Mr. Ryan said. He’s right, but the FBI director isn’t doing the damage. The wreckers are those who cast baseless aspersions on U.S. law enforcement in the service of their partisan goals .
I for one believe that Comey was wrong in July and is right today. He should have pressed for charges against Clinton early on. Using a "secret" private email server for confidential state business is not legal and would have been out of bounds for anyone else. Now possible new evidence was found and must be investigated. It is not Comey's job to ask if the timing of a renewed investigation is convenient for the potential culprit. He also had to inform Congress because he had reasonably promised to do so. (He also needed to save his ass before anyone else in his department talked to the media.)
The so called "election" of a U.S. president is always a sorry show. But this season's version has at least some amusing moments. Seeing the hypocrites at Fred Hyatt's Funny Pages™ squirm is one of them. It makes me smirk. Posted by b on October 30, 2016 at 08:37 AM | Permalink | 1real |
Michelle Obama Opens A Can Of Whoop A** On Trump Without Ever Mentioning His Name | Without even mentioning Donald Trump s name former First Lady Michelle Obama opened a can of whoop ass on his administration Thursday, saying that the White House is currently being led by fear. Mrs Obama was speaking at a tech conference in Utah, and said that her husband s presidency was built on hope, while Trump s is being led with fear, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. It isn t just us first, she said, referring to Trump s America first agenda. We live in a big country and a big world, she said. You can t just want to help someone in a hurricane and not make sure they can go to the doctor when they re sick. At the United Nations, Trump again reiterated his America First policies. As president of the United States, I will always put America first, just like you as the leaders of your countries will always and should always put your countries first, he said.Mrs. Obama said that things are tough right now and suggested that we re being tested but added that she continues to be hopeful that the political climate will improve.An audience member urged the former First Lady to run for president in 2020, but she said, Oh, no! Running for office is nowhere on the radar screen, but continuing in public service is something I will do for the rest of my life. Mrs. Obama isn t alone in her thinking of the current administration.According to a new Gallup poll, the majority of Americans think Trump lacks courage and is generally unprepared as a leader.Only 22 percent of Americans describe Trump as prepared; 25 percent said he s consistent; 28 percent said he s inspiring, and only 32 percent feel that the former reality show star is courageous.In contrast, 66 percent of Americans described President Barack Obama as a strong and decisive leader, and by 72 percent as a man willing to make hard decisions in a Gallup poll released at the same point in his first term, back in 2009.Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images. | 1real |
Trump's refugee ban no solution to problems, Turkey PM says | ANKARA (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s sweeping ban on people seeking refuge in the United States is no solution to problems, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday, adding that Western countries should do more to help ease Turkey’s refugee burden. The new Republican president on Friday put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily barred travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries, although NATO ally Turkey was not among them. When asked by a reporter about Trump’s ban during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Ankara, Yildirim said: “Regional issues cannot be solved by closing the doors on people. We expect the Western world to lighten Turkey’s burden.” “You can build a wall but it’s not a solution. That wall will come down like the Berlin wall,” he said, adding Turkey has spent some $26 billion on sheltering refugees. May, who met with Trump in Washington a day earlier, told the news conference that the United States was responsible for its position on refugees. She has previously said a “special relationship” between the United States and Britain meant the two countries could speak frankly to each other when they disagreed on issues. [S8N1EY00D] Yildirim said little directly about Trump. “We are not very informed about Trump’s decisions. But problems are solved through dealing with the causes,” he said. Turkey, a member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, has been hoping for a reset in its relationship with the Washington under the Trump administration. Ankara was long frustrated by former President Barack Obama’s decision to back a Syrian Kurdish militia. Turkey considers the group a terrorist organization. Turkey is home to the world’s largest refugee population sheltering some 3 million people, most of them Syrians. | 0fake |
Here’s How Lying Trump Supporters Turned A Random Protester Into ‘ISIS’ (TWEETS) | Donald Trump and his supporters are absolutely crazy. There is video that has surfaced from a rally from this weekend with his supporters doing a Hitler-esque salute and telling reporters to go to Auschwitz, and of course we all know about the outbreaks of racist violence. Well, the one that really takes the case is how Trump and his supporters have managed to make a great part of his ignorant base believe that a protester who rushed the stage is somehow connected the terrorist group ISIS.The protester, identified as 22-year-old college student and activist Thomas DiMassimo, is in no way tied to ISIS. However, Trump and his supporters have plowed on with this ridiculous and untrue theory. Trump was questioned about the spreading of this lie on a recent edition of Meet The Press, when the shutting down of his Chicago rally due to violence was addressed. He gave his usual crazy and uninformed answer, and said, All I know is what s on the internet. So, we have a guy who literally is winning the race to be a presidential nominee who lies all the time and admits to believing everything he reads online. That s scary as hell, to say the least. He even tweeted out the fake video created by his lying fans:USSS did an excellent job stopping the maniac running to the stage. He has ties to ISIS. Should be in jail! https://t.co/tkzbHg7wyD?ssr=true Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2016Journalist John Harwood tweeted this ridiculous travesty:Trump response to being told video connecting rally protestor to ISIS is a hoax: "all I know is what's on the Internet" John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) March 13, 2016Of course, we also know that Trump is now threatening protesters with arrests that will ruin their lives if they exercise their First Amendment rights against the hateful environment of his rallies as well. His supporters are also still steadily spreading the lie that DiMassimo is an ISIS supporter, though the FBI has thoroughly debunked that claim. The edited video that they used to promote that dangerous nonsense was actually of the young man at a protest that had nothing to do with ISIS. DiMassimo says of his reasons for rushing Trump on stage and taking the disorderly conduct charge: We must nonviolently shut down every Trump rally. We must stop this violent, foolish man from taking this country and destroying it. Thomas DiMassimo is absolutely correct. Trump is America s Adolf Hiter, and the really scary part is that a lot of people are too blinded by bigotry, hate, and fear to see it.Featured image via video screen capture from Addicting Info archives | 1real |
Complete the Sentence: an Exploration of Orin Langelle’s “If Voting Changed Things…” | Email
To view photojournalist Orin Langelle’s new online photography exhibit If Voting Changed Things is to accept a challenge. Don’t expect a passive viewing of simple, aesthetically pleasing photography or a mindless stroll through apolitical eye candy. The challenge should be apparent from the title of the exhibit: It is a riddle, a fragment, an incomplete sentence awaiting your contribution. To view his display is to realize that there is no single way to finish the statement. Langelle invites you to see the complexity of the world through his lens, but to draw your own conclusions about the meaning of the images.
If Voting Changed Things… people would vote. They don’t. Only 58% of eligible voters did in the last presidential election. Recent polls indicate that the majority of Americans feel disenfranchised by the 2016 presidential election process and candidates. They aren’t proud or hopeful about the outcome, and half of Americans feel helpless. There is no emphasis on issues that matter to them. Election discussion centers around voting for the least worst candidate, which makes civic duty seem like an exercise in self-denial and a concession that our aspirations are not achievable.
Of course, the counter is that if you don’t vote, you’re giving someone else the power to make decisions for you. But that perspective ignores the range of opportunities for civic engagement and citizen action: Protesting, demonstrating, picketing, civil disobedience, rallies, striking, tax resistance, boycotting, sit-ins, sabotage, hacking and DDoS, tree-sitting, resistance, law-breaking, insurrection, rebellion, revolution. Langelle’s images of protest activity outside of national conventions in 1972 and 2004 raise the question of whether voting, and the electoral circus that accompanies it, is about citizen empowerment or an explicit and ceremonial abdication of power by citizens to a status quo elite. Which leads to the observation that…
If Voting Changed Things… they wouldn’t let us do it. Chomsky wrote that “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum—even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of debate.” Photographs from 1972 and 2004 capture moments outside of the system, beyond the framing of the acceptable discourse. Protesters explicitly reject governmental authority through symbols, slogans, caricatures, and artwork. The elephant pulling a coffin through Miami’s city streets conveys a belief that political parties are leading us to death and destruction. The black hoods and orange jump suits communicate that protesters in Boston, relegated to a “Free Speech Zone,” have become the equivalent of Guantanamo Bay detained terrorist suspects. It is not accidental that the media ignores or minimalizes these displays of collective action. In 2016 delegates—the people who were there (never mind viewers at home)—at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions remarked that they were unaware that protests were occurring outside throughout. Langelle deftly illustrates that this is because authorities have increasingly managed and marginalized protest behavior. Which demonstrates that…
If Voting Changed Things … this exhibit wouldn’t be necessary. For many, Langelle’s work will be shocking because it lays bare the evolution of policing and the criminalization of dissent. Photos of the 1972 demonstrations include arson, sabotage, gratuitous nudity, and graffiti that challenges, “Amerika—Love it or Destroy it,” and yet not a single police officer is identifiable among the activists. The activists are in the streets, climbing in trees, occupying fields and grassy lawns, neighborhoods and parks. Contrast this with images of Boston Police in 2004, appearing ready for war in riot gear; armed with Tasers, guns, clubs; a menacing and ubiquitous presence atop scaffolding towers. Because of new draconian laws, protesters have been herded into holding pens of chain link fences and razor wire, surrounded by surveillance cameras, concrete, and girders. The photos depict a world that has changed drastically in thirty years, and which has militarized against, marginalized, and narrowly framed the acceptable boundaries of citizen dissent. Moreover…
If Voting Changed Things … it wouldn’t contrast so distinctly with other forms of citizen action. There is a humor and a vibrancy to “the people” that Langelle juxtaposes brilliantly against the sterile and colorless state apparatus. There is a diversity of skin color, age, gender among the protesters. Their slogans are racy, their clothing is colorful and fun. They wield musical instruments, engage in “guerilla theatre” and share poetry. They engage in property destruction with irony—wearing clogs as they break windows and asking through their graffitti with (gallows) humor if the protest restraint area represents the “Land of the Free?” Their defiance comes in the form of patches, to be worn on the derriere, sold by a young girl in a flowered dress. They paint their faces and wear straw hats.
The stark reality of the state is helmeted, with dark gray protective gear and weapons to enforce compliance. The only colors are the red, white, and blue banners and flags that appear more as a hypocritical challenge to the popular movements than a patriotic display. It is evident that Langelle sees a dour system that is oppressive and lifeless. Voting is a part of that system, a reinforcement of its values and an affirmation of the status quo.
If Voting Changed Things… marginalized groups wouldn’t be in the streets. The electoral process in America has produced and validated a government that has produced institutional racism, militarization within and from our society, mass incarceration, crippling debt, perpetual war, homelessness, a failed health care system, eroding and ineffective education, and environmental exploitation. If Voting Changed Things… we wouldn’t have a 1%. We wouldn’t allow the .01%, 16,000 Americans , to hold as much wealth ($9 trillion) as 80 percent of the nation’s population – some 256,000,000 people – and as much as 75 percent of the entire world’s population. We wouldn’t allow the five largest white landowners in America to own more agricultural land than all of black America. If Voting Changed Things… demographics wouldn’t be used as a basis for electoral strategies. We would vote away the cleavages that exist across generations, racial and cultural groups, religious affiliations. But we don’t, because we can’t.
If Voting Changed Things… would we be where we are? The work of Orin Langelle may offer you a lens from which to answer that question. Or to find your own conclusion to the sentence.
If Voting Changed Things can be viewed online at: If Voting Changed Things: Exhibit Online . It is also on display at the ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery for Contemporary Art in Buffalo, NY until December 2 nd .
Dave Reilly is professor and chair of political science and director of international studies at Niagara University in Lewiston, New York, where he serves as president of the faculty union and moderator for the Black Student Union. | 1real |
Clinton Ad SLAMS Trump For His Disgusting Insults Towards Women And Their Bodies | It s no wonder Trump is losing and losing badly with women. A new poll from McClatchy-Marist shows Clinton leading Trump by 24 points among registered female voters (58 percent to 34 percent), and 23 points among likely female voters. Remember, Mitt Romney lost the female vote by 11 points, and John McCain by 13 points.While the Trump campaign and his supporters scratch their heads as to why he s performing so poorly with the demographic that makes up the majority of the country, the Clinton campaign is reminding them why.A new (and brutal) ad has just been released from the Clinton camp. Asking voters if Trump is the president we want for our daughters? the ad, titled Mirrors, uses the Donald s deplorable, sexist, offensive and objectifying words against women against him. From, I d look her right in that ugly face of hers, to A person who s flat-chested is very hard for them to be a 10, Mirrors showcases women all across the country looking at themselves their bodies, appearance at their phones, wondering if they are worthy, as Trump s disgusting words echo off the screen.When talking about Kim Kardashian, Trump thought it would be a good idea to talk about her famous asset: Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely. So presidential.The most damning part comes at the end, when Howard Stern asks Trump, So you treat women with respect? Trump s answer? No, I can t say that either. This ad is so powerful. Trump, who is well known to be a serial misogynist, sexist, and all around pig, should be ashamed of the way he regards women, their appearances, and livelihoods. No wonder his first wife cited cruel and inhumane treatment as the grounds for their divorce, and called him a chauvinist on TV.Little girls, and indeed little boys, are watching. Their parents have a choice: do we elect a man who has a proven track record of demeaning women he doesn t even know, or do we elect a woman who wants to tap everyone s potential, no matter who they are or what they look like.Watch the powerful ad that showcases just how much of a pig Donald Trump is:Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | 1real |
BREAKING: IT TURNS OUT BOWE AND B.O. HAVE SOMETHING ELSE IN COMMON [Video] | Besides being a muslim terrorist sympathizer, it appears Bowe and B.O. have something else in common Why is this guy (who is still considered active duty ) free to roam around while he awaits his trial? Has everyone forgotten the lives of 6 brave Army members were lost searching for this idiot? Additionally, gave 5 terrorists back in a deal to get this traitor back on U.S. soil, and we release him into the general public? Who s got time for remorse? It s party time for Bowe!Here are the 6 soldiers that were killed looking for Bergdahl: Here are the 5 Taliban terrorists we released in order to obtain Bergdahl:Bowe Bergdahl was detained as part of the raid but was not arrested. He was subsequently delivered to the Army in Oakland by Sheriff s personnel.Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl was caught this week at a northern California pot farm during a raid last weekend. The Politico reported:https://youtu.be/1duRQb1khkEArmy Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was seen at a Northern California marijuana farm during a raid last weekend, where the former captive of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in Afghanistan was reportedly visiting friends.According to the initial report from The Anderson Valley Advertiser, Bergdahl was an unexpected visitor at the Mendocino County farm, which is approximately 120 miles up the coast from San Francisco. He had no connection to the dope grow, according to that report.Authorities from the county sheriff s department confirmed to NBC Bay Area that Bergdahl did not face any charges and was not arrested during the raid.The initial report from the Advertiser said that military officials were notified, quoting county sheriff Tom Allman who said that Bergdahl was not involved in the growing of marijuana and was above politeness, showing his military ID as others in the house were being arrested. Via: Gateway Pundit | 1real |
Megyn Kelly Breaks Silence On Trump; Exposes Threats Over Rape Allegation (VIDEO) | Fox News host Megyn Kelly is all too familiar with Donald Trump s bullying tactics. She d endured several of them during the presidential debates and Trump continued to attack her over Twitter throughout his campaign. Now that Trump has been elected as the next President of the United States, Kelly is breaking her silence and coming forward about the threats she d kept to herself until now.In a USA Today interview published on Tuesday, Kelly spoke about her new memoir, Settle for More in which she talks about how Trump relentlessly harassed her and compromised her job by whining to the executives at Fox News after she dared to ask him about his treatment of women during a primary debate. And when Kelly reported on an older allegation of spousal rape against him, Trump resorted to his teenage tactics and warned he would unleash his Twitter account on her. Seriously.After Kelly reported on the rape allegation made by Trump s ex-wife Ivana, she said Trump personally called her and said: I almost unleashed my beautiful Twitter account on you, and I still may. Spoken like a true psychopath. The unfortunate thing is that Trump actually made good on his threat he spent several months attacking and mocking Kelly after that incident. He was so brutal in his attacks that his supporters were even threatening Kelly. Some even showed up at her house. Kelly said: (Trump) couldn t let it go for so long and there was a time when I wondered if he d ever let it go. The way Trump terrorized and harassed women during his presidential campaign is unprecendented. We ve never seen such unprofessional, blatantly misogynistic behavior from a presidential candidate before. Unfortunately, America s children are learning from it, and he s set an awful example. You can watch Kelly discuss the devastating impact of Trump s bullying of women below:WATCH: @MegynKelly discusses her daughter being scared of Donald Trump. https://t.co/bPNFXDCSr0 https://t.co/eo21Xss5dZ Good Morning America (@GMA) November 15, 2016Featured image via Mike Coppola and Drew Angerer / Getty Images | 1real |
An umbrella for shade: Rohingya refugee boy works to support family | COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Twelve-year-old Nur Hafes would rather be in school or playing football with friends at home in Myanmar. Instead, he waits by the road in Palong Khali refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, looking for visitors who might give him money for his family. Sole breadwinner for seven younger siblings and his mother since they arrived at the camp in Cox s Bazar two months ago, Nur spends his days watching for Muslim clerics who distribute money collected at mosques for the refugees. Opening a brown umbrella, Nur offers to shade the visitors from the blazing sun, which can bring in a little extra cash for food and supplies. (Click reut.rs/2AtT2uy for photo essay on Nur Hafes and his family.) Sometimes I get 50 or 100 taka and some days I come back empty-handed, Nur said, holding up a 50-taka ($0.60) note he received from a donor. Nur and his family are among the more than 600,000 Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh since August to escape a counter-insurgency operation by the Myanmar military after attacks on security posts by Rohingya militants. United Nations officials have described the military s actions in Myanmar s northern Rakhine state as ethnic cleansing , an accusation the Southeast Asian nation denies. The family left their home in Tharay Kone Yoe Dan village in Rakhine s Maungdaw township when the violence started. The Myanmar army burnt the houses with the people inside, said Nur s mother, Rabia Khatun. I saw many people with gunshot wounds and heard the crackle of houses burning. She gathered a few belongings - a blanket to protect her children from rain, identity papers and a couple of old photos - and the family fled to her parents village, Zaw Mat Tat, south of Maungdaw. The next day, the army showed up there, too. Her husband became upset and suddenly left. Rabia has not seen him since. Left with eight children, six of them younger than 10, she kept going. That evening, the family took a three-hour boat journey to Shah Porir Dwip, on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River. Now the family relies on Nur for support. He was a huge help in Myanmar, reselling produce in their village market that his father had bought wholesale. Nur and his mother said they hope he can eventually do something similar in Bangladesh, although Nur also still talks about school and football. With Nur s family huddled under a tarpaulin tent and his mother needing help to feed his siblings, the youngest two of whom suffer malnourishment, a normal child s life is not in his immediate future. I know he is young, but he understands his responsibilities. He doesn t behave like a child anymore, Nur s mother said. | 0fake |
WATCH: Fox Host Jeanine Pirro Just DESTROYED Karl Rove And GOP Chair Reince Priebus | The folks at Fox News are getting crazier on a minute by minute basis and although it s quite sad that this organization calls itself a news outlet, it s nonetheless quite entertaining watching Fox eat its own.In the latest of her rants, so-called judge and Donald Trump supporter Jeanine Pirro is ticked off at her cohort at Fox, nut-job extraordinaire Karl Rove and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus for their recent statements about a contested Republican convention and Donald Trump.Watch video here:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qINfdIhqzXM]Pirro usually reserves her outrageous statements for Democrats or Muslims, but this time she unleashed her fury on Rove and Priebus for their perceived anti-Trump stances. In response to Rove s suggestion that it would be acceptable for the Republicans to take the nomination away from Trump, even if he goes into the convention with the most delegates but not enough to secure the nomination, unhinged the Fox contributor. She said: The Republican establishment, desperate to stop Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, is still working to nullify our vote. If ever there were a time to not take away our vote, it s now at a time when more people than ever are invested and voting. You want to keep your status quo the one where one hand washes the other, and we pay for the soap. Pirro also reacted to Rove s remarks where he said a fresh face may be needed to beat Clinton in November. Pirro said: You want a fresh face? Aren t you the guy who kept bringing us one Bush after another? Continuing on her tangent, Pirro also attacked RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, calling him out for refusing to tell Sean Hannity whether the presidential nominee for Republicans will be one of the top vote-getters Trump or Cruz. Pirro said: Whatever happened to your vote matters? Not only is that infuriating, it is un-American. Watching all of these so-called conservatives and Republicans implode before our very eyes comes at just the right time as we head into the elections for November because it helps clarify that the GOP of today should not be in charge of this country. Featured image via video screenshot. | 1real |
Trump Freaks Out: Thousands Of Latino Voters Prove Election Is Rigged | The apparent increase among Latino voters in key early voting states seems to be triggering something of a public meltdown with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. At a campaign event in Nevada, the former reality TV star began spinning a new conspiracy theory.As Donald Trump swept his campaign across the country in a final sprint, he claimed that long lines in Clark County, Nevada, were evidence of electoral wrongdoing. It s being reported that certain key Democratic polling locations in Clark County were kept open for hours and hours beyond closing time to bus and bring Democratic voters in, Trump said. Folks, it s a rigged system. It s a rigged system. And we re going to beat it, he said.Trump wasn t alone. Michael McDonald, the state chairman of the Nevada Republican Party made an explicitly racist complaint about the surge in early voters at the same event noting, They kept a poll open until 10 o clock at night so a certain group could vote. Early indicators show that Republicans are in big trouble in the key swing state of Nevada. Clark County, home to Las Vegas and the state s largest population, is also over 30% Latino. The area has been targeted by the Clinton campaign for early voting, as well as by the political operation of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).A strong performance there has led to a situation where the Trump ticket is behind the eight ball before Election Day has even begun. Nevada political analyst Jon Ralston has already said that there is only a tiny sliver of hope for Trump, which may explain his bluster and frustration at the campaign event.Trump launched his campaign with an attack on Latinos, calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists and promising to build a wall along the southern border to keep Latinos out. It appears that they heard him loud and clear and are hell-bent on destroying his campaign.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
China defends its right to 'ready slingshot' in South China Sea | BEIJING (Reuters) - China defended its right on Thursday to put “necessary military installations” on artificial islands in the South China Sea, after a U.S. think-tank said Beijing appeared to have deployed weapons such as anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said its findings, made available first to Reuters on Wednesday, were based on analysis of satellite images of islands in the strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries. The United States has previously criticized what it called China’s militarization of its maritime outposts, and stressed the need for freedom of navigation by conducting periodic air and naval patrols near them that have angered Beijing. China’s Defence Ministry said in a statement on its website on Thursday that the construction it had carried out on islands and reefs in the disputed Spratlys chain was “mainly for civilian use”. “As for necessary military installations, they are mainly for defence and self-protection and are legitimate and lawful,” it said. “If someone makes a show of force at your front door, would you not ready your slingshot?” The United States has conducted four freedom of navigation patrols, seen as a challenge to China’s extensive territorial claims in the South China Sea, in the past year or so, most recently in October. AMTI said satellite images of islands China has built in the Spratlys showed what appeared to be anti-aircraft guns and what were likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) to protect against cruise missile strikes. Other images showed towers that likely contained targeting radar, it said. Beijing regards the islands as its sovereign territory, and has often said it is entitled to limited and necessary defensive installations. AMTI director Greg Poling said the think-tank had spent months trying to figure out the purposes of the structures shown in the images. “This is the first time that we’re confident in saying they are anti-aircraft and CIWS emplacements. We did not know that they had systems this big and this advanced there,” he told Reuters. “This is militarization. The Chinese can argue that it’s only for defensive purposes, but if you are building giant anti-aircraft gun and CIWS emplacements, it means that you are prepping for a future conflict.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing that he “did not understand” the situation referred to in the AMTI report. “The Nansha islands are China’s inherent territory. China’s building of facilities and necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own territory is completely normal,” he said, using China’s name for the Spratlys. “If China’s building of normal facilities and deploying necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own islands is considered militarization, then what is the sailing of fleets into the South China Sea?” The Philippines, one of several countries with competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, said it was still verifying the report. “But if true it is a big concern for us and the international community who use the South China Sea lanes for trade,” said Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana. “It would mean that the Chinese are militarising the area which is not good.” Lorenzana’s comments were made during a visit to Singapore with President Rodrigo Duterte, where he also said the United States had agreed to sell the Philippine Navy two advanced radar systems to boost its surveillance capability in the South China Sea. Australia too voiced concerns about China’s actions in the disputed waterway. “The building of artificial islands and the possible militarization is creating an environment of tension and mistrust between claimants and other regional states,” said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in a statement. “We urge claimants to refrain from coercive behavior and unilateral actions designed to change the status quo in disputed areas.” U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea, while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China’s assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama. The State Department said it would not comment on intelligence matters, but spokesman John Kirby added: “We consistently call on China as well as other claimants to commit to peacefully managing and resolving disputes, to refrain from further land reclamation and construction of new facilities and the militarization of disputed features.” | 0fake |
IS ISIS IN DANGER OF BEING WIPED OUT BY A FLESH EATING VIRUS? | Try to fix that with a dull knife boys The self-declared Islamic State capital is currently in the throes of an epidemic and a number of members of the Islamic State have reportedly been infected.Efforts are reportedly being made to prevent the further spread of the Leishmaniasis skin disease, which is highly virulent, in the IS stronghold.Although organizations began work to combat the disease, this became impossible after IS is claimed to have closed down their city offices.They also confiscated equipment and arrested officers trying to help fight the condition which can be deadly.The first case of the disease, which is caused by protozoan parasites, was discovered in September 2013.By the middle of 2014 500 people had been affected, according to a network of activists Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently. The disease is spread by flies that are attracted by the rubble and rubbish of war.It can sometimes be fatal and can also cause significant damage to parts of the body it affects.More than 2,500 cases have been recorded in the north-east of Raqqa.IS is said to have a residual force of between 3,000 to 5,000 in the city, as they attempt to strengthen their so-called caliphate.This comes after World Health Organisation reported that Syria s health system had collapsed, meaning that disease was spreading rapidly through a country already plagued by violence.Via: Express UK | 1real |
Hillary Ally Offers Strategy On How To Make New York Times Write Positive Coverage | Trump To Host Facebook Live Nightly Show Until Election Day
But her opinion of Sulzberger wasn’t very high: “But Arthur is a pretty big wuss so he’s not going to do a lot more than that. Hillary would have to be the one to call.”
Tanden believed that Clinton also needed to get more minority and women reporters in her corner to keep her campaign afloat. Advertisement - story continues below
“He also thinks the brown and women pundits can shame the times and others on social media,” she concluded. “So cultivating Joan Walsh, Yglesias, Allen, perry bacon, Greg Sargent, to defend her is helpful. They can be emboldened. Fwiw – I pushed pir to do this a yr ago.”
I’m not positive it’s acceptable to refer to pundits (or anyone) as “brown” anymore.
