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Juror 4: Oregon standoff prosecutors failed to prove ‘intent’ to impede federal workers | Oregon Live
Juror 4 vigorously defends the across-the-board acquittals of Ammon Bundy and his six co-defendants, calling the rulings a “statement” about the prosecution’s failure to prove the fundamental elements of a conspiracy charge.
The full-time Marylhurst University business administration student was the juror who had sent a note to the judge on the fourth day of the initial jury’s deliberations in the case, questioning the impartiality of a fellow juror, No. 11, who the judge bounced from the jury a day later.
“It should be known that all 12 jurors felt that this verdict was a statement regarding the various failures of the prosecution to prove ‘conspiracy’ in the count itself – and not any form of affirmation of the defense’s various beliefs, actions or aspirations,” Juror 4 wrote Friday in a lengthy email to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
He expressed relief that he can now speak out freely, but he wasn’t ready as of Friday morning to drop his anonymity. He said his studies have suffered since the trial started, and he’s not ready for the attention revealing his identity would bring but felt it was important to defend the verdict. The judge withheld jurors’ names during the jury selection process and trial, instead referring to each by number.
The jury closely followed U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown’s instructions on how to apply the law to the evidence and testimony heard during the five-week trial, he said.
The jury returned unanimous verdicts of “not guilty” to conspiracy charges against all seven defendants. Each was accused of conspiring to prevent employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management from carrying out their official work through intimidation, threat or force during the 41-day occupation.
Juror 4 noted the panel couldn’t simply rely on the defendants’“defining actions” to convict.
“All 12 agreed that impeding existed, even if as an effect of the occupation,” he wrote.
“But we were not asked to judge on bullets and hurt feelings, rather to decide if any agreement was made with an illegal object in mind,” the Marylhurst student wrote. “It seemed this basic, high standard of proof was lost upon the prosecution throughout.”
Prosecutors had argued that the case, at its core, was about the illegal taking of another’s property. The heavily armed guards that manned the front gate and watchtower during the 41-day takeover, in and of itself, was “intimidating,” and prevented officers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management from carrying out their work, they said.
They argued that the alleged conspiracy began Nov. 5, when Ammon Bundy and ally Ryan Payne met with Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward and promised there would be extreme civil unrest in the community if he didn’t step in and block Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond. The Hammonds were slated to return to federal prison on Jan. 4 and serve out a mandatory minimum five-year sentence for arson on federal land.
Defense lawyers urged jurors in closing arguments not to mix-up the “effect” of the occupation – which undoubtedly kept federal employees from doing their jobs – from the “intent” of the occupiers.
Five of the seven defendants, including Ammon Bundy, testified. Many said that they were there to protest in support of the Hammonds and federal government overreach because they received absolutely no response from state or local government officials to their previous efforts to spur change.
The defense lawyers’ arguments, coupled with the jury instructions on how to apply the law to the evidence, resonated with jurors, Juror 4 noted.
“Inference, while possibly compelling, proved to be insulting or inadequate to 12 diversely situated people as a means to convict,” the juror wrote. “The air of triumphalism that the prosecution brought was not lost on any of us, nor was it warranted given their burden of proof.”
Juror 4 plainly stated that fellow Juror 11, during the initial round of deliberations, “had zero business being on this jury in the first place.”
Juror 11 had worked for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as a ranch tech and firefighter “more than 20 years ago,” he had said during jury selection. Asked by the judge during voir dire if that experience would impede his ability to be a fair and impartial judge of the facts, he said, “Not really.”
Juror 4 explained why he didn’t alert the court immediately after he had heard Juror 11, on day one of deliberations reportedly say, “I am very biased.”
It wasn’t until the fourth day into deliberations that Juror 4 sent a note to the court, asking if a juror who had worked previously for the federal land management agency and outright told the panel he was “very biased” could be an impartial judge. The court, flummoxed by the development, a day later dismissed Juror 11 for “good cause,” after the prosecution and defense teams agreed to the dismissal. At the time, parties to the case weren’t sure which way Juror 11’s alleged bias fell.
Juror 4 said he “resisted the impulse” to send the question sooner in an effort to give his fellow juror a chance to explain himself.
In his email to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Juror 4, for the first time, also contended that Juror 11 “violated” the judge’s explicit orders “by hearkening to ‘evidence’ that was never admitted in this case, refused to consider the defendant’s state of mind and used imaginative theories to explain key actions.'”
Juror 4 said, though, he wishes that he “had sent the letter on day one, since it would have alleviated much stress for all of us.”
The Maryville business student said he is “baffled” by what he described as observers’“flippant sentiments” in the wake of the jury’s acquittals.
“Don’t they know that ‘not guilty’ does not mean innocent?” he wrote. “It was not lost on us that our verdict(s) might inspire future actions that are regrettable, but that sort of thinking was not permitted when considering the charges before us.”
The jury, he said, met with Judge Brown after the verdicts were announced and after the U.S. Marshals’ physical confrontation and arrest of Bundy lawyer Marcus Mumford.
He said many of the jurors questioned the judge about why the federal government chose the “conspiracy charge.” He said he learned that a potential alternate charge, such as criminal trespass, wouldn’t have brought as significant a penalty.
The charge of conspiring to impede federal employees from carrying out their official work through intimidation, threat or force brings a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
“We all queried about alternative charges that could stick and were amazed that this ‘conspiracy’ charge seemed the best possible option,” Juror 4 said.
— Maxine Bernstein | 1real |
Trump, McConnell 'united on many shared priorities': White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell remain united on many priorities and will hold previously scheduled meetings after the August recess to discuss the issues with members of the congressional leadership and the Cabinet, the White House said on Wednesday. Trump and McConnell “remain united on many shared priorities, including middle class tax relief, strengthening the military, constructing a southern border wall, and other important issues,” the White House said in a statement. Earlier on Wednesday, McConnell said he and his team were in “regular contact” with Trump and committed to working together, following weeks of tensions between the two Republicans. | 0fake |
In Texas legislature, tempers flare over immigration crackdown | (Reuters) - Tensions between Republicans and Democrats boiled over on the floor of the Texas Legislature on Monday as protesters filled the gallery on the last day of the session to denounce a new law cracking down on cities giving sanctuary to illegal immigrants. With the state House of Representatives in Austin preparing to adjourn, a bystander’s video showed one lawmaker appearing to shove a colleague as about a dozen others rushed together in an angry clutch before tempers cooled and the two sides separated. Afterward, one of the legislators at the center of the confrontation said in a statement on Facebook that he was physically assaulted by a Democratic colleague while a second Democrat threatened his life. Republican Matt Rinaldi’s statement said this occurred after he told Democratic lawmakers that he had tipped off federal agents about defiant protesters who were holding signs declaring their illegal immigration status. Rinaldi did not immediately return calls or emails seeking further comment. The incident highlights the raw emotions stirred by Republican efforts to put Texas in line with the priority that President Donald Trump has given to combating illegal immigration. Democrats, mostly representing urban centers that have defied federal policy, have condemned the crackdown. Texas, which has an estimated 1.5 million illegal immigrants and the longest border with Mexico of any U.S. state, has been at the forefront of the immigration debate. A bill, which both chambers of the Republican-dominated legislature approved on party-line votes and Governor Greg Abbott signed into law on May 7, aims to punish local authorities who fail to honor requests to turn over suspected illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. It also allows police to ask people about their immigration status during a lawful detention, even for minor infractions like jay-walking. Democrats have warned that the Texas law could lead to unconstitutional racial profiling. Civil rights groups have promised to fight it in court. | 0fake |
Tensions Rise As Pipeline Construction Nears #NoDAPL Blockade | Videos Tensions Rise As Pipeline Construction Nears #NoDAPL Blockade The Oceti Sakowin tribe declared eminent domain on land bought by Dakota Access and set up their new winter camp in the direct path of the pipeline on 1851 treaty land. | October 27, 2016 Be Sociable, Share!
Oceti Sakowin, ND – On Sunday, October 23rd , water protectors extended camp beyond the overflow site, just north of the Standing Rock reservation, to the pipeline easement line. The Oceti Sakowin declared eminent domain on land bought by Dakota Access and set up their new winter camp in the direct path of the pipeline on 1851 treaty land.
As the encampment was formed, two blockades were created, one on county road 146 and one north of the new winter camp on Highway 1806. We spoke to various blockaders who stated their goal was to ensure safety of the water protectors as they prepared their camps for winter.
The video below contains interviews with various water protectors at the multiple blockades and camps. The following day, after the new winter camp was established, a no-fly zone was declared by law enforcement. FAA informed Unicorn Riot that "only response aircraft in support of law enforcement" can fly in no-fly zone https://t.co/4eax21fw59 #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/nZuNKtbFrb This no-fly zone was created, according to the Morton County Sheriff, to ground all drones being flown by water protectors and journalists. The Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) notice on the FAA’s website lists the North Dakota Tactical Operations Center as responsible for issuing the TFR .
On October 26th, 2016, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, and various other agencies working alongside them, erected a concrete blockade just two miles north of the frontline #NoDAPL blockade. The new law enforcement blockade is currently manned by sheriff’s deputies armed with automatic rifles.
We reported live from the frontline as water protectors gathered near the blockades expecting a raid on the camps by police, military and private DAPL security assets.
All day, patrol planes and helicopters flew low over the water protectors, while private security vehicles gathered on the hills west of the frontline camp. This yellow helicopter has been flying low over #NoDAPL water protectors for months- & seems to be exempt from new no-fly zone. pic.twitter.com/xPuq9bNneI
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 27, 2016
Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney, who has been acting as “Director of Operations” for Morton County Sheriff, came to the new winter camp today with representatives from the National Guard and asked people to leave the new site and return to the main camp, Forum News Service reports. “We’re here telling you this is private property and you have to leave,” Laney told camp coordinator Mekasi Camp-Horinek. “We don’t want a confrontation. Please stand your people down and go back to the main camp.” Mekasi pointed at the road – “our no surrender line,” he said – and then back at the frontline camp standing in the way of the four-state, $3.8 billion oil pipeline – their “no retreat” line. “That’s your final word?” Laney asked. “That’s my final word,” Camp-Horinek said, walking away.
Pipeline construction is less than half a mile from Highway 1806 and we can verify that machines can be heard working from the new frontline camp. Law enforcement in trucks & DAPL security in dune buggies watching Oceti Sakowin front line camp from hills maybe 200 yards away. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/NuqlC94gVd
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 26, 2016 This work (including header image) by Unicorn Riot is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License. | 1real |
Republican Senator Considers Obstruction Of Justice Investigation Against Trump (DETAILS) | Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, hinted at the possibility of laying obstruction of justice charges down against Donald Trump in a conversation with CNN s Manu Raju yesterday.Raju relayed a message to Grassley from Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat out of California, in the Senate s hallways. According to Raju, Feinstein says that she wants the Judiciary Committee to investigate potential obstruction of justice. Raju was referring to a letter Feinstein wrote to Grassley on Friday in which she begged the committee to investigate all issues that raise a question of obstruction of justice. These issues should be developed by our legal staff, presented to us, and be subject to full Committee hearings. Grassley s response was one that we all wanted to hear. Let me give you a process answer because this is where we are, Grassley replied to Raju. Sen. Feinstein wanted to talk to me by phone today. I sent word back that I d like to have her and I sit down face-to-face and we ll work out all of the subpoenas and all the stuff we have to do in the future and work out a whole program. Raju pressed for more details, asking, Are you okay, though, looking into the potential of obstruction of justice? Is that something for your committee? We re going to leave that to a conversation with Feinstein, was Grassley s answer.Dianne Feinstein s letter to Grassley mainly focussed on fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who, on January 26 and 27, warned White House counsel that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had lied about his contact with the Russian Ambassador, leading to Flynn s forced resignation. She also mentioned that, if necessary, the committee could subpoena Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Administrator Mike Rogers following their unforthcoming responses when questioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee.These could be the subpoenas that Chuck Grassley was referring to, but you can make up your own mind by reading Feinstein s letter and watching Raju and Grassley s exchange, here.GRASSLEY says he's meeting soon with Feinstein to discuss subpoeanas on Russia, FBI, Comey probes. https://t.co/wgNDVuy29D Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 13, 2017Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
Battle Lines For 2016 Emerge As Republican Hopefuls Unveil Campaign Themes | WASHINGTON -- To run for president in 2016, potential candidates must formally register before May 1, 2015, making the first months of this year a crucial time for them to weigh their options. Over the next 104 days, each member of the potential Republican roster, which includes governors, senators, has-beens and long shots, must decide whether to invest the next two years and millions of dollars into a bloody political battle -- where the prize is the chance to wage an even bigger war.
Early this week in Washington, two potential candidates, Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.) gave speeches at the conservative Heritage Foundation, each strategically highlighting issues to further his national ambitions. Cruz laid out an ambitious policy agenda that included repealing Common Core education standards, abolishing the IRS, repealing Obamacare and building the Keystone XL pipeline. What all these goals have in common (besides how popular they were with the audience) is that they emphasize Cruz's ferocious opposition to President Barack Obama. Battling the Obama administration has been a hallmark of Cruz's time in the Senate, and it will likely be a strong selling point among voters who identify with the tea party movement.
Instead of playing to the crowd like Cruz did, Paul touted his support for individual rights by arguing that "activist" (practically a four-letter word among conservatives) judges could be a good thing if their rulings expanded individual rights. The next day, Paul spoke in support of gun rights at an event in New Hampshire. On Thursday, he flew to Nevada, where he said voters would appreciate his stance on privacy rights. By the end of the week, he seemed to have emerged as the field's preeminent champion of individual rights, a position he has worked to cultivate during his first term in the Senate.
Like Paul, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also has trademark issues, though in his case they're not the ones he wants to focus on in a GOP primary. As governor, Bush instituted lofty statewide education benchmarks that closely resemble the Common Core state standards which have been adopted by more than 40 states since 2010. The trouble for Bush is that many conservatives view Common Core as a government takeover of schools. Equally unpopular with the GOP base is Bush's support for comprehensive immigration reform, which was passed by the U.S. Senate in 2013, but stalled in the Republican-controlled House.
Rather than talk about education and immigration, Bush has chosen to focus on a populist economic message he has honed recently, aimed at creating new ways for poor and middle-class Americans to move up the economic ladder. The only drawback of this focus for Bush is that his rivals like it, too. Thus far, at least four of Bush's potential challengers have also indicated that they plan to focus their campaigns on populist themes of creating opportunity and upward mobility for the working class. To campaign strategists, this comes as no surprise.
"The populist economic message is probably going to be there in some way for nearly every candidate in 2016, both Democrats and Republicans," said Walker, who helped engineer the GOP takeover of the House in the early 1990s. "The question then becomes: Which candidate is better at delivering this message to voters? That's what will begin to sort them out."
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has long been talked about as a potential 2016 contender, published a book this week on his plan to create upward mobility: American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone. It seems increasingly likely, however, that Rubio will sit out the presidential race, rather than compete against the likes of Bush and Cruz. He recently said he will not make a final decision about 2016 until later this month, following a meeting with his top donors. If Rubio were to run, though, his hawkish views on foreign policy would likely resonate with GOP voters worried about the turmoil in the Middle East. Rubio is a vocal supporter of increased U.S. sanctions on Iran, as well as Congress' leading critic of normalizing relations with Cuba.
As Rubio retreated from the political fray this week, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney jumped in head first. According to his advisers, Romney plans to rebrand himself as a poverty-fighting populist in his third run for the White House. In 2012, the career private equity investor infamously dismissed the "47% of Americans" who were "dependent on government," so his sudden concern for the poor could prove a tough sell to voters. Perhaps more promisingly, though, he also plans to market himself as a foreign policy hawk. Aides to Romney said on Monday that current events had vindicated the former governor's prediction three years ago about the threat posed by Russia. In a field likely to be stacked with new faces, Romney's foreign policy views could give his third-time candidacy a fresh spin.
The same is true for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, another candidate who plans to rebrand himself as a populist in 2016. Best known to voters as a conservative culture warrior, Santorum got a boost in 2012 after winning the Iowa caucuses, though he struggled to connect with voters outside that state. He appears to be trying to remedy that problem with his 2014 book, Blue Collar Conservatives. In the book, Santorum skewers the GOP for failing to understand working-class people. He also lays out his plan for a "pro-growth, pro-worker agenda," a jobs plan that is based mostly on increased drilling, mining and fracking.
Like Santorum, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has proven in the past that he can win over socially conservative voters, but has accomplished relatively little beyond that. In recent months, Baptist preacher-turned-politician has been sharpening his own populist message, which he sets out in his forthcoming book, God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy. The book diagnoses the GOP with a severe case of elitism and a "seeming indifference to the struggling class." Huckabee also fans the flames of the culture wars, wagging his finger at Hollywood starlets and criticizing racy song lyrics. Still, he remains folksy and likable, traits that are especially important in a primary.
On the question of personality, there is no bigger wildcard in the race than retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, whose rags-to-riches life story and anti-government rhetoric have helped to make him a conservative darling and a likely 2016 longshot contender. Given that Carson lacks any political experience, his message so far has tended to focus on what's wrong with the world, or with Americans, or with government, or with the media. Speaking at a Republican National Committee retreat in California on Thursday, Carson told the crowd that his perceived liability was in fact an asset: "I will admit, I do not have experience in certain things, like empowering special interests and growing the government and wasting taxpayer money and dishonoring our military and deserting our allies and lying to the people and submitting to the [political-correctness] police."
As Carson struggles to craft a campaign message out of his lack of experience, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has the opposite problem: a governing record that, after five years in office, is so mixed that it's nearly impossible to boil down into a single theme. After winning nationwide praise for his handling of Hurricane Sandy in 2013, Christie's political star began falling thanks to a string of casino closings, a budget shortfall and an ongoing ethics investigation. Nonetheless, on Tuesday Christie delivered a "State of the State" address that read like a preview of his 2016 presidential campaign. He spoke of "a divisiveness and distrust [that] has seeped into our communities and neighborhoods," and he called for "a New Jersey renewal and an American renewal." Christie also took a few swipes at Washington gridlock, railing against those "leaders in Washington [who ... ] stoke division for their own political gain."
Even with a strong record of governing under his belt, though, Perry still needs to overcome the ghosts of his failed previous bid for the GOP nomination. The same is true for Romney, Santorum and Huckabee, the three other repeat candidates likely to enter the 2016 race. While they may have more experience than their rivals in managing a huge national campaign, all four run the risk that voters' enthusiasm for them will be dampened by political déjà vu.
Furthermore, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a relative newcomer on the national stage, signaled on Thursday night that he intends to make voter fatigue an issue in the primary. Speaking at the same RNC meeting that Carson had addressed earlier that day, Walker told the crowd that "people want a fresh, new look [and] new ideas" from the GOP. He urged the party to "find a new, fresh leader out there who can take big bold ideas" from state governments and grassroots advocates, and implement those ideas on a national scale.
Walker also heaped blame on Washington in much the same way that Christie and Perry did -- with one key difference. For the Wisconsin governor, Washington is synonymous with the "big-government special interests" who led a recall effort against him in 2013. After a bitter and polarizing fight, Walker won the recall vote, but after that he abandoned any pretext of being nonpartisan. He peppered his speech on Thursday with stories about his past political fights with unions and state employees, and emphasized the way he "took the power out of the hands of the big-government special interests." | 0fake |
EXPLODING AFRICAN REFUGEE POPULATION STRESSING WELFARE SYSTEM IN MINNESOTA Are Sending Millions Of Dollars Back To Africa | It s not just the our open southern borders we need to be concerned about. It s our State Department who seems to be hell-bent on populating our states with refugees from mostly muslim nations in Africa and the Middle East.This is one of those feel-good stories about how Minnesota is such a wonderful state with its ever-expanding African migrant population. If you are a Minnesotan it s probably a good thing to read.However, I caution readers on the numbers. The TwinCities Pioneer Press reports that there are about 85,000 Somalis in the whole US and that just isn t so the number is much larger. We painstakingly researched the numbers for just those entering the US through the refugee program and came up with over 100,000 in the last 25 years and that doesn t include a couple generations now of producing children. See this early post.You will see mention in the story that when census takers come around, the Africans are less than truthful about how many are living at the location.From TwinCities Pioneer Press:Of the 50 states, Minnesota has the ninth-largest population of African immigrants. About 60 percent come from East African nations such as Somalia and Ethiopia, and 25 percent from West African nations such as Nigeria and Liberia. The rest come from elsewhere in Africa.Of more than 85,700 Somalis officially known to reside in the U.S., nearly a third are thought to reside in Minnesota.Corrie, a professor at Concordia University in St. Paul, believes the state s African population produces $14 million in philanthropy within Minnesota each year, on top of $150 million in annual remittances to countries in Africa.I don t know why this is considered a good thing sending money out of America that will never benefit our economy!Some of the smart people on our side should get to work doing studies that will show the real picture including how much welfare is consumed by the immigrants, how costly is their medical care and education, the cost to the criminal justice system, and include an analysis of where the money goes!I m starting to think that glowing reports about how immigrants benefit the local economy include the money flowing into a state like Minnesota from the federal tax payer via welfare programs. Someone needs to find out!By the way, I don t see any mention in the Pioneer Press story about the fact that half of the state s Somalis live in poverty, here. Via: Refugee Resettlement WatchThe State Department has helped to relocate tens of thousands of refugees from the war-torn African nation of Somalia to Minnesota, where they can take advantage of some of America s most generous welfare and charity programs.But the effort is having the unintended consequence of creating an enclave of immigrants with high unemployment that is both stressing the state s safety net and creating a rich pool of potential recruiting targets for Islamist terror groups. Via: Washington Times | 1real |
U.S. officials: No known threat in wake of Paris attack | U.S. authorities said Friday there is no known threat to the American homeland in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in Paris, but cities across the country were taking precautions while intelligence officials expressed alarm over the methodology and planning that was evident behind the terrorist acts.
More than 120 people were killed when a series of apparently coordinated shootings and explosions rocked Paris, which officials said evoked memories of the deadly 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India.
"The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are closely monitoring events in Paris and we are in contact with our counterparts in the region," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. "At this time, we know of no specific or credible threats of an attack on the U.S. homeland of the type that occurred in Paris tonight."
It is still unclear who was behind the attacks. One U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN that the attacks resemble tactics that have been used by a number of terror groups -- including al Qaeda's focus on mass casualty and visibility, and the small, tactical nature of attacks that are more the hallmark of ISIS and its acolytes.
