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Military Veterans Are Helping To Save Coral Reefs By Combating Climate Change | ‹ › Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. Military Veterans Are Helping To Save Coral Reefs By Combating Climate Change By Arnaldo Rodgers on October 27, 2016 Veterans Are Helping To Save Coral Reefs Find Your Job Now at HireVeterans.com
By Ken Silverstein At a time when the presidential election is dividing families and friends, at least one issue is bridging the gap: giving veterans of the U.S. military a new lease on life by teaching them how to restore coral reefs. And they are trying to enlist big business as their ally. Indeed, the marriage of the ocean’s ecology along with those who have served their nation is breathing a new spirit into the coral reefs, which make up a whole community of living organisms that survive on the ocean floor. Those reefs aren’t just a thing of beauty. They are also an economic engine, spawning entire enterprises that range from tourism to medicine, including the making of drugs that deal with cancer, arthritis and bacterial infections. “Our guys are special forces who are physically strong but who are also struggling,” says Jim Ritterhoff, founder of Force Blue that combines the virtues of military training with coral reef restoration.
Read the Full Article at www.forbes.com >>>> Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on October 27, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments
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Trump: I Couldn’t Have Divided America Because ‘I’m Not President Yet’ (VIDEO) | Despite having run one of the most disgusting campaigns most of us have ever witnessed, the not-my-president-elect told Matt Lauer of the Today Show that he s not to blame for the division in America. Of course he did. Trump was featured as Time Magazine Person of The Year on the cover Wednesday, which named him President of the Divided States of America. It is a great honor. It means a lot especially me growing up reading Time Magazine, Trump told Lauer. I have been lucky enough to be on the cover many times. Which is an odd statement considering he blasted Time magazine in Dec. 2015 on Twitter when he was not chosen. Lauer was quick to point that out. When you say divided states of America, I didn t divide them, Trump continued to say. They re divided now. I think putting divided is snarky, but again, it s divided. I m not president yet. So I didn t do anything to divide. SURE, he didn t. The future Demagogue-In-Chief called his Democratic opponent Crooked Hillary at every campaign rally, working the crowd into a frenzy. Lock her up! chants commenced at each of his campaign stops. Hate crimes have increased. Every white supremacist group across the board endorsed the acidic alleged billionaire. But he s not a divider. Just ask him.At that point, Lauer grilled him over his use of Twitter, a social site in which he has dished out conspiracy theories to his nearly 17 million followers. I think I am very restrained, and I talk about important things, he said. That s a modern day form of communication. I get it out much more faster than a press release. I get it out much more honestly than dealing with dishonest reporters, Trump added.Well, if by restrained he means attacking Saturday Night Live and the cast of the musical Hamilton, then he has a point. Otherwise, he s so full of shit we re going to have to attach a toilet flush to his jaw. As for not being sworn in yet, that s true. But he s the president-elect and needs to put his big boy pants on so he can get to work. It s going to be a loooong four years.Photo by Scott Olson via Getty. | 1real |
HOW GORSUCH Will Have Immediate Effect On Historic 2nd Amendment Decision And These Significant Controversial Cases | Neil M. Gorsuch joins the Supreme Court just in time to cast potentially significant votes in cases that pit religious liberty against gay rights, test limits on funding for church schools and challenge California s restrictions on carrying a concealed gun in public.Such issues arise either in appeals filed by conservative groups that have been pending before the justices for weeks or in cases to be heard later this month.Gorsuch s votes in those matters may give an early sign of whether the court s conservatives with their 5-4 majority restored by his confirmation will pursue an activist agenda.The cases include a Colorado baker s claim that he deserves a faith-based exemption from the state s anti-discrimination law after he refused to design a wedding cake for a gay couple. The justices have been considering his appeal behind closed doors since December, but have taken no action. LA TimesA Second Amendment controversy arising from California, would be the biggest gun-rights decision in several years, should the justices agree to hear it.In D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, the Court ruled that the Constitution protects the right to keep functional firearms in the home for self-defense, and that state and local governments cannot infringe upon said right. The challenge now pending before the Court, Peruta v. California, involves the right to carry a firearm outside the home for self-defense.The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in 2016 affording county governments in California significant leeway in the issuance of concealed carry permits. Some permit regimes in the state are fairly accommodating of applicants, while others make it functionally impossible to obtain a concealed carry license. A group of Second Amendment applicants challenged the 9th Circuit s decision.Should the justices take the case and side with the activists, they could announce a constitutionally-protected right to bear firearms outside the home for the first time in American history.Via: Daily Caller | 1real |
What the Seesaw Jobs Numbers Are Really Telling Us - The New York Times | The job market is fine. That’s the most important single idea to take out of the June employment report published Friday morning. A month ago it looked as if there might well be an economic slowdown underway to add to the mix of a polarizing presidential election, geopolitical turbulence and violence. The good news is that doesn’t appear to be the case. The blockbuster 287, 000 jobs the Labor Department reported employers added in June surely overstates the pace of improvement, just as surely as the miserable 11, 000 jobs reported to have been added in May understated it. (The May number was originally reported as an 38, 000.) A Verizon strike contributed to the seesaw, but most of it is probably driven by a mix of sampling error and the sometimes weird effects of seasonal adjustment. So as a starting point to gauge how the economy is actually doing, we can average the two months. The 149, 000 jobs added per month is consistent with many other signs we see, such as steadily positive readings on surveys of businesses about their growth and hiring intentions. It is, however, a step down from the speedier job growth in the recent past. In 2015 the economy added an average of 229, 000 jobs a month. Still, in some ways that slower pace of job creation is utterly foreseeable, and not even necessarily bad news. After the 2008 recession, employers could add jobs almost as rapidly as they wished, because so many unemployed people were waiting on the sidelines of the job market available to be hired. With the unemployment rate now below 5 percent, it was inevitable that the pace of job growth would slow to something in the ballpark of 100, 000 jobs a month. It shouldn’t be surprising, or cause for alarm, that that’s exactly what’s happening in 2016. But the payroll numbers that get the most attention are only a piece of the story. What do the other data buried in the report tell us about how the economy is doing as we push toward Election Day? There, the news is mixed. The unemployment rate rose to 4. 9 percent for a combination of good and bad reasons. The good news is that the labor force rose by 414, 000 people, partly reversing a negative trend from the previous two months. If it continues, that would be a sign that higher wages and steady job growth are coaxing people to work. The bad news is that most of those people didn’t find work the number of people unemployed rose by 347, 000. Translation: More Americans said they wanted work, but couldn’t find it. But that is in many ways better than indications that they don’t even want work. It suggests that over time they will find jobs and provide a lift to incomes and economic growth, even if they were still on the sidelines in June. Similarly mixed: Average hourly wages rose only 0. 1 percent in June, below the 0. 2 percent analysts had forecast. But those numbers are jumpy, and the 2. 6 percent rise in hourly earnings over the last year does imply a rising standard of living in this time of very low inflation. So halfway through 2016, where are we? The economy continues to grow and the job market continues to improve — not at the blockbuster pace that the June payrolls number might imply, but at a steady rate that is likely to put Americans to work and deliver higher wages over time. The fear that the May numbers induced should subside for now. These numbers are for a period that predates Britain’s vote to exit the European Union, but that, too, is likely to have only indirect effects on America’s economy (through global financial markets, for example). The job market is what we thought it was: not great. Not awful. Fine. | 0fake |
Why Palestinians Want to Sue Britain: 99 Years since the Balfour Declaration | Lord Arthur Balfour in Tel Aviv, c. 1925 (from the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress) | 1real |
Donald Trump Voters Just Hear Me Out
| This is my last column until after the election, so Id like to address the people least likely to read it: Donald Trump voters. Who knows? Maybe Ill get lucky and a few of them will buy fish wrapped in this column, and theyll accidentally peruse it! Desperate times call for desperate measures.
While Ive opposed the Trump candidacy from the start, Ive never disparaged Trump voters. Some are friends and neighbors; theyre all fellow Americans. We should take their concerns seriously. But we should also demand that they be serious, that they draw distinctions between these two presidential candidates.
Yes, Hillary Clinton is a flawed leader but in the way so many presidents were. We know her flaws: She has a weakness for secrecy, occasionally fudges truths, has fawning aides and a husband who lacks discipline when it comes to moneymaking and women. But she is not indecent, and that is an important distinction. And shes studious, has sought out people of substance on every issue and has taken the job of running for president seriously.
Trump is not only a flawed politician, hes an indecent human being. Hes boasted of assaulting women prompting 11 to come forward to testify that he did just that to them; his defense is that he could not have assaulted these women because they werent pretty enough.
Hes created a university that was charged with defrauding its students. Hes been charged with discriminating against racial minorities in his rental properties. Hes stiffed countless vendors, from piano sellers to major contractors. Hes refused to disclose his tax returns because they likely reveal that hes paid no federal taxes for years, is in bed with dodgy financiers and doesnt give like he says to charity.
Hes compared the sacrifice of parents of a soldier killed in Iraq to his sacrifice of building tall buildings. Hes vowed, if elected, to prosecute his campaign rival.
We have never seen such behaviors in a presidential candidate.
At the same time, Trump has shown no ability to talk about any policy issue with any depth. Harlan Cobens debate-night tweet last month had it right: On Aleppo he sounds like a fifth grader giving a book report on a book he never read.
I understand why many Trump supporters have lost faith in Washington and want to just shake things up. When you shake things up with a studied plan and a clear idea of where you want to get to, you can open new futures. But when you shake things up, guided by one-liners and no moral compass, you can cause enormous instability and systemic vertigo.
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PRIVACY POLICY
But there is an even more important reason Trump supporters, particularly less-educated white males, should be wary of his bluster: His policies wont help them. Trump promises to bring their jobs back. But most of their jobs didnt go to a Mexican. They went to a microchip.
The idea that large numbers of manual factory jobs can be returned to America if we put up a wall with Mexico or renegotiate our trade deals is a fantasy. Trump ignores the fact that manufacturing is still by far the largest sector of the U.S. economy. Indeed, our factories now produce twice what they did in 1984 but with one-third fewer workers.
Trump cant change that. Machines and software will keep devouring, and spawning, more work of all kinds. Did you hear that IBMs cognitive computer, Watson, helped to create a pop song, Not Easy, with the Grammy-winning producer Alex da Kid? The song was released on Oct. 21, IBM noted, and within 48 hours it climbed to No. 4 on iTuness Hot Tracks.
No one knows for certain how we deal with this new race with and against machines, but I can assure you its not Trumps way build walls, restrict trade, give huge tax cuts to the rich. The best jobs in the future are going to be what I call STEMpathy jobs jobs that blend STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, math) with human empathy. We dont know what many of them will look like yet.
The smartest thing we can do now is to keep our economy as open and flexible as possible to get the change signals first and be able to quickly adapt; create the opportunity for every American to engage in lifelong learning, because whatever jobs emerge will require more knowledge; make sure that learning stresses as much of the humanities and human interactive skills as hard sciences; make sure we have an immigration policy that continues to attract the worlds most imaginative risk-takers; and strengthen our safety nets, because this era will leave more people behind.
This is the only true path to American greatness in the 21st century. Trump wants to make America great in ways that are just not available anymore. What do we have to lose by trying his way? Trump asks. The answer is: everything that actually makes us great. When the world gets this fast, small errors in navigation have huge consequences.
While Clinton has failed to inspire, her instincts and ideas will keep us hewing to basically the right course. And however great her flaws, she is still in the zone of human decency. Trump is not.
We can never be great as a country with a president with the warped values of Donald Trump. I pray that in the end at least some Trump voters, my fellow Americans, will see that. | 0fake |
Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party calls for Mugabe resignation | JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s ruling ZANU-PF party called on Friday for President Robert Mugabe to resign, the main state newspaper The Herald reported, the latest sign that the aging leader s authority has collapsed after an army takeover. The newspaper said that ZANU-PF branches in all 10 provinces had met on Friday and had also called for Mugabe s wife Grace to resign from the party. | 0fake |
SARAH HUCKABEE-SANDERS Destroys Room Full Of Fake News Reporters…Encourages Every American To Watch Video Exposing #VeryFakeNews CNN [VIDEO] | White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders was the perfect choice to take on the media today following the release of a bombshell video by Project Veritas showing an undercover reporter capturing CNN s Supervising Producer admitting that most of the news they put out about the Trump-Russia collusion is bullish*t! Early this morning, James O Keefe released the Project Veritas video where reporters went undercover at CNN to investigate the #VeryFakeNews network. O Keefe said their intent in making the video was to determine the motivation behind CNN s Trump-Russia collusion obsession. Since the inauguration, CNN has mentioned Russian story nearly 16,000 times.During her press conference today, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders encouraged the room full of reporters to watch the Project Veritas video that exposes CNN as fake news for ratings. She even took it a step further and noted that while she couldn t confirm the accuracy of the tape, that every American should watch the video. Sanders appeared to be disgusted as she remarked that if the tape is accurate, then it is a disgrace to all of media to all of journalism. And furthermore, If the media can t be trusted to report the news, then that is a danger to all of America. BOOOM Sarah Huckabee Sanders advises ALL to watch Veritas Video where CNN producer admits they realize Trump/Russia is a hoax but dont care! pic.twitter.com/tng5DUmKq3 STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) June 27, 2017Although panicked fake network hosts like MSNBC s Joy Reid were praising reporter Brian Karem for attempting to stand up to Huckabee-Sanders, in reality, he was no match for the sharp-witted Huckabee-Sanders who claimed that media has gone into a dark place. One of the Democrat Party s top cheerleaders Joy Reid is no exception. Here s her tweet:Now following @BrianKarem who was every political reporter today. https://t.co/yJC2IXDKi4 Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) June 27, 2017The video below shows Karem s attempt to defend his fellow journalist s use of unnamed sources and fake news for ratings. Karem argued that Huckabee-Sanders was inflaming the CNN undercover video story, saying: Everybody in this room is only trying to do their job. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders blasted Karem as she shot back: I disagree completely. First of all, I think if anything has been inflamed, it s the dishonesty that often takes place by the news media. And I think it s outrageous for you to accuse me of inflaming a story when I was simply trying to respond to his question. :Here s the exchange between Brian Karem and Sarah Huckabee-Sanders:MUST WATCH: White House reporter @BrianKarem pushing back against Sarah Huckabee Sanders and saying what many people have been thinking. pic.twitter.com/hW49e0tdWY Yashar Ali (@yashar) June 27, 2017 | 1real |
Sheriff David Clarke: ’I Sense Pride in Our Nation I Have Found Lacking for the Last Eight Years’ - Breitbart | Sheriff David Clarke began his closing address to CPAC 2017 as he knew everyone familiar with him would expect, by declaring “Blue Lives Matter in America! ”[“To what purpose did our Founding Fathers and the soldiers of our great Continental Army strive? Did they work to form the horrible mistake of what progressive Democrats call the Great Society — a place of reliance on the benevolent providence of government as the father, the mother, the breadwinner, and the teacher?” Clarke asked as he settled down to the primary business of his speech. “I think not,” he answered. “You see, General Washington was rightly and firstly proud of the nation that he believed lay within the grasp of the colonists, as they struggled to tear it away from the corpulent arms of an overbearing King of England. George Washington wrote to Benjamin Franklin that no country upon Earth had it more in its power to attain these blessings than united America. ” Clarke quoted extensively from Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his address. His overall theme was a call to arms his closing request was for CPAC attendees to go out and fight. It was, in some respects, the type of closing speech one might have expected to hear if Republicans had lost the 2016 presidential election. Clarke’s purpose was to impress upon his conservative audience that they faced determined opposition from the Left, and would need to remain in fighting trim themselves if they wanted President Donald Trump to implement the policies they voted for. Clarke stressed that Washington and his revolutionaries “never intended to build a nation to be ruled from a throne room or a centralized government. ” “They weren’t building a land where Boston, or Philadelphia, or New York City, or even today’s capital city that bears his name would dictate terms and conditions to the American people,” he continued. “No, their efforts to secure the basic human rights endowed by the Creator and formation of a most limited government, instituted justly by men and deriving its limited powers from the consent of the governed. They embraced the concept of . ” “They fought the tyranny of the throne, it’s true. They fought to end the abuse of the colonies at the hand of an uncaring and unsympathetic master, but seemingly forgotten yet chief among the complaints outlined by Jefferson in his great Declaration was the refusal of the monarchy to craft and enforce needed laws — wholesome and necessary to the public good, said Jefferson, and of immediate and pressing importance, they told the king of England. They law, they said, a law that works, a respect and reverence to the rule of law,” said Clarke. “These goals were as key at the founding of our great Republic as the need to satisfy our thirst for freedom and religion, and assembly, and a free and unfettered media that we keeping hearing about so much today,” he added wryly. Clarke used the Civil War as another example of the importance of law, making a compelling argument that passing and fairly enforcing good laws is as essential to the maintenance of liberty as repealing bad laws and scaling back the power of overweening government. “Lincoln knew the failure to adhere to that standard in our shared American life would surely result in our surrender — first to the immorality of convenience, then to the sloth of inaction, and finally to the shame of irrelevance,” he proclaimed. Clarke quoted from George Washington to support the idea that America has legitimate needs as a and requires a certain degree of unity to endure, despite our many important differences: “We are either a united people or we are not. If it is the former, then let us in all matters of general concern act as a nation which has national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, then let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it. ” Clarke asked: I ask, are we now acting out the farce that President Washington predicted? We have matters under consideration in this capital city, most notably concerning immigration law and its enforcement, that even the most jaded among us would begrudgingly concede are of national importance to everyone. We have border states, most notably on our southern border, that have to date disproportionately borne the brunt and the burden of our failure to act over the past decades. But is there a state in this union in which the impact of that failure is not keenly felt by the American people? “Yet we seem to have fallen to a place and a time in our national discourse where even the mere restatement and affirmation of laws long ago crafted, and duly enacted by our Constitutional republic’s legislature — laws that were formed and codified in the people’s house, by the people’s representatives — is now considered controversial,” he observed. He went on: In the executive memoranda on immigration laws attested to this past week, no new laws were created. No group was put at risk without affording them due process. The rights of not one of our citizens, even in a land where president, senator, and farmer stand shoulder to shoulder as equals, was imperiled in the least. Instead, we merely restated the laws that were, what they have been, and voiced an intent to see them upheld fairly, impartially, and with a haste born of necessity. “And yet, in our modern times, that is viewed in some circles as oppressive, as controversial, and as wrong,” he noted, adding a sarcastic “Seriously?” He called it a “perversion of thought” to say that Americans are against immigrants. “Do some critics truly believe that we have become that Orwellian nightmare that views all Americans as equal, yet with some more equal than others? Come on now, seriously?” he asked. He said those who oppose the fair enforcement of duly passed immigration laws offer only “lawlessness, obstruction, and chaos” in other areas of American life as well. “They offer no morality, and certainly no courage,” Clarke said. “They offer only appeasement and the false currencies of concession and popularity over the virtues of morality and certainty. ” He drew a comparison between appeasement in foreign policy and appeasement to domestic lawlessness, warning we could not expect strong support for the rule of law from “liberal legislators” who “mark as their key data point in crafting policy how many Facebook likes their pages get, or what the latest Internet polling shows, or how many smiling emojis follow their every move. ” “I for one find no safe harbor or view on the middle ground, wheedling or seeking for others to announce the virtue of my actions,” declared Clarke, whose history of boldly confronting controversy over his words and actions certainly support that claim. “You see I, like President Reagan, see things not only as Left and Right, but as forward and backward — swimming sometimes against a powerful tide, or simply treading water, fundamentally failing our duty to make any choice at all by voting ‘present. ’” This was an important part of his overall theme about keeping all hands on deck, and conservatism at battle stations, rather than allowing intense opposition from the Left and media to paralyze Congress and the administration. He emphasized the point with an especially apt Reagan quote the audience adored: “I suggest to you that there is no Left or Right, only an up and a down. Up to the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. ” Clarke said that as a career police officer, he understood the importance of public servants respecting the public that grants them authority through the consent of the governed. “We the people do not follow established rules simply because a law enforcement officer is present to enforce them, but because of our basic love of, trust of, and reliance on our fellow citizens,” he argued. He quoted Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter’s admonition that “if one man can be allowed to determine for himself what the law is, then every man can. That means first chaos, and then tyranny. ” “American law enforcement officers have always understood this simple truth,” Clarke said. “They spend their life’s work, as I have thus far, exemplifying my faith in, my belief in, and commitment to our American system of justice — a system renowned the world over for the provisions of individual due process as a right endowed in each of us by our Creator. ” “The rule of law doesn’t divide us,” he said. “It binds us together in our great American life with shared behaviors, beliefs, and manners. I call it, as do many of you, ‘American exceptionalism.’ We are a nation of limited government in which everyone willfully, and as a matter of civic duty, must obey the law. And the value derived for the small price paid of observance of the common law is the greatest treasure known to mankind: freedom. Sweet freedom. ” “Freedom is why we get up in the morning and tend the fields. It is why we stay up late at night watching foreign markets. It sustains us. It feeds us. And once we have tasted it, we can never have enough to be satisfied,” he said. “As a conservative I believe with all my heart, that in furtherance of the common good, freedom means you decide your destiny. You, your family, your household, your neighborhood, your small town, your state — and yes, in those few matters of national scope, your nation,” Clarke said. “To cede as a matter of simple course of expediency, to cede those powers too quickly or injudiciously to Washington D. C. is just plain wrong, and it always has been. ” He quoted Reagan again: “We have come to a time for choosing … either we accept the responsibility for our own destiny, or we abandon the American revolution and confess that an intellectual belief in a capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan our own lives. ” Clarke exclaimed, winning the longest and strongest applause of the hour: How refreshing is that simple concept, that we who run our lives know the course of our own destiny better than some congresswoman from California, better than some judge from Joplin may know it sitting in a office in Washington, making the decisions that can undermine all of our great efforts. How refreshing to see a return to that respectful thought of the importance of and to turn away from the conceit and arrogance that was its predecessor at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue before January 20th, 2017! In President Donald Trump we have chosen a leader — a leader who I expect many of you in this room well know I both campaigned and vigorously supported for the highest office in this land. And he was a candidate that I’m certain many in this room also supported, and some may have at first opposed in some measure. That’s fine. That’s the great nature of this republic. We have choices, and we decide. However, in President Trump I sense a return now to those key virtues first extolled in that letter to a tyrant monarch in 1776. I sense a pride in our nation, and a voice to that pride that I have found lacking for the last eight years. “We were constantly told by former President Obama that America needed to humble itself. He told us humility is a virtue. But false humility is an affront to the senses, and pride in the greatness and might of our nation has never been a sin,” he argued. “President George Washington himself observed, upon the occasion of his first inaugural, ‘There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness.’ Consider those words once more: ‘A rank due the United States of America.’ Allow me to translate that language from 1789 to 2017. It means: ‘Put America first,’” he said. Clarke faulted the mainstream media for “mocking and taunting” President Trump’s America First vision, portraying it as “dark and feral. ” He said: No, it’s not. Yet those who held the office before President Trump would rise up from their graves and nod in agreement with the importance of our shared effort and potential for reward that President Trump offered us when he said, ‘We the citizens of America are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country, restore its promise not for an elite few, but for all of our people.’ He said together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many years to come. President Trump reminded us we will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done. Clarke said in closing: Ladies and gentlemen, today is our moment of truth, our point of no return. The choices we need make at this moment are opposed by entrenched interests. The ‘resistance’ looms. They attack our motives, they assail our beliefs, they decry our notion of justice, they proclaim the high ground of virtue, and they threaten upheaval if not given their way. What will history show we did with our moment of truth? Did we stand and fight, or did we cut and run? “Ladies and gentlemen, this is my challenge to you. These are your marching orders: Go forth to stand and fight,” he said. | 0fake |
Autopsy Report: SF Cops Shot Man 21 Times, Twice In The Head — He Was No Threat | The cops are out of control. They have appointed themselves judge, jury, and executioner in too many cases to count now, and here is yet another. Police in San Francisco executed a 26-year-old black man, Mario Woods, by shooting him twenty-one times. Two of those shots were to his head, according the an autopsy report obtained by local CBS affiliate KRON-4.In this particular case, San Francisco Chief of Police Greg Suhr did the usual, and lied about a dead man s actions in order cover up the fact that his officers used excessive deadly force against Woods, claiming that the suspect lunged at the officers and refused to drop the knife he was supposedly carrying. Woods was being approached because the cops believed that he had stabbed someone. However, video taken by witnesses reveal otherwise. Woods did not lunge at anyone, and he was outnumbered five to one with armed and trained police officers.Thanks to the medical examiner s report and the fact that the bullet casings from all 27 shots that were fired have been found, the cops have been forced to backtrack on their lies. They are now saying that the current narrative appears to corroborate facts gathered by investigators in the aftermath of this tragic incident. They went on to say: The department is committed to a thorough review of the shooting and this report will be an important component of all three ongoing independent investigations. The shooting is under investigation by the police department itself, as well as two other independent city agencies, the San Francisco District Attorney s Office, and the San Francisco Office of Citizen Complaints. Likely, they hope to be able to investigate themselves and find that they did nothing wrong. Not so fast on this one, though.The Mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee, has inquired of the Department of Justice and Attorney General Loretta Lynch for a federal investigation into this deadly shooting. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors want an investigation into not only this police shooting, but those of two other black men who were shot and killed by San Francisco cops. That Blue Wall of Silence won t help ya on this one, boys.Mario Woods mother, Gwendolyn Woods, has also filed a wrongful death suit against the city. Her attorney, John Burris, says of the situation: The fact is he was shot in the back. The significance to me is most of the officers who were shooting were not being threatened at the time they fired those weapons. Of course, the cops and the city are trying to paint Mario Woods in a bad light, saying in their response to Mrs. Woods lawsuit that her son advanced abruptly toward the officers and an armed and dangerous suspect in a violent felony. But John Burris isn t buying that, and says that Woods was not a threat to the lives of the officers, despite the fact that the city says that those cops were in the right. But Burris says: You know you can t just use deadly force against someone who is not threatening you. And that is the bottom line. In this case, and so many others, cops use deadly force not because it was warranted, but because they can, and then they get their stories straight and cover it up. That is absolutely despicable, and yet in so many cases they get away with it.Sue the hell out of them, Mrs. Woods. I hope you have their badges, too.Featured image from video screen capture via Filming Cops | 1real |
WATCH: The Simpsons Brutally Parodies Trump’s First 100 Days | The long running cartoon, The Simpsons, will offer its take on President Donald Trump s first 100 days in office. In this clip, he is depicted counting up all of his accomplishments while sitting in bed. What are they? He has lowered my gold handicap and added 700 new Twitter followers. The clip also shows him replacing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg with his daughter, Ivanka.The show is not only the longest running animated series on television; it is the longest running prime time program with a script. It first aired on December 12, 1988.Politics has been a common theme on the show. The Simpsons predicted a Trump presidency. Back in 2000, the show had Lisa Simpson taking over from a President Trump. Their take on the impact such a thing would have on the country was not good as Lisa was going to focus on the the R s; reading, writing and refilling the oceans. Featured image via screen capture. | 1real |
Koch-backed network aims to spend nearly $1 billion ahead of 2016 elections, may engage in GOP primaries | — A network of conservative advocacy groups backed by Charles and David Koch aims to spend a staggering $889 million in advance of the next White House election, part of an expansive strategy to build on its 2014 victories that may involve jumping into the Republican primaries.
The massive financial goal was revealed to donors here Monday during an annual winter meeting hosted by Freedom Partners, the tax-exempt business lobby that serves as the hub of the Koch-backed political operation, according to an attendee. The amount is more than double the $407 million that 17 allied groups in the network raised during the 2012 campaign.