But maybe it worked. After all, schulzburger the wuss did endorse Clinton last month. | 1real |
WOW! LOU DOBBS BLASTS #FakePresident OBAMA: “Spent 8 Years Undermining Core American Values”… Now Doing His Best To “Undercut President Trump” By Pretending To Still Be President [VIDEO] | Lou Dobbs went off on #FakePresident Barack Obama during his Dobb s Commentary segment. Fox News host Lou Dobbs is furious that the FORMER President, Barack Obama, aka Barry Soetoro has been either following President Trump around the world to meet with world leaders or meeting with world leaders just prior to scheduled meetings with President Trump.Dobbs suggested to his viewers that Obama s meetings with various world leaders appear to all be organized. Why is the media ignoring Barack Obama s bizarre meetings with South Korea s new President Moon Jae-in, Britian s Prime Minister Theresa May, Canada s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel? Would they have ignored former President George W. Bush if he embarked on a world tour to undercut or undermine Barack Obama only months after he was elected as our President?Perhaps someone needs to tell the FORMER President that in America, there s only ONE President at a time. Barry had his chance, and he failed miserably. It s time for him to step aside and let Donald Trump clean up the mess. It s hard enough to have to follow in the footsteps of America s worst President, the least Barry can do now for the sake of our nation, is to get out of his way Subversive Obama- Former President now doing his worst to undercut @POTUS and the will of the American people. #MAGA #TrumpTrain #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/GeQZMQLKDT Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) July 6, 2017 | 1real |
Britain's Boris Johnson tells EU: put a tiger in the tank of Brexit talks | LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Thursday it was time to ramp up the pace of Brexit talks after the European Union s chief negotiator said they were deadlocked over money. We re looking for some urgency from our friends and partners, time to put a bit of a tiger in the tank and get this thing done, he told reporters. We think ... that we ve made some very helpful suggestions to get the great ship moving down the slipway and on to the open seas, that is what we all want to see. We see no reason why that should not take place. Brexit talks are deadlocked over money, the EU s Michel Barnier said on Thursday as he ruled out discussions on future trade being launched by EU leaders next week but spoke of possible progress by December. The prime minister has made it very, very clear that we are going to get a deal, we are working for a great deal, but obviously we must make the right preparations as and when it is necessary for a no-deal scenario, Johnson said. Of course that s the responsible thing to do and that s what we are going to do. | 0fake |
Iraqi PM presses case for Baghdad to receive Kurdistan oil revenue | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday pressed the case for the central government in Baghdad to receive the income from Kurdistan s oilfields, saying the money would be used to pay Kurdish civil servants. Seeking to control the oil income from the autonomous Kurdish region is central to Abadi s strategy after the Kurdish referendum on independence held on Monday. The Kurdistan Regional Government said it plans to use the vote, which delivered an overwhelming yes for independence, as a mandate to seek the peaceful secession of the Kurdish region through talks with Abadi s government. Abadi, who rejects any talks with the Kurds on independence, wrote in a tweet: Federal government control of oil revenues is in order to pay KR (Kurdistan Region) employee salaries in full. No other statement was forthcoming from the government. It was not clear whether Baghdad had had any success in taking control of oil income from the Kurdish region in the north of Iraq, which for years has kept oil revenue and paid Kurdish civil servants. Abadi on Thursday said Turkey had told Iraq it would deal only with the Iraqi government on crude oil exports. Iraqi Kurdish crude oil is exported to world markets through a pipeline to Turkey s Mediterranean coast. Baghdad imposed a ban on direct international flights to the Kurdish region on Friday. | 0fake |
Kremlin says too early to react to Trump nuclear cuts offer | MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday it was too early to comment on a proposal by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to do a deal with Moscow on nuclear arms cuts in exchange for Washington lifting sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. Trump told The Times of London in an interview published online on Sunday that he would propose offering to end sanctions imposed on Russia for its annexation of Crimea in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in a conference call with reporters, said Russia would wait until Trump took office before commenting on any proposed deals. There were currently no talks on possible nuclear arms cuts with the United States and Russia did not intend to raise the sanctions issue itself in negotiations with foreign countries, said Peskov. He also dismissed media reports of a planned meeting between Putin and Trump. “All these statements about preliminary agreements about a meeting do not correspond to reality,” said Peskov. “Right now there are no agreements, drafts or any preparations underway for a meeting because the president and Mr Trump have not discussed this in any way.” Asked if the Kremlin agreed with Trump’s view that NATO is obsolete, something the U.S. president-elect repeated in the same interview, Peskov pointed out that the Kremlin had long been making the same point. | 0fake |
Pakistan PM tells Tillerson it has 'produced results' in fighting terrorism | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday reconfirmed Pakistan s commitment to the war on terror during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, saying his country had produced results fighting the region s Islamist militants. Relations between uneasy allies United States and Pakistan have frayed in recent years, with Washington accusing Islamabad of turning a blind eye or helping Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network militants who stage attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies doing so. President Donald Trump has vowed to get tough with Pakistan unless it changed its behavior, with U.S. officials threatening further reductions in aid and mooting targeted sanctions against Pakistani officials. Tillerson, on a tour of Asia and the Middle East, arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday afternoon and met with Abbasi, as well as Pakistan s powerful army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. We are committed in the war against terror, , Abbasi told Tillerson, as the two men sat facing each other on a long table. We have produced results. And we are looking forward to moving ahead with the U.S. and building a tremendous relationship, added Abbasi, who sat next to Bajwa. During a short part of the meeting available to media, Tillerson told the Pakistani delegation that the nuclear-armed nation was an important U.S. ally in the region. (Pakistan is) important regionally to our joint goals of providing peace and security to the region and providing opportunity for greater economic relationship as well, Tillerson said. As well as support for the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, another sticking point in the relationship has been growing closeness by the United States to India, Pakistan s arch-foe and neighbor. Tillerson said last week that the Trump administration wanted to dramatically deepen cooperation with New Delhi, partly to offset Chinese influence in Asia. Trump has also called for greater Indian role in Afghanistan. But this deepening in ties has alarmed Pakistan, which has rejected a greater political role for India for Afghanistan as a red line for Islamabad. | 0fake |
PURE CLASS: ISRAEL’S Netanyahu Shares Powerful Christmas Message Of The Bond Between Christians And Jews [VIDEO] | 1real | |
Clinton Campaign Headquarters the morning after the election | 1real | |
WATCH: Christian Right Founder Condemns Them For Supporting Nazis And Sexual Misconduct | The religious right movement is not the same movement anymore.And Frank Schaeffer would know. After all, he helped his father create it.The movement originally began as an anti-abortion organization specifically designed to bring angry Christians to the voting booth. But has since become something even more insidious.In recent years, conservative Christians have become one giant hate group that supports Nazism and rape while working to strip women, minorities and gay people of their constitutional rights.During an appearance on AM Joy on Saturday, Schaeffer roundly condemned the Christian Right and the Republican Party in a smack down of Biblical proportion taking particular aim at Roy Moore and Donald Trump, whom conservatives are supporting despite several sexual abuse and assault allegations against them and Trump s own refusal to condemn Nazis. Back in the day when my dad and me were going around the country establishing the religious right based on our anti-abortion stand, one I ve moved a long way from since, the whole idea was bringing America back to some moral stand, Schaeffer began. Think about the Republican Party now, Schaeffer continued. Throw some words out that are associated with them: mass shootings, Milo, Trump, Moore, Bannon, rape, child molesting, neo-Nazis, white supremacy. What the hell is going on with the Republican Party? I m not shocked by Donald Trump, he s an ass. I m not shocked by Roy Moore. he s a loud mouth, a gun-toting fool. What I m shocked by is the complicity. We are in a political climate that s built on one lie after another. I just want to say for the record, by the way, I believe a woman who stands up, which is very difficult to do and comes forward with a story like that. She was a Trump voter. She s a Republican. I believe her. I just want to say that as a father and grandfather and someone that respects women that I believe her. Here s the video via YouTube.Conservative Christians and Republicans should pay attention to what Schaeffer says. Clearly, the movement he helped create has turned into a monster that is far removed from the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. That is evidenced by the fact that conservatives are perverting the Bible to defend Moore s predatory behavior.It s time for the American people to wake up and put an end to the Christian Right. They have never represented the values of the American people and they work every day to undermine our nation in an effort to turn it into their perverted and hateful version of a Christian utopia. Their insanity must be stopped.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
ICRC, jurists join rebuke of Trump torture remarks, 'black site' reports | GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) have joined global human rights groups in their rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump for condoning torture. Trump told ABC television in an interview on Wednesday that he thought waterboarding “worked” as an intelligence-gathering tool but would defer to his cabinet on whether to use it in interrogations. Two U.S. officials said also on Wednesday that Trump may order a review that could lead to bringing back a CIA program for holding terrorism suspects in secret overseas “black site” prisons. “These practices of torturing detainees and ‘disappearing’ them in black sites are serious crimes which must never be repeated,” Ian Seiderman, Legal and Policy Director of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said in a statement. ICRC spokesman Ewan Watson said: “For any political leader to advocate torture is very worrying indeed. Experience has shown that using torture doesn’t work, it only grows hatred.” Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reprieve, a British-based group which represented scores of Guantanamo detainees, have also issued rebukes. Seiderman told Reuters TV that Trump, as commander-in-chief of U.S. forces, “has already signaled to those in the field that may have a propensity to engage in such practice that it is OK with the leader. “He is also sending a very unfortunate signal to other states and other countries, when the leader of the U.S says it is OK, then maybe they will think it is OK”. According to a document published in the Washington Post, Trump may be planning to revoke Obama directives including one guaranteeing ICRC access to all detainees in U.S. custody. The Trump administration has denied it came from the White House. ICRC officials have visited security detainees in U.S. custody in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo in Cuba. Their findings on conditions and treatment are shared only with detaining authorities. In 2004, a leaked ICRC report detailed U.S. mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, including keeping them naked for days in darkness. It said the mistreatment “in some cases was tantamount to torture”. An international scandal ensued, fueled by explicit photos taken by U.S. soldiers who had abused prisoners. The ICRC has had a long and constructive dialogue with U.S. authorities on issues linked to detention and armed conflict, ICRC spokeswoman Anna Nelson said. “We plan to continue visiting detainees held by the U.S. authorities, monitoring their treatment and conditions of detention, and engaging confidentially with the authorities on these important issues,” she said. Torture is forbidden under U.S. and international law, and by pacts such as the U.N. Convention against Torture and the Geneva Conventions. | 0fake |
LIVE FEED: PRESIDENT TRUMP IN TENNESSEE: Nashville Rally and Speech On Healthcare [Video] | 1real | |
Wealthy Donors Dangle a Huge Payday in Front of U.S. Wrestlers - The New York Times | RIO DE JANEIRO — For most athletes at the Olympics, a gold, silver or bronze medal is the ultimate payoff for years of training and sacrifice. But when the American wrestlers take to the mats at the Rio Games, they stand to head home with a lot of green, too. One wrestler could earn half a million dollars for winning a second consecutive gold medal, and his teammates could also take home substantial earnings for finishing first, second or third, making their potential paydays the envy of athletes not named Phelps or Bolt. The bonuses would come courtesy of a fraternity of former wrestlers, several of whom happen to have made it big on Wall Street. Together, they have endowed wrestling to a degree that other Olympic sports can only dream about. In other words, they are rich and obsessed. Chief among them are Michael E. Novogratz, a private equity tycoon who wrestled at Princeton, and David Barry, who wrestled at Columbia and is the president of Ironstate Development Company. They aim to give a lift to a sport that was nearly booted from the Olympic program several years ago. “Wrestlers have to cobble enough to live on to train for four or eight years, so winning $250, 000 is nice,” Novogratz said. “They can use it as nest eggs. ” Jordan Burroughs received $250, 000 for winning a freestyle wrestling gold medal in the ( ) division at the London Games four years ago and would receive $500, 000 for successfully defending his title at the Rio Games. He used his London payoff to buy a house and pay for his wedding, among other things. “It’s great any time you get an extra incentive, in addition to being the strongest man on the planet,” said Burroughs, who has received $415, 000 for his Olympic and world championship medals since 2011. “There’s not a lot of money floating around in the sport, so it’s key for us to compete at our best in the Olympic Games. ” The rewards offset the lack of endorsement deals and American government funding for the Olympians. While the Olympics once celebrated amateurism, nowadays the biggest names at the Games — like Michael Phelps in swimming, the Jamaican Usain Bolt in track and the American Kerri Walsh Jennings in beach volleyball — are able to secure endorsement deals after winning Olympic gold. At least in the United States, wrestling has few household names, and wrestlers, like athletes in other Olympic sports, must make do with far less. Participation in collegiate wrestling has been in decline for years, and those wrestlers interested in staying in the sport have had little choice but to join World Wrestling Entertainment, which is orchestrated, or mixed martial arts, where the action is far from the ancient grappling at wrestling’s roots. In 2009, Novogratz and Barry an existing but modest fund, which they rebranded the Living the Dream Medal Fund. It helps wrestlers continue wrestling and motivates others to keep trying. They then recruited former wrestlers with deep pockets, including Andrew F. Barth, a portfolio manager at Capital Group who wrestled at Columbia James G. Dinan, the founder and chief executive of York Capital Management, who has sons who wrestle and David H McCormick, who wrestled at West Point and is the president of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. So deep is their passion for the sport that they sprinkle discussion of financial trades with wrestling jargon like “takedown” and “pin. ” “You have to find someone who’s wealthy and loves wrestling,” Novogratz said. “They’re out there, but you have to find them. It’s like being an ancient Spartan, doing the right thing. ” So far, the fund has dispersed $1. 225 million to male and female wrestlers who have won medals at the Olympics and the world championships, a windfall on top of the prize money from the United States Olympic Committee — which pays $25, 000 to gold medalists, $15, 000 to silver medalists and $10, 000 to bronze medalists — and from U. S. A. Wrestling, which pays smaller amounts. The Living the Dream fund poured in tens of thousands of dollars more, bringing the total prize money to $250, 000 for an Olympic gold, $50, 000 for a silver and $25, 000 for a bronze. “We wanted something that would be an number,” Barry, an League wrestler at Columbia, said. “We wanted to celebrate the spirit of competition. ” The gold mine dwarfs what federations in other Olympic sports pay American medalists. Rowers who win medals, for instance, receive awards only from the United States Olympic Committee, while U. S. A. Shooting divided $198, 000 among the four American medalists in London. Backed by sponsors like Nike, BMW and Visa, U. S. A. Track Field expects to pay its Olympians a total of about $3 million this year. Each of the 129 athletes who made it to Rio was paid $10, 000, and another $1. 3 million in bonuses was paid based on where they finished at the Olympic trials. Medalists in Rio will earn even more. On an individual basis, though, Burroughs and Jake Varner hit the jackpot at the London Games four years ago: They each received $250, 000 for winning a gold medal. Two other wrestlers won $25, 000 for placing third. (The awards for medals at the world championships are far smaller.) Novogratz was so excited about Burroughs’s and Varner’s wins in 2012 that he offered to double the prize if either wrestler won another gold medal in Rio. Varner, who won in London at (211 pounds) did not qualify for these Olympics, but on Aug. 18, Burroughs has a chance to earn $500, 000 for one day’s work. As Burroughs tells it, after he graduated from the University of Nebraska, he was scraping by until he won gold at the world championships in 2011 and then struck gold in London. Winning a second Olympic gold, in Rio, would help him continue wrestling through 2020, when the Summer Games will be in Tokyo. Burroughs tries to remain modest about his achievements, but he said it was only fair that he and other wrestlers were rewarded given their long workouts, the injuries they face and the other sacrifices they make. “I consider myself one of the best athletes in the world, and there’s a little bit of anger and jealousy to athletes in other sports who perhaps put in a fraction of the work as wrestlers,” he said. The spoils can be even more lavish in countries like Russia, where wrestling medalists can receive apartments, cars and national acclaim. But even they have taken note of the prize money available to Americans, said Elena Pirozhkova, who as a child moved to the United States from Russia and will wrestle in Rio for the United States. “Everybody talks about it, and I can speak Russian, and they’re always asking what the U. S. pays,” she said. Pirozhkova, who will compete at (139 pounds) and Burroughs said they occasionally thought about the potential payday and how the money could change their lives, but they have to block out those thoughts once their matches begin. “Wrestling is such a tricky sport,” said Pirozhkova, who has used her $65, 000 from the fund to help her mother buy a house. “Everything has to be fast. Your life can change in a couple of hours. ” | 0fake |
Elton John Cancels Shows after Contracting ’Potentially Deadly’ Infection | Elton John has cancelled all of his upcoming concerts in Las Vegas after contracting a rare and “potentially deadly” infection while touring in South America. [A representative for John said Monday that the “Rocket Man” would no longer be able to honor the April and May dates of his Las Vegas residency, “The Million Dollar Piano,” due to an extended stay in a hospital recovering from the rare illness. “During a recent, successful tour of South America, Elton contracted a harmful and unusual bacterial infection,” the singer’s representative said in a statement obtained by People magazine. “During his return flight home from Santiago, Chile, he became violently ill. Upon returning to the U. K. Elton’s doctors admitted him to hospital, where he underwent immediate treatment to remove the infection. ” “After spending two nights in intensive care followed by an extended stay in hospital, Elton was released from hospital on Saturday, April 22 and is now comfortably resting at home per doctor’s advice,” the statement added. “Infections of this nature are rare and potentially deadly. Thankfully, Elton’s medical team identified this quickly and treated it successfully. ” The representative said John is expected to make a “full and complete recovery. ” The pianist’s scheduled performance on May 6 in Bakersfield, California has also been cancelled. “I am so fortunate to have the most incredible and loyal fans and apologise for disappointing them,” John said in his own statement. “I am extremely grateful to the medical team for their excellence in looking after me so well. ” John is expected to return to the stage June 3 with a concert in Twickenham, England. It was not immediately clear whether the cancelled concerts would be rescheduled. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0fake |
MOOCH CRIES VICTIM (Again) In Speech To Argentinian Girls: “men would whistle at me as I walked down the street, as if my body were their property” [VIDEO] | Ahhh Mooch The perpetual victim. Never mind that 319 million Americans have been victims of her husband s radical, self-serving policies for the past 7 1/2 years. And never mind that the Obama clan just spent their vacation palling around with communist dictator, Raul Castro, who is currently committing some of the worst human right violations against women in the history of Cuba. Never mind that there are Christian and Yazidi women being raped and sold into a lifetime of sex slavery. Our First Lady would like to use herself as an example of what a victim of sexism looks like. How very appropriate First Lady Michelle Obama said she faced harassment from men who used to whistle at her when she was a young woman. As I got older, I found that men would whistle at me as I walked down the street, as if my body were their property, as if I were an object to be commented on instead of a full human being with thoughts and feelings of my own, Obama said in a speech in Argentina on Wednesday. I began to realize that the hopes I had for myself were in conflict with the messages I was receiving from people around me, she said at the Let Girls Learn initiative.Via: Daily Mail | 1real |
More Than 1 Million ‘Check In’ On Facebook To Support The Standing Rock Sioux | Videos More Than 1 Million ‘Check In’ On Facebook To Support The Standing Rock Sioux Most of the "visitors" are not actually at the protest camp in North Dakota, where the tribe and its supporters are gathering to oppose the pipeline. The planned route crosses the Missouri River just upstream of the reservation, and the tribe says it could contaminate drinking water and harm sacred lands. | November 2, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! A protesters is arrested by police near the Dakota Access pipeline at a construction site in North Dakota, Oct. 22, 2016. (Photo: YouTube)
More than 1 million people have “checked in” on Facebook to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation page , in a show of support for the tribe that has been rallying against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Most of the “visitors” are not actually at the protest camp in North Dakota, where the tribe and its supporters are gathering to oppose the pipeline. The planned route crosses the Missouri River just upstream of the reservation, and the tribe says it could contaminate drinking water and harm sacred lands. Facebook allows people to check in to places even if they are not physically present.
A broadly circulated rumor on social media over the weekend suggested that local police were using Facebook check-ins to track activists protesting the pipeline.
Activists then called for supporters of the protest to check-in en masse, in a move designed to confuse police.
“Water Protectors are calling on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock, ND to overwhelm and confuse them,” one widely shared post said, according to The Guardian .
It’s not clear who started the rumor, but the response was immediate. “The number of check-ins at the Standing Rock reservation page went from 140,000 to more than 870,000 by Monday afternoon,” the Guardian reports. Now, that number stands at more than 1.5 million.
However, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook post Monday afternoon that it “does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location” and called the report “absolutely false.”
The demonstration of solidarity from these Facebook users comes days after “police and National Guard troops arrested more than 140 protesters near a construction site,” Inside Energy’s Amy Sisk reported on All Things Considered . On Friday, there were reports of police using pepper spray against protesters they removed from land owned by the pipeline company, as we reported .
Here’s more from our previous coverage:
“Members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their supporters have been protesting the pipeline since it was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the summer . They are specifically trying to block the portion that is slated to run under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.”
“Earlier this month, the Standing Rock Sioux lost a bid in federal court to halt construction, paving the way for work on the $3.8 billion pipeline to continue, as we’ve reported . Almost immediately afterward, three U.S. agencies ‘announced a halt to work in one area significant to the tribe.'” | 1real |
With ‘Brexit,’ Washington’s Direct Line to the Continent Suddenly Frays - The New York Times | American officials struggling to reimagine their strategy after Britain’s decision to divorce the European Union say the most urgent challenge will be to find a way to replace their most reliable, sympathetic partner in the hallways of European capitals. It will not be easy. No country shares Washington’s worldview quite the way Britain does, they say it has long been the United States’ most willing security ally, most effective intelligence partner and greatest enthusiast of the mantras that have been a keystone of America’s internationalist approach. And few nations were as willing to put a thumb as firmly on the scales of European debates in ways that benefit the United States. Now that quiet diplomatic leverage — including moderating European trade demands and nations to contribute more to NATO military missions — is suddenly diminished. Even if Britain eventually regains its influence on the Continent, a big if, it will be deeply distracted for years. Moreover, the loss of Britain’s strong voice in Europe comes at a particularly bad moment: just as the United States and its allies are debating how to handle a revanchist Russia and reinvigorate NATO, hurry along an trade pact that has been languishing, and work through a diplomatic settlement in Syria that could relieve the migrant crisis in Europe. “When Vladimir Putin is cheering,” David Miliband, the former British foreign minister, said on “Meet the Press” Sunday, “then you know you have got a problem in the international system. ” And then, of course, there is the threat of the Islamic State, which has found in Europe a new battlefield, one in which the development and sharing of intelligence, seamlessly, is critical. Addressing those challenges was daunting enough, American officials say, in the face of the tenor of the American presidential campaign, particularly Donald J. Trump’s questioning of whether alliances are worth it if allies are not willing to pay more for American protection. But now, with Britain’s exit, called Brexit, whatever passed for plans — a Europe that gradually takes a greater role in its region and the Middle East as America devotes more attention to Asia — are imperiled. Like the Arab Spring, the result of Britain’s referendum took Washington by surprise. As late as early last week there was something between a hope and an assumption that the vote would “go the other way,” as Secretary of State John Kerry said in Rome on Sunday. As a result, there was no serious planning for the work of reimagining the European relationship, a task that will face President Obama for the next six months, and his successor for years to come. Mr. Kerry, usually the optimist, sounded almost downbeat as he arrived in Italy. He did not make any references to a “shriveled Europe,” as one of his top aides did in a conversation over the weekend. But he made clear that European allies are also going to have to rethink their relationships with the United States. “ of the nations in the E. U. are members of NATO,” he said less than a minute into his meeting with his Italian counterpart, Paolo Gentiloni. He warned that the most critical step was to “work together to provide as much continuity, as much stability, as much certainty as possible” to “protect the values and interests that we share in common. ” The problem is that no one shares those values and interests quite the way the British do, a belief that no American diplomat would utter in public for fear of offending other members of the European Union. But British officials who have been at the center of that daily interaction say the concern goes both ways. “I worry that we will have less clout on our own: In the future we won’t have as much influence on Europe’s response to Putin’s transgressions, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, or the E. U.’s foreign and security policy,” said Peter Westmacott, one of Britain’s most experienced diplomats and, until January, ambassador to the United States. “And we will be less able to ensure it is U. S. . ” He added that without Britain’s direct involvement, Europe was likely to be less enthusiastic about free trade. Still, Mr. Westmacott noted that “we should be able to cooperate much as in the past on counterterrorism, on intelligence, on cyber and on military issues,” assuming that “our economy does not shrink too much as markets, investors and the Scots take stock of Thursday’s outcome. ” All of which raises the question: If Britain can no longer play that indispensable role for Washington, surely there is another country that can? Perhaps, but it is hard to think of who. It is not a role Germany has shown a real willingness to step into. Its War II ethos still holds it back from committing combat forces, and it is not a member of the inner circle of intelligence sharing called the “Five Eyes,” a club made up of the Anglo victors of World War II. (The other three are Canada, Australia and New Zealand.) A lengthy negotiation to improve the intelligence relationship last year ended with only modest changes. For all of its cooperation with the United States on a variety of issues, Germany still harbors deep suspicions of the United States that were fueled by the revelations from Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, including the American surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone conversations. And American officials were shocked recently when Germany’s foreign minister, Steinmeier, warned that recent NATO exercises to deter Russia from thinking about destabilizing Poland and the Baltic members of the military alliance amounted to “ and warmongering. ” France has also not been as natural a fit with the United States as Britain. While relations have changed drastically since the George W. Bush administration, Paris often goes its own way, including its recent strategy for restarting talks. The Italians, for their part, are too broke, the Netherlands is too small, and Poland does not yet have the clout of older NATO members. Moreover, there is a question of leadership. British leaders were the Europeans most closely aligned with the American negotiating position in the major trade and investment deal being hashed out between the United States and some of its largest trading partners. When Mr. Obama visited London in April, he warned voters that Britain would be excluded from the deal if it left the bloc and would “go to the end of the queue” for its own bilateral trade agreement. But the United States would also lose Britain’s voice in moderating Europe’s trade demands. The intelligence challenges created by Brexit are more subtle. Bilateral cooperation will continue as tightly or more tightly than ever to try to prevent terrorism. But the hope that Britain could improve intelligence sharing among the major European powers — something that is sorely needed — is most likely dashed even as terrorism threats have risen. Over a lunch near the White House a few weeks ago, a senior intelligence official said the obvious solution to intelligence gaps was a far more powerful, intelligence service. It is hard to imagine a new intelligence institution, however, without and GCHQ — the British equivalents of the C. I. A. and the N. S. A. — playing a lead role. And given Britain’s likely preoccupation with the Brexit fallout, it is far from clear how high a priority a new intelligence organization, or a rethinking of NATO strategy, would be for Britain. There is a counterargument that Britain could emerge as a stronger security partner for the United States, that it will value its role in NATO and other institutions all the more. Adm. James Stavridis, who served as the 16th supreme allied commander in Europe and is the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, presented that view in an article in Foreign Policy. He said that a “new British government will presumably be a very motivated NATO partner. ” “Now that it has chosen to become a relatively marginal economic player on the international stage,” he continued, “it will have to look for new ways to demonstrate value in its partnership with the United States if it hopes to maintain anything like the ‘special relationship’ it has become accustomed to (and dependent on). ” But even if Britain seeks a more active role in NATO, it may not be accepted as one by its other members Britain has often been referred to as an American puppet — with other states noting that former Prime Minister Tony Blair followed Mr. Bush into Iraq with few questions. There is nothing permanent about political unions and alliances, of course, and some argue that Britain’s departure from the European Union is not necessarily a calamity for Washington. As James F. Jeffrey, a former American diplomat in the Middle East, and Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute wrote last week, “The U. S. and U. K. were bosom allies for 30 years before Britain joined the E. U. ” But part of what made the special relationship special in an era of global diplomacy was Britain’s ability to act for Washington with the Europeans, to bridge the gap. Now, as one White House official put it, the bridge has been wiped out by a surge that few predicted. | 0fake |
“Your little brother is not the ultimate authority”: How Jeb Bush cheated America & helped deliver the presidency to W | Anyone old enough to remember that election night, which was 15 years ago today, will remember that the outcome of the electoral college depended on that one state. And what came next is exactly what anyone would have predicted would happen when an election is so close it triggers a recount in a state in which the levers of power and the electoral machinery are run by one of the candidates’ brothers. That candidate was the one who became president.
The road George W. and Jeb Bush took to get there was complicated and difficult, and in the end had to be decided by a couple of Supreme Court justices who happened to have been appointed by the Bush brothers’ dad when he was president. (Who says that dynasties have no clout in American politics?) But Jeb proved himself to be particularly adept at getting the job done without getting his hands dirty.
The media played an interesting part as well. The networks first called the election for Gore based on exit polls which later turned out to correctly predict for whom the people actually voted that day. Fox News, with one of it’s earliest political coups, was the first to call it for Bush. A consultant by the name of John Ellis, who later admitted to being on the phone with Jeb and George W. Bush throughout the evening, is the fellow who made that initial call for Fox. If his name sounds familiar it’s because John Ellis, is also Jeb Bush’s name; “Jeb” stands for John Ellis Bush. Ellis is George W. and Jeb’s first cousin.
The Bush campaign knew that once they had established their “lead” they needed to keep it. The key was to be able to declare victory and then portray the Gore campaign as being sore losers who refused to accept defeat. On election night, they almost succeeded in getting Gore to capitulate without a fight. He was on the way to make his concession speech when his team told him to hold up, that the margin was ridiculously tight and that a recount would be mandated by state law. The phone call that happened next was a very telling exchange:
“Circumstances have changed dramatically since I first called you,” Gore told Bush. “The state of Florida is too close to call.” “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Bush asked. “Let me make sure I understand. You’re calling back to retract your concession?” “You don’t have to be snippy about it,” said Gore. Bush responded that the networks had already called the result and that the numbers were correct—his brother Jeb had told him. “Your little brother,” Gore replied, “is not the ultimate authority on this.”
