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OOPS! VIDEO Shows Senator McCain Saying He’ll Fight To REPEAL and REPLACE Obamacare Only 9 Months Ago: “We have to scrap it entirely and start over” | In spite of Senator John McCain s promise to his constituents only 9 months ago when he was running for reelection, that he would fight to repeal and replace Obamacare, McCain voted late last night with two other liberal Republican senators, and every Democrat senator to keep Obamacare intact.But that s not what Senator McCain promised Arizona voters he would do only 9 months ago On October 10, 2016, John McCain faced off against his Democrat opponent Congresswoman Kirkpatrick in a televised debate. At the center of the debate was the disastrous Obamacare and what could be done to fix it. McCain responded: For the first time in history, a major entitlement reform was rammed through the Congress of the United States without a single vote from the other side. I fought for weeks, and weeks, and weeks against Obamacare and they would not allow us an amendment. There was not a single amendment allowed. No input from the minority party. We were the minority party. Now Congresswoman Kirkpatrick wants us to sit down and work together. Here s how we work together, we repeal and we replace it. McCain went on to argue that the majority of the American people have resoundingly rejected Obamacare. One of the debate moderators asked McCain if it was possible for Congress to try to improve Obamacare rather than to try to repeal it. McCain rejected the idea that it could be fixed and that the only solution is to repeal Obamacare: We have to scrap it entirely and start over. McCain went on to explain why Congress MUST repeal Obamacare, It s a scam and the problem is, that the cost is becoming prohibitive and we ve got to change it and fix it. Watch Senator John McCain as he arrogantly throws his thumb down in defiance of his own party and joins two of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate to thumb their noses at President Trump, as they jump across the aisle to join their friends who shut them out of the first Obamacare vote. | 1real |
BREAKING: STARBUCKS CEO To Step Down After Pledge To Hire 10,000 Refugees BACKFIRES | The arrogance of a CEO of a major company like Starbucks, that would put his radical political opinions above the health of the company and the stockholders is astounding. The idea that Howard Schultz believed he could say Starbucks would make hiring 10,000 refugees a priority, while so many Americans are out of work, and it wouldn t harm the Starbucks brand is beyond foolish Howard Schultz, the current CEO of Starbucks, will step down from his role at the giant coffee chain next month.The move comes after his vow to hire thousands refugees in response to President Donald Trump s first travel ban appeared to hurt customer sentiment and dent their sales.Trump supporters have called for a boycott of the chain since January 29, when Schultz vowed to hire 10,000 refugees over five years.Schultz in a letter to employees said the promise of the American Dream was being called into question and that the civility and human rights we have all taken for granted for so long are under attack. He was also a public Clinton supporter and prominent democrat, and even considered as a running mate for the Democratic nominee at one point.Almost immediately consumer perception levels took a hit as measured by YouGov BrandIndex s Buzz score, falling by two-thirds between January 29 and February 13.At the time, analysts at Credit Suisse said the coffee giant s move had a negative impact on recent sales, and could continue to hurt them in the near future.Schultz, with an estimated net worth of $3.1billion, will remain at Starbucks as executive chairman and will focus on strengthening the company s high-end coffee shops.Schultz will be replaced as CEO by Kevin Johnson, Starbucks chief operating officer, on April 3, 2017, The Seattle Times reported. Daily Mail | 1real |
GOVERNMENT FAILED TO NOTIFY THREE SONS OF 9-11 VICTIM Living In Public Housing Of $1 Million Compensation Payment | Meanwhile, after 6 long years of waiting, the families of the Ft. Hood shooting victims who were killed by terrorist Maj. Nidal Hasan had to wait 6 years for the government to find a way to compensate them. The three sons of a 9/11 victim lived in poverty for more than a decade after government officials failed to deliver more than $1 million they were awarded in victim compensation money, The Post has learned.Ty-Shawn Ward, Trent Ward and Dujon Holland whose father, John Holland, was killed while working in the kitchen at Windows on the World never knew they were entitled to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund windfall.The funds were approved for disbursement in 2004, but they were never told due to a lapse in oversight by Manhattan Surrogate s Court officials and subsequent red tape.At the time the sons were represented by court-appointed guardian Linda Sosnowitz, who told the court in 2005 that she wanted the money set aside for the boys education. But that never happened.The money flew under the radar for years, bouncing between a city Department of Finance account and one with the state Comptroller s Office, where it sat in a pool of $12 billion in unclaimed funds.Queens lawyer Salvatore Giliberto finally dug up the money in 2013, and the brothers were able to cash in earlier this year. These were three young men living in public housing that could ve certainly used the money, Giliberto told The Post.He blasted court officials for never notifying the boys in the following years that the money was still there. If you can t find three guys, then you probably can t find the five fingers on your right hand, Giliberto said.The funds were released earlier this year: $346,598.23 to Ty-Shawn, 28; $296,074.29 to Trent, 23; and $359,775.67 to Dujon, 27. But not before the court fought with Giliberto over his 15 percent fee. The court was angry because everybody else worked on the case worked for free, said Giliberto, who halved his fee in order to settle the case. I said everybody else who worked on this case didn t do a thing because these men waited 10 years for now what is over $1 million. Via: NY Post | 1real |
In abrupt shift, Trump warms to China and NATO, sours on Russia | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After less than three months in office, President Donald Trump has abruptly shifted his stance on an array of foreign policy issues from the U.S. relationship with Russia and China to the value of the NATO alliance. Trump, who ran for the White House on a pledge to shake up the status quo in Washington, repeatedly lashed out at China during the campaign, accusing Beijing of being a “grand champion” of currency manipulation. Candidate Trump also dismissed the NATO military alliance as obsolete and said he hoped to build warmer ties with Russia. But at a White House news conference and in a newspaper interview on Wednesday, he offered starkly different views on those issues, saying his relationship with Moscow was souring while ties with Beijing were improving. He also lavished praise on NATO, saying it was adapting to changing global threats. “I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete,” Trump said as he stood at a news conference alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in the White House East Room on Wednesday. The reversals on Russia and NATO could reassure U.S. allies in Europe who were rattled by Trump’s overtures toward Moscow during the campaign. But the president’s talk of “bonding” with Chinese President Xi Jinping could sow confusion in Asia, where U.S. allies are fearful of a rising China. Trump’s apparent shifts toward a more conventional foreign policy came amid infighting within his administration that has lately seen a decline in the influence of political operatives, mainly his chief strategist, Steve Bannon. Six months ago, candidate Trump suggested he was eager for an alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If he says great things about me, I’m going to say great things about him,” Trump said last September. “ALL-TIME LOW” On Wednesday, however, Trump said he had growing concerns about Russia’s support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “We may be at an all-time low in terms of a relationship with Russia,” said Trump, who ordered the firing of U.S. cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield last week to punish Assad for suspected use of poison gas in Syria’s civil war. While criticizing Russia on Wednesday, Trump said he and Xi had bonded during the Chinese president’s visit to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where they dined together with their wives and held talks. Ahead of that visit, Trump had predicted “difficult” discussions on trade. The improving ties with Beijing were underscored when Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on Wednesday that he would not declare China a currency manipulator as he had pledged to do on his first day in office. Trump, a former real estate developer, took office in January as a government novice whose foreign policy mantra during was a vow to keep America safe and build up the U.S. military. Christine Wormuth, former undersecretary of defense in the Obama administration, said Trump had a “steep learning curve” on foreign policy when he came into office but that it was beginning to even out. “He’s starting to have a more nuanced and deeper understanding of a lot of issues,” said Wormuth, now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The evolving Trump foreign policy appears to reflect less of the influence of his campaign team and more the views of Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, all of whom are deeply skeptical of Russia. Trump’ former national security adviser, retired General Michael Flynn, was forced to resign on Feb. 13 for contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States before Trump took office. The new tone on foreign policy comes as Trump has been trying to settle the palace intrigue inside the White House, where Bannon, former chief of the conservative Breitbart News organization, has been at odds with the more mainstream Jared Kushner, the senior White House adviser who is Trump’s son-in-law. In an interview with the New York Post on Tuesday, Trump offered only lukewarm support for Bannon. “I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. | 0fake |
You Won’t Believe What Rubio Said About The Flint Michigan Water Contamination Crisis (VIDEO) | We all know the GOP is out of touch with the public, but when there s a major crisis unfolding in the United States, one would expect even the Republicans, especially presidential candidates, to keep up to date with what s happening. Not so with Marco Rubio. When asked about the lead contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, Marco Rubio said that he has not been focusing on it.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi77s6CjZRE]The contamination has left tens of thousands of residents without drinking water and the lead in the water may have caused irreversible damage to many more who have been drinking it. Yet, Senator Rubio did not feel that it was important to read up on the issue. Rubio said: I d love to give you a better answer on it. It s just not an issue we ve been quite frankly fully briefed or apprised of in terms of the role the governor has played and the state has played in Michigan on these sorts of issues. Rubio continued, saying that he s unable to give: A deeply detailed answer on what the right approach should be, other than to tell you that in general I believe the federal government s role in some of these things [is] largely limited unless it involves a federal jurisdictional issue. Whether he thinks the federal government s role is limited doesn t mean he shouldn t pay attention to a crisis affecting tens of thousands of Americans and especially when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) asked the Obama Administration to declare a state of emergency and send millions of dollars to help alleviate the situation.It s not just Rubio who s been both silent and ignorant on the issue. Other Republicans haven t commented on or mentioned the tragedy at all. However, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have condemned the negligence that led to the crisis, not only framing it as a health problem, but one that is a racial justice issue. Clinton said: I think every single American should be outraged. We had a city in the United States of America where the population, which is poor in many ways, and majority-African American, has been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn t really care. He had requests for help that he basically stonewalled. I ll tell you what: if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would have been action. Gov. Snyder, who s a Republican just like Rubio, is facing a class action lawsuit from Flint residents.Sen. Bernie Sanders added that he thinks Gov. Snyder should resign: There are no excuses. The governor long ago knew about the lead in Flint s water. He did nothing. As a result, hundreds of children were poisoned. Thousands may have been exposed to potential brain damage from lead. Gov. Snyder should resign. Officials fear that some children in Flint who drank and bathed in the water may have brain damage and other long term health problems. Yet, Rubio and the Republicans don t see the importance of addressing and taking the initiative on an unflolding tragedy in an American city.Featured image via YouTube screenshot | 1real |