The figure comes close to the $1 billion that each of the two major parties’ presidential nominees are expected to spend in 2016, and it cements the network’s standing as one of the country’s most potent political forces. With its resources and capabilities — including a national field operation and cutting-edge technology — it is challenging the primacy of the official parties. In the 2012 elections, the Republican National Committee spent $404 million, while the Democratic National Committee shelled out $319 million.
The new $889 million goal reflects the anticipated budgets of all the allied groups that the network funds. Those resources will go into field operations, new data-driven technology and policy work, among other projects, along with likely media campaigns aimed at shaping the congressional and White House elections.
The group — which is supported by hundreds of wealthy donors on the right, along with the Kochs — is still debating whether it will spend some of that money in the GOP primaries. Such a move could have a major impact in winnowing the field of contenders, but could also undercut the network’s standing if it engaged in intraparty politics and was not successful.
The three-day conference was held at a luxury resort perched on a rocky hillside near Palm Springs, Calif., with stunning views of the palm-tree-speckled desert floor below. The event drew 450 attendees, a record number, as well as the largest number of first-time contributors to the network.
Saturday’s opening dinner, held on the resort’s wide lawn under strings of twinkling lights, celebrated a crop of new U.S. senators whose victories helped put the Senate back in GOP control. Their bids were lifted by the Freedom Partners network, which had pledged to spend close to $300 million in the run-up to the November elections.
Sens. Steve Daines (Mont.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), David Perdue (Ga.) and Cory Gardner (Colo.) were on hand to thank donors, according to people familiar with the event.
But much of the weekend was spent looking ahead to 2016.
Freedom Partners President Marc Short said in an interview that “2014 was nice, but there’s a long way to go,” noting that the group’s ultimate goal is to make free-market ideals central in American society. “Politics is a necessary means to that end,” he said, but not the only one.
Much of the conclave served as an information-gathering exercise for network officials, who are assessing whether financiers will coalesce around a single candidate in the GOP presidential contest. At this point, some contributors have said they have little interest in putting money into a bloody internal fight, and many others are not yet set on a candidate.
Few here suggested they would support 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who is considering another run in 2016. Among the favorites are Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.).
“It’s not as if there’s one perfect champion and five bad individuals,” said one person familiar with donors’ views, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private conversations.
The Kochs’ moves are being carefully watched by operatives throughout the party, who are well aware of how the brothers could alter the trajectory of the race if they took sides in the primaries.
“It’s not like a Chicago political boss where Charles would say, ‘We’re all for this guy,’ ” said conservative activist Grover Norquist, who has attended past Koch donor seminars. “But if he said, ‘I really like this guy’ and did an op-ed, it would matter.”
The network’s influence was underlined by the number of prospective 2016 contenders who flocked to Rancho Mirage to mingle with the deep-pocketed crowd. Walker arrived Saturday from Iowa, after addressing conservative activists at a forum in Des Moines. That night, over an al fresco dinner of filet mignon, the Wisconsin governor thanked the Freedom Partners donors for their past support and touted his efforts to curb state spending.
Sunday night, Paul, Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) were on hand to participate in a panel about the economy and foreign policy moderated by ABC’s Jonathan Karl.
The three senators aimed some of their comments at the business leaders in the audience, touting their support for cutting taxes and regulations, and dismissed a question about whether wealthy donors have too much influence on politics.
“There are a bunch of Democrats who have taken as their talking points that the Koch brothers are the nexus of all evil in the world,” said Cruz, calling that thinking “grotesque and offensive.”
“I don’t know a single person in this room who has ever been to my office . . . asking from government any special access,” Rubio added. “By and large what they want is to be left alone.”
The panel was available to news organizations via a live Web stream, part of a new posture of openness embraced by the usually private organization. For the first time, Freedom Partners shared details about the donor conclave, including excerpts of Charles Koch’s welcoming remarks.
Still, some critics scoffed at the idea that the group was being transparent. On Saturday, a handful of protesters stood at the base of the curving driveway that leads up to the resort, waving a large American flag and holding signs denouncing the Kochs.
“They claim they’re being more open,” said Tracy Turner, a 49-year-old retiree from Palm Springs, noting that the news media was barred from the event. “Clearly, that’s not the case. They’re scripting it very carefully.”
Started by Charles Koch in 2003 and originally hosted by Koch Industries, the twice-a-year donor seminars are now sponsored by Freedom Partners.
The network has evolved into a sophisticated political operation that mirrors those of the official parties. Along with its main political advocacy arm, Americans for Prosperity, the network finances groups such as Concerned Veterans for America, the Libre Initiative and Generation Opportunity. Last year, it added a super PAC to its arsenal, but most of the allied groups are nonprofits that do not disclose their donors.
Network officials used the conference to lay out ambitious goals to promote free-market principles in government, business and the media. There were also frank assessments of what they need to do to refine their tactics.
One area seen as a major improvement over 2012 was how the network uses data to improve its voter outreach. Another major 2014 investment — expanding a national field organization — was also viewed as promising, but officials believe it will take time to make it more effective.
In the coming year, allied groups in the network will put a renewed focus on the issue of “crony capitalism” and will pressure Democrats and Republicans alike on issues such as tax-code reform and the Export-Import Bank, according to people familiar with the plans.
Denver investor John Saeman, a veteran cable executive who has been a longtime supporter of the network, described the mood as “measured.”
“It’s very much of staying the course,” he said during a break between sessions. “This is a battle for hearts and minds.”
In his speech Saturday night, Charles Koch exhorted his fellow donors to deepen their commitment.
“It is up to us,” he said. “Making this vision a reality will require more than a financial commitment. It requires making it a central part of our lives.” | 0fake |
The Pathetic List Of Supplies The Oregon ‘Patriots’ Brought With Them To Last The Winter | To the modern conservative revolutionary, the men dubbing themselves the Citizens For Constitutional Freedom aka the morons who have laid siege to an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere may appear to be a well-organized militia worthy of the name. To normal people, they are a group of radicalized right-wing extremists who have taken up arms against their government in the commission of a felony on taxpayer-owned land.Nothing could possibly prove this point more effectively than the statement made by Ammon Bundy himself that his movement would be there for years if necessary coupled with the desperate plea for snacks we heard Monday after only 3 days in the woods.That s not even close to the best part. The Bundy militia allowed The Guardian to photograph their storeroom, which looks more like a pile of stuff ready to be tossed in the trunk for a weekend camping trip:Courtesy of The GuardianRemember that this stash is not just supposed to keep the 12-15 people there fed during the revolt, but also provided sustenance for anyone who shows up armed and ready to die for no good reason. The Guardian did an actual inventory of the items in the room:It included a cardboard box of apples and oranges, a few dozen pots of instant ramen, 24 cans of chicken noodle soup, a similar number of cans of sweetcorn, peas, beans and chili, and 20 boxes of macaroni and cheese.There were also three sacks of potatoes, one bag of flour, another of rolled oats, boxes of raisins, a single bag of pretzels and one granola bar.Not very impressive. Fish and Wildlife Services, the agency that runs the wild bird reserve the militia is intent on giving to ranchers, miners and loggers, is planning on shutting down the power to the building, which will leave the criminal trespassers in the cold of the Oregon forest.They say they re prepared, but shutting the power down is just the first step. The FBI is reportedly working on its own plan to shut off any and all access to the outside world to flush out the armed insurrectionists.Hopefully, when the federal government does show up, the imbeciles will throw down their weapons and surrender. It s not like they have a lot of food to survive on.Featured image via The Guardian | 1real |
Trump on ‘Women’s March’: ‘Why Didn’t These People Vote?’ | President Donald Trump tweeted his response to the protest in Washington, D. C. known as the “Women’s March on Washington. ”[Trump tweeted early Sunday morning: Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017, Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don’t always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017, According to NBC News, a Trump administration official noted about the “Women’s” March that women who had asked to partner with the march were refused. “If you want to come to the march you are coming with the understanding that you respect a woman’s right to choose,” Linda Sarsour, a Muslim racial justice and civil rights activist, and a chairwoman of the event, told the New York Times. “The organizers noted that their platform is and they revoked partnership status’ from groups,” the Trump official’s comment continued. The news report noted the official also commented, that it was a “shame” that the March for Life next Friday “will not get anywhere near the same amount of coverage that this march got — and those members were NOT welcome at the Women’s March. ” NBC added: The comment also called out Madonna, one of many celebrities to speak at marches across the country, for telling crowds that she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. ” “Comments like [Madonna’s] are absolutely unacceptable and had they been said about President Obama, the mainstream media would be in an uproar,” the official continued. “The Trump administration welcomes a robust discussion regarding the critical issues facing America’s women and families. ” Students for Life of America (SFLA) the nation’s largest organization of youth attempted to partner with the march, but were told only groups would be welcome, an action that ultimately revealed the main focus of the demonstration was to support abortion rights and fight the Trump administration’s promise to defund Planned Parenthood if it continues to perform abortions. SFLA crashed the march in Washington anyway, carrying a banner that read, “Abortion Betrays Women. ” The group posted on Facebook, “We will not sit by as Planned Parenthood, our nation’s abortion Goliath and a sponsor of this March, betrays women into thinking abortion is their only choice. ” The president of the youth group, Kristan Hawkins, also said in a statement that the Women’s March is “excluding the majority of American women who find abortion to be morally wrong and believe in protecting families, defending the marginalized, and achieving social justice. ” “Instead of a march to promote those worthy values and truly be inclusive, the event has turned into a rallying cry for the radical abortion industry to save their own baby: taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood,” she added. | 0fake |
U.S.-Cuba detente supporters make last-ditch effort to sway Trump | HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. organizations that have worked closely with the outgoing Obama administration to improve relations with Cuba on Tuesday released a four-page letter to President-elect Donald Trump urging him not to act rashly toward the Communist-run nation. The Cuban Study Group, an organization of Cuban-American business leaders who favor engagement, and the Washington-based Engage Cuba coalition, arranged what they termed the “memo” which says, “to reflexively reverse course could have pernicious consequences for U.S. economic and foreign policy interests and the prospects of evolutionary change in Cuba.” The Trump transition includes five Cuban-Americans who are vocal opponents of detente and have close ties to Cuban-American lawmakers who are calling for a return to pre-Obama efforts to isolate Cuba. A number of other Trump appointees have expressed hostility toward the Obama administration’s two-year effort to normalize relations. “We are confident that a close evaluation will confirm that constructive engagement — including the reduction of travel and commercial barriers — is the best strategy for supporting the Cuban people and boosting U.S. jobs and exports,” the signers of the report, which include the U.S.-Cuba Business Council, the National Foreign Trade Council, the American Society of Travel Agents and the Association of International Educators, say. They argue that the policy has improved human rights on the island, sped the expansion of internet access, led to dialogue on sensitive issues, improved national security and created jobs, among other positive results. The report follows the release last week of a similar plea by dozens of U.S. agricultural organizations which argued Cuba was an important market for their products. Trump, a Republican, has said he will dismantle the still-fragile detente unless Cuba gives the United States a better deal, while providing no specifics. He is expected to review the Cuba engagement on taking office on Friday. Trump has named Jason Greenblatt, a Trump Organization executive and chief legal counsel, as negotiator for sensitive international issues, including Cuba. The normalization of relations between the old Cold War foes has included restoration of diplomatic relations, Obama’s historic trip to Cuba, the signing of 18 cooperation agreements and the use of executive orders to punch holes in the embargo, which can be lifted only by the U.S. Congress, now controlled by Republicans. Travel to the island from the United States has increased, with the start of direct flights and cruises and the signing of cellphone roaming agreements, but no manufacturing or significant trade deals have been reached. | 0fake |
Donald Trump, Peacenik President? : Information | Donald Trump, Peacenik President? By Thaddeus Russell
U.S. presidents possess almost unilateral power to drop bombs on other countries, says historian Thaddeus Russell, and that's why it's very good news that Trump is most libertarian when it comes to foreign policy.
Russell, who's the author of A Renegade History of the United States and is currently writing a book on foreign policy, says Trump's enmity with the neocons at National Review and The Weekly Standard is "fantastic news for us and the world." He points out that Trump advisor (and likely future cabinet member) Newt Gingrich gave a 2013 interview with The Washington Times expressing second thoughts about his neocon past.
Though Trump has pledged to go after ISIS, his general philosophy seems far preferable to Hillary's systematic and carefully thought-out Wilsonian foreign policy. "I don't see a war with Russia and I don't see greater interventionism generally outside of [a] little pocket of the Middle East," says Russell.
Nick Gillespie caught up with Russell for an interview. Audio - Reason Podcast | 1real |
Key G.O.P. Donors Still Deeply Resist Donald Trump’s Candidacy - The New York Times | A powerful array of the Republican Party’s largest financial backers remains deeply resistant to Donald J. Trump’s presidential candidacy, forming a wall of opposition that could make it exceedingly difficult for him to meet his goal of raising $1 billion before the November election. Interviews and emails with more than 50 of the Republican Party’s largest donors, or their representatives, revealed a measure of contempt and distrust toward their own party’s nominee that is unheard of in modern presidential politics. More than a dozen of the party’s most reliable individual contributors and wealthy families indicated that they would not give to or raise money for Mr. Trump. This group has contributed a combined $90 million to conservative candidates and causes in the last three federal elections, mainly to “super PACs” dedicated to electing Republican candidates. Up to this point, Mr. Trump has embraced the hostility of the Republican establishment, goading the party’s angry base with diatribes against wealthy donors who he claimed controlled politicians. And he has succeeded while defying conventions of presidential campaigning, relying on media attention and large rallies to fire up supporters, and funding his operation with a mix of his own money and contributions. But that formula will be tested as he presents himself to a far larger audience of voters. Mr. Trump has turned to the task of winning over elites he once attacked, with some initial success. And he has said he hopes to raise $1 billion, an enormous task given that he named a finance chairman and started scheduling only this month. Among the party’s biggest financiers disavowing Mr. Trump are Paul E. Singer, a New York investor who has spent at least $28 million for national Republicans since the 2012 election, and Joe Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade founder who with his wife Marlene has spent nearly $30 million over the same period of time, as well as the hedge fund managers William Oberndorf and Seth Klarman, and the Florida hospital executive Mike Fernandez. “If it is Trump vs. Clinton,” Mr. Oberndorf said, “I will be voting for Hillary. ” The rejection of Mr. Trump among some of the party’s biggest donors and reflects several strains of hostility to his campaign. Donors cited his fickleness on matters of policy and what they saw as an ad hoc populist platform focused on trade protectionism and immigration. Several mentioned Mr. Trump’s own fortune, suggesting that if he was as wealthy as he claimed, then he should not need their assistance. Among the more than 50 donors contacted, only nine have said unambiguously that they will contribute to Mr. Trump. They include Sheldon G. Adelson, the casino billionaire the energy executive T. Boone Pickens Foster Friess, a wealthy mutual fund investor and Richard H. Roberts, a pharmaceutical executive. Mr. Friess wrote in an email that Mr. Trump deserved credit for inspiring “truckers, farmers, welders, hospitality workers — the people who really make our country function. ” Many more donors declined to reveal their intentions or did not respond to requests for comment, a remarkable silence about the de facto nominee of their party. Asked how Mr. Trump intended to win over major donors, Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, responded in one sentence. “There is tremendous support for Mr. Trump,” she said. Mr. Trump has declared that he expects the Republican Party to unite around him, and in recent weeks has made inroads among party leaders who once vowed to oppose him. He delivered a winning performance before lawmakers on Capitol Hill in a whirlwind visit to Washington this month. And polls show the party’s rank and file are beginning to coalesce behind Mr. Trump, and that they want party leaders to do the same. Some major donors have not explicitly closed the door on helping Mr. Trump, but have set a high bar for him to earn their support, demanding an almost complete makeover of his candidacy and a repudiation of his own inflammatory statements. “Until we have a better reason to embrace and support the top of the ticket, and see an agenda that is truly an opportunity agenda, then we have lots of other options in which to invest and spend our time helping,” said Betsy DeVos, a Michigan Republican whose family has given nearly $9. 5 million over the last three elections to party causes and candidates. But others simply believe Mr. Trump is unfit to serve in the Oval Office. Michael K. Vlock, a Connecticut investor who has given nearly $5 million to Republicans at the federal level since 2014, said he considered Mr. Trump a dangerous person. “He’s an ignorant, amoral, dishonest and manipulative, misogynistic, philandering, isolationist, protectionist blowhard,” Mr. Vlock said. Mr. Vlock said he might give to Hillary Clinton instead, describing her as “the devil we know. ” “I really believe our republic will survive Hillary,” he said. At a dinner of the Manhattan Institute in New York earlier this month, Bruce Kovner, a New investor who has given $3. 1 million to national Republicans in recent years, argued to a collection of influential conservatives that Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton were both unacceptable choices. “When I talk to my colleagues and friends in similar positions, they have the same degree of discomfort,” Mr. Kovner said in an interview. Unless Mr. Trump can win over more benefactors, he is likely to become the first Republican presidential nominee in decades to be heavily outspent by his Democratic opponent, and may find it difficult to pay for both the operations and the paid advertising campaigns that are typically required in a general election. Both President Obama and Mitt Romney raised over $1 billion in 2012, and Mrs. Clinton is expected to exceed that figure easily. Charles G. and David H. Koch, the country’s two most prolific conservative donors, are not expected to back Mr. Trump, and their advisers have been scathing in private assessments of Mr. Trump’s candidacy and his policy agenda. The Kochs, who command a vast network of conservative donors, have scheduled a conference of their allies in Colorado in late July, where much of their 2016 spending may be determined. A spokesman for the Kochs, James Davis, said they were chiefly focused on helping Republicans retain control of Congress, and many of their allies, along with other Republican givers, indicated in interviews that they were focused exclusively on the same goal. Even among the handful of big donors Mr. Trump has won over, doubts persist about both his abilities as a candidate and the political apparatus supporting him. Mr. Adelson, the most important donor who has endorsed Mr. Trump, has indicated that he will cut big checks to aid his campaign only if there is a credible advocacy group set up for that purpose. But Mr. Trump still has no sanctioned “super PAC” able to raise unlimited sums to support his campaign. A gathering next month at Mr. Pickens’s Texas ranch that was to be sponsored by one of the groups, Great America PAC, has been called off because Mr. Pickens was not sure he was hosting Mr. Trump’s preferred super PAC. At a Republican Governors Association donor retreat last week in New Mexico, there was a debate on the sidelines about whether to support Mr. Trump. Mr. Friess argued that the Supreme Court vacancy made it imperative to rally around Mr. Trump. But Mr. Friess acknowledged in an email that enthusiasm for Mr. Trump was limited among his fellow major donors. If some agreed there was “no sensible choice other than to rally around Trump,” Mr. Friess said, many contributors viewed that prospect with “the same enthusiasm as a root canal. ” Walter Buckley, the founder of a Pennsylvania financial management company, said he decided to support Mr. Trump after Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey endorsed him. Predicting that Mr. Trump would shake up Washington, Mr. Buckley, said, “This political system needs a shaking like it’s probably not had in 100 years. ” But Mr. Buckley, who said he would be willing to contribute to the Trump campaign or to a super PAC supporting him, said he remained upset about Mr. Trump’s mockery of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, for having been captured in Vietnam. “I don’t think anything that anybody’s ever said on the political front has bothered me more than that,” Mr. Buckley said. | 0fake |
A YOUNG FATHER EXPLAINS SOCIALISM To His 10 Year Old Son…A MUST Read For Every American | The discussion Bret Stephens had with his 10 year old son, is one every parent should be having with the very generation who has the most to lose if socialism really is implemented in America. As parents, we re asked countless times by our children to explain ghosts, scary shadows on the walls, or some other imagined childhood fear. How many times however, do our children ask us to explain something that every American should truly fear? How many times do we have the opportunity to explain the reality of Socialism to our children? We Applaud Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal for the brilliant way he explained Socialism to his son. We thank him for sharing it with his readers.Noah, my 10-year-old son, was reading over my shoulder a powerful story about the state of medicine in Venezuela by Nick Casey in Sunday s New York Times. We scrolled through images of filthy operating rooms, broken incubators and desperate patients lying in pools of blood, dying for lack of such basics as antibiotics. Dad, why are the hospitals like this? Socialism. What s socialism? I told him it s an economic system in which the government seizes and runs industries, sets prices for goods, and otherwise dictates what you can and cannot do with your money, and therefore your life. He received my answer with the abstracted interest you d expect if I had been describing atmospheric conditions on Uranus.Here s what I wish I had said: Socialism is a mental poison that leads to human misery of the sort you see in these wrenching pictures.The lesson seems all the more necessary when discredited ideologies are finding new champions in high places. When Venezuelan President Hugo Ch vez died in 2013, an obscure U.K. parliamentarian tweeted, Thanks Hugo Chavez for showing that the poor matter and wealth can be shared. He made massive contributions to Venezuela & a very wide world. The parliamentarian was Jeremy Corbyn, now leader of the Labour Party.Up north, Naomi Klein, Canada s second-most unpleasant export, treated Ch vez as heroically leading the resistance to the forces of dreaded neoliberalism. Jimmy Carter mourned Ch vez for his bold assertion of autonomy and independence for Latin American governments and for his formidable communication skills and personal connection with supporters in his country and abroad to whom he gave hope and empowerment. There are lesser names to add to this roll call of dishonor Michael Moore, Sean Penn but you get the point: Democratic socialism had no shortage of prominent Western cheerleaders as it set Venezuela on its road to hyperinflation, hyper-criminality, water shortages, beer shortages, electricity blackouts, political repression and national collapse. Ch vez and his successor, Nicol s Maduro, gained prestige and legitimacy from these paladins of the left. They are complicit in Venezuela s agony.And so to the U.S. election, specifically the resolutely undead presidential candidacy of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The Sanders campaign is no stranger to accusations that its brand of leftism is cut from the same cloth that produced Chavismo. Yesterday, one of Hillary Clinton s most prominent Super PACs attacked our campaign pretty viciously, Mr. Sanders complained in September, noting that they tried to link me to a dead communist dictator. The senator protests too much. As mayor of Burlington, Vt., in the 1980s, he boasted of conducting his own foreign policy, including sister-city relations with Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua and Yaroslavl in the Soviet Union. On a 1985 trip to Nicaragua, he lavished praise on Daniel Ortega s communist regime Chavismo s older cousin. In terms of health care, in terms of education, in terms of land reform . . . nobody denies they [the Sandinistas] are making significant progress in those areas, then-Mayor Sanders told one interviewer in 1985. And I think people understand that and I think the people of Nicaragua, the poor people, respect that. If Mr. Sanders ever rethought or recanted those views, I m not aware of it.But the point isn t what Mr. Sanders may have thought of the Sandinistas in the 1980s or the Chavistas in the past decade. It s that the type of socialism that the senator espouses $18 trillion in additional government spending over the next decade, accusations that Wall Street is a criminal enterprise and the continuous demonization of millionaires and billionaires is not all that different from its South American cousins.Democratic socialism whether Chavez s or Sanders s is legalized theft in the name of the people against the vilified few. It is a battle against income inequality by means of collective immiseration. It is the subjugation of private enterprise and personal autonomy to government power. Mr. Sanders promises to pursue his aims on the Scandinavian model, as if that was a success, and as if Americans are Scandinavians. It wasn t. We aren t. Bernie s Way paves the same road to serfdom that socialism does everywhere.That s a fact Americans might have learned after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. We didn t. Take the time to tell your kids what socialism is, and does, before they too feel the Bern.Via: Wall Street Journal | 1real |
Donald Trump: 'I will be a great unifier' | (CNN) Donald Trump believes he would "absolutely" be a force for bipartisanship, but in an interview this weekend neither Republicans nor Democrats escaped a barrage of attacks from the GOP presidential candidate.
Hillary Clinton launched her presidential bid on April 12 through a video message on social media. The former first lady, senator and secretary of state is considered the front-runner among possible Democratic candidates."Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion -- so you can do more than just get by -- you can get ahead. And stay ahead," she said in her announcement video. "Because when families are strong, America is strong. So I'm hitting the road to earn your vote, because it's your time. And I hope you'll join me on this journey."
Ohio Gov. John Kasich joined the Republican field July 21 as he formally announced his White House bid. "I am here to ask you for your prayers, for your support ... because I have decided to run for president of the United States," Kasich told his kickoff rally at the Ohio State University.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich joined the Republican field July 21 as he formally announced his White House bid. "I am here to ask you for your prayers, for your support ... because I have decided to run for president of the United States," Kasich told his kickoff rally at the Ohio State University.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has made a name for himself in the Senate, solidifying his brand as a conservative firebrand willing to take on the GOP's establishment. He announced he was seeking the Republican presidential nomination in a speech on March 23."These are all of our stories," Cruz told the audience at Liberty University in Virginia. "These are who we are as Americans. And yet for so many Americans, the promise of America seems more and more distant."
Businessman Donald Trump announced June 16 at his Trump Tower in New York City that he is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. This ends more than two decades of flirting with the idea of running for the White House."So, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again," Trump told the crowd at his announcement.
Trump flung criticism at politicians spanning the spectrum from presidential primary opponents Jeb Bush and Ben Carson to the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and the man he hopes to succeed, President Barack Obama, in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper that aired Sunday on "State of the Union."
And he lamented the House Select Committee on Benghazi's questioning of Clinton , a hearing he called "very partisan" that "hurts both parties" and "hurts the country."
"The level of hatred between Republicans and Democrats was unbelievable. The level of -- I've never seen anything like it," Trump said. "I'm going to unify. This country is totally divided. Barack Obama has divided this country unbelievably. And it's all, it's all hatred, what can I tell you. I've never seen anything like it...I've gotten along with Democrats and I've gotten along with Republicans. And I said, that's a good thing."
Tapper asked Trump if his presidency would result in an era of bipartisanship.
"I absolutely think so," he said, adding, "I will be a great unifier for our country."
Still, for all the talk of bipartisanship and unity, Trump did not pull punches as he vigorously took on his opponents.
Trump hit Bush, the former governor of Florida, and Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, with the same line of attack -- one he has frequently used against Bush, but has only just begun using against Carson, whose reserved and calm tone strongly contrasts with Trump's brash appeal.
"(Bush is) a low-energy person. By the way, Ben Carson is a very low-energy person. We need high-energy people," Trump told Tapper. "I think Ben Carson is a very low-energy person. Actually, I think Ben Carson is lower energy than Jeb, if you want to know the truth. We need strong energy."
Trump also knocked both Bush and Carson for the support they receive from super PACs, groups that can take in unlimited amounts of money.
The developer dinged super PACs as a "big fat scam" and a "disaster" in the "State of the Union" interview, a line of criticism that he brought out more arduously than ever this weekend, just days after the super PAC backing his candidacy shuttered its operation after the group's ties to the campaign drew scrutiny last week.
But Trump suggested that he may turn his sights away from Bush and toward Carson.
That's because Carson is now the man to beat in Iowa, stealing first place from Trump (who was relegated to second place) in two polls released Thursday and Friday.
"The thing with Ben is he's got a very good PAC, and he's got people running his PAC, and in my opinion, he's got people all over Iowa from his PAC, and they are running -- Ben doesn't even go to Iowa that much. And he's doing well in Iowa?" Trump said. "I did talk about Jeb because I thought Jeb was going to be the front-runner. Obviously, he's no longer the front-runner. I probably won't talk about him so much anymore."
Trump tied in his "low-energy" attacks with what he dubbed the "medieval times" that the world is currently living in -- saying that as ISIS beheads people, the U.S. needs a strong leader.