The networks had called the election based on his cousin’s decision and his cousin’s decision had been based on his brother’s numbers. How tidy that was. Gore refused to accept the Bush family’s assurances and went on to contest the outcome.
Jeb may not have been the ultimate authority but he had plenty of influence on the state’s electoral machinery, particularly the Secretary of State Katherine Harris who was in charge of the recount and who also happened to be one of George W. Bush’s campaign co-chairs. According to Jeffrey Toobin’s book “Too Close to Call” an angry Jeb awakened Harris at three in the morning to chastise her for allowing the assistant director of elections to go on TV and discuss Florida election laws, which required recounts and a standard of determining the intent of the voter. Jeb had this foolish bureaucrat yanked from the air immediately and he assigned her a political advisor by the name of Mac Stipanovich, a close political associate and master of Florida politics and electoral machinery.
Stipanovich gave interviews years later in which he admitted that he kept a very low profile throughout:
“I would arrive in the morning through the garage and come up on the elevators and come in through the cabinet-office door, which is downstairs, and then in the evening when I left, you know, sometimes it’d be late, depending on what was going on, I would go the same way. I would go down the elevators and out through the garage and be driven—driven to my car from the garage, just because there were a lot of people out front on the main floor, and, at least in this small pond, knowledge of my presence would have been provocative, because I have a political background.”
Jeb’s fingerprints were never directly on the machinations of the recount but he was always just a degree of separation from it. It was his state and he knew the buttons to instruct others to push. And there were plenty of them that made the difference in small ways and large.
Was Jeb helping with all the various schemes and scams? Who knows? There were a lot of crafty GOP election lawyers all over the state making sure that votes were not counted. But he was almost certainly involved in this, as reported by The Village Voice: James Baker, his tongue darting in the air, first raised the prospect of an end run around the courts by the Florida legislature hours after the state’s supreme court ruled unanimously on November 22 to allow manual recounts in three counties. His leathery face broke out in a smug smile when he said it. After the Florida court ruled a second time in favor of a recount on December 8, Baker invoked the legislature again. Having prophesied the legislative coup, however, Baker was quick to say the Bush team had nothing to do with it. “I haven’t talked to anybody in the Florida Legislature that I know is in the Florida Legislature,” he said, adding he’d never even met House Speaker Tom Feeney. Assuming that’s true, Baker was practically announcing that Brother Jeb had put the legislature in play. With Feeney’s majority approving the Bush slate the very day that the U.S. Supreme Court weighed its final decision, the First Family of Texas and Florida was making it clear that it was even prepared to circumvent a 7 to 2 Republican court if it didn’t like the ultimate decision. That may have been the single most important move by Jeb Bush during the whole recount period. By getting the legislature to provide the final backstop the media began the drumbeat that there was little point in further pursuing the recount. With the Florida Republicans prepared to use the arcane rules of the legislature to install George W. Bush no matter what the vote tally ultimately showed, the press now assumed Bush would be president. This was when they began to pat America on the back for being so civilized in the way it handles such disputes (there were no tanks in the streets!) and to tell Democrats to “get over it.” There were many PR and legal maneuvers the Bush team used throughout the recount. Some were probably illegal, some were legal but clearly undemocratic, others were just sneaky and manipulative. They weren’t as sexy as the famous Brooks Brothers riot in which a group of what were later revealed to be GOP staffers stormed the Miami Dade recount and demanded they “shut it down.” (This “riot” was directed from a van down the street by none other than famous Republican dirty trickster Roger Stone.) But the Bush strategy of holding on to their lead by any means necessary was successful. When the conservatives on the Supreme Court finally stopped the count, Bush was still ahead by 535 votes and he was declared the winner. Bush family consigliere James Baker (and current Jeb Bush advisor) was in control of the spin from the beginning and the Republicans had election lawyers flown in from all over the country within hours. They were prepared to fight it all the way. But there can be no doubt that if it hadn’t been for the ineptitude of the Jeb Bush electoral machinery, with its butterfly ballots and illegal voter purges, the vote would never have been as close as it was. It’s also a fact that Al Gore won the national popular vote and that more Floridians intended to vote for him than George W. Bush. It’s unlikely that anyone will ever be able to prove beyond a doubt that Jeb Bush put his thumb on the scale to ensure that his brother never lost his lead or that behind the scenes he worked the levers of power in the state that brought W’s dubious victory. But let’s not kid ourselves. George W Bush was very, very lucky that his recount happened in Florida. Brother Jeb’s a fix it guy from way back. Watch how “Jeb Can Fix It” is backfiring: | 0fake |
Mexico Says They Will Close Their Border if Trump is Elected
| The Mexican government announced they will close their borders to Americans in the event that Donald Trump is elected President of the United States. President Enrique Pea Nieto announced the country fears Americans will flood their country and bring violence and chaos to their streets.
Americans have a well-documented history of violence and we must act to keep our country safe, President Nieto stated. Many Americans have expressed a desire to relocate to our country in the event that Donald Trump becomes President. We can not have Mexico flooded with criminals and rapists. They are a violent nation and they wont send us their best. We must be vigilant and keep a close eye on what could possibly transpire.
The unprecedented move would mark a dynamic change in how Mexico handles foreigners. Many Mexicans fear the move could adversely affect trade relations with the United States. Mexico is currently the United States 3rd largest goods trading partner with $507 billion in total (going both directions) goods trade during 2013. Goods exports totaled $226 billion; Goods imports totaled $280 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Mexico was $54 billion in 2013. | 1real |
Germany Releases Memo Showing How Destructive A ‘President Trump’ Would Be To Our Economy | Donald Trump s economic proposals would be disastrous for the economy. That s the conclusion that Germany s economic ministry concluded in an internal memo, first reported on by the German magazine Der Spiegel.According to the memo, if Trump were to be elected president of the United States his economic policies would lead to a shrinking gross domestic product, fewer jobs and higher unemployment. What s more, the memo says that Trump s economic policies violate both U.S. and international law. In a more blunt statement, the memo says that Trump s proposals are not feasible and that they do not provide the foundation for a realistic economic policy. So to summarize, Germany s economics ministry has officially concluded that Trump s proposals would destroy the U.S. economy and are completely divorced from reality. That s an incredibly strong condemnation from one of the United States strongest allies, and one of the most powerful economies in the world, and according to analysis by the Tax Policy Center, Trump s proposals would reduce income revenue by $2.6 and $5.9 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. In September, the economics research firm Oxford Economics found that if elected president, Trump s economic proposals would cause the economy to be $1 trillion dollars smaller in the year 2021 than experts are currently expecting.It isn t particularly easy for economists to create a complete prediction of what the future would look like after a Trump administration. There are many factors, such as his policies regarding immigration, that contribute to the various possible outcomes. Obviously, it s not yet clear what policies he will put into place when. That being said, it appears more and more to be a matter of finding out exactly just how bad these possible outcomes are than a matter of whether they re bad or not a Trump presidency would unquestionably be an economic disaster for the United States.Featured image from Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1real |
Israeli Trump supporters open campaign office in West Bank | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli supporters of U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have opened a campaign office in the occupied West Bank, saying they hope to get as many American expatriates as possible to cast an absentee ballot for their candidate. There are about 300,000 U.S. citizens in Israel, according to the non-profit group Republican Overseas Israel, which opened the office in the Jewish settlement Karnei Shomron on Monday. It estimates as many as 80,000 of them live in the West Bank, though it is not clear how many are eligible voters. The initiative has no official ties to the Trump campaign or the Republican National Committee (RNC), and the Israeli group opened the West Bank office, and a handful of others throughout Israel, with its own funds, said co-chairman Marc Zell. “We are however in close coordination with the Trump campaign and RNC to the extent that it’s feasible,” said Zell. A poll of Jewish Israelis conducted in May found 40 percent of respondents backed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and 31 percent supported Trump. The poll did not specify whether those who responded were eligible to vote in the U.S. election. Trump has accused the administration of President Barack Obama of lacklustre support for Israel. He has also rejected last year’s nuclear deal with Iran, Israel’s arch-foe, and has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. The new office in the West Bank is not staffed full-time but will be used as a “logistical jumping-off point” for outreach activity, Zell said. Israel captured the West Bank, land where Palestinians hope to establish an independent state, in the 1967 Middle East war. Most countries view Israeli settlements built there as illegal and an obstacle for peace. Israel rejects this, saying Jews have been living in the territory for thousands of years. The U.S. presidential election takes place on Nov. 8. | 0fake |
BREAKING: BLM RIOTERS Have Surrounded St. Louis Mayor’s Home…They’re Breaking Out Her Windows [VIDEO] | Is karma knocking on her door?Mayor Lyda Krewson released a statement following the verdict saying, I am appalled at what happened to Anthony Lamar Smith. Krewson s comment drew a rebuke from Neil Bruntrager, Stockley s lawyer. How do you promote all those things by creating distrust in a system that clearly worked under these circumstances? Bruntrager said. It is irresponsible and a disservice to the community to make statements like that. It s an insult to Judge Wilson to make statements like that. And it falsely encourages the belief that an injustice was done here when in fact justice was done. St. Louis DispatchAgitators refuse to disperse causing property damage near Mayor's home. Those who don't comply w/police orders subject to arrest #stlverdict St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 16, 2017According to this Twitter user, there is an unruly mob outside of the St. Louis Mayor s home and they ve asked for a white female to knock on the door. Asking for white female ally to knock on door of @LydaKrewson pic.twitter.com/SuXVNo8CJi P. Kim Bui (@kimbui) September 16, 2017Here s a shot of the police in front of the mayor s home:Police in front of @LydaKrewson's house. pic.twitter.com/xAOU4SWaDd P. Kim Bui (@kimbui) September 16, 2017Red paint was thrown at the Mayor s home:Paint thrown as well. Leaders are asking people to move pic.twitter.com/4pT2ESKWFX P. Kim Bui (@kimbui) September 16, 2017 Here s a video of the mob:BREAKING: Rioters just busted the Mayor's windows in St. Louis. This is getting out of control. #STLVerdictpic.twitter.com/K8SLkHnd3l Tennessee (@10_gop) September 16, 2017St. Louis Police posted pictures of the projectiles being thrown at police officers.Rocks & water bottles have been thrown at our officers throughout the day. Officers used great restraint. #STLVerdict pic.twitter.com/LIl2OxKhcO St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 15, 20174 officers assaulted. 1 treated for hand injury. 3 not treated-1 hit w/ water bottle, 1 knocked off bike & 1 pinned on bike. #STLVerdict St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 15, 2017 | 1real |
Somehow, ‘Slush Day’ Doesn’t Have the Same Ring - The New York Times | A winter snowstorm can be serene. It can be lovely. It can be invigorating. And it can be an unexpected respite from the daily hustle. Tuesday’s storm was none of those things. It was a big sloppy mess of sleet and snow, marked by fierce winds and falling temperatures that threatened to turn wet roads and sidewalks into slick sheets of ice. At least that was the case in the major coastal cities of the Northeast, where fears of a blizzard dissolved into a slushy mix of rain, snow and sleet. New York City and the region did not come to a halt under a blanket of snow. Instead, they skidded through the day in a muck of ice and slush. “What a mess,” said Soo Becchina, a teacher, from Oceanside, N. Y. on Long Island. “When I was shoveling all I kept thinking was how wet and heavy the snow was. It’s like getting a slushy from without the straw, red coloring and cup. ” There were reasons to be concerned on Monday night as two powerful weather systems — one coming out of the Midwest and the other moving up from the southeast — were set on a collision course. Some models showed that as much as two feet of snow would fall in the city. Governors and mayors in the metropolitan region rushed to the microphones to issue sweeping warnings and declare states of emergency. In Connecticut, a travel ban was put in place, ordering all cars off the roads by 5 a. m. Subway service in New York City was curtailed, with the Metropolitan Transportation Agency ordering all aboveground tracks and stations closed. trains stopped running. The buses in New Jersey sat idle. Schools were closed, museums shuttered and concerts canceled. (On Broadway, however, the show went on and theaters were open Tuesday night.) Thousands of flights were canceled. Tens of thousands of people lost power as high winds and heavy snow downed lines. But as with any forecasts involving snow near the coast, there was always a caveat: the divide. If the storm set up a good distance off shore, New York and the rest of the coast would be walloped. A few miles to the west and it would deliver more rain and sleet than snow. “The storm tracked closer to the coast than previously forecast and brought warmer air with it,” said Joe Pollina, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “Mother Nature is an unpredictable lady,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said at a news conference Tuesday. While the focus overnight was on the city and Long Island, Mr. Cuomo shifted resources upstate as it became clear that the Southern Tier would be harder hit. He announced a full travel ban on Interstate 84 from the Pennsylvania border to the Connecticut border on Tuesday afternoon. The heaviest snowfall was expected near the Interstate 81 corridor of Pennsylvania and in the Hudson Valley of New York, approaching two feet in some places. Northern Connecticut and parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire were also expected to get significant snow. Some towns and communities were left buried in snow, like Pa. Tony Brooks, vice chairman of the City Council, said that by midafternoon Tuesday, they had been buried in more than two feet of snow, the most of any storm since 1996. He said that the city was at an “absolute standstill” and that the only people on the streets were college students who were enjoying the snow. “There is not a soul on the street except college students,” he said. By early afternoon, snow was falling fast and furiously around Boston, where 12 inches was expected. While that was some 6 inches below what had been forecast, Gov. Charlie Baker repeated warnings for commuters to stay home. “We’ve seen the snowfall pick up,” Mr. Baker said at an early afternoon press briefing. “Most places are now seeing somewhere between 2 and 4 inches per hour. ” Power outages were beginning to tick upward, with 63, 000 reported in the state by early evening. Mr. Pollina, of the National Weather Service, also warned that even in those places with only a few inches of snow, like New York City, any liquid on the ground would turn to ice overnight. Temperatures in New York were expected to hover in the teens after nightfall and were not likely to rise above freezing on Wednesday. Kim Buttrick of the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. said that people tend to focus only on the snow and miss other dangers, including the wind. The eastern coast of Massachusetts could get wind gusts of over 50 miles per hour during the storm, she said Nantucket and outer Cape Cod could get gusts of up to 65 m. p. h. “That’s conditions,” Ms. Buttrick said. Forecasters are expecting moderate coastal flooding in New England. “You have waves building off shore,” Ms. Buttrick said. “This storm will pound the coast, especially for our and shore lines. There’ll be beach erosion, some flooding of roadways, possible damage to marinas, docks and piers. ” Even though the storm failed to deliver heavy snow, in some places, officials continued to urge people to stay home, if possible. “It’s a good day to make brownies,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut. But once that was done, what joys were left when the precipitation was more ice than snow and the wind could make even adults tear up? “Right now there has been no pleasure,” said Michael Weiss of Syosset, N. Y. on Long Island. He works in Manhattan but was home with his wife, two daughters — ages 9 and 11 — and their hound mix named Cody. “So far I have gotten lots of email from work. I made breakfast. Shoveled the front and back steps and walked the dog around the neighborhood,” he said. “Hopefully, later I will be able to go out with the kids and make an iceman. ” | 0fake |
Loss of 'March Madness' games could hurt North Carolina governor's re-election bid | WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has weathered negative headlines as jobs, conventions and musical performances were canceled in his state this year to protest a law deemed discriminatory against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. But news that the Southern state was being stripped of hosting two rounds of the nationally popular “March Madness” Division I men’s college basketball tournament next spring could prove the law’s most damaging fallout yet for the Republican seeking re-election in November, political experts said on Tuesday. “There’s one thing you don’t do in North Carolina. That is mess with basketball, particularly college basketball,” said Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College in Salisbury. In addition to the tournament, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced on Monday it would relocate six other championship sporting events from North Carolina for the 2016-17 season. NCAA President Mark Emmert said the move was a “proverbial no-brainer” after North Carolina in March became the only U.S. state to require transgender people to use bathrooms in government buildings and public schools that correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate. The Republican-backed law, known as House Bill 2 or H.B. 2, also blocked local government measures aimed at protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination. McCrory signed the measure into law and has continued to defend it as he campaigns for a second four-year term. Several recent opinion polls show him trailing his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Roy Cooper, who has criticized the incumbent for backing the law despite mounting economic losses. In July, the National Basketball Association yanked its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte over objections to H.B. 2. The NCAA’s decision will not help McCrory’s re-election chances, said Steven Greene, a political science professor at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, the state capital. “He’s going to suffer from this the most,” Greene said in a phone interview, explaining that most of the Republican state legislators associated with the law represent districts drawn so that Republicans have a good chance of winning elections. Responding on Tuesday to the NCAA’s move, McCrory called for a halt to “economic threats or political retaliation” while nearly two dozen states challenge an Obama administration policy that calls for public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice. “The issue of redefining gender and basic norms of privacy will be resolved in the near future in the United States court system for not only North Carolina, but the entire nation,” the governor said in a statement. Around North Carolina, residents and local officials bemoaned the loss of championship events. Polls have shown most voters think the law is hurting the state, which has hosted more Division I men’s basketball tournament games than any other. “That’s part of North Carolina’s heart right there,” said Cindy Clodfelter, 62, a retired school counselor in Winston-Salem. “Anything that messes with my sports, I don’t like it.” The mayor of Cary - a town which was to host championship events in women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s lacrosse and baseball, but lost all of them to this week’s NCAA decision - said it was time for state lawmakers to re-evaluate the law. McCrory “seems to be doubling down,” said Mayor Harold Weinbrecht Jr. “It will say a lot about our state if he wins or if he loses.” | 0fake |
Poll: Donald Trump Bests Elizabeth Warren in 2020 Presidential Matchup - Breitbart | President Donald Trump beats Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a hypothetical 2020 presidential election, a Morning Consult poll released Wednesday shows. [Less than one month after Trump took office, media are looking ahead to the next presidential election. Asked if “President Donald Trump runs for in the year 2020, do you think you will probably vote for President Trump or probably vote for the Democratic candidate,” 43 percent of those polled said they would probably vote for the generic Democrat, while 35 percent would vote for Trump. Another 23 percent weren’t sure. Pitted against Warren, 42 percent said they would support Trump, compared to 36 percent for Warren. percent weren’t sure or had no opinion. Pollsters questioned 1, 791 registered voters from Feb. 9 to Feb. 10 with a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. | 0fake |
Women’s March on Washington Opens Contentious Dialogues About Race - The New York Times | Many thousands of women are expected to converge on the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington the day after Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. Jennifer Willis no longer plans to be one of them. Ms. Willis, a wedding minister from South Carolina, had looked forward to taking her daughters to the march. Then she read a post on the Facebook page for the march that made her feel unwelcome because she is white. The post, written by a black activist from Brooklyn who is a march volunteer, advised “white allies” to listen more and talk less. It also chided those who, it said, were only now waking up to racism because of the election. “You don’t just get to join because now you’re scared, too,” read the post. “I was born scared. ” Stung by the tone, Ms. Willis canceled her trip. “This is a women’s march,” she said. “We’re supposed to be allies in equal pay, marriage, adoption. Why is it now about, ‘White women don’t understand black women’?” If all goes as planned, the Jan. 21 march will be a momentous display of unity in protest of a president whose treatment of women came to dominate the campaign’s final weeks. But long before the first buses roll to Washington and sister demonstrations take place in other cities, contentious conversations about race have erupted nearly every day among marchers, exhilarating some and alienating others. In Tennessee, emotions ran high when organizers changed the name of the local march from “Women’s March on ” to “Power Together Tennessee, in solidarity with Women’s March on Washington. ” While many applauded the name change, which was meant to signal the start of a new social justice movement in Nashville, some complained that the event had turned from a march for all women into a march for black women. In Louisiana, the first state coordinator gave up her volunteer role in part because there were no minority women in leadership positions at that time. “I got a lot of flak locally when I stepped down, from white women who said that I’m alienating a lot of white women,” said Candice Huber, a bookstore owner in New Orleans, who is white. “They said, ‘Why do you have to be so divisive? ’” In some ways, the discord is by design. Even as they are working to ensure a smooth and unified march next week, the national organizers said they made a deliberate decision to highlight the plight of minority and undocumented immigrant women and provoke uncomfortable discussions about race. “This was an opportunity to take the conversation to the deep places,” said Linda Sarsour, a Muslim who heads the Arab American Association of New York and is one of four of the national march. “Sometimes you are going to upset people. ” The post that offended Ms. Willis was part of that effort. So was the quotation posted on the march’s Facebook page from Bell Hooks, the black feminist, about forging a stronger sisterhood by “confronting the ways women — through sex, class and race — dominated and exploited other women. ” In response, a New Jersey woman wrote: “I’m starting to feel not very welcome in this endeavor. ” A debate then ensued about whether white women were just now experiencing what minority women experience daily, or were having a hard time yielding control. A young white woman from Baltimore wrote with bitterness that white women who might have been victims of rape and abuse were being “asked to check their privilege,” a catchphrase that refers to people acknowledging their advantages, but which even some liberal women find unduly confrontational. No one involved with the march fears that the rancor will dampen turnout even many of those who expressed dismay at the tone of the discussion said they still intended to join what is sure to be the largest demonstration yet against the Trump presidency. “I will march,” one wrote on the march’s Facebook page, “Hoping that someday soon a sense of unity will occur before it’s too late. ” But these debates over race also reflect deeper questions about the future of progressivism in the age of Trump. Should the march highlight what divides women, or what unites them? Is there room for women who have never heard of “white privilege”? And at a time when a presidential candidate ran against political correctness and won — with half of white female voters supporting him — is this the time to tone down talk about race or to double down? “If your goal is to get as many people as possible at the march, maybe you don’t want to alienate people,” said Anne Valk, the author of “Radical Sisters,” a book about racial and class differences in the women’s movement. “But if your goal is to use the march as a catalyst for progressive social and political change, then that has to include thinking about race and class privilege. ” The discord also reflects the variety of women’s rights and liberal causes being represented at the march, as well as a generational divide. Many older white women spent their lives fighting for rights like workplace protections that younger women now take for granted. Many young activists have spent years protesting police tactics and criminal justice policies — issues they feel too many white liberals have ignored. “Yes, equal pay is an issue,” Ms. Sarsour said. “But look at the ratio of what white women get paid versus black women and Latina women. ” For too long, the march organizers said, the women’s rights movement focused on issues that were important to white women, such as the ability to work outside the home and attain the same positions that men do. But minority women, they said, have had different priorities. Black women who have worked their whole lives as maids might care more about the minimum wage or police brutality than about seeing a woman in the White House. Undocumented immigrant women might care about abortion rights, they said, but not nearly as much as they worry about being deported. This brand of feminism — frequently referred to as “intersectionality” — asks white women to acknowledge that they have had it easier. It speaks candidly about the history of racism, even within the feminist movement itself. The organizers of the 1913 suffrage march on Washington asked black women to march at the back of the parade. The issue of race has followed the march from its inception. The day after the election, Bob Bland, a fashion designer in New York, floated the idea of a march in Washington on Facebook. Within hours, 3, 000 people said they would join. Then a friend called to tell Ms. Bland that a woman in Hawaii with a similar page had collected pledges from 12, 000 people. “I thought, ‘Wow, let’s merge,’” Ms. Bland recalled. As the effort grew, a number of comments on Facebook implored Ms. Bland, who is white, to include minority women on the leadership team. Ms. Bland felt strongly that it was the right thing to do. Within three days of the election, Carmen Perez, a Hispanic activist working on juvenile justice, and Tamika D. Mallory, a gun control activist who is black, joined Ms. Bland. Gloria Steinem, honorary of the march along with Harry Belafonte, lauded their approach. “Sexism is always made worse by racism — and vice versa,” she said in an email. Ms. Steinem, who plans to participate in a town hall meeting during the march with Alicia Garza, a of Black Lives Matter, said even contentious conversations about race were a “good thing. ” “It’s about knowing each other,” she wrote. “Which is what movements and marches are for. ” But the tone of the discussion, particularly online, can become so raw that some marchers feel they are no longer welcome. Ms. Willis, the South Carolina wedding minister, had been looking forward to the salve of rallying with people who share her values, a rarity in her home state, where she said she had been insulted and shouted at for marrying gay couples. But then she read a post by ShiShi Rose, a blogger from Brooklyn. “Now is the time for you to be listening more, talking less,” Ms. Rose wrote. “You should be reading our books and understanding the roots of racism and white supremacy. Listening to our speeches. You should be drowning yourselves in our poetry. ” It rubbed Ms. Willis the wrong way. “How do you know that I’m not reading black poetry?” she asked in an interview. Ms. Willis says that she understands being born white gives her advantages, and that she is always open to learning more about the struggles of others. But, she said, “The last thing that is going to make me endeared to you, to know you and love you more, is if you are sitting there wagging your finger at me. ” Ms. Rose said in an interview that the intention of the post was not to weed people out but rather to make them understand that they had a lot of learning to do. “I needed them to understand that they don’t just get to join the march and not check their privilege constantly,” she said. That phrase — check your privilege — exasperates Ms. Willis. She asked a reporter: “Can you please tell me what that means?” | 0fake |
null | Okay, have it your way, it's weak and worthless.