null | The way he's doing business there seems he'll be a daisy pusher before to long. Just say'en. I mean as one poster here said a while back, only so much the drug cartels will tolerate before they retaliate. | 1real |
JUST IN: DALLAS COWBOYS OWNER Jerry Jones Is Leading Effort To Oust NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell | Make no mistake about it, the NFL needs to show their fans that their players are serious about playing football, or the owners are going to continue to face catastrophic financial losses. The owners didn t hire Goodell to be their social justice director Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones led a conference call with 17 NFL owners on Thursday to discuss the possibility of halting commissioner Roger Goodell s pending contract extension.The owners on Thursday s conference call are unhappy with Goodell and the NFL s front office for a variety of reasons, including the player protests staged during the national anthem, issues regarding the relocation of teams to Los Angeles and the league s handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, sources told ESPN. You don t get to have this many messes over the years like Roger has had and survive it, one owner said during the call.Sources have previously said that Jones has tried to stand in the way of any extension for Goodell.Last month, ESPN reported that Jones was impeding the progress of contract negotiations aimed at an extension for Goodell. If not for Jerry, one owner said last month in regard to the contract negotiations, this deal would be done. The tension between Jones and Goodell is in part credited to the commissioner giving Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott a six-game suspension, which is currently being disputed in court.Another factor in the frustration with Goodell is the controversy surrounding players kneeling during the national anthem.Goodell won t mandate the players stand while Jones is threatening Cowboys onto their feet.Earlier this month, Jones said that any of his players who disrespect the flag won t be allowed to play. I know this, we cannot in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag, Jones, also the team s general manager, said after a 35-31 loss to the Green Bay Packers on October 8.The previous week, Jones knelt along with head coach Jason Garrett and all their players in the middle of the field on September 26 in a show of unity before they all stood for the anthem before their 28-17 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Spoke to Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. Jerry is a winner who knows how to get things done. Players will stand for Country! President Trump tweeted.On the other side of the debate, Goodell strongly backed the players and criticized Trump for an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL. For entire story- Daily Mail | 1real |
Trump: U.S. has 'no choice' but to deal with North Korea arms challenge | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump unveiled a new national security strategy on Monday, calling for Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorism and saying Washington had to deal with the challenge posed by North Korea’s weapons programs. In a wide-ranging speech, Trump said his security strategy for the first time addresses economic security and would include a complete rebuilding of U.S. infrastructure as well as a wall along the southern U.S. border. Trump said the United States wanted Pakistan to take decisive action to help fight extremism, and that Washington had “no choice” but to deal with the challenge posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. Trump said the security strategy would also end mandatory defense spending limits, frequently called “sequester,” but did not mention if he had consulted with members of Congress about a possible bill to end the caps established in 2013 budget legislation. “We recognize that weakness is the surest path to conflict and unrivaled power is the most certain means of defense. For this reason, our security strategy breaks from damaging defense sequester,” Trump said. “We’re going to get rid of that.” | 0fake |
New York lawmakers end last statewide ban on mixed martial arts | ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - New York’s state assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to legalize mixed martial arts fights, effectively ending the last remaining statewide ban on the combat sport in the United States. Governor Andrew Cuomo has already said he would sign the measure, which previously passed the state Senate. Mixed martial arts features kicking, punching, wrestling and other maneuvers that can leave the combatants bloodied and sometimes unconscious. Lawmakers passed the legislation by a 113-25 vote after more than three hours of debate, with forceful speeches from both opponents and supporters of the bill. Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell, an openly gay Democrat who represents part of New York City and is the brother of actress Rosie O’Donnell, compared the sport to “gay porn.” He suggested the competitions might be susceptible to corruption. Ellen Jaffee, a Democrat from a New York City suburb, called the sport “barbaric” and said it is harmful to women because it distorts the image of masculinity. But Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, also a Democrat, said millions of fans deserve the chance to watch professional bouts in New York and argued that regulations would make the sport safer. The legislation came after years of obstruction from former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who opposed the sport and refused to allow a vote. But Silver was convicted of federal corruption charges last year and replaced as speaker by Carl Heastie, a co-sponsor of the bill. MMA fights are expected to generate $135 million a year for the state’s coffers, according to a 2013 study by the sport’s major promoter, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Arenas throughout New York would benefit, and Madison Square Garden in New York City is particularly well suited to stage the competitions, the bill’s sponsors said. Cuomo has already penciled in $3 million in revenue from ticket sales and cable fees in his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The New York State Athletic Commission would have to set regulations after the governor signs the bill. Fans would have to wait until at least the fourth quarter of 2016 before seeing any bouts in the state. UFC is owned by brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta of Station Casinos, a Las Vegas-based hotel-casino chain, through parent company Zuffa LLC [ZUFFA.UL]. The company had sued New York state over the ban, calling it unconstitutional. | 0fake |
Senate Democrat presses Trump campaign advisers for Russia contacts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked four foreign policy advisers to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign for documents about their contacts with Russians and discussions about Russia. Senator Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday sent letters to former Trump campaign advisers Carter Page, Sam Clovis, J.D. Gordon, and Walid Phares asking them for a range of materials about their contacts with Russians, as well as with each other and other Trump campaign advisers. Feinstein also asked some of the advisers to turn over any documents they have related to efforts to obtain or share “hacked” emails or other electronic data belonging to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Clinton herself, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee. She asked Gordon about efforts during the 2016 Republican presidential convention in Cleveland to soften proposed party platform language related to Russia and Ukraine. Convention delegate Diana Denman told Reuters in August 2016 she had proposed platform language urging the United States to provide “lethal defensive weapons” to Ukraine’s armed forces, but that Gordon told her he was going to speak to Trump about her proposal, which was not added to the platform. In an email to Reuters on Wednesday, Gordon said, “I’m always glad to clear up popular misconceptions, myths and blatant falsehoods surrounding all things Trump-Russia, like I’ve already done with other congressional committees. I look forward to a valuable exchange of information with the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well.” In her letter to Phares, Feinstein said she was interested in a meeting that he, Gordon, and Page allegedly held during the Cleveland convention with Sergei Kislyak, then Russia’s ambassador to the United States. An aide to Phares said he maintains that Kislyak “was just one of many foreign diplomats present in the audience at a panel discussion” and that such an event “cannot fairly be described as a meeting with Russian officials.” Feinstein asked Page to turn over documents on trips he took to Russia in July and December 2016. In an email on Wednesday, Page said: “I hope if they can be somewhat reasonable in terms of supporting my efforts to deliver all of this domestic political intelligence to them down in the DC swamp, I’ll be happy to help with this latest tranche of irrelevant Witch Hunt information.” A lawyer for Clovis did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Feinstein is cooperating with Republican Judiciary Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley on some but not all aspects of the committee’s investigation of Trump-Russia allegations. | 0fake |
WATCH: Texas Judge Orders Newly Sworn-In Citizens To Accept Trump Or Leave The Country | Demanding allegiance to a head of state as a condition for becoming a citizen sounds like something a dictator would do.And that s exactly what a Texas judge did during a swearing-in ceremony for immigrants who have been waiting to become citizens of the United States.John Primono is a federal judge who has sworn in over 100,000 new citizens during his career. But the election of Donald trump has apparently emboldened him to violate all sense of judicial ethics and human decency to warn new citizens that they better accept Trump as their president or else. I can assure you that whether you voted for him or you did not vote for him, if you are a citizen of the United States, he is your president, Primono told the new citizens as they were forced to listen. He will be your president, and if you do not like that, you need to go to another country. Here s the video via KENS.This is a pretty damn disgraceful thing to say to a group of people who clearly want to be Americans, especially from a federal judge.And Primono is paying the price for his partisanship because he was removed from presiding over any future citizenship ceremonies by the U.S. District judges.Of course, conservatives are very pleased and have made Primono their new hero, which alone should force him off the bench because it is clear that he is unable to exercise good judgement and political neutrality.But Primono claimed that he was merely offering a message of unity and that his remarks were taken out of context. I would never say anything like that, Primono told KENS. I wasn t trying to say anything for or against Donald Trump. I was just trying to say something hopeful and unifying, and unfortunately it was taken out of context. Yeah, that s complete bullshit. Telling new American citizens to support Trump or else is not unifying. It s a threatening message designed to scare immigrants into blindly following Trump.Immigrants should not have to deal with such threats in this country, where we have the right to political dissent. And the way Trump has treated immigrants over the last year and half makes it clear that he doesn t respect them. He hates them. So it s understandable that immigrants would be opposed to Trump s presidency. But they are not alone. Americans overwhelmingly voted against Donald Trump but he somehow won via the electoral vote. Millions of Americans are protesting against Trump and his bigotry.On a day when this group of diverse people finally became American citizens, this federal judge marred the ceremony by invoking the name of a divisive hatemonger and literally ordered them to accept Trump as their leader. It should never have happened but it makes one wonder how many more judges are going to become emboldened to behave similarly once Trump takes over in January.Featured image: Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1real |