The official noted that Algerian terrorist groups have attacked in Paris in the past, though they don't have much capability to do what unfolded in Paris. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are still trying to determine if there are any U.S. connections with the terrorists or the victims and are working with their French counterparts to ensure there are no immediate threats to the U.S. Two additional U.S. counterterrorism officials told CNN that authorities across the U.S. have convened secure conference calls to try and gather information. And a federal law enforcement official said federal authorities are working with local police agencies around the country to task sources domestically and internationally for information about any individuals possibly associated with the attacks. They're also going back to look at whether there was any intelligence missed indicating these attacks were going to happen, the law enforcement official said, adding that the FBI is also putting additional personnel on standby to be deployed to France to offer any support such as bomb technicians and computer analysts. President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, second from right, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo arrive at the Bataclan, site of one of the Paris terrorists attacks, to pay their respects to the victims after Obama arrived in town for the COP21 climate change conference early on Monday, November 30, in Paris. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is illuminated in the French national colors on Monday, November 16. Displays of support for the French people were evident at landmarks around the globe after the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, November 13. People hold hands as they observe a minute of silence in Lyon, France, on November 16, three days after the Paris attacks. A minute of silence was observed throughout the country in memory of the victims of the country's deadliest violence since World War II. French President Francois Hollande, center, flanked by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, right, and French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, center left, stands among students during a minute of silence in the courtyard of the Sorbonne University in Paris on November 16. A large crowd gathers to lay flowers and candles in front of the Carillon restaurant in Paris on Sunday, November 15. A man sits next to candles lit as homage to the victims of the deadly attacks in Paris at a square in Rio de Janeiro on November 15. People light candles in tribute to the Paris victims on November 15 in Budapest, Hungary. People gather outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on November 15 for a national service for the victims of the city's terror attacks. People write messages on the ground at Place de la Republique in Paris on November 15. People pray during a candlelight vigil for victims of the Paris attacks at a church in Islamabad, Pakistan, on November 15. French golfer Gregory Bourdy passes a peace symbol for the Paris victims during the BMW Shanghai Masters tournament November 15 in Shanghai, China. A man offers a prayer in memory of victims of the Paris attacks at the French Embassy in Tokyo on November 15. A woman holds a candle atop a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower during a candlelight vigil Saturday, November 14, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Front pages of Japanese newspapers in Tokyo show coverage and photos of the Paris attacks on November 14. An electronic billboard on a canal in Milan, Italy reads, in French, "I'm Paris," on November 14. The Eiffel Tower stands dark as a mourning gesture on November 14, in Paris. More than 125 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris on Friday. People around the world reacted in horror to the deadly terrorist assaults. Lithuanians hold a candlelight vigil in front of the French Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on November 14. Thousands gather in London's Trafalgar Square for a candlelit vigil on November 14 to honor the victims of the Paris attacks. A woman lights candles at a memorial near the Bataclan theater in Paris on November 14. A man places a candle in front of Le Carillon cafe in Paris on November 14. A woman holds a French flag during a gathering in Stockholm, Sweden, on November 14. Nancy Acevedo prays for France during the opening prayer for the Sunshine Summit being held at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida on November 14. French soldiers of the United Nations' interim forces in Lebanon observe the national flag at half-staff at the contingent headquarters in the village of Deir Kifa on November 14. A couple surveys the signature sails of the Sydney Opera House lit in the colors of the French flag in Sydney on November 14. A woman places flowers in front of the French Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 14. Candles are lit in Hong Kong on November 14 to remember the scores who died in France. A woman lights a candle outside the French Consulate in Barcelona, Spain, on November 14. Britain's Prince Charles expresses solidarity with France at a birthday barbecue in his honor near Perth, Australia, on November 14. The French national flag flutters at half-staff on November 14 at its embassy in Beijing. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte after a speech on November 14 in The Hague following the attacks. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe becomes emotional after his speech on the French attacks during the opening ceremony of a Japanese garden in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 14. A woman mourns outside Le Carillon bar in the 10th district of Paris on November 14. The attackers ruthlessly sought out soft targets where people were getting their weekends underway. People lay flowers outside the French Embassy in Moscow on November 14. Mourners gather outside Le Carillon bar in the 10th district of Paris on November 14. "We were listening to music when we heard what we thought were the sounds of firecrackers," a doctor from a nearby hospital who was drinking in the bar with colleagues told Le Monde. "A few moments later, it was a scene straight out of a war. Blood everywhere." People attend a vigil outside the French Consulate in Montreal. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered "all of Canada's support" to France on Friday, November 13, in the wake of the attacks. Police show a heightened presence in Times Square in New York on November 13, following the terrorist attacks in Paris. People light candles at a vigil outside the French Consulate in Montreal on November 13. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, fans observe a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris before a basketball game November 13. The house lights are shut off and scoreboard dark as Boston Celtics players pause for a moment of silence for the Paris victims before an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks in Boston on November 13. People light candles at a vigil outside the French Consulate in Montreal on November 13. One of the primary reasons for alarm among U.S. counterterrorism officials is the lack of relevant intelligence before the attacks began. Intelligence agencies are looking at communications intercepts for clues as to any advanced planning or coordination, a U.S. intelligence official said. The U.S. collects overseas communications in Europe and elsewhere, and in the past, such reviews have uncovered emails and other communications that show planning, the intelligence official added. Local police departments moved quickly to place units on extra alert. In Los Angeles, extra police were deployed at critical sites like airports. In Washington, enhanced patrols were sent near the Capitol. In New York City, the New York Police Department was giving special attention and increasing its presence at soft targets such as nightclubs, theaters and museums, along with locations tied to France, another federal law enforcement official said. Authorities are also scrutinizing known terror suspects in the U.S. and boosting surveillance of them, the law enforcement officials said. "We will not hesitate to adjust our security posture, as appropriate, to protect the American people," an FBI spokesperson said in a statement. "DHS and the FBI routinely share information with our state, local, federal and international law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security partners, and continually evaluate the level of protection we provide at federal facilities." Sign up for CNN Politics' Nightcap newsletter, serving up today's best and tomorrow's essentials in politics. | 0fake |
Learn The FACTS About What The FBI Is Saying Concerning Hillary’s Emails; Trump LYING (DETAILS) | The media everywhere seems to be jumping on the new revelation of Hillary Clinton s emails without actually reading what was written by FBI Director James Comey.While Donald Trump, alongside pretty much every mainstream media branch, is saying that the FBI is reopening the investigation, that s not at all what was written.Comey, doing his due diligence and informing Congress that new emails had been discovered, sent the following letter: In previous congressional testimony, I referred to the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had completed its investigation of former Secretary Clinton s personal email server. Due to recent developments, I am writing to supplement my previous testimony. Note the word supplement. He continued: In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that they FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to out investigation. In other words, they are looking at them to determine if they should include them in the previous investigation. Which is solidified with this next point: Although the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work, I believe it is important to update your Committees about our efforts in light of my previous testimony. In other words, Comey is being completely transparent as the emails are looked at, but he never said the investigation is being reopened. Rather, the additional emails that were found are being assessed to see if they need to be subject to further scrutiny.In addition:BREAKING: US official: Newly discovered emails related to Clinton investigation did not come from her private server. The Associated Press (@AP) October 28, 2016Pete Williams has sources saying not about Clinton world w/holding emails. Not about Podesta emails. Not emails from Clinton. Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) October 28, 2016It s really disappointing to see the lack of reading comprehension in the media that thus gave Trump the go-ahead to use a new attack line that is built purely from hyperbolic fabrication.No, this is not Trump s October surprise but rather an over-reaction to someone actually showing the government can do its job.Watch Pete Williams be the person to actually explain the story with facts: NBC s Pete Williams: Sr. officials say During separate investigation a device led to add'l emails not from Clinton https://t.co/QmmNoxXhOx Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) October 28, 2016Featured Photo by Joe Raedle via Getty Images | 1real |
YOU’RE FIRED! MITT ROMNEY’S NIECE Tells MI GOP Grassroots Chair And Former Ted Cruz State Director…Get Behind Trump Or Get Lost | Some of the most divisive, partisan politics can be found within the Republican party itself. The media is in collusion with the Democrats who are unanimously supporting woman who should ve been in prison decades ago. Every day a new revelation is made about the criminality of Hillary Clinton and those who surround her. Meanwhile, we ve got people like MI Grassroots Vice Chair Wendy Day talking about voting her conscience. Guess what Wendy the next 3 or 4 leftist Supreme Court Justices won t care about your conscience Wendy Day, a grassroots vice chair with the Michigan Republican Party, recently announced that she is unable to endorse Republican Donald Trump for president a decision that has cost her the position with the state party.Michigan Republican Party Grassroots Vice Chair Wendy Day was removed from her office on Monday after voicing opposition to Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump.Michigan Republican Party Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel on Monday responded by declaring the seat vacant. Day occupied one of just 12 positions in the party that required officeholders to support nominees chosen by the voters, Romney-McDaniel said in an email to State Committee members on Monday. Upon seeking advice from our legal counsel, and recognizing that our Grassroots Vice Chair is unable to fulfill the duties of her office, I am declaring the position of Grassroots Vice Chair vacant, Romney McDaniel said. This has been one of the more difficult decisions I have made as Chair. Wendy is my friend, Romney McDaniel added. I want to thank Wendy for her service and leadership to our party and know that she will continue to be a strong leader in the Republican Party. In coming to this decision, I applied the rule as if the nominee were Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rick Snyder, or any other Republican Party nominee. Romney McDaniel had offered day the chance to support Trump or step down, but Day declined to resign in letter to Romney McDaniel posted publicly on social media earlier Monday. In the letter Day said she sees her decision to not endorse Trump as a matter of conscience. In a letter to Romney McDaniel which Day posted publicly on social media Monday, Day said she sees her decision to not endorse Trump as a matter of conscience. MLive | 1real |
LOL! ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES HILLARY Perfectly Appears Behind Her At Rally…She’s Not Going To Like It! | Most sane Americans are gonna love it!h/t Weasel Zippers | 1real |
WATCH: Adviser Who Wrote Trump’s Tax Plan Says You Will Be Able To Buy A NEW Car For $1,000 | Gary Cohn, a Goldman Sachs recruit, now serving as Trump s White House economic adviser and has assets worth $252 million to $611 million, says that under the former reality show star s tax plan you can buy a brand new car for $1,000, but that s not all, folks, In addition to that, you can renovate your entire kitchen for $1,000. And you can buy a UNICORN for just five bucks, and all because Trump is the best person ever!Cohn took the podium to tell voters about all of this good news which has to be for real because Trump is going to MAGA so hard, you ll also be able to take your family on a vacation for $1,000. Are you getting goosebumps, too? If we allow a family to keep another $1,000, they can renovate their kitchen, they can buy a new car, they can take a family vacation, Cohn said.Maybe Cohn meant you can take your family on a vacay in your basement for $1,000. As for the brand new car and the renovated kitchen, I got nothin .Watch:That time when Gary Cohn who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars says a kitchen renovation costs $1K. Yea.pic.twitter.com/zFn4jtHIoy Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) September 28, 2017The Internet was not buying it, probably because Mr. Goldman Sachs just told a big fat lie.#1000DollarKitchen pic.twitter.com/g0jNlknPVo Adil (@AdilG) September 28, 2017Lol Gary Cohn thinks you can buy a car for $1,000 Militia Etheridge (@MaryEmilyOHara) September 28, 2017"Gary Cohn" Just ordered my $1,000 Cohn car. pic.twitter.com/m7MEWpXHJq Oracle (@TruePolTalk) September 28, 2017"What does $1,000 mean? I means they can renovate their kitchen. They can buy a new car." Gary Cohn, who apparently shops in the year 1922 Shane Morris (@IamShaneMorris) September 28, 2017Gary Cohn says families can 'renovate their kitchen, buy a new car' with $1,000 in tax savings pic.twitter.com/pXEaQKxAHf Michelle Ye Hee Lee (@myhlee) September 28, 2017The car you might be able to buy with that $1,000 Gary Cohn mentioned. pic.twitter.com/B5XQE9y4Mh Cornelia (@PaladinCornelia) September 28, 2017Trump, his family members, and his Goldman Sachs alumni-filled White House would benefit greatly from his tax plan. People just like Gary Cohn. In fact, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the top 1 percent of Americans would get half of the tax cuts under Trump s plan. By eliminating the estate tax, the plan would benefit Trump, his family, and other wealthy Americans. So, now we know why Trump was so vague during his short speech in Indiana on Wednesday.We re wondering what Mr. Fancy Pants thinks a new house costs. By the way, the estimated average transaction price of a new car or truck in 2015 was $33,560. We re sure that s higher now. Mr. Cohn was only off by $32,560. He was soooo close. Missed it by that much! The average cost to renovate a kitchen is actually $21,797. According to American Express, the average vacation expense per person in the United States is $1,145, or $4,580 for a family of four.Image via screen capture. | 1real |
DISTURBING TRUTH ABOUT How The UN Decides Which Muslim “REFUGEES” Will Be Your New Neighbor [VIDEO] | Every American should know the corrupt UN has been, and will continue to be, the one organization who decides which Muslim refugees will be flooding your hometown Who picks the Syrian refugees that resettle in the U.S.? Homeland Security? No, the United Nations, in concert with a global Islamist group. And they re sending more than 15,000, not the widely reported 10,000.In fact, Washington has no role in selecting the thousands of Syrian refugees coming to your hometown. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is really behind the effort, and he s referred an additional 5,000-plus Syrian nationals here.A new State Department report reveals that the U.S. already has accepted at least 15,000 Syrian refugee referrals from the UNHCR. The United States is one of 28 countries that have agreed to accept referrals from UNHCR as part of its ambitious international effort to secure permanent or temporary resettlement for 130,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016, the State Department said in Proposed Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2016. As of mid-2015, UNHCR has referred more than 15,000 Syrian refugees to the United States, the 71-page report adds. And these individuals are being screened to determine whether they are eligible. Of course, that security screening is a joke, as the FBI director and his top counterterrorism aide, as well as the Homeland Security and National Intelligence chiefs, have all testified.State notes in its report that security checks include biographic name checks for all refugee applicants and biometric (fingerprint) checks for refugee applicants. Only Syria is a failed state, and there are no fingerprint databases to check applicants against.The Islamic State has publicly vowed to use the refugee program to invade Europe and America, and allegedly has already infiltrated some 4,000 warriors among the flood of Syrian refugees.The Obama administration insists that it will catch any terrorist infiltrators through its interviewing process.But, the State Department report said, In some countries, such as Syria, Yemen and Eritrea, Department of Homeland Security adjudicators have been unable to travel to interview applicants for several years. That s not all. The UNHCR is working hand in hand with an international Islamist group of 57 Muslim nations the Organization of Islamic Cooperation whose founding charter seeks to propagate legitimate jihad and the norms of Islamic Shari ah. Saudi-based OIC, in fact, is tied to the radical Muslim Brotherhood. We are delighted to work with the OIC, said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.So it s really the U.N. and radical Islamists who are choosing your new Muslim neighbors.While the U.N. calls its project refugee resettlement, the Islamists call it hijra, or immigration jihad. Via: IBD | 1real |
Morning Joe HAMMERS Republicans For Sucking Up To Putin (VIDEO) | To be a Republican these days, one apparently needs to kiss Russian President Vladimir Putin s ass as well as Donald Trump s.On Wednesday, GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher defended Putin s human rights record by pretending that Russia has not committed any human rights violations under Putin s reign, which is total bullshit.Russia s treatment of the LGBT community alone is enough to make the world cringe in horror, but for some reason Republicans are big fans of what Russia is doing.Russia even committed espionage against our country by hacking into our election system and the DNC, but again, Republicans seem to think this is just fine and not a big deal at all.Russia has also made aggressive military moves toward Europe and seized the Crimea from Ukraine.Clearly, Russia is no friend of ours not is Russia a friend to our allies, but Republicans are apparently enamored with Putin. And that very much concerns Joe Scarborough, who hilariously took Republicans to task on Thursday morning for being infatuated with him. Putin s a guy that assassinates journalists, Scarborough pointed out on Morning Joe. He s the guy that shoots down in front of the Kremlin! political opponents. He s the guy that locks political opponents into jail for years. And then he ripped Rohrabacher and the other Republicans who love Putin. I don t understand, he was always a conservative s conservative. Are you a RINO if you don t have pictures of Putin on the wall shirtless, and go up and pray to him every night? Rohrabacher s defense of Putin is even scarier because Donald Trump is seriously considering him for Secretary of State, which would likely make Russia very happy because it means their hope for a puppet in the White House is becoming reality.Here s the video via Twitter.Rep. Rohrabacher asks @biannagolodryga: Where do you come from? #morningjoe panel flabbergasted by his remarks https://t.co/kTzTatVBvk Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) December 8, 2016By aligning themselves with Russia, Republicans are selling out the United States and abandoning American values. They should be ashamed of themselves for defending a man who is basically a dictator and they should be worried that Donald Trump admires Putin. Trump is already threatening journalists and satirical shows that criticize or make fun of him. He is already stacking his cabinet with generals, which sends the message that Trump intends to rely on military power instead of diplomacy. And he has made it clear that he doesn t care about the rights of minorities. So Trump is a Putin in the making and Republicans are lining up to kiss his ass by kissing Putin s.Featured Image: Photo of Donald Trump by Joe Raedle/Getty Images. Photo of Vladimir Putin by Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images | 1real |
Republican Ted Cruz releases four years of tax returns | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz released four years of his and wife Heidi’s tax returns on Saturday, ranging from 2011-2014, showing $389,124 taxes paid on $1.2 million in 2014. Cruz’s filings follow a similar release of returns on Saturday by rival Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida. Both campaigns called on billionaire businessman and Republican front-runner Donald Trump to make his returns public, too. (Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Mary Milliken) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 0fake |
Obama's TPP deal won't get Senate vote this year: McConnell | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that the Senate will not vote on President Barack Obama’s signature Asian trade deal this year, punting it to the next president for changes and consideration. The statement appeared to dash White House hopes for a vote to approve the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement after the Nov. 8 election and before Obama leaves office in January. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican who controls the Senate’s voting agenda, has previously said that chances for a TPP “lame duck session” vote were “slim” or “bleak.” “The current agreement, the Trans-Pacific (Partnership) agreement, which has some serious flaws, will not be acted upon this year,” McConnell told a Kentucky State Farm Bureau breakfast in Louisville. “But it will still be around. It can be massaged, changed, worked on during the next administration. So, I hope America will stay in the trade business,” McConnell said. The Obama administration is in the midst of a major push to promote the TPP deal, with cabinet officials holding dozens of events this month across the United States to try to build political support. Obama is expected to tout the TPP in the next two weeks at summits of the Group of 20 major economies in China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos. A spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office could not immediately be reached for comment on McConnell’s statement. A number of senators in recent weeks have declared their opposition to the TPP deal in its current form, including Democrat Tim Kaine of Virginia, who is now the party’s vice presidential candidate alongside Hillary Clinton. Republican Senator Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is in a tough re-election race in a state hit by manufacturing job losses, has also said he cannot support the deal. Support for the TPP deal has been stronger in farming states, where proponents argue that it would boost exports of agricultural products. Clinton has said she would seek to renegotiate the trade deal if elected and has criticized its lack of enforceable provisions to prevent currency manipulation. Her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has said that he will not pursue multilateral trade deals, only bilateral deals. McConnell said that he hopes the United States will continue its tradition as a trading nation since its founding, adding: “To do that, it’s going to have to be done on a bipartisan basis.” Earlier this month, House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said he saw no point in bringing up the TPP deal for a vote in any “lame duck” session of Congress later this year because “we don’t have the votes.” | 0fake |
Crony Media Have Permanently Disgraced Themselves - Patriot Rising | Posted 11/15/2016 9:23 am by PatriotRising with 0 comments
Americans have been to the polls. Everything is over but the shouting — by the loser, that is honest Hil. I predicted that the best Trump could have hoped for was winning the popular vote but losing the Electoral College but I got it wrong: the Donald has triumphed. An underfunded campaign — he spent barely half of what she did — with a skeletal crew and without the party’s full backing won out because not all of America agrees with the values of Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Springsteen, Hollywood in general and gay marriage in particular.
Trump appealed to those who have been snubbed, the great ignored. They are mainly blue-collar whites who had long been belittled and overlooked by the media until suddenly their knight in a shiny gold Cadillac appeared. In a rare moment of openness, Hillary described these people as ‘deplorable’. Basically, Trump’s message was that to embrace extremism was to acknowledge the danger in absolute terms: no more Muslims coming in, no more Nafta, a wall to stop Mexicans, and so on. Even more profoundly, even nice, unsophisticated Americans wondered why Hillary or Obama had been so squeamish about calling a spade a spade, i.e., radical Islamic terrorism. As a Trump follower wrote, ‘Moderation in the pursuit of evil is no virtue.
Imperfect as Trump was a candidate, his enemies are the very same people who are shocked (in the manner of Captain Renault) by the ignorance of hoi polloi, and who decided long ago that these people are not to be trusted. You know the kind: Beltway insiders, media pundits, academics, policy professionals, Hollywood types, fashion elites, TV celebrities, professional race hustlers, gay activists; you name what’s in the news nowadays, they were against the Donald. They are part of the arrangement. Their European counterparts are in the EU, and among the Remainers.
If one had to slice it down even further, this election was basically the politically correct versus the politically incorrect. Although blue collars may not sound too sophisticated to snotty-nosed Beltway insiders, the blues know that this is no longer a war between nation states but a fight between civilizations: Islam and the West. An American president with an IQ lower than his younger daughter’s age invaded the Middle East, claiming that the region would welcome having American values imposed upon it. Hillary voted for that disastrous action; Trump was against it from the start. Americans see Europe and cringe. They see ‘Frenchmen’ cheering as their white countrymen are murdered in cold blood by Muslims and realize that this is a war fought by immigration. They put two and two together and calculate that in 100 years there will be more Muslims in Europe than white European Christians and that Sharia law will be imposed from above. And they also see a Dutch MP on trial for speaking against unlimited immigration, an MP, incidentally, who was refused entry to the UK for being right-wing, whatever that means.
One political philosopher at Oxford asked, ‘What gives a country the right to control its borders?’ Well, I’m asking who gave his mother the right to give birth to such a moron, but then not everyone is as rude as yours truly. And then, of course, the R-word comes into it. That’s what the election was and will be all about in the near future. Race is to America what immigration is to Europe: the large pachyderm crowding everyone out of the chic drawing-room in Chelsea.
Whites choose to live, as do blacks, among their own — if they have the choice. Churches self-segregate and whites flee to the suburbs once blacks move in next door. The elites, however, call this racism, although they would not dream of living next to a black family unless they were the Obamas, and then some. And as more and more Africans move to the States, there are more and more natives who feel a kind of cultural dispossession and a belief that Uncle Sam cannot thrive as an increasingly multiracial nation. Those who feel this way have been X-rated by the elites, and are called racists, homophobes, sexists, xenophobes and morally deformed. These people found a champion in Trump.
And now a word about the fourth estate: I knew the fix was in long ago — never have the media been as incapable of separating fact from fiction and truth be damned — but when Vogue came out slamming Trump, I almost pissed in my St Laurent silk underwear. Never before have so many news outlets abandoned all pretence of fairness in reporting an election. Never before have newspapers — with the exception of the New York Times , which always mixes reporting news with editorialising — allowed reporters to express their opinions in so-called news stories. And the TV reportage was just as bad. You know the kind of thing: the pursed lips and air of healthy scepticism when it came to anything resembling a pro-Trump comment; the head tilt of doubt in response to any Trump announcement; the look of outraged authority when anyone defended Trump. The ones I found amusing were the lightweights of Vogue , those narcissistic onanists who somehow viewed Trump as an American version of Brexit. His hair and make-up was an affront to their preening self-importance. They minced their way to Hillary.
But the Donald has won and, best of all, the New York Times , the Washington Post , the New Yorker and the three main networks have once and for all disgraced themselves by proving they have no idea what this country is about. Yippee!
| 1real |
WHOA! BEN CARSON Just Made Most Controversial Remarks Of His Entire Campaign | Will his comments about Barack Obama race help or hurt his campaign? Do you agree with Carson? Do you think Obama used all of the privileges afforded to him by his white mother and grandparents, then used his victim card to gain support from black voters?Barack Obama was raised white , Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has claimed.Mr Carson said the president could not understand the African-American experience the way he could.Mr Obama was born to a white American mother and a black Kenyan father. Mr Carson s parents are African-American.The comments by Mr Carson a retired neurosurgeon who finished last in South Carolina s primary were criticised as loose talk by another Republican. He s an African American. He was, you know, raised white, Mr Carson told a Politico podcast on Tuesday. Many of his formative years were spent in Indonesia. So, for him to, you know, claim that, you know, he identifies with the experience of black Americans, I think, is a bit of a stretch. But I also recognise that his experience and my experience are night-and-day different. He didn t grow up like I grew up by any stretch of the imagination, he said.The 64-year-old had a poor upbringing in Detroit but made it to Yale before a brilliant career as a neurosurgeon.But he has been struggling in the Republican nomination race and finished sixth out of six in South Carolina at the weekend.Via:BBC | 1real |
‘Tehran’ Tom Cotton Insults U.S. Troops, Tries To Spark War With Iran In Disgraceful Interview (VIDEO) | Nobody has spent more of his political career trying to undermine his own government than Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK). The Tea Party Republican most known for his borderline treasonous letter he sent to Iran in a shameful attempt to derail sensitive nuclear negotiations between President Obama and Iran s government. His ravings failed to accomplish anything and in recent months he s been relegated to the obscurity he deserves. Until now.On the night of the State of the Union, Cotton went on CNN s Situation Room to openly and egregiously spread lies about President Obama, even while a difficult situation was unfolding in Iran. On Tuesday evening, the Navy announced that two of its ships, and 10 U.S. sailors, were being held by the Iranian government after the boats floated into the country s territory.Conservatives rapidly lost their minds, even while details continued to come in suggesting the international incident was minor and, in all likelihood, harmless.The Americans were on a training mission in the Persian Gulf when the riverine boats experienced a navigational or mechanical difficulty and appear to have drifted into Iranian waters, according to the Pentagon. Iranian Coast Guard boats brought the vessels to a Revolutionary Guard base on Farsi Island, officials said.U.S. officials said they believe that craft steered off course and that the crew was aided, not captured, by Iranian forces. There doesn t seem to be anything malicious at work on either side, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal assessment.Iran said it was working on releasing the crew members promptly. No big deal, right? In fact, the very lack of hostilities supports the idea that the tensions between the United States and Iran is cooling off, thanks to President Obama s commitment to negotiations.Not as Sen. Cotton tells it. Speaking straight into the camera, Cotton spews lie after lie. His only agenda, to hurt the president s reputation and provoke a hostile response from Iran.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3j8cFq6vUU]In labeling the ships captured and the crew held hostage, Cotton is viciously lying about the troops. They weren t taken by force. They aren t gagged and bound somewhere in enemy territory. Their boat experienced difficulties and they were rescued by Iranian ships. They never surrendered. The United States was never asked to apologize to the Iranians.But by fear-mongering to score political points, Cotton does risk inflaming tensions. Not that the lives of these men and women register in the deep, dark cavity where Cotton s brain allegedly lives. It s clear that even waiting until the sailors are safely out of Iran is too much to ask for a Republican who is hell-bent on painting the Middle Eastern country as a dangerous enemy.As usual, American soldiers are being used by a Republican to serve his agenda. Secretary of State John Kerry couldn t do an interview with CNN, even if it might have helped Democrats in the polls, he was too busy talking personally with Iranian officials, coordinating the release of these soldiers.So going into tonight s State of the Union, where rhetoric on both sides will be high, ask yourself this: Which politician supports the troops more? The one who uses them as bargaining chips to lie his way into better poll numbers or the one who spent the last few hours making sure they get home safely.Feature image via YouTube | 1real |
Chinese Communist Wants to Own Hollywood Studio | Email
Vladimir Lenin, the first dictator of the Soviet Union, said “the motion picture” was the most important art form for spreading communism to other countries. And his successor, the murderous dictator Joseph Stalin, is reported to have predicted he could convert the whole world to communism if he was given control of the American movie industry.
In 1935, the cultural commissioner of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), V.J. Jerome, planted a branch of the party in Hollywood, and went to work to use the industry to advance the cause. The Soviet-backed communists recruited actors, directors, and writers to the cause, and eventually did battle with the studio owners in labor strikes.
But now, Chinese communists have surpassed their Russian comrades, and they aren’t bothering with recruiting “lowly” actors, directors, and writers to advance Chinese communism; they are looking to buy theater chains and movie studios.
In fact, they purchased AMC Entertainment Holdings back in 2012, gaining control over hundreds of cinemas in 30 U.S. states, and at least five other nations. It is the world’s largest operator of I-MAX and 3D screens.
Now, Chinese company Wanda Group, which took over AMC, wants to obtain at least one American studio, and invest in several others.
Much of the American media have referred to Wanda as a “private company,” run by multibillionaire Wang Jianlin (shown). But most media outlets neglect to mention Wang is a high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party, and the company is actually owned by the Chinese communist government. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, “Dalian Wanda Group Corporation Ltd. Operates as a subsidiary of China National United Oil Corporation, Ltd.” Known as “China Oil,” it is in turn owned and controlled directly by the communist regime through two other state-owned companies — the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Sinochem Corporation.
Wang is regarded as China’s wealthiest man. While rarely watching movies himself, he has strong interest in the American motion picture industry. He made a $3.5 billion deal for distribution with Legendary Entertainment, located in Burbank, California; is poised to obtain Dick Clark Productions in a $1 billion acquisition; and is presently building the world’s largest film studio in China at a price tag of $8.2 billion.
But he wants an American movie studio, expressing special interest in obtaining a majority ownership of Paramount. Until he can wrest control of one studio, he has established an investment fund to buy shares in all six major Hollywood studios.
“I want to acquire one of the big six, but whether we can is a different story — it’s uncertain,” Wang admits. “We will continue to work on a potential acquisition. But it won’t hurt to start by doing what we can. Participating via investment seems like a wise choice for the time being.”
Wang was recently honored at a Hollywood banquet at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Studio executives from Sony, Lionsgate, Universal, and Warner Brothers all attended, along with movie stars such as Harrison Ford.
The move by Wang and the Chinese government to gain such clout in the industry has caused concern in Congress. Sixteen members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office in September, asking for them to scrutinize Chinese purchases of American entertainment companies as a national security concern. The letter mentioned Chinese efforts to “censor topics and exert propaganda controls on American media”
Because of the sheer size of the Chinese movie market, among other reasons, the industry has already shown extreme caution not to offend the communist giant. For example, when the 1980s movie Red Dawn was re-made, the original script called for the invaders to be Chinese communists rather than Russian communists attempting to take over America. After the film had already been made, MGM became concerned enough to make the invaders North Koreans .
And that was a year before Wanda took over AMC.
Stanley Rosen, a political science professor at USC, contends that Hollywood “is already altering their films to make them China-friendly — or at least China-neutral — to gain market access there.” He argues that Wanda doesn’t need to buy studios to change things all that much.
Wang recently addressed some of the concerns about his company’s investments in the movie industry. He blames the criticism to the current presidential election campaign, and said he did not believe it represents the “mainstream” of America. “With the general election as the backdrop, voices against China, or Chinese enterprises, will certainly attract attention.”
When asked for his views on Donald Trump, Wang allowed that Trump had been somewhat successful as a businessman, but that he was just not in the same league with America’s “real mega-rich,” citing Bill Gates as an example. He is withholding judgment of Trump as a politician until after the election.
Wang was born in 1954 to parents who were in the Red Army of Mao Tse-tung. His formal schooling came to an abrupt halt when Mao ended China’s education system in 1966. At that point, Mao gave the Chinese two choices, “We could go to the rural areas and participate in farming or become a soldier.” Because of his parents’ past service in the People’s Liberation Army, he chose a military life.
He recalled a 745-mile march during a period of time when the temperatures were below zero. “I remember once when we had to march for three days and three nights nonstop. A lot of people just slept while marching.” The troops formed three rows so that a soldier could grab the backpack of the soldier in front of him. That way, only the leader kept his eyes open as the rest trudged along behind him.
“I saw one person in the next row fall off a cliff from walking with his eyes closed.”
After 16 years in the PLA, he was assigned a provincial government post. Then, in 1988, he became the manager of a government-owned real estate company that was deeply in debt. Wang turned the company around, and the company was re-named Wanda in the early '90s. Today, Wanda Group employees 130,000.
Wang is a tough task-master. Employees who violate the company’s strict dress code are fined, and sometimes fired. All employees, even the top executives, are required to punch in and punch out.
Over the years, as the Chinese government-run industries have become wealthier by selling cheap goods made with what is essentially slave labor, they have bought up natural resources around the world, especially in Africa and Latin America. Now, the regime is moving to purchase Western businesses, including computers and technology, banks, agriculture, and automobiles.
But the propaganda opportunities in the motion picture industry far surpass any such possibilities to be advanced by growing wheat or making cars. For many people, once they have seen something on the silver screen, or heard something in a movie theater, it becomes “reality” for them. Writing in the communist newspaper The Daily Worker in 1925, Will Muezenberg explained the importance of the movie industry to advancing the goal of the communist world. Muezenberg, an agent of the Comintern (created to spread communist ideology and promote Soviet interests worldwide), said, “One of the most pressing tasks confronting the Communist Party in the field of propaganda is the conquest of this extremely important propaganda unit [the movies], until now the monopoly of the ruling class. We must wrest it from them and turn it against them.”