Now will you please go away? | 1real |
Russia denies it killed civilians in air strikes on Syria's Idlib | MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday denied allegations that its air strikes had killed civilians in Syria s Idlib province, saying that in recent days it had only bombed Islamist militant fighters in the area. Moscow said it was responding to assertions from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which on Monday said six civilians had been killed in the province, including a woman and a child. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized Moscow on Monday for the same reason, saying that recent Russian bombing in Idlib had killed civilians and moderate rebels and that this would be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited Turkey this week. Putin is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday for talks on Syria. Major-General Igor Konashenkov of the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Russian and Syrian air forces did not bomb residential areas and accused the observatory of making up allegations and of sympathizing with radical Islamist militants. In the last few days, after drone reconnaissance and confirmation via other channels, Russian planes struck 10 terrorist targets in Idlib Province, Konashenkov said. These were militant bases, ammunition stores, armored vehicles, rocket systems, and workshops fitting out jihad jeeps which were located a long way from residential areas, he said. Konashenkov said Russia had data to confirm the accuracy of its attacks and the ministry on Tuesday published video of the strikes on Idlib to back its assertions that it had only bombed militant targets. The targets struck had taken part in a militant offensive on Sept. 18 which had surrounded 29 Russian military policemen who then had to be broken out in an operation backed by air power, he added. | 0fake |
In Office Horror Movies, the Companies Operate in the Red - The New York Times | Talk about a wicked case of the Mondays. Almost anyone who has worked in an office has felt beaten down by the job at some point, whether it’s by an annoying a demanding boss or monotonous daily tasks. It’s enough to make some people crack. Films like “Office Space” and shows like “The Office” turned the pitfalls of office culture into comedy. But what does it look like when that desire to smack a colleague silly is taken to darker places? You get the subgenre of office horror, in which bodies pile up alongside the copy machine. The latest entries include “The Belko Experiment” (March 17) and the forthcoming “Mayhem,” about the most hellish days at the office you can imagine. Here’s a look at these, and other, office nightmares. DIRECTOR Greg McLean PLOT It starts just like any other day at Belko Industries, a Bogotá, Colombia, nonprofit that has American employees. But then a voice on the intercom tells employees they must kill a certain number of their or more will die. Steel doors lock everyone in, touching off a “Hunger Games” scenario. The movie includes several familiar types — the budding couple the slacker the stern boss the annoying, — and pits them against one another in a grisly death match. GRUESOME BREAK FROM ROUTINE One especially unlucky employee is bludgeoned with a tape dispenser. DIRECTOR Joe Lynch PLOT In this film, which made its premiere at the South by Southwest film festival this month, a nasty virus is going around, one that attacks the id and makes people act out their most basic instincts. When the virus invades a law practice, the building is quarantined and one disgruntled and infected legal analyst (Steven Yeun of “The Walking Dead”) makes a bloody climb up the corporate ladder. GRUESOME BREAK FROM ROUTINE After the analyst and a client get access to the tool closet, they use hammers, wrenches, a fire extinguisher and a nail gun in a showdown with employees. DIRECTOR Brian James O’Connell PLOT Sometimes your boss really is out to get you. In this 2015 workers at a telemarketing company get a new sales manager who’s a corporate vampire — literally. Soon after he arrives, some employees start acting strange and their complexions begin to pale. It’s up to two overlooked telemarketers and a security guard to bring an end to their boss and the havoc he is wreaking. GRUESOME BREAK FROM ROUTINE During a visit to the supply closet, the guys break the handles off brooms, pull the blade off a paper cutter and get to work. DIRECTOR Cindy Sherman PLOT In this 1997 thriller from the artist and photographer Cindy Sherman, office life is more appealing than the alternative for one lonely woman. Because of budget cuts, Dorine (Carol Kane) a proofreader at a magazine, is forced to work from home, which depresses her further. But when she accidentally electrocutes a on a visit to the office, she becomes energized and ends up going on a murder spree, killing more colleagues and others. GRUESOME BREAK FROM ROUTINE After poisoning her boss, Dorine brings the body home and places it on the couch with that of her electrocuted . She sits between them and watches TV while talking to the corpses. DIRECTOR Joe Dante PLOT This 1990 sequel to the 1984 critter film is set at the corporate offices of Clamp Enterprises, where the furry Gizmo has become a subject of research. But after one employee (Zach Galligan from the first film) rescues him, Gizmo is hidden and left alone in the office, where water spills on him and he multiplies. Ultimately an unruly group of Gremlins is hellbent on destruction. GRUESOME BREAK FROM ROUTINE A woman taping a cooking show for Clamp’s network opens up the pot to check on a noodle dish. But a gremlin pops out and sprays her in the face with a turkey baster. Another gremlin in a chef’s hat further terrorizes her. | 0fake |
Inauguration Protesters Could Face Decades In Prison; This Is War Against The First Amendment | As liberals are fighting over a picture posted by a self-professed D-List comedian and Bill Maher uttering the N word, Republicans are waging a serious attack on the First Amendment by attempting to silence our constitutional right to protest.As you may recall, on January 20th, millions of people took to the streets to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump. In Washington, D.C., 230 protesters were arrested after anarchists clashed with the police.Anti-Trump chants were occasionally drowned out by the thuds of sound grenades and smoke bombs.Left behind was broken glass from the windows of cafes, restaurants and banks. Declarations of resistance marked the walls and pavements: Make racists afraid again, and F*ck Trump .Images of a limousine in flames later made it onto television screens and the front pages of news websites around the world.Source: Al JazeeraThe D.C. courts decided to throw the book at the protesters. 230 protesters and bystanders were initially charged with felony rioting, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $25,000 fine.On April 27th, though, the Superior Court of D.C. doubled down and now 212 of those defendants are facing up to 80 years in prison. Some of the defendants are journalists, who face up to 70 years, each. This, despite the fact that a lot of them seemed to have been swept up in the confusion and they had no warning to disperse or that tear gas and rubber bullets were coming their way.For (protester Olivia) Alsip, the ever-present weight of the charges has already taken a toll on her life. I m pretty shocked by the impact it s had on my personal life, she explains. It seems that innocent until proven guilty is a falsehood all the way from the prosecution and police to the people who had previously supported me in my activism. It s hanging over my head the entire time, which makes it really challenging. It hinders your ability to plan your life. The bigger issue, of course, is the fact that the First Amendment seems to be under attack from all angles. Donald Trump has been staging a war on the media. A man who body slammed a journalist was just elected to Congress. Some states are legalizing murdering protesters with your car.While some of the protesters in D.C. were undoubtedly involved in rioting, the penalties are draconian and it seems the courts have no interest in figuring out who the guilty parties really were. What this will accomplish for the right is fear. People will be reluctant to express their opinions because they could be thrown in prison, or in some states, run over by a car.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. | 1real |
Trump snags former rival's backing, scraps Chicago rally | CHICAGO/PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump canceled a campaign rally Friday night amid security concerns just hours after the Republican front-runner earned the endorsement of a former rival who said the billionaire’s pugnacious campaign style is belied by a more thoughtful, private side. “There are two different Donald Trumps: there’s the one you see on the stage and there’s the one who’s very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully,” Ben Carson said Friday as he became the second former Republican candidate to back Trump in the White House race. The soft-spoken retired neurosurgeon, who dropped out of the race last week, said the American people would be “comforted” when they discover Trump’s gentler side. The thousands of protesters who showed up for Trump’s rally Friday evening at the University of Illinois at Chicago - along with thousands of supporters - showed little indication they had noticed anything but the candidate’s combative campaign style. The university arena turned into a chaotic scene as the two warring sides amped up their positions. A half hour after the rally was slated to begin, a Trump campaign staffer announced it was being postponed for safety reasons, unleashing competing chants of “We dumped Trump!” and “We want Trump!” throughout the packed venue. “We made a great decision not to have the rally,” Trump told CNN after meeting with law enforcement and making the call. “I am not a person that wants to see violence,” he added. Trump blamed protesters for creating disturbances at his campaign events and said it is a “love fest” among his supporters. Friday’s event in Chicago stood out because the huge number of protesters virtually matched the number of Trump supporters, as opposed to other Trump campaign events where protesters have been a very small, albeit vocal, minority. Earlier in the day, speaking at a public event in St. Louis, Missouri, Trump was interrupted repeatedly by protesters who were led out of the event by police and security, an increasingly common occurrence at his raucous rallies. “He’s all mouth, get him out,” Trump shouted as one of the protesters was led out. “Go back to mommy,” he said as another protester was led away. The latest endorsement for Trump followed a Republican debate in Miami on Thursday night at which Trump and the remaining three candidates in the Republican race struck a markedly more civil tone. Carson shot to the top of the Republican pack last year but faltered in the early nominating contests. His endorsement is unlikely to dramatically shift the Republican race, but it gives Trump a boost as the Republican establishment cranks up attacks, and comes just days before crucial nominating contests in the battle to be the party’s presidential candidate for the Nov. 8 election. The Republican primaries to be held on Tuesday in five states will be critical for Trump to cement his lead, and to determine whether U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich, whose home states are among those holding contests on Tuesday, will be able to continue with their increasingly long-shot candidacies. Trump’s nearest rival in the race is U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Carson’s comments on Friday aimed to soften Trump’s public image after a campaign marked by his demeaning personal attacks on opponents, harsh comments about Mexican immigrants and calls to temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the country. Trump’s controversial campaign has led many Republican establishment figures to call for an all-out effort to prevent him from winning the nomination - an effort that Carson said would fracture the Republican Party and ensure a Democratic win in November. Asked about Carson’s comments, Trump said he did not want to “overanalyze” himself but there was only “one Donald Trump.” “Certainly you have all of this, and you have somebody else that sits, and reads and thinks. And I’m a thinker,” said Trump, 69. “Perhaps people don’t think of me in that way because you don’t see me in that form.” Trump also raised the possibility that he will not attend the next Republican debate, scheduled for later this month in Salt Lake City. “We’ve had enough debates, in my opinion,” he said. In St. Louis, Trump’s speech was interrupted more than a half-dozen times by protesters. Scuffles between Trump supporters and protesters have become more frequent, and a protester was punched in North Carolina on Wednesday by a Trump supporter who has been charged with assault. “The officers are being very gentle,” Trump advised, telling the crowd later, “It adds to the flavor, makes it more exciting, isn’t this better than listening to a long boring speech?” Carson’s endorsement of Trump followed that of another former candidate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who announced his backing last month. Next Tuesday’s voting will be a pivotal point as candidates chase the 1,237 delegates from primary contests and caucuses needed to win the Republican nomination. Trump has 459 delegates, followed by Cruz at 360, Rubio at 152 and Kasich at 54, according to the Associated Press. The primaries in Florida and Ohio on Tuesday have the potential to be game-changers because both states award Republican delegates on a winner-take-all basis, meaning that he winner of the popular vote in each state will be awarded the state’s entire slate of delegates. Many states award delegates proportionate to the popular vote. For his part, Rubio said in a round of television interviews on Friday he was still in position to win Florida next week. Voters in his home state who do not want Trump as the Republican nominee should support him, he said. “If they don’t want Donald Trump to be our nominee, then voting for John Kasich or Ted Cruz in Florida is a vote for Donald Trump,” Rubio said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Rubio said later that his supporters in Ohio should vote for Kasich next Tuesday if that looked like the best anti-Trump tactic. “Clearly John Kasich has a better chance of winning Ohio than I do, and if a voter in Ohio concludes that voting for John Kasich gives us the best chance to stop Donald Trump there, I anticipate” that is what they will do, Rubio told reporters at an event in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Additional reporting by Clarece Polke, Eric Beech, Amanda Becker and Susan Heavey in Washington and Jon Herskovitz in Texas; Writing by John Whitesides and Amanda Becker; Editing by Frances Kerry and Leslie Adler) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 0fake |
Deepwater Horizon Continues to Impact Public Health | Deepwater Horizon Continues to Impact Public Health Deepwater Horizon Continues to Impact Public Health By 1 135
It’s hard to believe that the Deepwater Horizon incident, which discharged over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, happened six years ago. What’s not hard to believe is that the environmental health implications of the spill are stubbornly lingering.
Gulf residents of variety of species are paying a high price for it — so high that litigation against BP for its role in the spill, officially deemed “ negligent ,” is likely to continue for decades as people fight to get help with ongoing medical expenses.
Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the spill was linked to an uptick in dolphin deaths , illustrating that this unprecedented release of petroleum products in the Gulf had a lasting health impact for animals.
Similarly, abnormalities in heart development among fish have also been connected to Deepwater Horizon exposure. Part of the problem is that sediments remain coated in oil and sludge . Because it was impossible to clean up every drop of crude from the Gulf, the oil that settled to the bottom continues to interfere with the embryonic development of a range of fish species.
But humans aren’t doing too well either.
In the aftermath of the spill, people were exposed both to crude petroleum and to Corexit , a chemical dispersant used in unprecedented volumes during the cleanup.
Subsequent research has shown that in addition to having some hazardous health effects on its own, the combination of Corexit and the type of crude spilled during the Deepwater Horizon incident packs a hefty punch for marine animals.
In the weeks following the spill, first responders reported symptoms like rashes, respiratory problems, headaches, seizures and depression. In response to the complains, agencies closely monitored these individuals.
As the years went by, enough significant health problems arose for a class action lawsuit against BP. The company eventually agreed to a settlement that included the potential for… | 1real |
Sanders among five senators asking Obama to order Dakota pipeline review | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and four other U.S. senators on Thursday called on President Barack Obama to order a comprehensive environmental review of a pipeline project that has stirred widespread opposition from Native Americans and environmental activists. After a federal appeals court on Sunday night denied a request to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the senators asked Obama to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to complete a full environmental impact statement, including stronger tribal consultation, for a contested part of the route. “The project’s current permits should be suspended and all construction stopped until a complete environmental and cultural review has been completed for the entire project,” said the letter by Sanders and Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein, Ed Markey, Patrick Leahy and Benjamin Cardin. Also on Thursday, the governments of 19 cities, including St. Louis and Minneapolis, passed ordinances to support the Standing Rock tribe in opposition of the pipeline. In recent weeks, protests against the Dakota Access pipeline led by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota have drawn international attention, prompting the U.S. government to temporarily block construction on federal land. Tribal leaders say the pipeline will desecrate land and pollute water, especially around the planned crossing through Lake Oahe, a sacred site. Opposition to the pipeline has drawn support from 200 Native American tribes. On Tuesday, anti-pipeline activists in four states, in solidarity with the Dakota pipeline protesters, closed pipeline valves to halt the flow of crude through arteries transporting 15 percent of U.S. oil consumption. A day earlier, actress Shailene Woodley was arrested in North Dakota while protesting the pipeline, an incident that was live streamed on Facebook. On Thursday, Amy Goodman, a journalist from the independent TV and radio program Democracy Now!, said she would turn herself over to authorities in North Dakota on Monday morning, in response to a criminal complaint was filed against her on Sept. 8 for trespassing. Goodman had filmed the crackdown on protesters by authorities last month. “I was doing my job as a journalist, covering a violent attack on Native American protesters,” she said. When fully connected, the 1,100-mile (1,770 km) pipeline would be the first to carry crude directly to the U.S. Gulf from the Bakken shale, a vast oil formation in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada. The $3.7 billion project is being built by the Dakota Access subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, which has vowed to complete construction. “There must be a serious consideration of the full potential climate impacts of this pipeline prior to the Army Corps of Engineers approving any permits or easements for the Dakota Access pipeline,” the senators said. Experts say that the full environmental review requested by the senators could take several months. | 0fake |
Only Making Matters Worse in Syria | Only Making Matters Worse in Syria October 28, 2016
Exclusive: Washington’s foreign policy establishment is determined to escalate U.S. military attacks in Syria even though that won’t resolve the conflict and will only get more people killed, a dilemma addressed by Daniel Lazare.
By Daniel Lazare
Middle East policy has reached an inflexion point, a moment when Official Washington seems to be caught in the middle between escalation and retreat.
On one hand, the rhetoric has not been more militant since Hillary Clinton’s famous “we came, we saw, he died” moment in October 2011. With Barack Obama halfway out the door and Clinton all but crowned, Washington’s laptop bombardiers are rejoicing that the half-measures are over and judgment day nearly at hand. Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addresses the Security Council meeting on Syria, Sept. 25, 2016. Power has been an advocate for escalating U.S. military involvement in Syria. (UN Photo)
Thus, The New York Times assures us that that the Middle East is “desperate for American leadership” while the Washington Post reports that “the Republicans and Democrats who make up the foreign policy elite are laying the ground work for a more assertive American foreign policy.”
Leading think tanks are publishing “a flurry of reports” urging stepped-up intervention, including U.S.-backed “safe zones to protect moderate rebels from Syrian and Russian forces” and even “limited” cruise-missile strikes. But while differing on the details, all agree something must be done. The time to act is now.
As Vox puts it: “The hot new policy idea in Washington is the hottest old idea: direct US military intervention in Syria’s civil war.”
But reading between the lines, a very different picture emerges, a realization that the U.S. has painted itself into a corner and that there is little it can do after all. Thus, the Times observes that while the Middle East is clamoring for U.S. leadership, it is not clamoring for Bush-style intervention but for some mythical “middle ground” in between him and Obama.
While reporting that pro-escalation sentiment is unanimous in Washington’s vast foreign-policy establishment – sometimes known as “ the blob ” – the Washington Post notes that “even pinprick cruise-missile strikes designed to hobble the Syrian air force or punish [President Bashar al-]Assad would risk a direct confrontation with Russian forces” and wonders whether a war-weary public will support any intervention at all.
“My concern is that we may be talking to each other and agreeing with each other,” it quotes one expert as saying, “but that these discussions are isolated from where the public may be right now.”
Official Washington in a Bubble
Thus, even the Establishment worries that it lives in a bubble. Washington wants war, it needs war, and yet it admits in practically the same breath that it can’t have it. So what will it do? A heart-rending propaganda image designed to justify a major U.S. military operation inside Syria against the Syrian military.
Then there are the mild liberals over at Vox, the hip and successful Washington website founded by journalistic wunderkind Ezra Klein. Voxers pride themselves on being sharp and practical yet in the end they are sealed off as well. The poster boy for this tendency is Zack Beauchamp, a young writer who stars in a recent Vox video entitled, “ The crisis in Aleppo, explained in 4 minutes .”
As Beauchamp lectures away amid fancy graphics and cool background music, the video faithfully toes the Washington line, both the stirring gung-ho part and the downbeat refrain that inevitably follows. Thus, he describes the Syrian civil war as a “story of flip-flops,” with Assad seemingly on the ropes until Iran and Russia put him back on his feet, at which point the Saudis and Qataris put the rebels back on their feet so the game can continue.
But the real turning point, he says, occurred in September 2015 when Russia stepped in with airstrikes that allowed the government to besiege the Salafists in eastern Aleppo.
“A siege,” Beauchamp then explains, “involves trapping a group of people, civilians and fighters both, inside a certain territory and denying them supplies until they can no longer fight. Assad’s strategy has a vicious logic to it. When you deprive people of food and you bomb them over and over again, they’re likely to give in just to make the fighting stop.”
The upshot, he says, is “a humanitarian crisis … roughly 250,000 people trapped in the city … running dangerously low on supplies, access to clean water and medicine.” So what should the U.S. do in response? The video’s tone at this point turns pessimistic and then pitch black:
“The United States has the military power to break the siege of Aleppo,” Beauchamp says, “but doing so would be extremely dangerous. For one thing, it would need to coordinate with rebels on the ground, some of whom are extremists. For another, it means that the US would be operating in hostile air space with Russian planes.If the US were to engage with Russian planes, that could theoretically mean direct fire between two nuclear-armed superpowers, a risk that very few people in the United States are willing to take. And three, even if the US did temporarily break the siege, it would have to maintain a commitment to insure that things didn’t get worse. That could mean an open-ended war. And there’s no guarantee that this would make anything better, but, rather, it might just get more people killed over the long run.”
So U.S. options are zero: “Every diplomatic solution tried so far has failed, and failed miserably, and there’s simply no economic tool that can be used to end the fighting or ease the suffering of the people inside besieged territories. There’s no good answer. There’s nothing that anyone has that could simply solve the crisis. It’s a disaster and a disaster without any end in sight.”
Falsehoods and Obfuscations
Beauchamp’s explanation – which is really not an explanation at all, merely an assertion – is studded with falsehoods and obfuscations. By describing Assad’s strategy as uniquely “vicious,” he ignores obvious parallels between the Russian air campaign in Aleppo and U.S. air assaults on Fallujah , Tikrit , and Ramadi , all in central Iraq and all largely destroyed in the course of “liberating” them from ISIS. U.S.-backed Syrian “moderate” rebels smile as they prepare to behead a 12-year-old boy (left), whose severed head is held aloft triumphantly in a later part of the video. [Screenshot from the YouTube video] By referring to the events in Syria as a civil war, he fails to acknowledge the degree to which it is actually a foreign invasion by the U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other Persian Gulf states. By repeatedly referring to the Salafists as “rebels” – which suggests that they are Syrians rising up from within – he ignores the fact that large numbers – 36,500, according to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper – are foreign-born.
While asserting that 250,000 people are trapped inside east Aleppo, he ignores reports that the real figure is far lower. The Guardian ’s Martin Chulov, for example, estimated in March 2015 that only 40,000 people remained in rebel-held areas while Vice News reported last July that “most of Aleppo’s residents have fled the city. There are just a handful of civilians and rebel fighters holding on in the shattered ruins.”
Beauchamp also implies that it is the government that has “trapped” people in east Aleppo when reports in the London Independent and elsewhere indicate that Salafists are firing on anyone trying to take the government up on its offer of safe passage. While acknowledging that “some” fighters are “extremists,” he ignores the fact that the U.S. military has admitted that Al Nusra, the local branch of Al Qaeda, is firmly in charge.
When Salafists launched a short-lived offensive in east Aleppo last summer, for instance, The New York Times reported that they named it in honor of Ibrahim al-Yousef, a Muslim Brotherhood member who led a horrendous massacre of Alawite military cadets in 1979. It was indicative of how anti-Alawite sectarianism of the most bloodthirsty sort is the common denominator underlying all anti-government factions.
One could go on, but the point is clear. The foreign-policy establishment has not only cut itself off from the public but, with the help of sympathetic media outlets like Vox, has cut itself off from its own intellectual history. Incapable of examining the U.S. role in the Syrian debacle in an honest and straightforward way, it can only blunder about in the dark, staggering backward or forward as circumstances dictate. Now seems to be the moment when it is poised between the two.
So how will the United States respond now that Washington is preparing for a transition between Obama-style abstention and Hillary-style neo-conservatism? Here’s is one reporter’s modest attempt at reading the tea leaves:
Washington will continue to fume as the catastrophe deepens in both Syria and Iraq. As the drive to push ISIS (also known as ISIL, Islamic State, and Daesh) out of Mosul in northern Iraq degenerates into ethno-sectarian warfare among Turks, Sunni Arabs, Shi‘ites, and Kurds, the drive to take back Raqqa, ISIS’s capital in north-central Syria will similarly falter as fighting breaks out between pro-Turkish forces and Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG.
The fall of east Aleppo, which now seems to be a foregone conclusion, will drive the foreign-policy establishment to a fury. Obama may be able to hold the hawks off. But by the time he leaves office, “the blob” will be in an uproar and demanding that something be done. Map of Syria.
With that, Zack Beauchamp will star in another Vox video entitled, “U.S. military intervention in Syria, explained in 4 minutes.” In it, he’ll tell how Russian atrocities in Aleppo, plus backhanded Syrian government support for ISIS, leave the U.S. no choice but to launch a swarm of cruise missiles at Syrian military facilities.
When Russian soldiers are killed, he’ll try to shift blame to Vladimir Putin for stirring up trouble in the eastern Ukraine or the Baltics. He’ll note that dissent is limited to a few cranky websites and far-left groups, all of which can be safely ignored since they’re not part of the mainstream. Russia will then counter-attack, leading to … no one knows.
While anything can go wrong with this scenario, one thing is clear. The mood in Official Washington is the opposite of 2003 when all the “experts” agreed that an invasion of Iraq would be a walk in the park. Now they’re filled with trepidation. But they’re still trying to talk themselves into an escalation and may succeed. If the election goes as expected, the Clinton II presidency will be an interesting one.
Daniel Lazare is the author of several books including The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy (Harcourt Brace). | 1real |
David Duke Screams From The Rooftops That Trump Is In The Lead Because Of Him (VIDEO) | The white supremacist and former KKK Grand Wizard threw a temper tantrum during an interview on Newsmax, and bragged about helping Trump become the GOP front-runner.Even before the interview began, David Duke cried foul because host Steve Malzberg introduced Duke as a former KKK leader. Duke whined that former West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd was also in the KKK but he was never introduced as such, accusing the mainstream media of being controlled.However, while Duke is right that Byrd was in the KKK, Byrd did repeatedly renounce his KKK ties later in his career, calling it a mistake that he ll keep apologizing for over and over again. I know now I was wrong, Byrd said in 2005. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times and I don t mind apologizing over and over again. I can t erase what happened. In 1997, Byrd warned young people to steer clear of the KKK. Don t get that albatross around your neck, he said. Once you ve made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena. Byrd became a staunch supporter of civil rights and redeemed himself over time.This makes Byrd far different from Duke, who has not renounced his KKK past and his continued support of white supremacy. When asked about how he feels about Jews and black people, Duke had a hard time answering and then said that he is trying to turn the KKK into a political organization and fancies himself a human rights activist. Of course, the only human rights he cares about are those of racist white pricks like himself.Malzberg also challenged Duke with his own words, asking him about what he said about rape laws in 1975.According to the Wichita Sun Duke said, White people don t need a law against rape, but if you fill this room up with your normal black bucks, you would, because n***ers are basically primitive animals. Duke claimed he was taken out of context and that the Sun made up the quote, only to later brag about how the Republican Party has adopted his stance against immigrants.In the last part of the interview, Duke continued to talk about himself and how great he is, even going so far as to scream that Trump jumped ten points in the polls because he and his people (white racists) to support him.Here s the videos via YouTube.Trump has made it possible for white supremacists and their racist organizations to rise up in this nation once again. And should he win, those evil groups and their members will have an ally in the White House, which will only embolden them. At what point will Americans say enough is enough and counter this hate by overwhelmingly voting against it? Unfortunately, we will probably have to wait until November to find out.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
Democrats must focus on swing suburbs to win elections, Chicago mayor says | CHICAGO (Reuters) - Democrats face years of work, focusing on “kitchen table” economic issues over several election cycles, if they want to regain ground lost to Republicans, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Wednesday. The Democratic mayor of the nation’s third largest city also said Republican President Donald Trump’s legal and political troubles give Democrats a chance to regain a large slice of the more than 1,000 seats Democrats have lost in Congress and state legislatures since 2008. With Democrats controlling cities and Republicans dominating rural areas, the battle will be fought among swing suburban voters, he added. “It’s not going to be done in a singular election,” Emanuel told Reuters in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview. “The real crux question to me as a party is what I call kitchen table economics,” Emanuel said. Home ownership, affordable college, job security, retirement savings and health care are key issues, he said. Chicago has faced fiscal problems and untamed street violence since Emanuel first was elected mayor in 2011. The release in 2015 of a dashcam video showing a Chicago police officer fatally shooting an unarmed teenager led to street protests that hurt the mayor’s standing with voters. Black Lives Matter sued the city Wednesday, seeking to force Emanuel to agree to federal oversight of proposed police reforms. Emanuel said the Justice Department under President Trump will not participate. “I can’t wish a different Justice Department,” Emanuel said. Instead, he is focused on police body cameras, more training and the hiring of new cops in supervisory roles, he added. Emanuel cited improvements under his leadership, public transportation in particular. “Eighty-five percent of our people in the city are happy with our public transportation system. In New York, I don’t think you could get 85 people, let alone 85 percent,” he said, citing not-yet-published data from an annual ridership survey for the Chicago Transit Authority. Emanuel blamed Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner for gridlock that has put the state’s credit rating near “junk” status and helped bring the Chicago Public Schools to the brink of insolvency. “There is a fundamental flaw here in the inability to find a way to say, ‘Yes,’” Emanuel said. Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis said the mayor and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan are to blame for the state’s budget stalemate and “saying no at every turn.” In national politics, Emanuel is positioned to play a role as a leader of Democratic Party efforts to recover from the 2016 electoral defeat. He has served as White House adviser to President Barack Obama and President Bill Clinton and led the 2006 mid-term campaign that returned Democrats to a majority in Congress. With a 38 percent approval rating in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump’s unpopularity figures to be a dominant issue during the 2018 mid-term elections, Emanuel said. He declined to predict whether Trump will finish his term. “It’s a parlor game right now,” he said. | 0fake |
Trump seeks a campaign reset with Detroit economic speech | DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump sought to regain momentum for his White House campaign on Monday by proposing sweeping tax breaks, cuts to federal regulations and a revival of the stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline project. The New York businessman used a speech on the economy in Detroit to try to turn the page after a week of missteps in which he came under heavy criticism, including from some in his own party, and rival Democrat Hillary Clinton surged ahead in opinion polls three months ahead of the Nov. 8 election. “I want to jump-start America,” Trump said, “and it won’t even be that hard.” Trump stuck to prepared remarks rather than the freewheeling style that often produces controversial comments at rallies. He kept his cool as some 14 protesters jumped to their feet and shouted at coordinated intervals as he spoke at the Detroit Economic Club. Trump’s remarks, which were repeatedly cheered by the crowd, appeared targeted at both an affluent business community and working people, in particular those who have suffered from a decline in U.S. manufacturing in cities such as Detroit. He dismissed Clinton as representing “the tired voices of the past.” “We now begin a great national conversation about economic renewal for America,” Trump said. “It’s a conversation about how to make America great again for everyone ... especially for those who have the very least.” Much of the speech reflected Republican talking points and critics said his proposals lacked detail. But Republican operatives and others who saw the speech praised Trump for turning his focus to policy and contrasting his ideas with Clinton’s. The question for Trump now is whether he will be able to keep his campaign on message as Republicans want him to do. Trump pitched a tax plan that mirrored traditional Republican thinking that lowering taxes and slashing regulation generates economic growth and jobs. He proposed lowering individual and corporate rates and a discounted 10 percent levy for businesses that bring back profits held overseas. Trump’s plan to create new tax deductions for childcare costs raised questions from economists about whether lower-income families would benefit. Many Republicans remain frustrated with his trade vision, which bucks party orthodoxy by calling for a rewrite of major agreements. “My response is good, bad and ugly,” said Lanhee Chen, who was policy director for the 2012 presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney. “I think the trade position remains pretty ugly,” he said. “But I understand why they did it. I think it’s a strong effort, at least, to meld elements of conservative economic policy with Trump’s more populist thinking.” Trump’s effort to shift focus came after what was widely seen as the worst week of his campaign, in which he sparred with party leaders and got entangled in a dispute with the parents of a Muslim U.S. soldier who was killed in the Iraq war. Republican Senator Susan Collins added her name on Monday to a growing list of Republican lawmakers who say they will not vote for Trump. Some frustrated Republicans plan to back a conservative alternative, former CIA officer Evan McMullin. On Monday, Trump waited for the frequent disruptions by protesters to end, smiling and refraining from his practice at campaign rallies of asking security to “get them out of here.” A group called the Michigan People’s Campaign took credit for the protests, which they said were aimed at Trump’s recent comments about sexual harassment. Clinton will outline her economic vision in Michigan on Thursday. In a statement issued before Trump’s speech, her campaign said his plan would give tax breaks to the wealthy and big companies and would hurt working families. At a rally on Monday in St. Petersburg, Florida, she derided a list of economic advisers Trump released last week as “six guys named Steve.” “Now, they tried to make his old, tired ideas sound new,” Clinton said. “He wants to basically just repackage trickle-down economics.” Trump’s rough week took its toll in opinion polls. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Sunday gave Clinton an eight-point lead, 50 percent to 42 percent. Trump, a real estate developer who has never held elected public office, touts his practical experience and potential to create jobs, blaming President Barack Obama for what he calls a weak recovery from the economic recession. On Monday, he said Clinton would rely on policies that have not worked. “She is the candidate of the past,” Trump said. “Ours is the campaign of the future.” Reaction from the crowd in Detroit was mixed. “I think he laid out a good bullet point on how he’s going to solve the economic problems with his trade policies,” said insurance executive Sal Giammursta. Others wanted more details. “People were looking for more substance,” said lawyer Al Rogalski. Trump called for a temporary moratorium on new regulations and repeated his pledges to rewrite the landmark North American trade deal that President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton’s husband, signed in 1994, and to withdraw from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership deal backed by Obama. But much of the reaction was to Trump’s tax plan. He again proposed lowering the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from the current 35 percent. And he proposed lowering income-based individual tax brackets to 12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent. In 2015, Trump proposed a lower top rate of 25 percent. After criticism from budget experts who said such low rates would balloon deficits, he tweaked his proposal to be more in line with policies supported by Republicans in Congress. “It’s encouraging that Donald Trump appears to be modifying his tax plan,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the anti-debt Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The research group Tax Policy Center estimated in December that Trump’s original plan would reduce federal tax revenues by $9.5 trillion in the first decade. Steve Moore, an adviser to Trump, said the campaign believes it has made changes to bring the plan’s cost down to $2 trillion to $3 trillion. A campaign aide said Trump would give more detail in a later speech. | 0fake |
Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Used A Green Screen At Today’s Low Turnout Rally | When you watch this video of Crooked Hillary’s speech from yesterday here in Florida, you will see some amazing things. First, you will see a background section that is in 2-D and not 3-D, like a projected image on a wall would look. Why would that be? Well, that happens in what we call green screen technology, and in this case, poorly done green screen.