Analysis Of Trump Camp’s Spending Shows Trump Wins For The MOST Backward Campaign EVER | Most political campaigns prefer to spend the bulk of their money on ad buys, internal polling and other research, voting lists, campaign field offices, staff you know, the stuff a campaign actually needs if it wants to succeed. However, it seems that Trump s campaign doesn t care about any of that. Not only do they not have a ground game to speak of, but they don t spend their money on anything substantial.They re spending their money on hats.And t-shirts and signs but lots and lots of hats promotional merchandise that doesn t really do anything to further Trump s campaign beyond his very tired slogan, Make America great again. The Washington Post conducted an analysis of Trump s final campaign finance filing with the Federal Election Commission. They found the campaign has spent $1.8 million on polling over the last sixteen months, but they spent $3.2 million on hats. Because clearly, those hats are the most important part of the campaign and nobody else gets that.Or so you d think with how Trump loves to look like a tool wearing those hats at his rallies.Trump keeps touting his business prowess as what makes him so eminently qualified to run this country, because reasons. His campaign is running more like a business that thinks spending its money on endless advertising and promotional materials is better than, well, spending money actually running the company (or in this case, a presidential campaign).All told, Trump s campaign has spent more on hats than it has on payroll. In fact, there are allegations going around that Trump is refusing to pay a lot of his campaign staff. The Post s analysis found that the amount of money Trump has spent on hats is nearly three times what they ve spent on payroll. That could be why they act like they can t afford to pay their staff which is just sickening.Add to that the fact that his hats (and other merchandise) are made in China, presumably to cut down on costs, and you have to wonder just how many hats they ve bought and how much they ve earned back.Featured image by Mark Wallheiser via Getty Images | 1real |
Senator Rand Paul to back bill blocking FBI hacking expansion | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kentucky Senator Rand Paul plans to become the first Republican co-sponsor of legislation to block a pending judicial rule change that would let U.S. judges issue search warrants for remote access to computers located in any jurisdiction, his office told Reuters on Thursday. The bill is expected to be introduced next week. Backing from Paul, a former Republican candidate for president with libertarian leanings, lends bipartisan support to an effort to undo a little-noticed modification to a text governing procedural rules for the U.S. court system that civil liberties groups warn would drastically expand the FBI’s hacking authority. So far, that cause has largely been championed solely by Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and digital privacy advocate. He has vowed to work to stop the rule change on grounds it would allow the government to use one warrant to access and search thousands or millions of computers at once, potentially implicating those suspected of no wrongdoing. Magistrate judges can normally only order searches within the jurisdiction of their court, which is typically limited to a few counties. But last month the Supreme Court, in a private vote, approved the amendments to Rule 41 of the federal rules of criminal procedure, which would permit judges to issue warrants in cases when a suspect uses anonymizing technology to conceal the location of his or her computer or for an investigation into a network of hacked or infected computers, such as a botnot. Congress has until December 1 to pass legislation that would reject, amend or postpone the changes to Rule 41. If lawmakers do nothing, which is customary in these circumstances, the changes automatically will take effect. The U.S. Justice Department, which is pushing for the rule change, has described it as a procedural tweak needed to modernize the criminal code, and has said it would not permit searches that are not already legal. Alphabet Inc’s Google has warned the change poses a “monumental” threat to the Constitution’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Last year Paul and Wyden worked together to force a temporary expiration of the USA Patriot Act, which led to passage of surveillance reforms that pared backed the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk collection of U.S. call records. Other lawmakers are also examining Rule 41. Republican Senator Mike Lee is looking at ways to address concerns, a spokesman said, and a small group of lawmakers in the House are weighing introduction of companion legislation, sources said. | 0fake |
Donald Trump’s RNC 2016 Speech Packed With Lies And Shady Stats | In Trump’s America, murder is out of control, terror reigns, our enemies are ascendant and our leaders are spineless puppets.
Donald Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination at his party's convention Thursday night lasted 75 minutes—the longest since at least 1972—as he painted a grim picture of midnight in America, a country beaten down and besieged by terror, crime, murderous immigrants and smarter adversaries across the globe thanks to foolish and feckless leaders here.
“At our convention, there will be no lies,” Trump said at the very beginning of his remarks, in which he elaborated on a draft a Republican source leaked to a super-PAC backing Hillary Clinton hours before he spoke. “We will honor the American people with the truth and nothing else.”
“Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation,” Trump said in a speech that returned to common themes of law and order and national security, and charges that President Obama and Hillary Clinton had made America and the world less safe. “The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.”
But the bleak picture he painted often did not line up with the facts, using over-inflated statistics and questionable generalizations when discussing matters of crime, justice, immigration, and national security.
Trump said that homicides increased by 17 percent from last year in the country’s 50 largest cities. He did not say, however, that the national homicide rate hit a four-decade low last year, according to the FBI—or that the number of people murdered in the 50 largest cities has declined by half since 1991.
In an interview on CNN ahead of the speech, Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort defended the remarks by casting doubt on the FBI’s official crime numbers, which include information gleaned from local police departments.
“The FBI is certainly suspect these days after what they just did with Hillary Clinton,” Manafort said, referring to FBI Director James Comey’s decision to not recommend charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server. “But as far as crime in the neighborhoods, people don’t feel safe.”
According to Politifact, Trump’s often-repeated assertion that there is no vetting system for Syrian refugees is not true. That process can take as long as one year or more, and each refugee is interviewed by officials in the Department of Homeland Security and required to attend cultural classes and pass a medical review.
“I will work with and appoint the best prosecutors and law enforcement officials in the country to get the job done,” Trump declared, while not elaborating on how he would do so. “In this race for the White House, I am the law-and-order candidate.”
In light of the recent shootings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Trump claimed that the number of officers killed in the line of duty has increased by almost 50 percent year-to-year. The National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund says the number has gone up only slightly—from 62 officers through July 20 of last year to 67 killed so far this year.
Turning to the world—and Clinton—Trump said the U.S. should discontinue its policy of “nation building and regime change that Hillary Clinton pushed in Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Syria.” But Trump supported the Libya intervention in 2011, saying at the time: “At this point, if you don’t get rid of Gaddafi, it’s a major, major black eye for this country.”
Trump’s dubious contentions were not limited to law and order issues. The billionaire businessman claimed 14 million people “left the workplace entirely.” For context, the current workforce has 4.6 million more people than in 2009. He criticized Obama on the national debt, claiming it doubled. It has actually increased from $11.1 trillion to $19.2 trillion.
Trump also suggested that Clinton is responsible for the creation of ISIS in the Middle East—even though the group did not formally split from al Qaeda until after she left office. He suggested that sanctions on Iran decreased during her tenure in government; in fact, they increased. | 0fake |
South Korea's Moon says he's against having nuclear arms despite North Korea threat | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday he was against bringing nuclear weapons into his country despite North Korea s nuclear threats. Introducing nuclear weapons in South Korea would make it impossible for the two Koreas to establish peace and could fuel an nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia, Moon said in an interview with CNN, according to the presidential Blue House. | 0fake |
LEFTIST STORE OWNER Makes Video Asking Libs To Help DESTROY Billboard Owner’s Business After He Removed Her Hateful Trump-Hitler Advertisement | Things didn t go as well as Nicholle had hoped and now, she s lashing out at the owner of the billboard company who was inundated with calls from angry residents.Rouse & Revolt owner Nicholle Lewis told Newsweek that she didn t sleep much last night. Her phone wouldn t stop going off with the persistent buzzing of death threats for her sign, which stylizes the number 45 into a swastika and features Trump posed in a Hitler-esque stance. I m living in a small, podunk red town and I m already getting death threats, said Lewis, whose store is in right-leaning Chico, population 90,000. My business has completely floundered. Overnight I had more one-star reviews than all the reviews I ve received in a year. The sign was up for less than 24 hours before Stott Outdoor Advertising took it down amid a backlash that featured online attacks.But Lewis said she s standing behind her beliefs. I don t necessarily think that just because I m a business doesn t mean I can t mix my beliefs, Lewis said. That s a common misconception that you can t mix politics and business. I have a platform and I m going to use it. Lewis has used the billboard at the corner of Third Avenue and Mangrove Avenue all year, though this is the first time she s made it political. He is not presidential, he is not a president, Lewis said. He is a celebrity who was born into money. And he s a Nazi sympathizer. I am going to stand behind my beliefs regardless. Lewis said she has been getting some support, too.Lewis got slammed by bad reviews on her store, Rouse and Revolt Facebook page, as well as her personal Facebook page, where she posted this video. In the video, Lewis pleas with liberals to make false claims against the sign company, as a payback because she s been hit with bad reviews. That s called liberal logic, in case you re not familiar with how liberal operate.Watch, as angry liberal Nicholle Haber Lewis threatens the sign company with a lawsuit while simultaneously asking libs to help her destroy his business.(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=v2.10"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Posted by Nicholle Haber Lewis on Friday, October 6, 2017The general manager of Stott Outdoor Advertising replied to Newsweek:Jim Moravec, the general manager of Stott Outdoor Advertising, told Newsweek that the company took it down because a lot of people misinterpreted the billboard and who the speaker was. I should have not accepted the ad in the first place, Moravec said, adding that the sign looked more like a call for action than an ad for the clothing store. Newsweek | 1real |