And that is what is involved in the Chinese moving into Hollywood. Photo: AP Images Please review our Comment Policy before posting a comment
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Italy's Berlusconi says center-right agrees pact on next PM candidate | ROME (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday he and the leader of the Northern League had agreed a pact to choose the candidate to head an eventual center-right governing coalition, a newspaper reported. Italy is expected to hold a national election by March that polls suggest the center-right would win, though it would be unlikely to obtain a working majority of seats in parliament. Berlusconi was banned from running for office in 2013 due to a tax fraud conviction, but is hoping the European Court of Human Rights will overturn this when it reviews his case in November. He told the Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview that he and Matteo Salvini agreed that whichever party of the center-right gets more votes would propose a prime minister for the center-right. According to a poll released by the EMG Aqua agency on Monday, the Northern League is running at 14.8 percent, Berlusconi s Forza Italia (Go Italy!) at 12.2 percent and the third center-right party, Brothers of Italy, at 5.0 percent. That makes the trio largest single bloc with about 32 percent. Berlusconi told the newspaper he was convinced Forza Italia would get the most votes. He did not say who the party s candidate would be if he could not run. According to the same poll, the governing center-left Democratic Party (PD) has about 27 percent and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement about 28 percent. | 0fake |
After ‘Brexit,’ Finding a New London for the Financial World to Call Home - The New York Times | The race is on to be the new London. Unless Britain finds a way to undo its decision to leave the European Union, London’s days as the global financial capital, ranked even ahead of New York, may be numbered. I spoke this week to several executives at major financial institutions that collectively employ tens of thousands in London. While none of them have any immediate plans to move their European headquarters from Britain’s capital, all agreed they would eventually shift a significant number of highly paid employees to cities that remain in the European Union. One executive in charge of relocation (who like the others, spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the issue) said the percentage of employees in his firm who might be required to move ranged from 10 percent to 40 percent. “Multiply that throughout the industry and it’s tens of thousands of people and their families,” he said. “And bear in mind that most of these people are millionaires. ” Others said it would take five to 10 years, but a new London would almost certainly emerge in one of the other prominent cities of the European Union. “When I moved to London years ago, it wasn’t exactly cosmopolitan,” said another executive. “It wasn’t a place for great restaurants. The infrastructure has improved dramatically. It will take time, but eventually one big hub will develop. ” Who might win this financial sweepstakes? To handicap the race, I asked relocation experts at major firms to describe what they are looking for in a replacement for London. I also spoke to Mark Yeandle, a director of the Group in London and lead author of the Global Financial Centers Index, which ranks cities based on their attractiveness to financial services businesses. (Before last week’s vote, London was far and away the winner.) Here are the criteria most frequently mentioned: facility, which is essential for attracting a global work force a favorable regulatory environment, especially regarding employment excellent transportation and communications infrastructure availability of prime office space and luxury housing good schools good restaurants and cultural offerings and finally, an intangible quality that includes a certain energy level and openness to an influx of highly paid, competitive City of Street types. I scored numerous cities in the European Union on a scale: five points for office space and housing, five points for restaurants and cultural offerings — because it’s easier for any city to build new offices and housing, and import talented chefs and entertainers — and 10 points for each of the others. For facility, I used the European Union’s 2012 survey, “Europeans and Their Languages. ” For the regulatory environment, I used the rankings from the World Bank. For airports, I combined departure statistics with a leading passenger satisfaction survey. To evaluate schools, I consulted Harriet Plyler, editor of “The Good Schools Guide International,” and the Pearson Learning Curve Index. For restaurants, culture and quality of life, I used Mercer Consulting’s Quality of Living Survey and a ranking of cities based on the number of restaurants for cost and availability of offices and luxury housing I used the Global Property Guide. Here, in ascending order, are the top nine, including the winner: Barcelona, Spain (23 points) Several executives spoke wistfully of moving to sunny Barcelona, with its excellent restaurants, cafe scene, night life and proximity to Mediterranean beaches. But other than a relatively good airport, Barcelona fails nearly every other test, starting with facility: Just 22 percent of Spaniards have a conversational knowledge of English. “Barcelona is great for a holiday,” Mr. Yeandle said, “but not as a place to do business. ” Milan (24 points) Much the same could be said of Milan. Italians are a little more fluent in English — 34 percent — and Milan has excellent restaurants and arguably the best shopping in the world. It’s already Italy’s financial center. But it lags in every other category, including business climate, where Italy is ranked 45th by the World Bank. Its two main airports are badly in need of refurbishing. Warsaw (24 points) Poland’s appeal is primarily its flexible labor laws, favorable business climate, a populace and a low cost of living. Warsaw would welcome an influx of financial professionals with open arms, in contrast to many more affluent European cities. But it ranks very low on Mercer’s quality of life index, and luxury housing is limited. Still, one major banker told me his firm would move a contingent there from London and expand its technology operations, though its top investment banking professionals would balk at the idea of relocating there. Luxembourg (40 points) Residents of Luxembourg are the most affluent and multilingual in Europe (56 percent speak English, and 84 percent speak at least two foreign languages). Known in part as a tax haven, it is already a sophisticated financial services center, and is home to the European Investment Bank and the European Court of Justice. Mercer ranks it relatively high on quality of life (19th in the world) and it has a surprising number of restaurants, a reflection of its proximity to France. But the World Bank rates its business climate last among these finalists. Its international airport ranks a dismal 99th. And the entire country had a population of just 576, 000 at the beginning of this year. London has more than 360, 000 employees in its financial services sector alone. It’s hard to imagine how Luxembourg could absorb even a small percentage of them. Paris (43 points) Already a major financial services center and easily the most culturally appealing city in the European Union, Paris seems an obvious choice. Its regional population of 12 million is the only one that rivals London. But Paris’s score is dragged down by almost every other category. Only 39 percent of the French are fluent in English, and despite big improvements in recent years, they maintain a reputation of being inhospitable to people who don’t speak French well. Its airports have low rankings and its rigid school system is inhospitable to foreigners (although it has excellent private schools). France has strict limits on the ability to fire people, and it ranks just 27th on the World Bank’s list. Paris is among the most expensive cities in Europe after London, and is a distant 37th on Mercer’s quality of life index. Every financial services executive I interviewed mentioned an intangible factor: French hostility to the wealthy. President François Hollande tried to impose a 75 percent “wealth tax,” which prompted an exodus of rich French citizens before Mr. Hollande dropped the proposal. “All the noise coming out of the Élysée Palace the last few years has been that France wants to tax or regulate financial service companies out of business,” Mr. Yeandle said. “Financial services people are furious. ” Dublin (50 points) Not surprisingly, Dublin gets top scores for facility (albeit with an Irish lilt) and also for excellent schools. Dublin is charming, with good restaurants, theater and night life. It offers many of London’s advantages, but is much less expensive. It ranks high on ease of doing business, and of all the European capitals, is probably the most enthusiastic about attracting talent from London. The Industrial Development Agency Ireland is already reaching out to financial institutions to entice them to Ireland, the Irish Times reported. Several banking executives told me they would definitely be moving some operations to Dublin. Dublin’s main drawback is its relatively small size (1. 8 million people in the metropolitan area) and lack of infrastructure. Dublin is more distant from the European Union’s other countries and it lacks London’s direct rail link to the Continent. Its relatively small airport ranked 80th. Vienna (51 points) Vienna emerged as a surprisingly viable contender. Seventy three percent of Austria’s population is fluent in English its rank in ease of doing business is just behind Ireland’s Vienna has an excellent airport with high performance, and it is Mercer’s city in the world for quality of life. Its restaurants and wines have attracted international acclaim. “It’s a fantastic place to live,” Mr. Yeandle said. Like Paris, Vienna has the air of a world capital, which it was until Austria lost its empire after the First World War. And that, bankers told me, is part of the problem: Vienna feels like it has been asleep for much of the last century. It’s not a major financial capital now, and no one I spoke to has any immediate plans to start or expand operations there. Still, they told me they might have to reconsider. Frankfurt (54 points) In many ways Frankfurt is the obvious choice, because it is already home to the European Central Bank. It’s the financial capital of Germany, Europe’s largest economy and dominant political force. It ranks high on the ease of doing business index, although German labor laws can be as rigid as the French’s. After Heathrow outside London, it has the European airport, next to a modern rail terminal connecting it to every major city in Europe. Its population of 2. 5 million could absorb a large influx of financial professionals. But some of those same factors work against it. Even as most people I spoke with said Frankfurt would most likely emerge as the next London, they didn’t seem very enthusiastic about it. Some already think there’s too much power in Germany — and that London has acted as a financial counterbalance. And some said Frankfurt was simply too boring. It ranks low on the rankings (and far behind other German cities like Berlin and Munich) and isn’t known for its night life or culture. Language and schooling are potential drawbacks as well. And the winner is: Amsterdam (55 points) Not only do 90 percent of the Dutch speak English, many speak it better than the English themselves. Its schools are ranked the best in Europe, and there are plenty of options. The city has beautiful architecture and housing options, picturesque canals, excellent restaurants, music and theater, lively night life, and a cosmopolitan and tolerant attitude cultivated over centuries as a major global trading center. It has one of Europe’s best airports, ranked just behind Frankfurt and Vienna, and an excellent rail network connecting major European capitals, including London. It’s a short train ride to Brussels, the capital of the European Union. Amsterdam is already a center of international commerce and the financial and political capital of the Netherlands. It did lose a few points for its business and regulatory climate: The World Bank ranks the Netherlands 28th, just behind Switzerland and France. The problem? Badly hurt by the financial crisis, the Dutch have capped bankers’ bonuses at just 20 percent of their annual salaries — a far more drastic curb than was imposed by the European Union. Several bankers told me that unless the Dutch repealed the cap, they wouldn’t consider moving to Amsterdam. “I’d love to relocate to Amsterdam,” one top executive told me. “But I don’t think we’re wanted there. ” Out of curiosity, I examined the same criteria and scored London itself. The result? London earns a 58 points. The only black mark was its quality of life, primarily because of its high cost. Mercer ranks London just 39th (New York ranks 44th). “London has so many advantages,” Mr. Yeandle said. “I think that will remain true even if it’s outside the E. U. But if the vote costs London its that will be a tragedy. ” | 0fake |
LAURA INGRAHAM ON FIRE: Nails Republicans On These Key Points In Budget Battle [Video] | Laura Ingraham is dialed in on the Republican s inability to get a good budget bill. She held up the Washington Post to show how Pelosi and Schumer are celebrating the victory of the budget. The Democrats got pretty much everything they wanted at the expense of the American people. We do not have a Republican Party on Capitol Hill that can get its act together. Laura IngrahamLet s face it the Republicans didn t fight for us and Ingraham knows it. She mentions key parts of the spending bill in her rant on Fox & Friends. We re happy she mentioned the ***Refugee Resettlement Program because that s one part of the bill that we re very disappointed in. The Refugee Resettlement Program is so bloated and needs to be overhauled or defunded altogether. We re sick about it:The bill would include a total of $3 billion towards migration and refugee assistance, which is roughly the same that was spent in Fiscal Year 2016. It would also include $50 million towards the emergency refugee and migration assistance fund, which is also the same amount spent in the previous fiscal year. Via: Daily Caller***For more information: Refugee Resettlement | 1real |
Turkish hunger striker found guilty of militant links, freed | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish professor who has been on hunger strike since losing her job in a purge following last year s failed coup was convicted on Friday of belonging to a banned far-left group but the court ordered her release pending an appeal. Nuriye Gulmen, 35, was sentenced to six years and three months in jail for being a member of the militant leftist DHKP-C group, deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, defense lawyers told Reuters. She was found not guilty of lesser charges including organizing illegal rallies. The literature professor had been hospitalized before the trial began due to her worsening health after seven months of surviving on water, herbal tea and sugar and salt solutions. Primary school teacher Semih Ozakca, 28, who has also been on hunger strike since losing his job in the crackdown, was acquitted on similar charges. The Ankara court had ordered his release on Oct. 21 for the remainder of the trial, on condition that he wear an ankle monitor. Both deny any links to DHKP-C. A third defendant, Acun Karadag, was acquitted on a lesser charge of participating in illegal rallies. The teachers have said their hunger strike aimed to highlight the plight of some 150,000 state employees including academics, civil servants, judges and soldiers suspended or sacked since the abortive coup in July 2016. The pair were detained in May and jailed pending the start of the trial in September. On Sept. 12, days before the teachers were due in court, Turkey issued detention warrants for the lawyers who were set to defend them. Turkish authorities blame the coup attempt on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his supporters. Gulen condemned the coup and denies involvement. Human rights groups and the European Union have said President Tayyip Erdogan is using the crackdown to stifle dissent in Turkey, an assertion that he denies. | 0fake |
Shutdown clash to return in force by December | Notable names include Ray Washburne (Commerce), a Dallas-based investor, is reported to be under consideration to lead the department. | 0fake |
State that fired pastor demands his sermons, notes | State that fired pastor demands his sermons, notes 'This is an excessive display of the government overreaching its authority' Published: 5 mins ago Bob Unruh About | | Archive Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Print Dr. Eric Walsh (Photo: First Liberty)
The state of Georgia is demanding copies of the sermons and related notes of a lay pastor who was fired by the Department of Public Health after it investigated what he said in his church.
But Dr. Eric Walsh is resisting, issuing a statement via his legal team that he will not comply with the demand from state lawyers.
The state’s demand is in response to a lawsuit filed by Walsh against the Department of Health charging discrimination based on his religion and other civil rights violations.
He’s getting support from a pastor who successfully fought off a demand by Houston officials for copies of his sermons.
Walsh’s ordeal began in May 2014 when he accepted an offer as to become district health director with the state agency. Only a week later, a state official asked him to provide copies of sermons he had preached as a lay minister with a Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Lee Rudd, the agency’s human resources director, then assigned staff members to listen to the YouTube recordings immediately. Two days later, Walsh was fired.
At that point, lawyers with First Liberty Institute joined forces with the Atlanta legal team of Parks, Chesin & Walbert to file a federal lawsuit against the state agency.
“Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality” chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state, and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!
Now, in response to Walsh’s lawsuit, the state delivered a “Request for Production of Documents” that demands, among a flood of other paperwork, “copies of his sermon notes and transcripts.”
“This is an excessive display of the government overreaching its authority and violating the sanctity of the church,” said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty.
“No government has the right to require a pastor to turn over his sermons,” said Walsh in a statement released by his lawyers. “I cannot and will not give up my sermons unless I am forced to do so.”
Officials with the Georgia Department of Health declined to respond to a WND request for comment, instead referring a reporter to the state attorney general, who did not respond to a request for comment.
Walsh’s lawyers scheduled a news conference as a display of support.
On the guest list was Pastor Dave Welch of Houston, one of five pastors whose sermons were demanded by a lesbian mayor during her campaign to establish protections for her sexual preferences in city code.
WND broke the story when the city launched its action against the pastors and also reported when Rush Limbaugh described Parker’s actions as possibly “one of the most vile, filthy, blatant violations of the Constitution that I have seen.”
The mayor at the time, Annise Parker, withdrew the demands amid a flood of protest .
In a prepared statement Wednesday on Walsh’s case, Welch said, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Georgia’s demand is even worse than when the mayor of Houston demanded 17 different categories of materials, including sermons, from … us.”
Welch, the executive director of the Texas Pastor Council, said what is happening to Walsh is “worse than what happened in Houston for multiple reasons.”
“First, this is state government coming after a pastor, not just a rogue mayor in one city,” he said. “Also, the state is demanding much more material: sermons, sermon notes, all documents without even topical or time limits. It could even include margin notes in this pastor’s preaching Bible. It’s almost as if they are ransacking the pastor’s study. This sweeping demand is ominous and a threat to every pastor, every church, every denomination, and every citizen of faith in America.”
Leaders of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, part of the nation’s largest public policy women’s group with 500,000 members, also came to Walsh’s defense.
Penny Nance, CEO, said: “The words of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’ still reverberate today – especially as we witness the ‘Gestapo-like’ tactics of his native state. The state of Georgia’s blatant attack on religious freedom, as they discriminate against another pastor, Dr. Eric Walsh, is indeed a threat to every American, whatever our religious beliefs.
“Can there be a clearer violation of our First Amendment right to religious freedom than for the state to monitor, examine, and retaliate against a person because of the sermons they share?”
WND reported earlier on the case brought against the state after its officials reviewed Walsh’s sermons and then fired him.
“No one in this country should be fired from their job for something that was said in a church or from a pulpit during a sermon,” Dys told Fox News when the case was filed. “He was fired for something he said in a sermon. If the government is allowed to fire someone over what he said in his sermons, they can come after any of us for our beliefs on anything.” The original state investigation of Walsh’s sermons apparently was sparked by “one complaint” from an official with a county Democratic Party and “gay activist.”
State officials also joked about informing Walsh of his firing.
The telephone call was between Dr. Patrick O’Neal, an agency official, and Kate Pfirman, an agency financial officer. The call was captured on an answering machine, which also caught their conversation after they thought they had hung up.
Pfirman said: “And I’m gonna be very – I’m gonna try to come off as very cold, because I don’t want to say very much. If I try to make it warm – I’ve thought that through, it’s gonna just not – there’s no warm way to say it anyway.”
Then there was laughter from both parties.
O’Neal then said to inform Walsh, “You’re out,” and there was another round of laughter.
“It’s very funny,” Pfirman said.
The voicemail:
In the Houston dispute, voters ultimately soundly rejected Parker’s ordinance giving “gays” and transgendered people special rights. | 1real |
Drudge, Downed by Cyberattack, Suspects Government Involvement - Breitbart | Readers were unable to access the pioneering powerhouse news website Drudge Report for an hour and a half on Thursday, due to what site founder Matt Drudge says was a attack. [On Twitter Thursday night in the midst of the attack and shutdown, Drudge questioned whether the U. S. government might be behind the attack, which he said was the largest in the website’s history. Later, Drudge said the attack came from “thousands” of sources. Attacking coming from ’thousands’ of sources. Of course none of them traceable to Fort Meade … — MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) December 30, 2016, Is the US government attacking DRUDGE REPORT? Biggest DDoS since site’s inception. VERY suspicious routing [and timing]. — MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) December 30, 2016, Ace investigation reporter Sharyl Attkisson responded to one of Drudge’s tweets, bringing up the fact that Drudge has been targeted by the left as a “fake news” site as part of a wider effort to censor and discredit news organizations in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. @DRUDGE Maybe they think this is a proportional counterattack to Russia. After all they have decided @Drudge is Russian fake news, right? — Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) December 30, 2016, The disruption came the same night that the Obama administration issued sanctions against Russia over unproven allegations of hacking, a claim toward which Drudge has shown skepticism. The Drudge Report was one of the few news platforms that gave candidate Donald Trump fair coverage during the presidential primary, thereby incurring the wrath of the establishment Republicans as well as the Democrat establishment. At press time, there was no firm confirmation of who or what caused the attack. | 0fake |
Fidel Castro’s Sister, an Outspoken Critic, Takes No Joy in His Death - The New York Times | CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Juanita Castro considered her brother Fidel a traitor and had not spoken to him in 52 years, but, even so, she feels that a piece of her is missing now that he is dead. Mr. Castro was reviled by many as a despot who had killed innocents and caused countless Cubans to flee the island, and when he died Friday night, spontaneous parties broke out in the streets of Miami. Ms. Castro expressed disdain for the thousands who danced and rejoiced over her brother’s death. “Logically, that reaction hurts,” Ms. Castro, 83, said Sunday in an interview at her home in a quiet, neighborhood here in South Florida, where she has lived since 1964. “It’s not necessary to do what the Cuban people have done here in the streets of Miami,” she said. “I respect the sentiment of everybody I cannot accept this. It’s not a good thing. ” “It’s not the first time that they did it, nor is it the first time I have suffered,” she said. “When he fell ill 10 years or so ago, I had my business, and they practically lynched me there, because I said I didn’t rejoice in anyone’s sickness, in anyone’s misfortunes, nor in anyone’s death. That’s not Christian. It’s not humane. ” Ms. Castro said she learned of her brother’s death in a phone call from a friend. She was awake at the time and could not sleep afterward because the phone kept ringing. “I didn’t know where to hide the phone,” she said. She called her sister Enma in Mexico, hoping to get more information, but her sister had few additional details. She heard, but has not been able to confirm, that her brother had a heart attack. Although she has not set foot in Cuba in more than five decades, she was clearly up on the latest intrigue and details. She described the photos of a weakened Fidel she saw from his 90th birthday party in August, which her sister attended. Ms. Castro noted with a tinge of concern how someone had to help him get up. Like many Cubans, Ms. Castro initially supported her brother’s vision of social justice for the island nation. And like hundreds of thousands of Cubans who eventually fled, she grew disillusioned when Mr. Castro declared himself a Communist. Her last few years in Cuba were spent helping other people sneak out of the country and clashing with her brother and members of his inner circle. The two exchanged harsh words as she grew increasingly vocal, particularly when people she cared about found themselves arbitrarily detained. They barely exchanged glances at their mother’s funeral in 1963, and she decided to leave soon after when she was detained by a military official, who berated her at a bowling alley for smoking Chesterfields, an American brand of cigarettes. Her brother’s rhetoric, she had concluded, amounted to cheap slogans. “ ‘Bread with freedom’ — that expression remained recorded in my mind, because I thought it was going to be that way. I felt as betrayed as the most humble of Cubans,” she said. “He had it all in his hands, without having to turn it all over to any power, and then he goes and turns himself over to the worst of powers, the Russians. ” Ms. Castro initially moved to Mexico and began speaking out at places like the United Nations and other international gatherings, accusing her brother of betraying his country with false promises. She moved to Miami after a few months because she thought it was the best place to position her exile activism. But she never quite fit in among here who viewed her suspiciously. “They rejected me, because I had the last names Castro Ruz,” she said. “Imagine, as if I had chosen my surnames. ” Her phone continued to ring nonstop on Sunday as she sat in her den and talked, speaking deliberately and stopping occasionally to recall details. She was recovering from foot surgery and wore a medical boot. Fresh white flowers sat on the dining table in the next room. She retired recently after having owned a small pharmacy for more than 30 years, and she has written a memoir about her brothers, “Fidel and Raúl, My Brothers,” which is to be translated into English soon. Ms. Castro grew most animated discussing the recent presidential election, when after speaking calmly for over an hour, she practically spit out insults at Donald J. Trump. “Repugnant” and “detestable,” she called him, as she ran through a litany of reasons she believes no Cuban should have voted for him. She seemed genuinely angry, particularly when she remembered his comments about grabbing women “by their parts. ” A supporter of President Obama and his policies toward Cuba, she sees parallels in her brother and Mr. Trump. “The only difference is that he may have millions, but the other had a brain,” Ms. Castro said of Mr. Trump and Mr. Castro. Unfortunately, she said her brother had not used his intelligence for the good of Cuba. Still, she said, her brother had no regrets and probably thought until the day he died that he was a great leader, never acknowledging his failures. Ms. Castro struggled to explain her sorrow at the loss of her brother. “This is one of those that I can say that something is missing,” she said. “And the Cuban people will also say that something is missing. ” Ms. Castro said she enjoyed a warm relationship with many of her siblings’ grandchildren, who also live abroad. In 2005, she won a libel suit, filed in Spain, against Fidel Castro’s estranged daughter for calling Ms. Castro’s father a murderer. Each year the family is getting smaller, and she does not attend the funerals. She will skip this one, too, but she laments not having the family she wished she had been able to hold on to — the kind whose members are there to console one another when one of them passes. “I live with pain in my heart, but I accept my destiny,” she said. “I forgive everybody, including my brother. ” | 0fake |
‘No Real Logic’: French Translators Having A VERY Hard Time With Trump’s Limited Vocabulary | Reality show star turned president Donald Trump has a limited vocabulary. French translators have noticed that, too, and say they are having a tough time translating Trump s speeches into the language of Moli re. Trump is not a great orator, which is something we ve all be subjected to. Words like, sad! are used in his tweets as if that s a complete sentence. Trump said bigly when he really meant big league. Or maybe he didn t mean big league. We ll never really know. After Trump gives a speech, his supporters inevitably jump in to explain to the rest of us what he really meant.Translator B reng re Viennot told the LA Review of Books, you have to be able to get into someone s mind to translate the speaker but when he (Trump) speaks he seems not to know quite where he s going. He seems to hang onto a word in the question, or to a word that pops into his mind, repeating it over and over again, said Viennot. He shapes his thought around it and, sometimes, succeeds in giving part of an answer often the same answer: namely, that he won the election. Trump seems to go from point A (the question) to point B (himself, most of the time) with no real logic, she continued. It s as if he had thematic clouds in his head that he would pick from with no need of a logical thread to link them. Trump s vocabulary is limited, his syntax is broken; he repeats the same phrases over and over, forcing the translator to follow suit, she said.She continued to say that reading Trump in French, which is a very structured and logical language, reveals the poor quality of his language and, consequently, of his thought. As the Independent notes, Trump once referred to swatches of land, when he really he meant swathes of land. Bigly swatches of land.Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images. | 1real |
Boiler Room #89 – Island of Misfit Toys | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Andy Nowicki host of The Nameless Podcast for the 89th episode of BOILER ROOM. Water the plants, put the kids to bed and get your favorite snuggy out so you can drop deep into the Boiler Room with the ACR brain-trust.Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! Listen to Boiler Room #89 Island of Misfit Toys on Spreaker.Reference Links: | 1real |
MORE TRANSPARENCY: CLINTON’S REFUSE TO RELEASE HILLARY’S HEALTH RECORDS | Karl Rove is suggesting Hillary suffered brain damage following her blood clot.On Sunday, Hillary Clinton s campaign manager would not commit to releasing her health records during the 2016 campaign.Face the Nation host John Dickerson pointed out that Hillary Clinton had a big health scare when she was secretary of state and asked campaign manager Robby Mook, will she release her medial records as part of this campaign? I will let Hillary decide that, Mook answered. But I can tell you she has been hitting the campaign trail hard. In 2012, Clinton had to delay her Benghazi testimony to Congress after she fell and suffered a concussion. She later was treated for a blood clot in her brain, which experts said could have been life threatening. Though Clinton joked about her cracked head in emails that the State Department recently released, Bill Clinton revealed last year that Hillary s injuries required six months of very serious work to get over. On the stump this weekend, Clinton tried to deflect concerns about her age by saying that she would be the youngest woman president if elected to the White House.Via:Breitbart News | 1real |
Republicans unveil tax cut bill, but the hard work awaits | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Republicans unveiled long-delayed legislation on Thursday to deliver deep tax cuts that President Donald Trump has promised, setting off a frantic race in Congress to give him his first major legislative victory. The 429-page bill, representing what would be the largest overhaul of the U.S. tax system since the 1980s, called for slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, cutting tax rates on individuals and families and ending certain tax breaks for companies and individuals. Congressional passage of this legislation that would affect nearly every U.S. company and family was far from certain, and some business groups quickly came out against it. Contentious provisions will test Republicans, who control the White House and both chambers of Congress but have been unable to deliver any major legislative achievements for Trump since the businessman-turned-politician became president in January. A number of provisions would hit taxpayers in Democratic-leaning states hardest, like rolling back deductions for state and local taxes and cutting in half the popular mortgage interest deduction. The legislation, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, produces new advantages for rich Americans through lowered corporate taxes, phasing out the estate tax and dumping the alternative minimum tax. “This is a very important and special moment for our country, for all Americans. Are we going to let the defenders of the status quo win and see our country continue down this downward spiral?” Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan asked, despite data showing about eight straight years of economic growth. Meeting with Ryan and other key House Republicans, Trump told the lawmakers he was counting on them to maintain the momentum for tax cuts, and repeated his request that Congress send him the legislation to sign into law by the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 23. That is an ambitious timetable for such a long, multi-faceted piece of legislation that will face a ferocious lobbying battle among business sectors affected by the bill and fierce opposition from many Democrats. Trump called the bill an “important step” toward tax relief for Americans, adding in a statement, “We are just getting started, and there is much work left to do.” The bill presented by the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee would consolidate the current number of tax brackets to four from seven: 12 percent, 25 percent, 35 percent and 39.6 percent. An earlier Republican tax outline had called for cutting the top rate for the highest earners to 35 percent. The National Association of Home Builders blasted the legislation, saying it would damage home prices and punish homeowners in urban areas. “We’re concerned if enacted, this bill will throw us back into another housing recession,” Jerry Howard, the group’s president, said in an interview. The group said the provision in the bill capping the interest deduction for future home purchases at $500,000 - half the current amount - was unacceptable. Howard said 7 million homes are currently above $500,000 and in high-cost regions like Washington, D.C., New York City, California and Hawaii, the impact would be felt the most. The bill would repeal the existing deduction for state and local income and sales taxes, and would cap the deduction for state and local property taxes at $10,000. Those provisions would most affect Americans in higher-tax states such as California, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois. The National Federation of Independent Business, the influential small business lobby, also came out against the bill, while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business lobby backed it. Ryan said the typical family of four would save $1,182 annually on taxes under the bill. With Democrats solidly opposed to legislation they see as a giveaway to corporations and the rich that would expand the federal deficit, Republicans can ill afford to lose many in their own ranks as they aim to pass the bill in the coming weeks. “Ultimately, what the American people really get from this tax plan is a huge bill for the debt incurred to pay for tax breaks that line the pockets of Donald Trump personally along with his billionaire buddies. Like a Trump University degree, it is phony,” said Democratic congressman Lloyd Doggett. The bill’s architects avoided one showdown by deciding not to make changes to the popular tax-deferred 401(k) retirement savings program. The bill would roughly double the standard deduction for individuals and families. But it would repeal a personal exemption of $4,050 that taxpayers can currently claim for themselves, their spouse and any dependents. The legislation would also phase out tax-exempt financing for sports stadiums and subject large private universities to 1.4-percent excise tax on investment income. It would also repeal a long standing prohibition on religious institutions being involved in political activities. The bill would create a new family tax credit and double exemptions for estate taxes on inherited assets, while also allowing small businesses to write off loan interest. The bill would cap the maximum tax rate on small businesses and other non-corporate enterprises at 25 percent, down from the present maximum rate on “pass-through” income of 39.6 percent. It would set standards for distinguishing between individual wage income and actual pass-through business income to prevent tax-avoidance abuse of the new, lower tax level. It would create a new 10-percent tax on U.S. companies’ high-profit foreign subsidiaries, calculated on a global basis, in a move to prevent companies from moving profits overseas. Foreign businesses operating in the United States would face a tax of up to 20 percent on payments they make overseas from their American operations. U.S. equities have rallied in 2017 to a series of record highs, partly on expectations of deep corporate tax cuts. Shares of U.S. homebuilders fell after the bill was released, with luxury homebuilders including Toll Brothers taking the biggest hit. As investors parsed its provisions, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up modestly and the S&P 500 was down slightly. Investors cautioned the tax plan was preliminary and it was too soon to gauge the effect on specific industries. [nL2N1N81IG] The Ways and Means Committee will begin formal consideration of the bill next week before the full House can vote on it. It also must pass the Senate, where Republicans hold a slimmer 52-48 majority and earlier this year failed to garner enough votes to approve a major healthcare overhaul sought by Trump. | 0fake |
Colombia court approves peace tribunals ahead of congressional vote | BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s constitutional court said in a ruling late on Tuesday that special justice tribunals outlined in a peace deal between the government and the Marxist FARC rebels are constitutional, ahead of a congressional vote on the subject. The court upheld most of the provisions agreed in the 2016 peace accord for the special courts, which will mete out alternative sentences like landmine removal for ex-guerrilla leaders from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who are convicted of war crimes. Congress is holding debates on a law which would approve the tribunals. The bill has been backed by committees in both the upper and lower houses and is expected to be put to floor votes this week. President Juan Manuel Santos, speaking on television after the court s decision, urged congress to pass the law as quickly as possible. Guerrilla leaders participating in politics as part of the FARC s new political party will still have to comply with sentences from the court, he said, while Colombians, many of whom despise the group, must accept that the deal allows them to run for office. Colombians, with our votes, will decide if we accept their ideas and proposals or if we reject them. Without a doubt it is better to have the FARC giving speeches than shooting bullets, Santos said. The court made several modifications to the law, local media reported, opening the possibility that ex-rebels could be extradited for crimes committed after the peace process ends and that former guerrillas elected to public office could lose their seats if they fail to comply with the tribunal process. | 0fake |
Washington Post Anti-Trump Scare Tactics | Dispatches from STEPHEN LENDMAN A s the moment of truth approaches, America’s two leading broadsheets, the NYT and WaPo, continue relentlessly bashing Trump, shamelessly supporting a woman belonging in prison, not high office. A same day article discussed The Times’ latest anti-Trump broadside. WaPo featured two editorials hammering him, following so many others earlier, disgracefully accusing him of everything imaginable, while practically elevating Hillary to sainthood by comparison. “Will Republicans respect democracy,” WaPo editors asked? How can anyone knowledgeable about how America is run respect what’s nonexistent, not earlier or now? “The big question after Tuesday’s election…will be whether the nation’s leaders act to preserve our republic – or hasten a descent toward a banana republic,” said WaPo editors. They failed to explain US governance resembles the way a crime family operates – a godfather (or godmother) atop the hierarchy, serving privileged interests exclusively. .. The “first priority (for the nation’s leadership) must be preserving and restoring the country’s democratic institutions…” WaPo editors claimed. How can it when none exist? America is a rogue state, run by its lunatic fringe, neocon extremists, waging endless wars of aggression, punishing ordinary people with neoliberal harshness, enforcing police state viciousness on resisters, a hair’s breadth from instituting full-blown tyranny – likely coming with Hillary in charge. .. WaPo editors are terrified about how multiple investigations of her wrongdoing might turn out – heading toward possibly indicting and impeaching her, ludicrously claiming: .. “There is no substantiated charge against Ms. Clinton that would warrant impeachment, or even talk of impeachment. Despite suggestions otherwise, there is also no imminent indictment against the Democratic nominee, or any available evidence suggesting that indictment is a realistic possibility… Instead, what the nation has seen over the closing days of this campaign is a party preparing to (mis)use extraordinary congressional powers for despicable political ends.”
Fact: Volumes of evidence show Hillary guilty of war crimes, orchestrating coups, other international and constitutional law violations, racketeering, perjury, obstruction of justice, fraud, influence-selling pay-for-play, and jeopardizing national security by using her private server for classified State Department documents – enough to lock anyone up for life.