Via EndBegins
When you watch this video of Crooked Hillary’s speech from yesterday here in Florida, you will see some amazing things. First, you will see a background section that is in 2-D and not 3-D, like a projected image on a wall would look. Secondly, you see when anyone steps in front of that background, there appears a darkened halo around them. Why would that be? Well, that happens in what we call green screen technology, and in this case, poorly done green screen.
Start watching at the 1:03:00 mark to see where Crooked Hillary starts speaking:
Another salient clue that she used a green screen is that when she turns around to wave to these people, they are mere feet away and yet she shakes hands with none of them. Why, because they weren’t there. Liberal news rag CNN is infamous for pretending to be in a location but in reality it’s nothing more than green screen. CNN did it here, here, and also here.
THE HANDHELD VIDEO CAMERA EXPOSES THE LIE: Look in the viewfinder of the video camera filming Crooked Hillary – it’s black behind her yet in the official video it’s filled with people. Hmm…awake yet, America?
Lastly, if you look close at the end of the video, you will see the real people behind her with cameras, but then the main group of people behind them are flattened out in 2-D because they are not actually there.
HILLARY’S RALLY WAS UBER-TINY SO IT’S LITTLE WONDER THEY HAD TO RESORT TO GREEN SCREEN: Clinton supporters beginning to enter Broward College for Hillary Clinton early voting rally in Coconut Creek #tcpalm pic.twitter.com/8HhLkFltks
— Eric Hasert (@TCPalmHasert) October 25, 2016
| 1real |
A MUST WATCH! “HILLARY’S AMERICA” – TRAILER | WOW! What are the Democrats hiding? Watch the just-released trailer for Hillary s America: The Secret History Of The Democratic Party. | 1real |
New York State Prefers You to Die of Cancer than Be ’Offended’ | An anonymous group of Twitter trolls has convinced the New York State Department of Health to withdraw ads promoting colorectal cancer screening from Breitbart News. [The public service announcement, which ran in an advertising space on Breitbart. com read: “We got screened for colon cancer when we turned 50 and we’re so glad. Click here to find out why. ” Twitter user “@nastiestwoman” took a screen grab of the ad, and tweeted at the official New York State Department of Health on Dec. 29, urging it to withdraw the ad. Hi @HealthNYGov, did you know you’re advertising on Breitbart? Please pull your ads so they don’t support hate like this. See @slpng_giants pic. twitter. — The Nastiest Woman (@nastiestwoman) December 29, 2016, The department responded the next day, indicating that it had “removed” advertising from Breitbart, without explanation. @nastiestwoman @slpng_giants We were unaware of our ad appearing on Breitbart’s site and it has been removed, — NYSDOH (@HealthNYGov) December 30, 2016, In response, @nastiestwmoan thanked the department and copied the anonymous Twitter troll account coordinating the effort to silence Breitbart: @HealthNYGov Thank you very much! to @slpng_giants for the list, — The Nastiest Woman (@nastiestwoman) December 30, 2016, Colorectal cancer affects upwards of 50 out of every 100, 000 residents of New York State, with higher prevalence within the and Hispanic communities. Breitbart News reached out to the New York State Department of Health for comment: On Dec. 30, your Twitter account indicated that you had withdrawn advertising for colon cancer screening that appeared on Breitbart. com via a third party. On what basis did you do so? Is it your scientific view that colon cancer does not affect conservatives? The department responded: “By protocol and practice, DOH reviews all advertising placements with the intention of reaching a wide audience. However, this ad’s proximity to an offensive and objectionable discussion necessitated immediate removal. ” Pressed for further detail on what was “offensive,” the department answered: “The comments in the screenshot shared by the Twitter user who brought this post to our attention. ” Breitbart News followed up: “Are you aware that comments appear on a wide variety of news websites?” The New York State Department of Health did not respond. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 0fake |
Don’t write Donald Trump’s political obituary just yet: Why surging Ben Carson looks like a flavor of the month | Trump has been the leader for several months now, but Carson appears to have broken through with key demographics, particularly evangelicals. The CBS report sums up Carson’s advantages well:
Carson has made gains across many key Republican groups. In a reversal from earlier this month, he now ahead of Trump among women and is running neck and neck with him among men. Carson’s support among evangelicals has risen and he now leads Trump by more than 20 points with this group. Carson performs well among conservative Republicans and those who identify as Tea partiers.
It’s not terribly surprising that Carson leads Trump among women and evangelicals: Trump is the misogynist par excellence and Carson is a proud religious fanatic – these are natural demographics for Carson. But Carson’s rising support among men and Tea Partiers, relative to Trump, is somewhat surprising.
Tea Partiers don’t do policy. Their project is essentially negative, which is why the GOP’s nihilism and obstructionism began in earnest when Tea Partiers were elected to Congress in 2010. Neither Carson nor Trump have anything resembling a platform or a plan. They’re outsiders with no political experience who want to disrupt the status quo – that’s a message that resonates with conservative men and Tea Partiers.
If there’s a difference, it’s that Trump is louder and more aggressively obnoxious than Carson, which ought to endear him to these demographics. Evidently, though, Carson’s unhinged nice guy routine is working. His new campaign ad perfectly illustrates both his appeal and his vacuousness.
In a 30-second TV spot, Carson manages to hit all the right conservative notes without coming close to explaining what he’s going to do. “I’m Ben Carson and I’m running for president,” he says. “The political class and their pundit buddies say: ‘Impossible. He’s too outside the box.’ Well, they do know impossible. Impossible to balance the budget, impossible to get border security, impossible to put aside partisanship…I’m Ben Carson, I’m running for president, and I’m very much outside the box.”
If you’re waiting for the part where he says how he’s going to balance the budget or get border security or put aside partisanship, you don’t know Ben Carson or the new GOP. Carson is basically doing the same thing as Trump: bashing the “political class” and promising to fix everything that’s broken – only Carson does so with a lukewarm smile whereas Trump pounds his fist on the table with Tri-State bravado. It doesn’t matter that neither candidate has a discernible plan to accomplish any of these things – the empty rhetoric is more than enough for Republican voters. One of the more interesting findings in the new CBS/NYT poll is that 55 percent of Trump backers say their support is firm, while 80 percent of Carson supporters say they could change their minds. This is good news for Trump; it suggests Carson is far more of a flavor of the month candidate than Trump. Whatever the reason, Trump has real staying power – he’s proven that. Carson, however, remains a question mark. He may well win in Iowa, thanks to his support among evangelicals, but the GOP’s last two Iowa winners – Santorum and Huckabee – lost the nomination. Trump, moreover, is well-positioned in the other early primary states like New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he remains comfortably ahead of Carson. Carson’s boost in the polls will be a boon to his campaign, but his long-term viability is still debatable. If this trend continues for another month or two, however, Trump might be in real trouble. | 0fake |
“WOODY” KAINE One Of Six ARRESTED After Peaceful Pro-Trump Supporters Were Attacked By VIOLENT RIOTERS At MN State Capitol [VIDEO] | Watch the local news report as they explain what happened in Minnesota s State Capitol located in St. Paul:The youngest son of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton s 2016 running mate, was one of six people arrested Saturday after counter-protesters disrupted a rally in support of President Donald Trump at the Minnesota State Capitol.Linwood Michael Kaine, 24, and four others were arrested on suspicion of second-degree riot after the March 4 Trump rally in St. Paul; a sixth person was cited for disorderly conduct. Counter-protesters clashed with Trump supporters in the Capitol rotunda after they disrupted the proceedings with air horns, whistles and chants. At one point, someone set off a smoke bomb.Linwood Kaine, a Minneapolis resident who attended Carleton College and goes by Woody, was released from the Ramsey County jail on Tuesday morning pending further investigation, law enforcement officials said.No charges were filed against him or the four other people who were arrested by St. Paul police.St. Paul City Attorney Samuel Clark is reviewing the case for possible misdemeanor charges. Twin Cities PioneerWe cannot confirm that Woody Kaine, son of Hillary s VP choice was captured in the video below that clearlyshows violent protesters attacking peaceful Trump supporters: h/t Gateway Pundit | 1real |
How Grey are the White Helmets and Their Backers? | 15 Shares
5 8 0 2
While thousands of humanitarian organisations around the world are struggling fiercely with diminishing support from governments and the public, one has achieved a surprising amount of support from Western governments in a surprisingly short period of time and gained a surprising attention from mainstream media and ditto political elites: The Syrian Civil Defence or White Helmets.
Their name of course makes you think of the UN’s Blue Helmet and white is the colour of those who should be protected in harm’s way – and the colour of innocence. However, for many years there has been an Argentinian relief organisation with the same name.
The SCD or White Helmets counts nearly 3.000 rescue workers who operate in very dangerous areas in rebel-held territories in Syria and claims that it has, in three years, rescued about 70.000 lives according to its Twitter account (or 65 per day).
Contrary to what you might think, it isn’t a Syrian organisation because Syria has its own organisation, incidentally also called Syria Civil Defence, which was established in 1953 and is registered with ICDO, the International Civil Defence Organisation , since 1972.
The White Helmets seems to have an annual budget of US$ 30 million and has raised a total support of well over US$ 100 million. And it seems that they operate exclusively in war zones in which the fighting against the Syrian government and the Syrian Arab Army takes place, i.e. in ‘liberated’ areas where hundreds of groups and some 80 countries, mainly NATO members, Gulf states and Saudi-Arabia, operate.
On the White Helmets’ briefing page it is stated that “funding for their humanitarian relief work is received from the aid budgets of Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.”
Here is how the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen explains the roughly US$ 9 million to the White helmets from Denmark, a country that bombs in both Iraq and Syria.
Other civil society and humanitarian organisations inside Syria have not been so fortunate. You’ve probably not heard that much about the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and its work ? How much/little support have they received from Western humanitarian-concerned governments? And in general, civil society organisations in Syria – women, peace, human rights, culture, etc. – have received nothing like US$ 100 million in a few years and no one has such a flashy media appearance as the White Helmets.
The White Helmets was started in 2013 by James Le Mesurier who seems to have tried a little of everything everywhere, including the grey zones of special forces and intelligence in virtually all NATO wars, Yugoslavia in particular. He later set up a foundation in Holland to gather the funds. Here is a recent account by Scott Ritter , former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and weapons inspector in Iraq with tremendous knowledge of things Middle East:
“The organizational underpinnings of the White Helmets can be sourced to a March 2013 meeting in Istanbul between a retired British military officer, James Le Mesurier—who had experience in the murky world of private security companies and the shadowy confluence between national security and intelligence operations and international organizations—and representatives of the Syrian National Council (SNC) and the Qatari Red Crescent Society. Earlier that month, the SNC was given Syria’s seat in the Arab League at a meeting of the league held in Qatar.
At that meeting, the SNC assumed Syria’s seat, and the Arab League authorized member states to actively provide support, including arms and ammunition, to the Syrian rebels. The Qataris, working through the SNC, helped assemble for Le Mesurier $300,000 in seed money from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom for a seven-day course designed to train and equip a 25-person rescue team, recruited by the SNC, for duty in so-called “liberated areas” of Syria. The SNC made available a pair of Syrian activists—Raed Saleh and Farouq Habib—to assist Le Mesurier in this work.
The group is – as will be seen below – treated as uncontroversial in virtually all Western mainstream media. However, there is enough material with documentation to merit caution.
If you read media reports about the White Helmets and do not see the author mention that this group’s real identity is disputed and functions controversial you can be sure that you are wasting your time with somebody who is politically incredibly naive, or gullible; someone who has not done his or her research or is knowingly part of a deceptive effort serving a one-sided political agenda.
The White Helmets definitely is an controversial NGO – at the same time as it is (made) difficult to understand clearly what it really is.
And until the whole picture has been developed, anyone ought to be cautious with taking information about them at face value. So much must be clear given the links below.
Dual purpose?
That said, this author has not been on the ground but has studied both the pro- et contra links provided below.
Some observers draw the conclusion that the White Helmets – Syrian Civil Defence – is purely good guys rescuing lots of people, children in particular. The opposite advocacy claims that, all told, they are part of the terrorist groups, serve Western governments with intelligence and that their backers run political propaganda in their name and that they are simply executioners – murderers with a human face.
But does it have to be either/or?
An alternative hypothesis could be that the White Helmets is a dual-purposeorganisation. They claim to be ordinary Syrian volunteers who came together around the idea of saving lives and are truly altruistic “bakers, tailors, engineers, pharmacists, painters, carpenters, students and many more, the White Helmets are volunteers from all walks of life.” It could well be that some of them actually are, even a majority.
That doesn’t preclude that other elements – not the least those operating outside Syria such as foundations, PR and marketing firms, change organisations, NATO government and NGOs are in it with less noble, war-promoting purposes.
Link collection pro et contra
Find below a link collection – long but fascinating in its wealth of information. We bring it as a help to those seriously interested in Syria’s fate and in studying how opinions are being built by means of connected actors in a rather opaque networking structure, in how NGOs have increasingly become Near-governmental organisations and for those who do not want to sound foolish when they discuss these matters.
First some links to how the the White Helmets presents themselves. Second, some mainstream media articles in their favour of and praising it – including some that argue that the White Helmets ought to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (which happens to be nonsense, since they don’t even remotely qualify according to the criteria in Alfred Nobel’s very clear will and the prize is not a general do-good-prize. In addition, it must be doubted that the Nobel Committee will get more persuaded by the White Helmets’ – quite immodest – campaign in favour of their own candidacy).
Third some links to the comprehensive network of organisations, including governments, that the White Helmets seem to be part of – and it is quite a confusing lot with absolutely no transparency – but quite a few investigations have been carried out.
And fourth and final – the main links to investigative reports and other stuff that are sceptical in various degrees to the first three.
1. The White Helmets present themselves
The Syrian Civil Defence – The White Helmets
The White Helmet Homepage
On the front page you are asked to sign an appeal for establishing a No-Fly Zone (which would be a violation of international law).
Wikipedia’s entry about the White Helmets
The White Helmets’ media FAQs
Syria Civil Defence on Facebook
The White Helmets on Twitter
Netflix
Official Trailer about White Helmets
The Atlantic
The makers of the Netflix movie give their background
Mayday Rescue
Dutch foundation supporting the White Helmets
According to its website it channels government funds to the White Helmets: “Syria Civil Defence receives funding (through Mayday Rescue and Chemonics) from the governments of the UK, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Japan, and the USA.”
Chemonics
A US global development corporation through which government funds for the White Helmets are channelled (according to Mayday Rescue).
White Helmets themselves campaigning for the 2016 or 2017 Nobel Peace Prize
2. Sources that promote the White Helmets without questioning
Time
How the White Helmets are being hunted in a devastated Aleppo
Time
The White Helmets of Syria
The Economist
The rise of Syria’s White Helmets
Syria’s White Helmets
A film by Danish journalist Nagieb Khaja shown on Al-Jazeera (30 secs into the film one learns that they have saved more than 56.000 lives “since the war began in 2011″ although the White Helmets were formed in 2013).
Nominated for an Oscar
The Nobel Peace Prize must go to the White Helmets
The Guardian view on the Nobel peace prize: give it to Syria’s White Helmets – Editorial
Syria’s White Helmets nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
The White Helmets get the Right Livelihood Award
The Right Livelihood’s motivation – almost a copy of the White Helmets’ own story
3. Organisations in the network around the White Helmets
Purpose
A social movement creation and PR company that allegedly wants to change the world, co-founded by Jeremy Heimans – whose mainstream, politically correct background you see here . Jeremy – of course – began his career with the strategy consultants McKinsey & Company. He also happens to be a co-founder of
Avaaz
Avaaz means voice or song in several languages and the organisation is known by millions as a petition platform for many good/progressive causes. Avaaz has some 43 million members around the world and is thus easily the largest NGO in the world.
Avaaz has also created Purpose.com. Here Jeremy Heimans, co-founder of Avaaz too, speaks to Forbes about his background and what the two companies do.
Avaaz is very active in promoting a No-Fly Zone in Syria which it explains in a petition text with these words: “Let’s build a resounding global call to Obama and other leaders to stand up to Putin and Assad’s terror. This might be our last, best chance to help end this mass murder of defenceless children. Add your name.”
The sad thing is that it has learnt nothing from its own campaign for a No-Fly Zone in Libya. John Hanrahan is a former executive director of The Fund for Investigative Journalism and reporter for The Washington Post, The Washington Star, UPI and other news organisations has made this extremely interesting analysis about how odd it is that Avaaz maintains an interventionist war-agenda in spite of earlier experiences and resistance even by high-ranking militaries.
Hanrahan Quote: s Avaaz’s campaign director, former State Department official John Tye, “that Avaaz shows 54,000 members in Syria in a population of 23 million – which means that even if every Avaaz member supported a no-fly zone, this would still mean that only one of every 426 Syrians had “voted” for one.
Avaaz spearheads – at least in this matter – an extreme militarist policy while “Avaaz is a global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere”. Which people want a No-Fly Zone in Syria? Do they know it’s a violation of a sovereign state’s airspace, of international law? That it would embolden every terrorist on Syrian soil because they would get rid of the Syrian Airforce as their enemy? That it continued into regime change in both Iraq and Libya?
Many questions unanswered by this peculiar “people power” organisation, more militarist than governments!
But back to Purpose.com and one of its important clients:
The Syria Campaign – home
They maintain on their website that “The Syria Campaign is fiercely independent and has accepted no money from governments, corporations or anyone directly involved in the Syrian conflict. This allows us full autonomy to advocate for whatever is needed to save lives.” But they also say that they have accepted funds from the Asfari Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation and other anonymous donors.
The Syria Campaign also states that it is only pro-human rights and pro-freedom and takes no side. But they explain the conflict in these words:
“The regime of Bashar al-Assad is responsible for crushing a peaceful uprising that has led to the deaths of over 450,000 people, the displacement of over 12 million – half the country – and the emergence of violent, extremist groups like Isis.
Today the fighting in Syria has given way to a world war with more than eighty countries involved on all sides.
The majority of Syrians want neither Assad nor Isis. They want an end to the violence and a democratic Syria.
What is happening in Syria could be happening to any of us. No one is free until we’re all free.”
I would characterise such a presentation as side-taking wrapped in substance-free marketing jargon; a very politicised statement wearing only black-and-white.
About the Syria Campaign
What the Syria Campaign is proud of: Impact page
The Syria Campaign seeks all-stars senior campaigner and “You don’t need to know anything about Syria”
The Syria Campaign on Facebook
The Syria Campaign on Twitter
Analysis, Research and Knowledge (Ark)
A private company, headquartered in Dubai, that describes itself as “a research, conflict transformation and stabilisation consultancy”.
In Syria “Ark has been at the forefront of the response to the conflict … for the past five years”. One of its two team members, Alistair Harris is described here advocating two years ago that “moderates” should be armed to fight ISIS and not only in Iraq but also in Syria.
The British-based Asfari Foundation for change
White Helmets, according to their website, received seed funding came from the Asfari Foundation – trustees of which are heavily related to the oil industry and corporate finance. The Asfari Foundation’s bonds with the Syria Campaign is dealt with here .
4. Sources raising investigation-based questions about the White Helmets
Vanessa Beeley
Syria’s White Helmets: War by Way of Deception – Part I
Scott Ritter at TruthDig
The ‘White Helmets’ and the Inherent Contradiction of America’s Syria Policy
Hands off Syria
The White Helmets – al-Qaeda with a facelift (video)
Rick Sterling
The “White Helmets” Controversy
Vanessa Beeley
Who are Syria’s White Helmets?
Vanessa Beeley
The real Syrian Civil Defence
Christina Lin, Asia Times
White Helmets: Instrument of regime change in Syria?
Jonathan Gornell
Newsmaker: The White Helmets
Syria Solidarity Movement
Its list of humanitarian/human rights organisation that are pushing for war on Syria and its government
Open Letter from The Hamilton Coalition To Stop War
White Helmets should NOT be Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Max Blumenthal
Inside the shadowy public relation firm that is lobbying for regime change in Syria (I)
Max Blumenthal
How the White Helmets Became International Heroes While Pushing U.S. Military Intervention and Regime Change in Syria (II)
Rick Sterling
Seven steps of highly effective manipulators
The article contains this diagram:
21st Century Wire
CrossTalk: ‘White Helmets, Really?’ with Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett & Patrick Henningsen (video)
Russia Today
Multi-million funded – can’t be independent
General reasons for concern about the real identity of the White Helmets
Here are some of the reasons – numbers not indicative of priority:
1. Huge funding by NATO/EU countries which are militarily involved.
2. A degree of political lobbying – a very specific explanation of the conflict and how it started which points to a no-fly zone, weaponization of human rights issues and speaks strongly against the Syrian government and Russia and very critically of the UN – that is extremely unusual for a purely humanitarian organisation.
3. Incredibly advanced public relation in terms of very professional websites, videos and PR strategy dropping the right stories and images at the right time – quite unique for a group of “bakers, tailors and students” etc..
“Omram rescued from a Russian airstrike” – From the White Helmets’ homepage.
4. Too professional wordings and images, too much playing to (exploitation of) emotions, too catchy smart formulations again and again; in short, lacking every sense of genuine local quality. Too many children – and cats – in the images speaking to an audience with little politically consciousness but surely a good heart. In short, populist marketing also in the sense of conveying the message: Look how good we are and how evil everybody else are.
5. Guilt by association: If the White Helmets is a 100% humanitarian first responder organisation it must be extremely naive in ignoring that its integrity, credibility and noble purposes is put at risk with the specific network of organisations and governments that it has chosen to seek support from.
6. Substance versus public relation: how does a humanitarian organisation justify that millions of dollars are spent on self-promoting public relation rather than on saving more lives in such a horrific war? And taking so many photos and shoot films of its own work in the midst of massacres and bombing raids?
7. It’s very difficult to discern who actually manages the White Helmets in general and in terms of day-to-day operations. One looks in vain for something like an organisational chart secretary-general, board, executive director (although one is mentioned, Raed Saleh, whom the US has on one occasion actually denied entry into the US).
8. How come that such an innovative organisation seems to have been started in circles that have to do with oil interests, British intelligence, mercenary/military operations and interventionist/bombing countries?
9. How come it works only in rebel/terrorist/liberated areas? Could it do that without co-operation or co-ordination with some of these groups? It has been stated – naively – by the Right Livelihood Award Foundation that their vision is to operate also on government-controlled territory and later be a leader in re-building a new democratic post-war Syria. However, why should the sovereign state of Syria’s legitimate government accept a foreign-based and -financed civil defence territory there when it has had its own since 1953?
Perhaps we should not be that surprised?
Should we be surprised that humanitarian workers are involved in “something else” and are not exclusively devoted to doing no harm and doing good for humanity?
Not really. I’ve met that sort of people and organisations during the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, among other places at the US Embassy in Zagreb where the humanitarian section people, most likely CIA operatives, after some talk with me about helping the people switched to talk about how good it would be if president Milosevic was killed.
Are humanitarian organisations – like most other NGOs today – highly or completely dependent on governments? Yes, most are. And they should therefore always be checked for possible moral corruption and co-optation. Many are no longer Non- but Near-governmental and behave, at minimum, politically correct or serve/promote the interests of their governments one way or the other.
Wasn’t Doctors Without Borders started by Bernard Kouchner who advocated military humanitarian intervention as an idea, did the dirty job for NATO in Kosovo and morally advocated the bombing of Libya as a “peace guarantee”? Here an interesting video debate with him at Oxford by Mehdi Hasan.
Should it be so surprising that – even liberal, democratic – governments propagandise, construct concrete stories to appeal to the human heart in us all (for a good cause) and that they regularly lie, do fear-mongering, use stereotyping and demonisation, present black-and-white narratives – all of which serve their elites’ interests and may not always be that noble in reality?
Think of the ugly shadow world of the global arms trade in which virtually all governments take part in?
Of course not. No wars would be possible without one of more of these ingredients.
Think of the – invented – story about the Iraqi soldiers who kicked out babies of incubators in Kuwait city – all invented as part of the Citizens for a Free Kuwait public relations campaign which was run by American Hill & Knowlton for the Kuwaiti government.
Or, remember James Harf of the US public relations firm, Ruder and Finn , who in 1991 was hired by the Croatian and Bosnian governments as well as by the Kosovo-Albanians to create and promote an anti-Serb attitude in the Western media?
Says Harf “We were able to equate Serbs to Nazis in public opinion…” Some kind of balance or truth didn’t interest him: “We are professionals. We have got a job to do and we do it.”
If there is anything new in this field since the early 1990s it is the spectrum, the depth, the money and the intensity with which public opinion is being deceived about war and peace – that war today is peace and peace is preserved by violence. And the de facto replacement of knowledge and texts by purpose-driven, mediatized and emotionalised “narratives” and images and films – right down on you phone and into your mind.
In summary: Illusions about our goodness that feed social narcissism and the MIMAC
I do not believe that I know exactly what the whole story and the truth is about the White Helmets. But I know that quite a few things don’t feel right.
As a sociologist and peace researcher with four decades of academic and practical experience of global affairs and work in conflict zones, the word spoken by the guard Marcellus in Shakespeare’s Hamlet at Kronborg Castle in my native Denmark come to mind: “There is something rotten in the state…” not only in the bombing state of Denmark (that supports the White Helmets) but also in the state of the – free – media coverage of conflicts and wars.
If, thus, you are generally sceptical of Western media coverage of wars fought by the West and specifically of the story of the White Helmets as a purely brave humanitarian organisation – are you then automatically pro-Assad, pro-Russia or pro-bombing? If you are critical to A, must you automatically endorse everything B or C does?
Given the “Zeitgeist” of these times, my hunch is that the anti-intellectual’s, the propagandist’s and the blamegamer’s answer is a roaring “Yes!” Personally, I couldn’t care less but there is reason to worry about the fact that our media are not free to take up the issues dealt with here.
Pulitzer prize winner, Chris Hedges, talks about “the incessant manufacturing of illusions that feed social narcissism.” The – unwinnable – wars the West fights with the illusory ideology of spreading goodness, democracy, freedom and peace as well as the alleged good role of the White Helmets in it is little else but an expression of such an incessant manufacturing of illusions that feed social narcissism of the many while filling the pockets of the few in the Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex (MIMAC).