But as to whether he would approve a special forces operation to rescue hostages being held by ISIS -- similar to the one that resulted in the death of an American soldier this week-- Trump demurred.
"I think I might, but I'd have to look at the situation," Trump said.
Pushed further to explain what the Trump doctrine would be in such situations, Trump explained that it "is very simple."
"It's strength. It's strength. Nobody is going to mess with us. Our military is going to be made much stronger," Trump said. | 0fake |
The Reopening Of The Clinton Email Investigation Is More GOP Hype Over Nothing | The letter from FBI Director Comey announcing the reopening of the Clinton email investigation is already being blown up into more than it is.
Here is the letter via CNN’s Jake Tapper: FBI Dir Comey letter to congressional committee chairs re discovery of "new emails…pertinent to the investigation" pic.twitter.com/y4gvHiILLn
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 28, 2016
As Republicans cheer because they think that they have been thrown an election lifeline, read the whole letter and look at what it says. The letter does not say that Hillary Clinton did anything wrong. The letter states that emails were found that were pertinent to the email investigation while looking into an unrelated matter.
The letter FBI Director Comey reads like what it is, an update on an investigation. The FBI is dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. Comey’s letter destroys the Republican claim that there was a conspiracy to cover up Clinton’s emails. Republicans, including Donald Trump, have spent months criticizing Comey’s investigation, but it turns out that they were wrong.
It would take something unprecedented and dramatic to change the FBI’s original findings. Director Comey made it clear that the agency’s work might not be completed before the election.
The email story that Republicans and the media love, but voters have never cared about is back in the news, but it remains an empty scandal.
The FBI’s reopened investigation does open the door for Republicans to continue their bogus witch hunt if Hillary Clinton wins the White House. Unless voters want two more years of conspiracy investigations instead of action, today’s developments have made voting for Democrats in House and Senate contests more vital than ever. | 1real |
Trump Just Offered To Testify Under Oath And It’s Gonna Be HILARIOUS (VIDEO) | After James Comey called him a liar five times on Thursday, Donald Trump has been obsessing over the former FBI Director s damning testimony. It s driving him insane so insane that he has deigned it appropriate to cave to pressure to testify. Under oath. Where lies become crimes. It s like f*cking Christmas.In the aftermath of Comey s testimony, The Donald attempted to demonize the former director, complaining that he is a LEAKER because he passed on his not the least bit classified thoughts on his meeting with Trump.Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication and WOW, Comey is a leaker! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2017Many have been challenging Trump to testify lately and now the orange occupant of the Oval Office says he s going to do just that. The Hill reports: One hundred percent, Trump said when asked if he would give a sworn statement to Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation into Russia s election interference. I would be glad to tell him exactly what I told you, the president said during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden. Yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction, Trump said, ignoring that Comey said nothing to dispute collusion or obstruction. He refused to comment in an open setting. But we were very, very happy and, frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said. And some of the things that he said just weren t true. Yes, according to The Donald, Comey a liar confirmed many of the things he has said, even though he s a lying liar whose pants are on fire.Though he originally threatened to release tapes of his conversations with Comey, The Donald now says they may not exist, telling reporters that you will be very disappointed when you hear the answer. But, of course, the threat lives on:James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017Comey s response during his testimony was Lordy, I hope there are tapes, so we can safely assume Trump s new statement means that he destroyed any recordings he made.Watch below:Pres. Trump would 100% be willing to say under oath that he didn t ask Comey to let Flynn investigation "go"; didn't say I need loyalty." pic.twitter.com/TayObtkChX ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 9, 2017Featured image via Getty Images | 1real |
Trump Tweets Chicago Murder Stats, DEMANDS That Mayor Let Him Handle It (DETAILS) | Donald Trump has long been known for his offensive remarks about America s so-called inner cities. He has touted his supposed concern for these areas as his efforts at African-American outreach. However, any Black person who isn t a complete and total Uncle Tom realizes that it is really just tone deaf racism that Trump is spewing. No matter how many people tell him that his remarks are offensive, though, Trump refuses to stop. Hell, he even once tweeted false murder statistics that originated on a white supremacist website with the clear intention of painting black people in a bad light. Now, he is continuing his clear Twitter racism and flirtation of white supremacy as the president-elect. Case in point his Monday morning tweet regarding the murder rate in Chicago, in which he demands that the mayor bring in the feds to stop the gun violence. Trump tweeted:Chicago murder rate is record setting 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. If Mayor can't do it he must ask for Federal help! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017I ve got news for you, Donald Trump. The mayor of Chicago is not required to bring in any federal help whatsoever. He knows more about his city than you ever will. Further, you and your GOP stooges don t have the slightest clue as to how to stop gun violence. All you do is stand behind racist murder statistics and say you care about black people when the opposite is clearly true. You ll never be anything but a clear racist who knows NOTHING of the lives of black Americans. That became clear the second you insisted that we are all living in hell. This is just more racist icing on the cake of bigotry you baked for your ignorant followers to get elected. Go back to your glass tower and your life of rich, white, male privilege and stop trying to pretend you actually give a rat s ass about anything or anyone other than yourself.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
Merkel's conservatives keen, but SPD still coy on German government talks | BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives said they were willing to open formal talks on forming a government with Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) - but her chosen partner was expected to take two more days to decide how to proceed. Weakened by heavy election losses to the far-right and then by the collapse last month of talks on a three-way alliance, Merkel is pinning her hopes on the SPD for a fourth term as chancellor and to avoid new elections. Leaders of Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and her Bavarian conservative allies (CSU) sought to persuade their SPD counterparts to drop their objections to a renewal of the grand coalition the two parties have been governing in since 2013. The CDU and CSU representatives made clear that they wanted to begin exploratory talks with the SPD on creating a stable government, the conservative camp said in a statement. But an SPD official said the party first needed to hold consultations before announcing a decision on Friday. After four years of governing with Merkel, the center-left party scored its worst election result since 1933 - and few members want to repeat that experience. Sensing that Merkel s lack of alternatives leaves it in a strong position, the SPD has said it would agree to share power only if it wins commitments on more generous social policy. A decisive point for the SPD is that the social agenda has more prominence in Germany, leading Social Democrat Carsten Schneider told German television ahead of the talks, demanding fairness for ordinary heroes. But the mood between the two parties is still sour and Merkel herself has been a frequent target of criticism by the Social Democrats. The secrecy surrounding the talks underlined their sensitivity. With both sides having a lot to lose, the parties plan no public statements when talks conclude on Wednesday evening. SPD leader Martin Schulz has made a pitch for EU integration leading to a United States of Europe by 2025, and the SPD wants a big spending boost on education, more nursery spots and a big healthcare reform. Merkel wants to maintain Germany s solid finances, cut some taxes and expand the digital infrastructure. The SPD had vowed to go into opposition after its dismal election result and only softened its approach, agreeing to meet Merkel, due to pressure from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who wants to avoid new elections. The SPD pulled no punches in attacking Merkel during the election campaign. Schulz has described Merkel, known for pragmatism rather than vision, as a vacuum cleaner of ideas and has also accused her of silencing debate on issues. A row last month over a conservative minister breaking protocol to back an extension for an EU license for a weed-killer despite SPD opposition hurt ties at a crucial time. One of the SPD s deputies, Ralf Stegner, adopted a combative tone on Wednesday, saying nobody could dictate the terms to the SPD as the conservative bloc needed the party to rule. Some in the SPD are prepared to contemplate another grand coalition, albeit with a clear SPD signature, but others prefer the idea of tolerating a minority government under Merkel. One other option is a KoKo (cooperation coalition) agreement under which the SPD would agree to work with Merkel in some areas, such as the budget and European and foreign affairs, but force her to seek ad-hoc majorities for other policies. This idea is unpopular with conservatives who prefer a grand coalition. We have to try it - but please, seriously, Carsten Linnemann, head of a group representing small and medium-sized businesses in the conservative bloc, told ARD television. | 0fake |
If Donald Trump wants to beat Hillary Clinton, he needs to win these 5 states | The Republican nomination is his. Now there's a new question: Can Donald Trump win the White House?
With a decisive victory in the Indiana primary Tuesday, the billionaire businessman who was initially ridiculed as a reality-TV candidate was declared the presumptive nominee by Republican National Chairman Committee Reince Priebus. Trump's final two rivals, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, called it quits, sealing the most remarkable political rise in modern American history.
Now some of his primary rivals and other senior Republicans argue that Trump's lack of governmental experience and his unprecedented negative ratings — including among such crucial electoral groups as women, Latinos and young people — will doom his prospects in November. But as Trump likes to remind people, the conventional wisdom has been wrong about him from the start.
"It's been some unbelievable day and evening and year," Trump declared in a victory speech Tuesday night in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, where he had announced his candidacy almost a year ago. “We’re going to win big league, believe me."
He faces what could charitably be described as an uphill battle. A national CNN/ORC poll, taken April 28-May 1, showed Clinton with a daunting lead over Trump of 54%-41%. To win the White House, he needs to hold all of the states Mitt Romney won in 2012, with a total of 206 electoral votes, then add at least 64 more to get to the 270 mark to claim the presidency.
A look at five states that could hold the key to both how a Trump victory is possible and how difficult it will be. Here's one scenario that would give Trump 273 electoral votes — and the White House.
In the past 16 presidential elections, Arizona has voted Democratic just once, in 1996. But Trump's characterization of Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers and his vow to build a wall along the Southern border have energized Latino voters here. In the latest RealClearPolitics average of recent statewide polls, Clinton leads the state by 3.5 percentage points. She and Trump showed strength in Arizona in its primaries last month, each winning by double digits.
Democrats say North Carolina has been moving in the party's direction, but after Barack Obama carried the state in 2008 he lost it in 2012. Now Clinton leads Trump by 2 points in statewide polls, and both husband Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton have visited the state in recent weeks. Boosted by her solid support among African Americans, Clinton won the primary over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 14 points in March; Trump edged Texas Sen. Ted Cruz by 3 points.
Florida defines a swing state: In the last six elections, Democrats have carried it three times, Republicans have carried it three times. In statewide polls, Clinton now leads, but by just 2.2 points. She's already returned to the state for campaign-related events since the Democratic primary in March, which she won by more than 30 points. But Trump has roots in Florida, including his lavish Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. He crushed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the primary by close to 20 points after pushing former governor Jeb Bush out of the race entirely. Would "Little Marco," as Trump called Rubio, pitch in to help in the fall?
No Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio, and since 1960 the Buckeye State has had a perfect record of going with the national winner. At the moment, Clinton holds a lead in statewide polls, but it's narrow: 3.5 points. In March, she easily won the state's Democratic primary. Trump lost the Republican primary to the home-state governor, John Kasich. But Ohio's struggling manufacturing base and its hard-pressed blue-collar voters could provide a receptive audience for Trump's message in the general election. Kasich would be in a position to boost the GOP nominee, if he chose to do so. And where was Clinton campaigning Tuesday? Ohio.
Pennsylvania hasn't voted Republican in the presidential race since 1988, but the state includes many of the white working-class voters who are Trump's most fervent supporters. In last week's primary, Trump won two-thirds of Republican voters who didn't have a college degree, defeating Cruz overall by more than 2-1. Clinton won the Democratic primary by 12 points. In statewide polls now, Clinton leads by 7.4 points. As in Florida and Ohio, Pennsylvania has a competitive Senate race that could also play a role. | 0fake |
THE UNSTOPPABLE RISE OF COMMON SENSE: “The Left can’t stand it but all over Europe and America politicians are on the rise who put their own countries and culture first” | For the first time since World War Two, the two centrist parties in Austria have lost and The Freedom Party, led by Norbert Hofer, looks set to win.Austria could be the first European country to be led by the populist right. It is a momentous day. Right-thinking commenters and the European elite are aghast. But I couldn t be happier.In Austria, European governments see a mirror of their own future.Look long and hard my friends, because this is coming your way. A new populist politics is back in the ascendant, defending national identity and protecting the rights of true nationals from the drain of immigration. And this is just the start of things to come.Make no mistake: the author of this Europe-wide phenomenon is Merkel.She has penned a new era in history, in which Europe rejects an open-door policy to immigration which would lead to our women being the target of archaic cultures and religions, and rape being a helpless man s only response to the provocative sight of an unveiled woman.But this is more than a rejection of European immigration policy. This is individual nations asserting their right to self-govern. Peoples voting to protect their sense of self and reassert sovereignty.These nations do not want to be part of some amorphous whole, a blancmange of nonsense led by a German. And they are fighting back in city squares chanting never again .Hofer says: To those in Austria who go to war for Islamic State or rape women, I say to those people: This is not your home. I have a strong sense many of you would vote for a British leader with precisely these views.And Hofer is not alone.The Danish People s Party has 21 per cent of the vote and publicised its policy of removing valuables over the value of 1,045 from immigrants to pay for their welfare. It also placed adverts in Lebanese newspapers warning against migration to Denmark.The UK, on the other hand, advertises its benefits and accommodates migrants in hotels.In Finland the populist Right argues that true Finns take priority in social and healthcare spending.The UK prioritises immigrants for school places and council homes and gives away healthcare for free.Marine Le Pen s National Front (FN) is the biggest nationalist challenge to Europe s liberal democratic traditions. She has modernised the party and mobilised support in the face of terror attacks.It suits the Left to throw out insults and put lazy labels on these political parties, seeking to marginalise or discredit them In Germany, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Switzerland parties which espouse the same views are also on the rise.Questioning immigration, the EU and the establishment, while promoting a strong sense of nationalist sentiment, is now entirely salonfaehig , as German-speakers would say.Their ugly word for passable in your living room or, as we would say, socially acceptable.Merkel, for the record, is not salonfaehig in my home.The Swiss even use controversial black-sheep posters to make their point about immigration.But it suits the Left to throw out insults and put lazy labels on these political parties, seeking to marginalise or discredit them despite their obvious electoral success and democratic support. It calls these parties the Far Right, hoping you will close your eyes, picture a skinhead with a beer belly and an England flag tattooed on his forehead, and snigger.But remember, this breed of lazy socialists also mocked Donald Trump, and will continue to do so as he ascends the steps to the White House.They smirk, cocooned in their London bubble as will no doubt still be listening to the BBC still calling Donald Trump a buffoon even as he descend the stairs from Air Force One.Meanwhile Americans want him to speak up on their behalf. To be the voice of the people, to Make America Great Again, to halt immigration, protect their cultural identity and reassert their right to look after their own culture first.It s no coincidence Hofer and Trump both use the same slogan: America/Austria First!And these words are being echoed all around Europe. Restrict immigration, self-govern, reassert the right to put your own people first.And as I look west towards Trump in the White House, east to Hofer in Austria and Le Penn resurgent in France, north towards the Danish People s Party with the toughest immigration rules in Europe, and south to the stronghold of the Swiss People s Party I see a political compass whose true direction is set on national identity and sovereignty.This movement is supported by people living in their cultural homeland, working hard, paying taxes, looking for someone, anyone, to speak up for their rights, their country, their future.And if Merkel continues the madness of trying to fast-track Turkey into the EU, millions more will join them.Just as if Britain has the guts to vote to leave the EU, I have no doubt citizens all over Europe will start demanding that they too get a vote.All over the Western world, multiculturalism is being rejected in favour of national identity. The surge of populist politics of the Right reflects a deeper will of the people to take back power from those who believe we are all equal. We all have rights.We are not. We do not.If you come to our country and fight for Islamic State, rape our women, and then ask Europe to defend your human rights, this is not your home.Our NHS, our schools, our local doctors surgeries they are not yours to monopolise either. Our children should come first.The balance of power is shifting. Raising the specter of fascism is just lazy labelling.Via: Katie Hopkins Daily Mail | 1real |
Yahoo’s Suitors Uncover Few Financial Details - The New York Times | SAN FRANCISCO — As Yahoo prepares to accept bids for its core Internet business on Monday, potential buyers have found themselves facing one big problem: How do you value a company with a declining business when the company appears reluctant to share vital financial details? In meetings and phone calls with potential bidders, Yahoo executives have offered gloomy financial projections for the current year, but have refused to discuss the outlook for 2017 or answer questions about crucial aspects of the business. Some of the three dozen or so potential suitors have even questioned what is truly for sale. But several big companies are expected to place bids for Yahoo anyway, according to people briefed on the matter. Verizon Communications, which has publicly expressed interest in buying Yahoo’s core Internet business and merging it with its AOL division, plans to press forward with a bid, some of these people said. The Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper and website, said publicly that it had considered joining with potential investors, including one or more private equity firm, for a bid. And the private equity firm TPG plans to make a bid in the first round on its own, according to a person briefed on the matter. Yet other huge companies plan to sit out the bidding. Google, which competes with Yahoo on search and display advertising and has a search partnership with the company, considered making an offer, but is unlikely to proceed because it fears any deal would draw stiff antitrust scrutiny, according to people briefed on the company’s thinking. Other notable businesses, including ATT, CBS and the investment firms Silver Lake, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and General Atlantic, are unlikely to bid, according to others briefed on their plans. And SoftBank, the Japanese telecommunications giant that controls Yahoo Japan, does not plan to bid despite press reports to the contrary. A presentation shown to potential Yahoo bidders is dense with figures, but even people familiar with the company’s operations have struggled to make sense of them. At the same time, Yahoo devoted just a couple of slides to important strategies, like its costly Hail Mary project to create an entirely new mobile search experience to leapfrog competitors like Google, Apple and Amazon. Representatives of Verizon, Google, ATT and CBS declined to comment. A Yahoo spokeswoman also declined to comment on the sales process. Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief executive, is expected to face questions about the bidding on Tuesday, when the company reports its latest quarterly earnings. The report should offer a window into how Yahoo is weathering the upheaval caused by the layoff of 15 percent of its work force announced in February. The total value of Yahoo shares is now about $35 billion. The company may also disclose sales of patents and real estate, which it began shopping a couple of months ago in the hope of raising $1 billion to $3 billion. One reason for Yahoo’s reluctance to share information may be that the business is worse than the company has publicly disclosed. That has added to confusion regarding the intentions of a board of directors that, just a few months ago, publicly said it had no intention of selling. Ms. Mayer has often said she wants to make Yahoo services a “daily habit” for Internet users. But after nearly four years of effort, only about 10 percent of the one billion monthly visitors to Yahoo sites return every day, suggesting little attachment to the brand, according to people who have seen confidential internal data. At Facebook, by comparison, 65 percent of users visit daily. Yahoo is in a difficult position. Ms. Mayer’s turnaround effort has failed to deliver significant improvements at a company that has been in decline for a decade. Ms. Mayer argues that she is turning the tide with new investments in areas like video and native advertising. Activist investors, led by the Starboard Value hedge fund, have run out of patience and are pressing the board to sell the core business, separating it from the company’s far more valuable investment stakes in Alibaba, China’s leading company, and Yahoo Japan, a separate, publicly traded company. Yahoo’s board, which spent more than a year working on other plans to separate the investment stakes, reluctantly agreed to explore a sale of all or parts of the company and hired three investment banking firms to run the process. Starboard has formally threatened a proxy fight to replace the entire board at the next shareholder meeting if the directors do not follow through on a sale. Ms. Mayer has publicly laid out a path for an independent Yahoo and made the case to potential bidders that they should retain her as chief to carry out the plan. Abandoning previous forays into video and digital magazines, Ms. Mayer, who formerly headed search at Google, is now focused on returning Yahoo to its glory days as a search engine. Although comScore says that Yahoo is currently the No. 3 player in desktop searches, behind Google and Microsoft, Ms. Mayer argues that Yahoo can leap ahead through a “complete reimagination of mobile search. ” Ms. Mayer has assigned about 1, 000 people to search products, or about 10 percent of the company’s staff, according to people briefed on the business. The mobile effort, Project Index, has officially been underway for two years and aims to create a search tool similar to Google Now on Android phones, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa. But the team has little to show for its work, and many at Yahoo wonder whether it is a hopeless quest. Industry experts as well as Yahoo insiders say that without the location and personal data that Apple and Google have, Yahoo will have a difficult time predicting what people want with enough accuracy to get them to switch from other services. “There is a massive opportunity for mobile search,” said Keith Rabois, a partner at Khosla Ventures, who invests in search . “But I don’t think Yahoo has the core assets or skills you would need to succeed or thrive right now. ” A Yahoo spokesman said that the company was exploring many search ideas, including the use of software bots that would fetch information on behalf of users. Ms. Mayer’s vague plans for reversing Yahoo’s decline, along with the lack of disclosure about the company’s finances, have made prospective bidders nervous. Though several private equity firms have been looking at the company, people involved in the bidding process said that they were unlikely to prevail against a determined corporate buyer. Verizon is viewed by analysts as the leading bidder for Yahoo, but its likely offer comes despite trepidation among its executives, according to the people briefed on the bidding. Verizon is still struggling to digest its $4. 4 billion acquisition last year of AOL, and some executives worry that buying Yahoo would simply be doubling down on integration troubles. Verizon could certainly combine the content properties and ad products and networks run by Yahoo and AOL. The company, with more than 112 million cellphone customers on top of its landline Internet subscribers, would have the ability to preinstall Yahoo services and distribute them widely. However, the contracts governing Apple iPhones and phones running Google’s Android operating system generally restrict what phone carriers can do to promote alternatives for major services like search and email. So Yahoo would still need to build products good enough to persuade people to switch. Wall Street is hoping for a quick sale, to anybody, at any reasonable price. “We continue to believe that one of the greatest risks in the stock is the core being a ‘melting ice cube,’ as a prolonged sale process draws on, creating questions for employees, advertisers and partners,” wrote Robert Peck, an analyst with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, on Wednesday. | 0fake |
NEW EMAIL LEAKS Show How Colin Powell Really Felt About “Friend” Hillary: “Greedy, Not transformational…With A Husband Who’s Still D#*king Bimbos At Home” | Colin Powell really doesn t disclose anything we didn t know about how dishonest and corrupt Crooked Hillary and her perverted husband in these emails. There is a certain amount of joy however, that can be obtained by seeing a confession by the former Republican turncoat Colin Powell, that his trusted Democrat friends are nothing more than a couple of dumb and immoral grifters Former Secretary of State Colin Powell ripped into Hillary Clinton in several personal emails over the years, according to a document dump of hacked emails on the website DCLeaks.com.The document batch, which included emails from June of 2014 to August of 2016, gave a revealing look into the former secretary s thoughts on the 2016 election.In one 2015 email, Powell commented on Clinton s use of a private email server during her tenure at the State Department and charged that everything HRC touches she kind of screws up. In another message from 2014, Powell said of a still-potential Clinton presidential run: I would rather not have to vote for her. A spokesperson for Powell confirmed to CBS News that his email had been hacked.CBS News waded through the documents and picked out some of the most interesting emails blasting the Democratic presidential nominee.Here are a few of his revealing emails:In this stunning 2014 email with Democratic donor Jeffrey Leeds, Powell had this to say of Clinton:In this email to Leeds on Aug. 18, 2015, Powell discusses his own use of private emails for State Department business:In a recent email dated Aug. 23, 2016, Powell called Clinton s excuse for using an email server a dumb one: | 1real |
BREAKING: Trump Reportedly Considering Ted Cruz For Top Cabinet Position | Ted Cruz would be fair, honest and most of all, he would follow the law. He would hands down be one of the best choices for this position President-elect Donald Trump is considering nominating Texas Senator Ted Cruz to serve as U.S. attorney general, according to a person familiar with the matter.Cruz, 45, was at Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday. When approached by reporters on his way out, Cruz said the election was a mandate for change but didn t say he was under consideration for a job.Cruz unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination. He and Trump were at odds during the primary, viciously attacking one another. Trump nicknamed Cruz Lyin Ted. Cruz didn t endorse Trump during a speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. In September, relations between the two men seemed to improve when Cruz said he would vote for Trump.Asked for comment, Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said: Cruz is focused on serving Texans in the Senate. He was there today to offer help in promoting the conservative policies that were campaigned on and that he s long fought for. Trump sent out this tweet today:Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2016Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was initially discussed as a potential attorney general but now is being discussed as a possible secretary of state pick. Bloomberg | 1real |
First $200 admission for a Trump rally; more to come? | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The email Donald Trump’s campaign sent inviting fans to a rally next week looked familiar: “Meet me in New Jersey!” it urged. But something was different. “You will need to buy a ticket to get into the rally,” it added. The cost: $200. During the months-long battle for the Republican presidential nomination, rallies staged by Trump, the party’s likely candidate in the Nov. 8 election, were free and open to anyone with the stamina to withstand half a day’s wait outside and a heady hour packed into a sports stadium or warehouse. Supporters could buy snacks or hats or T-shirts while they waited, but they never had to pay for admission. The May 19 rally advertised in the email is a fundraiser for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former presidential rival now working for Trump who, according to news reports, needs to retire debt from his own failed campaign. The emailed invitation to supporters said it will be a fundraiser. It was not clear whether Trump will charge for rallies that are not specifically designated as fundraisers. The New York billionaire has claimed he was self-funding his campaign and did not need donations. He has financed his offensive in the nominating phase of the race for the White House with loans to himself as well as around $12 million in unsolicited donations from fans. Now that Trump is pivoting toward the general election, where conventional estimates put the cost of winning at around $1 billion, things are changing. The move to charge admission for some appearances was just one harbinger of a new relationship between Trump and his fans, many of whom cited their perception of his financial independence as a major factor behind their support. It will test the loyalty of those who have swelled his rallies to capacity, either transforming huge crowds into cash cows or creating more breathing room in the places where he appears. When asked whether the format of the Christie fundraiser rally would be repeated in the future, Trump’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, did not comment. “This is a fundraiser for Governor Christie,” she said. Supporters have said Trump’s about-face on fundraising does not bother them. Susan Kihne, a Mandan, North Dakota resident who snagged a ticket to see Trump speak at a petroleum conference later this month decided the $30 it cost her was worth it. “He’s self-funded up until now, so I don’t mind supporting him,” she said. | 0fake |
NY Teacher Gives Assignment To High School Kids: Come Up With Argument In Favor Of Mass Killings Of Jews | A pair of high school students who take classes at SUNY Oswego via a specialized program are upset at an assignment their Principles of Literary Representation class received: Defend Hitler s Final Solution.CiTi/BOCES New Vision program teacher Michael DeNobile handed out a Top Secret memorandum to the class addressed to senior Nazi party members. It asked students to put themselves in the shoes of Adolf Hitler s top aides, according to a report at Syracuse.com.Students Archer Shurtliff and Jordan April, who ended up on opposite sides of the, er, debate wondered: Does DeNobile really want students to argue in favor of the Nazis justification for genocide? Although the lesson does tell students it is not for you to be sympathetic to the Nazi point of view, and is just an exercise on expanding your point of view, Shurtliff and April allege it created a rather intolerant atmosphere.One student did a Nazi salute in class, they say, and another said he wished he d been assigned the pro-Holocaust side because Heil Hitler, duh. From the story:The students brought their concerns over the assignment to DeNobile, administrators in the New Vision program and educators at their home schools.The classroom assignment took them on a mission: To make sure no other student would be asked to argue in favor of killing Jews again.They carefully documented each meeting and conversation with their teachers. They researched other cases, including one in which a teacher was disciplined.They came up with dozens of alternate assignments and materials that didn t force kids to argue on behalf of mass killings. They contacted the Anti-Defamation League, which advocates for Jews.Within a few days, an alternative assignment was offered. Jordan wrote about America s AIDS crisis and response. Archer wrote about the internment of Japanese-Americans and compensation paid to survivors.The students said they weren t satisfied with the administration s response.They are calling for an apology, for the program to retract the assignment completely, and agree to never give it again.Despite the alternative assignment offered, many chose to stick with the original.Archer and Jordan say DeNobile and administrators defended the assignment, claiming they were told the essay was a lesson in having to do things you don t like, and in seeing the other side of an argument. But Shurtliff shoots down this rationalization rather easily: It s settled opinion. You can t say that Jews deserve to die. It should be a settled thing. In a letter to New Vision officials, Anti-Defamation League Education Director Beth Martinez wroteThere is no assignment that could ever be given to students that even hints at their [sic] being two sides to the Final Solution /Holocaust that would be pedagogically or morally sound, and we are very disturbed that students are reportedly being asked to be a part of this.Indeed, the assignment says the objective is for students to go outside [their] comfort zone and to train their brains to logistically find the evidence necessary to prove a point. High schoolers vouching for the annihilation of an entire people is merely going outside their comfort zone ? Lovely.For entire story: College Fix | 1real |
Teenager ‘enamored with ISIS’ in court over ‘viable device’ found on London Underground | Teenager ‘enamored with ISIS’ in court over ‘viable device’ found on London... Teenager ‘enamored with ISIS’ in court over ‘viable device’ found on London Underground By 0 53
A poker-fixated teenager, who was “enamored with ISIS” and charged in connection with a “viable device” found on the London Underground, has appeared in court.