Separately, WaPo editors said “Trump’s election would be a major threat to the economy” – a way over-the-top unjustifiable claim, saying: .. His “election would be a major new source of instability here and abroad…Suddenly, a man with a deep-seated hostility to, and incomprehension of, markets would be at the helm of the world’s preeminent market economy.” A billionaire business tycoon with no comprehension of markets? No one could become super-rich without a keen understanding of how they work – so what irks WaPo editors? .. They support jobs-killing trade deals like NAFTA and TPP. Trump’s justifiable opposition riles them. They’re angry because he’s right accusing the (Wall-Street controlled) Fed of keeping interest rates near zero for political reasons, along with government agencies fudging economic data like GDP, monthly jobs numbers and inflation, among others – to make economic conditions look rosier than reality. .. Trump “failed to level with the public about the challenges before us, to provide a plausible sense of how he would improve things – or to demonstrate much of anything except the risks of entrusting him with management of an $18 trillion economy,” WaPo editors claimed. Agree or disagree with him, he presented a clearer agenda than Hillary – time and again proving she’s a serial liar, dishonest, untrustworthy, ruthless and dangerous. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS • CONTINUE THE DEBATE ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE. CLICK HERE . ABOUT THE AUTHOR STEPHEN LENDMAN lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net . His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” ( http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html ) Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com . =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN. SIGN UP AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week. | 1real |
Texas Wins Victory for Farmers Against BLM | Texas leaders and farm owners secured a victory in the battle against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) attempted land grab along the banks of the Red River. The federal agency announced it is suspending the surveys ordered during the Obama Administration to justify the attempted takeover of 90, 000 acres of land. [The BLM admitted this week admitted in a letter issued on March 29 (attached below) that it used an “incorrect methodology” in its justification for the attempted taking of land that had been in the possession of many Texas landowners for generations. “Having reviewed this deposition testimony and other new information, the BLM believes the survey methodology was used in error and may have caused errors in identifying the location of the Gradient Boundary,” Acting Cadastral Survey Chief Stephen Beyerlein wrote in the letter. “The BLM’s admission that it used incorrect methodology in these surveys and the decision to suspend the surveys is welcome news,” U. S. Representative Mac Thornberry ( ) said in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “The portions of the river that the agency has surveyed strayed widely from the accepted gradient boundary survey method established by the Supreme Court in Oklahoma v. Texas. It is encouraging that the BLM has admitted their error and that all administrative action will be suspended until the matter is resolved. I will continue working with the landowners, local and state officials, and Senator Cornyn ( ) until this issue is resolved once and for all. ” Thornberry is the author of the “Red River Gradient Boundary Survey Act” which passed earlier this year. Texas farmers applauded the action by the BLM. “We’re pleased the Bureau of Land Management has done the right thing by admitting that the land surveys do not take the movement of the Red River into consideration,” Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) President Russell Boening said in a written statement. “TFB has been involved in this situation for years. We take it very seriously when government decides that private property no longer belongs to those who have purchased, paid taxes and hold titles to it. ” “When this was brought to our attention by TFB member Tommy Henderson, we knew we had to act,” Boening said. “We sent a video crew to Tommy’s place to document his fight for family land along the river. That video went viral and brought light to the situation. ” Following a tip from Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, Breitbart Texas initially brought national attention to the issue that the BLM’s actions threatened landowners like Tommy Henderson whose family owned some of this land for generations. “Several local news outlets had written about the issue,” BLM Spokesman Paul McGuire told Breitbart Texas at the time. “But when Breitbart wrote about it, I called Washington and said, ‘This thing is going to blow up now. ’” And blow up it did. The following day, many national outlets picked up the story and ran with it. Attorney General Greg Abbott said, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart Texas the next day, ““I am about ready to go to the Red River and raise a ‘Come and Take It’ flag to tell the feds to stay out of Texas. ” He fired off a letter to Director Neil Kornze demanding answers on the issue. The BLM responded they weren’t taking the land because “It is already ours. ” Texas’ leadership including General Greg Abbott, . Governor David Dewhurst, Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson, and State Senator Craig Estes ( Falls) joined with Texas’ U. S. Senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, and U. S. Rep. Mac Thornberry to try to get the BLM to release the land back to the Texans who had believed they owned the land, in some cases for many generations. Then Governor Rick Perry weighed in on the issue in May when he said the “the federal government already owns too much land. ” Following the BLM’s announcement, Abbott said, “The BLM’s prior actions have been hostile to landowners and their property rights, and I’m pleased an end has come to this unconscionable land grab. (This) decision by the Trump administration is a victory for Texas landowners along the Red River and for our constitutional rights. ” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit in federal court in November 2015 challenging the federal encroachment on Texas land. “The borders of any state are a fundamental expression of its sovereignty, and are established through extensive surveys and legal precedent,” Paxton said at the time in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “We will not allow the federal government to arbitrarily infringe upon Texas land and undermine the private property rights of our citizens. The federal government must follow the law and recognize our correct borders, consistent with decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court defining the boundary formed by the Red River. ” The following month, Texas General Land Office Commiccioner George P. Bush also joined in the lawsuit defending the Texas landowners. Paxton praised the decision made this week by the BLM to back down on the land grab issue. “This latest action by the Trump administration protects the property rights of Texans as defined by the U. S. Supreme Court and prevents the federal government from infringing upon Texas’ sovereign borders,” the Texas AG said in a written statement. “It was our contention all along that the BLM’s surveys were conducted improperly and unlawfully. We will vigilantly defend Texas’ border from federal overreach. ” The BLM has suspended all administrative actions regarding these 90, 000 acres of sovereign Texas land, the TFB stated. In August 2015, Tommy Henderson won his personal battle with the BLM over the acreage his family lost in a federal lawsuit. He regained full ownership and control over the land after being forced to pay a “statutorily required payment of $1. 25 per acre,” for the land his family had owned since 1904. In response to this week’s action by the BLM, Henderson told the TFB, “The fight’s not over yet, but we’ve made a pretty good step. We have to get this fixed, so BLM never comes back again and tries this. ” Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 0fake |
GERMANY: About that “nice friendly Muslim family” next door…. | Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. PLEASE DONATE TO KEEP BARE NAKED ISLAM UP AND RUNNING. Choose DONATE for one-time donation or SUBSCRIBE for monthly donations Payment Options GET ALL NEW BNI POSTS/LINKS ON TWITTER Subscribe to Blog via Email
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Boiler Room EP #127 – The Oppression Commiseration (And Similar Topics) | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Andy Nowicki the Nameless One & Randy J for the hundred and twenty seventh episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone and the gang is discussing Morgan Freeman promoting the #TrumpRussia psyop, the most expensive cities in the US, Jim Carrey s odd behavior captured recently on camera, the general degeneracy of Hollywood, Evergreen State College settling $500,000 claim by professors who were told to leave campus for being white, the upcoming Free Speech Week at Berkeley and much more.Direct Download Episode #127Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research: | 1real |
BEST TWEET OF THE DAY | Why should armed civilians have to protect and defend our US military recruitment centers? Muslim terrorists have made it clear that they intend to target these brave men and women who defend our nation. Is it really too much to ask that we allow them to defend themselves?Civilians, with semi-automatic carbines, eating Chick-fil-A, guarding Marines. Up yours, @WhiteHouse. pic.twitter.com/o5FVTpSqeG Bob Owens (@bob_owens) July 21, 2015h/t Weasel Zippers | 1real |
BILLIONAIRE, Leftist Author Of Harry Potter Books Apologizes For Making Up, Spreading Fake News About President Trump and Disabled Boy | Big-mouth billionaire and leftist author of the highly successful Harry Potter books, has finally taken responsibility for an awful rumor she started about President Trump and a disabled boy after the disabled boy s mother came out on Facebook to tell the truth about what really happened when President Trump met her disabled son.Author J.K. Rowling issued an apology Monday after falsely accusing President Donald Trump of refusing to shake hands with a disabled boy by sharing an edited video clip on her social media account over the weekend.The boy s mother lashed out at Rowling, saying that the Harry Potter scribe wrongly said Trump ignored and refused to shake her disabled son s hand during a recent meet-and-greet. If someone can please get a message to JK Rowling: Trump didn t snub my son & Monty wasn t even trying to shake his hand, Ms. Kelly Weer wrote in a post on Facebook, slamming Rowling s inaccurate description of a video showing her son meeting President Trump. 1. He s 3 and hand shaking is not his thing 2. he was showing off his newly acquired secret service patch). Thanks, Weer wrote.Rowling, a regular critic of the president, blasted Trump and claimed he deliberately ignored the boy, Monty Weer, who suffers from spina bifida. Trump imitated a disabled reporter. Now he pretends not to see a child in a wheelchair, as though frightened he might catch his condition, she tweeted over the weekend. My mother used a wheelchair. I witnessed people uncomfortable around her disability, but if they had a shred of decency they got over it, Rowling wrote on Twitter. So, yes, that clip of Trump looking deliberately over a disabled child s head, ignoring his outstretched hand, has touched me on the raw. That man occupies the most powerful office in the free world and his daily outrages against civilised norms are having a corrosive effect, the author continued. How stunning, and how horrible, that Trump cannot bring himself to shake the hand of a small boy who only wanted to touch the President. However, a White House video clearly shows President Trump bending down and graciously greeting his young fan as he approached the podium.Rowling faced intense criticism on social media, with many users urging she delete the series of tweets that included the false claims.Pictures posted on Twitter on June 26th, show Melania hosting the little disabled boy that JK Rowling accused President Trump of ignoring, during a visit to the White House in his wheelchair. It appears he also got a little extra special attention from the First Lady. Happy belated 3rd bday (yesterday) sweet Monty! Thank you for visiting us at @WhiteHouse today! pic.twitter.com/ZnENYjB7zE Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) June 27, 2017British journalist Piers Morgan led the charge blasting Rowling and Chelsea Clinton, who had retweeted Rowling and later apologized for refusing to delete her tweets.Rowling finally deleted her tweets and apologized to the boy and his family for spreading false claims, but did not apologize to President Trump. A spokesperson for Rowling apparently refused to confirm to CNN s Oliver Darcy whether or not the author would apologize to Trump. Re: my tweets about the small boy in a wheelchair whose proferred hand the president appeared to ignore in press footage, Rowling wrote. [M]ultiple sources have informed me that that was not a full or accurate representation of their interaction. I very clearly projected my own sensitivities around the issue of disabled people being overlooked or ignored onto the images I saw and if that caused any distress to that boy or his family, I apologise unreservedly. These tweets will remain, but I will delete the previous ones on the subject. Breitbart News | 1real |
Expected wins for Clinton, Trump rivals in big Saturday balloting, but will it be enough? | Polling and caucus sites opened Saturday morning in five states in which rivals to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will try to slow the Democratic and Republican front-runners' march to their respective party’s presidential nomination.
Republicans are caucusing in Kansas, Kentucky and Maine, while Democrats are caucusing in Kansas and Nebraska. Republicans and Democrats also are voting Saturday in the Louisiana primary.
Maine Democrats caucus on Sunday, while voters in both parties go to the polls in the Puerto Rico primary.
Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is hoping to do well in Kansas, Kentucky and Maine caucuses, and the Louisiana primary. A good showing would help him secure his position as the No. 2 GOP candidate ahead of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. But neither appears to have a path toward winning enough delegates or the nomination.
"Being a conservative cannot just be about how loud you're willing to scream ... or about how many names you call people," Rubio said Saturday at CPAC, the annual gathering of conservatives, just outside of Washington.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s only primary competitor, is favored to win the Kansas and Nebraska caucuses.
Clinton’s campaign manager braced supporters for the potential setback in a memo Wednesday that suggested the former secretary of state may lose the caucus states this weekend.
“Sen. Sanders has clear advantages and is investing heavily in two upcoming caucuses (Kansas and Nebraska),” Robby Mook wrote in a memo.
In total, 109 Democratic delegates are up for grabs, while Republicans are competing for 155.
Clinton leads Sanders 1,066 to 432 in the delegate race. Either needs 4,763 to win the party nomination.
On the Republican side, Trump leads with 329 delegates, followed by 231 for Cruz, 110 for Rubio and 25 for Kasich. The GOP canidate needs 2,472 to win the nomination, with increasing talk, particularly within the GOP establishment, about having a so-called “broker convention” to stop Trump’s insurgent candidacy.
Trump has won in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.
Cruz has won in Iowa, Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas and now Kansas. Rubio won Minnesota on Super Tuesday earlier this week.
Republican candidate Ben Carson, meanwhile, suspended his campaign on Friday.
"We are going to make America great again," Trump said at a rally Saturday afternoon in Wichita, Kansas, sticking with his signature campaign slogan.
He also tried to appeal to heart land voters with his so-far wining message of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, restoring America's military might and repealing and replacing ObamaCare.
"You premiums are going up like a rocket ship," Trump said to cheers from the packed rally."
Trump late went to north Orlando, Florida, for a rally ahead of the state’s March 15 winner-take-all primary that is considered a must-win for Rubio. A win in Florida and Ohio, another take-all March 15 primary, would be a huge step toward Trump winning the nomination.
On Friday, Trump pulled out of CPAC. Trump had been scheduled to speak at the four-day gathering but said he would be campaigning instead in Kansas and Florida. Florida holds its primaries on March 15.
CPAC organizers suggested they cancelled Trump’s appearance because he wouldn't take questions, a format all invited candidates were asked to follow.
“Guess what, tomorrow is an election,” a Trump spokeswoman said Friday, giving her explanation about why the candidate won’t attend the event.
The CPAC controversy follows a raucous Fox News Republican debate Thursday night in Detroit in which Cruz, Rubio and Kasich teamed up against Trump to cast him as a political salesman willing to say anything and take any position to win the nomination.
They hammered him on alleged inconsistences on his policy details and business dealings, including the now-defunct Trump University, which is being sued for scamming students out of thousands of dollars. | 0fake |
Clay Pigeons: How Lobbyists Secretly Woo Top Election Officials | Videos Clay Pigeons: How Lobbyists Secretly Woo Top Election Officials Big-money corporate lobbying has reached into one of the most obscure corners of state government: the offices of secretaries of state, the people charged with running elections impartially. Barbara Cegavske, the Nevada secretary of state, during a debate .The Republican Secretaries of State Committee, a fundraising group, invited her to participate by phone in May meetings with tobacco, restaurant and gun industry representatives to discuss ballot initiatives.
The targeting of secretaries of state with campaign donations, corporate-funded weekend outings and secret meetings with industry lobbyists reflects an intense focus on often overlooked ballot questions, which the secretaries frequently help write.
The ballot initiatives are meant to give voters a direct voice on policy issues such as the minimum wage and the environment. But corporate and other special interests are doing their best to build close ties with the secretaries because a difference of even a few words on a ballot measure can have an enormous impact on the outcome.
The influence campaign has intensified, with more citizen-driven ballot initiatives to be decided on Election Day this year than at any time in the past decade.
Secretaries of state from Washington, Ohio, Colorado and Nevada 2014 all Republicans 2014 participated in closed-door meetings in May with representatives from Reynolds American, the nation’s second-largest tobacco company ; the National Restaurant Association; and the National Rifle Association, while ballot initiative signatures in those states were still being collected, documents obtained through open records requests show .
At a weekend retreat last month at a hunting lodge in Kansas, Republican secretaries of state mingled with donors, including a representative from Koch Industries, as they shot pheasant and clay pigeons. The owners of Koch Industries 2014 Charles G. and David H. Koch 2014 have funded groups involved in several ballot initiative fights this year, including over a solar energy measure in Florida.
“The Koch brothers out with the Republican secretaries of state 2014 that’s a news story I don’t need,” Allen Richardson, a Koch lobbyist, joked, unaware that a reporter was in attendance.
Groups aligned with Democrats have also targeted secretaries of state, mobilizing during the 2014 campaign to try to elect more officials sympathetic to their causes.
“With so many important issues being decided through ballot initiatives (increases in the minimum wage, gay marriage, environmental protections, etc.), increasing our involvement in electing secretaries of state who will stand with working families is vital,” said a strategy memo co-written by Steve Rosenthal , a veteran political strategist for labor unions.
The May meetings between industry officials and the Republican Secretaries of State Committee, a fundraising group, were set up to give the industry players a chance to weigh in on ballot initiatives that the secretaries were overseeing, emails show.
In an email with the subject line “ Ballot Initiative Private Meetings in DC, ” Emily Keech, the committee’s executive director, invited Barbara Cegavske, the Nevada secretary of state, to join the sessions by phone, noting that the others were flying in.
“I know that the National Rifle Association has some concerns in NV so it would be helpful to get your insights,” Keech wrote , referring to a Nevada initiative that would more broadly require background checks for gun sales, a measure opposed by the NRA.
She assured Cegavske that the meetings would be kept confidential.
“I don’t want that listed anywhere since it is a sensitive topic for some secretaries,” Keech wrote in the email . In briefing papers she later sent, she detailed the ballot initiatives the industry groups were concerned with 2014 and just how much the groups had donated for Republican election efforts.
Some former secretaries of state said the new fundraising tactics could hurt the image of the offices as impartial referees of state elections.
“It is extremely important that the public trust their elections and have confidence they are going to be handled in a fair and impartial way,” said Sam Reed, a former Republican secretary of state in Washington. “And ballot issues in particular are very sensitive.”
Twenty-six states allow citizens to enact or repeal laws through a popular vote. The initiative process began over a century ago as a way to circumvent state legislatures, considered at the time to be dominated by powerful corporate interests.
There are 71 citizen initiatives this year, according to Ballotpedia , a nonprofit group that tracks state elections, and spending on those initiatives has reached at least $821 million .
With billions at stake, major corporations routinely hire consulting firms to help them influence ballot initiatives.
“The key to any ballot measure is the right language,” Nathan Sproul , the managing partner at Lincoln Strategy Group, whose client list has included Walmart, Philip Morris International and Wynn Resorts, told a roomful of lobbyists in September at a closed-door strategy session in Alexandria, Va. “In Arizona, you write the concept, and then the secretary of state writes the language.”
Another Lincoln executive, Ulrico Izaguirre, told attendees, as he ran through a long list of Election Day items before voters this year: “The clouds of ballot measures threaten business on a daily basis. Thunderous clouds.”
Republicans have turned to initiatives to push their agenda as a counter to liberal activists, according to an internal party memo.
“Ballot initiatives will not be the left’s mechanism for gaining power and advancing their agenda when voters have already rejected them,” said the memo, from the Republican State Leadership Committee , in February 2015 as the group prepared fundraising efforts. “It’s time for conservatives to take back that power by rejecting their efforts and promoting our own.”
The Republican organization that hosted the closed-door meetings in Washington is an arm of the Republican State Leadership Committee, a political group dedicated to electing candidates to state government posts.
In a July 2015 memo, the leadership group said , “The diverse set of responsibilities held by Republican Secretaries across the country presents previously unidentified opportunities for significant growth and expansion,” and then discussed “the importance of ballot initiatives” as a fundraising tool.
And money has poured in. Reynolds American has contributed $990,000 in the past two years to the Republican State Leadership Committee, and Altria, the nation’s largest cigarette company , has given at least $540,000 2014 making them the second- and third-biggest donors to the organization, behind the United States Chamber of Commerce. The NRA has donated at least $160,000.
Ellie Hockenbury, a spokeswoman for the Republican State Leadership Committee, said the meetings and other conversations with donors were simply informational.
And secretaries of state said their efforts to raise money had no impact on their actions as government officials.
“When you are trying to raise money, you try to work with people who have an interest in the subjects,” said Wayne Williams, the Colorado secretary of state. He added, “I will meet with anybody on any side of the subject at any time.”
But Christin Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the restaurant association, acknowledged that the organization, at its headquarters in Washington, had expressed concerns to the secretaries of state about the minimum-wage ballot initiatives.
“As a membership organization, the National Restaurant Association and our state partners meet with many different organizations on both sides of the aisle to voice the concerns,” she said in a statement.
Email records from Nevada show that the Republican fundraising efforts are linked to ballot initiatives. A spreadsheet obtained from Cegavske includes a “contact list” prepared by Keech, the Republican Secretaries of State Committee’s executive director.
“I would ask for $25k due to the gambling and gaming initiatives all across the country,” Keech wrote to Cegavske , referring to Wynn Resorts, along with a list of other possible donors, and their ties to ballot initiative efforts.
Another target for a solicitation was NV Energy, which is facing a proposed constitutional amendment, requiring voter approval, to end the company’s monopoly over much of the state’s electricity market.
Cegavske’s executive assistant wrote back to Keech, reporting that the effort had generated some cash return.
“Barbara has contacted NV Energy and they are good for a contribution,” the executive assistant, Jennifer Russell, wrote in April .
“What great news!!!!” Keech wrote back. “The Secretaries’ contacts are ALWAYS better than ours.”
In a statement, Cegavske said the suggestion that she had sought money from NV Energy because of the pending ballot initiative was “categorically false.”
Democrats have also attracted large donations from labor unions and activists with an intense interest in ballot agenda items. Michael R. Bloomberg donated $250,000 this year to an Oregon candidate who as a state legislator had helped push through a law on background checks for gun sales.
A spokesman for Bloomberg said the donation was not related to any effort to influence future ballot measures.
Labor union and abortion rights groups, however, were more explicit. The confidential memo drafted by veteran labor union organizers before the 2014 election 2014 published last month by WikiLeaks as part of the cache of emails stolen from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta 2014 said those groups were prepared to support the effort.
“The office of Secretary of State is playing an increasingly important role for progressives,” the memo said, noting its “pivotal roles in the ballot initiative process.”
The impact of these donations and private gatherings on actions by secretaries of state is difficult to gauge, given the dozens of small language changes as the ballot measures are being prepared for Election Day. But there are hints of possible benefits.
For example, a gun control initiative on the Nevada ballot next week was framed by the secretary of state as a measure that would “prohibit” firearm transfers without background checks, rather than as a required additional step before a gun sale could take place.
This is a seemingly small but important difference that gun control supporters say makes the ballot item less palatable to voters.
Cegavske said the ballot language she used fairly reflected text submitted to her office by those advocating the measure.
“There was no input from the gun industry in the writing of the ballot question,” Gail J. Anderson, the deputy secretary for Southern Nevada, said in a statement.
After a minimum-wage campaign accelerated last year in Ohio, emails show, Jon A. Husted, the secretary of state, communicated with an Ohio Chamber of Commerce affiliate as the business group discussed plans with the restaurant industry to “meet and strategize” about its opposition effort.
A spokesman for Husted said that “the amendment and referendum processes can be cumbersome” and that “the secretary is often asked to come explain precisely how it works.”
Minimum-wage advocates chastised Washington’s secretary of state, Kim Wyman , who is in the midst of a re-election campaign. She has benefited from a blitz of radio advertisements paid for by the Republican group that sponsored the May meetings with industry representatives. Wyman declined requests to comment.
At the three-day hunt 2014 where corporate donors and secretaries of state from Kansas, Mississippi, Georgia and Arkansas shared a one-story, wood-frame hunting lodge, with stuffed deer and elk antlers mounted on the walls 2014 there was little discussion of formal election matters.
Instead, it was an opportunity for the corporate executives to cement personal connections. Together, they set loose Labrador retrievers on acres of prime high-grass hunting grounds, flushing pheasants and quail from their hiding spots.
“I was 60 yards away,” Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, said as he showed off two prairie chickens he had shot earlier in the day.
After a dinner of shredded beef, the state officials and political contributors, some in pajamas, drank beers. The only apparent disappointment the next morning, after their first hunting outing together as a group, was that they had bagged only 58 birds, two short of their legal limit.
“The two that got away,” Kobach said.
“We’ll get ’em tomorrow,” said one of the corporate executives. This work by Pro Publica is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License. | 1real |
Someone Snapped The BEST Photo Of Trump Ever, And The Internet Will Never Let Him Forget It (TWEETS) | You can probably expect Donald Trump to roll out some new rules regarding photographers and helicopters soon after a photo someone snapped of him boarding one.Today was the last day photography will be allowed near Trump and helicopters I suspect. pic.twitter.com/6ckAOxQokz Schooley (@Rschooley) January 27, 2017Needless to say, this photograph is embarrassing. But let s see what the folks on Twitter think about it:It's Count Olaf in disguise! pic.twitter.com/WruXvvBNev Schooley (@Rschooley) January 27, 2017@Rschooley does he wear adult diapers?It really looks like he does. A lot of men that age do & he looks exactly like someone who does. Exact Porkchop Factory (@porkchopfactory) January 27, 2017@Rschooley @porkchopfactory welp I'm gonna go vomit for all of eternity tiggerwillies (@greywolf_mother) January 27, 2017@Rschooley not only the butt of every political joke in the comedic world but a failed member of the hair club for men Bill E Bob (@SthrnHeel) January 27, 2017@Rschooley Looks like our high booty POTUS wears briefs which was a question nobody really wanted answered kira elise (@kiraelise) January 27, 2017@Rschooley the cat on his head sure looks out of control Nate (@Nate_434) January 27, 2017@Rschooley @Laser_CatEnhance pic.twitter.com/Zq7WJpmCL1 ryan (@Beepboopzzt) January 27, 2017@Rschooley Nice bulgy adult diaper under his suit pants . TrumpsTale (@EdGlen6) January 27, 2017@Rschooley @EastVillChris he's the only person I've ever seen make a classic black suit look awful. ? Thom O'Sparklefists (@ThatNerdNip) January 27, 2017@Rschooley He's a lard ass, lol. Expect an Executive Order on no photographers once he sees this photo. Lol. Dorothy Domingo (@clayartist2) January 27, 2017@Rschooley Once DJT sees his hair in this photo, no one will get near Marine 1 with a camera. Pat Lowery Dewees (@DeweesPat) January 27, 2017@rschooley Do they have to re-glue the dead squirrel once he's inside? Brenda Quinn (@nycquinn) January 27, 2017@Rschooley Well that's enough to give me nightmares for a few nights. Holy smokes, that's scary. Deb Simpson (@debrdtrip) January 27, 2017@Rschooley it looks like a helicopter blade wacked his hair creature thing and injured it! #creepy RebelAlliance (@cybersaur1) January 27, 2017Recently, Trump threw a tantrum because a news organization used a photograph he felt made him look fat. Politico reported in November:The source said the meeting started with a typical Trump complaint about the dishonest media, and that he specifically singled out CNN and NBC News for example as the worst. Trump turned to NBC News President Deborah Turness at one point, the source said, and told her the network won t run a nice picture of him, instead choosing this picture of me, as he made a face with a double chin. Turness replied that they had a very nice picture of him on their website at the moment.We can almost assuredly expect yet another meltdown from President Pussygrabber. After all, his ego is all that matters to him.Featured image via twitter | 1real |
6 Volkswagen Executives Charged as Company Pleads Guilty in Emissions Case - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges on Wednesday against six Volkswagen executives for their roles in the company’s scandal, a sharp turn by a departing administration that is trying to remake its image of being soft on corporate crime. The six executives include a former head of development of the Volkswagen brand and the head of engine development. One of those charged on Wednesday, Oliver Schmidt, was arrested in Florida last week the other five are believed to be in Germany. Volkswagen also formally pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, customs violations and obstruction of justice. Many of the 600, 000 cars in the United States equipped with software were imported from Germany or Mexico. The automaker is set to pay $4. 3 billion in criminal and civil penalties in connection with the federal investigation, bringing the total cost of the deception to Volkswagen in the United States, including settlements of suits by car owners, to $20 billion — one of the costliest corporate scandals in history. “Volkswagen knew of these problems,” Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said at a news conference in Washington. “When regulators expressed concerns, Volkswagen obfuscated,” she said. “And they ultimately lied. ” Extracting a guilty plea from a major corporation is a notable feat for an administration that has been accused of allowing companies to buy themselves out of indictments through deferred prosecution deals. The move comes as outgoing members of the Obama administration race to finish major cases before leaving their jobs. The Volkswagen case is also the first major test of a Justice Department commitment to hold executives more accountable, even as the agency braces for big changes in its top ranks under Donald J. Trump. The Justice Department has been criticized for years as being too easy on the banks that caused the financial meltdown and set off a major recession. Though financial institutions paid large fines and settled civil cases, executives mostly avoided personal liability. And large companies have rarely faced criminal charges, a policy that some critics have derisively labeled “too big to jail. ” Moving to address that criticism, Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates issued a new policy in September 2015, telling prosecutors to focus from the start of their investigations on prosecuting company officials found to have engaged in wrongdoing. Too often, Ms. Yates said, the Justice Department began with a corporate investigation, negotiated a civil settlement and only at the end of an inquiry asked whether any individuals should be prosecuted. “This isn’t just a paper policy — I think you’re seeing the results,” Ms. Yates said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “There’s a shift in focus here that is across the board in the department, and it’s starting to bear fruit. ” Andrew McCabe, the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, underscored that point at the news conference with Ms. Lynch. “This case is a great example of the fact that no corporation is too big, no corporation is too global, and no person is beyond the law,” he said. The Volkswagen employees charged on Wednesday were Neusser, 56, who oversaw development of the company’s brand Jens Hadler, 50, who oversaw engine development Richard Dorenkamp, 68, another supervisor of engine development Bernd Gottweis, 69, who helped oversee quality management and Jürgen Peter, 59, who was a liaison between regulatory agencies and the carmaker. They and Mr. Schmidt were charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, defraud customers and violate the Clean Air Act. It is unclear whether the five executives named on Wednesday will ever appear in a United States court. If they are in Germany, the country does not normally extradite its citizens. Even if Germany does not extradite or prosecute them, the charges in the United States would severely limit their ability to travel. The case could also set up a diplomatic tussle between Germany and the coming administration, though Mr. Trump’s stance on the case is far from clear. Ms. Lynch said she could not speculate on whether Germany would hand over the men. Still, she said: “We’ve always worked very well with our German colleagues. ” Regulators in the United States first began to investigate Volkswagen early in 2014 after a study by West Virginia University showed that its diesel cars polluted far more on the road than during official emissions tests. Company executives knew that the cars were programmed to recognize when they were being tested and to deliver optimum pollution readings, according to investigators. But rather than admit wrongdoing, Volkswagen representatives provided false and misleading information for more than a year to the California Air Resources Board and the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Schmidt was arrested on Saturday at Miami International Airport as he was about to board a flight to Germany. In September, a former Volkswagen engineer who worked for the company in California, James Liang, pleaded guilty to charges that included conspiracy to defraud the federal government and violating the Clean Air Act. None of the executives charged on Wednesday were members of the Volkswagen management board, although several of them reported directly to the board. The lack of accusations against any top managers could help insulate Volkswagen from lawsuits by shareholders who have accused the company of failing to disclose the risks it faced. Several of those charged on Wednesday played management roles in the development of the diesel engines that were equipped with defeat devices — software intended to mask excess emissions by cranking up pollution controls whenever a car was being tested on rollers in a lab. Others have been accused of concocting excuses for the excess emissions and trying to prevent regulators from discovering the truth. Volkswagen also admitted that its employees destroyed emails and other evidence in 2015 as it became clear that regulators would soon learn of the illegal software. Volkswagen’s board approved the company’s agreement with the government on Wednesday. It still needs the approval of Judge Sean F. Cox of Federal District Court in Detroit. As part of the settlement, the company will be under probation for three years and will be subject to the oversight of an independent monitor. Volkswagen must also cooperate with investigations into current and former employees. “Volkswagen deeply regrets the behavior that gave rise to the diesel crisis. Since all of this came to light, we have worked tirelessly to make things right for our affected customers,” said Matthias Müller, chief executive of Volkswagen. “The agreements that we have reached with the U. S. government reflect our determination to address misconduct that went against all of the values Volkswagen holds so dear. They are an important step forward for our company and all our employees. ” One of the key provisions Ms. Yates outlined in 2015 was a requirement that companies seeking leniency from the Justice Department provide prosecutors with information about employee wrongdoing. Defense lawyers criticized the measure, saying it would turn corporate lawyers into arms of the government. Since Ms. Yates issued the policy, many companies in corporate investigations have begun to create “Yates binders” of evidence to provide to investigators. | 0fake |
Man Accused of Using Army Medical Kit to Remove Transgender’s Testicles | A Colorado man is accused of using an Army medical kit to remove a transgender woman’s testicles. [James Lowell Pennington, 57, who does not have a license to practice medicine in Colorado, was arrested Thursday and charged with felony reckless aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, the Denver Post reported. Police called Pennington in for an interview, which he agreed to after the victim was taken to a hospital for excessive bleeding. Pennington told investigators that he willingly performed the procedure at the victim’s apartment in Denver, KUSA reported. Detectives said he used an Army surgical kit that contained a scalpel, lidocaine, medical dressing, and other medical equipment. According to a record of the interview, the suspect “used the scalpel and surgically disconnected and removed the victim’s two testicles and then sutured the opening back up. ” The victim’s wife was with the victim throughout the procedure. Pennington allegedly told them to call 911 if any problems occurred after the procedure. The victim’s wife told police she called 911 after a large amount of blood poured out from the wound when she was changing his dressing. Paramedics called the police. Doctors could not reattach the testicles because of the time that passed between the procedure and the 911 call. The victim suffered serious injuries that run the risk of “permanent disfigurement,” according to the affidavit. Police say Pennington is a licensed pilot, not a medical professional in Colorado. | 0fake |
French Universities Play Politics by Emailing Students to Vote Macron | French university academics have made an extraordinary intervention in the French election, emailing students and urging them to back establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron. [The president of the University of Angers in Western France, Christian Roblédo, claimed in an email to students that, “as a university professor” it was his “duty to denounce the harmful ideology that [Marine Le Pen] conveys”. He characterised this ideology as “withdrawal into oneself, intolerance, fear of the other [and] refusal of differences” in opposition to “humanism, openness, pluralism and freedom of expression” — the values which, in Roblédo’s estimation, “constitute the very essence of higher education and research in France”. “Already in 2002, we were placed before such a choice,” he said, recalling the second round showdown between Jacques Chirac and Marine Le Pen’s father, . Mr. Le Pen was expelled from the Front National by his daughter as she reformed it into a moderate, populist movement. “[In 2002] a Republican front had come together to make the Front National score as low as possible,” wrote Roblédo. “[Again] we have to vote massively so that [Marine Le Pen] does not win the presidential election. ” Anticipating criticism of his intervention as an abuse of his public position, the professor concluded by saying that “[Sometimes] the values of a man’s life take precedence over all other considerations. In addressing you as president of the University, the duty of reserve is obliterated by the threats to the institutional foundations on which our University is based. ” WATCH | @MLP_officiel to @EmmanuelMacron: ”France will be led by a woman, either me or Angela Merkel!” 👏🇷😂 pic. twitter. — LEAVE. EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) May 3, 2017, Colleague Manuel Tunon de Lara, president of the University of Bordeaux, was equally unabashed, writing of his “responsibility to call on the academic community to vote next Sunday to block … the accession of Marine Le Pen to the presidency of the French Republic. ” He claimed that the “Marine Le Pen programme” was incompatible “with the academic values we have hitherto defended”. “How to defend openness in a country that would close its borders?” he asked. “My position is not an isolated position,” he declared. “It is associated with that advocated by the Conference of University Presidents, which called for ‘voting against the extremism of the candidature of Marine Le Pen’. ” | 0fake |
Plane crash in Russia's far east kills six: report | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Six people were killed when a small plane crashed in Russia s far eastern region of Khabarovsk early on Wednesday, Russian news agencies said. There were seven people on board the L-410 aircraft including two crew, RIA said, adding that one passenger, a child, had survived the crash, but was in grave condition. | 0fake |
Obama: Battle against ISIS Could Take Decades | President Barack Obama is proposing a new strategy in the fight against ISIS, saying the battle against the Islamic State will not be quick. In fact, he says it could take decades.