It’s time to give reality show politics and media a reality check. But who can and who will? And who dares now everything will get worse after November 8? | 1real |
Trump blasts Republican senator on 'moral equivalency' after Virginia attack | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump on Thursday fired back at a critic in his own party who had denounced the president’s response to the Charlottesville, Virginia, attack, saying he had not drawn a “moral equivalency” between white hate groups and counter-protesters. Trump, on Twitter, called fellow Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham’s statement a day earlier “a disgusting lie.” On Wednesday, Graham had said Trump’s statements after the weekend attack had suggested “moral equivalency” between the two sides and urged him to instead use his words to heal Americans instead. | 0fake |
PrankGate? Patriots' Gostkowski Terrorizing NFL Via Prank Calls | Friday, 4 November 2016
First there was SpyGate, then there was DeflateGate, and now… PrankGate?
It's common knowledge amongst NFL fans that the New England Patriots seek out innovative and creative ways to gain a competitive advantage - often blurring the line between gamesmanship .and rule-breaking. We've all heard the rumors of helmet radio interference, or fire alarms sounding late at night in visiting teams' hotel rooms, or that Peyton Manning himself refused to ever speak aloud in the locker room at Foxborough. But now it is alleged that over the past decade, members of the Patriots' special teams unit have placed thousands of elaborate prank calls to opposing players and coaches in hopes of disturbing them mentally and emotionally.
Speaking anonymously, a former special teams assistant named 4-time Pro Bowl kicker Stephen Gostkowski as the ringleader of the operation:
"The plan was to pose as solicitors, family members, or even romantic partners"
According to our source, Gostkowski makes the majority of the calls himself, and finds considerable pleasure in hoodwinking his opponents.
"He refers to himself as Stephen Gotcha-kowski," confessed the whistleblower, "Stephen Gostkowski might be the best kicker in the world, but Stephen Gotcha-kowski is the greatest pranker on the planet. His words, not mine."
"When Stephen arrived in 2006, Bill [Belichick] told the special teams guys to find busywork while the offense and defense were watching game film," recalls the ex-assistant. "Stephen didn't even blink. He started dialing that day and never looked back. First we collected phone numbers of former Patriots and ex-teammates. Before the bye week, we had every number in the league."
Gostkowski took his craft seriously. Our source claims he hired a team of assistants to perform hours of research to craft the perfect call to suit each victim. When a video surfaced of Rex Ryan fetishizing his wife's feet, Gostkowski brought his own wife in and jumped on the opportunity:
"He had his wife, Hallie, flirting with Rex three or four times a week. She was just as into the pranking as Stephen was. She made up a character for herself, bought a bunch of high heels, and would act out scenes while she was on the phone with him. Rex loved that girl. He was ready to put her in his will." This prank may have backfired, however, by serving as motivation for Rex- the Jets beat the Patriots in the playoffs one month later.
Before the 2006 AFC Championship game, the shenanigans took a dark turn. Gostkowski called Colts head coach Tony Dungy, posing as a suicidal college student.
"That got intense," our source remembers. "Coach Dungy was a sweetheart. They talked for hours and by the end of it, Steve was broken down in tears. I thought Dungy was wearing him down emotionally, but as soon as they hung up, he busted out laughing and got started on the next call. That one gave me the creeps."
Again, Gostkowski's ploy failed. Despite the lack of sleep, Dungy's warm and motivational demeanor helped his Colts to defeat the Patriots on the way to a Super Bowl victory.
More than just a conniving prankster, Gostkowski also became a master impersonator. In 2010, he spent weeks honing a spot-on impression of 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh. Gostkowski studied his dialect, inflections, and even began mimicking the coach's movements and style of dress while at home. He then called Harbaugh's brother, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, and slipped into character.
"Dude went balls out on that call," recounts the former assistant. "He drank 2 cans of Red Bull and threatened to set John's house on fire." With such a bold claim, one would think Harbaugh would catch on quickly, but that wasn't the case. "John totally bought it, almost as if the threats came as no surprise to him." Public records do indicate that police visited both brothers' homes on January 9, 2010, but it did not hinder the Ravens' performance as Harbaugh's squad thumped the Pats 33-14 in the Wild Card Playoff game the next day.
This method however did not deceive another famous pair of brothers. Gostkowski called Giants quarterback Eli Manning prior to the Patriots devastating Super Bowl XLII loss, this time posing as legendary quarterback, Peyton Manning.
"Eli was really smart about it," our source discloses. "He was one of the first to catch on. He strung Steve along, discussing 'strategy' for a good 20 minutes or so. Then Eli started asking him personal questions with increasing specificity. Steve came prepared and nailed the stuff about Peyton's favorite sandwich and the suspicious spot on his [scrotum], but crumbled when Eli brought up a childhood story about a Manning family reunion that ended in tragedy. Gostkowski pretended to lose service and hung up the phone, but he was sweating bullets."
After locking up the stunning upset, Manning made sure to catch up with Gostkowski on the field. "Eli shook Steve's hand, brought him in close, and whispered 'I dropped the turd in the gumbo'. That really pissed him off."
Just how many prank calls has Stephen Gotcha-kowski made over the years? "I would say upwards of five thousand- that's just during practice. Who knows how much pranking he did in his spare time." The source alleges that Gostkowski once convinced former Bengals head coach Jon Gruden to buy into a pyramid scheme, and even tricked friend and former teammate Wes Welker into believing he was suffering from schizophrenia.
"I could write a book on this guy," declared the assistant. When asked if he thinks the Pats' kicker is still making these types of calls: "I would bet my kidney that he's still doing it, and I only have one kidney. Stephen can't live without pranking. He's got dossiers on every player in the league, plus guys scouting for dirt on college players. The guy has at least 20 burner phones at all times. I wouldn't doubt that he had a hand in [Browns wide receiver] Josh Gordon checking into rehab just before they played the Pats. That reeks of Gotcha-kowski influence."
It remains to be seen if PrankGate will garner the same attention from mainstream news outlets as this team's previous scandals. Perhaps the league will be reluctant to pick at the Patriots' wounds so soon after an expensive and tiresome legal battle with Tom Brady. But if further evidence presents itself or more witnesses come forward, this story has the capacity to be the Pats' most shocking example of disregard for the spirit of the game. There are no specific rules in regards to making prank phone calls, but personal harassment of this magnitude is sure to violate the league's code of personal conduct policy. Who will get the last laugh in PrankGate? Probably Eli Manning. Make Hey Hey Nixon-Cox's | 1real |
Iran strikes deal with Syria to repair power grid | LONDON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran signed deals with Damascus on Tuesday to repair Syria s power grid, state media said, a potentially lucrative move for Tehran that points to a deepening economic role after years of fighting in the Syrian conflict. Shunned by Western powers, the Syrian government is looking to friendly states such as Iran, Russia and China to play a major role in rebuilding the country, as the war heads toward its seventh year. Since at least 2012, Iran has provided critical military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s government, helping it regain control of swathes of the country. Iran experts say Tehran is now looking to reap a financial dividend. In January, Iran s government and entities close to Iran s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) signed major telecommunications and mining deals with Damascus. [nL5N1F84NX] On Tuesday, Iran and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding during a visit by Syria s electricity minister to Tehran, including building a power plant the coastal province Latakia with a capacity of 540 megawatts, Syrian state news agency SANA said. The agreement involves restoring the main control center for Syria s electricity grid in the capital Damascus, it said. The new electricity deals could be worth millions of euros, Iranian state media said on Tuesday. The agreement also includes rehabilitating a 90-megawatt power station in Deir al-Zor province, where the Syrian army and allied forces have made swift advances against Islamic State in recent days. With Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, the government has driven rebels from Syria s main urban centers in western Syria and marched eastwards against Islamic State. The Syrian government ... is working relentlessly to restore the power system, SANA cited Syrian Electricity Minister Mohammad Zuhair Kharboutli as saying. Iranian companies will have a role in rebuilding Syria. Two contracts were also signed, including for Iran to supply power to Aleppo city, which the Syrian military and its allies fully regained last year in a major blow to rebels, SANA said. We will stand by the Syrian people to rebuild this country ... We will bring light to houses of the Syrian people, Sattar Mahmoudi, Iran s caretaker energy minister, was quoted as saying on the ministry s website. The deals will be worth hundreds of millions of euros if finalised, and Tehran is also keen to expand its cooperation to construct water and sewerage facilities in Syria, he said. More than 1,000 soldiers deployed by the Revolutionary Guards to Syria have died on the front lines of the multi-sided conflict in recent years. Iran s Revolutionary Guards saved the Assad regime from collapsing at a heavy price for Damascus for now they own Syria, Emanuele Ottolenghi, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Reuters. I expect these to be the first in a wave of tenders won by IRGC companies, which will have the best reconstruction projects to Iran, he added. Iranian firms are already involved in a series of electricity generation projects in Syria. Iran aims to export electricity and create the biggest power network in the Islamic world by hooking up Iran s national grid with those of Iraq and Lebanon. Iran said in August that it has exported $58 million worth of goods to Syria in the first four months of this year, marking a 100 percent increase compared with the same period a year ago. | 0fake |
Rural Areas Brace for a Shortage of Doctors Due to Visa Policy - The New York Times | In Coudersport, Pa. a town in a mountainous region an hour’s drive from the nearest Walmart, Cole Memorial Hospital counts on two Jordanian physicians to keep its obstetrics unit open and is actively recruiting foreign specialists. In Fargo, N. D. a gastroenterologist from Lebanon — who is among hundreds of foreign physicians in the state — has risen to become vice president of the North Dakota Medical Association. In Great Falls, Mont. 60 percent of the doctors who specialize in hospital care at Benefis Health System, which serves about 230, 000 people in 15 counties, are foreign doctors on work visas. America relies on a steady flow of doctors from around the world to deliver babies, treat heart ailments and address its residents’ medical needs. But a recent, decision by the government to alter the timetable for some visa applications is likely to delay the arrival of new foreign doctors, and is causing concern in the places that depend on them. While the Trump administration is fighting, in the courts of justice and public opinion, for its temporary travel ban affecting six countries, the slowdown in the rural doctor pipeline shows how even a small, relatively uncontroversial change can ripple throughout the country. In Montana, for example, where nine counties do not have a single physician, it means Benefis Health does not know when a Romanian doctor trained in kidney transplants will arrive. The health care company spent months recruiting the doctor and had been expecting her in July. “Our health system already has nine months invested in her, and now we have no idea when she can start,” said Erica Martin, who recruits doctors for the company. The doctor, Silviana Marineci, who is completing a fellowship at the University of Minnesota, said she was frazzled by being in limbo. “I won’t have an income, I don’t know if I will afford rent, I don’t know where I will be,” she said. “It’s insane. ” The procedural change regards temporary visas for skilled workers, known as visas. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced that it would temporarily suspend a “premium processing” option by which employers could pay an extra $1, 225 to have applications approved in as little as two weeks, rather than several months. Companies using that option, the government said, have effectively delayed visas for others who did not pay the extra fee. A spokeswoman for the immigration agency, Arwen Consaul, said in a statement that the measure was necessary to “work down the existing backlogs due to the high volume of incoming petitions. ” The program has raised questions about whether it displaces American workers, particularly in computer programming and engineering jobs, for which most of the visas are issued. recipients also include foreign physicians who practice in places shunned by American doctors for personal and professional reasons. About 25 percent of all physicians practicing or training in the United States are foreign, but in some inner cities and most rural areas, that share is significantly higher. There were 211, 460 international medical graduates practicing in the United States in December 2015, according to the latest data available from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. Senators Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat Susan M. Collins, Republican of Maine and Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat of North Dakota, have urged the agency to continue premium processing. “Slowing down this successful program and the doctors it brings to rural areas will hurt families across North Dakota and rural America,” Ms. Heitkamp wrote in an email. It was a North Dakota senator, Kent Conrad, who in 1994 proposed to relieve a shortage of doctors by tapping foreign physicians who have completed medical education in the United States. His program waives the requirement that foreign doctors who graduate from residency programs in the United States return to their home countries for two years before working here. It lures such graduates to practice in underserved areas by offering them the chance to apply for a green card to live permanently in the United States after three years. The program must be reauthorized by Congress every two years. Ms. Klobuchar, who twice has introduced legislation to make the program permanent, plans to do so again in the coming weeks. Since the program’s inception, tens of thousands of foreign physicians in a variety of specialties have flocked to clinics and hospitals in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta region, the Great Plains and elsewhere. Many of them, such as Dr. Fadel E. Nammour, the vice president of the North Dakota Medical Association, put down roots and never leave. The friendliness that he found in Fargo reminded him of his home country, Dr. Nammour said. As a token of his gratitude, one of his first patients brought him a Styrofoam box filled with freshly caught walleye, a fish that thrives in the state’s lakes. “We provide not only the care but also our leadership,” said Dr. Nammour, who is now an American citizen. “The focus should be on making it easier to bring people in to cover the physician shortage we have. ” The delay also could affect the roughly 400 foreign medical graduates who come each year to participate in residency programs at teaching hospitals. The doctors were matched on Friday for residencies starting July 1 across the country. “Everyone around the country will be in a mad scramble to figure out this visa situation,” said Michelle the director of international student and scholar services at the University of Colorado in Denver, which usually takes 10 or 12 residents on each year at its Anschutz Medical Campus. The immigration agency said in a statement that applicants could still request an approval on an “expedited basis,” if they could prove there was an emergency or humanitarian justification. Immigration lawyers said that it was extremely difficult to meet that standard, and that they doubted whether the agency could handle a flood of such requests. “If they don’t have the manpower to do premium processing, I don’t see how they are going to do special requests,” said Andrea Szew, a lawyer in Los Angeles. In the meantime, hospitals and clinics are adjusting to the possibility of being without some doctors for a while. Ms. Martin of Benefis Health said the hospital would have to give other doctors additional shifts or hire costly temporary physicians, who are frowned upon because they cannot develop a rapport with patients during their brief stints or provide continuity of care. Ms. Martin said Benefis Health was also recruiting other foreign physicians who could end up in the same situation as Dr. Marineci. “The most problematic thing is the unknown” about when the doctors can start, she said. Rom Satchi, a Canadian who completed his pediatric residency at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, was invited for interviews at facilities in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Pennsylvania and several other places desperate for a pediatrician. Ultimately, Dr. Satchi signed a contract with Mama Mia Pediatrics in northern Las Vegas, a area that has been struggling to handle a swelling patient caseload. He agreed to start in . But now, it is uncertain whether he will be able to get his visa in time. “At this point, I have no voice,” said Dr. Satchi, who plans to return to Canada and wait, jobless, until the visa is approved. “I can’t do anything. ” | 0fake |
An open letter to Donald Trump from Ari Fleischer: Five things you need to do now | Based on the possibility that you will become the nominee of the Republican Party, and perhaps the president of the United States, I offer you the following thoughts on what you need to do as this unusual primary season approaches its homestretch.
I do this out of dedication to my country and Party. I want Republicans to win the presidency and I am worried about the harm that will be done if Secretary Hillary Clinton becomes president.
Your loss in Wisconsin on Tuesday is a sign that your style of campaigning is catching up to you.
You have done a powerful job of energizing some 35 to 40 percent of Republican primary voters and you have made the Republican Party more attractive to lower-income, working Americans who typically question whether the GOP cares about them. But getting to 50 percent is your problem and many of your recent statements and tweets are driving away the people you need to close the deal.
If you want to close the gap and win a majority of the Party, you need to:
1. Stop fighting with everyone and don’t be so nasty. When you tweet unflattering pictures of Senator Cruz’s wife and threaten to “spill the beans” about her, question Ben Carson’s faith, offer to pay the legal bills of those who engage in violence, fault POWs, or accuse President Bush of being a liar, you push away voters you need to get to 50 percent. If you keep acting like this, you will keep your 40 percent -- they love it – but you’ll never hit 50 percent. It’s too hot, too much, too often. Pick smarter fights and do so in a less belittling and pejorative manner. You can make provocative points and be true to yourself if you would only be smarter about how and when you fight.
2. Get your facts right. Think about how much stronger you would be if you supported your statements with accurate facts or anecdotes. If you had said “a small group” of Muslims cheered from rooftops in New Jersey on September 11th, no one could have faulted you. Same thing when you say we “send nothing” to Japan, or when you misstate the trade deficit with China. You often fudge up your poll numbers too. You regularly show that facts are malleable to you, and that raises doubts about your substantive knowledge on all sorts of matters.
3. Learn more policy. Your comments about abortion were a double-edged disaster. You alienated everyone. They showed you are not familiar with the background of an important emotional issue. Anyone aware of Right to Life’s thinking knows, mothers are not criminals. You need to take the time to learn a variety of issues. You might think everyone in Washington is stupid, but there are a lot of smart people in that town who actually care about issues and you should find the ones you trust and listen to them. No one expects you to memorize arcane policy points. But it will be harder for you to reach 50 percent if voters think you can’t demonstrate sufficient knowledge to sit in the Oval Office.
4. Make policy announcements. You’re an outsider with business experience and people want to hear what you would do if elected, beyond building a wall. On energy policy, corporate welfare, agriculture policy and dozens of other matters, you would surprise people and grow your support if you gave a small number of actual policy addresses. The point will be less what you say about each specific matter (so long as you demonstrate some level of fluency and expertise) and more that you’re capable of doing it. Some one-third of the Party supports you because they think you’re tough. You would make inroads with other voters if they thought you were thoughtful.
5. Stop citing polls. Politicians who talk about polls do so to show the election is all about them. But elections are not about politicians. Elections are about the hopes and dreams of the voters and especially now, voters want someone who can lift up our country, defend us, and grow the economy. I get that you talk about the polls to show you’re a winner. But if and when you start losing more contests, the polls will define you as a loser. What will you talk about then? It’s better to knock it off now. And of course, all the recent polls show you are losing to Hillary.
You got yourself to where you are today by demonstrating an uncanny, powerful, outsider’s bravado. But the gap between 40 percent and 50 percent support is immense. The higher hanging fruit is tough to get, and you won’t likely earn that support if you stay on your current path.
The Super Tuesday news conference you held at Mar-A-Lago and your policy speech (on a TelePrompter) to AIPAC were your two best moments demonstrating there is more to you than bravado.
Whatever you do, just remember, you can’t win if you can’t earn a majority.
Former White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer was the primary spokesperson for President George W. Bush. He served as spokesman during the historic presidential recount, September 11th, two wars and the anthrax attack. His best-selling book, "Taking Heat," details his years in the White House. Since leaving the White House, Ari has worked extensively in the world of sports. He has helped Major League Baseball deal with its controversies, as well as its opportunities, and he has worked for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. He also helps advise several major corporations about their communications issues through his company, Ari Fleischer Sports Communications. | 0fake |
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead, Schumer tells labor leaders | November 11, 2016 The Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead, Schumer tells labor leaders
The Senate’s soon-to-be top Democrat told labor leaders Thursday that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal at the center of President Obama’s “pivot” to strengthen ties with key Asian allies, will not be ratified by Congress.
That remark from Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is expected to be the incoming Senate minority leader, came as good news to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, which met Thursday in Washington. Schumer relayed statements that Republican congressional leaders had made to him, according to an aide who confirmed the remarks.
Obama’s signature global trade deal had been on life support for months as both Democrats and Republicans campaigned against unfair trade policies ahead of the Nov. 8 election. And Donald Trump’s triumph in the presidential race cemented its fate.
“There is no way to fix the TPP,” Trump said in a June economic address. “We need bilateral trade deals. We do not need to enter into another massive international agreement that ties us up and binds us down.” | 1real |
Paul Ryan Has A Truly Pathetic Response To Latest Phony ‘Hillary Email Bombshell’ |
Oh, the politics are strong with this one. FBI Director James Comey just sent out a letter to the Republican Congressional Committee informing them that the FBI will be looking into more of Hillary Clinton’s emails. The discovery of the new emails was “in connection with an unrelated case.”
As Think Progress points out, all the letter really means is there are emails that were discovered that the FBI had not reviewed. It doesn’t mean a case is being “re-opened.” This does not say the FBI will be reexamining the information of the previous investigation. And, it doesn’t mean that all of a sudden criminal charges are going to be forthcoming. It means nothing, except, the FBI needs to read a few more emails that were missed in the previous investigation.
Even Comey says in his letter:
“The FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant.”
Read Republican James Comey’s letter, here:
Yet, the reality of this statement is lost on not only major media outlets who are reporting that the case has been “reopened,” but also our politicians. Paul Ryan’s response takes the cake, though. The Republican Speaker of the House went full knee-jerk with this one. He said in a statement :
“Yet again, Hillary Clinton has nobody but herself to blame. She was entrusted with some of our nation’s most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information. This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators. I renew my call for the Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved.”
So, 11 days before our presidential election, we’ve had the FBI Director, who happens to be a Republican, release an ambiguous letter which touches on an unsubstantiated scandal for which the Democratic presidential candidate came out of clean as a whistle because charges couldn’t be justified. And now we’ve had the Speaker of the House call for the candidate’s intelligence briefings to be suspended “until this matter is fully resolved.”
Which, by the way, the FBI Director says he “cannot predict how long it will take to complete this additional work.”
Yeah, ok. Like this doesn’t have political ploy written all over it. How pathetic.
Featured image via Getty Images/Win McNamee/Staff Share this Article! | 1real |
House panel asks Trump ex-top aide Bannon to testify: Bloomberg | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Steve Bannon, a former top White House strategist and a former chief campaign aide to Donald Trump, has been asked to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence panel next month, Bloomberg News reported. Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, was also asked to testify in early January, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing an official familiar with the committee’s schedule. Representatives for the committee did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment. The panel is probing alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 U.S. election. | 0fake |
NEW EVIDENCE Confirms Worst Fears: Russia Is Behind Hacks Aimed At Making Trump President | The White House announced on Friday that it was confident the Russian government, hiding behind the anonymous Guccifer 2.0 moniker, has been unilaterally responsible for a series of breaches and leaks against the Democratic National Committee and other Democratic political entities for one reason to tilt the election in favor of Donald Trump. The Obama Administration is asking state and local election officials to be vigilant and seek cybersecurity assistance, which most states have agreed to do.Without mentioning Trump by name, Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, said in a statement: These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there.We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities. It appears the truth is out Trump s newfound BFF and idol, Russian President Vladimir Putin, is in the hot seat, and his cronies will have to answer for their rigging of our election system.This confirmation comes several weeks after Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees have come to the same conclusion; that Russia is, indeed, behind the recent hackings. Rep. Adam Schiff, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, applauded the White House s response, and called on it to release their findings to the pubic: I applaud the administration s decision to publicly name Russia as the source of hacks into U.S. political institutions. All of us should be gravely concerned when a foreign power like Russia seeks to undermine our democratic institutions, and we must do everything in our power to guard against it. Congress knows it. The White House knows it. The media knows it. The voters know it. Russia is trying to influence this election and get their friend and ally Donald J. Trump elected.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
Hungary detains migrant wanted for 70 murders in Pakistan: police | BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian police have detained a Pakistani migrant wanted for murdering around 70 people in his home country, Hungarian and Austrian police said on Wednesday. In a statement, police in Hungary s Bacs-Kiskun county said they had stopped a group of illegal migrants near the southern border with Serbia on Tuesday and identified the 35-year-old man among them. The police identified him only by the initials A.Z. and said he was the target of an international arrest warrant issued by Pakistan. They said he was being held in Hungary but gave no further details. Austrian police issued a statement saying the arrest had been made after a tip-off from Austria to Hungarian authorities. They said the man had been planning to go to Austria with the help of people-smugglers. They declined to identify him on grounds of Austria s data protection rules. | 0fake |
Which Power Conference Won’t Vie for National Title? Sorry, Pac-12 - The New York Times | There is a simple math problem at the heart of the college football season: five power conferences, four playoff spots. That is, at least one of the major football conferences, having played a full season and produced an impressive champion, will fail to land a team in the College Football Playoff for the national championship. Two years ago, the snubbed conference was the Big 12, whose Baylor and Texas Christian, ended up fifth and sixth in the selection committee’s final rankings. Last year, it was the whose champion, Stanford, though an obviously impressive squad with a Heisman Trophy in running back Christian McCaffrey, had committed the cardinal sin of losing two games when every other conference champion had lost one at most. Trying in September to predict who will play for the national championship in January is a fool’s errand. There are so many teams. There is so much roster turnover. The oldest players are barely . And the argument is never really settled, nor can it be. “This is all fun to talk about — it kind of makes college football really go, that there is opinion involved, and that’s what differentiates it from the N. F. L. ,” the CBS college football analyst Gary Danielson said. “But this also leads to frustration. ” He added, “The difficult part of this is even a committee that has the task of deciding the final four goes about it in unusual ways. ” But that’s just it: During the past two seasons, we have come to know the committee — its idiosyncratic preferences, its quirky biases. At this early date, we may not be able to forecast which team will win it all. But we can hazard informed guesses about the following question: Which of the five major conferences will fail to place a member in the final four team bracket? For now, it is in the teams’ hands. But on the last several Tuesdays of the season, the selection committee will rank its top 25, based on a host of factors, including strength of schedule and advanced metrics. It will issue its final rankings on Sunday, Dec. 4, after the conference championship games. This year, the national semifinals will take place on Dec. 31 at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The winners will meet Jan. 9 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. Eight teams have made the playoff during its first two years (Alabama has done so twice) and all entered as conference champions. This is one of the committee’s stated metrics, and while the Big 12’s lack of a conference championship game kept its members out in 2014, last season’s Big 12 champion, Oklahoma ( ) sneaked in ahead of Stanford ( ) of the . As with the Bowl Championship Series algorithm that preceded the playoff, the committee values winning percentage, perhaps over strength of schedule: Witness its placing last year of not only Oklahoma but Iowa ( ) which lost its conference championship game after a relatively soft schedule, over Stanford, which thrashed Southern California after a more difficult slate. One more pattern: Both of the snubbed conferences in previous years, the Big 12 and were, at the time, the only two to play conference schedules. And each year, conference rivals took turns handing others defeats the committee member Condoleezza Rice memorably called it “fratricide. ” Conference depth — producing multiple tough matchups against familiar foes, sometimes at distinctly unfriendly stadiums, and fewer doormats — is the ultimate playoff obstacle. So which conference provides the clearest path to an undefeated or conference champion? The one with an schedule and the least depth: the Atlantic Coast Conference. Despite the presence of feisty No. 19 Louisville, it is a decent bet that either Florida State or Clemson — which is coming off a national title game appearance and is led by the Heisman Trophy contender Deshaun Watson at quarterback — will cruise to (or perhaps ). It is even more likely that the winner of the annual game between the two (Oct. 29, in Tallahassee, Fla.) will eventually claim the conference title and earn a playoff spot. The Big Ten’s top playoff contenders are all in the East Division — No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Michigan and No. 12 Michigan State — creating a potential of defeats. The Buckeyes are among college football’s youngest teams, while the Wolverines face a punishing road schedule (at No. 17 Iowa, at Michigan State, at Ohio State). That could allow the Spartans, winners of two of the past three conference titles, to emerge in the best shape. “Whenever I do an interview, it’s always about Ohio State and Michigan,” the ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. “It’s almost like Michigan State’s not playing. ” The Big 12 appears with No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 13 T. C. U. The Southeastern Conference is unlikely to be snubbed, though that would certainly produce amusing talk radio. The conference most likely to be left out, then, is again the . Not because its teams are not good enough. Mostly because too many of them are. “I don’t see one or two teams that just stand out,” Herbstreit said. “I think it’s going to be one of those years where you have a team coming out of there. ” Consider: No. 8 Stanford has to travel to No. 14 Washington, which has to travel to No. 24 Oregon, which has to travel to No. 20 U. S. C. And the winner of that North Division must still beat the winner of the South in the conference championship game. Danielson summed up the paradox, saying, “I would say the is the conference, but has the toughest road to the final four. ” “Which,” he added, “is a problem. ” There are other potential problems. Two conferences could be snubbed if one league lands two teams in the playoff or if Notre Dame, an independent ranked 10th, qualifies or if a Group of 5 conference champion elbows its way in. The last situation might be most likely: If No. 15 Houston beats Oklahoma on Saturday, then beats Louisville later in the season and goes unbeaten through its American Athletic Conference slate, there may be a race to see whether the Cougars get an invitation to the playoff or to the Big 12 first. Finally, with resurgent Tennessee ranked ninth, running back Leonard Fournette probably entering his final season with No. 5 Louisiana State, and Alabama ranked No. 1, fratricide in the SEC remains a possibility, too. But if the SEC finds itself without a team in the playoff, it would do well to stage its own, with its best four teams. The competition would be about as good. | 0fake |
OUTRAGEOUS! CNN Uses Unauthorized Video Taken From Outside Oval Office to Make Up Story About Feud Between Bannon and Trump [Video] | This video from CNN has been blasted to Daily Mail and to other main stream fake news sources. This is so WRONG! The press continues to actively try and destroy President Trump!Listen to the anchor speak about this like CNN has first-hand knowledge of what happened. Then check out the screen shot below: | 1real |
Kremlin 'deeply concerned' by rising tension on Korean peninsula | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow is deeply concerned by the escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula caused by the continued war of words between the United States and North Korea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. Moscow is convinced that there is no alternative to a political and diplomatic settlement of the North Korean problem, he told a conference call with reporters. He said the situation was being further aggravated by the swapping of silly statements full of threats . The Kremlin was reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump s statement in which he vowed to destroy North Korea, leading the reclusive nation to declare that it might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean. | 0fake |
WOW! GEORGIA Refused Election Cyber-Support From Obama’s DHS…Now Sec Of State Demands Answers After Claiming DHS Tried To Breach His Office’s Firewall | This is pretty scary stuff. A federal government agency run by an Obama crony attempting to penetrate the firewall of a State agency tasked with overseeing the elections? What conceivable reason could Obama s DHS have for hacking the Georgia Sec of State s office after the election?Georgia s secretary of state has claimed the Department of Homeland Security tried to breach his office s firewall and has issued a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson asking for an explanation.Brian Kemp issued a letter to Johnson on Thursday after the state s third-party cybersecurity provider detected an IP address from the agency s Southwest D.C. office trying to penetrate the state s firewall. According to the letter, the attempt was unsuccessful.The attempt took place on Nov. 15, a few days after the presidential election. The office of the Georgia Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing the state s elections. At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network, Kemp wrote in the letter, which was also sent to the state s federal representatives and senators. Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network. This is especially odd and concerning since I serve on the Election Cyber Security Working Group that your office created. The Department of Homeland Security has received Secretary Kemp s letter, a DHS spokesperson told CyberScoop. We are looking into the matter. DHS takes the trust of our public and private sector partners seriously, and we will respond to Secretary Kemp directly. Georgia was one of two states that refused cyber-hygiene support and penetration testing from DHS in the lead up to the presidential election. The department had made a significant push for it after hackers spent months exposing the Democratic National Committee s internal communications and data.David Dove, Kemp s chief of staff, told CyberScoop the Georgia secretary of state s office got a lot of grief for refusing help from DHS. We basically said we don t need DHS s help, because of the contract with the third-party provider, Dove said.The office of the Georgia Secretary of State would not reveal who the provider is, only saying the company analyzes more than 180 billion events a day globally across a 5,000+ customer base which includes many Fortune 500 companies. Johnson announced shortly after the election that DHS found no evidence of an attack on Election Day.In the months and weeks leading up to the election fake news sources like The Washington Post did everything in their power to convince Americans that Georgia was in play for Hillary: The attempt took place on Nov. 15, a few days after the presidential election. The office of the Georgia Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing the state s elections. At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network, Kemp wrote in the letter, which was also sent to the state s federal representatives and senators. Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network. This is especially odd and concerning since I serve on the Election Cyber Security Working Group that your office created. The Department of Homeland Security has received Secretary Kemp s letter, a DHS spokesperson told CyberScoop. We are looking into the matter. DHS takes the trust of our public and private sector partners seriously, and we will respond to Secretary Kemp directly. Georgia was one of two states that refused cyber-hygiene support and penetration testing from DHS in the leadup to the presidential election. The department had made a significant push for it after hackers spent months exposing the Democratic National Committee s internal communications and data.In an interview with Politico, Kemp intimated that the federal government s hacking fears were overblown, saying they now think our whole system is on the verge of disaster because some Russian s going to tap into the voting system. David Dove, Kemp s chief of staff, told CyberScoop the Georgia secretary of state s office got a lot of grief for refusing help from DHS. We basically said we don t need DHS s help, because of the contract with the third-party provider, Dove said.The office of the Georgia Secretary of State would not reveal who the provider is, only saying the company analyzes more than 180 billion events a day globally across a 5,000+ customer base which includes many Fortune 500 companies. While the majority of states worked with DHS for help in protecting their election systems from hacks, cybersecurity experts were at oddsas to what portions of the country would be targeted for Election Day attacks.Johnson announced shortly after the election that DHS found no evidence of an attack on Election Day. analyzes more than 180 billion events a day globally across a 5,000+ customer base which includes many Fortune 500 companies. While the majority of states worked with DHS for help in protecting their election systems from hacks, cybersecurity experts were at oddsas to what portions of the country would be targeted for Election Day attacks.Johnson announced shortly after the election that DHS found no evidence of an attack on Election Day.The manipulation of minds Americans witnessed by our leftist media leading up to, and during this election was unprecedented. Leftist news sources like The Washington Post tried to convince voters that Hillary had a shot at winning the solidly red state of Georgia: A new Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll of the presidential race in that state puts Hillary Clinton in a slight lead over Donald Trump, 44 to 40. This is inside-the-margin-of-error stuff, mind you, but only barely. (It s also a break from the state of the race in the RealClearPolitics polling average, which gives Trump a four-point lead, though with only a handful of polls included.)Georgia has been shifting a bit politically in recent presidential elections, becoming slightly less Republican relative to the rest of the country but it still has been voting more Republican than America on the whole. So in 2012, when Barack Obama won by four points, Mitt Romney won Georgia by eight making the state 12 points more Republican, just a tick less than it was in 2008.With so many forces, and resources being used against Donald J. Trump, it s absolutely amazing he won the election | 1real |
Man Finds Heartbreaking Note On Car, Last Line Teaches Him NASTY Lesson | Man Finds Heartbreaking Note On Car, Last Line Teaches Him NASTY Lesson Posted on October 26, 2016 by Robert Rich in News Share This
After coming out to the parking lot, a motorist was puzzled to see that there was an unexpected note on his car. However, the situation would soon take a heartbreaking turn when he read what was inside – until he got to the last line, which taught him perhaps the nastiest lesson of his life.