Damon Smith, 19, of South East London, has been accused of unlawfully and maliciously making or possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or cause serious danger to property, the Metropolitan Police said. BREAKING – 19 year old Damon Smith charged with possessing or constructing explosives after device left on London tube train last Thursday pic.twitter.com/b0BekmI1aw
— Mark White (@skymarkwhite) October 26, 2016
He did not enter a plea in relation to the charge during his hearing at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
Defence counsel Simon Eastwood, however, indicated that his client, who has a form of autism, would be pleading not guilty on the grounds it was a prank, according to Sky News.
The device was found last Thursday on a tube carriage on the Jubilee Line at North Greenwich station, near the O2 Arena. It had been left inside an abandoned black Adidas rucksack and was found by two members of the public.
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The station was evacuated for several hours, and counter-terrorism police destroyed the item in a controlled explosion.
The prosecution told the court that experts carried out a forensic examination of the package and deemed it to be a “viable improvised explosive device” which would have caused injury had it detonated.
The bomb was a “pressure” type device and contained grey powder, ball bearings, and a clock-type detonator, the court was told.
Four properties have been searched in connection with the investigation.
On Saturday, another device was discovered at an address in Newton Abbot by police investigating the North Greenwich incident. The item was later declared not viable.
Smith had just moved to London from Newton Abbot, Devon, to study IT at the London Metropolitan University.
He has been described as a “mummy’s boy” and a “loner,” with an interest in martial arts and online poker.
Friends of Smith have also claimed he was “enamored” with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Sky reports.
“He had a Koran and knew several phrases and he wore a black headscarf. Damon had replica guns and air rifles and even posted a video of himself shooting a replica Glock on YouTube,” a former friend told the Sun.
Smith has been remanded back into custody and will next appear at the Old Bailey on November 17.
Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license. | 1real |
Obama’s Definition of “High Integrity” | Thomas DiLorenzo https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/obamas-definition-high-integrity/
When Obama’s press secretary was asked today what he thought of Dirty Donna Brazile’s rigging of the Democratic debates by giving Hitlery the questions (from CNN, where she worked but has now been fired) in advance, he responded by praising her as “a person of the highest integrity.”
To the lunatic left fringe their ends always justify any means. 6:41 pm on October 31, 2016 | 1real |
Latest House healthcare bill includes concessions to conservatives: Politico | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The latest version of a House Republican bill to replace Obamacare would limit who could receive tax credits to help purchase health insurance, Politico reported on Monday, in an effort to secure the support of the chamber’s conservative wing. Congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump have repeatedly promised to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement but have publicly disagreed about the best way to do so. The House of Representatives is expected to unveil its legislation soon. Under a Feb. 10 draft of the legislation made available to several news outlets, Republicans proposed offering an age-based refundable tax credit regardless of income level. That was resisted by conservatives who called it another entitlement program. Critics also said extremely wealthy people would receive the credit even though they do not need it. In the most recent version of the bill, the tax credits would only be available to those within certain income levels, according to Politico. They would start to phase out for individuals earning $75,000 and households earning $150,000, and would be unavailable for individuals who earn more than $215,000, Politico reported. Republicans had also initially proposed capping exemptions on employer-provided health coverage, a provision that drew the ire of some conservatives who said the bill would remove Obamacare’s taxes only to replace it with another. According to Politico, the latest version of the bill would not include a cap. The bill also delays repealing several of Obamacare’s taxes until 2018, a year later than initially proposed, Politico reported. | 0fake |
$3.5 MILLION DOWN THE DRAIN….Day 5 WI Recount: TRUMP +25 | Just think how many youth centers could have been built in inner cities or how many broken-down classrooms in America could have been repaired with the $3.5 MILLION being wasted on Jill Stein and Hillary s futile recount effort? Aren t the Democrats all about the poor, the downtrodden and the disenfranchised? Or are they really just all about staying in power? The next time one of your progressive friends tries to argue with you about how the Democrats are all about compassion, remind them of the money that was wasted on this recount that could ve been used to help the very people they proclaim to be helping.Shameful Day 5 of the Wisconsin recount continued the pattern on previous days, as Donald Trump extended his Election Day lead over Hillary Clinton by a couple dozen votes.Trump leads Wisconsin by about 22,000 votes. So far, data from the Wisconsin recount as of December 5 shows that little is changing. The major candidates have each gained a smattering of votes in municipalities around the state as a variety of errors are found, but nothing has changed in significant enough numbers to upend the election. Not even close. Trump and Clinton have also each lost votes in communities throughout the state, basically making any gains and losses a wash.Here are the specific totals:Trump has lost 302 votes. Trump has gained 386 votes. Trump net vote gain by Day 5: 84 votesClinton has lost 293 votes. Clinton has gained 351 votes. Clinton net vote gain by Day 5: 58 votes | 1real |
Venezuela's opposition-led congress seeks support in Paris | PARIS (Reuters) - Venezuela s opposition-led congress leaders met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron to press for humanitarian aid to their crisis-hit nation, on the first leg of a European tour seeking support against President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro s government has been criticised by the United Nations, Washington and other governments for failing to allow the entry of foreign aid to ease a severe economic crisis, while it overrides Venezuela s opposition-led congress and jails hundreds of opponents. I stressed the urgency of opening up the door to humanitarian aid in Venezuela, congress President Julio Borges said, adding that Macron had been eager to help. We want the government of Maduro to open the door to this humanitarian help, Borges said. The opposition won control of congress in 2015. But Maduro s loyalist Supreme Court has tossed out every major law it has passed as the oil-rich country slips deeper into a recession exacerbated by triple-digit inflation and acute shortages of food and medicines. Maduro has said he is facing an armed insurrection designed to end socialism in Latin America and let a U.S.-backed business elite get its hands on the OPEC nation s massive crude reserves. In Caracas on Monday, Venezuela s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza summoned ambassadors from Spain, Germany Italy, and the United Kingdom to issue a note of protest accusing them of meddling in Venezuela s internal affairs. There has been widespread criticism of Maduro around Europe, with Macron last week saying his administration was a dictatorship trying to survive at the cost of unprecedented humanitarian distress. Macron, who did not speak to reporters after the meeting, last week also criticised the government after human rights activist Lilian Tintori, the wife of Venezuela s best-known detained political leader, was barred from flying out of the country to go to Paris, Madrid, Berlin and London. They cannot silence the voice of 30 million Venezuelans, Tintori said on her Twitter account, adding that Congress Vice President Freddy Guevara had given Macron a letter from her. Arreaza said Tintori was not able to leave the country because she was due in court this week to answer questions over a stash of cash that police had found in her car. When she intended to leave on Saturday, several European ambassadors accompanied her to the airport. The situation in Venezuela has a particular resonance in France, where the far-left France Unbowed party, currently Macron s most vocal opponent, backs Maduro. Maduro is expected to address the opening day of a three-week U.N. Human Rights Council session on Sept. 11. | 0fake |
Egyptian singer jailed over video inciting debauchery | CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court jailed a little-known singer for two years on Tuesday for inciting debauchery, judicial sources said, after she appeared in a music video in her underwear and suggestively eating a banana. Shyma s song, titled I have issues , sparked controversy on social media in the conservative country. The singer, who was fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($560), can appeal the verdict to a higher court. The director of the video was also fined and sentenced to two years in prison, but in absentia. Both defendants were accused of inciting debauchery and producing a video harming public morality. Shyma, whose real name is Shaimaa Ahmed, was arrested on Nov. 18 before being referred to the prosecution for investigation. She denied the accusations, saying the director included the controversial scenes without her consent. Tens of young Egyptians were arrested in September for attending a concert in Cairo where a rainbow flag was raised. They were also accused of debauchery, harming public morality and other accusations. | 0fake |
The quiet global crisis that scares the State Department | A big new State Department assessment has identified a major threat to global security. It's not ISIS or Vladimir Putin. It's not a rickety global economy or climate change or the threat of global pandemics.
Instead, the report argues, these individual problems are symptoms of a much bigger issue — namely, a slow breakdown in global governance. Many of the institutions that were created in the past century to deal with economic and security risks around the world, such as the UN and IMF, may no longer be adequate to the task.
If the authors of the report are right, then the world's biggest problems are all really about this one big thing.
The report, called the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, was tasked with a broad review of State Department policies. The point was "not looking at the crisis of the day," Tom Perriello, the State Department official tasked with leading the QDDR, said in a press briefing. Instead, the report is "trying to connect the dots across the crises, and then saying what can we learn across the dynamics that we can see."
Much of what the report's authors saw was quite good. "Seventy years ago, a bipartisan group of visionary Americans forged a system of modern international institutions, as well as economic and security arrangements, aimed at preventing another catastrophic world war and addressing acute human suffering," they write. "This system enabled the peaceful end of the Cold War, a wave of democratization, and unprecedented improvement in the basic human condition around the globe."
That's all true. But the QDDR worries that these institutions — things like the UN and the IMF — aren't adequate for dealing with the specific kinds of problems we see today. The UN may help the big countries cooperate with each other, but it can't stop ISIS or Syria's civil war. Nor has it been able to lock in a big new international agreement on climate change.
Together, these problems show that "aspects of that post-World War II system are fraying." Sometimes, it's because a hostile power is actively challenging them — Russia, for example, is actively trying to weaken the NATO-dominated regional order in Europe.
Other times, it's that these institutions are having trouble developing good answers for particular kind of problems. It's not clear, for example, how global institutions can repair failed states and stop civil wars in places like Libya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Regardless, the basic point is the same: the institutions that have made the world the safest and most prosperous place it's ever been are becoming less capable of following through on their mission. The more they degrade, the argument goes, the more danger the United States — and the world — will be in.
These arguments aren't new: academics have been making them for years. But what's interesting about their position in the QDDR is that they seem to represent the US government's actual view about the world's biggest problems.
It's no accident that the QDDR's section on priorities begins with a quote from Obama's 2014 speech to the UN General Assembly — the address was framed around an almost identical diagnosis about the need to reform global institutions in light of new challenges. "If we lift our eyes beyond our borders, if we think globally and act cooperatively," Obama said, "we can shape the course of this century as our predecessors shaped the post–World War II age." Sound familiar?
But the QDDR goes beyond Obama's speech. It identifies four areas — preventing violent conflict and extremism, spreading democracy, promoting global economic growth, and climate change — in which the State Department needs to focus its efforts. "Each of these priorities is based on the need for better governance across the world," Secretary of State John Kerry said at a presser. "They're all linked."
The QDDR proposes a number of ways to improve its focus on these issues. For instance, it proposes a new investment on data-driven forecasting designed to predict conflicts and mass atrocities. If State Department diplomats have a better way of knowing countries are most at risk of serious violence, the theory goes, they can know where to invest resources in order to prevent those conflicts from getting worse.
These solutions feel very small-bore compared with the scale of the problems identified by the QDDR. The report doesn't have a big plan for reforming the UN to deal with failed states, nor does it propose a groundbreaking strategy for breaking the global impasse on a climate change agreement.
That's by design. The QDDR, as an exercise, is designed to improve the way the State Department works as an organization. About one-third of the report, for example, is focused on hiring and personnel management. The whole point of the exercise is to identify what the State Department can do better without radically transforming American foreign policy priorities or proposing pie-in-the-sky new budgets that Congress will never approve.
And that's what makes the QDDR really interesting. A massive amount of government work involves identifying huge problems, like the breakdown of global governance, and then trying to implement a few small-bore strategies to chip away at the big problem. The QDDR is an unusually clear account of how that process actually works: of how small policy proposals and reforms fit into the bigger picture of American foreign policy. | 0fake |
Maldives rushes through trade pact with China despite opposition | MALE (Reuters) - The Maldives government signed a free trade agreement with China during a visit to Beijing by its leader, Abdulla Yameen, it said on Friday, despite criticism from the opposition over the speed at which the deal was concluded. Under the deal - a document of more than 1,000 pages that the Maldives parliament signed off on last week after less than an hour of discussion - China and the archipelago nation will impose no tariffs on imports from each other. Fisheries are the main export from the Maldives, an Indian Ocean country of 400,000 that also relies heavily on tourism. The free trade agreement between China and Maldives signed during the visit was a milestone in the development of China-Maldives economic and trade relations, Yameen s official website said in a joint communique. The Maldives government also endorsed China s proposed Maritime Silk Road business development project, part of its vast Belt and Road infrastructure project. China s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping as telling Yameen that the Belt and Road program matched up with the Maldives development strategies. President Yameen s government has had good relations with China since taking power in 2013. China has been striking deals with countries in Asia and Africa to improve its imports of key commodities and boost its diplomatic clout. The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said in a statement that the FTA contained technical details that should have been thoroughly reviewed and called for its implementation to be suspended until an independent feasibility study is conducted. The government says the FTA will help diversify the $3.6 billion economy and boost fisheries exports, crucial since the European Union declined in 2014 to renew a tax concession on them. Fisheries account for 5 percent of Maldives economic output and earned the country $140 million in 2016. The EU declined to extend the tax exemptions because the country has failed to comply with international conventions on freedom of religion, European diplomats in Colombo say. Maldives law prohibits the practice by citizens of any religion other than Islam, while non-Muslims are barred from voting, gaining citizenship or holding public office. | 0fake |
Clinton aide key focus in FBI server investigation | More than 100 days after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying before the House committee investigating the Benghazi terrorist attack, a key Hillary Clinton aide is at the center of the separate and ongoing investigation by the FBI into Clinton’s use of a private unsecured server while she was secretary of state.
That former staffer, Bryan Pagliano, set up the controversial private email server in Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, N.Y.
Pagliano is believed to be the only witness publicly identified during the politically charged hearings on Benghazi to invoke the Fifth Amendment.
He has not been charged with any crime, but the investigation continues into how Clinton used a private homebrew server which contained highly classified information while she was secretary of state.
As Fox News was first to report on Dec. 15, a review by the intelligence community reaffirmed that at least two emails were “top secret” when they hit Clinton’s private server. The State Department had challenged the classification.
At the core of the separate FBI investigation is whether highly classified information was "grossly mishandled" by Clinton and her aides.
Pagliano worked for the Clinton campaign team and was their trusted IT specialist before he joined the State Department in May 2009.
As first reported by The Washington Post, the Clintons paid Pagliano $5,000 for "computer services" prior to his joining the State Department, according to a financial disclosure form he filed in April 2009.
Yet, even after arriving at State in May 2009, Pagliano continued to be paid by the Clintons to maintain the non-secure homebrew server, which was located in a bathroom closet inside the Clinton's Chappaqua home.
As part of invoking his Fifth Amendment right, Pagliano is also invoking the so-called act-of-production privilege. Since 1984, according to a review by Fox News, the privilege has been used in 103 federal or state cases.
A person can invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against the production of documents only where the act of producing the documents is incriminating in itself. According to a legal review by Fox News, this privilege applies when producing the documents – as opposed to their contents -- to the government is entitled to Fifth Amendment protection.
This assertion is tantamount to the defendant's testimony that the documents exist, are authentic and are in his possession.
The privilege has been invoked before by a Clinton associate. Webb Hubbell, Hillary Clinton's former law partner when she worked at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas, argued for an "act-of-production privilege" during the federal investigation into the collapse of Madison Guaranty, a failed savings and loan. Hubbell followed Bill and Hillary Clinton into the White House to become an associate attorney general, the third-ranking member of the Justice Department. He was convicted in 1995 and served 18 months in federal prison for his role in the failure of that savings and loan which later became known as the "Whitewater scandal."
Pagliano initially invoked the Fifth Amendment in refusing to answer 19 pages of questions from the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which is investigating the attack that killed four Americans in September 2012. Killed in the attack were Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department information officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
Three months ago, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the committee, acknowledged that Pagliano may be called again. Fox News has confirmed no new subpoena has yet been issued by the committee for Pagliano. And there has been no subpoena issued by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
As for the ongoing and separate FBI investigation into Clinton's emails, no one is authorized to speak on the record but Fox News is told by two intelligence sources that the "Bureau (FBI) has a solid team on the case" and does not want to appear to be interfering with "the country's political process."
In addition to looking at the potential mishandling of classified material, investigators are focused on possible violations of U.S. Code 18, Section 1001 pertaining to “materially false” statements given either in writing, orally or through a third party. Each violation is subject to five years in prison.
It is unclear if Pagliano also had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA, while working for the State Department which requires protection of highly classified information.
Clinton signed her NDA on Jan. 22, 2009, which states in part, "I have been advised that any breach of this Agreement may result in my termination of my access to SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) and removal from a position of special confidence.”
In the prosecution of former CIA Director David Petraeus for his role in wrongly providing highly classified information to his biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell, violations of Non-Disclosure Agreements were cited.
Fox News was told that “frustration” is mounting in the pace of the investigation into Clinton's emails.
Mark MacDougall, the attorney for Pagliano, had no comment to Fox News.
Pamela K. Browne is Senior Executive Producer at the FOX News Channel (FNC) and is Director of Long-Form Series and Specials. Her journalism has been recognized with several awards. Browne first joined FOX in 1997 to launch the news magazine “Fox Files” and later, “War Stories.”
Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent. | 0fake |
Champion Runner Attempts to Murder Sports Official After Outed as Transgender ’Woman’ - Breitbart | A champion female runner who faces being stripped of her titles after revelations that she was born a man has been convicted of attempting to murder a sports official who outed her past life, authorities say, The Daily Mail reported. [Champion Lauren Jeska was arrested for the stabbing attack on British Athletics official Ralph Knibbs in March of last year. Police say Jeska also attacked two of Knibbs’ during the incident. Officials called the March 22 attack at the Birmingham open plan UK Athletics office “frenzied” and “wholly unprovoked,” yet was also a “cool and calculated attack. ” The attacks came after Jeska faced having her series of wins vacated because she refused to supply blood tests to prove she had a woman’s level of testosterone in her system at the time of her victories. “We understand Jeska had been asked to provide further evidence of hormone levels after historical complaints to UK Athletics that she had an unfair advantage competing in women’s events because she had been born a man,” Detective Sergeant Sally Olsen said after the latest hearing. “The governing body’s policy required the athlete to take a blood test but she took exception to this and feared being unable to compete,” Olsen added. Police discovered from a psychiatrist who interviewed the suspect that she “fantasized about going to the Alexander Stadium and killing all of the staff. ” During the attack, Jeska stabbed Knibbs in the neck nicking his carotid artery, but even as blood spurted out across the room with each heartbeat, the victim warded off further blows until two colleagues came to subdue Jeska. The other two men were also injured in the attack. Despite the loss of blood, Knibbs survived the attack. The victim said he suffered a during the attack and now also suffers permanent vision loss. He testified that the attack was a “traumatic, experience. ” Lauren Jeska was handed an jail term for her crime. She will not be eligible for parole until she has served of her sentence. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0fake |
America’s Streets Will Run With Blood- Mike Adams | America’s Streets Will Run With Blood- Mike Adams
VIOLENCE IN AMERICA-AMERICA’S STREETS WILL RUN RED WITH BLOOD
Hillary is going down. But don’t make the mistake of thinking it is over! As Mike Adams says in the following video. It does not matter who wins, the streets will run red with blood.
Listen to what Mike Adams has to say in the following video. If this video does not convince you to prepare to be on your own, then nothing will. | 1real |
Trump to nominate NFL team owner Johnson as U.S. ambassador to Britain | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will nominate National Football League team owner Woody Johnson as U.S. ambassador to Britain, the White House said on Thursday. Johnson, a billionaire investor and owner of the New York Jets, will require Senate confirmation to take up the diplomatic post. Johnson’s nomination does not come as a surprise. In January, Trump referred to Johnson as “ambassador” during remarks at a luncheon and said the NFL team owner was “going to St. James.” | 0fake |
BREAKING: Anthony Weiner Enters Rehab for “Sex Addiction” | 0 comments
Anthony Weiner has checked himself into a clinic which provides counseling for those addicted to cybersex, exhibitionism, anonymous sex and porn.
The treatment program separates men and women during their stay and electronic devices are banned at the facility.
Weiner’s world came crashing down in September, when the Daily Mail revealed he was sexting with a 15-year-old school girl, saying such lurid things as, “I would bust that tight p***y so hard and so often that you would leak and limp for a week.”
In another message, the estranged husband of Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin told the teen that he woke up “hard” after thinking about her.
Weiner knew the girl was only 15 at the time.
An investigation involving Child Protective Services was launched and the police seized Weiner’s laptop (which led to the Clinton bombshell).
It was also discovered that Clinton’s team knew Weiner had carried out another inappropriate relationship with a separate underage girl as far back as 2011, but did nothing about it. | 1real |
Trump Brags About Hurricane Size As Florida Braces For Disaster | Donald Trump is apparently thrilled that Hurricane Irma will be the biggest storm to ever hit the United States.Only weeks after Hurricane Harvey left a swath of devastation and death in Texas, Florida is bracing for an even deadlier and more destructive storm.People will die. Businesses and homes will be wiped off the map. Suffering and homelessness will be the reality in Florida. But Trump is too busy bragging about the size of the hurricane to actually care about the people who are in the path of the storm.In yet another Twitter rant on Wednesday morning, Trump proclaimed that his team is already in Florida preparing for the storm after bragging about what a good job they have done in Texas.Watching Hurricane closely. My team, which has done, and is doing, such a good job in Texas, is already in Florida. No rest for the weary! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017In fact, Trump s response to Hurricane Harvey was to brag about the size of that storm, and he ended an Obama-era flood policy as Houston drowned. Trump has also proposed massive cuts to FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which predicts and tracks hurricanes.It should also be noted that Trump inherited a FEMA that took the lessons of Hurricane Katrina seriously in preparation for future storms. So, Trump and his team did nothing special.But what Trump did next on Twitter shows just how little empathy and compassion he has for the people in the path of Hurricane Irma.Hurricane looks like largest ever recorded in the Atlantic! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017Yeah, you read that right. Trump literally bragged about the size of this hurricane as if it s something to be proud of. This coming from a man who denies the very climate change that is causing bigger and more destructive hurricanes to form.As Floridians prepare for disaster, they must be wondering why Trump is so excited about watching them get slammed by the largest hurricane to ever strike the United States. If anything, Trump should be concerned about the coming destruction and death instead of bragging like he s about to win a prize.Featured Image: Jim Lo Scalzo Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
IS AN UGLY REVOLT INEVITABLE? Bernie Sanders Supporters Are Asked If They’ll Vote For Hillary If Bernie Loses Nomination [VIDEO] | Bernie Sanders supporters radicals are asked how they feel about Hillary. Their answers are very telling. How many of these Bernie supporters do you think will show up to the polls in November if Hillary is the nominee?Watch Black Lives Matter Communist terrorist denounce Hillary at the 4:35 mark and the Check your white privilege girl mark wearing a t-shirt honoring Black Panther and cop killer Assata Shakur at the 5:50 :Judging by the responses of these Bern-bots, it looks like Hillary might be ignored by a large percentage of voters in November if her super delegates and the DNC work behind the scenes to ensure that Hillary is the ONLY acceptable presidential candidate for the Democrat Party. | 1real |
Spain withdraws international arrest warrant for former Catalan leader | MADRID (Reuters) - Spain s Supreme Court on Tuesday withdrew an international arrest warrant for Catalonia s former leader, now in self-imposed exile in Belgium after an illegal independence referendum, in a move to bring his case back solely into Spanish jurisdiction. Carles Puigdemont and four of his cabinet members went to Belgium when Madrid imposed direct rule on the wealthy northeastern region after an Oct. 27 declaration of independence by his local government. The decision to withdraw the warrant leaves Puigdemont without an international legal stage on which to pursue his independence campaign. He is likely to be detained if he returns to Spain, pending investigation on charges of sedition, rebellion, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust. The battle between Madrid and Catalan secessionists has hurt the Spanish economy and prompted thousands of companies to shift their legal headquarters outside of Catalonia, which accounts for a fifth of Spain s economy. On Tuesday, campaigning began for the Dec. 21 Catalan regional election that Madrid called in an attempt to resolve the crisis by installing an administration in favor of Spanish unity. However, pro-independence parties view the election as a proxy vote on a split from Spain. Polls show the two sides neck and neck on a high turnout. A Spanish court issued the international arrest warrant for Puigdemont on Nov. 3. On Monday, a Spanish court declared it would keep Puigdemont s former vice president, Oriol Junqueras, in custody in Madrid while he is investigated for his role in preparing the independence referendum. Removing the international warrant takes Belgium s legal system out of Puigdemont s case. Months of legal wrangling would have ensued if appeals against his extradition were moved through the Belgian courts. Investigating magistrate Pablo Llarena of the Supreme Court said it was important that just one legal entity oversaw proceedings against the former independence leaders to ensure they get equal treatment. The Brussels prosecutor s office said in a statement it had received the Spanish Supreme Court s decision and on Wednesday it would ask the judge to re-examine the extradition process. The judge would set a date for a hearing at which they will have no choice but to declare the affair void, the statement said. Afterwards, Puigdemont would be able to leave Belgium. Puigdemont s lawyer, Paul Bekaert, said legal proceedings in Belgium were now over. Puigdemont would be arrested if he went to Spain, he said. The Spanish court said Puigdemont and his cabinet members had shown a willingness to return from Belgium to Spain to take part in the election. Puigdemont gave a televised address from Belgium at a campaign rally on Monday, telling the central government in Madrid that his party would win the election. I m very sorry I can t be with you now, he said to cheers from members of his pro-independence Junts per Catalunya party, which organized the rally. | 0fake |
NO KIDDING! HILLARY PANDERS TO YOUNG WOMEN By Demanding An Outrageous “Freebie” | How is it that the woman who wants to be our president is stooping so low? Demanding free tampons for all women is probably the biggest case of pandering ever! Hopefully, young women will just LOL at this! Menstrual activism is the latest effort by feminists to provide freebie tampons in the name of MENSTRUAL EQUITY . Aren t there other things to focus on? CLINTON S TWEET IS IN RESPONSE TO THIS:New York City made history today with passage of the nation s first legislative package to ensure access to menstrual products in public schools, shelters and corrections facilities.In doing so, New York has stepped out as a leader in a growing national and global movement for menstrual equity. The city s new laws acknowledge that the ability to manage menstruation falls squarely at the intersection of sound health, economic and educational policy.The need to tackle this issue is not new. While menstruation has been a taboo and off limits topic since Adam and Eve, around the world there are legions of activists working to raise awareness of the devastating impact caused by lack of access to affordable, safe menstrual products.PICTURED BELOW IS A ROUNDTABLE ON MENSTRUAL HEALTH BECAUSE SUPPOSEDLY AMERICA LAGS BEHIND IN MENSTRUAL EQUITY America has long lagged behind, but that s beginning to change. A dedicated network of activists, journalists, policy makers and others have ratcheted up national attention to the issue. Last year, menstrual activism captured so many headlines that NPR dubbed it The Year of the Period and Cosmopolitan proclaimed it was the year the period went public. READ MORE: NYT | 1real |
LIBERTARIAN Gary Johnson ENDORSES Black Lives Matter, Anti-Cop Terror Group [VIDEO] | Johnson calls Obama s manufactured race war/war on cops a national emergency Watch below as Johnson exposes his left-winger leanings while attempting to pick up disenfranchised Cruz and Sanders voters If there was any doubt, Gov. Gary Johnson is working harder at winning over former Bernie Sanders supporters than Ron and Rand Paul supporters. For whatever reason, he s taken on several left-wing positions from bashing religious freedom to now supporting Black Lives Matter. At the CNN Libertarian Party Town Hall on Wednesday, Johnson praised the efforts of Black Lives Matter and endorsed the organization.https://youtu.be/y9bwi91j99USpeaking to a Black Lives Matter protestor and registered Democrat who was shot in the leg during a march, Johnson said, What it has done for me is that my head has been in the sand on this, Johnson said. I think that we ve all had our heads in the sand and lets wake up. Discrimination does exist, has existed, and for me personally, um, slap, slap, wake up. The Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee Bill Weld focused less on the Black Lives Matter movement and more on the stats of black youth unemployment, calling it a national emergency.Via: Red Alert Politics | 1real |
CNN IS EVIL: Carol Costello FAILS When Benghazi Dad Flips Script On Her…#BoycottCNN | Charles Woods, father of U.S. Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, who was killed during the Benghazi attack, appeared on CNN Tuesday. CNN Newsroom host Carol Costello repeatedly badgered him about Donald Trump s feud with Khizr Khan, and whether Trump should apologize. I know who should apologize, and that would be Hillary Clinton, for lying to the American families who lost their loved ones as well as to the American public, Woods said. | 1real |
U.N.'s de Mistura: Next Syria peace talks in Geneva in January | MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.N. special envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday he planned to organize a next round of Syrian peace talks in Geneva in the second half of January. De Mistura was speaking in Moscow at a news conference after holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. De Mistura told Lavrov that the last round of peace talks had gone badly. | 0fake |
Support for marriage equality in Ireland was strikingly broad | Ireland's historic vote in favor of marriage equality last Friday was, in the end, not especially close, with the yesses carrying almost every electoral district. Still, as Jason Kelleher's map of the vote shows, there were some very pronounced regional differences:
Anyone familiar with the basic sociology of gay rights in the West will be unsurprised to see that support for equality is largest in Dublin and down south in Cork, Ireland's second city. Support was generally weakest in the northern and western parts of the country, roughly the area known as Connaught.