Libyan mayors meet for more leverage to tackle country's meltdown | TUNIS (Reuters) - More than 90 mayors from across Libya s political divides are meeting for the first time in an effort to shore up their role in tackling conflict-linked crises and promote themselves as a unifying movement. Local councils are one of the few parts of the vast North African state still functioning in a country where rival camps have split the government and major institutions as they vie for power and a share of shrunken oil revenues. When a citizen grumbles or complains about a service, he goes to the municipality. There is no other place for him to go, said Abdulrahman el-Abbar, mayor of the eastern city of Benghazi, before the three-day meeting that began on Wednesday in Hammamet in neighboring Tunisia - security risks and political schisms make meeting inside Libya difficult. You need to reinforce (the municipality s) powers so that it can provide the right services to the people. Despite Libya s oil wealth, public services were weak under Muammar Gaddafi s long rule. As Libya splintered and lawlessness set in following the 2011 uprising that ousted Gaddafi, services steadily collapsed. A U.N.-backed government has largely replaced a self-declared rival in the capital Tripoli, but a third, almost powerless government, has held out in eastern Libya, aligning itself with military commander Khalifa Haftar. All have overseen a worsening of living conditions, leaving residents seeking local or improvised solutions. Abdulrahman al-Hamedi, mayor of Tripoli s Abu Salim district, says he has few resources to support residents crushed by rapid inflation, cash shortages and disrupted services. In what used to be one of the region s richest countries, monthly wages are now often worth less than $100 because of the sharp depreciation of the Libyan dinar on the black market, Hamedi said. Abu Salim has been shaken by militia battles from the revolution until earlier this year, and is also home to large numbers of displaced people from other conflict-ridden areas. Currently the security situation is relatively stable, said Hamedi. The economic situation is really terrible, given the lack of basic services that the citizen would normally be provided with, such as electricity or water or gas, or obtaining cash or even food products. The United Nations relaunched a peace process in September, but the mayors have little hope of quick progress. The Hammamet meeting, which was facilitated by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Geneva-based private diplomacy organization, brings elected mayors from the west aligned with the U.N.-backed government together with eastern mayors, some of whom, like Abbar, owe their positions to Haftar. They are discussing ways to act as a force for reconciliation as well as pressing for devolved powers. All the Libyan municipalities are in contact from the extreme east to the extreme west and the south; we don t have any problems, said Yousef Ibderi, mayor of Gharyan, 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli, who uses a walking frame after being hit by a sniper s bullet early last year. In the last three and a half years there has been no strong government, there s been no presence of the governments at all, but the municipalities were active despite a complete lack of budget and means, they were the guardians of stability and peace, he said. So we consider decentralization to be a very, very important solution and one that we need to work on. | 0fake |
Sessions PANICS, Cancels Public Testimony Because He Doesn’t Want To Answer Questions About Russia | The walls are closing in on Donald Trump s Attorney General.In the aftermath of James Comey s damning Senate testimony, Jeff Sessions quickly canceled his upcoming public testimony in front of House and Senate committees this week after previously agreeing to do so.The main reason Sessions does not want to testify publicly is because he fears that he will be asked about issues related to the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election. Indeed, Sessions would be asked such questions and he should be.Former FBI Director James Comey testified on Thursday that he felt he could not discuss with Sessions his concerns about Trump trying to kill the Russia investigation. You see, Sessions was about to be exposed for his own trysts with Russian officials, which made Sessions untrustworthy. Our judgment, as I recall, is that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons, Comey recalled. We also were aware of facts that I can t discuss in an opening setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic. So now what would have been a public hearing for all to see will now apparently take place in the shadows as Sessions is preparing to speak privately with the Senate Intelligence Committee instead.Clearly, Sessions is panicking in the wake of Comey s testimony. He got caught committing perjury during his confirmation hearing earlier this year when he failed to disclose several meetings he had with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign, including a meeting with Sergey Kislyak, the same Russian official whom disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn repeatedly met with and spoke to during the transition, an act he lied about and for which he was fired.Sessions might as well resign in disgrace now while he has a chance. If he can t man up and face questions about Russian interference in the 2016 Election then it is obvious that he has something to hide and he doesn t want to lie about it in public for all to see.Featured image via Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Exclusive: Cambodian opposition leader calls for sanctions on leadership | (Reuters) - An opposition leader who said she fled Cambodia in fear of arrest called on Western donors on Wednesday to impose targeted sanctions on Prime Minister Hun Sen s government to save democracy in the Southeast Asian nation. Mu Sochua, 63, left Cambodia on Tuesday, saying she had been tipped off that she was among the next targets of a crackdown in which opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Kem Sokha was arrested a month ago and charged with treason. Elections are due next year and the opposition party has accused Hun Sen, 65, of arresting and harassing its leaders and other critics so he can extend over 30 years in power. The time for statements has passed. It s time for sanctions, targeted sanctions. Also suspension of technical aid to the government of Cambodia, Mu Sochua told Reuters. Time is up for democracy. How long can the international community wait? She was speaking to Reuters in Southeast Asia and requested that the location not be specified because of security concerns. She said last week that around half the CNRP s members of parliament had fled Cambodia. The sanctions could include visa restrictions on top officials, Mu Sochua said, but should not target the exports of garments - mostly to the United States and European Union - on which the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian workers depend. Responding to Mu Sochua s comments, government spokesman Phay Siphan said there was no reason for any country to impose sanctions on Cambodia because it was committed to peace and pluralism and the rule of law. This is a sovereign state and it will protect its sovereignty, he said. He said he could not comment on any potential arrests because that would be a matter for the judiciary. The government accuses the opposition of planning a revolution to oust Hun Sen, whose rule has spanned Cambodia s three-decade transformation from a broken state after the Khmer Rouge genocide to one of the region s fastest growing economies. Hun Sen has called it a color revolution , similar to movements in parts of the Balkans and the former Soviet Union in the 2000s. Since Kem Sokha s arrest, Mu Sochua had emerged as his most outspoken deputy. She said she grew worried at the weekend after suspected plain clothes police followed her to rallies in the countryside. TIP-OFF Then on Monday, Hun Sen threatened more arrests of opposition leaders. Mu Sochua said a senior government official had sent her a recording of his speech. I said, is this about me? He said yes . I said Is the arrest going to be this week? He said yes , said Mu Sochua, who is known internationally for decades of campaigning against sex trafficking and for women s rights. Insurrection charges over which she was detained for seven days in 2014 could easily be brought back, she said. The government has not said it planned to charge her. Mu Sochua said any international moves against Hun Sen should be aimed at preserving democracy. When we talk about targeted sanctions we also talk about giving Mr. Hun Sen time to think and to adjust and to give the opposition, civil society, free media space so that the next 10 months will be time to prepare for elections, she said. Western countries have condemned the arrest of Kem Sokha and the crackdown on non-governmental organizations, civil rights groups and independent media in the country of 16 million people, but they have not taken any concrete steps. What is shocking is how the international community, especially Cambodia s donors, are essentially giving Hun Sen a free pass at each step of this crackdown, Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. Western donors played an essential part in rebuilding Cambodia after 1991 peace accords to end civil war, but their influence has waned as Cambodia s economy has strengthened and as China has become its most important ally. U.S. Senators John McCain and Dick Durbin introduced a resolution on Tuesday that called on the U.S. State and Treasury Departments to consider putting top Cambodian officials on a list that could stop them visiting the United States. China, by far the biggest donor to Cambodia, has given verbal support to Hun Sen. A former Khmer Rouge commander, he defected from the group and helped to drive it from power in 1979 after the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people. | 0fake |
Fake News: Hysterical Media Hype Tiny Tel Aviv Anti-Trump Protest | TEL AVIV — Despite only attracting a crowd of about 40, the news media has been hyping a tiny protest outside of the U. S. Embassy in Tel Aviv against President Donald Trump’s temporary halt on refugees while the government revamps its flawed security screening process. [Here are some of the screaming headlines about the miniscule protest: L. A. Times: “Protesters in Tel Aviv compare Trump immigration order to Israeli refugee policies. ” Jerusalem Post: “Israelis protest Trump travel ban, citing history of Jewish refugees. ” I24 News: “Protesters ‘fight back’ against US, Israel’s refugee and immigration policies. ” Times of Israel: “At Tel Aviv protest, activists hear echoes of Israeli policy in Trump’s refugee ban. ” The L. A. Times article was also picked up by Yahoo! News. Despite the headlines, the articles themselves could not hide the small size of the protest, prompting questions as to why the news media would find the gathering newsworthy in the first place. The L. A. Times conceded the crowd consisted of “several dozen demonstrators. ” The Times of Israel put the number at “some 40 protesters. ” The Jerusalem Post also cited about forty demonstrators. The turnout is particularly disappointing for Tel Aviv, a city known for its ability to mobilize massive numbers of protesters. Trump’s executive order halts visas for 90 days for “immigrants and ” from Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran, and Iraq. The order further suspended the entry of all refugees for 120 days, indefinitely blocked Syrian refugees from entering and lowered the ceiling to 50, 000 for refugees allowed to enter the U. S. during Fiscal Year 2017. Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. ” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. | 0fake |
Police arrest seven youths after deadly Malaysia school blaze | KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Police in Malaysia have arrested seven youths in connection with a fire at an Islamic boarding school in Kuala Lumpur that killed at least 23 people, mostly teenagers. The seven, aged 11 to 18, were brought to court and remanded for seven days, Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh told reporters at a news conference on Saturday. I can assure you now that the case is solved with the arrest of the seven of them, Singh said. It was the most deadly incident of its kind in Malaysia in two decades, and has outraged the public, some of whom have called for greater safety and tougher regulation at such religious schools. The arrested include students from the surrounding neighborhood, and some have tested positive for consuming marijuana. The police are treating the case as one of murder and mischief by fire. The blaze erupted early on Thursday in a top-floor dormitory at the three-storey boarding school where most of the students were sleeping in bunk beds, with many of the windows covered by metal grilles. Asked if the suspects had planned to kill the victims, Singh said: Intention was to burn, but it could be because of their age or because of their maturity levels, perhaps they may not have known that it would cause deaths. Two gas cylinders were brought up from the kitchen to the second floor, he said. | 0fake |
Coulter: Trump ’Attacking a Lying Media’ - ’They Do Lie’ - Breitbart | Saturday, conservative columnist Ann Coulter defended President Donald Trump for his feud with the media, saying he is not attacking the first amendment or the media itself, but rather “attacking a lying media. ” “[Trump] is not attacking the first amendment. He’s not attacking a free press or the media, he’s attacking a lying media, and they do lie,” Coulter told host Judge Jeanine Pirro. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 0fake |