During a rare visit to the Pentagon, Obama laid out his revamped strategy, saying the fight against the Islamic State will require more than just weapons.
"No amount of military force will end the terror that is ISIL unless it's matched by a broader effort, political and economic," he said.
The president said coalition forces will go after the heart of ISIS, but he did not call for more bombing or more troops, announcing instead a shift in focus to counter the terror group's public relations tactics.
Obama pointed to a string of ISIS defeats in the region due to airstrikes targeting the group's supply lines. But he said more needs to be done to recruit and train Syrians for the fight on the ground.
When it comes to lone wolf terrorists in America inspired by ISIS, the president admitted they're harder to detect, saying U.S. national security must remain vigilant.
Obama pointed to increased efforts to counter ISIS's propaganda that's spreading worldwide via social media.
"We also have to acknowledge that ISIL has been particularly effective at reaching out to and recruiting vulnerable people around the world, including here in the United States," he said.
While the fight against ISIS will be long, the president said he's confident the terrorists won't win.
But Republicans remain skeptical, saying Obama's plan doesn't go far enough.
"A speech isn't a strategy," said Cory Fritz, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "At no point in his remarks did President Obama indicate he's doing anything to change course and actually build the broad, overarching plan that's needed to take on these savage terrorists and win."
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said the president "doesn't have a strategy."
"I didn't sense that he had a rock solid strategy on how to deal with this and defeat it," Chaffetz said. | 0fake |
Fashwave Friday: Endgame | 6827 N. High Street, Suite 121 Worthington, Ohio 43085
Sound and Vision
It’s pretty simple now. The ZOG has been mortally wounded. They’ve been caught manipulating the news and polls. Basically they have one foot on a banana peel and the other in their graves.
Now the investigation has been reopened.
We stand at the threshold of infinity.
Remember to continue with Operation Endgame Hillary to eliminate all remaining resistance.
Takes a few minutes out of your day to click on this link, and drag a few over to your social media.
If you missed Memetic Monday on Wednesday, check it – instructions are detailed therein.
Operation Endgame Hillary is not optional.
Remember what Andrew said:
“Everybody Memes! Nobody Quits! Or Ill Kill You Myself!”
We are at the threshold, fam.
The Colonel | 1real |
Washington Home Depot store receives order for five-thousand gallons of gold exterior paint | Wednesday 9 November 2016 by Pete Redfern Washington Home Depot store receives order for five-thousand gallons of gold exterior paint
The Washington DC branch of the famous chain of home improvement superstores received an unusual and baffling phone call late last night.
Store manager Chuck Williams told reporters, “We received a telephone call just before closing last night from a very excited gentleman, placing an order for over $120,000 worth of gold concrete paint.”
He continued “It was quite a hurried conversation, and I couldn’t catch everything he said, but I did hear the caller say something cryptic about turning a white house gold.
“I honestly have no idea what he could have meant, perhaps it was a riddle. And weirdly he kept referring to himself in the third person.
“At first we thought it might have been a hoax or someone out of their head on mind-altering substances, but we have checked our account and the money is already there, so we will start fulfilling the order immediately.”
When pressed by reporters, Mr Williams was reluctant to give further details for fear of breaching customer confidentiality, but he did confirm that the order was for a residence on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C 20500.
He added, “I don’t know who this caller who referred to himself as ‘The Big Cheese’ could be, but he sure loves gold.” Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently | 1real |
China's cyber watchdog imposes top fines on tech firms over censorship | BEIJING (Reuters) - China s cyber watchdog has handed down maximum penalties to several of the country s top tech firms, including Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK), Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) and Weibo Corp (WB.O), for failing to properly censor online content. The rebuke comes as China is stepping up censorship and security efforts ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, a major leadership conference held once every five years. Notices posted by the Cyberspace Administration of China on Monday said the firms would receive the maximum penalty for failing to remove fake news and pornography as well as content that incites ethic tension and threatens social order . It is the first time that the CAC has levied the maximum fines against tech firms under a new law introduced in June, as it seeks to tighten its grip on the internet. The internet does not operate outside of the law... the CAC will seriously implement the new cybersecurity law and other regulations to increase territorial supervision and enforcement efforts regarding the internet, said the CAC. The notices did not detail the exact sum of the penalties, but under the rules cited in the notice individuals in charge of the platforms and others directly involved face a maximum penalty of 100,000 yuan ($15,110) each. The law also stipulates that offending platforms can have their licenses revoked and their services suspended for failing to comply. The measures are the result of an investigation launched last month by the CAC, and target the country s most popular social media services, including Tencent s WeChat and Weibo s microblogging service, whose combined registered users exceed 1 billion. Earlier this month the cyber watchdog also introduced new regulations that require messaging apps to create credit scores that can be lowered to punish and restrict users who post offensive content. The rules, which take effect on October 8, also make users legally liable for content deemed illegal. In a recent notice the CAC said illegal content includes articles that misinterpret government policy , twist the history of the Chinese Communist Party and flaunt excessive wealth. According to Monday s notices the firms will be required to undertake immediate rectifications to remove illegal content and accounts as well as increase content auditing measures. | 0fake |
Chips ‘do not need to be cooked three times’ | Chips ‘do not need to be cooked three times’ 03-11-16 ONCE-COOKED chips are perfectly fine, it has been confirmed. Researchers at the Institute for Studies decided to forego the now-standard ‘triple-cooking’ of chips and found that potatoes only need to be fried once to produce the desired result. Professor Henry Brubaker said: “If you slice potatoes and fry them a single time, you get chips. Perfectly delicious chips. “I have no idea why you’d do it twice more, unless you are some sort of imbecile.” Professory Brubaker confirmed that even if you were deep-frying a horse you would only need to do it once. He added: “Get oil, make hot, put thing in oil, take thing out, eat thing. “If Heston Blumenthal told you to punch yourself in the ear would you do that too?”
Share: | 1real |
White House on Lockdown After ‘Suspicious Package’ – 1 Person Detained | (Photo: Patrick Henningsen 2016)News LineThe White House was placed on lockdown when a suspicious package was thrown over a fence onto the North Lawn a few minutes after Barack Obama had arrived, officials reported.The unidentified perpetrator, reportedly a woman, was immediately taken into custody, and the container is currently being checked by security. Fire trucks and hazardous materials response units were dispatched to the area.The incident comes just a week after an alert was raised when party balloons flew over the White House and landed on the roof of the press office and Eisenhower Executive Office Building.READ MORE WHITE HOUSE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire White House Files | 1real |
France says U.S. sanctions on Iran, Russia look illegal | PARIS (Reuters) - France’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said new U.S. sanctions against Iran, Russia and North Korea appeared at odds with international law due to their extra-territorial reach. The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday for these sanctions, which could affect European firms. The foreign ministry said in a statement that French and European laws would need to be adjusted in response and added that discussions would be necessary at European Union level because of the potential impact on European citizens and firms. | 0fake |
Danish divers find arm assumed to be that of dismembered journalist: police | COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Divers searching waters near Copenhagen found a second arm on Wednesday that police said probably belonged to Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who died in August on board a Danish inventor s submarine. The divers found Wall s left arm on Nov. 21 in the same area of Koge Bay near the Danish capital. Police said the second arm, like the first one, had been weighed down by pieces of metal to prevent it floating to the surface. The arm has not been investigated yet but it was found in the same area where we found the first arm and it was weighed down in the same way, police spokesman Jens Moller Jensen said in a statement. Coroners will examine the arm on Thursday. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has admitted to dismembering Wall on board his submarine and dumping her body parts in the sea, but he denies murdering her and also denies a charge of sexual assault without intercourse. Wall, a freelance journalist who was researching a story on Madsen, went missing after he took her out to sea in his homebuilt 17-metre (56-foot) submarine in August. Wall s cause of death has yet to be determined. On Aug. 23, police identified a headless female torso that washed ashore in Copenhagen as Wall s. In October, police said they had recovered her head and legs. | 0fake |
Trump's golf buddy Norman pitches Australia to lead diplomatic line | SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull became one of the first world leaders to speak to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump this week, but only after one of Trump’s old golfing buddies was asked to chip in. Turnbull confirmed that Australian golfing great and former world number one Greg Norman had been tapped to help facilitate the introduction to Trump, who includes building golf courses among his many business interests. The connection enabled Turnbull to jump the line of world leaders waiting to get the new U.S. leader on the phone, well ahead of larger allies like Britain and Japan, after Trump’s surprise win in last week’s presidential election. “In diplomacy and policies, you use lots of networks. All I can say is we have great networks, great connections and Greg Norman is a great Australian,” Turnbull said on Thursday. “(Norman) is a great advocate for strengthening the Australian-American alliance. One of our greatest assets is the more than million Australians who live overseas,” he told reporters in Sydney. Australia’s unconventional diplomatic approach reflects the apparent confusion that surrounds the incoming Trump administration as it works on the transition before he is sworn in as president on Jan. 20. Norman, a U.S. resident, described Republican Trump as a friend and said he was happy to help. “Donald, for all his bluster, rhetoric and aggressive style of messaging, caught the attention of those that needed a rudder for their forgotten ship and beliefs,” Norman said in a statement. “Like it or not, he made a poignant and powerful impact on a base that sat sadly alienated,” he said. Damon Hunt, a spokesman for Turnbull, said Australia had already been using its network of expatriates in the United States to canvass both candidates well before Trump unexpectedly defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Trump’s contact information was handed on to Australia’s ambassador in the United States, Joe Hockey, who then relayed it to Turnbull, Hunt said. “The only thing that was unusual about it was that we built relationships with both sides. A lot of countries and certain politicians just picked the Democrats, we were never going to back just one horse,” Hunt said. | 0fake |
Egypt extends state of emergency for three months starting Friday: official gazette | CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has extended a state of emergency for another three months, starting Friday, the official gazette said on Thursday. Egypt first imposed the state of emergency in April after two church bombings killed at least 45 people. It was then extended in July for a further three months. | 0fake |
Air strikes kill 29 in market in northern Syria: monitoring group | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitoring group said on Monday that air strikes on a market had killed at least 29 people in a rebel-held area of northwest Syria. Three air raids hit the town of Atareb, west of the city of Aleppo, the Britain-based observatory said. It said the death toll was likely to rise. Atareb is inside what is known as a de-escalation zone under a deal agreed between Turkey, Russia and Iran to reduce violence in the area. | 0fake |
Venezuela: Chavistas Shut Down Mass, Force Faithful to Listen to Anti-Catholic Rant - Breitbart | The head of Venezuela’s opposition coalition in the legislature denounced the violent takeover of a Catholic Mass in late January by armed Chavista gangs known as colectivos, who forced those congregated to listen to a disparaging rant against the Catholic Church instead of prayer. [Jesús Torrealba, the secretary general of Venezuela’s Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) tweeted this week that colectivos stormed into Caracas’s San Pedro Claver Church on January 23 . “The violent government supporters closed the door, prevented the parishioners from leaving, and forced them to listen to a political speech,” Torrealba denounced on Twitter. “The violent colectivos offended the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference and social leaders in the area in their speech. ” 1) GRAVE: La Iglesia San Pedro Claver, Caracas, fue cercada y tomada hoy 29E a la 1pm por paramilitares oficialistas mal llamados colectivos, — Jesus Chuo Torrealba (@ChuoTorrealba) January 29, 2017, 3) Los oficialistas violentos cerraron las puertas, impidieron la salida de los feligreses y los obligaron a escuchar un discurso político, — Jesus Chuo Torrealba (@ChuoTorrealba) January 29, 2017, 4) Los violentos mal llamados “colectivos” ofendieron en su discurso a la Conferencia Episcopal Venezolana y a dirigentes sociales de la zona, — Jesus Chuo Torrealba (@ChuoTorrealba) January 29, 2017, Torrealba concluded, noting that the incident ended after Monsignor Jesús González de Zárate, an official at the church, pleaded with the gangs to allow the Mass to continue. Following reports of the event, the head of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference issued a statement condemning the increasingly common attacks on the part of supporters of the socialist government against the Catholic Church. “These are not isolated occurrences but rather, one gets the impression that these are premeditated events meant to intimidate the Catholic Church,” Monsignor Diego Padrón, the head of the conference, said in remarks on an radio program. The Church, he added, is a target because it “has taken a very clear position before the government, noting its difficulties, problems, and the crisis the nation is currently in. ” Padrón also listed other events that made him believe these were not isolated incidents, including attacks on the homes of multiple clergy members who had openly objected to the socialist government. While the Vatican has not aided the Venezuelan opposition at its highest level — Pope Francis notably met with dictator Nicolás Maduro, but not the wives of his political prisoners — Venezuelan clergy have vocally opposed the growing infringement on human rights and dire economic situation Maduro’s policies have created. The Episcopal Conference loudly protested Maduro’s edict granting the military full control of the nation’s food supply, objecting to the socialist government’s “constant preaching of hate, criminalization and punishment of all dissidents. ” The Conference also attempted to facilitate talks between the MUD and the government, on Pope Francis’s orders. After months of delays and a refusal by the government to release prisoners of conscience, the bishops sent the head of the government a private letter expressing “pain and concern” over “a disturbing delay in the adoption of necessary measures for the concrete application of the agreements. ” The Socialist Party’s Diosdado Cabello responded by publicly calling the letter “disrespectful and irresponsible” after it leaked to international outlets. The MUD ultimately backed out of the Vatican talks, objecting to the Maduro government’s “arrogant and rude response … to the demands formulated in a letter from the Vatican. ” | 0fake |
Michelle Obama Deletes Hillary Clinton From Twitter | posted by Eddie Michelle Obama has scrubbed all references to Hillary Clinton from both of her Twitter accounts as news breaks that Clinton is under two different FBI investigations involving four FBI offices. The @FLOTUS account has been wiped clean of all traces of Hillary, and @MichelleObama , a verified page with almost six million followers, has been scrubbed all the way back to 2013. Is Michelle performing a last minute tidy up, clearing out the clutter before the dumpster fire of the Democratic campaign finally burns out?
Bernie Sanders has also begun to change his tune. A Twitter post today sure didn’t sound like it was referring to Hillary Clinton. Bernie was asked by a supporter about the write-in thing – and his response might surprise you. “ If you want to write me in here [Vermont], I think it’s fine.” source: | 1real |
ABSOLUTE SUBMISSION: Trump Bows to Neocon Orthodoxy | Consortium News Exclusive: In his Mideast trip to Saudi Arabia and Israel, President Trump sought some political safe harbor by tacking toward neocon orthodoxy and jettisoning his campaign promises of a more rational strategy, writes Daniel Lazare.Daniel Lazare Consortium NewsWith astounding precision, Donald Trump zeroed in on the worst possible Middle East policy option in his recent trip to Saudi Arabia and made it his own. He rebuffed the efforts of Iran s newly elected moderate government to open up communications with the West and instead deepened America s alliances with decrepit autocratic regimes across the Persian Gulf.Turning up his nose at Iran a rising young power he embraced Saudi Arabia, which is plainly on its last legs. It was a remarkable display rather like visiting a butcher shop and passing up a fresh steak for one that s rancid and smelly and buzzing with flies.Saudi Arabia is not just any tired dictatorship with an abysmal human-rights record but one of the most spectacularly dysfunctional societies in history. It takes in half a billion dollars a day in oil revenue, yet is so profligate that it could run out of money in half a decade. It sits atop 18 percent of the world s proven oil reserves, yet is so wasteful that, at current rates, it will become a net importer by the year 2030.Its king travels with a thousand-person retinue wherever he goes while his son, Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, plunked down $550 million not long ago when a 440-foot yacht caught his eye in the south of France. Yet this pair of royal kleptocrats dares preach austerity at a time when as much as 25 percent of the population lives on less than $17 a day in trash-strewn Third World slums.Similarly, Saudi Arabia s appetite for high-tech weaponry is such that in 2015 it became the largest arms importer in the world. Yet its military is so inept that it is unable to subdue ragtag Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen or even stop them from raiding deep inside Saudi territory and launching regular missile attacks.The kingdom accuses Iran of sectarianism yet bans all religions other than Islam, arrests Christians for the crime of praying and possessing Bibles, equates atheism with terrorism, and has imposed a state of siege on Shi ite Muslims in its own Eastern Province. Although a bit restrained of late, its religious police are notorious for roaming the shopping malls and striking out with canes at anyone violating shari a law.As the English novelist Hilary Mantel (of Wolf Hall fame) recalled of the four years she spent in the kingdom with her geologist husband, it was impossible to know what might arouse their ire: it might be the flashing denim legs of a Filipina girl revealed for a second beneath an abaya gone adrift, or it might be the plate-glass shop front of a business that, as the evening prayer call spiraled through the damp air-conditioned halls, had failed to slam down its metal shutters fast enough. What were the rules? No one knew. Saudi Arabia also denounces terrorism at every turn even though its funding groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS (also known as ISIL and Islamic State) is an open secret. In 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton complained in a diplomatic memo made public by Wikileaks that donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide. In September 2014, she observed that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region. A few days later, Vice President Joe Biden told a Harvard audience that the Saudis, the emirates, etc. were so determined to take down [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war [that] they poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of military weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad, except the people who were being supplied were Al Nusra and Al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world. (Quote starts at 53:30.)Arming the SaudisRather than fighting ISIS and Al Qaeda, the Saudis give them money so that they can wage jihad on religious minorities. Yet this is the country that Trump now calls upon to drive out the terrorists and extremists, which is as ludicrous as relying on the KKK to drive out racism. It s also the country that he hopes will serve as the cornerstone of an Arab NATO so that he can sell it more jet fighters and Blackhawk helicopters.But the Saudi military is already top-heavy with such gear while at the same time so short of infantry that it relies on ill-trained Sudanese mercenaries, scores of whom were reportedly killed in a recent battle in the Red Sea province of Midi in Yemen s north. This is not surprising since no Saudi in his right mind wants to serve as a foot soldier so that the deputy crown prince can buy another yacht. But more such purchases will only add to the military imbalance while adding more fuel to the broader Middle East conflagration.So how did this god-awful marriage come about? Is it all Trump s fault? Or have others contributed to the mess? The answer, of course, is the latter.Every president since Franklin Roosevelt has contributed to the catastrophe. Roosevelt declared Saudi Arabia a U.S. protectorate while Dwight Eisenhower got it into his head that a corrupt desert monarchy would somehow be useful in the fight against Communism. Worried that it might come under Soviet influence, Jimmy Carter commenced a military buildup in the Persian Gulf that, according to a 2009 Princeton University study, has now surpassed the $10-trillion mark.Ronald Reagan relied on the Saudis to finance arms to the Nicaraguan Contras and to Jonas Savimbi s pro-apartheid guerrillas in Angola. George H.W. Bush launched a major war to save the Saudis from the evil Saddam Hussein. George W. Bush and Barack Obama covered up the Saudi role in 9/11, while Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged them and other Gulf monarchies to fund anti-government rebels in Libya and Syria during the Arab Spring. Both Libya and Syria fell to ruin as a consequence as hundreds of millions of dollars flowed to pro-Al Qaeda forces and the flames of Wahhabist terrorism spread ever wider.Indeed, Donald Trump for a while seemed to augur something different. Rather than praising the kingdom, he denounced it in 2011 as the world s biggest funder of terrorism and asserted, not inaccurately, that it was using our petro dollars our very own money to fund the terrorists that seek to destroy our people while the Saudis rely on us to protect them. Once on the campaign trail, he upped the ante by declaring that the Saudis blew up the World Trade Center and threatened to block their oil if they didn t do more to fight ISIS Continue this story at Consortium NewsREAD MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire TRUMP FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Republican Senator BLASTS Trump’s Administration For ‘Unconstitutional’ Attempt To Hide Information From Congress | President Trump is pissing off a lot of his fellow Republicans with his inability to cooperate with normal, law abiding governmental business, and some are giving the president a piece of their minds.The President s legal team has been trying to limit the ability of Congress to obtain crucial information from the Executive Branch, and Sen. Chuck Grassley openly blasted them for it.The Senator lets loose in a 7-page letter on June 7th. This is nonsense, said Grassley, slamming them for their violations of the separation of powers and trying to get around the checks and balances that are crucial for U.S. government to run.The June 7th letter is a heated statement from a pissed off lawmaker about White House s Office Counsel opinion that the President and his staff should be able to flat out deny information requests from anyone other than the chairmen of Congressional committees.Senator Grassley s view is that it s total bullshit, and basically a way for the Whitehouse to cover up whatever it wants. It erroneously rejects any notion that individual members of Congress who may not chair a relevant committee need to obtain information from the Executive Branch in order to carry out their Constitutional duties. It falsely asserts that only requests from committees or their chairs are constitutionally authorized, and relegates requests from non-Chairmen to the position of non-oversight inquiries whatever that means. For OLC to so fundamentally misunderstand and misstate such a simple fact exposes its shocking lack of professionalism and objectivity. Indeed, OLC appears to have utterly failed to live up to its own standards. You are being ill-served and ill advised. The whole process of checks and balances relies on the ability of any member of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives to be able to request and obtain any needed information from the executive branch. The powers vested in the Congress both explicitly and inherently by the Constitution impose significant and far-reaching responsibilities on the people s elected representatives, he said. They include the authorization and appropriation of federal funds, the organization of federal departments, the enactment of laws executing the enumerated powers, the confirmation of nominees, the impeachment and removal of officers, and the investigation of the execution of the laws and of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs. These responsibilities are all forms of oversight, all mechanisms that support the legislative check and balance of the executive power. All members participate in deciding whether, when, and how Congress will exercise these authorities. Grassley goes on to explain that by selectively deciding who it will respond to, the Executive branch is spitting in the face of transparency, discouraging bipartisanship, and getting in the way of the ability of our representatives to effectively do their jobs. Information requests are not hostile threats, they are how Congress makes decisions and does it s job.Senator Grassley concluded the letter by asking that the OLC take back the request altogether. It harms not just the Members who happen to be in the minority party at the moment, but also, Members in the majority party who are not currently Chairmen. It obstructs what ought to be the natural flow of information between agencies and the committees, which frustrates the Constitutional function of legislating. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
N.J. Democrats divided on renewing 'Bridgegate' probe into Christie | (This March 30 story was corrected to note Prieto says Wisniewski, not Prieto, was acting for political reasons in paragraph 13) By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - A day after two former allies of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie were sentenced to prison in the “Bridgegate” scandal, a state lawmaker who helped uncover the scheme to cause massive traffic jams over a political slight wants to keep pushing for answers to the two biggest unanswered questions. What did the governor know about the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, and when did he know it? To learn the truth, the legislature’s Bridgegate probe should be resumed, with Christie subpoenaed and required to testify, said Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who co-chaired a special committee that unearthed the damning emails and texts revealing the plot. He also is campaigning to replace Christie as governor. But fellow Democratic leaders in the state legislature offered a lukewarm response, saying it was not clear what further investigation would accomplish. Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, was sentenced on Wednesday to 1-1/2 years in prison. Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, got a prison sentence of two years. Along with David Wildstein, another former Port Authority executive who pleaded guilty, they are the only officials charged in connection with the shutdown of access lanes at the bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in September 2013. The resulting traffic nightmare was intended to punish the town’s Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, for declining to endorse Christie’s re-election campaign. Christie has denied any involvement, but the fallout damaged his unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign and saddled him with historically low approval ratings at home. A spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. At trial, numerous witnesses, including close Christie advisers, testified that the governor and his inner circle were aware of the lane closures much earlier than they admitted publicly. Following her sentencing, Kelly said she refused to be a “scapegoat” and vowed to fight her conviction. The criminal case might never have existed had it not been for the legislative committee, which used its subpoena power to secure communications between Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein. Those documents included the now-infamous email from Kelly to Wildstein saying, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” “We need to follow the facts wherever they go,” Wisniewski said in a phone interview. He noted that Christie previously invoked executive privilege to avoid turning over texts and emails in what he called a “Nixonian” move. But the assembly speaker, Democrat Vincent Prieto, said in a statement it was “unlikely after the federal trial that additional hearings or subpoenas will provide new information.” Prieto, whose approval would be needed to set up a new committee, also criticized Wisniewski for sending out a campaign statement calling for a renewed investigation, saying Wisniewski was using the issue for political reasons. Christie cannot run for another term this year due to term limits. Wisniewski, however, said leaving the investigation half-finished would allow such abuses to occur again. State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a longtime Christie foe who co-chaired the investigative committee, said she had “mixed feelings” about further action. “I’m not sure what our goal would be,” Weinberg, a Democrat, said in a phone interview. She said it was not clear whether the legislature could force Christie to testify under oath or gain access to his communications. Christie’s status as a lame-duck governor is another factor weighing against a renewed probe, as is the potential cost to taxpayers, Weinberg said. The target of the scheme, Sokolich, the Fort Lee mayor, said it was obvious the plot extended beyond the three charged defendants. “There were many others who were half a text or one email conversation away from getting indicted,” he said, adding that Christie has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion. “I guess we’ll never know for sure,” Sokolich said. “Welcome to Jersey politics.” | 0fake |
WATCH: Donald Trump GOES OFF On Fraud Victims Whose Lives Were Ruined By His Fake University (VIDEO) | Donald Trump pretty much goes ballistic anytime someone says something bad about his precious Trump University, a failed real estate investment seminar that is now facing multiple class-action lawsuits from approximately 5,000 attendees, calling the school out for being a scam.On Monday, the Republican front runner took his characteristic bullying to a new level when he released a video in which he threatened the victims behind the fraud charges. In the video, Trump creepily sits alone in a dark room for three minutes and defends his beloved university despite the fact that even he himself has admitted that it was a scam.Specifically calling out two former attendees of the University who have publicly stated that they were ripped off, the business mogul made a disturbing threat that shows just how shady he is when it comes to his business endeavors: cross me and I will name you so my insane Twitter followers can harass you.Trump went as far as to hold up supposed positive evaluation forms from the two fraud victims named in the video, stating that their forms would be used in court. He said, When they are on the stand, they will be shown and shown [sic] these reports. Why would anybody settle a case when we have reports like this? I just can t do it. Trump s message gets even weirder when he compares his battle against the fraud charges to America, although it s not really clear what the hell he means. Trump said: And you know what? The United States should fight back also. We shouldn t just be settlers, we should fight back. And do what s right. You can watch Trump s message below:The victims Trump speaks of have both appeared in ads paid for by the American Future Fund, a nonprofit conservative group with connection to the billionaire Koch brothers. In those ads, the victims describe how they spend over $30,000 for seminars at Trump University, and did not get any of the education the university promised them. One of the men said in the ad: Trump University ruined my credit, and it ruined my life. And now by naming and exposing this attendee to all of his Twitter followers, Trump has ruined his life once again and couldn t care less. Let s hope that conservative Americans will wake up and prevent Trump from ruining the lives of every American soon. Featured image via Gage Skidmore | 1real |
White House says negotiations continuing on border wall funding | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiations between the White House and congressional leaders on a spending measure to keep the U.S. government running beyond this week are continuing, and President Donald Trump is still seeking border wall and military funding, the White House said on Monday. Asked if Trump was insisting on some funding for his planned border wall in the current spending measure, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the money for the military and the border security wall were a priority for the president and he would not take them off the table yet. | 0fake |
‘Plan-B’ — Obama Paves Way to Give Syrian ‘Moderate Rebels’ Anti-Aircraft Weapons to Fight Russia | By Claire Bernish at thefreethoughtproject.com
President Obama contemplated arming the already controversial ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels weapons to “defend themselves against Russian aircraft and artillery” as his Plan B for Syria when all else failed in the effort to oust Assad — but although this treacherous plan has been effectively shelved, it remains an option for whomever next ascends to the White House.