But overall the picture is of enormously broad support for the referendum, including in most of rural Ireland. | 0fake |
White House Admits How Trump Made Paris Deal Decision, It’s Really Disturbing (VIDEO) | Donald Trump s disastrous decision to take the United States out of the Paris climate deal was met with loads of criticism, as this will have devastating consequences for the entire planet.As several world leaders have already openly condemned Trump s decision, the backlash is about to get a whole lot worse once every finds out just what motivated Trump to reach this decision. According to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Trump made this decision based on one thing only, simplifying a complex matter to a kindergartener s level of reasoning: whether it was good or bad. Pruitt told reporters at a press briefing: The discussions that the president and I have had over the last several weeks have been focused on one key issue. Is Paris good or bad for this country? The President and I focused our attentions there. He determined it was bad for this country, and hurt us economically. It didn t achieve good environmental outcomes, and he made the decision to reject the Paris deal. We all knew Trump had the temperament of a child, but apparently, his decision-making process is just as bad. Trump has no idea what the hell he s doing, and so he looks to others to give him over-simplified answers to serious issues that will have a massive impact on our world. Such matters shouldn t require a yes/no, good/bad answer. They must be examined and carefully thought out which Trump clearly has not taken the time to do.With this decision, Trump has solidified the fact that America will no longer be a global leader, as other countries shun the United States thanks to its incompetent, orange dictator. Trump has proven that the only thing he is capable of is ruining things. He s been extremely successful in devastating America, so now he is taking on the planet.You can watch the White House report on Trump s childlike decision-making process below:Featured image via Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Trump Campaign Hits New Low With These Sexist Anti-Hillary Buttons (IMAGES) | Donald Trump s campaign has prided itself on launching every kind of dirty trick and bigotry in the book, and now wades into a further sexism row with these anti-Hillary buttons.Washington Post reporter Jenna Johnson was covering the Trump rally in Indiana this week, when she was astonished to discover the presence of campaign buttons designed to mock Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.One button read:KFC Hillary Special: 2 fat thighs, 2 small breasts, left wing.Another bore an image of Mrs Clinton, with the subtitle:Life s a b*tch Don t vote for one.A new batch of anti-Hillary-Clinton buttons popped up outside Donald Trump's rally tonight: pic.twitter.com/VxKkxSS2We Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) May 3, 2016The buttons come as a reminder that Trump s campaign is a class free zone and no level to which he and his supporters will not stoop to score a political point.They will mock a person s disability View post on imgur.comThey will attack a person on the basis on their ethnic origin And of course, Trump and his supporters have zero issue with hitting out with violently abusive sexist language either. Whether it s Rosie O Donnell, or Megyn Kelly, or Hillary Clinton any woman who fails to sufficiently kiss The Donald s ring is opening herself up to a world of abuse and threats.Trump has nursed his vendetta against Rosie O Donnell since 2006, because the comedian criticized him for deciding not to fire Miss USA Tara Conner after drug use, underage drinking and sexual activities were exposed. Ten years later, Trump still takes every opportunity to stick it to O Donnell whenever he can. Nice years later, when O Donnell left The View after suffering a heart attack and stress, Trump said:I mean she s a total trainwreck, so let s see what happens and I hope it works out well. I like the show a lot, but let s face it, Rosie is a loser. And when Megyn Kelly challenged him during a Presidential debate on describing women as fat pigs , dogs , slobs and disgusting animals, Trump responded: Only Rosie O Donnell. But the fact that Kelly dared to call Trump on his abusive language towards women, meant she became his next target. In Trump s world, Kelly burned him on national television and he will continue to fire back at her until his dying breath. Some highlights of his interminable abuse in the year since include:While all this is morally repugnant, it really doesn t bode well for Trump s chances of securing the White House. He may well have mobilized the hardline of the Republican right but when he gets up and tries to confront (most likely) Hillary Clinton in the Presidential debates, armed with nothing more than a few dog tired T&A jokes he s going to be in serious trouble. And so is the Republican Party.Featured Image via Flickr Creative Commons/Flickr Creative Commons | 1real |
Republicans PROVE They Are Against The Working Class By Blocking Job-Creating Provision In Major Bill | A major bipartisan infrastructure bill has gone through the House, and it proved that House Republicans don t care all that much about buy American (just like their lord and savior, King Cheeto). The bill, which would have permanently required all piping for water infrastructure projects receiving federal funding to be made in the U.S., has sadly been watered down to a single year.Why is this? Trump made a huge deal about made in America, and how American manufacturing has gone down the tubes over the last 30 years. Yet all his products are made overseas, as are most of what his daughter, Ivanka, sells in her fashion line. Trump has said that his $1 trillion infrastructure plan would have strong buy American requirements, so either the GOP doesn t care what their own leader wants, or Trump cares even less about American manufacturing than we thought.Or both. Critics say that it amounts to giving federal funding to some companies, and not others, creating a system of winners and losers in the market. That s what they always say, and they have yet to be proven right. Senate Democrats see it differently, and have been waging a Twitter campaign to build support for keeping the permanent requirement in place..@SenatorBaldwin s #BuyAmerica provision would help build US infrastructure w/ US steel. How can @HouseGOP oppose this obvious job creator? Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 5, 2016.@RealDonaldTrump: Tell @SpeakerRyan to put #BuyAmerica back in Water bill. American tax dollars for American jobs.https://t.co/zpzJrHOOcF Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) December 5, 2016Fact: @HouseGOP plan harms American manufacturing. @HouseDemocrats will fight to support #BuyAmerica & we urge @realdonaldtrump to do same. Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) December 5, 2016@HousesGOP plan harms American manufacturing. @HouseDemocrats will fight to support #BuyAmerica & we urge @realdonaldtrump to do same https://t.co/t00ZzGaAhg Bonnie WatsonColeman (@RepBonnie) December 5, 2016According to Illinois Senator-elect Tammy Baldwin, Trump has been silent about this problem while sitting in his gilded bubble at the top of Trump Tower: By removing my Buy America standard, Speaker Ryan and House Republicans are embracing the status-quo in Washington. This is a failure by House leadership to make a solid commitment to American manufacturers and workers, said Senator Baldwin. American workers should build our infrastructure with American products and taxpayers money should not be spent on Chinese or Russian iron and steel. It s disappointing that the President-elect is sitting silent in Trump Tower. One would think that, if he can blast Boeing for something that isn t happening, then he can at least issue a statement of disappointment in House Republicans for removing the provision. Now Democrats have to introduce it as a separate amendment.It s true that the single-year provision ends up in appropriations bills for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which is a joint project between the states and the federal government for water infrastructure improvements. This particular bill would be part of that. But having to reinsert the buy American language in every appropriations bill every year makes it easier to remove.However, it s also true that, if Republicans were serious about bolstering American manufacturing, they d take a harder look at putting a permanent requirement in this kind of a bill. The free market certainly isn t doing anything to help, and gutting trade agreements could make things worse all throughout our economy.But whatever. We know by now that the GOP has badly failed American workers with their dogmatic adherence to the extreme, reckless brand of capitalism we practice here. They ll continue to do it until they have strong reason not to, and that involves the wealthy getting severely pissed at them.Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images | 1real |
North Korea deepening economic, diplomatic isolation: Mattis | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that North Korea is deepening its economic and diplomatic isolation with its latest ballistic missile launch, adding the United States was still assessing the new test by Pyongyang. I believe it will further North Korea s isolation, diplomatic and economic isolation, because more and more nations are realizing there s simply no collaboration (by Pyongyang) with the international community, Mattis told reporters traveling with him to Mexico City. | 0fake |
Hillary Clinton Makes A Bipartisan Appeal on Staten Island | Hillary Clinton told a Staten Island crowd today that she was the candidate who could reach across party lines to get things done as president—pointing to her experience representing the borough in the Senate and even giving public thanks to Republican President George W. Bush.
“I have no time for people who are partisan for the sake of being partisan,” Ms. Clinton, a Democrat and former secretary of state, told a crowd that welcomed her enthusiastically in a historic building at Snug Harbor Cultural Center.
Ms. Clinton was the second leading presidential candidate to speak on Staten Island today, after Republican Donald Trump delivered a typical stump speech at a Republican brunch. But Ms. Clinton, perhaps sensing or recalling Staten Island’s ever-present desire for politicians to pay attention to the forgotten borough, delivered a speech that seemed to be especially tailored for the borough, which is more conservative than the rest of New York City. The majority of its voters are registered Democrats, but the borough routinely swings Republican.
“When I ran in 2000, I didn’t carry Staten Island. When I ran in 2006, I did,” Ms. Clinton said today. “I’ve got no problem with people having political disagreements. That’s in America’s DNA, isn’t it?”
Instead, Ms. Clinton decried “deliberate efforts to set Americans against each other.” She harkened back to representing the borough of cops and firefighters on September 11, 20001, when nearly 300 Staten Islanders were killed in the terror attacks. She noted the city’s mayor, the state’s governor, and the president were all Republicans.
“I did not for one minute stop and say to myself: ‘Well, I don’t know, can we work together?'” Ms. Clinton said. “How absurd is that?”
Ms. Clinton said with 3,000 people murdered, people “pulled together” and “politics was totally left behind.” She had criticized President Bush for his handling of a strong economy he “inherited” from her husband, President Bill Clinton, and for other reasons. But she praised him for approving billions of dollars to rebuild lower Manhattan after the terror attacks, even as others in Washington didn’t want to spend it.
“I publicly say, ‘Thank you President George W. Bush,’ for making sure that we got the money that we needed to rebuild our city,” Ms. Clinton said.
She also touted her record working for the borough after the attacks, including sounding the alarm on air quality and pushing for the passage of the Zadroga Act. Ms. Clinton went on to discuss her foreign policy experience, saying anyone who wants to president has to be able to offer specifics on what they would do—an allusion to her Democratic rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders—but also has to be able to keep people safe.
“Maybe we take that more seriously here in New York, but we should,” she said. “And we are going to do everything we can to keep America safe.”
She cited her work building a coalition that “brought Iran to the negotiating table,” without mentioning how controversial that final Iran deal was for President Barack Obama.
Ms. Clinton’s rally had little in common with Mr. Trump’s Staten Island event, except one thing: the crowd at both seemed to hate Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Ms. Clinton mentioned his plan to spy on Muslim neighborhoods, which has also been dismissed by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
At the mention of Mr. Cruz’s name, the crowd offered a chorus of boos.
The crowd had been hyped up for Ms. Clinton before she even arrived, and gave a nice response to several local pols as they urged people to get out the vote on Tuesday.
“Hillary is the only one with the experience,” said Councilwoman Debi Rose, a Democrat who represents the borough’s North Shore. “She knows what it’s like to be in the White House. She knows the realities. She knows that living and running the White House in this country is not a reality show.”
Ms. Clinton, at the end of her speech, offered the kind of promise Staten Island always loves—and the kind it holds politicians to, if the way the Staten Island Advance repeatedly agitated and inquired about a town hall Mayor Bill de Blasio will finally hold here on Wednesday night is any indication.
“I want you to hold me accountable,” Ms. Clinton said. “I will be coming back to Staten Island when I am your president.” | 0fake |
Pastors stand firm as Trump's U.S. evangelical base weakens | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As President Donald Trump bowed his head in the Oval Office earlier this month, Texas Southern Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress and other U.S. religious leaders laid their hands on Trump’s back and prayed for Hurricane Harvey’s victims. With TV cameras and reporters watching, the scene was a powerful reminder of one of Trump’s most reliable and improbable political assets - his close ties with conservative Christians. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows, however, that Trump’s popularity among white evangelicals has weakened, suggesting his grassroots support may not be as unconditional as religious leaders’ public displays of allegiance would suggest. That may pose a problem for Trump and his allies as the 2018 midterm congressional election season nears. Trump’s strong links to conservative Christians played a key part in his stunning victory in the 2016 presidential election. Though disenchanted evangelicals were unlikely to switch their votes to Democrats, they could stay home next year when U.S. voters elect senators and representatives. “When your base is starting to even slowly move away from you, that should be a sign of concern,” said Justin Vaughn, director of the Center for Idaho History and Politics at Boise State University in Idaho, a state Trump won handily last year. In a country that is more religious than most other western democracies and where a president’s spiritual life is closely examined, the twice-divorced New York billionaire socialite, who has attended church just twice since his Jan. 20 inauguration, is an unlikely torchbearer for conservative Christians. He has labored to build and preserve this unlikely alliance, embracing social issues, such as commitment to anti-abortion and religious liberty policies, and picking staunch conservative Neil Gorsuch, for the Supreme Court. Trump also mentions God far more often in public remarks than his two predecessors, a Reuters review showed.(Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2y3HxbV) But data from the nationwide online Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Jan. 22 to Aug. 25 suggest Trump has been unable to prevent his evangelical support from sliding in line with his overall ratings. The majority of those polled last month who described themselves as both “white” and a “born-again or evangelical Christian” said they approved of Trump, but considerably fewer than when he took office almost eight months ago. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the poll. During a four-week period in August, 62 percent of white evangelicals said they approved of Trump, while 33 percent disapproved of the president and 5 percent said they had “mixed feelings.” That is a drop from the first four weeks of Trump’s presidency, from late January to mid February, when 73 percent of white evangelicals said they approved of his performance while 23 percent disapproved and 5 percent had mixed feelings. The poll was divided into eight four-week periods, with each including about 2,000 people and a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of about 2 percentage points. The declines are broadly in line with those recorded among all adult Americans. In interviews, 10 of the surveyed conservative Christians said they were not concerned about Trump’s religion. Rather, they questioned whether he was doing enough to help average Americans and the frequent chaos in the White House. “We can’t go a week without someone leaving his administration. There is no stability in our government,” said Robert Waldram, a 52-year-old Baptist churchgoer from Williamsburg, Virginia, in a telephone interview. He said he voted for Trump as a better option than Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. But Waldram said he was tired of Trump’s “childlike tantrums on Twitter.” In his first 200 days in office, Trump mentioned God about 100 times in public remarks, excluding the standard “God bless America” that presidents routinely end speeches with, something his ardent supporters welcome as readiness to eschew political correctness. By this point in their presidencies, Democrat Barack Obama had mentioned God 43 times, while Republican George W. Bush had referred to God in 60 instances. Jeffress, one of the first prominent evangelical pastors to back Trump for president, said his God talk was apolitical. “I understand that cynical people would say this is just for political expediency, but ... I believe this comes out of some deep beliefs that he has personally,” Jeffress said. Trump, who describes himself as Presbyterian, was not known to be an avid churchgoer before becoming president and critics have said his blunders on basic biblical knowledge, harsh attacks on political adversaries, and his demeaning comments about women clash with Christian principles. “He, himself, doesn’t have the most sterling track record in terms of either church attendance or professed or displayed knowledge of scripture,” Gary Scott Smith, a historian and author of “Religion in the Oval Office: The Religious Lives of American Presidents,” said of Trump. The pastors involved with Trump’s evangelical advisory board describe him, though, as very inquisitive about faith and more thoughtful on religion than he might appear in public and conservative pastors have continued to support him through various firestorms. Evangelicals have had “unprecedented” White House access in this administration, said Richard Land, a board member and president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary, a Christian college. After Trump’s response to violence between white nationalists and left-wing protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to two of his business advisory councils disbanding, there were questions about the evangelical board’s future. Brooklyn, New York, megachurch pastor A.R. Bernard resigned, but others remained, saying it was their job to provide advice and counsel to Trump, even when they disagree with him, and to press the president on Christian issues. Johnnie Moore, a board member and former official at Liberty University, a religious school, said: “We have a deep personal relationship with him ... He has prioritized issues that are important to us and we appreciate that.” | 0fake |
Keith Vaz, British Lawmaker, Quits Senior Post Amid Sex and Drug Scandal - The New York Times | LONDON — Caught in what appeared to be a classic British newspaper exposé, an opposition lawmaker on Tuesday relinquished leadership of an influential parliamentary committee over allegations that he paid for the services of prostitutes and offered to buy drugs for them. Two days after The Sunday Mirror published a report about the encounter involving the lawmaker, Keith Vaz, a prominent member of the Labour Party and a former minister for Europe, Mr. Vaz said it was “in the best interest” of the Home Affairs Select Committee, which he led, for its work to be “conducted without any distractions whatsoever. ” “I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair,” Mr. Vaz said in a statement. After the allegations were published on Sunday, Mr. Vaz argued that it was “deeply disturbing that a national newspaper should have paid individuals to have acted in this way,” adding that he would refer the report to his lawyers. Britain’s freewheeling tabloid press has been more restrained in recent times, after scandals over telephone hacking that led to an inquiry into ethical standards at the country’s newspapers. The Sunday Mirror sought to justify its report by pointing to the political responsibilities of Mr. Vaz, suggesting that his conduct had compromised his ability to fulfill his duties. As chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons, he enjoyed a prominent role in oversight of the Home Office, the department that controls Britain’s policy on, among other things, drugs and prostitution. Even before his announcement on Tuesday, some politicians had suggested that his resignation was inevitable. John Whittingdale, who served as culture secretary under former Prime Minister David Cameron, said on Sunday that he understood that Mr. Vaz would relinquish his leadership of the committee. “Given the areas of which the committee is responsible, that does seem to me to be a sensible course of action,” Mr. Whittingdale told Sky News. According to The Sunday Mirror, Mr. Vaz, who is a married father of two, met with two men, identified by the tabloid as prostitutes, on Aug. 27 at an apartment in London. Before meeting with them, Mr. Vaz texted one of the men and asked him to bring poppers, a class of chemicals called alkyl nitrites that can be inhaled for a quick high or to enhance sexual pleasure, although the paper reported that Mr. Vaz had said that he did not use the drug himself. Mr. Vaz also discussed paying for cocaine but said he would not consume it, the paper reported. In Parliament, Mr. Vaz has argued against including poppers in a list of banned substances. During the encounter, Mr. Vaz told the men that his name was Jim and that he was a salesman for industrial washing machines, The Sunday Mirror reported, but one of the escorts recognized the lawmaker from his television appearances. | 0fake |
Australian medical group wants access to Manus Island asylum seekers | MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia s main medical association called on Saturday for the government to allow independent doctors and other health experts to help more than 400 asylum seekers languishing inside a recently closed detention center in Papua New Guinea. The asylum seekers have shut themselves inside the Australian-run Manus Island Centre for the past 18 days, defying attempts by Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) to close it in a standoff the United Nations describes as a looming humanitarian crisis . Australia has shut access to the center, and staff, including doctors, have left, leaving the men without sufficient food, clean water, power or medical care. Members of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) voted unanimously on Saturday to call on the government to grant access to the center so doctors could assess the men s health, wellbeing and living conditions. The AMA has made many representations on this matter, both publicly and in private but, with a worsening and more dangerous situation emerging on Manus, the federal council strongly believes that urgent action and answers are needed, AMA President Michael Gannon said. It is our responsibility as a nation with a strong human rights record to ensure that we look after the health and wellbeing of these men, and provide them with safe and hygienic living conditions. Government spokesmen were not immediately available for comment. Australia s sovereign borders immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores, has been heavily criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups but has bipartisan political support in Australia. The 421 asylum seekers on Manus island say they fear violent reprisals from the community if they move to transit centers, pending possible resettlement to the United States. Sudanese refugee Abdul Aziz said via text message on Saturday that PNG officials had started to dismantle the center s perimeter fences and food was running low. We are waiting drinking from the rainwater ... it s tense feeling, we don t have any idea what PNG will do to us. Their attitude toward us they are really aggressive, Aziz said. PNG s Supreme Court ruled last year that the center breached its laws and fundamental human rights, leading to the decision to close it. New Zealand has offered to accept 150 of the men, but Australia has declined the offer saying the priority was an existing refugee swap deal negotiated with former U.S. President Barack Obama last year. Under that deal, up to 1,250 asylum seekers could be sent to the United States and Australia will in turn accept refugees from Central America. | 0fake |
Offices of Volkswagen and Audi Chiefs Searched in Raid, Warrant Says - The New York Times | FRANKFURT — German officials included the offices of both Volkswagen’s chief executive and the head of the Audi division when they raided company premises last week as part of an investigation into emissions fraud, according to a copy of the search warrant. The warrant, whose contents were viewed by The New York Times, was first reported on Sunday by the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. It does not identify Matthias Müller, Volkswagen’s chief executive, or Rupert Stadler, head of the Audi luxury car division, as suspects in the case. Investigators do not yet have enough evidence to determine who is responsible for illegally manipulating diesel motor software to deceive American regulators, according to the warrant. But the warrant, signed by a judge in Munich, allowed investigators to seize documents and other items such as appointment calendars, copies of emails, mobile phones and electronic passwords from Mr. Müller and Mr. Stadler, and numerous other current or past Volkswagen and Audi employees. The document portrays a much broader investigation than was previously known. It indicates that Volkswagen is far from dealing with the consequences of its emissions cheating a year and a half after it was first exposed. Volkswagen and Audi face a host of problems, including slipping market share in Europe and China, and can ill afford any further damage to their reputations. The warrant, used by Munich prosecutors as part of an investigation that focuses on Audi’s role in the scandal, allowed officials to search company departments including sales, marketing, personnel, engine development and legal compliance, along with the executive offices. The document, which also included a map of Audi headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany, names 47 people whose property is subject to seizure, including Mr. Müller and Mr. Stadler. Eric Felber, a Volkswagen spokesman, said the company was cooperating fully with investigators and declined to comment further. Mr. Müller said last week that no current member of the Volkswagen management board, a group that includes Mr. Stadler, was involved in any wrongdoing. Volkswagen has had to continually retreat from its initial assertion in 2015 that the deception was the work of a handful of rogue engineers. Volkswagen pleaded guilty in a Detroit court this month to charges that included conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. While maintaining that no members of the management board took part, Volkswagen acknowledged that the fraud involved numerous employees and departments. In a statement of facts, Volkswagen said that its employees programmed pollution control equipment in diesel cars to operate at a reduced level except when software detected that an emissions test was underway. As a result, the cars spewed excess amounts of nitrogen oxides, which can cause respiratory diseases such as asthma and lung cancer. The fraud reached from company headquarters in Wolfsburg to Volkswagen offices in the United States, and included employees in engine development, quality control and emissions compliance, the company admitted. Volkswagen also conceded that, when it became clear that United States regulators were about to uncover the fraud, lawyers encouraged other employees to destroy evidence. There have been previous indications that the scandal extended to Volkswagen’s top ranks. German prosecutors have said that they consider Martin Winterkorn, the former chief executive, a suspect. They have also said they are investigating Hans Dieter Pötsch, the chairman of the supervisory board, on suspicion of violating securities laws by failing to inform shareholders as soon as he should have about risks from the diesel deception. Mr. Winterkorn has said he was not aware of the illegal software until September 2015, shortly before the wrongdoing became public. Mr. Pötsch has said that he fulfilled his duties under German stock market laws. Prosecutors in Munich have been concentrating on Audi’s role in the scandal while authorities in Braunschweig, near Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, have taken the lead in investigating the parent company. Ingolstadt, home of Audi’s flagship plant, is about 50 miles north of Munich. The Munich investigation had attracted only modest attention until Wednesday, when officials appeared at Audi headquarters early in the morning with the search warrant and began taking possession of documents. Media coverage since then has cast an unwelcome spotlight on one of Volkswagen’s most important sources of profit. Mr. Müller, 63, spent most of his career at Audi, rising to become head of product management before being named chief executive of Volkswagen’s Porsche division in 2010. He became chief executive of Volkswagen in September 2015 after Mr. Winterkorn resigned in the aftermath of the scandal. In addition to being chief executive, Mr. Müller is chairman of Audi’s supervisory board. Mr. Stadler, 54, has been chief executive of Audi since 2007, and a member of the Volkswagen management board since 2010. The Munich search warrant provided further detail about the engineering problems that led Audi employees to cheat in the first place, setting the stage for one of the biggest corporate scandals in automobile history. Audi has agreed to pay $1. 2 billion to settle a consumer fraud lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission involving about 80, 000 vehicles with diesel motors. That is part of more than $22 billion that Volkswagen is paying in settlements and fines. The deception at Audi originated in 2005 when the division first decided to begin marketing cars with diesel motors in the United States, according to the warrant. The cars came with equipment that used a spray of urea solution to neutralize nitrogen oxides. But Audi engineers soon realized that the holding tanks in the cars could not hold enough of the urea fluid to last between regular service intervals, while still meeting the United States’ stricter limits on nitrogen oxides. Fearful that extra maintenance chores would turn off buyers, the engineers devised software that reduced consumption of the fluid, except when the software detected that the car was being tested on rollers in a lab. The software, known as a defeat device, was “designed so that substantial reduction of emissions functioned only on the roller test bed,” the warrant said. According to the warrant, investigators are still trying to determine who “took initiative for this development, which levels of company hierarchy were informed, and what level made the decision to mass produce the defeat device. ” | 0fake |