Moldova PM confident of securing EU funding in 2018 | CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova s Prime Minister Pavel Filip said on Monday he was confident of meeting all the conditions to get funding next year under a 100-million-euro ($117-million) agreement with the European Union. A reduction in red tape and better fiscal governance had already improved public finances, allowing it to get by without the EU cash this year, he told Reuters. The European Union agreed in June to provide 60 million euros in loans and 40 million euros of grants in 2017-18 to help the former Soviet republic to stabilize its economy and promote reform. One condition for receiving it was respect for democratic process and the rule of law, the EU added. Moldova this year introduced a new electoral law that the Venice Commission, a pan-European rights body, said could make the system more susceptible to undue influence by vested interests. Last week Filip said Moldova would receive no tranches this year, but he was more upbeat on 2018 in emailed comments to Reuters on Monday. The EU has a serious partner in Chisinau and we are eager for EU financing in 2018 - we are confident all conditions will be met, he said. What is important for us and our citizens is predictability, including on the EU flank. It s important not to see the MFA (macro-financial assistance) captive to political bickering at home or abroad. Moldova s economy grew 4.1 percent last year, recovering from a contraction of 0.4 percent in 2015 that was due in part to a Russian economic crisis that hit exports and remittances from Moldovans working there. Moldova is hopeful that funding will be available next year, while in the meantime, we signaled the obvious: that Moldova is in better shape and can settle its accounts for this year, Filip said. Europe s poorest country was rocked by a scandal in which the equivalent of an eighth of its gross domestic product was stolen from three of its largest banks between 2012 and 2014. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have forecast Moldova will grow 4-4.5 percent this year. | 0fake |
Dan Rather Has SHOCKING Response After Trump Sides With Assange Over America (TWEET) | Legendary reporter Dan Rather has commented on the ridiculous antics of President-elect Donald Trump before, but it seems as though Trump s foolishness and erratic behavior has finally struck a nerve that Rather can t shake off.Earlier today, Trump sent out a tweet that took the side of Julian Assange after the WikiLeaks founder claimed he had not gotten the Democratic National Committee s emails from Russia in an interview with Fox News. Trump pathetically used this information to defend Russia despite the fact that multiple intelligence reports have pointed right to the Kremlin.In response to this, Rather took to Facebook to rip Trump a new one for his cavalier dismissal of Russia s involvement in the U.S. election. Rather didn t mince his words, perfectly stating what many of us are feeling at this point, as our future President sides with our adversaries. Rather wrote: Stunned disbelief. Anxiety. A mounting sense of betrayal. These are the smoke signals rising from those in and around the United States intelligence community over President-elect Donald Trump s dismissal of the evidence of Russian hacking in the presidential election. Rather blasted Trump for trusting Assange over America s own intelligence communities, remarking on Trump s stupidity for trusting someone who clearly doesn t have the United States best interest in mind: Assange, in an interview with Fox News Sean Hannity (who at this point must be considered a full-fledged propagandist and abetter) said he didn t get the information from Russia. Well if he says so Let s just use that same standard for all of our adversaries. Nothing to see here. Why waste all these billions of dollars on intelligence gathering? Rather also raised a question that many of us have been wondering when he asked how the many people risking their lives and using their immense analytical skills instead of making millions on Wall Street feel about Mr. Trump s cavalier dismissal of their work. Rather perfectly stated that Trump s denial and refusal of the intelligence reports is dangerous and affects all Americans, and people around the world. The legendary reporter called on Trump s fellow Republicans and advisers to knock some sense into the President-elect: Hopefully patriots within Mr. Trump s own party and in his inner circle will step up and tell the incoming president how dangerous this rhetoric is. Heaven forbid we suffer another horrible attack. Heaven forbid our intelligence community was hollowed out, wasn t listened to or respected. These are the stakes. No one could have said it better. You can read Rather s response to Trump s idiocy below:Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
Exodus of Rohingya to Bangladesh reaches 270,000 - UNHCR | COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - An estimated 270,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh over the past two weeks, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday, announcing a dramatic jump in numbers fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar s Rakhine State. A rights group said satellite images showed about 450 buildings had been burned down in a Myanmar border town largely inhabited by Rohingya, as part of what the Muslim minority refugees say is a concerted effort to expel them. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the estimated number of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar on Aug. 25 had risen from 164,000 on Thursday, after aid workers found big groups in border areas. We have identified more people in different areas that we were not aware of, said Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, while adding that there could be some double-counting. The numbers are so alarming - it really means that we have to step up our response and that the situation in Myanmar has to be addressed urgently. The latest flight of Rohingya began two weeks ago after Rohingya insurgents attacked security force posts in Myanmar s Rakhine State. That triggered an army counteroffensive in which at least 400 people died. The United States, a principle backer of Aung San Suu Kyi s civilian government that came to power in Myanmar last year, said there had been shortcomings on the part of Myanmar security forces and the government in dealing with the situation. Patrick Murphy, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Washington was calling in talks with Myanmar s military and civilian leaders for urgent restoration of access to Rakhine State for humanitarian assistance and journalists. He said the security forces must respond responsibly to the attacks that began the crisis, telling reporters: They have a responsibility to carry out those activities in accordance with rule of law and international human rights Rights groups briefed U.N. Security Council diplomats on the Myanmar violence on Friday. Russia and China did not send any diplomats, according to people at the meeting. Myanmar has said it is was counting on China and Russia to protect it from any Security Council censure. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Suu Kyi by phone on Wednesday and reiterated his concerns about the situation in Rakhine State, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Reuters. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States was deeply troubled by continued reports of attacks against innocent civilians and will continue to urge (Myanmar) security forces to respect those civilians as it conducts security operations. Washington was also calling on Myanmar to ensure that aid reached those in need as quickly as possible, and that it is delivered in a manner that protects their rights and dignity, she said in a statement. The wave of refugees, many sick or wounded, has strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands displaced by previous waves of violence in Myanmar. Many have no shelter, and aid agencies are racing to provide clean water, sanitation and food. We need to prepare for many more to come, I am afraid, said Shinni Kubo, Bangladesh country manager for UNHCR. We need huge financial resources. This is unprecedented. This is dramatic. It will continue for weeks and weeks. While most refugees are coming on foot, many are braving the sea. At least 300 boats carrying Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh s Cox s Bazar district on Wednesday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. Buddhist-majority Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against terrorists it blames for the attacks on the security forces, burning homes and civilian deaths. It says about 30,000 non-Muslims have been displaced. The 1.1 million Rohingya living in Myanmar have long complained of persecution. They are denied citizenship and regarded as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. There is very limited access to the north of Rakhine State and few if any independent witnesses, raising fears that a humanitarian crisis could be unfolding among Rohingya still there. What we know is what people are saying as they come across, and what they re saying now, given this been going on since Aug. 25, is they are in an absolutely desperate state, said IOM s Leonard Doyle. They say (they are) living out in (the) open, without protection from the tropical sun with their children, without enough food to eat. Bangladesh has proposed safe zones run by aid groups for Rohingya in Myanmar. But it would seem the plan is unlikely to be accepted there. Human Rights Watch said satellite images taken last Saturday showed hundreds of burned buildings in Maungdaw, a district capital in Rakhine State, in areas primarily inhabited by Rohingya. If safety cannot even be found in area capitals, then no place may be safe, said Phil Robertson, the group s deputy Asia director. A Myanmar reporter in the north of the state said he had reports from residents of an area called Rathedaung that six villages there had been torched and that there had also been shooting in the area. It was not clear who was responsible. Critics have accused Suu Kyi of not speaking out for the Rohingya and some have called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 as a champion of democracy to be revoked. The United States has been careful to avoid direct criticism of Suu Kyi, and Murphy said Washington was looking to help Myanmar s transition to democracy succeed. He noted that most authority in Rakhine State lay with the military, which wielded direct power in Myanmar for decades before Suu Kyi s election win. Murphy called for implementation of recommendations of a commission led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan set up to find solutions for the ethnically and religiously divided Rakhine. The fact that over a million people inside the country have been devoid of basic rights for generations has been a long-standing issue, Murphy said. It needs to be addressed. Protests against the treatment of the Rohingya were held in several countries, including Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia. Others were held outside Myanmar s embassies in Tokyo and Manila. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was considering raising the issue in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump next week. Malaysia s coastguard said it was willing to offer Rohingya temporary shelter, although it is unlikely refugees would travel hundreds of kilometres south by sea during the monsoon season, which lasts until late November. Thailand has also said it is preparing to receive people fleeing Myanmar, while Singapore said it was ready to help the humanitarian effort. | 0fake |