According to a new report from the Washington Post , Obama’s Plan B has neither been “approved or rejected” in the U.S.’ disintegrating and increasingly complex campaign to depose Syrian President Bashar al Assad — which has, of course, precipitated a perilous proxy war with staunch Syrian ally, Russia.
Skepticism over allowing the CIA to provide various anti-Assad terrorists — euphemistically termed moderate rebels by the U.S. — with “truck-mounted antiaircraft weapons that could help rebel units but would be difficult for a terrorist group to conceal and use against civilian aircraft” apparently forced the plan to be tabled, the Post reports.
In the U.S. program to topple Assad, the CIA has armed and trained defectors from Syrian military known as the Free Syrian Army — whose own defectors went on to form the Islamic State — as well as other terroristic groups virtually indistinguishable from one another except for their political ideologies.
These issues factored into restrictions on weapons the U.S. would provide to their sponsored rebels; but, as the Post explains:
“Rebels chafed at the restriction, complaining that it left them vulnerable to air attack by Assad and, more recently, Russia.”
Plan B was envisaged as a compromise by the CIA.
But the complex state of affairs in Syria has led not only the FSA, but other ‘moderates,’ to ‘radicalize’ — complicating U.S.’ goals and frustrating Russian efforts to purge the embattled nation of terrorists. While the Pentagon’s public goal has duly sought to wrest control from Assad and fight the Islamic State, the CIA program of arming rebels is widely considered counterproductive — if not, perhaps, nefarious.
Plan B, despite potentially devastating repercussions, retains stolid support from top officials, including unsurprisingly CIA Director John Brennan and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter — but has lost favor recently with former proponents, including Secretary of State John Kerry.
Kerry and other skeptics rightly grasp providing heavy artillery to rebels fighting Russia-backed Syrian government forces to down Russian aircraft — which would undoubtedly turn the smoldering U.S. proxy battle into an all-out war with Russia.
Additionally, the Post reports, a growing number of U.S. officials feel the contentious CIA program has only proven to bedevil the ultimate goal of regime change, and, as one unnamed ‘senior official’ noted, CIA units are “not doing any better on the battlefield, they’re up against a more formidable adversary, and they’re increasingly dominated by extremists,” adding, “What has this program become, and how will history record this effort?” | 1real |
CAN HALLOWEEN TELL US WHO’LL WIN THE WHITE HOUSE?…Guess Which Candidate Is Crushing It In Sales? | Can Halloween tell us who ll win the White House? Apparently, the sale of candidate masks is an eerily accurate crystal ball.According to one costume industry index, mask sales have correctly predicted the outcome of every presidential election since 1996. According to another index which goes back further they ve been right since 1980, when Ronald Reagan s mug outsold Jimmy Carter s by 20 percent.Being No. 1 this year, however, might indicate something else.Kim Hermann, who along with his wife, Betty, owns Novelties Unlimited in Ghent, says this election is so contentious, most people buying candidate costumes are doing it to be negative. They re planning to suggest something other than presidential behavior. Like Hillary Clinton in a convict suit. Or Donald Trump with a license to grope. Oh, it s definitely all about mocking them, said Chloe Nelson, a manager at Spirit Halloween, a chain of 1,200 seasonal stores that puts out one of the presidential mask indexes.At Nelson s Greenbrier Mall store, one couple planning a Halloween party bought both candidate masks so they can entertain their guests with a night of bickering: You re unfit. No, you are.It s early the big costume rush is still a week away but Betty Hermann was on the phone Wednesday trying to order more Trump masks. Likenesses of Hillary remained in stock a full-head latex caricature for $25.Via: pilotonline | 1real |
Democrats criticize Senate's all-male healthcare group | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democrats on Sunday criticized the lack of women on a working group in the Republican-led Senate that will craft a plan to pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare. As the Senate begins to wrestle with a Republican healthcare bill narrowly approved by the House of Representatives last week, senators questioned why the 13-member working group put together by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell does not include any of the chamber’s five Republican women. “Women’s health is a big part of this and women are a majority of the population, and their health interests deserve to be contemplated in any reform,” Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington wrote on Twitter: “It matters to have women at the table — and it matters when they aren’t.” Republicans pushed their healthcare restructuring through the House on a 217-213 vote, handing President Donald Trump his first major legislative success. But the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where Republicans have a narrow majority and several members have suggested they will develop their own plans. Democrats are united in opposition to the House bill. Trump pledged on Sunday that the effort to gut former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law would be successful. “Republican Senators will not let the American People down!,” he wrote on Twitter. “ObamaCare premiums and deductibles are way up-it was a lie and it is dead!” The Senate’s healthcare working group includes the Republican leadership, several committee chairmen and a combination of conservatives such as Ted Cruz of Texas and more moderate Republicans from politically important swing states such as Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Critics said the group’s lack of diversity would eliminate crucial viewpoints. “The GOP is crafting policy on an issue that directly impacts women without including a single woman in the process. It’s wrong,” Democratic Senator Kamala Harris of California wrote on Twitter on Saturday. Don Stewart, a senior aide to McConnell, said critics were getting “hung up on process” while ignoring the problems of Obamacare such as higher costs and limited choices. “So you can get caught up in process, or you can focus on the actual reality,” Stewart said in an email on Sunday. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who has been working on her own healthcare plan, said she was reaching out to moderate Democrats to try to find common ground. She did not criticize the working group’s all-male make-up but said she wanted to see a broader effort to replace Obama’s 2010 healthcare law. “I would like to see us put together a bipartisan group to solve this problem, of Democrats who acknowledge there are problems with the current law, that it is not working well in several states, and Republicans who also want to make sure that we’re not reducing coverage and we’re giving flexibility,” Collins said on ABC’s “This Week.” Senators have questioned aspects of the House bill, which would slash funding for Medicaid, the program that provides insurance for the poor, and roll back much of its expansion during the Obama administration. It also would allow states to opt out of some existing protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. While insurers could not deny insurance because of such conditions, they would be allowed to decide how much to charge. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, one of the most moderate Democrats in the Senate, said his state “gets absolutely slammed” in the House bill because it has a lot of elderly residents and people with pre-existing conditions. “I just want to work and sit down and try to get something done, but no one’s asked us,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “Our congressional delegation says, ‘don’t worry, the Senate will fix it.’ And no one has asked any Democrat. And I am the most centrist.” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said the White House would not dictate the process. “I think we want to let them do their work, let them work this out. They are all very mature. They all know what is going on. They all know the commitments we have made to the American people to repeal and replace a failing program in Obamacare,” he said on the “Fox News Sunday” program. | 0fake |
Exclusive: Presidential hopefuls Sanders, Clinton in dead heat - Reuters/Ipsos poll | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has erased Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s wide lead for the Democratic presidential nomination since the start of year, putting the two in a dead heat nationally, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Clinton leads Sanders 48 percent to 45 percent among Democratic voters, according to the poll of 512 Americans, conducted Feb. 2-5 following the Iowa caucus. The poll has a credibility interval of 5 percentage points. Democrats had been supporting Clinton by more than a 2-to-1 margin at the beginning of the year. Sanders has narrowed that lead considerably over the past several weeks. Clinton beat Sanders narrowly in the Iowa caucuses, the nation’s first nomination contest ahead of the November election, but is expected to lose to him in New Hampshire. The two rivals clashed on Thursday night in their first one-on-one debate, reflecting the tightness of the race. There is still a wide gap between the two in name recognition nationally. Nearly a quarter of Democrats and two-fifths of Independents say they are still not that familiar with Sanders. In comparison, Clinton has almost total name recognition among voters. On the Republican side, Donald Trump continued to lead the field with 40 percent support. His level of support among Republicans was relatively unchanged following his second-place finish in the Iowa caucus. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas followed with 16 percent and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida came in third with 13 percent. * Democrat poll results: bit.ly/1Ppdeh2 * Republican poll results: bit.ly/1URswih For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales from the Trail” (here). (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Lisa Shumaker) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage. | 0fake |
Company Drops Gloria Steinem After Bullied By Pro-Lifers, Apologizes For Pushing Women’s Rights | You d think that in the year 2016, companies would no longer be bullied by those who advocate for fewer rights for women, but to the contrary, Lands End has just proved that simply not to be the case.The company recently featured legendary women s rights advocate and feminist Gloria Steinem in their catalog and on their website for their Legend Series featuring individuals who have made a difference in both their respective industries and the world at large. However, many anti-choice advocates were not amused by Lands End promoting someone who pushes for women to have control over their own bodies. They were, quite literally, bullied into ending their relationship with Steinem.One pro-lifer commented on the Lands End Facebook page: Those of us who love family, love children, are completely puzzled why you would promote a very vocal pro abortion celebrity. Is this who you are LandsEnd? Are you anti-child? You want to kill off possible future customers? Is this your message to those of us who give their very lives to feed, love and clothe our children, some of these children who also live with special needs? Clearly not, and whoa, what a devious guilt trip, but upon their threat of boycott and shipping everything Lands End back, the company took no chances and succumbed to the harassment and gave in to the bullying. Apparently, a Catholic school also threatened to end their relationship with the company as their uniform supplier as well.Here s Lands End official statement: We understand that some of our customers were offended by the inclusion of an interview in a recent catalog with Gloria Steinem on her quest for women s equality. We thought it was a good idea and we heard from our customers that, for different reasons, it wasn t. For that, we sincerely apologize. Our goal was to feature individuals with different interests and backgrounds that have made a difference for our new Legends Series, not to take any political or religious stance. They literally just said, We thought it was a good idea to feature someone who stood for women s equality, but it wasn t, and we apologize.Way to stand with women, Lands End. Sure, you may have lost a few religious zealots, but you could have gained a hell of a lot more back in those who admire your courage to uphold a woman s right over her own body and be equal amongst her peers in society.Here s the thing: Lands End is still going to lose customers, but this time from people who stand with women s rights, which is the majority of America.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Trump business policy forum says disbanding due to 'distraction' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum is disbanding because debate over member participation “has become a distraction” from its goals of aiding policy discussions, the business advisory group said in a statement on Wednesday. “As such, the President and we are disbanding the Forum,” the group said. “Intolerance, racism and violence have absolutely no place in this country and are an affront to core American values,” it said, after corporate CEOs quit two Trump business advisory councils in protest at his remarks blaming violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, not only on white nationalists but also on the protesters who opposed them. | 0fake |
Dan Savage: Melania Trump Is ‘Ugly on the Inside’ - Breitbart | Content Warning: Adult language] This week on his “Savage Love” podcast, gay rights activist Dan Savage went after first lady Melania Trump, saying she was “as ugly on the inside as she is pretty on the outside. ” “I want to open today’s show talking about someone I hate,” Savage, who is a activist, said. “But God knows there’s enough hate in the world, and I don’t want to add to the sum total but forgive me, I have got to get this off my chest: I f***ing hate Melania Trump. ” He continued, “I’m not alone in loathing Donald Trump’s third wife — she’s married to a misogynist after all. Odds are good her husband hates her, too. But there are some folks on the left who not only don’t hate her. They view her as some sort of sympathetic figure. The pretty princess in the tower locked up by the orange ogre with the bad combover, a princess desperately blinking out distress signals during ceremonies and inaugural balls. ” He added, “I think we can credit that undeserving charitable view of our new first lady to our propensity as humans, as a species to think that the insides of pretty people match the outsides of pretty people. And that may be true sometimes but only randomly. And everyone always beware of confirmation bias. And you know what it’s definitely not true in this case. Mrs. Trump, Melania Trump, is as ugly on the inside as she is pretty on the outside. She is a birther. Pretty Melania went on TV to push the same racist conspiracy theories about Barack Obama that her husband did. She’s an immigrant who doesn’t give a s**t about the plight of other immigrants. She’s famously a plagiarist. And she’s brought ruinous lawsuits against journalists and bloggers accusing them of, among other things, potentially interfering with her ability to profit off her role as first lady. ” ( The Wrap) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
106-Year-Old Woman’s Dance With The Obamas Is The Most Adorable Thing EVER (VIDEO) | You might just die of cute when you see the video the White House just posted. 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin had always dreamed of going to the White House. Her dream was just fulfilled, and she got to dance with President Obama and the First Lady. They laugh, they joke, and she is just so excited. The Obamas compliment her beautiful manicure, and she expresses just the most ecstatic happiness. She says she is there to celebrate Black History Month. The White House just posted the video with the caption:What s the secret to still dancing at 106? Watch 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin fulfill her dream of visiting the White House and meeting President Obama. #BlackHistoryMonthAnd here is the embed of the post:// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>What s the secret to still dancing at 106? Watch 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin fulfill her dream of visiting the White House and meeting President Obama. #BlackHistoryMonthPosted by The White House on Sunday, February 21, 2016This is just another reason in a VERY long line to love our current First Family, and why we will miss them so much.Congratulations on fulfilling a lifelong dream, Mrs. McLaurin.Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Democrats should ask Clinton to step aside | Since 2011, VNN has operated as part of the Veterans Today Network ; a group that operates over 50 plus media, information and service online sites for U.S. Military Veterans. Democrats should ask Clinton to step aside By VNN on October 31, 2016 The newly opened FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server marks "a potential Constitutional crisis" for the country.
Chicago Tribune
Has America become so numb by the decades of lies and cynicism oozing from Clinton Inc. that it could elect Hillary Clinton as president, even after Friday’s FBI announcement that it had reopened an investigation of her emails while secretary of state?
We’ll find out soon enough.
It’s obvious the American political system is breaking down. It’s been crumbling for some time now, and the establishment elite know it and they’re properly frightened. Donald Trump , the vulgarian at their gates, is a symptom, not a cause. Hillary Clinton and husband Bill are both cause and effect.
FBI director James Comey ‘s announcement about the renewed Clinton email investigation is the bombshell in the presidential campaign. That he announced this so close to Election Day should tell every thinking person that what the FBI is looking at is extremely serious.
This can’t be about pervert Anthony Weiner and his reported desire for a teenage girl. But it can be about the laptop of Weiner’s wife, Clinton aide Huma Abedin , and emails between her and Hillary. It comes after the FBI investigation in which Comey concluded Clinton had lied and been “reckless” with national secrets, but said he could not recommend prosecution.
So what should the Democrats do now?
If ruling Democrats hold themselves to the high moral standards they impose on the people they govern, they would follow a simple process:
They would demand that Mrs. Clinton step down, immediately, and let her vice presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, stand in her place.
Democrats should say, honestly, that with a new criminal investigation going on into events around her home-brew email server from the time she was secretary of state, having Clinton anywhere near the White House is just not a good idea.
Since Oct. 7, WikiLeaks has released 35,000 emails hacked from Clinton campaign boss John Podesta . Now WikiLeaks, no longer a neutral player but an active anti-Clinton agency, plans to release another 15,000 emails.
What if she is elected? Think of a nation suffering a bad economy and continuing chaos in the Middle East, and now also facing a criminal investigation of a president. Add to that congressional investigations and a public vision of Clinton as a Nixonian figure wandering the halls, wringing her hands.
The best thing would be for Democrats to ask her to step down now. It would be the most responsible thing to do, if the nation were more important to them than power. And the American news media — fairly or not firmly identified in the public mind as Mrs. Clinton’s political action committee — should begin demanding it.
But what will Hillary do?
She’ll stick and ride this out and turn her anger toward Comey. For Hillary and Bill Clinton, it has always been about power, about the Clinton Restoration and protecting fortunes already made by selling nothing but political influence.
She’ll remind the nation that she’s a woman and that Donald Trump said terrible things about women. If there is another notorious Trump video to be leaked, the Clintons should probably leak it now. Then her allies in media can talk about misogyny and sexual politics and the headlines can be all about Trump as the boor he is and Hillary as champion of female victims, which she has never been.
Remember that Bill Clinton leveraged the “Year of the Woman.” Then he preyed on women in the White House and Hillary protected him. But the political left — most particularly the women of the left — defended him because he promised to protect abortion rights and their other agendas.
If you take a step back from tribal politics, you’ll see that Mrs. Clinton has clearly disqualified herself from ever coming near classified information again. If she were a young person straight out of grad school hoping to land a government job, Hillary Clinton would be laughed out of Washington with her record. She’d never be hired.
As secretary of state she kept classified documents on the home-brew server in her basement, which is against the law. She lied about it to the American people. She couldn’t remember details dozens of times when questioned by the FBI. Her aides destroyed evidence by BleachBit and hammers. Her husband, Bill, met secretly on an airport tarmac with Attorney General Loretta Lynch for about a half-hour, and all they said they talked about was golf and the grandkids.
And there was no prosecution of Hillary.
That isn’t merely wrong and unethical. It is poisonous.
And during this presidential campaign, Americans were confronted with a two-tiered system of federal justice: one for standards for the Clintons and one for the peasants.
I’ve always figured that, as secretary of state, Clinton kept her home-brew email server — from which foreign intelligence agencies could hack top secret information — so she could shield the influence peddling that helped make the Clintons several fortunes.
The Clintons weren’t skilled merchants. They weren’t traders or manufacturers. The Clintons never produced anything tangible. They had no science, patents or devices to make them millions upon millions of dollars. FBI’s Comey acted out of ‘obligation’ to lawmakers, fear of leak to media
All they had to sell, really, was influence. And they used our federal government to leverage it.
If a presidential election is as much about the people as it is about the candidates, then we’ll learn plenty about ourselves in the coming days, won’t we?
Listen to the Chicago Way podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin. Guests are Tribune cartoonist Scott Stantis and former White House Chief of Staff William Daley: www.chicagotribune.com/kasspod | 1real |
Syrian army, allies reach airbase besieged by Islamic State in eastern Syria: commander | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army and its allies reached an air base besieged for years by Islamic State militants on the outskirts of the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, said a commander in the alliance fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Forces this week also broke the siege of a separate government-held enclave in the city in swift advances against the jihadists. | 0fake |
WOW! DEMOCRATS Offer Tips On How To Convince Friends Christians Are More Likely To Commit Acts Of Terrorism Than Muslims | When we found this insane article on the Occupy Democrats website, it had over 500,000 shares. Obviously, making the case against Christians being more likely to commit terrorism while defending terrorism by Muslims is of utmost interest to the Democrat party. We have gone through each and every example of Christian terrorism they have given and dispelled every single one of them. Please make sure you share this article with everyone you know. We are in an emotional propaganda war with the Left and we will not win if we don t fight back with the facts. The outpouring of blatant Islamophobia and barely disguised racism coming from the right-wing in the wake of the Paris attacks is utterly despicable. Every time one of these attacks happen, conservatives insist on blaming the world s 1.6 billion Muslims for their complicity, even though the majority of terrorist attacks are carried out against Muslim. American far right-wingers like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are calling for religious profiling of incoming refugees, because somehow being a Christian automatically removes the risk of terrorism even though Christian right-wing terrorists in America have killed more people since 9/11 than Muslim terrorists have.Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee even had the sheer gall to tell conservative blowhard Joe Scarborough that I don t know of any other group of people uniquely that are targeting innocent civilians and committing these acts of mayhem. Warmonger (from the party who has kept us at war with the same countries we were fighting with, and added a few since Obama took office) and avowed (avowed?) bigot (bigot?) Ted Cruz said that there is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror. If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation. Since both grifters seem to have severe selective memory problems, let s take a look at the worst Christian terrorist attacks that our own citizens have perpetrated within our borders.1. The Knoxville Unitarian Universalist Church ShootingOne of Adkisson s former wives was a member of the church he attacked. Following his heinous attack of the church members, he had this to say about the attack in his manifesto (Please note, there is never any mention of RELIGION in his reasoning for the attack. His attack was about punishing Democrats (liberals) for destroying America: Adkisson stated that he had targeted the church because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets. Adkisson made statements that because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them into office. Adkisson stated that he had held these beliefs for about the last ten years. Adkisson s manifesto[10] also cited the inability to find a job, and that his food stamps were being cut. Here is a screen shot of his manifesto listing all 3 reasons he committed this horrible crime against innocent people. We are not condoning his behavior, we are simply exposing the lies of this Democrat publication who would attempt to frame this act of violence as being motivated by Christianity:Jim David Adkisson, a devout Christian and anti-abortion right-winger, walked into a Knoxville church on July 27th, 2008, and began firing a shotgun at children who were performing Annie Jr. He killed two and wounded seven, targeting the church because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country. 2. The Campaign of Terror Against Abortion DoctorsThis article references the well-known case of abortionist killer, Scott Roeder. We d like to set the record straight about how desire to take the life of abortionist, George Tiller was really about workplace violence and had NOTHING to do with Christianity.Abortion lovers were clearly salivating when word got out that a man walked into George Tiller The Killer s former abortion facility with a bomb in his backpack earlier this week. It turns out that, in fact, the guy was looking for a job, like so many Americans under Obamistake. He wanted to be a canvasser for Live Fetal Organ Dispensary Inc., otherwise known as Planned Parenthood.The media-reported bomb was, in fact, a pill bottle-sized firework. No one was harmed, thank God, but the incident is just one of a too-long string of MSM bigotry against conservatives.In 1993, Dr. Richard Gunn was shot dead by an anti-abortion protester. In 1994, Drs. John Britton and James Barrett were shot to death by Reverend Paul Jennings. In 1998, Dr. Barnett Sleipan was shot dead in his home by a Christian terrorist. In 2009, Dr. George Tiller was shot by Scott Roeder in a church. The ability for Christian right-wingers to justify cold-blooded murder in the name of their pro-life beliefs is a colossal hypocrisy worthy of a terrorist group like ISIS. According to the National Abortion Federation, there have been 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery, 13 wounded, 100 butyric acid attacks, 373 physical invasions, 41 bombings, 655 anthrax threats, and 3 kidnappings committed against abortion providers since 1977. Terrorist groups like the Taliban and ISIS are very fond of acid attacks and chemical weapons like anthrax; apparently Christian right-wing terrorists share that same preference.3. The 1995 Oklahoma City Bombings(Note, there is no mention of Christianity in McVeigh s explanation of why he bombed the Murrah Fed Building.)In Timothy McVeigh s own words:I explain herein why I bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I explain this not for publicity, nor seeking to win and argument of right or wrong. I explain so that the record is clear as to my thinking and motivations in bombing a government installation. I chose to bomb a federal building because such an action served more purposes than other options. Foremost, the bombing was a retaliatory strike; a counter attack, for the cumulative raids (and subsequent violence and damage) that federal agents had participated in over the preceding years (including, but not limited to, Waco.) From the formation of such units as the FBI s Hostage Rescue and other assault teams amongst federal agencies during the 80 s; culminating in the Waco incident, federal actions grew increasingly militaristic and violent, to the point where at Waco, our government like the Chinese was deploying tanks against its own citizens.Knowledge of these multiple and ever-more aggressive raids across the country constituted an identifiable pattern of conduct within and by the federal government and amongst its various agencies. (see enclosed) For all intents and purposes, federal agents had become soldiers (using military training, tactics, techniques, equipment, language, dress, organization, and mindset) and they were escalating their behavior. Therefore, this bombing was also meant as a pre-emptive (or pro-active) strike against these forces and their command and control centers within the federal building. When an aggressor force continually launches attacks from a particular base of operation, it is sound military strategy to take the fight to the enemy.Additionally, borrowing a page from U.S. foreign policy, I decided to send a message to a government that was becoming increasingly hostile, by bombing a government building and the government employees within that building who represent that government. Bombing the Murrah Federal Building was morally and strategically equivalent to the U.S. hitting a government building in Serbia, Iraq, or other nations. (see enclosed) Based on observations of the policies of my own government, I viewed this action as an acceptable option. From this perspective, what occurred in Oklahoma City was no different than what Americans rain on the heads of others all the time, and subsequently, my mindset was and is one of the clinical detachment. (the bombing of the Murrah building was not personal , no more than when Air Force, Army, Navy, or Marine personnel bomb or launch cruise missiles against government installations and their personnel.)I hope that this clarification amply addresses your question.Sincerely, Timothy J. McVeigh USP Terre Haute (IN)Timothy McVeigh, America s most notorious domestic terrorist, was obsessed with the Seventh-Day Aventist splinter group known as the Branch Davidians, who resisted an ATF raid on their citadel at Mount Carmel in 1993. He travelled to Waco, Texas during the Waco Siege and heavily supported the religious extremists within it. Two years later, he detonated a fertilizer bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing a hundred and sixty-eight people, including nineteen children, and wounded 648 others. This Christian specifically targeted innocent civilians and committed horrific acts of violence to make his political point heard something Mr. Huckabee believes he should be incapable of, since he s not a Muslim.4. Everything The Ku Klux Klan Has Ever Done(The KKK was not founded on Christian principles and actually changed their focus in the second wave of the KKK to addressing the supposed threat of the Catholic Church, using anti-Catholicism and nativism. Its appeal was directed exclusively at white Protestants; it opposed Jews, blacks, Catholics, and newly arriving Southern European groups such as Italians.)Since its creation after the American Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan has been terrorizing Americans in the name of Protestantism and racial purity. Known for their terrifying costumes and hoods, they wrought have fear and violence against blacks, Jews, immigrants, gays, and Catholics for hundreds of years, responsible for countless massacres, lynchings, rapes, and bombings that have killed thousands. In the modern day, it still has a membership of 5,000 to 8,000 terrorists that operate in individual chapters. Just two weeks ago, Frazier Glenn Cross, the leader of the Carolina Knights of the KKK, was sentenced to death by lethal injection for murdering a fourteen year old girl and two seniors outside the Overland Park Jewish Community Center in Kansas City. The man gave the Hitler salute during his trial and declared that Jews are destroying the white race. None of his victims were Jewish.5. The Massacre At Zion Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.(Maybe we missed it, but as far as we can tell, this attack had nothing to do with the attacker being a Christian. Liberal logic however, makes it okay to blame this heinous act on Christianity even though the VICTIMS were the CHRISTIANS in this case.)On Wednesday, June 17th of this year, a man rose from a pew in the historically black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, and opened fire with a .45 caliber pistol, killing nine worshipers, including pastor and State Senator Clementa Pickiney. The shooter has been photographed wearing patches representing the racist apartheid regimes in Southwest Africa, had a Confederate license plate on his vehicle. All signs points to this being a hate crime- not only is it the oldest black church in the South, it was a symbol of resistance against slavery, and a survivor reported that the shooter yelled I have to do it. You rape our women and you re taking over our country. And you have to go. Roof was a member of a local Lutheran church, yet somehow his baptism didn t prevent him from gunning down innocent people in a house of worship, defiling a sacred place with hate and murder.So the next time one of your conservative friends tries to school you on the evils of Islam, just name a couple items from this list. The rampant xenophobia that has taken hold of the Republican Party is an affront to everything this nation stands for. Terrorism spawns from the desperation of humankind, and for that, we are all guilty.The original article was published by Occupy Democrats on November 17, 2015 and is titled: The Top Five Attacks On America Committed By Christian Terrorists, Not Muslims | 1real |