Mattis reaffirms U.S. alliance with Japan 'for years to come' | TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrapped up a visit to Japan on Saturday reaffirming Washington’s commitment to its defense treaty with Tokyo amid concerns about President Donald Trump’s approach to the region and the alliance. Mattis reiterated that provocations by North Korea, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile programs, as well as China’s growing assertiveness in the South and East China Seas, left no room for doubt about U.S. commitment to Japan’s defense. That was similar to the message that Mattis - making his first overseas trip since taking office - delivered in South Korea, Washington’s other key Asian ally, earlier in the week. He appeared eager to reassure Japan of U.S. resolve, after a 2016 election campaign in which Trump suggested both South Korea and Japan were benefiting from a U.S. security umbrella without sharing enough of the costs. “The U.S.-Japan alliance is critical to ensuring that this region remains safe and secure – not just now, but for years to come,” Mattis told a joint news conference with Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada. But in what could been seen as a subtle prod to Japan to do more, he added: “But make no mistake: in my meetings with Japanese leaders, both our nations recognize that we must not be found complacent in the face of the emerging challenges we face. “As our alliance grows, it will be important for both our nations to continue investing in our defense personnel and capabilities.” Mattis said Tokyo’s financial support for U.S. troops in Japan had been a “model of cost-sharing” while Inada told the same news conference there had been no discussion of whether Japan should increase that funding. Mattis also noted that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has increased defense spending since taking office in December 2012, a move he said was “on the right track.” Japan’s defense spending is around 1 percent of gross domestic product, compared to around 2 percent for China and over 3 percent for the United States. DEEPER THREE-WAY TIES Mattis also repeated that Trump’s administration would adhere to Washington’s commitment to defend disputed East China Sea islands that are under Japanese control but claimed also by China, an assurance that Tokyo has been keen to hear. Inada said she told Mattis that Japan would play a proactive security role, in line with legal changes enacted under Abe that eased the limits of its pacifist constitution on its military’s operations overseas. At the start of her talks with Mattis, Inada said she hoped his visit to Seoul and Tokyo would deepen three-way security ties. Japan’s relations with South Korea have frayed recently due to a feud over wartime history, just as tensions over North Korea make cooperation vital. “South Korea is an important neighbor,” Inada said. “I want to link Secretary Mattis’ visit to Japan and South Korea to the further deepening of defense cooperation among the three countries.” Japan’s relations with South Korea have frayed recently due to a feud over wartime history, just as tensions over North Korea make cooperation between the two allies vital. Japan last month temporarily recalled its ambassador to South Korea over a statue near the Japanese consulate in Busan city commemorating Korean “comfort women”. The term “comfort women” is a euphemism for women forced to work in Japanese military brothels. Tokyo says the statue, put in place late last year, and another near the Japanese embassy in Seoul, violate a December 2015 agreement stating the issue - which has long plagued ties - would be “irreversibly resolved” if all conditions were met. | 0fake |
Guatemala Supreme Court will not probe president's salary bonus | GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala s Supreme Court said on Wednesday it would not investigate the country s president for receiving a salary bonus that made him one of Latin America s best-paid leaders. President Jimmy Morales received 50,000 quetzals ($6,808) each month as a Bonus for Extraordinary Responsibility from the Defense Ministry that was not part of the official presidential salary, Guatemala s federal auditor said last month. With the bonus, which began last December, Morales monthly pay package totaled about 200,000 quetzals ($27,233), according to the defense minister. He later returned the bonus funds. The court s decision preserves Morales immunity against corruption investigations. In a separate case last month, Guatemala s Congress voted to protect the president from a potential probe into alleged illegal campaign financing. The president already returned the bonus and ... a person cannot be judged twice for the same incident. That is what causes it to be rejected, Supreme Court spokesman Angel Pineda said of the bonus case. A statement from the president s office said Morales accepted the court s decision, and contended that actions against him had been politically motivated. Guatemala s federal prosecutor and a United Nations-backed commission against impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) had pushed to revoke immunity for Morales after his salary bonus became known. Last month, thousands of Guatemalans marched to protest high-level corruption in the impoverished country and to demand that Morales and Guatemalan lawmakers step down. The federal auditor, which audits all government spending, said on Sept. 12 it would investigate the salary bonus, but has not yet produced any findings. With the salary bonus, Morales earned 70 percent more than Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and 130 percent more than Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, two of the region s best-paid leaders. The bonus made his salary about 90 times more than the $300 monthly minimum wage in Guatemala, where 60 percent of the population lives in poverty. | 0fake |
Succession battle at U.S. financial agency seen headed to courts | WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A battle between the White House and Democrats over warring appointments to head up the top U.S. regulator for consumer finance is likely headed for the courts, opening any interim actions by the agency to legal challenges, lawyers said on Saturday. Richard Cordray, a Democrat, stepped down on Friday as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was created after the financial crisis to protect consumers from abusive lending practices, and he named staffer Leandra English as acting director. A few hours later, President Donald Trump named someone else to lead the agency: Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director and one of the CFPB’s fiercest critics. The CFPB, the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat and a liberal firebrand, has long been in the crosshairs of Republicans, who say it has had too much unchecked power. On Saturday, Trump tweeted that the CFPB - which has imposed steep penalties on banks, auto dealers, student lenders and credit card companies for predatory lending practices - had “devastated” financial institutions. Democrats and Republicans agree that Trump may nominate a permanent CFPB chief, but they disagree over who may lead the agency in the interim, a dispute which could drag on for months until the Senate confirms a permanent Trump appointment. The dispute is over which federal law prevails in naming an interim director. According to Democrats, the relevant law is the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that created the CFPB, which stipulates that the agency’s deputy director is to take over in the short term. Cordray, in announcing his resignation on Friday, said he had named English as deputy director and that she would become the acting director. But administration officials say the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act gives the president the power to temporarily fill agency positions, except for those with multi-member boards - an exemption they said did not apply to the CFPB. On Saturday evening, the Justice Department said in a memo that the White House was right to name a new CFPB director. The Dodd-Frank language about changing CFPB directors is “unusual” but the White House may name an interim chief, according to the memo. Such advice from the Justice Department is open to legal challenge. Alan Kaplinsky, head of the Consumer Financial Services Group for law firm Ballard Spahr LLP, said the issue will likely have to be decided in the courts. In the meantime, he said, “This enormous cloud of uncertainty” will hang over the CFPB. Kaplinsky said he believes that Dodd-Frank provides for the deputy director to take charge during the short-term, but Congress did not explicitly list the resignation of the director as a situation where the deputy would step up. “I think Trump wins, but unfortunately it is going to take a while,” Kaplinsky said. Quyen Truong, a partner at law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan who was the assistant director and deputy general counsel for the CFPB until early 2016, said the industry should expect CFPB staff to continue their work, but that the “agency’s actions during this period almost certainly will be subject to legal challenge.” Despite the legal uncertainty, Mulvaney is expected to “show up Monday and he will go into the office and start working,” a senior administration official said on Saturday. White House officials said English was also expected to turn up on Monday and serve as Mulvaney’s deputy. English could not be reached for comment. Cordray is the only person to have led the young agency, making this the first time that succession of the director has been tested. Administration officials said the appointment of Mulvaney was “routine” and that the White House had sought guidance from the Justice Department before Friday’s announcement. “This needs to be decided in the courts,” Warren said in a tweet on Saturday. Industry critics said the succession battle underlined that the agency lacks proper Congressional oversight. “The CFPB’s current governing structure is a dictatorship, period,” Richard Hunt, head of the Consumer Bankers Association, a trade group for retail banking, said in a statement. Democrats and consumer advocates said it was unfair and inappropriate to put Mulvaney - who once described the CFPB as a “joke” - in charge. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee, said Mulvaney would have too much power, as the CFPB director also sits on the boards of two other financial regulatory agencies. “The White House would have an alarming degree of direct control over financial regulation, supervision, and enforcement,” Waters said in a statement. | 0fake |
Kuwait orders North Korea's ambassador to leave within a month | KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait has ordered North Korea s ambassador to leave within a month as the Gulf country downgraded diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, a North Korean diplomat in the Gulf region said on Sunday. The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions after North Korea s sixth and largest nuclear test this month, and the United States called on countries to sever diplomatic and financial ties with it. The diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the ambassador, So Chang Sik, will leave following Kuwait s decision to downgrade the North Korean diplomatic representation to charge d affaires level. However, Chang Sik was planning to leave at the end of September because he has ended his term, the diplomat added. Kuwaiti officials did not immediately respond when asked to comment. Kuwait, where around 3,000 North Koreans live, has been hosting North Korea s sole diplomatic mission in the Gulf region. Kuwait s announcement comes after U.S. President Trump met with the Gulf state s ruler in Washington earlier this month. Last month the Gulf country stopped direct flights to and from Pyongyang as well as halting entrance visas and commercial licenses, state news agency KUNA reported, citing an official at the foreign ministry. The Kuwait foreign ministry said at the time it was committed to implementing Security Council resolutions on North Korea, adding that it had stopped loans to the Asian state, banned imports and cut the numbers of its diplomats in the country. | 0fake |
COP LAUNCHES BIKE AT ANTI-TRUMP TERRORIST In Philadelphia, As Masked Antifa Cowards Wage War On Trump Supporters [VIDEO] | Somebody buy that cop a beer Antifa protesters have allegedly waged war on Trump supporters in Philadelphia this afternoon, prompting police to step in.Popular conservative personality Jack Posobiec appears to be at the scene and is reporting on the clashes via his Twitter page.Images shared by Posobiec show members of Antifa clad in their trademark black hoodies and face masks burning American flags and attacking both police and peaceful rallygoers by setting fires and throwing smoke bombs.Here are photos and videos of anti-Trump thugs burning American flags and generally causing chaos in Philadelphia:Right now in Philadelphia, a massive black bloc is shutting down a pro Trump rally pic.twitter.com/QGqRFTbFB7 agitator in chief (@soit_goes) March 25, 2017Philly chanting "any time, any place, punch a nazi in the face!" | via @jpegjoshua https://t.co/1CbcjEdQMJ agitator in chief (@soit_goes) March 25, 2017This video shows the cowardly (masked) Antifa scum attacking innocent Trump supporters:Antifa Running Toward Trump March, Clashing with Philly Police pic.twitter.com/hgHdpFo1CJ Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) March 25, 2017Watch Philadelphia police officer launch his bike at Antifa coward:VIDEO: Philly Police Officer Hits Antifa Rioter With Bicycle pic.twitter.com/j6Rc9l5520 Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) March 25, 2017-Milo | 1real |
THE POPE PUSHES CLIMATE JUSTICE : “Ambitious Action” Needed…Add Global Warming Agenda To “Works Of Mercy” | On the surface, this seems like such a simple request it s not! After digging and finding the TRUE agenda on the climate change scam, it s very clear that this entire thing is an effort to redistribute wealth around the world. Don t believe us? Just check out the comments from the people attending the Paris Climate Summit:For many years the public at large has been spoonfed the idea that Global Warming Climate Change, is caused by man s excessive release of carbon into the atmosphere. And that the solution to the Climate crisis was to decrease the production of said gas.Over the past several years the Global Warming fanatics have changed their tune. Many of us in the new media have been warning about their true motives for year.Now, instead of the climate crisis being caused by carbon emissions, it is being caused by inequality.On Monday, during a press conference at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris, Ms. Camille Risler, a representative of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) which is an organization listed as an official consultant to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, stated that the cause of Climate Change is the unequal distribution of wealth, carbon, and power: This is the press conference of the Women and (unintelligible) constituency. It is one of the nine official constituencies of the UNFCCC, and we are composed of 15 women s rights and feminist organizations from all around the world. So I m going to begin with kind of an overview of our positions and then I will give the floor over to my colleagues that will go more into details of each section of negotiations.I m Camille Risler. I m from France but I m living in Thailand. I m working for a feminist network that is called Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development and I m working for the Climate Justice Program.So what we want to highlight here is that Climate Change is a clear symptom of an unequal and unjust world.So if we are to address the Climate crisis we need to challenge the structural causes of the crisis which lies on unequal distribution of wealth, of carbon, and of power. Whether it s political power, economic power, or even military power. Ms. Risler goes on to say that the solution to the Climate crisis is to create more just and equitable economies .Roughly translated that means an economy based along the lines of Socialism and Communism. Because now, according to the Climate preachers, nothing is more dangerous to the planet than a free market economy, individual free will, and inequality. Not even Islamic Terrorists.You can view the entire press conference HEREPope Francis has urged Christians to make caring for the environment a core part of their faith as he called for concerted action against ecological degradation and climate change. God gave us a bountiful garden, but we have turned it into a polluted wasteland of debris, desolation and filth, Francis said in a document released to coincide with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. He proposed adding care for the natural world to the seven works of mercy Catholics are meant to perform.Francis has placed environmental causes at the heart of his papacy, denouncing what he sees as a throwaway consumer culture, financial greed and rampant, market-driven economies. Economics and politics, society and culture cannot be dominated by thinking only of the short-term and immediate financial or electoral gains, he said, suggesting more ambitious action might be needed to curb climate change.Francis welcomed the Paris accord, but urged voters everywhere to make sure their governments did not backtrack. It is up to citizens to insist that this happen, and indeed to advocate for even more ambitious goals, he said.He asked the world s 1 billion Roman Catholics to embrace a green agenda, saying defence of the environment should be added to the works of mercy that provide believers with guiding principles and duties they are meant to follow. | 1real |
THIS AWESOME WOMAN JUST DESTROYED The Media on Their Lies About Charlottesville Narrative [Video] | WE LOVE THIS LADY! She gets what s really happening. She calls out the media and the left on hijacking the narrative on Charlottesville: I Don t Care About Charlottesville, the KKK, or White Supremacy White supremacy and the KKK. Really? That s what you guys want me to be concerned about this week? I mean there are around 6,000 klansmen left in our nation. You want me to seriously process that every day when I wake up? Why did we not hear a single thing about David Duke, white supremacy and the KKK the entire time Obama was in office? Do you think they were all hiding underground waiting for the next white president? Meeting by the light of the moon? Do you really actually mean they weren t still meeting, holding protests and having rallies? Maybe the media wasn t covering it. Use your brain. I mean the media is actually fabricating a reality tonight Honestly everybody involved in this fake racial war is a loser. | 1real |
Armed Black Protesters Chase Off Anti-Muslim Cowards (VIDEO) | This is either really funny or a dangerous escalation. A group of armed patriots that have been showing up to mosques to terrorize Muslims going to pray were scared off by a larger group of armed African American counter-protesters:Racial tensions in South Dallas almost exploded at an anti-mosque protest Saturday afternoon before quickly dissolving when the protesters retreated.A few hundred South Dallas residents, mostly black, flooded Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to oppose a planned demonstration by a mostly white group that routinely protests outside mosques.Both sides were armed.The mosque in question was a predominately black one and the counter-protesters were chanting Black Power at the Murikan protesters.Unfortunately, the counter-protesters included members of the New Black Panther Party. If that name doesn t ring a bell, it s a group of pretenders to the legacy of the Black Panthers that spread anti-white bigotry, something the Black Panthers did not do (much). This is why a counter-protest to protect a mosque became racialized. While I have no doubt most of the protesters were racist as well as anti-Muslim, shifting the focus away from the religious bigotry to racism doesn t help Muslims in the long run. It does, however, help the NBPP and their message of anti-white hate.But although I don t approve of the bigotry, I do approve of the counter-protest. Ammosexuals have been terrorizing people for far too long and it was nice to see them show their true colors when their victims have guns, too. Liberals have been not-exactly-joking that black people need to start carrying rifles to push back against the targeting of their communities and, unsurprisingly, it worked.The problem is that Fox News and right wing media is going to explode over this. Nothing gets ratings like scary black people threatening innocent whites just defending their country blablabla. The racism will flow thick and heavy and some people will ask if this is the beginning of Sharia Law in America and the ISIS takeover.The original protesters, BAIR (the Bureau of American Islamic Relations, a silly play on CAIR, a Muslim group) is going to scream persecution and beg for help fighting the evil Muslims/scary black people. The next protest will be far larger, with more guns and filled with people just aching for a gun fight to break out. The potential for bloodshed will be a nightmare for the police.Keep an eye on Texas, this could get real ugly, real quick.Here s the video:Featured image via screencap | 1real |
Chile's foreign minister: TPP not dead, despite Trump comments | SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact will continue working to bring a deal to fruition despite a pledge by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to withdraw from the accord, Chile’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. “Whether it be with the United States or without the United States, there’s a willingness among the countries that make up the TPP to move forward,” Heraldo Munoz told a news conference ahead of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the South American nation. “Whether it’s to be the same framework as the current TPP, that remains to be seen.” On Monday, Trump released a video pledging to withdraw from the TPP on his first day in office, calling it “a potential disaster” for the United States. World leaders have had varying reactions to Trump’s comments, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying during a visit to Buenos Aires that U.S. abandonment of the deal would render it “meaningless.” The future of the 12-nation deal, which does not include China, was one of the key themes of summit talks between leaders of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies in Lima in recent days. There is debate over to what extent a U.S.-free TPP might advance without a complete renegotiation. China has been pushing its own alternative trade pact, which excludes the Americas, although it has said other countries including Chile are interested in joining. The Chinese premier was due to arrive in Santiago on Tuesday, where he will meet with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and speak at the United Nations’ Latin American arm, ECLAC. Munoz said China and Chile plan to sign an agreement to deepen bilateral trade ties during Xi’s visit. In a column in national newspaper El Mercurio published on Tuesday, Xi wrote that Chile and China should work together to facilitate free trade and business ties in areas such as mining, agriculture, infrastructure, telecommunications, clean energy and IT. | 0fake |
PRO ABORTION PAC, Emily’s List Doing Its Part To Keep Minority Population In Check… Endorses Hillary | Of course Emily s List is going to support Hillary, because Democrats have been doing their part to keep the unwanted or undesirable babies from making it out of the womb alive for decades .WASHINGTON, D.C. Today EMILY s List, the nation s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. Clinton is on track to become the first woman to win the Democratic nomination, and if elected, the first woman president of the United States. Hillary Clinton is a lifelong champion for women and families and the most qualified candidate to be president, said Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY s List. With roots in the middle class, Hillary s top priority is changing the economic reality for American families. Her focus is on strengthening the middle class, creating jobs, and making sure hardworking families get a fair shot. No one will work harder than Hillary. She knows how to lead so Washington fights for all Americans. As president, Hillary will create more opportunities than ever for women and girls (give them access to on demand abortions) and for all hardworking Americans across the country, just as she has done throughout her exceptional career. The EMILY s List community now more than three million members strong is proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for president. Hillary Clinton has devoted her entire career to fighting for women and families (supporting the killing of unborn babies). Instead of going to a big law firm after graduating from Yale Law School, she took her first job going door to door for the Children s Defense Fund. She helped lead the fight for the Children s Health Insurance Program as first lady of the United States, and she put emphasis on women s rights as a cornerstone of American foreign policy as Secretary of State.A visionary leader who s always worked to create opportunity for others, Hillary has said she believes our challenge is to be clear-eyed about the world as it is while never losing sight of the world as we want it to become. When she is elected president, it will mean more opportunities for women, more opportunities for girls, and more opportunities for hardworking Americans across the country.Via: Weasel Zippers | 1real |
Russian companies to be unable to use LinkedIn services — company - Russia News Now | This post was originally published on this site
MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. Russian companies won’t be able to use the services of LinkedIn to look personnel and business development after Roskomnadzor (the Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications) ruled to block the website, a representative with the company said
The representative added that LinkedIn is still interested in a meeting with the regulator to discuss the storage of personal data.
“LinkedIn strives for creation of economic opportunities for workers all over the world. We are receiving messages from Russian users who cannot use their accounts on LinkedIn any longer. The decision of Roskomnadzor to block the service closes the access to the website for millions of our users and companies from Russia that use LinkedIn for the development of their businesses. We are still interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor so as to discuss the storage of personal data,” the representative of LinkedIn said.
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Canada's Liberals look to economy to guide them past ethics scandal | OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s government has been badly shaken by a conflict-of-interest controversy about his finance minister, but the Liberal government s upcoming fiscal update offers an opportunity to reset the public focus on Canada s strong economy, political observers say. The government has been plagued all week about questions about the finance minister, Bill Morneau, the multimillionaire former chief executive officer of human resources management firm Morneau Shepell. Some have questioned whether Morneau would be forced to resign. The focus has been a rare stumble for Trudeau s government, which marked two years in office this month and has mostly maneuvered its way out of political trouble partly because of Trudeau s personal popularity and the youthful momentum of the Liberals after 10 years of Conservative rule. They re politically very astute in a whole bunch of areas but in issues management and parliamentary management they seem to be ham-fisted, said Andrew Graham, professor at the school of policy studies at Queen s University. With Trudeau s strong defense of Morneau, and the finance minister likely to unveil a smaller budget deficit in Tuesday s fall fiscal update, Liberals have a temporary chance to refocus on good news. Economic conditions are a bedrock of whether people feel good or bad about how politicians are performing, and the economy is doing very well for most people, said Abacus Data pollster Bruce Anderson. Morneau said on Thursday he will put his assets in a blind trust and divest stock in a publicly traded family business. That comes after weeks of backlash over tax reform that has become a major obstacle for Trudeau s government. Opposition parties from both the political left and right have seized on the ethics scandal, trying to tie Trudeau s team to what they say is an entitled Liberal Party that has previously faced corruption charges. The opposition has changed the focus from substance to ethics, and they won t let that go that easily, said Genevieve Tellier, a political professor at the University of Ottawa. But Tellier said Trudeau s decision to fill his cabinet with political rookies - including Morneau - rather than turning to the old Liberal guard, could limit the ability of the opposition to land many ethical punches. Moreover, Morneau is respected by markets. I think the prime minister would be very cautious about changing his finance minister. ... (Morneau) presents a reassuring image, he doesn t scare the markets, Tellier said. Ipsos Public Affairs pollster Darrell Bricker put it more bluntly: They really don t have a choice but to tough it out and hope some event will transpire to distract the hyenas. The expected budget improvement in Tuesday s fall fiscal update could also give Morneau the leeway to woo voters with more spending or debt reduction. The way the numbers are playing out, they are in a fairly favorable fiscal position, said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada. Morneau spokesman Dan Lauzon said the finance minister has no plans to change his strategy, and would keep focus on fiscal stimulus matters: He is in this for the long run, and he won t let distractions get in the way. | 0fake |
FLASHBACK VIDEO: Al Sharpton Assaults FOX News Reporter For Asking Baltimore Mayor Why She Allowed Thugs Loot And Burn Down Businesses | When did Americans decide they were okay with Democrats exempting themselves from the same laws everyone else is required to follow? Fox News reporter Leland Vittert had a brief exchange with Al Sharpton and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.Vittert said he wanted Rawlings-Blake to answer a number of questions about the rioting over the past few days in the wake of Freddie Gray s death. He said he asked: What do you have to say to the number of officers injured, and what do you have to say to businesses that were looted during a reported stand down order? Why can t we ask questions? Vittert asked.Rawlings-Blake remained silent while Sharpton said they d answer questions at the press conference.Vittert added that he asked officers who shoved [him] out of the way why they were protecting the mayor from simple questions, yet decided not to protect businesses from rioters. Via: FOX News | 1real |
YOU’RE NOT IN EUROPE ANYMORE: Group Of “Rapefugees” Expelled From Norway Are Beaten By Russian Mob For Harassing Girls | Being sent to Russia for misbehavior may be just the incentive these lawless rapefugee need to begin assimilating with the European culture and following the laws they seem to have no regard for According to a Russian news website, about 50 Middle-Eastern migrants, who had been expelled to Russia from Norway, began to harass girls at a club in Murmansk. A mob of Russians then beat hell out of them. They realised too late they are not in the European Union. Police arrived and apparently did t really disapprove of what was happening. They took 33 of the migrants to detention and 18 to the hospital.Local law enforcement officially denies this incident took place, but there is lots of talk about it on social media. Via Newsli.RU | 1real |
Children in Need donations beat HMRC receipts. More soon. | Guest Guest .. More Stories about: Ticker | 1real |
Russia's Sibur says had no direct dealings with Wilbur Ross | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian petrochemical holding Sibur said on Monday it had no direct dealings with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and that its ties to its partners were not in breach of sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Sibur was commenting on reports that Ross has kept investments in Navigator Holdings, a shipping firm which has supplied services to Sibur. Stakeholders in Sibur include an associate of Russian Vladimir Putin who is subject to U.S. sanctions. In a statement, Sibur said that in the first half of this year, Sibur spent $15.9 million on services provided by Navigator, or 2.8 percent of Sibur’s overall expenditure on logistics. It said Navigator was never a sole contractor for shipping Sibur’s petrochemical products. “All negotiations and meetings were held solely by Sibur management and solely with management of those companies (which were shipping Sibur’s liquefied petroleum gas) and without shareholders’ involvement,” Sibur said in an emailed statement. “In connection with the introduction in 2014 of sanctions with regard to one of the company’s shareholders, our counter-parties conducted all necessary checks into whether there were any restrictions on working with Sibur. No such restrictions were found,” the statement said. “Sibur expresses its surprise at the politically-charged interpretation in certain media publications of regular commercial activities, over many years, which from the outset were reflected in the company’s published accounts.” Sibur’s shareholders include Gennady Timchenko, a close Putin ally who has been under U.S. sanctions since 2014. Another Sibur shareholder is Putin’s son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov. Shamalov did not reply to an email from Reuters seeking comment. Spokesman for Volga Group, an investment vehicle for Timchenko’s assets, declined to comment. The New York Times and other publications, citing leaked documents from an offshore law firm, reported that partnerships used by Ross have a 31 percent stake in Navigator Holdings. Reuters has not independently verified the documents. | 0fake |
Death of millions of Yemenis in the "forgotten war" | Email
The Times made a reference on Thursday to the suffering of millions of Yemenis using the phrase "the forgotten war".
An18-year-old Yemeni girl's image catches the attention on the front page of the newspaper. Her malnutrition reduced her to a skeleton and she has disturbingly become emaciated as a result of food shortage.