Tulane and St. John’s Coaches Share a Goal: Returning Teams to Glory - The New York Times | Mike Dunleavy, a former N. B. A. coach, was looking to get back into coaching in March 2015 when he heard that St. John’s had parted ways with Steve Lavin. Five years removed from his last job on a bench, he reached out to an old friend, Chris Mullin, about the opening, to see if Mullin would vouch for him as a reference. “When the St. John’s job came open, I had some other people come approach me,” Dunleavy said Thursday. “A bunch of Wall Street guys that I knew said: ‘Hey, look, the St. John’s job is open. Would you have an interest?’ “I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love the St. John’s job.’ So I called Chris and I left him a message. I said: ‘Hey, Chris, I see that the St. John’s job just came open, and I’m wondering if you would help champion me for the job if, in fact, you don’t want it.’ I just threw it out there. I really didn’t think it was something he wanted, but I really didn’t know. And literally the next day, he was named the coach, so we never even talked. ” Dunleavy, 62, who ended up at Tulane, and Mullin, 53, renewed their acquaintance Friday night when St. John’s ( ) beat Tulane ( ) in New Orleans. Both teams had losing streaks entering the game. Even though Dunleavy is nine years older than Mullin, the men have much in common. Both are from Brooklyn and played in the N. B. A. Both went on to become Western Conference executives in the N. B. A. Dunleavy as the Los Angeles Clippers’ general manager and Mullin in the front offices of the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings. Both were eventually hired to restore prominence to a college program. And both are now struggling for wins. Dunleavy, who spent more than two decades as an N. B. A. coach, has coached only eight games in college, and he acknowledged that he was still getting his feet under him while trying to establish a culture and recruit effectively. Mullin, who was in his first season as the St. John’s coach, is off to another rough start this season. The most recent indignity? A loss Tuesday to a Delaware State team that had not beaten a Division I opponent this season. Mullin was as a player at St. John’s. His next defeat, will be his 30th as the program’s coach. “No one likes to lose and play terrible,” Mullin said after a loss to Old Dominion on Saturday, “but usually when you look back, that is what turns a team into a team. ” Dunleavy said: “When it comes down to it, from being an N. B. A. general manager, it takes time to build a team. It’s a little bit different. Instead of in the N. B. A. having salary caps or making trades, college is about recruiting and its number of scholarships available per year, and it depends on how long it takes to build a team. ” Perhaps not surprisingly, given their coaches’ roots, Tulane and St. John’s are looking to build their teams — at least in part — via an infusion of talent from the New York area. Dunleavy has scored two major steals by winning commitments from the Bul Ajang and the Buay Koka of the Patrick School in Hillside, N. J. which produced the N. B. A. players Kyrie Irving and Michael when it was St. Patrick High School. At St. John’s, Mullin is pursuing several highly regarded, but younger, prospects from the region. Dunleavy and Mullin are also part of a larger trend in which colleges seek out coaches with N. B. A. experience. The former Dallas Mavericks and Nets coach Avery Johnson is in his second year at Alabama. Eric Musselman, who had jobs with six N. B. A. franchises, is in his second season at Nevada, and the former guard Mark Price is in his second season at North . The results have been mixed. Johnson took Alabama to the National Invitation Tournament in his first year and is this season. He also has the recruiting class in the nation for 2017, according to Scout. com. Under Musselman, Nevada won the College Basketball Invitational, a postseason tournament, last season. And while Price and Charlotte were a year ago, they are off to a start now. Mullin and Dunleavy, meanwhile, are, for the moment, struggling to find their footing. “We’re both from Brooklyn, we both grew up in the playgrounds there, we’re both really competitive guys,” Dunleavy said. “We both probably played the game, not professionally, but a lot longer than most people. I think he probably still plays. My knee is not good enough to allow me to play, but I go out and shoot, fool around because I just love it. “But any time anybody is losing when you’re competitive, it’s not easy. But you have to understand the reality of your situation, and understand how you can build it and you make progress. And you work at it every day and try to improve your players and figure out the best way to have an edge to recruit and get better players. ” | 0fake |
BREAKING: BLIND OPERA SINGER Gets DEATH Threats From Left…Forced To Back Out Of Performance At Trump Inauguration [Video] | Opera star Andrea Bocelli backed out of singing at Donald Trump s inauguration after receiving death threats, The Mail on Sunday has learnt.The revelation came as another singer Broadway legend Jennifer Holliday last night pulled out of the President-elect s festivities after being threatened and branded an Uncle Tom : They were calling me coon, calling me house n***er, calling me Aunt Jemima, calling me all kinds of names and asking me to kill myself, the Grammy and Tony-winning singer told MSNBC s Joy Reid on this morning s AM Joy. And that was from the black community. I wanted to sing on the mall for America Jennifer HollidayWhen blind tenor Bocelli announced he would not sing at this Friday s celebration, it was widely reported it was because fans had said they would boycott his concerts and records.But a source said the 58-year-old had been determined to press ahead and sing but had pulled out on the advice of his security team after receiving threats to his life.A source close to Bocelli, a friend of Trump s, said: Andrea is very sad to be missing the chance to sing at such a huge global event but he has been advised it is simply not worth the risk. PERHAPS THE LEFT SHOULD LISTEN TO THIS SONG:READ MORE: DAILY MAIL | 1real |
Bette Midler’s Brilliant Tweet Perfectly Exposes The Sad Irony Of Jeb Bush’s Gun (TWEET) | Let s just say, hypothetically, that Donald Trump is right about something. Let s say that Jeb Bush is a low energy dweeb who nobody seems to want to get behind. Let s assume that Jeb Bush will, in fact, do or say anything to bring his campaign into double digits, with the exception of refraining from that goofy head tilt and nod thing he s got going on.If that were true, Jeb Bush would probably go the route of route of Ted Cruz, whose ripped off machine gun bacon stunt gave him a boost with hill folk and other rednecks who just love guns and bacon. If Jeb Bush were to do it, it wouldn t be wearing full camo so the bacon can t see the dangerous predator ready to kill it. At least the noble already-dead beast will not go to waste.Jeb Bush would post a picture of his beloved gun with the caption America, because Jeb Bush is a desperate fool at this point who would claim to be getting regular visits from Jesus Christ in a Volkswagen bus if it were trendy:America. pic.twitter.com/TeduJkwQF3 Jeb Bush (@JebBush) February 16, 2016How sad is that? That Jeb Bush could choose to Tweet that garbage goes miles in showing what he would look like in the White House. Not to mention he d look with his terrible posture firing that thing.Who better to school him on the sad irony of his nifty little gun than Bette Midler:Jeb Bush tweeted a pic of his handgun with the caption "America." With over 300 mass shootings last year, maybe that IS our national symbol. Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) February 17, 2016I mean seriously. Who couldn t see that coming? The Divine Miss M went ahead and pointed out the obvious, extremely disturbing elephant in the room that stupid Jeb tweets is sitting in guns are undeniably and embarrassingly American. Argue about the murder rate in Honduras all you want, conservatives. Show a picture of that gun to people around the world and ask them the first country that comes to mind.Bette Midler is incredibly insightful. Her laser-guided efforts to humiliate anything GOP are becoming legendary. It s always a pleasure to have her weigh in to make Jeb Bush look stupid.Featured images from Twitter screen captures | 1real |
Bill O’Reilly Sets Return with ’No Spin News’ Podcast | Bill O’Reilly will return to the airwaves six days after his departure from Fox News with a new podcast episode set to air Monday on his website. [O’Reilly’s “No Spin News” will air Monday, April 24 at 7 p. m. Eastern, according to a promotional graphic posted to his website Sunday. The episode will mark a return for the popular news host just six days after his departure from Fox News, where he hosted the perennially O’Reilly Factor for two decades. O’Reilly exited last week after an investigation into five sexual harassment allegations leveled against him during his tenure at the network. In a statement after his departure, O’Reilly called the allegations against him “completely unfounded. ” O’Reilly’s podcast will be made available to those with a premium subscription to his website. A subscription costs $49. 95 per year, or $4. 95 per month. The final episode of the retitled The Factor aired Friday night, with longtime Fox News personality Greg Gutfeld filling in for O’Reilly. Current Fox News host Tucker Carlson is set to take over O’Reilly’s 8 p. m. ET time slot beginning Monday, April 24. Reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner is set to be among Carlson’s first guests on the program. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0fake |
In Trump cabinet, Commerce Secretary will run trade policy | WEST PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump plans to put his pick for Commerce Secretary, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, in charge of his get-tough trade policy, a transition team spokesman said on Tuesday. It is a signal of how Trump, who is also interviewing candidates to be the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), plans to elevate a crackdown on competitors in the world market and the overhaul of trade deals that he says have hurt U.S. factory jobs. The USTR will not be merged with Commerce, but Trump transition team spokesman Jason Miller made clear that most trade policy decisions would be steered by Ross, who made a good part of his fortune by investing in distressed steel companies that benefited from stiff import tariffs imposed by former President George W. Bush in the early 2000s. “Mr. Ross not only has negotiated some very good deals over his lifetime, he’s also the person who worked closely with the president-elect on crafting his trade policy over the administration,” Miller told reporters during a daily transition briefing. “Mr. Ross will be playing a big role in any trade particulars in this administration.” The move also marks a notable shift from trade policy management in President Barack Obama’s administration, where USTR Michael Froman was seen as the main trade architect, negotiating a 12-country Pacific Rim trade deal that ultimately failed to win approval in Congress. “It looks like the USTR office is being downgraded and subordinated to Commerce,” said Derek Scissors, a trade expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank in Washington. “That’s a big change because USTR is this small elite trade agency right across from the White House.” Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, blamed multilateral trade deals with Mexico and China for the loss of U.S. jobs, a core message during his campaign, and said he would push to renegotiate the agreements. Trump’s administration is expected to crack down on Chinese trade practices with enforcement cases, which has raised fears Beijing would retaliate. He has also pledged to hit companies that shift production from the United States to other countries with a 35 percent tax on their exports into the United States — legislation he said his team would soon “write up.” Ross has also been a key adviser on another top Trump priority: a proposal to use tax credits to help spur $1 trillion of private and public spending on roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Trump plans to delegate coordination of that plan to the head of an infrastructure task force, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources briefed on the plans. Trump has picked more than 20 nominees for his cabinet so far, packing his team with billionaires from the business world, retired generals, and loyalists. He is continuing to interview candidates for his cabinet this week at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach resort, where he will spend the Christmas holiday — including potential picks for the USTR job. Elevating Ross’ role as Commerce Secretary could make the USTR job less attractive to potential candidates with top-tier trade expertise, said Scissors at the American Enterprise Institute. Traditionally, the USTR takes the lead on negotiations for trade deals, while Commerce, a massive sprawling agency, handles enforcement actions including anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations of low-cost imports. On Tuesday, Trump was slated to meet about the USTR position with Jovita Carranza, who was deputy administrator with the Small Business Administration in the George W. Bush White House and a former executive with United Parcel Service Inc. Carranza, now a consultant, was part of a group of Hispanic leaders who met with Trump in July, after he had come under fire for his hard line on immigration and criticism of an Indiana-born Mexican-American federal judge. She became part of his campaign’s Hispanic advisory council and ran a call center from her home during the campaign to boost support for Trump among Hispanic voters in North Carolina, Miller said. Trump has also discussed the USTR job with Robert Lighthizer, a former deputy USTR during the Reagan administration, and Dan DiMicco, former CEO of steel producer Nucor Corp. In 2012, Obama proposed to combine Commerce and the USTR with the Small Business Administration, Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation and U.S. Trade and Development Agency in one streamlined department — a plan that was rejected by Congress. Trump has no plans to merge Commerce with the USTR, Miller said. | 0fake |
Voter Suppression Illegal or Pure Intimidation | On Thursday Oct. 27, 2016, a Bloomberg Businessweek report was published with the aid of an anonymous, accredited source from Donald Trump’s campaign. This informant announced a three-part voter suppression plan to intimidate Americans to win the election. The GOP presidential nominee felt Hillary Clinton could not win with out the votes of African-Americans, radical white liberals, or women. According to a recent poll, on Wednesday Nov. 2, Clinton was leading Trump by either a little or a lot in most states.