US-Saudi Plan: Let 9,000 ISIS Fighters Walk Free from Mosul – to Fight in Syria | Patrick Henningsen 21st Century WireJudging by both the words, and deeds of the Obama White House and its political diplomatic appointees led by perfidious John Kerry and caustic Samantha Power all evidence to date points to the US wanting to escalate its war on Syria while happily baiting a military confrontation, and World War scenario with Russia and its allies in the process. If this latest leak is indeed true and time will certainly tell whether or not it is, it would constitute one of the most egregious violations of both US and international law by the United States government and its theocratic dictator partner in Saudi Arabia.Washington s own anti-terror legislation expressly forbids colluding to provide logistical or material support for terrorist groups, and this US-Saudi venture would be the latest in a long list of violations According to news released today (see report below), US President Barack Obama has been briefed that the operation to liberate the ISIS stronghold in Mosul in Iraq is scheduled for the second half of October. Here s what makes this a potential shocker: the operation allows for safe passage for 9,000 ISIS fighters on the proviso that they are transferred from Iraq to eastern Syria in order to help US plans for regime change there. At the time of the assault, coalition aircraft would strike only on a pre-agreed detached buildings in the city, which are empty, the source said. According to him [the source], the plan of Washington and Riyadh also provides that the rebels move from Mosul to Syria for the attack on the government-controlled town of troops. Essentially, Washington and Saudi Arabia, will allow 9,000 ISIS (Islamic State) fighter FREE passage into Syria if they agree to join Washington s regime change operations there. This could also include, eastern regions of Syria to follow a major offensive operation, which involves the capture of Deir ez-Zor and Palmyra, the source added.Before you write this story off as some ornate Russian psychological operation, consider the long trend arch. The US along with its generous Gulf sidekicks, have already established a solid track record of aiding and abetting ISIS not just in Syria, but in Iraq too.The record shows that the US is guilty on a number of counts If the Mosul leak is true, then it wouldn t be the first time that the US has provided cover in the military pantomime the world has come to know as the fight against ISIS. When large ISIS convoys crossed the Syrian desert to invade and occupy the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in May 2015, the US Coalition airforce did nothing, and allowed ISIS to take and destroy part of the world s great historic cultural heritage, along with the murder of scores of innocent civilians.Professor Tim Anderson from Sydney University states: U.S. weapons with Israeli ammunition were used by Islamic State group when taking over Palmyra. The extremists also had U.S. military rations. The U.S., which since 2014 claimed to be conducting a war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and which had air power and sophisticated surveillance of the region, did nothing to stop the huge ISIS advance on Palmyra. The US isn t even shy about its laissez-faire policy with ISIS in the field, with the New York Times openly boasting, Any airstrikes against Islamic State militants in and around Palmyra would probably benefit the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. So far, United States-led airstrikes in Syria have largely focused on areas far outside government control, to avoid the perception of aiding a leader whose ouster President Obama has called for. Following the derelict incident, New York Times reporters Hwaida Saad and Kareem Fahim, were still kicking and screaming for regime change like petulant children at the news of ISIS fleeing and Palmyra being liberated by the Syrian Army and Russians. They said that, Mr. Assad s contention that his government is a bulwark against the transnational extremist group has been bolstered, but added that his foes and some allies argue that he must leave power as part of a political settlement to end the war in Syria. In other words: we still want regime change! This says volumes about who is really enforcing New York Times editorial lines (either the US State Dept, or the CIA, take your pick).More importantly however, is what kind of message an US statement like that sends to ISIS, as well as Al Nusra and other terrorist brigades inside Syria, which is basically, we do not need to worry about US air strikes, only Syrian Army and Russian strikes. This situation really sums up the utter fraud and contempt of the US deception in Syria, and it s no surprise that the Russian Foreign Ministry are reticent to extend themselves any more where the US is concerned.Then, in March 2016, when ISIS fled Palmyra, back across the desert towards Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa the great and powerful US Coalition airforce actually helped ISIS in a number of ways, including allowing them free passage once more.In late August, we were told that the Turkish Army, alongside allied Syrian rebels (terrorist group Faylaq al-Sham) backed by the US air cover, invaded Syria in order to capture the ISIS-held town of Jarabulus, Syria, this supposedly to cut off ISIS s last open route into Turkey. But what happened to ISIS?The NYT even admitted that, it appeared that most of the militants had fled without a fight. Here, ISIS appears to have been given advanced warning by either US or Turkish intelligence, as they left the contested town of Jarabulus quietly, but in droves. In reality, Turkey twisted this operation in order to attack and degrade Kurdish militias including the US-backed artificial construct called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and pro-Kurdish People s Protection Units (YPG) and Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian affiliate of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq and Turkey all of whom are meant to be fighting ISIS. Instead, they are now busy dodging Turkish artillery rounds. Confusing, yes, but true nonetheless.It s also common knowledge now, that top of the line US weaponry is being used by ISIS, both in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Syria as well. In fact, if not for US weapons and supplies (along with US air intervention, or noninterventions), ISIS would have struggled to maintain many of the strategic positions it enjoys today. For the last 3 years, US officials have been dodging this issue, and when they do admit this is true, their patronizing party line is that, this must be a mistake, if they do have US weapons, we didn t mean it. As if the world was born yesterday.Perhaps the most flagrant violation by the US-led forces in aiding and abetting ISIS took place on Sept 17, 2016, when the US-led Coalition bombed Syrian Army positions outside of Deir ez-Zor near al-Tharda Mountain, killing some 80 soldiers and injuring 100 more. As if by design, an ISIS offensive began immediately following the US massacre of Syrian soldiers. Clearly, this bold move by the Pentagon paved the way for a major ISIS advance.To any normal observer, the US attack was a belligerent act of war that effective destroyed an already fragile bilateral ceasefire agreement, and yet the US response was to somehow blame Russia for calling an emergency UNSC meeting to discuss the incident. Judging by this response, it s pretty clear that US wants to see the Syrian Conflict carry on for a while, and it will need groups like ISIS to make that happen. The other problem with Washington s hollow righteousness in the Middle East is that there are key members of the US-led Coalition who are financing ISIS, Al Nusra Front, Nour al Din Zinki, and Arar al Sham (all moderate terrorists we re told) militants in Syria, Iraq and beyond. This fact was recently admitted by former US Secretary of State and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, as revealed in this week s batch of Wikileaks emails. Clinton writes: While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region. Add to that the multiple exposures over the last 3 years of the US CIA illegally trafficking lethal arms to Al Nusra and other terrorists through covert operations like Timber Sycamore.Still, US and NATO member state officials and their media gatekeepers continue to deny it and play dumb, rather than come clean that the United States and its partners in the region are helping, not hindering ISIS terrorism.Some might ask: why would they do a thing like that? By now, the answer should be simple, but threefold:What s so comical yet even more tragic, is how prominent the topic of ISIS factors into all of the vapid national security debates and media panels in this year s US Presidential election, and in the dumbed-down coverage of the delusional US mainstream media, led by Pentagon surrogate CNN, and hopeless FOX News. Judging by their prosaic coverage , neither the networks, nor Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump have the slightest clue of what the reality on the ground is. Instead we here, My ISIS plan is better than yours! The US political conversation has gone beyond ridiculousness.The corps of US military and CIA media spokesman aren t much better. The sad part is some of them do know what is really happening, but would rather lie to the American public.With so much double dealing, who can you trust? Certainly not anyone in Washington.More on the White House s latest dangerous proposition .RTThe US and Saudi Arabia have agreed to grant free passage to thousands of Islamic State militants before the Iraqi city of Mosul is stormed. The jihadists will be redeployed to fight against the government in Syria, a military-diplomatic source told RIA Novosti. More than 9,000 Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) militants will be redeployed from Mosul to the eastern regions of Syria to carry out a major offensive operation, which involves capturing Deir ez-Zor and Palmyra, the source said.According to the anonymous diplomatic source, US President Barack Obama has already sanctioned an operation to liberate Mosul, due to take place in October.During the storm of the city in northern Iraq the US-led coalition s planes would only strike detached, vacated or uninhabited buildings, while keeping terrorists as targets, he said.In September, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter confirmed that Washington would send an additional 600 troops to Iraq to help liberate Mosul at the request of the local authorities.The source suggested that redeployment of IS militants is necessary because Washington must somehow counter Russia s achievements in Syria, try to diminish their importance. Apart from the purely political dividends, the other purpose of this operation, obviously, will be to discredit the success of Russian Airspace forces. And, of course, it s an attempt to undermine Syrian President (Bashar) Assad, he said.The leadership of Saudi Arabia s General Intelligence Directorate will be the mediators and guarantors of the agreement on safe passage for the jihadists from Mosul, he claimed.The source added that a similar scheme had been used by the US and its allies during the liberation of the Iraqi city of Fallujah Continue this story at RTREAD MORE SYRIA NEWS: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Turkey backs Syrian rebels for "serious operation" in Idlib | ANKARA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebel fighters are launching a major military operation backed by Turkish forces into a northwestern area of Syria largely controlled by jihadists, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. Rebels said they were preparing to start the operation soon in Idlib province and surrounding areas, which represent Syria s most populous rebel-held area, and residents reported Turkish authorities removing sections of a border wall. The incursion is being carried out after Iran and Russia, which back President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, which supports the rebels, agreed last month to reduce fighting between insurgents and the government in the northwest. It seems aimed at curbing the Tahrir al-Sham alliance, Syria s strongest jihadist group apart from Islamic State, and at securing Turkey s frontier. There s a serious operation in Syria s Idlib today and it will continue, Erdogan said in a speech to his AK Party, adding that Turkey would not allow a terror corridor on its border with Syria. For now the Free Syrian Army is carrying out the operation there, Erdogan said. Russia is supporting the operation from the air, and our armed forces from inside Turkey s borders, he added. Late on Saturday, Turkey deployed tanks and military vehicles on the its Syrian border, building up military presence, a Reuters witness said. Mustafa Sejari, a senior official in the Liwa al-Mutasem Syrian insurgent group taking part in the operation, said Russia would not be backing the rebels in the campaign. As for the Russians, they will not have a role in the areas of our control at all. The role of the Russians is limited to areas under regime control, he said. Ankara, Moscow and Tehran announced a deal last month to establish and patrol a de-escalation zone in the Idlib region, where Erdogan has said Turkey will deploy troops. Turkey s foreign minister said late on Saturday that Turkey aimed to prevent clashes in Idlib. Russian and Iranian observers will be in some regions here, and we will have our observers inside Idlib. Of course they will be in safe places so there will be no risks, Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters. Tahrir al-Sham is spearheaded by the former Nusra Front, which was al Qaeda s Syrian branch until last year, when it changed its name and broke formal allegiance to the global movement founded by Osama bin Laden. It has been a formidable military force since early in the war, when it transitioned from bomb attacks in cities to guerrilla conflict with the Syrian army, fighting alongside many other factions. Since early this year, it has battled other rebel groups in Idlib and other parts of Syria, while the government has mostly focused on the war against Islamic State in the east. In July Tahrir al-Sham seized land around the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria and Turkey, bringing much of the frontier area inside Syrian under its control. Tahrir al-Sham is well entrenched in the border area in Idlib and maintains a big military presence in nearby towns, a local rebel and a resident of a town near Bab al-Hawa said. In a statement posted on social media, the jihadist alliance accused the Turkey-backed factions of working with Russia and described them as traitors, but did not mention Turkey. It said in the statement that Idlib would not be a picnic for them and added the lions of jihad and martyrdom are waiting to pounce . Pentagon said the United States was not currently participating in these operations , but backed Turkey s efforts to fight terrorism, reminding that the U.S. stance on Tahrir al-Sham, remains unchanged. We support our NATO ally Turkey s efforts to secure its borders, fight terrorism, and prevent safe havens for terrorist organizations, Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman, said. Residents near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey in Syria sent Reuters photographs of what they said was a section of the frontier wall being removed by the Turkish authorities. Tahrir al-Sham was also involved in fighting on the southern edge of the rebels northwestern stronghold this week, battling the army north of Hama. Air raids on insurgent-held towns in that area in recent days were intense, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported. Turkey has been one of the biggest supporters of rebels fighting Assad during the six-and-a-half year war, but its focus has evolved from ousting him to securing its border. A year ago it backed Syrian rebels east of Idlib in an incursion known as Euphrates Shield to drive Islamic State and Kurdish groups from its border, sending troops and armor into Syria. Syrian rebel officials from factions which have fought alongside Turkey in Euphrates Shield said they were preparing to enter the area with the backing of Turkish forces. The Free Syrian Army, with support from Turkish troops, is in full readiness to enter the area but until this moment there is no movement, said Sejari, the Liwa al-Mutasem official. Another FSA rebel told Reuters he believed an incursion into northwest Syria was imminent. We expect that the large-scale operation that has been prepared will be launched perhaps within the next 24 hours, the rebel said. The Hamza Brigade, also part of Euphrates Shield, posted a video online of what it said was a convoy of its forces heading for Idlib. Idlib s population has ballooned to at least two million as thousands of civilians and combatants have left areas in other parts of the country seized by the Syrian army with the help of Russian jets and Iran-backed militias. The resident of the town near Bab al-Hawa border crossing said people were worried that fighting would take a big civilian toll because of the increased population there. One bullet kills three, the resident said. Asked how far Turkey might go in deploying troops inside Syria, Erdogan declined to give details. When you enter a boxing match, you don t count how many punches you throw, he said. | 0fake |
China says it supports Cambodia in pursuing its own development path | BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday it supports Cambodia in pursuing its own development path, after Cambodia s Supreme Court dissolved the country s main opposition party at the request of the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen ahead of elections next year. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comment at a daily news briefing in Beijing. The United States has promised concrete steps against Cambodia and the European Union raised a threat to vital trade preferences after the ruling. | 0fake |
Federal Judge Rules That Trump DID Incite Violence During 2016 Campaign (DETAILS) | Hearing about violence at Trump s rallies was a regular occurrence during his 2016 campaign and that violence was often brought on by Trump himself.At a rally back in March of 2016, Trump yelled, Get em out of here, referencing the peaceful protesters in the crowd, which then prompted his supporters to physically attack them. The protesters who were attacked brought suit against Trump and it looks like he s finally going to have to pay for it in more ways than one.Trump s lawyers have been using the free speech defense, but a Federal Judge isn t buying it. Citing case law from 1960 s student protests and race riots, Judge David Hale of Kentucky, rejected motions to dismiss the case and said that Trump did indeed cite violence at his rally. It is plausible that Trump s direction to get em out of here advocated the use of force. Unlike the statements at issue in the cases cited by the Trump Defendants, get em out of here is stated in the imperative; it was an order, an instruction, a command. Trump craves the sound of people cheering him on, and no doubt probably enjoyed seeing his supporters attack people who were brave enough to show up and stand against him, so it wasn t surprising when Trump denied wrongdoing of any sort and blamed it all on the bad dudes who were protesting. In fact, that phrase became a regular mantra for Trump. We have some protesters who are bad dudes, he said. They have done bad things, and they are really dangerous and get in there and start hitting people, and we had a couple big, strong, powerful guys doing damage to people. It s usually the police, the municipal government because I don t have guards all over these stadiums. I mean, we fill up stadiums. The suit against Trump also names the three individuals responsible for the attacks, one of whom, Matthew Heimbach, is a leader of the white supremacist group Traditional Youth Network from Paoli, Indiana, which will probably make it that much worse for Trump. Watching him try to squirm his way out of this one should be really fun!Featured image via Getty/Sarah Rice | 1real |
Iran halts flights to Iraq's Kurdish region in retaliation for independence vote | DUBAI/ISTANBUL/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iran halted flights to and from Kurdish regions in northern Iraq on Sunday in retaliation to a plan by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hold a referendum on independence. It also started wargames at the Kurdish border. The air embargo is the first concrete retaliatory measure against Monday s Kurdish referendum which is rejected by the government in Baghdad and by Iraq s powerful neighbors, Iran and Turkey. Iranian authorities stopped air traffic to the international airports of Erbil and Sulaimaniya, in Iraqi Kurdistan, upon a request from Baghdad, Fars News Agency said. Tehran and Ankara fear the spread of separatism to their own Kurds. Iran also supports Shi ite groups who have been ruling or holding key security and government positions in Iraq since the 2003 U.S-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein. Turkey, meanwhile, said on Sunday its aircraft launched strikes against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq s Gara region on Saturday after spotting militants preparing to attack Turkish military outposts on the border. Turkey will never ever tolerate any status change or any new formations on its southern borders, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. The KRG will be primarily responsible for the probable developments after this referendum. The KRG has resisted calls to delay the referendum by the United Nations, the United States and Britain who fear it could further destabilize the region. The vote, expected to result in a comfortable yes to independence, is not binding and is meant to give the KRG a legitimate mandate to negotiate the secession of the autonomous region with Baghdad and the neighboring countries. The KRG says the vote acknowledges the Kurds crucial contribution confronting Islamic State after it overwhelmed the Iraqi army in 2014 and seized control of a third of Iraq. Iranian State broadcaster IRIB said military drills, part of annual events held in Iran to mark the beginning of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, were launched in the Oshnavieh border region. The war games will include artillery, armored and airborne units, it said. Clashes with Iranian Kurdish militant groups based in Iraq are fairly common in the border area. On Saturday, Turkish warplanes destroyed gun positions, caves and shelters used by PKK militants, a military statement from Ankara said. Turkey s air force frequently carries out such air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq, where its commanders are based. Turkey s parliament voted on Saturday to extend by a year a mandate authorizing the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria. The PKK launched an insurgency in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The U.S. embassy in Iraq cautioned its citizens that there may be unrest during a referendum, especially in territories disputed between the KRG and the central government like the multi-ethnic oil-rich region of Kirkuk. Three Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed and five wounded on Saturday when an explosive device blew up near their vehicle south Kirkuk, security sources said. The explosion happened in Daquq, a region bordering Islamic State-held areas, the sources said. Islamic State s caliphate effectively collapsed in July, when a U.S.-backed Iraqi offensive, in which the Peshmerga took part, captured their stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq. The group continues to control a pocket west of Kirkuk and a stretch alongside the Syrian border and inside Syria. | 0fake |
Exclusive: While advising Trump in 2016, ex-CIA chief proposed plan to discredit Turkish cleric | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former CIA director James Woolsey pitched a $10 million contract to two Turkish businessmen to help discredit a controversial U.S.-based cleric while Woolsey was an adviser to Donald Trump’s election campaign, three people familiar with the proposal said. Just eight days after formally joining Trump’s campaign as an adviser on national security issues, Woolsey met on Sept. 20, 2016 with businessmen Ekim Alptekin and Sezgin Baran Korkmaz over lunch at the Peninsula Hotel in New York, they said. Woolsey and his wife, Nancye Miller, proposed a lobbying and public relations campaign targeting Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who lives in Pennsylvania. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Gulen of instigating a failed coup in July 2016 and wants him extradited to Turkey to face trial. Gulen has denied any role in the coup. In an email memo seen by Reuters, Woolsey and Miller sketched a plan to “draw attention to the cleric’s possible role in the coup attempt” and encourage an official investigation into his activities. Alptekin, an ally of Erdogan, had already agreed through one of his companies to a $600,000 contract with the consulting firm of Michael Flynn to research Gulen. Flynn was also a Trump campaign adviser and later became his national security adviser before being fired in February. Woolsey was a member of Flynn’s firm, the Flynn Intel Group, according to a Justice Department filing by the firm and an archive of the company’s website, although a spokesman for Woolsey disputed that characterization, saying he was an unpaid adviser and his affiliation was “loosely defined.” At the Sept. 20 meeting, Miller said she and Woolsey were in a better position than Flynn to influence decision-makers about Gulen’s alleged role in the coup, according to Alptekin and two other people familiar with the discussion. Bidding for a lobbying or consulting contract with a foreign company or government is not illegal, and Woolsey and Miller did not win the contract in any event. But the previously undisclosed meeting shows for the first time that two Trump aides were competing with each other to win the lucrative business deal with Alptekin. The deal with Flynn is now being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his wider probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians who tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment. Jonathan Franks, a spokesman for Woolsey and Miller, said his clients were not under investigation. Flynn is a central figure in Mueller’s investigation because of conversations he had with then-Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak last year and because he waited until March to retroactively register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for the work he did for Alptekin. In that filing, Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, said the work done for Alptekin’s company “could be construed to have principally benefited the republic of Turkey.” Flynn was fired as national security adviser in February after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the extent of his conversations with Kislyak. Franks described the Sept. 20 meeting as “unremarkable” and said Miller could not locate the email memo or remember writing it. He also said Woolsey had pursued with Turkish interests an “economic development proposal in the wake of the coup that centered around reassuring folks that Turkey was a safe place to do business” but that the project’s focus was not on Gulen. Alptekin said Woolsey and Miller pursued his business at the Sept. 20 meeting, pitching the project to target Gulen, but he decided to stick to his contract with Flynn’s firm. Kelner declined to comment for this story. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The disclosure in March of Flynn’s contract to discredit Gulen sparked intense media scrutiny of people who had worked with Flynn, including Woolsey. Shortly after, Woolsey alleged in media interviews that Flynn and others had, at a Sept. 19, 2016 meeting in New York, discussed with Turkey’s foreign and energy ministers the idea of covertly spiriting Gulen out of the United States and to Turkey. Flynn has denied through a spokesman ever discussing such a plan. Alptekin also denied it was ever discussed and said Woolsey’s claim was “all the more astounding” because he had sought Alptekin’s business at a meeting the following day. “His story is fiction,” Alptekin told Reuters. Franks said Woolsey stands by his account of the meeting. Woolsey first proposed the $10 million project to Korkmaz, the second Turkish businessman, at a meeting in California in August 2016. The proposal was outlined in an email sent from Miller to Woolsey on Aug. 18, printed out and shown by Woolsey to Korkmaz, who then forwarded it on to Alptekin. Korkmaz, who had known Woolsey for some years, invited Woolsey to the meeting, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Korkmaz told Woolsey that he was looking for someone who could handle a lobbying and public relations project related to Gulen. Korkmaz and Alptekin have no business ties but knew each other through a U.S-Turkey trade group, according to two people with knowledge of their relationship. Anil Leylek, a spokeswoman for Korkmaz’s company, declined to comment. Franks confirmed the August meeting but described it as “brief” and “not a pitch.” Woolsey and Miller’s proposal included getting Washington insiders like then-Senator Jeff Sessions, who is now Trump’s attorney general, to co-author articles on the situation in Turkey, engaging with influential lawmakers such as Republican Senator Bob Corker, and getting Woolsey on Fox News and CNN, the memo said. “The cost of this engagement will be $10,000,000,” it said. Woolsey, who led the CIA for two years under former President Bill Clinton, joined the Trump campaign in September. He was on the transition team after Trump’s election victory in November but he stepped down in January. Franks said Woolsey was an unpaid adviser to the campaign, had no obligation to report any efforts to pursue work for Turkish interests, and was now being smeared. “With growing speculation that indictments could be handed down soon, it’s not a surprise that others are attempting to accomplish in the press what they cannot in the grand jury room,” Franks added. | 0fake |
Jubilant Libyan Militias Declare Victory Over ISIS in Surt - The New York Times | LONDON — Libyan fighters declared victory over the Islamic State at its coastal stronghold of Surt on Tuesday, ending the extremist group’s ambitions for a caliphate on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. “The battle is finally over,” said Reda Eissa, a spokesman for the coalition of militias from nearby Misurata that led the assault. “Our fighters are ecstatic. We still have to comb through the city and make sure we got them all, but we are so, so happy. ” The Libyan fighters’ apparent success was another defeat for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, as its plans for a militant empire buckle on multiple fronts across the Middle East. In Surt, the Misuratan militias finally ousted the remaining Islamic State fighters from a cluster of houses after a grueling assault that pitted suicide bombers and snipers against Libyan forces backed by American warplanes. After moving into Surt in 2014, the Islamic State seized a stretch of coastline and instituted a brutal reign that included public killings and the imprisonment of migrants as sex slaves. The city became a transit hub for fighters traveling to Tunisia, as well as a supply stop and medical treatment center for Islamists fighting in eastern Libya. The Misuratan brigades began their drive toward Islamic State positions in Surt in May. American warplanes joined the effort in August, carrying out at least 490 sorties over the city while fighting raged in the streets below. Even as the Misuratan brigades celebrated on Tuesday, analysts warned that the Islamic State could still regroup in other parts of Libya by exploiting the economic ruin and political vacuum that has dogged the country since the ouster of Col. Muammar in 2011. “I’m concerned about the pockets of marginalization, and in some areas jihadist presence, that they could use to reconfigure,” said Frederic Wehrey, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, citing the presence of Islamic State forces in Tripoli, Benghazi and the desert town of Sabha. Islamic State fighters could carry out bombings in an attempt to destabilize the fragile United government in Tripoli, the capital, Mr. Wehrey said. But it is unlikely that the Islamic State will be able to capture such a significant town again, he added. During the battle for Surt, both sides faced accusations of human rights abuses. Many of the sex slaves held by the Islamic State in Surt were African migrants captured as they crossed the Libyan Desert in hopes of reaching the coast so they could make the perilous sea journey to Europe. At least 100 women and children who escaped Surt during the fighting, many from Eritrea, are being held at a prison in Misurata where they have given accounts of being abused and . The Libyan fighters from Misurata have faced accusations of torture and summary killings. A video recently emerged showing Misuratan militiamen interrogating and threatening to kill an Islamic State fighter named Mletan. Photographs that later circulated online showed the mutilated body of what appeared to be the same man being dragged along a street. Hanan Salah, a Libya researcher at Human Rights Watch, said on Tuesday that she had received reports from Libya that some public hospitals in Misurata had refused to treat civilians fleeing Surt on suspicion that they were members of the Islamic State. “The authorities are required to provide medical care to all those fleeing the fighting and who are in need of it, without distinction,” Ms. Salah said. The fall of Surt coincides with a concerted drive against the Islamic State in the Iraqi city of Mosul and a rapidly shifting fight in Syria. On Tuesday, Iraqi forces started shelling part of western Mosul as they prepared to open a new front in a battle now in its eighth week. The Misurata militias now in control of Surt nominally fight under the banner of the United government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Fayez Serraj — one of three rival administrations vying for control of Libya. The United States also supports the unity government. But the government is weak, having failed to extend its authority even over Tripoli since it started work in March. And many leaders of the Misurata militias are more concerned about Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a strongman who dominates Benghazi and the east of the country, than about the Islamic State. During a tour of the Surt battlefield in June, Misuratan commanders said they believed the Islamic State fighters were being controlled secretly by General Hifter as part of his wider ambition to seize control of Libya. There is little evidence to back that assertion — General Hifter is fighting against Islamic State militants, although opportunistic alliances are common on all sides of the conflict — but the heated talk illustrates the difficulty of bringing the country to a political settlement. Last week in Tripoli, the most violent clashes in two years erupted between competing factions, and one group blocked a major highway with shipping containers. Mr. Serraj’s administration was left to watch helplessly. The United Nations envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, said he was “extremely alarmed” by the clashes, and Mark C. Toner, a State Department spokesman, said on Monday that the warring factions should rally behind the faltering unity government. Another uncertainty in Libya concerns the policy of the new administration of Donald J. Trump in the United States. On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump vowed to defeat the Islamic State but said he was averse to becoming involved in foreign countries. Mr. Trump’s expressed willingness to work with Russia and Egypt could lead to an alignment of United States efforts with those two countries’ policies in Libya. Egypt is a strong supporter of General Hifter, but the Obama administration has kept its distance from the general, who once worked for the C. I. A. | 0fake |
IS WASHINGTON POST INCITING VIOLENCE Against Fox News’ Hosts: “Kill Fox & Friends before it’s too late” | This afternoon, The Washington Post wrote an opinion article entitled Kill Fox and Friends before it s too late. This is awfully ironic, considering the previous outrage over so-called, violent tweets targeting CNN.Opinion: Kill "Fox & Friends" before it s too late https://t.co/DVUcBbgOWQ Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 10, 2017In the article, the Post questions, How could a guy who d run the FBI be guilty of a leak? . A better question would be: How could he be stupid enough? Thus far, this symbiosis has clarified just what Fox & Friends is a propaganda mill and the type of media coverage the president fancies straight-up sycophancy. The Washington Post has gone from being a reputable source of news with real journalists to nothing more than an opinion piece supporting the Democratic Party and their progressive agenda. The Washington Post | 1real |
Cleveland Indians Worried Team Cursed After Building Franchise On Old Native American Stereotype - The Onion - America's Finest News Source | New Heavy-Duty Voting Machine Allows Americans To Take Out Frustration On It Before Casting Ballot WASHINGTON—Saying the circumstances of this year’s presidential race made the upgrade necessary, election commissions throughout the country were reportedly working to install new heavy-duty voting machines this week that will allow Americans to physically take out their frustrations on the devices before casting their votes. Man Grateful To Live In Society Where Mattress Disappears If Left On Sidewalk For A Couple Days COLUMBUS, OH—Emphasizing that such an impressive feat should not be taken for granted, local man Nathan Montgomery told reporters Wednesday he was incredibly grateful to live in a society where a mattress just disappears if it’s left outside on the sidewalk for a couple days. Clinton Staff Readies EMP Launch To Disable All Nation’s Electronic Devices NEW YORK—In an effort to prepare for any new revelations that might emerge about her emails during her tenure as secretary of state, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton reportedly told her staff Tuesday to ready the launch of several electromagnetic pulses to disable all of the nation’s electronic devices. Mom Produces Decorative Gift Bag Out Of Thin Air LEXINGTON, MA—Conjuring the item into existence along with several sheets of perfectly coordinated tissue paper, local mother Caroline Wolfson, 49, reportedly produced a decorative gift bag out of thin air Tuesday within a mere fraction of a second of her daughter mentioning she needed to wrap a present. Anthony Weiner Sends Apology Sext To Entire Clinton Campaign BROOKLYN, NY—In response to the FBI’s announcement that its investigation of him had produced new evidence that could pertain to its probe of the Democratic presidential nominee, Anthony Weiner reportedly sent an apology sext early Monday morning to the entire Hillary Clinton campaign. | 1real |
WIKILEAKS JULIAN ASSANGE Says He Has NEW Emails That Should Indict Hillary…And Why He’s A Trump Fan [Video] | Julian Assange tells what he ll do next and what motivates him. He also believes Trump will be great for freedom of the press in America | 1real |
BOOM! LIBERAL COLUMNIST Gets DESTROYED By Tucker Carlson When He Can’t Answer Why He Lied About Senator Jeff Sessions [VIDEO] | 1real | |
Trump and the judge: Our view | Is anyone qualified to judge The Donald?
Donald Trump’s insistence that he couldn't get a fair hearing from a “Mexican” judge in the case over alleged fraud at Trump University makes you wonder who could fairly judge Trump, presuming he had the veto power over judges he seems to think he deserves. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has offended so many different people and groups that it could be difficult to find anyone suitable.
It couldn’t be the Indiana-born son of Mexican immigrants because Trump said Judge Gonzalo Curiel couldn't possibly judge someone who has proposed to put a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump also ruled out Muslim judges because he has proposed to bar foreign Muslims from entering the country.
And that’s just the beginning. No Asians? Trump mocked their accents when he described negotiating trade deals. No disabled judges? He cruelly imitated a handicapped journalist. No one from Iowa? He called Iowans “stupid” when they supported rival candidate Ben Carson. And, given the way Trump has derided certain women as “disgusting animals” and “dogs,” no female judges — unless, as late-night host Stephen Colbert suggested this week, they’re a 10 on Trump’s beauty scale?
This twisted Trumpian logic — only a bigot is qualified to judge a bigot — might be amusing if it weren’t so sad and disturbing. The nation is on the verge of having a major party presidential candidate so reflexively venomous that news organizations keep lists of all the people he has gone out of his way to insult, one of which contains 224 recipients of Trump invective. Among any president’s most important tools is the power to persuade, and it’s hard to persuade people you’ve called stupid and ugly. Not to mention that a president should help, not undercut, the ability of parents to teach their children to respect authority figures.
Most troubling, of course, is Trump’s apparent cluelessness about the independence of judges, the rule of law, and the system of checks and balances. The famously litigious businessman seems to regard the court system as a tool for settling scores rather than as a means for achieving justice.
Based on no evidence but his own irritation at rulings he deems insufficiently deferential, Trump has accused Curiel of bias, called for him to be investigated and vaguely suggested he’d come back after being elected president and get even.
If Trump really believes the judge is biased, his legal team could make a formal legal request for recusal. It hasn't, because it has no grounds for doing so. Instead, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has resorted to innuendo and threats, which makes you wonder how a President Trump would react to Supreme Court decisions he didn't like.