This newspaper reported that Saida has been hospitalized in the port city of Hodeidah because of malnutrition while the city is under economic siege of Saudi Arabia. | 1real |
GRIFTER HILLARY CLINTON WAS PAID For Speeches Given To Government Contractors…No Ethics! | A new report tells us what we already knew about Hillary s speeches government contractors paid Clinton big bucks for speeches opening a conflict of interest up that calls into question the ethics of the woman who wants to be our next president Grifters like the Clintons don t care much for ethics though so this will be spun by the mean stream media and her supporters. Pitiful! WASHINGTON (AP) It s not just Wall Street banks. Most companies and groups that paid Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to speak between 2013 and 2015 have lobbied federal agencies in recent years, and more than one-third are government contractors, an Associated Press review has found. Their interests are sprawling and would follow Clinton to the White House should she win election this fall.The AP s review of federal records, regulatory filings and correspondence showed that almost all the 82 corporations, trade associations and other groups that paid for or sponsored Clinton s speeches have actively sought to sway the government lobbying, bidding for contracts, commenting on federal policy and in some cases contacting State Department officials or Clinton herself during her tenure as secretary of state.Presidents are not generally bound by many of the ethics and conflict-of-interest regulations that apply to non-elected executive branch officials, although they are subject to laws covering related conduct, such as bribery and illegal gratuities. Clinton s 94 paid appearances over two years on the speech circuit leave her open to scrutiny over decisions she would make in the White House or influence that may affect the interests of her speech sponsors.Via: AP | 1real |
Driver charged with attempted murder over Australian vehicle attack | MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The man accused of deliberately plowing into Christmas shoppers on a busy street in the Australian city of Melbourne was charged on Saturday with 18 counts of attempted murder and one count of conduct endangering life. The Thursday incident was the second serious vehicle attack in Australia s second biggest city this year. Police said they had charged the man, former Afghanistan refugee Saeed Noori, after formally interviewing him about the attack that police had earlier described as a deliberate act . Police have said Noori, 32, is known to have mental health problems and to use drugs and they did not believe the attack was terrorism-related. Police suspect Noori was behind the wheel of a white SUV when he deliberately sped up and drove into dozens of pedestrians crossing the road at one of the busiest intersections in Melbourne s central business district. Noori appeared in the Magistrates Court later on Saturday where he was remanded in custody. He will next appear in court on Wednesday. The court also ordered that Noori be assessed by psychologists. Islamist militants have used vehicles to attack people several times in Europe and the United States over the past couple of years. In January, six people were killed in Melbourne s central business district when a man used his vehicle to mow them down. Police also ruled out terrorism for that attack. Following the January incident, authorities installed 140 concrete bollards in the city center. Victoria State premier Daniel Andrews said 12 people remained in hospital, including three who in critical condition. He said there would be an increased police presence at Melbourne events, including the Boxing Day Test Cricket, carols and other major sports events. | 0fake |
Manafort not a flight risk, lawyers say in court filing | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, has strong family and community ties and does not pose a serious flight risk, his lawyers argued in a court filing on Thursday. A $10 million unsecured bond “will more than suffice to assure his appearance as required” in any court proceedings, the lawyers said. Manafort and associate Rick Gates have been charged with money laundering, tax fraud and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government. | 0fake |
Marco Rubio’s Friend Thinks He Needs To See A Doctor After His Insane Debate Performance (VIDEO) | When Marco Rubio announced that he was running for president, some people thought that he was going to be the who beat Jeb and Trump. Some have even speculated that he is the only Republican presidential candidate who would have a fighting chance against the Democratic nominee. However, over the last week or so, he s just started acting really, really strange and now even his friends are worried about him.First, after Ted Cruz was declared the winner of the Iowa Caucus, Rubio stood up at a podium and gave a victory speech. Seriously, he literally stood there for nearly twelve minutes. He spoke for so long that even I started to believe that the news stations were all wrong and he was the first place, not third place winner. It was the most awkward thing I have witnessed since he desperate reach for water during the State of the Union rebuttal in 2013.So, after his extremely awkward Iowa Caucus speech, he showed up at the Republican debate and it only got worse.During the debate Rubio repeated the same line four times. It was almost as if his team was like, Yo, Marco, whenever you get stuck just say Obama knows exactly what he s doing. Don t worry, bro, the crowd will know what you re saying. Watching him repeat himself was painful and highlighted all of his inexperience. But, one of his personal friends, CNN commentator Anna Navarro said she thinks that his performance illustrates a much larger problem for the candidate: I ve got to tell you this. By the fourth time he was repeating the exact same words verbatim, I was concerned for his health. Just because Marco is too good And somehow his cables got crossed. You know, short-circuited. And it was very weird. You know your debate theatrics were really, really bad when one of your friends thinks you need to go see a doctor. I personally believe he is just in too deep and not ready to play such a large roll in the government; he is not President Obama. But just to be on the safe side, maybe Ben Carson should take a look at his noggin with those gifted hands of his.Watch the interview below: Featured image via video screenshot | 1real |
House Speaker Ryan says Trump comments about Hispanic judge are 'racist' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday disavowed Donald Trump’s criticism of a Hispanic judge, saying such remarks were the “textbook definition of a racist comment.” Ryan, speaking at an event to unveil U.S. House Republicans’ policy proposals, said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s comments were absolutely unacceptable and indefensible. | 0fake |
Feeling a Chill? Blame the Polar Vortex. And Global Warming. - The New York Times | On Thursday, temperatures on the East Coast are expected to plummet, and some people — fellow journalists and weather broadcasters, we’re looking at you — may start talking about a “polar vortex. ” We thought you might want to know what the polar vortex is, and what it’s not. (And we wanted to the inevitable chatter about climate change that usually crops up when the thermometer drops — “It’s cold, how could the Earth be warming?” We’ll tell you how.) First, the polar vortex always exists. That catchy, phrase is another term for the polar jet streams, which are caused by and cold air, encircling both poles. They swirl from west to east, centered around the poles. When a dip in the polar vortex comes to our part of the world, it’s usually the result of a change in pressure, which disturbs the swirl, and can push the frosty Arctic air south, according to Faye Barthold, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. And the Arctic jet stream (or polar vortex) can sometimes dip far enough south that it allows the cold air to travel down to places that do not normally have Arctic conditions, like wherever you live. When there is this dip in the jet stream that brings cold to the East, there’s usually a countervailing loop that takes warm air into Alaska or the Arctic. In the last few years, a frozen East has often coincided with a warm Alaska. But this phenomenon is not exclusive to North America — the polar vortex can freeze Europe and Asia, too. When the Arctic jet stream moves back north, it sort of forces the cold air to travel back that way, too, Ms. Barthold said, and that is why the frigid temperatures brought by the polar vortex are usually . But for it to bring cold temperatures, it usually has to come to us straight from the Arctic, as opposed to dipping somewhere else in the country, and then moving to wherever you are. That’s because as the cold air stays at lower latitudes, it warms up, gaining heat from adjacent warmer air. And those super cold temperatures may generally be brought our way by the polar vortex, but cold winter weather is not always a result of Arctic air moving right into our midst. When these cold snaps come, you may hear other people asking,” If global warming is supposed to be warming the globe, then why is it so cold?” Well, for starters, there is a difference between weather and climate. Climate refers to the averages and trends in atmospheric conditions over large areas, while weather deals with variations, which is what happens when the polar vortex visits your hometown. And of course, an Arctic blast can still occur in a warmer world. The air that comes down from the North Pole might not be as cold, Ms. Barthold said, but it would still be the product of the same phenomenon. Some studies suggest that climate change could actually make these frigid waves of Arctic air more common, a result of shrinking sea ice. However, other scientists remain skeptical of this theory. And the earth is definitely warming: Temperature records show that, by the end of last year, the earth’s surface had warmed by about 1. 8 degrees Fahrenheit since the 19th century. But even though the earth’s surface is warming, scientists say that winter will still exist. And even if parts of the United States are experiencing unusually cold temperatures, it represents such a small portion of the earth’s surface — about 2 percent — that it does not mean much in terms of average global temperatures. So, if, for instance, a senator (perhaps James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma) brandishes a snowball on the floor of the Senate to dispute the validity of climate science when a chill wind blows through Washington, you will know that the unseasonably cold temperatures he is talking about do not mean that global warming is not happening. It is. | 0fake |
Bolton says Trump moves could signal 'different,' tougher, China line | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of Donald Trump’s possible picks for secretary of state said on Friday that the president-elect’s criticisms of China and phone call with Taiwan’s president could signal a “different” relationship with Beijing and a tougher line on issues from trade to the South China Sea. In a speech on Thursday in Iowa, Trump said the United States needed to improve its relationship with China, which he criticized for its economic policies and failure to rein in North Korea. “That and the call to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen that was arranged a week ago, I think, certainly lay the foundation for a different relationship (with China),” John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, told Fox Business. Bolton, a hawkish conservative seen as being among the contenders to be Trump’s secretary of state, said Trump expected countries to live up to commitments they have made on issues such as trade. “The Chinese have not just been doing that,” Bolton said, while also highlighting what he said were China’s political and military steps “to make the South China Sea into a Chinese province.” Asked if he thought Trump’s remarks were a statement of intent and an opening negotiating position, Bolton said, “I think that’s at least what it is, and it may be more than that as well. You could use the Taiwan relationship to play off against their performance in the South China Sea. “I think it was very important that he mentioned what I’ve seen for the past 15 years, which is that China says they’re being helpful with the North Korean nuclear weapons program, when in fact they’ve done precious little,” he said. In an opinion article last January in The Wall Street Journal, Bolton proposed using degrees of escalation on Taiwan that could start with receiving Taiwanese diplomats officially at the State Department and lead to restoring full diplomatic recognition, to pressure China to step back from its pursuit of territory in East Asia. Experts saw Trump’s call with Tsai on Dec. 4 - the first by a U.S. president-elect or president with a Taiwanese leader since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979 - as an opening salvo in a risky test of wills with Beijing. However, Trump followed this by saying he would nominate Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, a long-standing friend of Beijing, as the next U.S. ambassador to China, a move which that country’s state news agency said was a positive sign for ties. | 0fake |
Trump Surrounded By Bankers, Wall St. Insiders Banging on the Door to Get In: “Draining the Swamp?” |
This article was written by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg.com .
Editor’s Comment: If Jamie Dimon (of JP Morgan Chase) or anyone else that heads a Wall Street mega-bank, etc. does become Treasury Secretary – and that’s a big if for now, as reports on Jamie Dimon remain unconfirmed – then it will be the clearest signal yet that this latest round of “change” will be more of the same once again. If this proves true, then Trump becomes Obama in 2008 faster than a sportscar goes from 0-to-60.
Meanwhile, there will be many appointments, and it would be difficult for any president, no matter how well meaning, to hold onto the image and promises they conveyed during campaign time after going through the gauntlet of hiring America’s most powerful axe-men. It is our duty to stay focused on these individuals and pressure Trump to dump or block the worst of these appointments.
Once again, we see the worst and most dangerous elite insiders looking for yet another bailout in the form of jobs, appointment and power over the levers of government policies – climbing back onto the government lifeboat (now in the Trump administration) while working to swamp the rest of the struggling passengers who were on-board the U.S.S. Titanicamerica. A new Captain still can’t stop this trainwreck, even if any change is welcome. A real #drainingtheswamp would be a great start, but early signs cast doubt on that happening.
This was the exact rationale for “The Obama Deception” expose at the start of Obama – it’s a deception because it’s a brand new face frontin’ for the same ol’ gang – and people are slow to catch on, and even less willing to admit they got conned. Is Trump the new Obama for the alt right/populist uprising to keep them complacent and blow off enough steam to avert a destabilizing revolution?
The Obama Deception HQ Full length version
Draining the Swamp? Wall Street is Already Loving Donald Trump
by Michael Krieger
Before we move forward, let’s start with the following extraordinarily disturbing report out of CNBC :
In the wake of Donald Trump’s upset victory, advisors to the president-elect have floated the possibility of naming JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon Treasury secretary, according to two people familiar with the matter, but one of them added that Dimon said he would not be interested in the role.
A Trump spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment, and a spokesman for Dimon declined to elaborate beyond his past remarks that he would not be interested in the job.
First off, I want to say that the above isn’t confirmed. If it’s totally false, the Trump campaign should come out with a quick and vehement denial. I sincerely hope that happens.
That said, the report is cause for serious concern. Why? Because Trump’s reluctance to go after Wall Street was apparent throughout his entire campaign (as opposed to Bernie Sanders), and it was one of the main reasons I could never get comfortable with him. I wrote several posts where I articulated my concerns, but here’s an excerpt from one of them, Donald Trump’s True Colors Emerge as He Snuggles up to Wall Street :
While I’m not a Dodd-Frank fan, it’s not because it was too harsh, but because it didn’t really do much of anything. It was the typical neoliberal bait and switch, designed to look tough for public consumption, while merely making tweaks around the edges of a financial system that requires systemic, paradigm level change.
Trump’s support of repealing Dodd-Frank tells you all you need to know. A Trump Presidency will see Wall Street felons who should be in prison, running as wild and free as ever.
He will be the same thing to distressed working class whites that Obama was to the black community. A fake messiah and a shyster.
Read that last line over and over again until you understand it. If it is true that Trump considered the CEO of the largest “Too Big To Fail” and “Too Big to Jail” U.S. bank for Treasury Secretary, we can be pretty much assured that Donald Trump is the Republican version of Barack Obama. A fraud who talked a good game in order to get elected, but who will be a willing pawn of crony corporations and Wall Street. You can’t drain the swamp by surrounding yourself with the swamp.
If I don’t hear a denial about this rumor, I will assume it’s true, which means Trump and I are off to a very bad start. Whether Dimon takes the role or not (I doubt it), is irrelevant. Merely considering Dimon tells you all you need to know about the types of status quo people who are likely to surround President Trump.
As I warned in yesterday’s post, Americans Roll the Dice With President Donald Trump ,
People = Policy
Trump will be a failure unless he brings the right people into his inner circle. This is of the utmost importance. Indeed, I knew for certain Obama was a total fraud the moment he appointed Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner to key positions within his administration. This is the area I think Trump is most vulnerable to making some very big mistakes. Indeed, I was very bothered by the effusive compliments he showered upon one of the nation’s worst political figures, Chris Christie, during this victory speech.
If Trump really wants to shake things up, he needs to think outside of the box and look far beyond the Chris Christies of the world, and consider some very sharp people he’s never heard of. If he surrounds himself with the old, tired political characters we already know, I fear very little will change for the better.
You can’t get more inside the box, status quo than Jamie Dimon. Period. Which brings me to a conspiracy theory about the whole thing. I think there’s a remote possibility that the Trump campaign leaked this themselves with the hope that he can then appoint his preferred candidate, former Goldman Sachs partner, Steve Mnuchin, with little outrage. That’s typical Donald Trump behavior. People will then say, “well at least it’s not Jamie Dimon.” Unfortunately, Steve Mnuchin would be a terrible choice too. As we learned in the post, A Nation of Sheep, Afraid of Words :
Mnuchin’s presence in the campaign reveals how the qualities Trump loyalists projected on their hero don’t measure up to the truth. They have venerated him throughout the Republican primary for rejecting the dirty business of pay-to-play politics, and for populist vows to protect the ordinary worker. But in selecting Mnuchin, not only has Trump submitted to the realities of presidential campaign finance; he’s chosen one of the most notorious bankers in America to carry it out.
When I heard Mnuchin’s name last week, I immediately remembered the front lawn of his mansion. Back in 2011, local housing activists and the Occupy movement in Los Angeles camped out on that lawn to save the home of Rose Mary Gudiel, a La Puente, California, resident who faced eviction after being just two weeks late on one mortgage payment. The activists threatened to move all of Gudiel’s furniture into Mnuchin’s $26 million Bel Air estate if the eviction wasn’t stopped. Twenty police officers and a helicopter met the protesters.
The OneWest subsidiary Financial Freedom executed 39 percent of all foreclosures on reverse mortgages between 2009 and 2015, despite servicing only 17 percent of the market, according to data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) obtained by the California Reinvestment Coalition. OneWest disclosed in its most recent annual report that it’s under investigation for this disproportionate share of “widow foreclosures” by HUD’s Inspector General. The victims include 103 year-old Myrtle Lewis of North Texas, who OneWest put into foreclosure after her insurance coverage lapsed; Karen Hunziker , who got a foreclosure notice from OneWest ten days after her husband passed away in 2014; and a host of others .
Trump’s loyal fans aren’t likely to scrutinize Mnuchin’s record, but they should. You can measure political candidates in part by who they associate with. The foreclosure history in Mnuchin’s past reflects an extreme mentality of profit at all costs, and hardly a viewpoint of standing up for the little guy. Trump as populist was always something of a pose, covering for a deep nationalism and antipathy to immigrants. The Mnuchin pick just brings that into sharper relief.
Meanwhile, what was Mnuchin doing right before the election? Why he was the personal guest of Blackstone head Steve Schwarzman at the New York Public Library’s Lions gala.
Bloomberg reported:
Steve Schwarzman, who’s declined to say which presidential candidate he’s voting for, spent Monday night two seats away from Trump finance chair Steven Mnuchin, a possibility for treasury secretary if Trump wins.
The setting was the New York Public Library’s Library Lions gala, where the Rose Main Reading Room’s tables were covered in gold cloth, the place mats were made of gold paper laser-cut to resemble the rosettes on the room’s ceiling, and the books were lit with spotlights.
Mnuchin was Schwarzman’s guest — an experience sort of like hanging with Donald Trump in Trump Tower: The gala took place in the library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. The New York Public Library includes this flagship center for collections and exhibitions, as well as more than 80 branch libraries where children learn to read, teens do homework and job-seekers work on their resumes.
Here’s a photo of Trump’s “drain the swamp” finance chair hanging with billionaire private equity mogul Schwarzman.
Steve Schwarzman…you know that name don’t you? Of course you do. He’s the guy that said the following about the threat to repeal the carried interest loophole:
Word of mouth says that Blackstone founder Steve Schwarzman got suddenly very passionate when talking about tax hikes in July.
“It’s a war.”
“It’s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.”
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Schwarzman had the following to say in Davos earlier this year. From the post, Billionaire CEO of Blackstone Trolls the American Public – He Doesn’t Get Why People Are Angry :
“I find the whole thing astonishing and what’s remarkable is the amount of anger whether it’s on the Republican side or the Democratic side,” the Wall Street mogul said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Bernie Sanders, to me, is almost more stunning than some of what’s going on in the Republican side. How is that happening, why is that happening?”
This is the guy Trump’s finance chair was hanging with a day before the election . You don’t get more status quo than Steve Schwarzman. While we’re at it, here are just a few examples of what Blackstone’s been up to since the financial crisis:
America Meet Your New Slumlord: Wall Street
A Closer Look at the Decrepit World of Wall Street Rental Homes
Leaked Documents Show How Blackstone Fleeces Taxpayers via Public Pension Funds
Meanwhile, I think the performance of Wall Street shares since the election tells you all you need to know.
To conclude, this article is primarily written for all my readers who are either Trump supporters, or who reluctantly voted for him. My message to you is that we need to hold this man’s feet to the fire. The election is over, and you got your desired outcome. Now is not the time to be a cheerleader. Now is not the time to behave exactly like Obama zombies did after he became an obvious betrayal. What allowed Obama to do all the bad things he did, was the fact that his supporters made endless excuses for him. Don’t make excuses for Trump. If you do, your life will get a lot worse and this country will decay far more into an authoritarian oligarchy than it already has. It is up to you to make sure he doesn’t become the Wall Street puppet I always feared he would be.
Remember the timeless words of Mark Twain and please take heed.
This isn’t the time for playing around. This isn’t the time for looking the other way. You voted him in to take down the status quo system. Make sure he does it.
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
This article was written by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg.com . His columns typify the kind of questions that must be asked during the next administration, no matter if you support or oppose it.
| 1real |
Oakland Fire Was a Rare Mass Casualty Blaze. Fire Codes Help Explain Why. - The New York Times | The fire that killed at least 30 people in a space in Oakland, Calif. on Friday was one of the deadliest in the United States in many years, a tragedy that highlighted both the importance of fire safety codes and the vital role they have played in turning mass casualty blazes into rare events. They have become infrequent thanks to safety measures that started to emerge at the turn of the 20th century, when fires at theaters and nightclubs not infrequently killed hundreds of people. “The adoption and implementation of fire codes, having an effective enforcement system that’s been put in place at the city, county or state level — those have been the key elements that have made the difference we have seen,” said James Pauley, president of the National Fire Protection Association. “When a deadly fire happens it is usually because something isn’t followed or something goes wrong or we learn something new.” He pointed to the first standards for sprinkler installation and the construction of fire escape routes, implemented in the early 1900s, as a watershed moment for fire safety. Many of the new standards were motivated largely by deadly blazes like the Triangle fire in 1911, which claimed 146 lives in New York. The Oakland fire highlighted the unique danger faced by what experts call “assembly occupancy” buildings like theaters and nightclubs, where large numbers of people are typically crammed into one or two big, often darkened spaces with a handful of exits. Venues like that were at particular risk in the 19th and early 20th century. A fire at the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago killed 602 people in 1903 and one at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston killed 492 people in 1943, according to a report by the National Fire Protection Association. The space in Oakland appears to have been especially vulnerable: it was a warehouse that had been converted into a makeshift nightclub and labyrinth of artist studios spread across two floors connected by a rickety staircase made of wooden pallets. The building had only two exits. Theater and nightclub fires, both today and in the past, tend to have a few things in common: overcrowding, combustible interior decorations, inadequate exits or stairwells, and heat sources like candles, stage lights or pyrotechnics that can spark a blaze. That was the case in the last mass casualty fire that struck an American nightclub. One hundred people died when a pyrotechnic display at a concert in West Warwick, R. I. started a fire that consumed the Station nightclub in a matter of minutes in 2003. The walls were covered in flammable material and the building had no sprinklers, allowing the flames to spread rapidly, according to a report on the disaster by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the Department of Commerce. The scene was captured on video by a local TV news cameraman who was filming a segment inside the club when the fire began. Panicked patrons can be seen scrambling for the front door, and concertgoers trampled one another as a bottleneck formed. The most recent mass casualty blaze in the United States, until the Oakland fire, occurred at a Texas fertilizer plant in 2013, when a deliberately set fire set off an ammonium nitrate explosion that killed 15 people, injured 260 more and damaged buildings across the town of West. Perhaps the greatest danger when it comes to fire safety is complacency, Mr. Pauley said — a feeling people may develop that disaster is unlikely to strike them because it hasn’t so far. That can manifest itself in many small but dangerous ways: a blocked fire escape or broken sprinkler system that is never addressed because it has never been needed. “Fire is not one of the things that is generally on people’s minds today as something that they need to be concerned about,” Mr. Pauley said. | 0fake |
Obama's Cuba trip will send important signal to Cubans: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with political dissidents when he visits Cuba next month, a senior White House official said on Thursday. The remarks from Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes came after the White House confirmed the trip earlier on Thursday. | 0fake |
Soccer star and VP maintain early leads in Liberia election | MONROVIA (Reuters) - Former soccer star George Weah maintained his lead over Vice President Joseph Boakai as more provisional results from Liberia s presidential election were announced on Friday. If current trends hold, they would contest a run-off next month to decide which of them will succeed Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in what would be Liberia s first democratic transfer of power in decades. Based on returns from about a third of the country s more than 5,000 polling stations, Weah has obtained 39.6 percent of votes cast, with Boakai of the ruling Unity Party (UP) at 31.1 percent, the elections commission said. We are still confident that there are places that we believe are our strong support ... We are very optimistic that with reports coming in, UP is going to take the lead, Boakai told Reuters after Friday s results announcement. Charles Brumskine, a lawyer, was running third with 9.3 percent. The final certified results from Tuesday s poll must be announced by Oct. 25, although the provisional first-round winner is expected to be known in the coming days. Weah, a striker for Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan who won FIFA s World Player of the Year in 1995, came second to Johnson Sirleaf in a 2005 election that drew a line under years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. He has served in the senate since 2014 for the opposition Congress for Democratic Change. Boakai, the former head of Liberia s petroleum refinery company and agriculture minister, has served as vice president since 2006. Brumskine and the parties of two other candidates have said the vote was marred by fraud and vowed to contest the results. But they have not provided evidence of cheating and international observers said they saw no major problems. Liberia, Africa s oldest modern republic, was founded by freed U.S. slaves in 1847 but its last democratic power transfer occurred in 1944. Johnson Sirleaf s nearly 12 years in office have seen the country s post-war peace consolidated, although Liberians complain about poor public services and widespread corruption. | 0fake |
Lawyer urges Trump to press Iran on jailed U.S. father and son at nuclear talks | VIENNA (Reuters) - The lawyer of an American-Iranian father and son jailed in Iran called on U.S. President Donald Trump to get his officials to press for the men’s release at nuclear talks with Tehran on Tuesday. An Iranian court sentenced 46-year-old Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Baquer Namazi to 10 years in prison each in October on charges of spying and cooperating with the United States. The Namazis’ lawyer, Jared Genser, said he had traveled to the nuclear talks venue in Vienna with Siamak’s brother, Babak, to encourage Washington’s delegation to press the case, adding that he was worried about the detained men’s health. The lawyer said a senior administration official in the U.S. delegation had told him on Monday that the case would be raised directly during the talks on the implementation of a deal reached in 2015 to shrink Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. A State Department spokeswoman did not comment directly on the case, but said: “We continue to use all the means at our disposal to advocate for U.S. citizens who need our assistance overseas.” Iran has not commented on the Namazis’ prison conditions but has repeatedly said that political prisoners are kept under standard condition in Evin prison with full access to medical care. “In our view, something happening to the Namazis would be devastating not just to one side but to both sides,” Genser told reporters in a hotel near the venue. “For either or both of the Namazis to die on (Trump’s) watch would be a public and catastrophic failure of his negotiating skills,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained Siamak Namazi, a businessman, in October 2015 while he was visiting family in Tehran, relatives said. The IRGC arrested his 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor and former UNICEF official in February lat year, family members said. Soon after the sentencing and days before he won the presidential election, Trump said on Twitter: “Iran has done it again ... This doesn’t happen if I’m president!” | 0fake |
The Debate I Heard | I watched Monday's presidential debate. But what I heard was different from what Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton seemed to say.
When Clinton said, "I want us to invest in you," what I heard was, "I will spend your money better than you will." Also, I heard, "I will spend lots of your money!"
When Trump said our economic problems are China's fault, what I heard was, "Blaming China wins me votes."
When Clinton told Trump, "My father... printed drapery fabrics," what I heard was, "Donald, you are a spoiled rich kid."
When Trump replied, "My father gave me a very small loan," I heard Trump saying, "Anything less than $200 million is a pittance." (It's actually not clear what Trump received from his dad. Trump claims it was $1 million; others say $200 million. Anyway, is a million dollars a "small" loan"?)
When Clinton said, "I'm going to have a special prosecutor... to enforce the trade deals we have," I heard, "Kiss my ring and pay my foundation if you want your trade deal approved!"
When Trump said President Obama has "doubled" our debt, I swear I heard Trump promise, "I'll triple it!"
When Clinton said, "I think it's time that the wealthy and corporations paid their fair share," what I heard was, "Good thing Bill and I are 'broke,' because we're going to soak the rich like they've never been soaked before."
When Clinton said Trump's taxes "must be something really important, even terrible, that he's trying to hide," what I heard was, "My emails, on the other hand, were just a minor mistake and nothing I'm trying to hide—next question?"
When Trump said, "I was the one that got (Obama) to produce the birth certificate, and I think I did a good job," what I heard was, "Since Hillary and her staff spread the lie first, I'm blameless."
When Clinton said, "Barack Obama is a man of great dignity," I swear I heard her add quietly, "despite me smearing him in 2008."
When Trump said, "I was just endorsed (by 200) admirals and generals," what I heard was, "I wish members of the military supported me the way they support Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson."
When Clinton said, "Putin is playing a tough long game here," I swear I heard Hillary say, "I guess my 'reset' with Russia was a bad idea."
When Clinton said she'll "do much more with our tech companies" to fight ISIS, what I heard was, "I'll force Facebook and Twitter to shut down parts of the internet."
When Clinton said she'll "take out al-Qaeda leadership," what I heard was, "I don't know exactly who they are, but I'll kill a bunch of military-age males."
When Trump said, "I did not support the war in Iraq," what I heard was, "... except when I did."