Although details surrounding the note are unclear, the account was posted to Reddit , along with a corresponding image on Imgur , depicting quite a strange series of events. As it turns out, a man found a note on his car only to realize that it was a devastating story about a stranger’s cancer-stricken grandfather. Stock image of note on car
As explained in the note, the writer was about 10-years-old at the time his grandmother desperately tried to get her husband to quit smoking. According to the stranger , his grandmother said to his grandfather, “If you ever want to see your grandchildren graduate, you need to stop immediately.”
The seemingly harsh message apparently had a dramatic and instant effect on his grandfather as he recalls that his eye’s welled up with tears. Sure enough, the man quit that day – but unfortunately, it was too late.
In a heartbreaking twist, the note details how the writer’s grandfather died just 3 years later of lung cancer, never seeing his grandkids graduate. As if that wasn’t gut-wrenching enough, the note went on as the stranger explained how his mother begged him never to smoke, saying “don’t put your family through what your grandfather put us through.” The note in full (Source: Mirror )
Of course, he obliged. However, the note seemed to change in sentiment at that moment, and the writer taught the driver of the car a nasty lesson with the last line of the odd note. “I must say, I feel a slight sense of regret for never having done it because your parking job was so sh*tty that it gave me cancer anyways,” he wrote. “Jesus, f*ck, please learn how to park.”
You have to admit, this dig was perhaps the most well thought out act of passive aggression that has been seen in quite some time. Although the message came across a bit rough, I think it’s safe to say that this guy won’t be parking outside the lines for quite some time. | 1real |
JUSTICE? Yahoo Settles E-mail Privacy Class-action: $4M for Lawyers, $0 for Users | 21st Century Wire says It s a familiar theme. Whenever there is a dispute or a change of law, and two tribes go to war, there is normally only one real winner after the tribulation the lawyers. Ars TechnicaIn late 2013, Yahoo was hit with six lawsuits over its practice of using automated scans of e-mail to produce targeted ads. The cases, which were consolidated in federal court, all argued that the privacy rights of non-Yahoo users, who did not consent to Yahoo s interception and scanning of their emails, were being violated by a multi-billion dollar company.Now, lawyers representing the plaintiffs are singing a different tune. Last week, they asked US District Judge Lucy Koh to accept a proposed settlement (PDF). Under the proposal, the massive class of non-Yahoo users won t get any payment, but the class lawyers at Girard Gibbs and Kaplan Fox intend to ask for up to $4 million in fees. (The ultimate amount of fees will be up to the judge, but Yahoo has agreed not to oppose any fee request up to $4 million.)While users won t get any payment, Yahoo will change how it handles user e-mails but it isn t the change that the plaintiffs attorneys were originally asking for. Yahoo won t stop scanning e-mails. Instead, the company has agreed to make a technical change to when it scans e-mails. In the settlement (PDF), Yahoo has agreed that e-mail content will be only sent to servers for analysis for advertising purposes after a Yahoo Mail user can access the email in his or her inbox. The settlement deal looks pretty similar to what Yahoo had argued it did in the first place Continue this story at Ars TechnicaREAD MORE NSA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire NSA Files | 1real |
'Like any EU citizen': Belgium's Catalan asylum fix | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium has given a cool welcome to Catalonia s ousted leader and may not offer the safe haven from Spanish justice that it once extended as it grapples with separatist troubles of its own. Carles Puigdemont was not invited by the Belgian government, Prime Minister Charles Michel said in a curt statement, a day after he arrived unannounced following his dismissal by Madrid on charges of rebellion over Catalonia s independence bid. He will be treated like any other European citizen, Michel said, noting Puigdemont was entitled to move freely within the EU. He has the same rights and duties ... no more, no less. Deputy premier Kris Peeters was even brusquer, saying: When you declare independence, it s better to stay with your people. Puigdemont himself told a news conference in Brussels that he was there to engage with the European Union which has shunned his pleas and not to exploit Belgium s reputation as a place of political asylum for citizens of other EU states. Nonetheless, he traveled to a small town in western Flanders on Monday to hire a human rights lawyer with a successful track record of fighting extradition to Spain on behalf of Basque separatist sympathizers. The lawyer, Paul Bekaert warned, however, that EU rules have made it harder. He told Reuters that the European Arrest Warrant system had removed exceptions previously made for extraditions to face political charges like sedition in other EU states. Politics, too, may play a part. Eighteen months before the next Belgian federal election, there have already been tensions over Catalonia within the coalition, where Flemish nationalists sympathetic to the Catalans are a major force and Michel, a French-speaking liberal, has lately tried to mollify Madrid. On Tuesday, Spain s High Court called Puigdemont and 13 members of his sacked administration to testify on Thursday. It also said it had started processing rebellion and sedition charges against Puigdemont and other Catalan leaders. Bekaert said Puigdemont, who faces up to 30 years in jail if Spanish prosecutors follow through on plans to charge him with sedition and misuse of public funds, saw no hurry to file for asylum, a simple procedure that would halt any extradition. However, asylum requests from EU citizens are rarely accepted nowadays and are often rejected within days. As an EU citizen, Puigdemont has to demonstrate that there is a clear risk of prosecution against him, that the sentence he could face could be disproportionate, that he doesn t have a fair trial in Spain, said Dirk Vanheule, a law professor at Antwerp University and president of Belgium s Refugee Council. If he fails to demonstrate that from the beginning, the asylum proceeding can be terminated within five days. Koen Lemmens, a human rights lawyer and professor at Leuven University, said the Belgian asylum agency would not take into account potential diplomatic embarrassment. But it would be up to Puigdemont to prove he would not get a fair trial. The Belgian government looks unwilling to back him up. Michel annoyed Spain by speaking out against police violence as people voted in the Oct. 1 independence referendum. But he also slapped down his Flemish nationalist immigration minister for suggesting at the weekend that Belgium might grant asylum. That did not stop the French-speaking Socialist opposition from accusing Michel of damaging Belgium s credibility abroad. The issue may not fade quickly. Any EU citizen can stay for up to three months without permission. And despite support for Madrid from the Belgian government, judges refused in 1996 and again, under new EU rules, in 2004 to extradite Luis Moreno and Raquel Garcia, whom it accused of aiding Basque militants. The N-VA has soft-pedaled demands for splitting the richer, Dutch-speaking half of Belgium off but with elections looming it must be wary of the small, anti-immigration Vlaams Belang, whose leader attended Puigdemont s Brussels news conference. VB leader Tom Van Grieken called on N-VA ministers to break with Michel s refusal to recognize Catalan independence. Mark Demesmaeker, an N-VA member of the European Parliament, told Reuters he met Puigdemont in Barcelona a month ago and said he did have a case for asylum as the EU looks the other way . The fact he is coming here already says plenty enough about the situation in Spain and Catalonia, Demesmaeker told Reuters. He has no faith in the Spanish judiciary. | 0fake |
Trump invites Netanyahu to Washington for visit: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington in early February during a phone call in which they discussed the importance of strengthening the U.S.-Israeli relationship, the White House said on Sunday. In his first call with Netanyahu since taking office on Friday, Trump stressed his “unprecedented commitment to Israel’s security.” “The president and the prime minister agreed to continue to closely consult on a range of regional issues, including addressing the threats posed by Iran,” the White House said in a statement. Trump also said peace between Israel and the Palestinians could only be negotiated between the two parties, but that the United States would work with Israel to achieve that goal. Relations between Israel and the Obama administration ended on a contentious note, when the United States declined to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a halt to Israeli settlement-building. The readout from the White House did not include any mention of moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, an action that would likely spark anger in the Arab world. Earlier on Sunday, the White House said it was only in the early stages of talks to fulfill Trump’s campaign pledge to relocate the embassy. “We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement. Aides said no announcement of an embassy move was imminent. Washington’s embassy is in Tel Aviv, as are most foreign diplomatic posts. Israel calls Jerusalem its eternal capital, but Palestinians also lay claim to the city as part of an eventual Palestinian state. Both sides cite biblical, historical and political claims. Any decision to break with the status quo is likely to prompt protests from U.S. allies in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. Washington relies on those countries for help in fighting the Islamic State militant group, which the new U.S. president has said is a priority. The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1995 describing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and saying it should not be divided, but successive Republican and Democratic presidents have used their foreign policy powers to maintain the embassy in Tel Aviv and to back negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the status of Jerusalem. In early December, then-President Barack Obama renewed the presidential waiver on an embassy move until the beginning of June. It is unclear whether Trump would be able to legally override it and go ahead with relocation of the embassy. U.S. diplomats say that, despite the U.S. legislation, Washington’s foreign policy is in practice broadly aligned with that of the United Nations and other major powers, which do not view Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and do not recognize Israel’s annexation of Arab East Jerusalem after its capture in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel approved building permits on Sunday for hundreds of homes in three East Jerusalem settlements in expectation that Trump will row back on the previous administration’s criticism of such projects. | 0fake |
Lucifer's Banker: Bradley Birkenfeld on Corporate Crime in America | Email
Bradley Birkenfeld held a book launch party at the National Press Club tonight.
And it is telling that he invited some of the nation’s top whistleblowers — including John Kiriakou who spent two years in prison — to be his guests.
One of the ironies that was not lost on anyone in the room is that increasingly, it’s not corporate executives but whistleblowers who are doing jail time.
Birkenfeld himself blew the whistle on his employer, the giant Swiss bank UBS, where the rich and famous stashed their millions in numbered accounts to evade U.S. tax authorities.
Guess who went to jail?
Birkenfeld.
A copy of Birkenfeld’s book — Lucifer’s Banker: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy — was given to each guest at the book launch.
And tucked inside was a book mark — a laminated copy of the check that Birkenfeld got from the U.S. government for helping recover over $15 billion from American tax cheats.
The government paid Birkenfeld $104 million as a bounty, but the check is made out to Birkenfeld in the amount of $75 million. (Why minus $29 million? Taxes.)
This is perhaps one of the best corporate crime books ever written.
And the reason is that it clearly exposes our system of no fault corporate crime.
Deferred prosecutions. Non prosecutions. Neither admit nor deny consent decrees. Executives rarely sent to jail.
Just have the corporation write a check. Thank you.
Birkenfeld exposes the perverse outcomes of that system at almost every turn.
It’s not just that whistleblowers are doing prison time and corporate executives are not.
It’s that when corporate executives are sent to jail —
Well, take the case of Joe Nacchio.
While doing his 30 months in prison at Schuylkill Federal Correctional Institution in Minersville, Pennsylvania, Birkenfeld ran into Nacchio.
“Joe Nacchio had been the President and CEO of Qwest, a huge telephone company,” Birkenfeld writes. “He was close to the Bush people, even visiting the White House on occasion. Shortly after 9/11, the Bush administration had gone to all the phone companies and demanded their customer records and email. AT&T and Verizon had caved right away, but Joe told the Feds to fuck off.”
“We’re a private company,” Naccio said. “I can’t do that”
“Yes, you can,” said the Bushies. “Matter of national security.”
“It’s unconstitutional,” Joe protested. “Without warrants from a judge, on a case-by-case basis, I won’t do it.”
“Oh, really?”
“So the Bushies charged him with insider trading and put him away for seven years. Joe’s replacement at Qwest got the message, and the Feds got the records.”
I’m in Washington and I like this book because it exposes the system of no fault corporate crime enforcement.
But a lot of people in Washington are not going to like this book.
Birkenfeld asks some pointed questions — including — why was the Department of Justice so reckless as to allow UBS to disclose the identities of only 4,700 (including some relatively low income dentists) of the 19,000 illegal account holders?
Those protected probably included many names you would recognize.
Why were these names never made public?
That’s why Hillary Clinton is not going to like this book.
Birkenfeld recounts the deal Clinton cut with the Swiss that Birkenfeld says kept the big names secret.
Prior to Clinton’s deal with the Swiss, UBS had only seen fit to contribute $60,000 to the Clinton Foundation, “an amount that wouldn’t even cover the bank’s annual parking tickets,” Birkenfeld writes.
“Afterward the Clinton Foundation’s cash registers rang up $600,000 in UBS gifts,” he writes. “The bank also decided to partner with the Foundation on some inner-city development programs, issuing a $32 million loan at very reasonable rates. Oh, and suddenly UBS also thought that Bill Clinton would make a very fine paid speaker about global affairs, so they paid him $1.52 million for a series of fireside chats with the bank’s Wealth Management Chief Executive, Bob McCann. It was Bill Clinton’s biggest payday since leaving the office of the Presidency.”
Most of the lawyers who Birkenfeld ran into are not going to like this book because they are caught up in the corporate crime industrial complex that defines inside the beltway lawyers.
For example, when Birkenfeld approach Skadden Arps partner Bob Bennett to take his case against UBS, Bennett begged off.
“Don’t tell me Bob, they’re your client,” Birkenfeld asked.
“They’re everyone’s client,” Bennett tells Birkenfeld. “That’s what all the major financial firms do, especially if they have big interests and lobbyists here in Wonderland. They put everyone on retainer. It’s like buying lawsuit insurance.”
But most importantly, the Justice Department is not going to like this book because Birkenfeld says it’s not about the facts, the law and justice.
It’s about brute corporate power.
Why did the Department of Justice fail to fine UBS adequately — settling for only $780 million in 2009 — not even commensurate with the billions of dollars illegally earned in profits by UBS over many decades?
Why did the Department of Justice release from custody two of the most senior UBS executives who oversaw this massive fraud?
Birkenfeld says it’s about corporate connections.
Which he lays out in intimate detail.
At the book launch party, Birkenfeld said he had sent a copy of the book to the President Obama at the White House.
“The American taxpayers need to know why the Department of Justice took such extraordinary actions to protect the perpetrators of the largest tax fraud in history.”
“Why the keen interest to shield from the American public all of those getting a free ride off the backs of tax-paying, law-abiding citizens? I ask you Mr. President, what will you do to investigate these serious injustices?”
That question Birkenfeld asked sort of tongue in cheek.
After all, Birkenfeld knows about Obama’s UBS connection.
In August 2009, on the first Sunday after Birkenfeld was sentenced in prison, at the Farm Neck Golf Club in Martha’s Vineyard, President Barack Obama had strolled out onto the links.