The report in BusinessWeek was initiated by several weeks of a Trump tirade inquiring about the honesty of the U.S. election process. Ranting that the system was rigged against him.
An official source inside the Trump campaign, announced there were three large-scale voter suppression plans. Each was aimed at one of three select groups. They believed Clinton could not win without support from these groups.
Voter intimidation is used to describe an action or actions taken by a person or group, directed at eligible voters to keep them from voting. This is usually done by putting up signs with false dates or passing out phony fliers to mislead citizens.
However, the BusinessWeek article described a plan that was designed to discourage people from casting their ballot for Clinton. The Trump campaign planned on reminding black voters of a comment made by the Democratic presidential nominee, in 1994, while Bill Clinton was promoting a crime bill for the metropolitan areas. It was then, she referred to certain African-Americans as “Superpreditors.”
Trump repetedly asked his supporters to go out with everyone they know, and watch the voting booths for signs of it being rigged against him. This begs two questions; Was this to intimidate Clinton Voters? and Was it legal to watch people so closely attempting to do their patriotic duty?
When Trump told everyone at a rally, in Pennsylvania, he could not lose because of “you know what I mean,” he stepped onto an awkward line that leaned dangerously toward illegal. According to an expert on election law, Rick Hansen, having a group of people organized at polling stations, watching people, and causing them to feel distressed could cross that line into illegal voter intimidation.
A good example of this would be Roger Stone, who is Trump’s former advisor, who planned to have over a thousand volunteers, in several major cities in swing states that usually vote Democrat, set up monitoring stations at polling booths. How the volunteers watched people would determine if their voter intimidation tactics were illegal.
There are four federal laws, along with each state’s individual laws, on voter intimidation. The federal rules are as follows; no one is allowed to make any abusive remarks at the balloters, or have any direct confrontation with them, there cannot be any raising of voices or casting insults at people entering the station to do their civic duty. These laws are the line a Republican clerk once crossed and was suspended from duty for this violation. Intimidating people to influence the outcome of an event or situation can easily backfire and end with severe consequences.
By Katherine Miller
Edited by Jeanette Smith
Sources:
The NY Times : Donald Trump campaign seeks ‘voter suppression’ sources says, but it’s legal
CNN : Donald Trump spokesman denies voter suppression claim
Time.com : Why Donald Trump Ballot Watchers ‘Might Be’ Illegal
Top and Feature Image Courtesy of Stephan Melkisethian’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License vote | 1real |
MSNBC Host Has PERFECT Response To Coughing GOPer Who Mocked Clinton’s Health (VIDEO) | Ever since Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was forced to leave the 9/11 memorial in New York City yesterday due to health concerns (she was diagnosed with pneumonia), conservatives have been giddy and going insane with accusations that the former Secretary of State is in no condition to be president.MSNBC host Thomas Roberts had the perfect response to all the hype about Clinton s health on Monday when he had Republican National Committee (RNC) Communications Director Sean Spicer on his show and it s going to make the GOP furious while the rest of us laugh. During the live interview with Spicer, Roberts suggested that the Republican might have pneumonia because he coughed a nod to the obsession conservative media has had with Clinton s health ever since she recently had a coughing fit during a rally.Roberts had been questioning Spicer about Republican nominee Donald Trump s charity work when Spicer coughed and cleared his throat. Without skipping a beat, Roberts jumped in and asked, Is that pneumonia? Spicer insisted that it was just a cough and Roberts moved on, asking Spicer if Trump would ever dare to release his taxes. Roberts asked, So before election day, yes or no, do you think we ll get them? Spicer replied, That s up to him to decide, and Roberts followed up by asking the RNC official, Do you care? Spicer gave basically the same response Trump did several days ago, by saying, I don t think that s really top of mind for the American people right now even though it definitely is. Even Trump s own supporters have been begging him to release his tax returns!Robert wrapped up the interview with yet another subtle dig at the GOP. He said, Alright, Sean, good to have you with me. I m glad that the cough is just that: a cough. You can watch Roberts throw some epic shade at Spicer and conservatives below:Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
Israeli minister expresses concern over U.S.-Saudi arms deal | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel expressed muted concern on Sunday to a major arms deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia announced a day earlier during the visit to the region by U.S. President Donald Trump. The central achievement of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia was nearly $110 billion in deals sealed on Saturday in which Riyadh will buy U.S. arms to help it counter Iran, with options running as high as $350 billion over 10 years. Although Israel also sees Iran as a threat to its security, it has a military advantage over the Arab states and has always been concerned about arms sales to them that could possibly narrow the margin separating them. “This is a matter that really should trouble us,” said Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz prior to the weekly cabinet meeting, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made no mention of the deal in his customary public remarks. A senior U.S. official traveling with Trump said Washington understands what he described as Israel’s “completely legitimate” concerns and pledged to help the Jewish state maintain its military advantage. “We’re taking a whole bunch of measures, some apparent some not so apparent, to ensure Israel’s qualitative military edge. That will in no way be compromised,” the official told Reuters. “You’ll hear a really strong statement from the president on his commitment to Israel and to Israel’s defense,” the official added. Netanyahu has expressed the wish to improve ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states as part of an initiative that would draw the Palestinians into an eventual peace deal and function as a broad front against Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Steinitz said he hoped to hear details of the deal. Trump and his entourage touch down in Israel on Monday. “We have also to make sure that those hundreds of billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia will not, by any means, erode Israel’s qualitative edge, because Saudi Arabia is still a hostile country without any diplomatic relations and nobody knows what the future will be,” Steinitz said. In the 1980s, Israel expressed its concern at a U.S. sale to Saudi Arabia of then-advanced F-15 fighter jets that were stationed at a Red Sea airfield. But the desert kingdom has never threatened to use them against Israel. | 0fake |
U.S. Supreme Court rejects New Zealand-based internet mogul's appeal | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected New Zealand-based internet mogul Kim Dotcom s challenge to the U.S. government s bid to seize assets held by him and others involved in the now-defunct streaming website Megaupload. The justices left in place a lower court ruling that the U.S. government could seize up to $40 million in assets held outside the United States as part of a civil forfeiture action being pursued in parallel with criminal charges for alleged copyright violations and money laundering. Dotcom and several other defendants have contested U.S. attempts to extradite them from New Zealand. German-born entrepreneur Dotcom is wanted by U.S. law enforcement authorities on copyright and money-laundering allegations related to Megaupload, which was shut down in 2012 following an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion. He was indicted the same year along with fellow Megaupload executives. It s no surprise because the chance to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court is very slim in general, Dotcom said in an email to Reuters. The seizure is also being challenged in courts in Hong Kong and New Zealand, whose authorities have restrained Dotcom s assets at the U.S. government s request. Dotcom s lawyer Ira Rothken said that his team was cautiously optimistic about those court proceedings. Kim Dotcom has never been to the United States, is presumed innocent, and is lawfully opposing extradition...yet the DOJ (Department of Justice) by merely labeling him as a fugitive gets a judgment to take all of his assets with no due process, Rothken said in an email. U.S. authorities say Dotcom and his colleagues cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million in profits by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material including movies and TV shows. The U.S. government sought up to $175 million in assets but the defendants say the assets in question are worth only around $40 million. The assets include two houses, luxury cars and bank accounts. A New Zealand court ruled in February that Dotcom and three other New Zealand-based defendants - Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk - could be extradited to the United States to face the charges. Two other indicted Megaupload associates, Sven Echternach and Julius Bencko, who live in Germany and Slovakia respectively, have not been arrested, according to court filings. The defendants contested the U.S. government s forfeiture claims, saying in part that it could not seize property under the jurisdiction of a foreign court. The U.S. government s legal argument, adopted by the appeals court, is that the defendants are fugitives seeking to avoid criminal prosecution in the United States and therefore are not allowed to contest the forfeiture. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Dotcom in August 2016, and he asked the Supreme Court to hear his appeal. | 0fake |
Ex-president George H.W. Bush moved to intensive care; wife hospitalized | (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush has been moved to an intensive-care unit at a Houston hospital with pneumonia and was stable and resting comfortably after doctors performed a procedure to clear his airway, his office said on Wednesday. His wife of 72 years, former first lady Barbara Bush, also was admitted to the same hospital on Wednesday as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing, the office said in a statement. Bush, who at 92 is the nation’s oldest living ex-president, has been at Houston Methodist Hospital since Saturday after experiencing shortness of breath, family spokesman Jim McGrath said on Wednesday. Since then, Bush experienced an “acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia” and was sedated for the unspecified procedure, his office said. He will remain in the hospital’s intensive-care unit for observation, his office said. Bush and the 91-year-old former first lady marked their 72nd anniversary on Jan. 6. At a White House news conference, President Barack Obama said that the Bushes have been a constant source of friendship and good counsel to him and to first lady Michelle Obama. “They are as fine a couple as we know, and so we want to send our prayers and our love to them,” Obama said. Bush is the father of former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who sought the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The eldest Bush, a Republican like his sons, was vice president during Ronald Reagan’s two White House terms before being elected president in 1988. He lost his re-election bid to Bill Clinton, then the Democratic governor of Arkansas, in 1992. A naval pilot during World War Two, Bush became an occasional skydiver after leaving the presidency and marked his 90th birthday by parachuting from a helicopter with jump partner. He has used a wheelchair in recent years and was hospitalized twice in 2014, once for seven weeks with pneumonia and again for breathing difficulties. In July 2015, he broke a bone in his neck in a fall at the family home in Maine. Bush and his wife were already planning to miss President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday due to health reasons. “My doctor says if I sit outside in January, it likely will put me six feet under,” Bush wrote to Trump on Jan. 10, according to a copy of the letter released on Wednesday. “Same for Barbara. So I guess we’re stuck in Texas.” Trump was critical of George W. and Jeb during the 2016 presidential campaign, and their father did not endorse Trump in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton. But in his letter, Bush said he and his wife would be with Trump in spirit at the inauguration and wished him “the very best as you begin this incredible journey of leading our great country.” Republican Senator John McCain and the Carter Center, founded by former President Jimmy Carter, posted tweets wishing Bush a quick recovery. In December Bush marked the 75th commemoration of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor by attending a ceremony at his library at Texas A&M University. | 0fake |