When Clinton said, "A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes," I heard, "A man provoked by a tweet should not be near the nuclear codes." (Clinton got some things right.) | 0fake |
Obama: Hillary Clinton’s Personal Email a Mistake but Didn’t Endanger U.S. | President Barack Obama said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server was a mistake, but that U.S. national security hadn’t been endangered. In his first extensive remarks on the controversy that has roiled the Democratic presidential primary, Mr. Obama said on CBS’s “60 Minutes” program that questions about Mrs. Clinton’s email arrangement were legitimate. “It is important for her to answer these questions to the satisfaction of the American public,” Mr. Obama said. | 0fake |
As of last week, Clinton's White House chances 95 percent: Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Even before Sunday night's vicious presidential debate, Republican Donald Trump was losing ground in many of the states he needs to win to capture the presidency, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation Project analysis released on Monday. The project estimates that if the election had been held at the end of last week, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had at least a 95 percent chance of winning enough states to reach the minimum 270 Electoral College votes needed to become the next president, based on polling between Sept. 30 and Oct. 7. _________________________ STATES OF THE NATION What would it take for Donald Trump to turn the map red? _________________________ Those odds had steadily grown from about 60 percent on Sept. 15 to almost 90 percent on Sept 30. In the last four weeks, her estimated margin of victory has grown from about 14 votes to 118, according to the project. The polling did not capture reaction to Trump’s performance in Sunday’s debate or the release on Friday of his 11-year-old sexually aggressive comments about women. The results, however, mirrored other estimates of her chances of winning the campaign. Statistical analysis outfit FiveThirtyEight, for example, put Clinton’s chance of victory in the election at about 55 percent three weeks ago. Currently, they estimate the odds of a Clinton win at 82 percent. In the same period, the New York Times’ estimates of the odds of a Clinton victory have also increased, from about 70 percent to 84 percent. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada and Florida are now leaning toward the Democratic candidate, according to the Reuters/Ipsos project, an online survey of about 15,000 people every week. Arizona and Iowa are in the too-close-to-call category after being considered likely Trump states. More broadly, the state-by-state results show how Trump’s support is sliding. In the last week, he has lost ground in at least 21 states, including in seven of the 18 states where he is leading, while improving his position in 19 states. Meanwhile, Clinton lost ground in 12 states, including in three of the 23 states where she is leading, and improved her standing in 30 sates. Based on these results, Trump’s best hope for a victory would require a precipitous drop in the number of Democratic voters going to the polls on Nov. 8 from expected levels, combined with a similarly large increase in Republican turnout. LOCKER-ROOM TALK Trump’s crude comments about groping women and aggressively pursuing a married woman, captured on an open microphone, have sent his campaign into turmoil. The recording, first reported by The Washington Post, was made in 2005, in advance of a cameo appearance on a soap opera. Over the weekend, numerous Republican elected officials and candidates responded by calling for Trump to step aside. Trump responded to his waning support among some Republicans by calling them hypocrites. During Sunday’s debate he apologized but said the comments were just “locker-room talk.” He also attacked Bill Clinton’s treatment of women and said Hillary Clinton should be in jail for her use of a private email server while secretary of state. Trump said that, if elected, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her. A nearly yearlong FBI investigation into the emails concluded earlier this year that no charges should be filed, although FBI Director James Comey said Clinton had been careless in her handling of sensitive material. The sexually explicit comments controversy followed published reports suggesting the Republican Party leadership was having an internal debate about shifting resources away from the presidential race and into U.S. House and Senate races. The Republicans currently control both branches of Congress. Many experts think control of the Senate could shift to the Democrats, although few are predicting the Republicans will lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Even before the weekend, the Trump campaign had struggled through two weeks of negative news coverage that began with the campaign’s first presidential debate on Sept. 26, which Reuters/Ipsos polling suggested Clinton had won. Shortly after the first debate, the New York businessman also attacked – in tweets that began in the early hours of the morning – a former Miss Universe whom Clinton had referred to during the debate as an example of Trump degrading women. Also during that period, a New York Times report detailed how Trump lost nearly $1 billion in 1995, a loss that could be used to avoid paying federal taxes for up to 18 years, depending on his annual income. Clinton has had her share of woes as well, including the release of hacked emails last week of comments she appeared to have made to banks and big business. In the 2014 comments, she pushes for open trade and open borders, and takes a conciliatory approach to Wall Street, both positions she later backed away from. | 0fake |
BREAKING NEWS: SHOOTER Ambushes GOP Congressmen…ONE Congressman, TWO Police Officers SHOT In “Deliberate Attack”…Cops Prevented “MASSACRE” [VIDEO] | Rep. Steve Scalise was shot Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Virginia, in a deliberate attack. A congressional staffer was also shot. Scalise is in surgery right now and is expected to recover.Rand Paul said Scalise being there likely saved everyone because his presence (he s leadership) meant Capitol Police were there.Scalise, a member of the House Republican leadership as the majority whip, appeared to have been shot in the hip and it appeared two Capitol Hill police agents were shot, according to Rep. Mo Brooks who was on deck when the shooting occurred. The shooting took place at a practice for the GOP congressional baseball team.NBC News Special Report: Congressman Scalise, aides shot at baseball practice in Virginia https://t.co/KD9i1iP9MZ Jason Calabretta (@JasonCalabretta) June 14, 2017In a statement, Texas Rep. Roger Williams, one of the team s coaches, said one of his staff members was shot during the incident and is receiving medical attention. There was no information on the staffer s injuries.According to both congressional and law enforcement sources, the shooting appears to be a deliberate attack. Two law enforcement sources say the suspect is in police custody, has been taken to a hospital.Lawmakers who spoke at the scene to reporters described a normal morning practice, at a field where they ve practiced for years, when all of a sudden shots rang out. Lawmakers, staff members and even the young son of one of the members ran for cover, jumping into dugouts and over fences to avoid the gunshots.Congressmen in attendance described an injured Scalise dragging himself roughly 15 yards away from second base and lying there until the shooter was shot. The Congressmen then ran to help him. Once they were able, Sen. Jeff Flake said he and Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who is a physician, went out to where Scalise was lying to apply pressure to the wound. Nobody would have survived without the Capitol Hill police. It would have been a massacre without them. -Rand Paul We had nothing but baseball bats to fight back against a rifle with. Congressman Mo BrooksArizona Sen. Jeff Flake added that he saw a member of Scalise s security detail return fire on the gunman for what felt like 10 minutes, even though the police officer was wounded in the leg. 50 shots would be an understatement, I m quite sure, Flake said when asked about the total amount of gunfire, including police returning fire. Flake said two members of Scalise s security detail were wounded, and another man was wounded in the chest. Brooks said the shooter appeared to be a white male but added that I saw him for a second or two. He said the shooter was behind the third base dugout and didn t say anything. The gun was a semiautomatic, Brooks said, adding that he was sure it was a rifle but unsure what kind. It continued to fire at different people. You can imagine, all the people on the field scatter. It s come to this How will we bring America together if the Democrats keep fanning the flames of division?Read More: FOX News | 1real |
OOPS: Trump Judicial Nominee Didn’t Tell Congress About Marriage To White House Attorney | This is a major conflict of interest that should automatically disqualify him.When the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve Donald Trump s nomination of Brett Talley to a federal judgeship in Alabama, they did so without knowing that Talley is married to White House lawyer Ann Donaldson, who is the chief of staff to White House counsel Donald McGahn.That s a pretty big detail to leave out of a disclosure form.According to the New York Times,Mr. Talley was asked on his publicly released Senate questionnaire to identify family members and others who are likely to present potential conflicts of interest. He did not mention his wife.District judges often provide the first ruling when laws are called into question, decisions that can put them at odds with the White House and its lawyers. Last month, for example, judges in Hawaii and Maryland temporarily blocked Mr. Trump s travel ban.Mr. Talley also did not mention his wife when he described his frequent contact with White House lawyers during the nomination process.Talley has also never tried a case in his life, making him even more unqualified to be a judge. In fact, the American Bar Association judged Tally as unqualified for the position in a very rare unanimous decision.The Senate could hold a confirmation vote as early as Monday, and it is important that they reject Talley, especially since he lied to them by omission.If Republicans confirm Talley, they will be telling future nominees that it s okay to lie to Congress in order to get an important job. That should not be allowed to happen. Trump and Republicans often claim that immigration should be based on merit. Well, becoming a federal judge should definitely be based on merit, not based on who you re married to and whether you ll be a rubber stamp for a corrupt administration.Featured Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1real |
McCain’s Mad World and The Cancer of Conflict | 21st Century Wire says Some devastating news befell John Sidney McCain III recently, as his staff announced that the US Senator had been diagnosed with a brain tumor called glioblastoma discovered during recent testing at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. We wish the Senator well On Episode #195 Chickenhawk Nation of the SUNDAY WIRE with co-hosts Patrick Henningsen and Mike Robinson, we break down all the reasons why we think it s time for McCain to retire.The list is endless. We ll start with a real cancer of conflict the senseless truck bombing of Al-Kindi cancer treatment hospital in Aleppo, Syria. The attack carried out by the same freedom fighters that McCain was seen cavorting with during his secret trip to the Aleppo area in May 2013. The very same rebels he was supplying weapons to the Free Syrian Army (under the command of Jabbat al Nusra aka al Qaeda in Syria) would later order the bombing on this cancer treatment hospital. LISTEN: More @21WIRE: | 1real |
EYE-OPENING: Why Liberals Won’t Talk About White, Poverty-Stricken, Rural Americans | This is a story you will never find in the mainstream media What seldom gets talked about and when it is, often with irreverent humor and contempt is the poverty of rural America, particularly rural white America: Appalachia, the Ozarks, the Mississippi Delta, the Dakotas, the Rio Grande Valley, the Cotton Belt.If you spend time among coastal liberals, it s not unusual to hear denigrating remarks made about poor middle Americans slip out of mouths that are otherwise forthcoming about the injustices of poverty and inequality.Yet, since the 1950s, Americans living in non-metropolitan counties have had a higher rate of poverty than those living in metropolitan areas. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, the poverty rate among rural-dwelling Americans is three percent higher than it is among urban-dwellers. In the South, the poorest region of the country, the rural-urban discrepancy is greatest around eight percent higher in non-metro areas than metro areas.Watch here, as Levi Holstein, 22 explains what Obama s shut down of the coal industry has done to his community: Holstein s youth was spent hunting deer,turkey and bears,fishing for catfish with his father and riding four wheelers through the hills of Boone County. Now,the mountains he grew to love have been leveled in pursuit of coal,and their debris scraped into the hollow above his childhood home,destroying old haunts. I would be the first to tell you I hate strip mines. I hate it,I don t like it one bit, Holstein said. But at the same time it gives a man a job. Unfortunately, for 8 years we had a President who was committed to shutting down the coal industry in rural America, where primarily low income white families live.For Holstein,and many others throughout the region,the changes to the landscape and negative environmental impacts are weighed against paychecks to support their families. However,in the past few years career miners have seen their jobs vanish or move to other parts of the state.Once the most formidable industry in West Virginia,coal is progressively losing its economic dominance throughout Central Appalachia as production slows due to tightening pollution controls,greater availability of cheap natural gas and growing competition from other coal basins.From 2007 to 2012 West Virginia s annual coal production dropped by 31.7 million tons annually,falling over 20 percent,from 165.7 million to 129.5 million. Over half of that decline,17.9 million tons,came from Boone County,which until 2012 had long been the state s top producer.So why is the poverty of rural America largely unexamined, even avoided? There are a number of explanations.Rural and urban poverty are similar to the degree that both occur when people do not have access to jobs specifically ones that pay a living wage (i.e. enough to provide themselves and their dependents with basic necessities like food and shelter). Many of the causal factors for poverty, however, are exacerbated in remote areas where the job and labor markets are smaller and less diverse, and communities lack the human capital of city economies. Often a single industry (in some cases single employer) will dominate a vast region.The geographic distance between some rural communities and higher education institutions, as well as technical and vocational schools, is also a factor. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, 20 percent of non-metro residents complete their college degrees compared to 30 percent in metropolitan areas.Similarly, when it comes to providing social services in rural America, spatial challenges arise in making those services accessible and visible to a remote public. The repertoire of services available to [rural people] is smaller, Lobao says. Her research indicates that 50 percent of metropolitan counties provide subsidies for emergency medical services, while only 30 percent of non-metro counties do. Similarly, 30 percent of metro counties make elder care available, but only 20 percent of non-metro counties do. And 25 percent of metro counties provide childcare care, but only 16 percent of non-metro countries do. Each of these deficits contributes to the higher rate of poverty that we see among the rural poor.Lisa Pruitt, a law professor at the University of California at Davis, studies the intersection of law and rural livelihoods. She also runs a site called the Legal Ruralism Blog, where she writes about the problem of rural American poverty. Pruitt grew up in a working-class rural Newton County in the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas. She tells Rural America In These Times that one important misconception about rural poverty is that it is an exclusively white problem. While the majority of rural Americans struggling with poverty are white, Pruitt says, the racial makeup of the rural poor is far more diverse than the image most Americans realize. We tend to associate rural poverty with whiteness, Pruitt says. When we think about rural poverty, most associations with rural poverty are with white populations and in fact, that is true to some extent but it s actually far from being monochromatic. The demographics of poverty in rural and urban America are quite similar. Though whites make up the majority of both metropolitan and non-metropolitan populations in the United States resulting in a higher numbers of whites living in poverty poverty rates throughout rural America are much higher among the rural minority population. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, 40 percent of blacks living in non-metro counties fall below the poverty line, compared to 15 percent of whites. Poverty rates among non-metro Hispanics and American Indians are also considerably higher than they are among whites.This popular association between rural American poverty and whiteness is key to understanding why the media, and liberal America as a whole, doesn t talk about rural American poverty. While black poverty in the United States is attributed to the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, housing discrimination, incarceration, and other forms of institutionalized racism, we have no national narrative that explains white poverty. As a result, there is an implicit belief that whites who have benefited from all of the advantages that come with being white don t have a good reason to be poor. In other words, that when whites live in poverty, it is their fault, or even their choice.Since the 1960s, the current U.S. economic system has had as a constant feature 15 percent of the population living below the poverty line. For better or worse, says Pruitt, when we talk about poverty, we focus on black poverty, and we focus on Hispanic poverty. We ve collapsed our nation s poverty problem into our nation s racism problem and it leads us to turn a blind eye to rural poverty. One of Pruitt s overarching arguments is that this political polarization between the liberal mainstream and the rural poor is self-perpetuating, and will only worsen with time as the rural poor are excluded from the pipeline to power. There is such a disconnect between the people in power in this country and the rural poor. It s a negative feedback loop, says Pruitt. If you re deciding who you are going to admit to Harvard and you see they grew up socio-economically disadvantaged from rural America, the knee-jerk reaction is, We don t want those people among us. They re racist. They re uncouth. They re unsavory. Though the left has all but cornered the subject of poverty and its myriad dimensions, the fact that rural Americans tend to espouse conservative positions on social issues like abortion and gay rights does not make the liberal media or Democratic candidates any more sympathetic to rural American poverty. And if the 2008 Presidential Election is any indicator, poor rural Americans, especially whites, feel increasingly at odds with liberal politics and liberal candidates. I think the assumption is that rural white voters are racist and illiberal and intolerant, says Pruitt. And so there are all sorts of incentives to distance ourselves for the Democratic presidential candidates to distances themselves from rural whites. I think that most rural white voters are pretty alienated from politics generally, and the Democratic Party in particular. Yet the left and working class rural Americans have many reasons to forge a stronger relationship specifically in challenging the authority of corporate America and growing the bargaining power of workers. Lobao, clearly frustrated, says rural sociologists have spent a lot of time thinking about how the left could appeal to rural Americans and often find themselves mired in platitudes. The one thing that we could stress in terms of social values is the value of building community, she said. Do you like your community? Do you want to build it? Well why can t we? We can try to emphasize building the community, you know, because people identify with their community whether they re Republican or Democrat. Via: In These Times | 1real |
SHERIFF WON’T ENFORCE GUN CONTROL LAW HE CALLS ‘BORDERLINE TREASONOUS’ | The gun grabbers are at it again pushing for more oversight and background checks for gun owners. The sheriff says it s borderline treasonous and will be a nightmare for law enforcement. He s refusing to enforce these efforts at gun control and we salute him for his stance! Bravo!While Oregon Democrats stood with Gabby Giffords and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to push expanded background checks on April 1, Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer stood for the law-abiding citizens whom the checks will target by describing the gun control push as borderline treasonous. Palmer also made clear that if the Democrats pass the measure there is zero chance of his office enforcing it.The push for expanded background checks in Oregon is being spearheaded by state senator Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene). His efforts are strongly supported by the Brady Campaign and Giffords.Giffords, in particular, believes every potential gun purchaser should have to pass the same background check her attacker passed to acquire his firearm, which the same background check Jerad and Amanda Miller (Las Vegas), Aaron Ybarra (Seattle Pacific University), Elliot Rodger (Santa Barbara), Ivan Lopez (Fort Hood 2014), Darion Marcus Aguilar (Maryland mall), Karl Halverson Pierson (Arapahoe High School), James Holmes (Aurora theater), Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood 2009), and many, many others passed to get the guns they used in their crimes.The irony is not lost on Sheriff Palmer, who sees the push for expanded background checks as just another way to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens without impacting crime or criminals. For these reasons, Oregon Live said Palmer described the push as borderline treasonous. Moreover, Palmer said the background checks pose a nightmare scenario for law enforcement officers who will be straddled with the responsibility of determining when a background should have been done but was not, as well as when a background check is not necessary to begin with.Palmer said he has no intention of enforcing Prozanski s bill if it becomes law.Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
Debate night: The media want a Trump fight, with blood and bruises | The press is full of chatter about what the other candidates could, should, must do to derail the Trump juggernaut at tonight’s CNN debate.
Naturally, the big audience for the second presidential debate offers the other Republicans a prime opportunity to make a lasting impression in this Donald-dominated campaign. So I expect there will be no shortage of canned zingers.
But every candidate on that stage has to be wary of getting into an insult contest with a gut fighter who doesn’t play by the usual rules of political politeness.
It’s all well and good for candidates to talk about creating a “moment,” but that can’t seem artificial or staged, or the attacker will look phony and a tad desperate. Trump’s rivals have to deliver a positive message about themselves while drawing a sharp contrast with the real estate mogul, not just denounce him, as Bobby Jindal did, as a narcissist and egomaniac.
And consider this: If half of the other 10 candidates try to whack Trump, won’t that make him look larger? Won’t that reinforce the narrative that Trump has so shaken the Republican establishment that his opponents are feverishly trying to bring him down?
Trump’s task is far easier: He can uncork his usual lines about the “very, very stupid people” running the government, and jab back at those who challenge him (bad polls, low energy and so on). And—remember the Fox debate—if he gets a detailed question that he doesn’t like, he can take a swipe at the media and the “gotcha” game.
In terms of the media’s focus, it’s going to be Trump vs. Whoever—as long as Whoever is named Carly, Ben or Jeb. The truth is that journalists have lost interest in most of the other candidates, who are mired in single digits (as is Jeb, but he’s still got the money, the Bush name, and the fading aura of the person the pundits thought would be The Man to Beat). That could change, but right now they're eclipsed by Trump.
Carson told me in the interview we aired Sunday on "Media Buzz" that he would not be throwing punches in this campaign, and that he regretted questioning Trump’s faith and felt he needed to apologize. So even though yesterday’s CBS/New York Times poll has him at 23 percent, close behind Trump’s 27 percent, I don’t expect Carson to take him on. The question for the “okay doctor” (in Trump’s words) is how he handles it if The Donald starts denigrating him.
The media are really hoping for a dustup involving Fiorina, whose Super PAC made a clever ad aimed at women, boasting she has earned every wrinkle on her 61-year-old face, after Trump told a Rolling Stone reporter, “Look at that face.” Trump has taken to hitting her as a failed CEO dumped by Hewlett-Packard, but keep in mind that she took him on in the Fox happy-hour debate, even though he wasn’t there.
“Never before in American presidential politics has a candidate who has drawn accusations of sexism and bullying been forced to personally confront the female recipient of his insults on live television,” the New York Times declares. “And with Mrs. Fiorina bragging that she is getting under Mr. Trump’s skin, their showdown is emerging as one of the most intriguing subplots of the second debate.”
And here’s the Wall Street Journal: “After punching her way onto the big stage, Carly Fiorina
is poised to take on her party’s heavyweights in Wednesday’s Republican presidential primary debate, where she will come face-to-face with the candidate who found fault with her face.”
Still, Carly was very restrained in responding to Facegate, telling Megyn Kelly only that she must be getting under Trump’s skin. So don’t expect any pro wrestling.
What’s getting a lot of traction online is Mark Halperin’s Bloomberg analysis of why Trump has a commanding position:
“With Trump, the rules have changed. So far, he has proven to be largely immune from attack, and also a master killer himself, with a unique political arsenal. With a few months to go before voters vote, Trump has squashed the poll numbers and personas of a host of his rivals, without resorting to significant traditional opposition research, paid media, or surrogates. He simply uses Instagram, Twitter, and his virtually unlimited access to the news media to unsheathe his sharp tongue, cutthroat sensibility, and unerring perverse humor. And Trump can shift to kill mode without strain or hesitation.
“From the get-go of his entrance in June, Trump has engaged intuitively in kill-or-be-killed tactics.”
Deadly rhetoric aside, one of the reasons I warned from the beginning that Trump shouldn’t be underestimated is that I saw how his buzzsaw style was sharpened in New York’s tabloid culture. But you can’t just be a Don Rickles figure. Some voters are also drawn to his successful career in real estate and reality TV, and the wealth that enables Trump to thumb his nose at the donor class.
One thing to watch: If Trump uses the debate to raise his recent arguments about overpaid CEOs and taxing hedge-fund millionaires, you’ll know he’s decided to shrug off the not-really-a-conservative attacks and stay on his populist path.
Click for more from Media Buzz
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz. | 0fake |
Tillerson signals tough Trump administration stance on Cuba | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday a policy of engagement with Cuba has financially benefited the island’s government in violation of U.S. law, further fueling expectations that President Donald Trump this week will roll back parts of former President Barack Obama’s opening to Havana. Speaking ahead of Trump’s expected trip to Miami on Friday to announce his new Cuba policy, Tillerson insisted that Havana “must begin to address human rights challenges” if it wants Washington to continue normalizing relations between the Cold War-era foes. Tillerson, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged that rapprochement with the communist-ruled island has led to an increase in U.S. visitors and U.S. business ties. However, Tillerson added: “We think we have achieved very little in terms of changing the behavior of the regime in Cuba .... and it has little incentive today to change that.” His comments came as Trump’s aides sought to finalize rules that, according to U.S. officials and people familiar with the discussions, are likely to bar U.S. trade with Cuban enterprises linked to the military – which controls a large part of the economy – and tighten some rules on Americans traveling there. But the new policy will stop short of closing embassies or breaking off relations re-established in 2015 after more than five decades of hostility, the sources said. In his speech, Trump is expected to claim fulfillment of a campaign promise to the Cuban-American community to tighten the screws on the government of Cuban President Raul Castro. While Tillerson declined to confirm any details, he left no doubt that the Trump administration was prepared to undo some pieces of Obama’s policy that it sees as boosting the Cuban government financially, which would violate U.S. law. “As we’re developing these business relationships and as we’re enjoying the benefits on the economic and development side, are we inadvertently or directly providing financial support to the regime? Our view is we are,” Tillerson said. “And the question is ... how how do we bring that back into compliance with longstanding statutory obligations” he said. Many of Trump’s fellow Republicans, and some Democrats, objected to Obama’s policy shift, saying he gave too much for too few concessions from Cuba. But Obama’s measures have proven popular with the public, U.S. businesses and many lawmakers from both parties. Tillerson agreed that moves toward more normal relations with the United States have helped some Cubans lift themselves out of poverty and provided opportunities for U.S. companies. However, Tillerson said there is a “dark side” to relations with Cuba, noting that the government in Havana continues to jail political opponents and harass dissidents. “We are supportive of the continued economic development, as long as it is done in full compliance with our existing statutes to not provide financial support to the regime,” Tillerson said. “That’s the focus of our current policy review.” But divisions remain within the Trump administration over how far to go. Some aides have argued that Trump, a former real estate magnate who won the presidency promising to unleash U.S. business and create jobs, would have a hard time defending any moves that close off the Cuban market. But other advisers have contended that it is important to make good on a promise to Cuban-Americans whose support they considered significant in winning Florida in the 2016 election. Miami is home to the largest Cuban-American community. One proposal under consideration, according to the U.S. sources, would tighten enforcement to make sure Americans legally fit the authorized categories they claim to be traveling under. Another tougher change being weighed would revert to regulations requiring at least some types of U.S. travelers to seek a special license to travel to Cuba. However, airline officials say they do not expect the Trump administration to revoke any flights to Cuba approved by the Obama administration but said new measures to restrict visits to Cuba could result in less demand for seats. | 0fake |
Senate panel votes Tuesday on Iran bill that gives Congress say on nuclear deal | How much say Congress has on a possible nuclear deal with Iran will be tested Tuesday as a controversial bill goes up for a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations committee.
The Obama administration has been very critical of legislation that would give Congress a final say in approving or rejecting a deal.
In an interview with The New York Times, Obama said the newly agreed on framework of a nuclear deal with Iran represents a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to prevent Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon and to move toward stabilizing the Middle East.
On Monday, the administration stepped up its lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill.
"The way the legislation is currently written is something that we strongly oppose," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. "But, again, we continue to have extensive conversations with members of Congress on Capitol Hill."
Secretary of State John Kerry postponed a foreign trip to meet with members of the House to discuss the negotiations. Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and senior officials in the intelligence community were holding classified briefings Monday and Tuesday with members of the House and Senate.
Earnest said some Republicans are "rigidly partisan" and will reject any deal just because Obama supports it. He said that while there is some Democratic opposition, administration officials will continue to talk with members of his party. So far, the president and other senior administration officials have made more than 130 telephone calls to members of Congress to discuss the negotiations.
"I think there are some Democrats who will listen to this pitch," Earnest said. "I don't know if it will convince them all, but there is a strong case to make and it's one that we intend to continue making."
At the White House, Obama met with Jewish leaders. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is intensely skeptical that international negotiators can reach a verifiable deal with Iran, which has threatened to destroy Israel, some American Jewish groups have backed the international negotiations.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters that he spoke with Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, earlier in the day. McCarthy said he told Corker that if the Senate approves the bill, the House will vote on it.
"It's my intention to bring it to the floor of the House and move it," McCarthy said at a news conference as Congress was returning from a two-week spring break.
Republicans and Democrats maintain that Congress should have a say on an international deal with Tehran to curb its nuclear program and have lined up behind legislation. The White House has pushed back, threatening a presidential veto while warning that the bill could scuttle the delicate talks involving the United States, Iran and five world powers.
"Lines in the sands have moved back," McCarthy said, claiming the U.S. has back-tracked on some of the demands it had at the beginning of the talks. "A lot of the questions will be why have they moved back and will Iran ever be able to have the capability of having a nuclear weapon? That's a key question."
Under the bill, Obama could unilaterally lift or ease any sanctions that were imposed on Iran through presidential executive means. But the bill would prohibit him for 60 days from suspending, waiving or otherwise easing any sanctions that Congress levied on Iran. During that 60-day period, Congress could hold hearings and approve, disapprove or take no action on any final nuclear agreement with Iran.
If Congress passed a joint resolution approving a final deal -- or took no action -- Obama could move ahead to ease sanctions levied by Congress. But if Congress passed a joint resolution disapproving it, Obama would be blocked from providing Iran with any relief from congressional sanctions.
Iran says its program is for civilian purposes, but the U.S. and its partners negotiating with Tehran suspect Tehran is keen to become a nuclear-armed powerhouse in the Middle East, where it already holds much sway.
The bill has led to a political tug of war on Capitol Hill, with Republicans trying to raise the bar so high that a final deal might be impossible, and Democrats aiming to give the White House more room to negotiate with Tehran.
Senators of both parties are considering more than 50 amendments to the measure introduced by Corker and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 0fake |
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