If Trump had the least bit of curiosity or sense of history, he’d know the battle over whether judges must recuse themselves over identity politics has long been settled. Yes, black judges can rule on civil rights cases and gay judges on same-sex marriage. Luckily for Trump, all judges are required to handle even the most obnoxious defendants fairly and decide cases on the legal merits.
Trump isn’t the first presidential candidate to attack judges. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich did it even more toxically in 2011, saying if he were president he’d ignore Supreme Court rulings he disagreed with and have judges hauled before Congress to be interrogated. It’s a little disorienting now to hear the mercurial Gingrich, said to be on Trump’s list of possible vice presidential choices, call Trump’s disparaging of Curiel’s Mexican heritage “inexcusable,” even as Gingrich says Trump’s complaint about “politicized justice” is valid.
It’s not. Republican leaders have it right when they say Trump’s attack on Curiel, suggesting that the judge can't do his job because of his ethnicity, is “the textbook definition of racism,” as House Speaker Paul Ryan put it.
After Ryan's rebuke, Trump toned down his rhetoric and said he had been "misconstrued." But once you've rolled in racist muck, it's hard to wash away the stench.
USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.
To read more editorials, go to the Opinion front page or sign up for the daily Opinion e-mail newsletter. | 0fake |
Special Counsel Mueller has enough evidence to charge Flynn, son: NBC | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller has collected sufficient evidence to charge Michael Flynn, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, and his son, NBC News reported on Sunday, citing multiple sources familiar with the investigation. NBC News said Mueller's team was looking at possible money-laundering charges, lying to federal agents, and Flynn's role in a possible plan to remove an opponent of the Turkish president from the United States in exchange for millions of dollars. (nbcnews.to/2ywXzPC) Mueller is increasing pressure on Flynn following his indictment of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, NBC News said. Flynn served 24 days as Trump’s national security adviser but was fired after it was discovered he had misrepresented his contacts with a Russian diplomat to Vice President Michael Pence. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller’s office, declined to comment. Robert Kelner, Flynn’s lawyer, also declined to comment. Barry Coburn, a lawyer for Michael Flynn Jr., declined to comment, although the younger Flynn appeared to address the report in a tweet. “The SJW are out in full this morning....the disappointment on your faces when I don’t go to jail will be worth all your harassment...,” the younger Flynn wrote, using an acronym for “social justice warriors,” a pejorative often used in reference to liberals. | 0fake |
Here’s Why Bill Maher Believes Trump Wants To Be President (VIDEO) | Although I disagree with Bill Maher that Donald Trump is not a clown, a conman, or a Klansman, I do think he has a point when he describes Trump as a five-year-old child. Maher said: What Donald Trump really reminds me of is a spoiled five-year-old throwing a tantrum. He is the grown-up version of every pain-in-the-ass kid who ever sat behind you on a plane kicking the back of your seat. While the parents did nothing Little Logan is just exploring. No, Little Logan is being a d*ck and if you won t shove him in the overhead bin, I will. Here s the video: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSSExfcD2cM] There s no doubt that Trump reminds you of such a d*ick and it seems that his voters are his enablers, tolerating condoning, and even applauding many of his crazy antics. Trump s rise, Maher argued, was not fueled by racism or xenophobia, but by what he called the self-esteem movement. As proof, Maher played a montage of clips showing Trump saying how he s the best at many things. He said: Like they say on reality shows, the most important thing is just You doing you. But what if you is a big a*shole? Maher said the real reason Trump wants to be president is not to help America but so he can be called president. Whatever the cause may be to his rise, it s important that the American people say no to this clown come November. Featured image via video screenshot. | 1real |
Climate change helped fuel record heat in 2016: U.S. government report | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global warming helped fuel the hottest year on record in 2016, with greenhouse gas concentrations reaching a new high, a U.S. government report released on Thursday said. The report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also cited a strong El Nino cycle as a factor behind the third consecutive year of record global warmth. | 0fake |
An LDS Reader Takes A Look At Trump Accuser Jessica Drake, Concludes His Leaders Are “Latter-Day Sissies | 1real | |
NOT KIDDING! HILLARY’S State Department Blocked Investigation Into Muslim Terrorist’s Florida Mosque Because “It Unfairly Targeted Muslims” | Nothing to see here. Hillary was likely just fulfilling a promise to a foreign Muslim donor. It wasn t the first time she gave a stand down order and if the Democrat party can help it, it won t be the last Hillary Clinton s State Dept. shut down an investigation into the mosque Orlando killer Omar Mir Siddique Mateen attended because it unfairly singled out Muslims. The Fort Pierce Islamic Center, where Mateen worshipped several times a week, was under investigation by both the FBI and DHS as early as 2011 for ties to a worldwide Islamic movement known as Tablighi Jamaal which was linked to several terrorist organizations.But the investigation was shut down under pressure from the Clinton-ran State Dept. and DHS s Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Office out of fear of offending Muslims, according to recently retired DHS agent Philip Haney. The FBI had opened cases twice on him, and yet they found no evidence to charge him; it means they didn t go through the same basic, analytical process that I went through over a three- or four-hour period in which I was able to link the mosque to my previous cases, he told WND on Sunday.In other words, the FBI had limited options at stopping Mateen because it was ordered to back off its investigation into his mosque.Both Clinton and the Obama administration have a history of enabling Islamic terrorism.In 2012, Clinton s State Dept. was backing al-Qaeda in Iraq, which morphed into ISIS, and other Islamic extremist groups as a proxy army to topple Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. The Salafist [sic], the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI [al-Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria, a leaked memo between her State Dept. and the Pentagon stated. The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support [this] opposition, while Russia, China and Iran support the [Assad] regime. The FBI had opened cases twice on him, and yet they found no evidence to charge him; it means they didn t go through the same basic, analytical process that I went through over a three- or four-hour period in which I was able to link the mosque to my previous cases, he told WND on Sunday. This secret document confirms that Clinton s State Dept. and the Obama administration in general were directly responsible for the rise of ISIS, which is now targeting the West. The former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, confirmed the document s importance. I don t know that [the Obama administration] turned a blind eye [to ISIS], I think it was a decision; I think it was a willful decision, he said.Clinton even admitted some responsibility. The United States had to be fair we had helped create the problem we re now fighting, she said in an interview with Fox anchor Greta Van Susteren. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, we had this brilliant idea we were going to come to Pakistan and create a force on Mujahideen, equip them with Stinger missiles and everything else to go after the Soviets inside Afghanistan. For entire story: InfoWars | 1real |
Federal Agencies Told to Halt External Communications - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Scientists and environmentalists reacted with fear this week as the Trump administration purged nearly all mention of climate change programs from the White House and State Department websites and ordered a freeze on federal grant spending at the Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies. Memos ordered employees of at least four agencies not to send out news releases or to create social media posts, blog entries or official website content, and to consult with senior officials before speaking to the news media. Such memos or oral communications landed this week at the E. P. A. and the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Health and Human Services, in a broad halt to external communications while the Trump administration struggles to put political appointees into position. Small of communications — apparently in dissent — appeared on Twitter, but they were quickly stopped. The Twitter posts of the social media division of the Badlands National Park broadcasting the threat of climate change became something of a cause célèbre before they disappeared from the platform on Tuesday. A White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, attributed those Twitter posts to a former park employee who had commandeered the park’s account. Longtime employees at three of the agencies — including some career environmental regulators who conceded that they remained worried about what President Trump might do on policy matters — said such orders were not much different from those delivered by the Obama administration as it shifted policies from the departing White House of George W. Bush. They called reactions to the agency memos overblown. On Wednesday, Douglas Ericksen, a spokesman for the E. P. A. said that grants had been only briefly frozen for review, and that they would be restarted by Friday. “I’ve lived through many transitions, and I don’t think this is a story,” said a senior E. P. A. career official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media on the matter. “I don’t think it’s fair to call it a gag order. This is standard practice. And the move with regard to the grants, when a new administration comes in, you run things by them before you update the website. ” But the White House and State Department did delete nearly all mentions of climate change policy — which had been a top priority for Mr. Obama — and have begun replacing them with pages detailing Mr. Trump’s plans to roll back those policies — a top priority for the new president. It is standard practice for new administrations to make changes to their websites to reflect their different policy positions. The full contents of the Obama administration’s White House and State Department websites, including working links to climate change reports, have been archived and are readily available to the public. But environmental advocates and Democrats took advantage of the moves, noting that they appeared to target agencies that focus on environmental protection and scientific research, and calling them a chilling signal that the Trump administration intends to suppress communication about science and environmental policy, and possibly scientific data. If nothing else, the memos and ensuing reaction furthered the impression of turmoil throughout the government as Mr. Trump tries to assert control. Scientists said that even if no climate or other scientific data has been deleted from government websites, they remain fearful that it could be. Mr. Ericksen wrote in an email on Wednesday that the Trump administration team is now “reviewing” the E. P. A. ’s climate change page for changes. “People can’t tell whether data is being purged or not — it’s a confused situation,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton University and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which supplies scientific reports to world governments. “If the Trump administration doesn’t want rumor, invective and anxiety running amok, they should get out there and say publicly and firmly that they believe in science and have no intention of hiding science from the public. And they haven’t done that,” Mr. Oppenheimer said. Environmentalists also criticized what appeared to be a Twitter war between some Interior Department employees and their new bosses, as the agency appeared to delete Twitter posts by National Park Service employees that highlighted the smaller attendance at Mr. Trump’s inauguration than at Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, as well as facts about climate change. Rebellious posts on social media became so plentiful from so many obscure sites that the management of the Interior Department appeared powerless to find them all. The Golden Gate National Park tweeted out concerns over a warming planet. After the Badlands Twitter posts were taken down, employees at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site in Buffalo ended Tuesday evening by quoting the first President Roosevelt on free speech — “a necessity in any country where the people are free. ” But it is far from clear how realistic the response has been. The Agriculture Department memo to employees was modeled after one written by Tom Vilsack, President Barack Obama’s agriculture secretary. “In order for the department to deliver unified, consistent messages, it’s important for the office of the secretary to be consulted on media inquiries and proposed responses to questions related to legislation, budgets, policy issues and regulations,” wrote Mr. Vilsack, a former Democratic governor of Iowa, in 2009. “ statements should not be made to the press without notifying or consulting with the office of the secretary. ” Michael Young, the acting deputy secretary of the Agriculture Department, who has worked as a career civil servant in the department for 33 years, wrote a memo to employees telling them to consult the secretary’s office when responding to news media inquiries, and he said the memo was little different than the one that was issued during the transition to Mr. Obama’s administration. “This memo is not some sort of creative writing exercise,” he said. “This is almost exactly what was issued eight years ago. I just updated it a bit. ” Asked about the memos at a news briefing on Tuesday, Mr. Spicer said, “I don’t think it’s any surprise that when there’s an administration turnover that we’re going to review the policies. ” | 0fake |
Karl Rove: Trump's campaign is willing to change. Is the candidate? | Every Monday, Fox News contributor Karl Rove wraps up the last week in politics and offers an inside look at the week ahead.
Late Breaking News: After this report had been filed, news broke that Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has been fired. Political insiders and journalists alike have reported that Lewandowski and campaign chairman Paul Manafort have been in open warfare over the campaign’s strategy. Lewandowski won most of the battles because he traveled constantly with the candidate and was often the last person The Donald talked to on most every issue.
Lewandowski’s instinct was to “let Trump be Trump.” But while that might have helped the New York businessman grab 44 percent of the GOP primary vote and become the party’s presumptive nominee, it is not clear this approach would work in the general election. News reports indicate Trump’s family played a major role in convincing the candidate to dump his manager.
But this change may mean less than expected if the candidate persists in his unorthodox approach. Winning presidential campaigns are guided by a plan to effectively use the candidate’s time in covering battleground states, targeting persuadable groups of voters with a consistent message that is backed up by solid information and research and delivered in a compelling, deliberate manner.
This requires planning and, having never run for office, Mr. Trump may well believe he doesn’t need a plan or to change his tone or to engage in the basic blocking-and-tackling of persuading and turning out-the-vote. Instead, he may believe big rallies and frequent TV interviews devoted to the issues of the moment can overcome all.
While it is clear Manafort and the others who make up the winning faction inside Team Trump understand what traditional campaigns need to do, they will not be able to make other needed changes unless the candidate is willing.
The candidates spent last week showcasing divergent strategies to unify their parties. Hillary Clinton continued trying to conciliate Bernie Sanders by reminding he and his supporters of the need to defeat Donald Trump, but the Vermont senator is not willing to suspend his campaign now.
Instead, Sanders seems intent on some sort of confrontation at next month’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. On Tuesday he called for the Democratic Party’s fundamental transformation, and on Thursday he rallied supporters for a platform fight and encouraged them to run for state and local office.
Donald Trump spent his week refusing to conciliate the GOP. On Wednesday he told Republicans upset with his comments about “Mexican Judge” Gonzalo Curiel and opposed to his proposed ban on Muslims entering the country to “Just please be quiet. Don't talk.”
And on “Meet The Press” Sunday, Trump said that while “It would be nice if the Republicans stuck together … I can win one way or the other.” At rallies last week, he also savaged Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush.
Some Republican leaders believe The Donald would be better off ignoring his critics, projecting confidence that the GOP will be united and focusing his energy on Clinton and President Obama. They wonder why he continues to punch down.
Every day Trump spends trashing fellow Republicans is a day the press covers that story, not his attacks on Clinton. Bad advance work can also keep the story alive: Trump held a fundraiser in Arizona at a home built by Senator Barry Goldwater. No one bothered to check what Goldwater’s widow thought of The Donald. She scorched him in interviews.
The two camps have deeply divergent TV strategies, too: NBC News reported Sunday that Clinton and her super PAC allies ARE spending $23.3 million this month in eight battleground states, while Trump and his allies have spent zero (at least one pro-Trump super PAC is running spots on Fox News Channel nationally).
The Clinton campaign ads are running in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. Among them are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ891SoIsdQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiS-WGv8Dps.
The president was heard from, as well: On Tuesday, Obama used the State Floor of the White House for a speech to attack Trump. It’s unusual for any president to use the White House for political speeches, but Obama has demonstrated he doesn’t believe tradition, rules or even the law applies to him.
Democrats counting on Obama to help make the case against Trump believe the president’s 50.4/45.6 percent approval/disapproval rating in the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls makes him a big plus for Clinton’s campaign.
Besides counting on those who disapprove of the president to be stronger in their views than those who approve, Republicans believe Obama’s numbers have risen as both party’s primary fights partially obscured him, and that his efforts now to gain the limelight will remind people of what they didn’t like about him and his policies, further fueling voters’ desire for change.
Convention preparations moved forward: Political insiders consider the appointments Friday of Enid Michelson of Utah as Rules Committee chairman for the GOP National Convention and Ron Kaufman of Massachusetts as Rules co-chairman as moves by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to install leaders loyal to him, rather than to any specific candidate, though the ramifications of this are not yet clear.
Democratic leaders were given the joyful news that veterans of Occupy Wall Street plan to use three campgrounds in southern New Jersey as staging sites for Sanders supporters who will participate in protests in the park across the street from the party’s convention at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia. The campgrounds are half an hour away and can house thousands.
Looking forward: Clinton promises to step up her attacks on Trump this week with a speech on his business failures, while Trump’s handlers suggest he will lay out more of his economic vision.
Republicans wonder whether Trump will pivot, ignore his Republican critics and focus on Clinton. After all, he has repeatedly criticized Mitt Romney for failing to effectively attack Obama in 2012. Trump’s continued failure to go on the offense himself will raise further concerns and more doubts about his chances in the general election.
Watch also to see if controversy continues bubbling up about Trump’s call on Sunday for profiling Muslims and his suggestion last week that Obama is secretly sympathetic to radical Islam. Even the NRA disavowed Trump’s view that nightclub patrons should be able to carry guns into any club. Let’s see if these Trump comments become bigger items.
But guns are likely to dominate this week’s political coverage: In the aftermath of the Orlando massacre, the Senate takes up four competing measures designed to keep potential terrorists from being able to purchase guns. The most likely to win the largest amount of Senate support is Texas Republican John Cornyn’s bill, but it’s not clear that even he can win the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster by Senate Democrats, some of whom would rather have a political issue than pass legislation.
Karl Rove joined Fox News Channel as a political contributor in February 2008. He also currently serves as a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Rove helped organize the political-action committee American Crossroads. His latest book is "The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters" (Simon & Schuster, 2015). Follow him on Twitter @KarlRove. | 0fake |
Arizona State Board of Education ‘Rebrands’ Common Core - Breitbart | Arizona’s state board of education (SBE) has voted to “rebrand” Common Core, i. e. replace the existing Common Core standards with the same standards that contain only some minor changes. [“The Arizona Board of Education has voted to approve new education standards to replace the Common Core State Standards,” Education Week reports, “But the changes are minor rather than a repudiation of the effort to set standards for what students should know in arts and mathematics. ” The prominent change in the standards is the addition of cursive writing lessons through fifth grade, an element that Common Core does not provide. In addition, Arizona’s standards will now require younger students to study the concepts of time and money, and to spell frequently used words. “These new standards represent the final step in the repeal and replacement of the common core in Arizona, and they reflect the thoughts and recommendations of thousands of Arizona citizens,” said state schools superintendent Diane Douglas in a press release. “The federally mandated Common Core Standards were initially adopted by the SBE in 2010 without a thorough public review, which deeply frustrated many Arizonans,” Douglas continued. “That lack of public input became an even larger concern as problems with the standards were identified, many of which were related to the resulting curricula. ” “Common Core has at last been eliminated,” the superintendent said. “[W]e now have excellent ELA and math standards developed by Arizonans for Arizona students. ” The “Common Core” standards were previously rebranded as the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards by former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R). Douglas campaigned for her post in 2014, running on an Core platform. In September, KJZZ in Arizona reported that Douglas endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election with the statement that Trump “shares my belief that the federal government’s role in education needs to be reduced rather than expanded. ” Dr. Sandra Stotsky, an author of the celebrated Massachusetts ELA standards, was asked to review the draft of the Arizona ELA standards, and shared her recommendations to Douglas and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) with Breitbart News. Stotsky expressed her disappointment: If it is not possible to find a group of Arizona newspaper editors to rewrite the poorly written English language arts standards, then I suggest that Superintendent Douglas and Governor Ducey all the 2003 Arizona literature standards in place of those in this draft document. Overall, they were quite good. For example, in grade 11, students are to read “works of American literature that reflect our major literary periods and traditions. ” Stotsky also pointed out that a Core Thomas B. Fordham Institute reviewer observed in 2010 — in a comparison of Arizona’s prior standards with Common Core: “Arizona treats literary and texts distinctly and thoroughly and in more detail than the Common Core. ” Writing at education blog “Truth in American Education” about the Arizona standards, Shane Vander Hart observed, “There has been some technical changes, but as far as I can see most of the foundational problems still exist. The early elementary standards are still . There is still an over emphasis on informational text. The math standards still do not adequately prepare students for STEM programs in college. ” “It’s unfortunate that Superintendent Diane Douglas, who campaigned on ending Common Core, put her stamp of approval on this process and these standards,” he continued. “It is also disconcerting that these standards were voted on instead of allowing an additional month of review and public comment. Arizona can do better than this. ” At Ricochet, Arizona high school parent Shawnna Bolick writes, “In a shocking irony, the very person — Diane Douglas — who promised to ‘stop Common Core,’ recommended the ‘revised’ standards standards virtually identical to the Common Core state standards foolishly adopted by the SBE in 2010. ” Bolick explains that Ducey directed the state board of education in 2015 to have “teachers and parents to bring [standards] forward together,” and, citing the fast adoption of Common Core in 2010, to “make right the situation … with full transparency. ” She states, however, that, despite the formation of a standards development committee that included parent members, “for the past year and a half the standards were only being reviewed by ‘technical professionals’ and lobbyists in meetings. ” “These individuals were largely core individuals,” Bolick continues. “Multiple requests were submitted to the Arizona Department of Education to include parents or people with opposing viewpoints, but these were turned down each time. ” Bolick concludes that the state’s ‘bureaucratic tyrants” have “ ” Arizona’s standards. In a column at Breitbart News, Stotsky urged the elimination of state boards of education and departments of education, observing, “It is becoming increasingly clearer that the main groups oppressing parents, local school boards, and local teacher unions with Common standards and tests (regardless of what they are actually called) are state boards of education and state departments of education. ” | 0fake |
Sitting GOP Senator Has Had ENOUGH, Donates To Alabama Democrat For Senate (IMAGE) | Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake has never been a fan of Donald Trump or his incendiary, divisive brand of politics. Now, he is a leading GOP voice against electing Roy Moore (R-AL) to the United States Senate. Moore is an accused child molester, and has a lifetime history of making all kinds of bigoted and incendiary comments. He has said that homosexuality should be illegal, and that Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress. Moore was also removed twice from the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to comply with higher court rulings. Well, Flake has finally had enough of his party enabling characters like Moore. He had already said that if he lived in Alabama, he d be voting for Democrat Doug Jones. Now, Flake has taken his support of Jones even further, in the wake of the Republican National Committee s decision to support an accused child molester rather than a Democrat.Taking to Twitter, Senator Flake posted an image of a check made out to Doug Jones Senate campaign. Here is the tweet, captioned Country over Party :Country over Party pic.twitter.com/JZMTaEYdxQ Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) December 5, 2017Now, I don t agree with Jeff Flake on anything politically, but I can say that he is trying to act with morality and decency here. One could argue that Flake s plans to retire from the Senate mean that he can do this without consequence, but at this point, that matters not. We do not need a pedophile in the United States Senate, and the GOP apparatus should be ashamed of themselves for trying to get Roy Moore elected. But, hey better a pedophile than a Democrat, right?Featured image Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
Bernie Sanders lost poor voters in South Carolina by a big margin — a problem for his political revolution | Hillary Clinton didn't just take the vast majority of the available delegates in South Carolina on Saturday night. She also took away one of Bernie Sanders's strongest arguments — that he's the candidate who has the most working-class support.
In Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders had done better than Clinton among voters in the lowest income brackets. That seemed to bolster his claim that his "political revolution" could energize millions of new low-income voters who typically don't turn out to vote.
This argument, however, is much less tenable after tonight. Clinton did best among poor voters in South Carolina, taking 82 percent of those who earn under $30,000 on her way to a 37-point victory, according to exit polling by the New York Times.
Here are the results by income, according to the Times:
Of course, this discrepancy is largely driven by Clinton's huge 87-13 margin of victory over black voters. But that's the point — outside of states like Iowa and New Hampshire, many low-income and working-class voters aren't white. Unless Sanders is able to win working-class voters beyond the whitest electorates in the country, his revolution may be over almost as soon as it started. | 0fake |
NORTH KOREA: Trump’s Recklessness Could Trigger All-Out Conflict on Korean Peninsula | 21st Century Wire says Washington s muscle flexing seems to have taken on a life of its own as the shadow of US neocolonialism falls over much of the world with increasing intensity. In Syria, the US is lashing out, lawlessly, at the bastion of resistance that has been denying its objectives for almost seven years. Now, the US secretary of State, Rex Tillerson has declared that China should exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to step away from its nuclear and missile programmes. Footage of a reported, massive live fire drill conducted by the North Koreans in April 2017 gives some indication of what the US might face if this escalation is magnified beyond recall, by the usual suspects at Fox News and CNN This report is from Peter Symonds of WSWS:In what amounted to a barely disguised threat, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday declared that China had to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs, if it wants to prevent a further escalation in the region. In other words, if Beijing fails to rein in the Pyongyang regime, the US could resort to military measures.Tillerson s remarks followed a top-level meeting in Washington between him and US Defence Secretary James Mattis and their Chinese counterparts China s foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of the People s Liberation Army s joint staff department.Tillerson called on China to make greater efforts to halt illicit revenue streams to North Korea that allegedly help fund Pyongyang s military programs. Just last week, he told a congressional committee the Trump administration was at a stage where we are going to have to start taking secondary sanctions that is, penalise countries and corporations that engage in economic activities with North Korea.Unilateral secondary sanctions imposed by the US would, above all, fall on Chinese companies. China is, by far, North Korea s largest trading partner. US officials and the media have repeatedly accused Beijing of failing to do enough to choke off trade and finance with the Pyongyang regime. Any penalties against Chinese individuals or entities would quickly sour relations between the US and China.Just before the talks, US President Donald Trump signalled that time was running out for China to force North Korea to bow to US demands. While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi [Jinping] and China, he tweeted on Tuesday, it has not worked out. While Tillerson s remarks indicate the US continues to pressure China for action against North Korea, Trump s tweet is a warning that the US will resort to other measures including military action if there are no results.Asked about Trump s tweet, Defence Secretary Mattis told the joint press conference with Tillerson: What you re seeing I think is the American people s frustration with a regime that provokes and provokes and provokes and basically plays outside the rules, plays fast and loose with the truth. Mattis denounced Pyongyang in particular for the death of Otto Wambier the American student imprisoned in North Korea who died on Monday after being flown back to the US last week. The Trump administration is considering a ban to prevent Americans from visiting Pyongyang. Three other US citizens are currently jailed in North Korea.The comments of Mattis and Tillerson suggest that relations with China could deteriorate rapidly, especially if North Korea conducts another nuclear test or a long-range missile launch. In comments to CNN, unnamed US officials claimed this week that satellite imagery showed new activity at North Korea s underground nuclear test site and suggested that a sixth nuclear detonation could be imminent.Ahead of yesterday s talks in Washington, US State Department officials indicated that Mattis and Tillerson would press their Chinese counterparts not only on North Korea, but a range of other sensitive issues, including the South China Sea and the so-called war on terrorism.Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Susan Thornton, told Voice of America that all parties should freeze any construction or militarisation of features in the South China Sea a comment directed especially at China. Last month, the US navy carried out another provocative freedom of navigation operation, sending a guided missile destroyer within the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit claimed by China around one of its islets.Trade and economic issues were excluded from yesterday s US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue but remained just below the surface. During last year s presidential election campaign, Trump repeatedly denounced China s trade policies and threatened punitive trade war measures. In seeking Beijing s assistance to pressure Pyongyang, Trump suggested the US could make concessions on trade.Having tweeted that Chinese efforts have not worked out, the implicit threat is that the US could ramp up the pressure on China over trade. What Trump is saying is, I don t need you on North Korea now, and therefore maybe we should have it out on these other issues, like trade, analyst John Delury told the New York Times.China is reluctant to impose new sanctions that will cripple North Korea s economy and provoke a political crisis that could be exploited by the US and its allies. At yesterday s talks, Chinese officials reiterated Beijing s call for renewed negotiations based on a freeze by Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile tests and a freeze by Washington on its joint military exercises in South Korea. The US has flatly rejected the proposal.Above all, the threat of US military strikes against North Korea hangs over Asia. Earlier this week, the Pentagon again sent two B-1 strategic bombers on a mission over the Korean Peninsula in a provocative show of force. The US Navy has two aircraft carrier strike groups stationed in the area, with another on its way.Any US military action against North Korea threatens to trigger an all-out conflict on the Korean Peninsula that could draw in other powers, including China, with devastating consequences. The Trump administration s recklessness is underscored by the fact that it is engaged in an escalating confrontation in Syria that threatens to provoke a clash with Russia and Iran, even as it is ramping up tensions in North East Asia.***FOR MORE INFORMATION ON NORTH KOREA: 21WIRE NORTH KOREA FILESSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Dr. Duke & Mark Collett: To the Anti-White scum who promised to leave: Get the Hell Out! | http://mediaarchives.gsradio.net/dduke/111816.mp3 Dr. Duke & Mark Collett: Anti-White scum who promised to leave: Get the Hell Out!
Today Dr. Duke had British activist Mark Collett as his guest for the hour. They talked about Donald Trump’s latest appointments to his incoming administration. Steve Bannon, General Michael Flynn, and even Senator Jeff Sessions are coming under attack from the Zio media, no doubt because they are not complete cuck sellouts like so many of the neocon rats who opposed Trump but suddenly want to offer their (((experience))) to the president elect. Underdog after taking a super-energy pill
They went into the new terminology of red pills, blue pills, white pills, and black pills. They agreed that the Trump victory has energized (white pilled) his supporters and black pilled (depressed) his opponents, many of whom promised to leave the country should The Donald win. Well, we’re waiting…
This is a fun show that will red pill (enlighten) your friends. Please share it widely.
Our show is aired live at 11 am replayed at ET 4pm Eastern and 4am Eastern. | 1real |
Pentagon halts effort to recover Guard enlistment bonuses | Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday suspended a Pentagon order that California National Guardsmen repay thousands of dollars in enlistment bonuses and tuition assistance they had received by mistake more than a decade ago.
“While some soldiers knew or should have known they were ineligible for benefits they were claiming, many others did not,” Carter, who is in Europe meeting with U.S. allies, said in a statement.
“This process has dragged on too long, for too many service members,” he said. “Too many cases have languished without action. That’s unfair to service members and to taxpayers.”
Thousands of California National Guard troops had been ordered to repay enlistment bonuses – some of more than $15,000 – that were improperly given to them. The Los Angeles Times, which first reported on the bonuses last week, said audits revealed the California Guard had overpaid troops in order to entice them to join and meet enlistment targets.
The Obama administration has been criticized by some military families and Republicans – including presidential candidate Donald Trump – for not doing enough for veterans. There also have been bipartisan calls in the U.S. Congress to forgive the overpayments.
“The president has been pleased to see that in the last 24 hours the Department of Defense make specific commitments to ensuring that our service members are treated fairly,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said during a media briefing in Washington.
Carter, speaking to reporters in Brussels as he announced the suspension, said the law required the Pentagon keep open the option of someday again seeking repayment.
“But the point is that … there won’t be any more collections until we put in place a process that can expeditiously and fairly deal with these issues,” he said.
Senior Defense Department officials have been told to assess the bonus situation and establish a “streamlined, centralized process” by the start of next year, Carter said in the statement. He added that about 2,000 people had been asked to repay erroneous payments.
“The objective will be to complete the decision-making process on all cases as soon as possible – and no later than July 1,” he said.
The streamlined process, which will build on existing processes, would evaluate each case individually, Peter Levine, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told reporters in Washington.
Levine said the amount of the improperly paid bonuses was unclear but a nationwide audit had found that the issue affected people outside California as well but the “numbers in other states are in the dozens, rather than the hundreds or the thousands.”
“The process that we have allows us to correct our records and to correct our payment,” he said. “We do not have the authority or the ability to go and change people’s credit records.”
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement on Wednesday that Congress would “continue to work on any reforms necessary to ensure this doesn’t happen again.” | 1real |
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