“His golfing partner that day was Robert Wolf, Chairman of UBS Americas,” Birkenfeld writes. “I’m sure it was a fine day of patter and play, guarded by a throng of Secret Service agents, and I wondered if Obama and Wolf had high-fived over my downfall, or maybe sent a ‘good job’ text to (the sentencing judge.) But I’d never know, because much like Swiss bankers, Secret Service agents don’t talk.” | 1real |
Watch Trump Turn Into Crazy Repeating Parrot As He Threatens To Sue Ted Cruz (VIDEO) | Saturday night s debate saw Donald Trump and Ted Cruz going at each other repeatedly. More specifically, it saw them calling one another liars. Now, Trump has gone on record saying that Cruz is the biggest liar he s ever known. In fact, Trump seems to believe that these alleged lies on the part of Ted Cruz is enough to bring a lawsuit against the Texas Senator. Watch Trump seem to lose his mind as he repeats the same line over and over like a crazy parrot: So we will bring a lawsuit if he doesn t straighten his act out. He s a lying guy, a really lying guy. Some people misrepresent. This guy s just a plain out liar. In fact, I felt better because Marco Rubio called him a liar the other night on stage. I felt so much better. I said good, politician calls a politician? Now I can actually call him a liar. Well considering that Donald Trump has a pretty tenuous relationship with the truth himself, this isn t really saying a whole lot. That whole field of GOP clowns lies through their teeth for sport, so it s really just hypocrisy at its finest. But hey, at least it s great for entertainment.Watch the video below, as posted to Facebook by Fox News:// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]> We will bring a lawsuit if he doesn t straighten his act out [Ted Cruz] is a lying guy. Donald J. TrumpPosted by Fox News on Monday, February 15, 2016Featured image from video screen capture | 1real |
MI SCHOOL SENDS Welcome Back Packet Warning Kids Against Wearing U.S. Flag To School | ROSEVILLE, Mich. Parents are raging after a Detroit area school district sent a packet to parents that lists the U.S. flag among items banned by the school dress code. A student s dress should not interfere with the learning environment, Roseville Community School officials wrote. The following are prohibited: The items include the typical slippers and sagging pants, spaghetti straps and bare midriff tops, but between Hats or head gear and Low cut shirts, the letter lists U.S. Flag. Parents and others raged on Facebook Thursday. Here is a picture of the post by Facebook user and parent Heather Marie :It didn t take long for school officials to clarify the error. An informational packet was mailed out this week with an error, according to a statement on the Roseville Community Schools website. We apologize for the incorrect statement that was in reference to the US Flag. The statement that was published should have specified that the flag should not be worn in a demeaning manner. EAG NewsHere s a screen shot of the corrected packet:The fact that Roseville Schools removed U.S. before the word flag from their corrected list of Prohibited Apparel is especially interesting. In fact, the words they replaced U.S. flag are so different, that many of the parents in Roseville think the school is just trying to cover their tracks.Here are a few of the comments under Heather Marie s post that got over 4K shares: After 1.8k plus shares, Fox 2 news, and channel 4 news the school has said that it was a misprint and they are able to wear the flag as long as it is not in a demeaning way. They said they took a short cut in printing the books, in all reality they were more than likely thinking no one was even going to read it. Anyways, I m happy that it has been fixed. Now I don t have to go and get all flag shirts and iron flags on the inside of them so they still show when they make them flip the shirt inside out for my 3 kiddos LMAO. When letters get made and sent home before they make copies they proofread them several times. This is no accident they just realized that they have offended a lot of people and now want to try to fix their mistakes. You go mama bear! I agree parents should come together on that after all we are in the USA and it is our country I totally disagree with that . as a Roseville parent and a parent in the USA I proudly support the flag. | 1real |
Chuck Todd Goes Off On Trump, Says What Every American Is Thinking Right Now (VIDEO) | It s only been a few days since Donald Trump as been back from his second international tour, but America is already sick of him. Over the past week or so, Trump and his corrupt inner circle have been in the news nonstop for their unethical behavior revolving around Russia.If America is sick of reading about it, reporters must be sick of talking about it and this was evident when Chuck Todd went off on Trump on Friday during MTP Daily. Todd did not hold back as unleashed an attack for several minutes, brutally mocking the Trump administration for the never-ending avalanche of bad news surrounding Donald Trump Jr. s meeting with a Russian lawyer. Blasting the White House for trying to hide parts of the story, Todd said: Their responses this week have proven to be incomplete at best and untrue at worst. Todd was referring to a breaking report by NBC news, in which an additional unknown person former Soviet counterintelligence officer Ranit Akhmetshin, was found to also have been in attendance during the now infamous meeting with the Russian lawyer. To make his point even more powerful, Todd ran several clips from the past few days that blatantly showed White House officials lying and denying that they were hiding any information. It was a brilliant segment, and Todd perfectly showed America why Trump and his minions cannot be trusted. In conclusion, Todd said: Folks, this week has been a giant PR, political, and possibly legal disaster for this administration. You can watch Todd slam Trump and his administration below:Must-watch @ChuckTodd timeline of the WH story about the Trump Jr./Russia mtg and what we learned each day this week https://t.co/D8lf5pDsD1 Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 14, 2017We could not have said it any better ourselves.Featured image is a screenshot | 1real |
Miami Police Union Leader Joins Other Conservatives In Bashing NFL For Las Vegas Massacre | Over 50 people are dead, and more than 500 are wounded, after a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay on the south end of the Las Vegas strip late last night. And true to form, we re already hearing conservatives use it to push their moar gunz and blue lives matter agendas while crying that anyone begging Congress to do something real to save lives is politicizing a tragedy. But the true political agenda comes from those who won t acknowledge that commonsense gun legislation would save lives and think that protesting racial injustice is the same thing as protesting against police officers themselves, the military, and the country. The leader of Miami s chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lt. Javier Ortiz, tweeted the following:Two groups of people, one in Seattle, one in Vegas, chose to take action last night in their own way . We support the #POLICE pic.twitter.com/2S8WkpWvXl Miami FOP 20 (@MiamiFOP20) October 2, 2017When the Miami New Times asked him to clarify, he said: While NFL players express a false perception of police officers by inciting hate and division by disrespecting the U.S. flag, the reality is law enforcement risks their lives every day for America. We don t know the motive behind Stephen Paddock s decision to break open the window of a room at Mandalay Bay and then fire multiple clips of rounds into the crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival below. As of now, this doesn t appear to have had anything to do with hatred of police officers and we can t say it did until Paddock s motive is discovered.It s true that mass shootings and really, any crime would be worse if it weren t for the law enforcement officers who risk their lives to stop them, but Lt. Ortiz s remarks are dangerously irresponsible because they could trigger a retaliation from the people who worship the flag and think police brutality against African-Americans isn t a thing.And Ortiz isn t the only one who s slamming the NFL because of Las Vegas. Others are doing something similar:Las vegas happened cuz of the NFL players. He said fuck the raiders Tyler_Ooak (@Originalkidski) October 2, 2017 No possible motive ?? How bout fake news & reporters CONTINUED lies,propaganda& DISGUSTING hate÷ thy spew?? @CNN @NFL #LasVegas Jali_Cat (@Jali_Cat) October 2, 2017if the wall was built, Las Vegas shooting would not have happened.or if the NFL players/coaches did not kneel. Shontong Balentong (@shontong81) October 2, 2017As millionaire athletes knelt in protest of cops yesterday, those same men and women in Blue saved lives last night. Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 2, 2017Athletes knelt against police. Officers rose up to the call of duty and saved many lives. Think about that. #lvshooting Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 2, 2017Las Vegas is under attack by multiple shooters. Hey NFL, you protested the hero cops that are saving lives right now. PRAY! #MandalayBay Mike (@mike_Zollo) October 2, 2017The police that responded to the shooting in Las Vegas are the same police BLM and NFL and others are taking a knee AGAINST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tom Watson (@pop6627) October 2, 2017NFL players to continue protest against the nation in aftermath of atrocious Las Vegas terror attack. Ricky Vaughn 2.0 (@RapinBill) October 2, 2017It wasn t M Bennett running to stop shooter in Las Vegas @NFL It was brave blue line he demeaned and lied about. Deal with it. NOW Jane L (@SunnyJL52) October 2, 2017Instead of @NFL taking a knee, how about you thank police for heroic actions that saved countless lives in Las Vegas! #PRAYERSFORVEGAS PolitiDiva (@realPolitiDiva) October 2, 2017The NFL was further disgraced to today! The bravery of the First Responders in Las Vegas and everywhere should be honored ! Wolfgang (@wcoolbreeze) October 2, 2017Las Vegas PD stopped this mass shooting very quickly. Americans need to side with the Police over these ignorant left wing NFL players. The Daily POTUS (@redalertnow) October 2, 2017LVMPD RUNNING TOWARDS FIRE TO SAVE LIVES. GOD BLESS OUR GREAT POLICE! FUK U NFL THUGS! Las Vegas ProudTrumpBased (@BasedTrumpProud) October 2, 2017There were Police Officers killed last night in Las Vegas. Take some more knees you worthless @NFL America haters https://t.co/huWuS37Jn9 A Greater Country (@agreatercountry) October 2, 2017Do you know that First Responders put themselves between the sniper and the crowd in Las Vegas These are the hero s that the @NFL HATES pic.twitter.com/E86809ES69 Villi Wilson (@Conservative_VW) October 2, 2017 THIS is the true politicizing of a tragedy. There are far more productive areas to which these people can direct their anger, but they won t because none of that suits their narratives.Featured image via David Becker/Getty Images | 1real |
Bombshell Report Shows GOP Presidential Campaign A Complete DISASTER In Multiple States | Presidential elections are won by well-prepared, well organized multimillion dollar efforts that are executed at the state level. Some of the best models of this have been President Bush s campaign in 2004 and President Obama s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. What needs to be done and how it should be done are known by seasoned campaign operatives and candidates who put the people in place to make it happen.Donald Trump s presidential campaign, and the Republican Party s planning to help his campaign in multiple states that are key to winning, are a complete disaster with only four months to go until the election, according to a new report from the Associated Press.With early voting beginning in less than three months in some states, the review reveals that the national GOP has delivered only a fraction of the ground forces detailed in discussions with state leaders earlier in the year. And that is leaving anxious local officials waiting for reinforcements to keep pace with Democrat Hillary Clinton in the states that matter most in 2016.The Republican Party s massive failure gets even worse when you zoom in to swing states, as the Associated Press has:Some examples of Republican shortfalls: Ohio Republicans thought they were going to see 220 paid staffers by May; in reality there are about 50. Plans for Pennsylvania called for 190 paid staffers; there are about 60. Iowa s planned ground force of 66 by May actually numbers between 25 and 30. In Colorado, recent staff departures have left about two dozen employees, far short of the 80 that were to have been in place.AP even found that Trump s headquarters in Florida, one of the most important states in the fight for the electoral college, was closed and its voice mailbox full. Florida has 29 electoral votes and in 2012 was decided by a margin of 0.87 percent on the ground organizing is key to winning it.These failures at the state organizing level don t even take into account the massive disparity in campaign advertising between Clinton and Trump. While she has been pumping out ads in important states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado, and New Mexico along with super PACs that support her, Trump hasn t been advertising at all. In 2012, Mitt Romney s campaign was outspent by President Obama, but he was actually spending money Trump isn t spending on much, besides many of his own entities who showed up as campaign vendors.Republicans, especially in 2012, derided President Obama s background as a community organizer, but they could do with one right now to organize for their candidate in the communities he needs in order to have a chance at winning. That doesn t seem to be happening.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Austrian president tells Kurz to heed 'European values' on coalition | VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria s president warned conservative election victor Sebastian Kurz that European values must underpin the next government and he would scrutinize developments as Kurz considers bringing the far right back into power. Kurz s People s Party (OVP) won Sunday s parliamentary election with a hard line on immigration that left little daylight between it and the far-right Freedom Party, two years after Austria was swept up in Europe s migration crisis. The OVP secured about 31.5 percent of the vote, well short of a majority. A coalition with the FPO is far from certain but appears the most likely outcome after Kurz called an end to the OVP s previous coalition with the Social Democrats. Kurz, 31, has given little away about what he plans to do. The FPO was founded by ex-Nazis in the 1950s and first became a major political force in the 1990s under the charismatic Joerg Haider, who praised Hitler s employment policies. Haider led the party to a record parliamentary election score in 1999 that it came close to matching on Sunday. The FPO says it has put its Nazi past behind it and purged its ranks of anti-Semitism, but still frequently has to expel members for anti-Semitic comments. It has, however, stopped calling for Austria to leave the European Union. I will ensure that the fundamental European values inscribed in our constitution remain the compass for Austria s future, President Alexander Van der Bellen said on Tuesday as he received the outgoing coalition government, which will stay on in a caretaker role until a successor is formed. Austria s president holds a largely ceremonial post but has the power to appoint and dismiss governments, and can be an influential figure in forming coalitions. I will check policy objectives but also staffing proposals very closely, Van der Bellen added. What that means for a potential tie-up between Kurz and the FPO is unclear but Van der Bellen, a former leader of the leftist Greens, is known to have reservations about the far-right party. Van der Bellen narrowly beat an FPO candidate in a presidential election run-off last year, campaigning on a pro-European platform. During his campaign he said that as president he would seek to prevent FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache from becoming chancellor if the FPO won an election, but since taking office he has said only that the next government must be pro-European. The FPO cheered Britain s 2016 vote to leave the EU and even sketched out a case in which Austria might hold its own Oexit referendum on leaving the bloc. But the anti-immigrant party has since backed away from that position given that a clear majority of Austrians support EU membership. It now describes itself as pro-European but still criticizes the EU, calling for Brussels to hand back more powers to member states. That stance overlaps with Kurz s, since the OVP has called for a streamlined EU that focuses on core competencies like internal trade and securing external borders. Kurz has also said that any coalition partner must be pro-European, although whether he and Van der Bellen agree on what that means is unclear. | 0fake |
Angelina Jolie’s Father Speaks Out Against Illuminati | posted by Eddie Angelina Jolie’s father, Jon Voight, has publicly spoken out against the Illuminati elite’s that he says are attempting to prevent Donald Trump from winning the Presidency. In a video uploaded to YouTube , Voight slammed both George Soros and Hillary Clinton, claiming they are attempting to turn America into a country of tyranny. “May God protect the real truth and may Donald Trump win this presidency. He will save our America, and he will certainly make it great again,” he said . Daily Mail reports: Voight has repeatedly supported Trump throughout the election cycle despite the business tycoon’s unprovoked attacks on his daughter Angelina Jolie’s looks. In the video, posted on Voight’s social media channels, he said: ‘We were once a country of freedom. Now we’re becoming a country of tyranny. ‘Thousands of refugees will flood our nation, and no one will know the good guys from the bad guys. It will kill our economy which is at an all time low under the years of Obama’s presidency.’ Millions of jobs have been created, unemployment has plummeted, and the economy has grown about two per cent each year under Obama’s administration, with experts grading it a ‘solid B or B+’, CNN reported. But Voight also warned that people would lose their Second Amendment rights under Hillary Clinton, even though she has repeatedly disputed similar statements. Voight went on to say: ‘Freedom of religion will be attacked…and Hillary will try to stop all conservative voices on TV and radio. ‘Our highest courts will become socialist, and she will restrict what America was founded on – our freedom to become a small business owner and pursue our own personal dreams.’ Voight also accused Soros of ‘turn[ing] hundreds of Jewish people over to the Nazis to be exterminated during World War II,’ an idea perpetuated by conservative commentator Glenn Beck. When Soros was 14, his father bribed an agriculture official in Nazi-occupied Hungary to pose as his Christian godfather. Soros once accompanied the man during an inventory of an estate left behind by the wealthy Jewish aristocrat Mor Kornfeld. In a 1998 episode of 60 Minutes, Soros said: ‘I had no role in taking away that property. So I had no sense of guilt.’ While Voight made no reference to Trump’s comments about women in his latest video, he came out to defend the business tycoon days earlier. ‘I am so ashamed of my fellow actor Bobby DeNiro’s rant against Donald Trump…’ ‘Donald Trump’s words were not as damaging as Robert DeNiro’s ugly rant. Trump’s words did not hurt anyone.’ Voight tweeted in response to the Republican candidate’s comments that he could sexually harass women without consequence. ‘I don’t know of too many men who haven’t expressed some sort of similar sexual terms toward women, especially in their younger years,’ Voight added. Trump has since been accused of sexual harassment by six women in the days following the 2005 hot mic recording’s emergence. The presidential candidate has spoken out against Voight’s daughter over the last decade, saying in 2006: ‘[Angelina Jolie has] been with so many guys she makes me look like a baby, OK, with the other side. And, I just don’t even find her attractive.’ In 2007, Trump said: ‘Angelina Jolie is sort of amazing because everyone thinks she’s like this great beauty. ‘I really understand beauty. And I will tell you, she’s not—I do own Miss Universe. I do own Miss USA. I mean, I own a lot of different things. I do understand beauty, and she’s not.’ source: | 1real |
Jeb Bush just proved that Dubya was the smart one all along | The popular conservative argument that George W. Bush "kept us safe" from terrorism has always been somewhat undermined by the fact that the vast majority of domestic terrorism deaths in American history occurred while Bush was in office. But it turns out that it took Donald Trump to offer an argument that Democrats have always shied away from, telling Bloomberg TV, "When you talk about George Bush, I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time."
As phrased by Trump, the argument is provocative to the point of poor taste, but in attempting to rebut it, Jeb Bush went and made exactly the explicit claim that the doctrine of "Bush kept us safe" has always avoided — that the period of time during which Bush kept us safe includes 9/11 itself.
Pre-Jeb, nobody made the argument in that way, because it's obviously ridiculous.
Instead, kept-us-safe-ism has tended to indulge in the fantasy that Bush was inaugurated in mid-September 2001 rather than early late January. Through this metaphysical sleight of hand, the events of 9/11 themselves neither refute nor bolster the notion that the Bush years were a time of safety. With his clumsy effort to parry Trump, however, Jeb has given away the whole game.
After all, "we" clearly were not safe on 9/11. | 0fake |
Britain's foreign minister to meet Iran's president on Sunday: UK Foreign Office | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s foreign minister Boris Johnson is expected to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday to discuss bilateral and regional issues, a UK Foreign Office official said on Saturday. Johnson held talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif and other officials in Tehran on Saturday, where he stressed Britain s support for Iran s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and raised concerns about dual national consular cases between the countries. | 0fake |
Rio Olympics: A Phelps Upset, a Judo Snub, and a Bitter Goalie - The New York Times | Katie Ledecky did what Katie Ledecky does best — leave her rivals deep in her wake — on her way to smashing the world in record in the freestyle. Ledecky’s final margin of victory was 11. 38 seconds over Britain’s Jazz Carlin, who clocked a 8:16. 17, of a second better than Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas. Here’s how Ledecky broke the record. The favorites in the other marquee events didn’t fare as well. Katinka Hosszu, who had already won three golds in Rio, was chased down by American Maya DiRado in the backstroke. Hosszu led for the first 180 meters. DiRado caught her near the wall and touched it first, finishing in 2 minutes 05. 99 seconds. Hosszu’s time was 2:06. 05. It was second gold medal, and fourth over all, at the Rio Games for DiRado, 23. Here’s how DiRado did it. And somebody finally beat Michael Phelps in Rio. His name’s Joseph Schooling, and he topped Phelps in the butterfly. Read about how he beat Phelps here. An Egyptian judoka declined to shake hands with his Israeli opponent after their match on Friday, eliciting jeers from the audience. Or Sasson of Israel defeated Islam El Shehaby of Egypt in a match in the heaviest weight class. After a moment of prayer, El Shehaby got up and seemed reluctant to perform the traditional bow to his opponent. Eventually, he gave a quick nod and left the mat. A judge and referee urged him to return. Sasson then approached El Shehaby with his hand extended, but El Shehaby backed away. After a moment, Sasson gave up. “That is extremely rare in judo,” the American coach Jimmy Pedro said. “It is especially disrespectful considering it was a clean throw and a fair match. It was completely dishonorable and totally unsportsmanlike on the part of the Egyptian. ” Sasson went on to win a bronze medal in the event, which was won by the French legend Teddy Riner. Read the entire story here. • The United States women’s soccer team lost to an old friend, Pia Sundhage, who used to coach the Americans but now leads the Swedes. After a draw in the quarterfinal, Sweden beat the United States on penalty kicks, eliminating the Americans without a medal. Hope Solo blasted the Swedish team after the loss, saying they had played like “a bunch of cowards. ” • The first medal event at track and field was a memorable one as Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia broke the world record in the women’s 10, 000 meters by more than 14 seconds. Ayana, 24, finished in 29 minutes 17. 45 seconds, ahead of the previous mark of 29:31. 78, set by Wang Junxia of China in 1993. Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya was a distant second, at 29:32. 53. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, who won the past two Olympic races, took bronze. • Six Olympics for Kim Rhode, and now six Olympic medals. Rhode, 37, won a bronze medal in skeet shooting on Friday. Rhode had won a gold medal in the double trap event at age 17 at the Atlanta Olympics and added a medal at every Summer Games since. Her six medals tie Jackie for most individual Olympic medals by a United States woman. • The American men’s foil fencing team won a bronze medal on Friday, the first medal for the United States in the event since 1932. Alexander Massialas was the silver medalist in the individual event, and Miles has a flamboyant fencing move named after him, but it was another member of the team, Gerek Meinhardt, who was the key. Meinhardt broke open a tightly contested bronze medal match against Italy with an shellacking of Andrea Baldini, a former world champion, and put the United States in the lead to stay. The final score was . “I didn’t fence great against Egypt and Russia,” Meinhardt said, of the day’s earlier matches. “Finally I broke through. Frustration motivated me. ” The substitute Race Imboden rounded out the American team. He fought just one bout but won, and hollered at the audience in delight. The same four fencers had finished in the dreaded fourth position in London in 2012. Imboden said the camaraderie between the fencer was crucial to their success. “We’ve all known each other since we’ve been 10 years old. ” After the victory, gave Imboden a piggyback ride as the delighted team celebrated. • The butterfly is the 18th and final individual event of Michael Phelps’s career. Although with Phelps, you never know. He will try to win his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event, a feat he accomplished in the individual medley on Thursday. With a victory in the 800 freestyle, Katie Ledecky will become the second swimmer, joining Debbie Meyer in 1968, to win the 200, 400 and freestyles in the same Olympics. Anthony Ervin, 35, is the oldest member of the United States swim team. If he can win the freestyle, he will supplant Phelps as the oldest swimmer to win individual Olympic gold. Phelps, 31, this week surpassed Duke Kahanamoku, who won the 100 free at the 1920 Olympics at the age of 30. • The United States men’s basketball team got a call against Australia before winning by 10 on Wednesday. The Americans probably won’t hit the snooze alarm against Serbia. The U. S. women take on Canada. Simone Manuel managed to make history and break a record, all in less than a minute. Manuel became the first woman to win an individual event in Olympic swimming on Thursday night. She and Penny Oleksiak of Canada tied for the fastest time, an Olympic record in the women’s freestyle: 52. 70 seconds. “I definitely think it raises some awareness and will get them inspired,” Manuel, 20, said about the significance of her accomplishment. “I mean, the gold medal wasn’t just for me. It was for people that came before me and inspired me to stay in the sport. For people who believe that they can’t do it, I hope I’m an inspiration to others to get out there and try swimming. You might be pretty good at it. ” Manuel is sharing a room with another American swimmer, Katie Ledecky, in the athletes’ village here. She and Oleksiak shaved 0. 01 seconds off the Olympic standard of 52. 71, set earlier in the Rio Games meet by Australia’s Cate Campbell. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom won the bronze in 52. 99. There has been a great deal of frustration this at the Rio Games, where the table tennis balls are giving players fits. They don’t bounce true, the players said. Their flight paths are unpredictable. And they frequently break. “I think this ball is very bad,” Li Ping of Qatar said after losing a match. The player who beat him, Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany, fumed that the official competition ball “makes it almost impossible to compete. ” Read Andrew Keh’s story on the table tennis problem here. Biles Claims the Crown: In case anybody had doubts, Simone Biles made it official: she’s the best gymnast in the world. The American dominated the women’s competition on her way to a gold medal Thursday. In doing so, she joined Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin and Gabby Douglas as American winners. Aly Raisman (U. S.) won the silver, and Aliya Mustafina (Russia) won bronze. Read about Biles’s gold medal performance here. See the moves she pulled off here. Phelps Breaks an Ancient Record: Michael Phelps won the 200 individual medley easily, beating not only teammate Ryan Lochte, but an ancient Greek. Leonidas of Rhodes won 12 individual events over four Olympics. At 36, five years older than Phelps, he won his last three golds in 152 B. C. in races of about 200 and 400 meters and in a race. It wasn’t easy, but Phelps surpassed Leonidas, winning his 13th individual gold (and 22nd gold overall and 26th medal). With the victory, Phelps also joined the track and field Olympians Al Oerter and Carl Lewis as the only Americans to win an individual event four times. Phelps was timed in 1 minute 54. 66. He won by over a bodylength, and the time was his ever behind a 1:54. 23 from Beijing. He held up four fingers afterward to indicate his four consecutive victories in the event. Japan’s Kosuke Hagino took the silver. Lochte finished fifth. Read about Phelps’s big victory here. Watch Michael Phelps versus Michael Phelps through the years. | 0fake |
Weiner’s Teen Victim Just Called Out Comey For Politicizing Her Abuse | Comments
The teenager whose explosive allegations led to a federal investigation against disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner has published an open letter about victim’s rights, and her utter betrayal by FBI Director James Comey’s partisan memo that is so heart wrenching, that it must be shared and read by every single law enforcement officer in the country, if not the world.
This entire weekend, intense media coverage has focused on one woman – Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton – most observers believe was wronged by Comey’s intentionally vague memo. All the while, the woman most harmed by FBI Director Comey’s partisan attack has been suffering in silent agony, victimized first by her abuser and then by the men with badges.
FBI agents claimed that they spoke with her to seek justice, only for Comey to turn around and betray her, to victimize her yet again, by thrusting her story into the white heat of the last week in a bitterly contested general election campaign’s final media feeding frenzy with one vaguely worded memo guaranteed to draw maximum questioning by the press.
The anonymous teen who only went to the FBI under the promise of anonymity and was grilled by agents for seven hours just last Friday. Only minutes after ending that interrogation, she was contacted by journalists who knew her identity only minutes after ending the discussions with the federal law enforcement officers.
Clearly, her identity was somehow no longer a secret. The media contacted the teen victim and her family before even the FBI case manager let her know about Comey’s memo, and it all happened before she could escape the public eye to safeguard her privacy. So she wrote this letter and delivered it to a national entertainment website :
I am the 15-year-old (now 16) who was the victim of Anthony Weiner. I now add you to the list of people who have victimized me. I told my story originally to protect other young girls that might be a victim of online predators.
Your letter to Congress has now brought this whole matter back into the media spotlight. Not even 10 minutes after being forensically interviewed with the FBI for seven hours, I received a phone call from a REPORTER asking for a statement. Why didn’t you communicate with the local FBI agents that I had just spoken to? They could have scheduled our interview sooner or scheduled a time to interview me later, or change locations of the interview. My neighborhood has been canvassed by reporters asking for details about me.
In your letter, you chose to use a vague approach, meaning the media had to keep searching to try and find out what evidence you had uncovered and how. Every media outlet from local to national has contacted me and my family to get my “story.” Why couldn’t your letter have waited until after the election, so I would not have to be the center of attention the last week of the election cycle?
In his “cooperation” with you and with his love of the spotlight, Anthony Weiner has given information that led to the media finding me. You have assisted him in further victimizing me on every news outlet. I can only assume that you saw an opportunity for political propaganda.
I thought your job as FBI Director was to protect me. I thought if I cooperated with your investigation, my identity as a minor would be kept secret. That is no longer the case. My family and I are barraged by reporters’ phone calls and emails. I have been even been blamed in a newspaper for causing Donald Trump to now be leading in some polls and costing Hillary the election.
Anthony Weiner is the abuser. Your letter helped that abuse to continue. How can I rebuild my life when you have made finding out my “story” the goal of every reporter? When I meet with my therapist next time, she will already know what we are going to talk about before I get there by reading Friday, October 28th, 2016’s New York Times article.
I may have been Weiner’s victim, but the real story here is that I am a survivor. I am strong, intelligent, and certain that I will come out from under this nightmare, but it will not be as a result of your doing your job to protect me. I hope that by making my letter to you public, you will think about how your actions affect the victims of the crimes you are investigating. The election is important, yes, but what happened to me and how it makes me feel and how others see me, is much more important. It’s time that the FBI Director puts his victims’ rights above political views.
— Girl that lost her faith in America
P.S. To all reporters: AP, FOX, CBS, NBC, and all other media outlets, please respect my position and stop interrupting my life!
It’s impossible to read this letter without tears for the teenage girl who was victimized by Anthony Wiener, and bravely stepped forward to alert the authorities so they could stop a sad sex predator so mentally ill, that after his out of control actions cost him his career and his public image, he continued his behavior until he lost his marriage and perhaps next his freedom for the safety of others.
Instead, the very authorities at the FBI who pledged to maintain her anonymity and seek justice for her, and to prevent she, and others from facing the same ills, have turned into a political party with badges – and not a very well coordinated group of people with badges either.
Our nation needs leaders who place their duty above partisan politics, and in law enforcement we need cops on the beat to protect the victims, not to abuse the victims for their own partisan games.
Our nation needs for FBI Director James Comey to admit his mistakes and vacate his position, before the next victim of crime gets victimized by his unsavory political maneuvering using the country’s top law enforcement agency to slander someone else into political compliance. | 1real |
Factbox: Humanitarian crisis worsens in Bangladesh as many Rohingya flee Myanmar | (Reuters) - About 146,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar in late August, U.N. workers said on Wednesday. This has brought to 233,000 the number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October 2016. The exodus has put pressure on aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous violence in Myanmar. Following are some details on the crisis gathered from U.N. sources working in the Cox s Bazar district of Bangladesh, on the Myanmar border. *Landmine injuries occurred on Sept. 5 with two children brought in for treatment at the Gundum border area. *The influx of refugees via marine routes has increased, with a sharp increase noted in Shamlapur from 1,090 individuals on Sept. 4 to 12,500 on Sept. 5. *Around 33,000 refugees have gathered at three new spontaneous settlements that have sprung up at Unchiprang, Moinar Ghona and Thangkhali. There are acute humanitarian needs in these rapidly expanding settlements, especially for emergency health, safe water, food and shelter support. *Four mobile medical teams are being deployed to different locations, and two more are planned. *No deliveries were performed by the midwives in the last two days for new arrivals, indicating that many may have delivered outside of available health facilities. *Strengthened family tracing mechanisms are needed for unaccompanied children and other separated families. Most children have arrived with their mothers as their fathers are missing or arrested. *A total of 177 incidents of gender-based violence have been reported in the refugee camps since Aug. 27. Eighteen survivors of this violence have been referred for life-saving medical care. About 240 women and 60 men, including survivors of gender-based violence, attended stress management sessions. *The community clinic in Kutupalong is overwhelmed with patients, resulting in long lines for waiting and inefficient service provision for survivors of gender-based violence seeking emergency health services. The cost of transport prohibits beneficiaries from travelling to health facilities where emergency sexual and reproductive health services are available, including clinical management of rape. | 0fake |
Intruder Gets Within Steps of White House - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — A man carrying a backpack jumped over a fence and got within several steps of the White House before being arrested late Friday, the Secret Service said. The intrusion, the first reported since President Trump took office, came as the president was inside the residence. A Secret Service official said the intruder did not pose a threat to Mr. Trump. But the breach was more serious than most other cases of at the White House: The man was able to elude multiple layers of security before being stopped near the entrance at the South Portico. The intruder, identified as Jonathan Tran, 26, of Milpitas, Calif. was charged with entering a restricted area “while using or carrying a dangerous weapon. ” The Secret Service official said that he was not armed and that his backpack did not contain any hazardous materials, but that he was carrying two cans of pepper spray. When confronted by the officer who arrested him, Mr. Tran said, “I am a friend of the president. I have an appointment,” according to a court document filed in the case. The officer said Mr. Tran was wearing a hooded jacket or sweater. In addition to the pepper spray, Mr. Tran was carrying an American passport, an Apple laptop, a book by Mr. Trump and a letter to the president, in which he referred to “Russian Hackers. ” In the letter, Mr. Tran said that he had been followed, that his phone calls and emails had been intercepted, and that he had “been called schizophrenic. ” Speaking to reporters on Saturday at a meeting of cabinet members at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. Mr. Trump said the “Secret Service did a fantastic job last night. ” He described Mr. Tran as a “troubled person. ” The Secret Service said in a statement that at about 11:38 p. m. “an individual scaled the outer perimeter fence by the Treasury Building and East Executive Avenue,” adding, “Secret Service Uniformed Division officers arrested the individual on the south grounds without further incident. ” But the court document suggested that Mr. Tran had been able to walk unimpeded alongside the residence until he nearly reached the entrance at the South Portico. The east side of the White House is where guests enter the building for social events. It is separated from the Treasury Department by a fence. Mr. Tran had no criminal record and no history with the Secret Service, the official said. Officers searched the north and south grounds of the White House and found nothing amiss. Security at the White House became a major issue in 2014, when there were several cases of intruders scaling the fence and entering the grounds. In one episode, a man carrying a knife, Omar J. Gonzalez, managed to overpower a Secret Service agent inside the North Portico entrance and run through the ceremonial East Room before he was tackled. The Secret Service came under criticism because in its initial account of the episode, officials indicated that Mr. Gonzalez had made it only steps inside the North Portico after running through the door. The fuller account emerged from Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah and chairman of a subcommittee that investigated the breach. The National Capital Planning Commission recently approved plans for the Secret Service to install a stronger and higher perimeter fence around the White House. In 2015, the Secret Service added spikes to the top of the fence on the north and south sides of the grounds as a temporary deterrent. | 0fake |
Marcobot Malfunction: New Data Shows Rubio’s Campaign In Crisis (PHOTOS) | A new poll of New Hampshire voters could show an alarming collapse for Senator Marco Rubio. The poll, conducted by a pro-John Kasich super PAC, may change the trajectory of the 2016 Republican presidential campaign.The poll, conducted by the pro-John Kasich New Day for America Super PAC, shows Rubio plummeting to fourth place in the primary here, with 10 percent of the vote. Most of the polling conducted in the immediate days before the debate showed Rubio in second place.The survey, which was based on phone calls to 500 likely voters (margin of error plus or minus 3 percent), was conducted Sunday, the day following the latest Republican debate. Rubio came under scathing attack from Chris Christie, who cast the first term Florida senator as too unready, ambitious, and superficial to occupy the Oval Office.By comparison, the most recent average of polling in New Hampshire shows Rubio pulling in 15.1 percent, in second place behind Donald Trump at 31.3 percent.While the super PAC poll may be a statistical outlier, Rubio received criticism on both the left and right for his performance in the Republican debate on Saturday night. After Governor Chris Christie pointed out that Rubio had performed the same mini-speech twice before at the event, Rubio again returned to his comfort zone.The next day, the nickname Marcobot began circulating for the senator, and video of his exchanges with Christie went viral.A pro-Democratic super PAC constructed robot costumes out of cardboard and appeared outside a Rubio event with the label Marco Roboto. Rubio's new tag alongs: Marco Roboto +Rubio Talking Point 3000. "The costumes came out about as well as his debate." pic.twitter.com/jpswCAKYwX Jane C. Timm (@janestreet) February 7, 2016In a post-debate appearance on ABC s This Week, Rubio tried to do some damage control on his mistake by doubling down on it:Shown a video of his repeated remarks produced by the Clinton super PAC Correct the Record, Rubio said he would pay them to keep running that clip. That s what I believe passionately, he said. It s one of the reasons why I m not running for re-election to the Senate and I m running for president. This notion and this idea that somehow all this is an accident Obamacare was not an accident, Dodd Frank was not an accident, the deal with Iran was not an accident. Even if the poll results end up being just a super PAC leaning too hard on the scales, the glitch in Rubio s delivery has opened up a line of attack for Democrats, along with his extremist position that women shouldn t be allowed to have an abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.Many in the media have continued to hype Rubio as a winning Republican establishment candidate, even though he only mustered a third place finish in the Iowa caucus. If he fails to win in New Hampshire, the path to the nomination will continue to be filled with obstacles he never anticipated.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.