Liberals See Hillary Clinton’s Focus on Big Donors as Bafflingly Dated - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — In 2012, B. Rowe Winecoff, a retired social worker from Newton, Iowa, contributed $120 to President Obama’s campaign. But he has yet to give any money to Hillary Clinton in this election. “This year just seems dirtier than ever,” said Mr. Winecoff, a Democrat, explaining why he has not contributed to the candidate he intends to vote for. Even as newly released financial disclosures reveal that Mrs. Clinton enjoys a substantial advantage over Donald J. Trump, she is struggling to replicate the sort of juggernaut that Mr. Obama enjoyed in his campaigns and Senator Bernie Sanders relied on in this year’s Democratic primaries. In an illustration of the lack of enthusiasm for her among some liberal activists, just 24 percent of the contributors to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign so far have given $200 or less. In 2012, 43 percent of the money to Mr. Obama was from contributors who gave $200 or less, and this year 58 percent of the giving to Mr. Sanders’s bid came from donors. Without this online network, Mrs. Clinton is being made to continue with an aggressive calendar of with rich donors as Election Day grows near — events that can limit her time in swing states and reinforce concerns that give Democrats pause. “Hillary has been at so many and off the campaign trail,” said Mr. Winecoff, bringing up her schedule without prompting. “And a lot of money is coming from special interests, so we’re concerned about what that’s going to mean. ” Since Labor Day, the traditional start of general election campaigns, Mrs. Clinton has appeared at nine while attending five public events in swing states. And that does not include the multiple money events she was set to attend in California, but instead sent Bill Clinton to after she came down with pneumonia. Mrs. Clinton has tried to meld her need to raise money for advertisements and efforts with her retail campaign. But it can be a stretch. After addressing college students at Temple University this week, for example, she attended a hosted by David L. Cohen, a Comcast executive and Philadelphia Democratic powerhouse, that brought in roughly $3 million. Trying to keep with the day’s theme, college students and young Comcast employees were also invited, to interact with Mrs. Clinton in the kind of rarefied small setting typically reserved for wealthy contributors. “What Bernie did in the primary was truly incredible, but we’re very happy with the state of our ” said Josh Scherwin, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, adding that “September is shaping up to be our best month for online . ” But the campaign’s traditional approach to raising money is maddening to many Democrats, particularly liberals who have witnessed the evolution of online and are baffled at why Mrs. Clinton is so committed to an approach they see as nearly as dated as torchlight parades. “It boggles my mind that the Clinton campaign didn’t learn their lessons from 2012 or even earlier this year, and haven’t moved toward a more open and public campaign, one that constantly has her in front of real people instead of rich people,” said Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the blog Daily Kos. He continued: “Sanders certainly proved that if you focus all of your energy on the voting public, that core supporters will reward that love with real money. Instead, Clinton’s campaign still seems stuck on the old model of . As a result, she looks secluded and out of reach, further reinforcing the notion that she cares more about the wealthy than regular folks. ” This close to the election, though, Mrs. Clinton may not have much of a choice. Given Democratic fears of Mr. Trump and her advantage in the race, there is an intense demand for her in the ranks of major Democratic givers. “Just trying to find a date has been a challenge,” said James Hodges, a former South Carolina governor who has been trying to organize an event for Mrs. Clinton before the election. Further, the very model she is depending on demands a continued stream of events with contribution levels that begin at five figures and often run higher. It is an approach that she and Mr. Clinton are well acquainted with, dating to the 1990s when raising soft money for the national parties was legal. They have enduring relationships with donors in all 50 states going back to those days. So unlike in the campaigns of Mr. Obama and Mr. Sanders, who began as insurgents, necessity has not demanded that Mrs. Clinton raise money any other way. (Mr. Obama ultimately fashioned a network that relied on both modest givers and the wealthy.) “She’s invested heavily in the infrastructure of human beings: finance directors across the country, photo lines and membership,” said Scott Goodstein, the founder of Revolution Messaging, an online Democratic firm. “Now they’ve got to play that out. She, unfortunately, made that commitment to do those five house parties or what have you in New York and now she has to stand on that because her bundler network needs it. ” Mr. Goodstein, whose firm ran Mr. Sanders’s online effort, added that “the mistake that I think they made was not reaching deeper, building deeper infrastructure and a deeper coalition. ” Instead, she is relying on the sort of that is a staple of Washington. And she is not the only one making herself available to major contributors who want to influence policy. This month, for example, Michele Flournoy, who is seen as a favorite to be Mrs. Clinton’s defense secretary, headlined a in Northern Virginia where the top contribution requested was $5, 000. Mrs. Clinton’s has picked up in recent months, and over half of the total money she raised last month came through online contributions, according to a campaign aide. And with polls tightening, Democrats expect Mrs. Clinton’s online success to pick up. “Urgency really drives action,” said Mitch Stewart, a veteran of Mr. Obama’s campaigns. It is Mr. Trump who is drawing more from modest givers as a percentage of his total contributions. percent of his donations through the end of July were in amounts of $200 or less, a figure that is partly explained by the resistance to his candidacy from wealthy Republican contributors. Yet many in Mrs. Clinton’s own party believe she could have done far better had she made Democratic activists feel as invested as the party’s elites. “The campaigns with the most effective networks of donors are the campaigns where donors feel their donations matter,” said Ari a SiriusXM radio host who has worked on online campaigns for Democrats. | 0fake |
US Presidential Elections Sound a Warning of Catastrophes to Come | US Presidential Elections Sound a Warning of Catastrophes to Come By Daily Bell Staff - November 08, 2016
What’s wrong with Hillary Clinton’s brand? … As momentous an occasion as this should be for women around the world, Ms. Clinton would begin her term in the Oval Office with her unpopularity ratings at near-record levels. All of which leads to the question: What’s wrong with Brand Hillary? – The Globe and Mail
In the run-up to today’s election, many articles on Hillary in the mainstream media have tried to explain more fully why Hillary is electable and desirable as the leader of the US.
A common theme of these articles is that Hillary’s troubles are not mentioned or analyzed in detail. The Economist magazine, like many other publications, recently came out with an endorsement of Hillary.
But the endorsement simply dealt with Hillary’s legislative and professional history. As always when it comes to Hillary in the mainstream media, deeper questions are glossed over.
This approach to covering Hillary is deliberate and has generated increasing skepticism among large portions of the American public. Correctly, alternative media reports have pointed out this declining credibility but not enough have explained its widening ramifications.
More:
Ms. Clinton is one of the most qualified presidential candidates in recent memory – and her credentials are that much more impressive compared to those of her opponent.
After her time as first lady – in the state of Arkansas, and in the White House – Ms. Clinton served her country as a U.S. Senator and as secretary of state.
The article goes on to ask why Hillary has not been “able to break through in a way that inspires fervent support and popularity.”
At this point a significant analysis would grapple with underlying issues regarding Hillary’s background and approach to politics and life. These issues are well known. But instead, these issues are presented as “multiple scandals, ranging from Lewinsky to Benghazi, and most recently, her e-mails.”
The use of the word “scandal” implies something embarrassing. The significance of these problems in her personal and professional life goes far beyond embarrassment. It illustrates her approach to the US political system and generally how she wields power.
Having skipped past this analysis, the article then minimizes the scandals themselves, stating, ”Any politician who has been in the game that long has their fair share of scandal.”
The article continues to evolve toward ephemera, suggesting that a big problem with Ms. Clinton is her inability to “appear likable to voters.” This is a political problem to be sure, but it is not the UNDERLYING problem, which is much more significant.
Finally, the article brings up the idea that a big reason for the disconnect between Hillary and voters has to do with her gender. “As disheartening as that still is, society and the media still stereotype women and paint them with a negative brush.”
The article explains that much criticism of Hillary is gender-related. She has been scrutinized because of her health problems and has too-often been seen by the media as a wife and mother rather than as a businesslike politician with a long, professional history.
As stated, articles like this are at variance with what many believe to be true. Hillary is seen, at this point, by tens of millions as a person with an extremely shady past who may be part of a larger political mafia with her husband that deals in extortion, cover-ups, drug-dealing and even murder to generate vast profits for their Clinton Foundation, and thus for themselves.
Since this information is so widely dispersed, articles that don’t deal more directly with these issues can be seen either as painfully naive or as concealing something. It is one of the reasons that trust in the mainstream media has plunged so precipitously.
Additionally, as we pointed out recently, belief in “conspiracy theories,” has risen to over 50 percent. Hillary’s campaign and its coverage may be directly responsible. Once people were increasingly and regularly exposed to the disconnect between what they believed about Hillary and what was being presented, they began to reexamine various “conspiracy” reports they’d previously discounted.
Even among those voting for Hillary, there is widespread sentiment that she may have committed criminal wrongdoings and deserves a trial rather than the presidency.
We’ve advanced the idea that none of this has come about by accident, not the FBI fumblings, nor reports of her healthcare problems, nor even the email “scandals.” All of this in fact was known well in advance of her latest presidential run.
This is simply not a coincidence in our view. The idea, increasingly it seems, is to shatter cultural cohesion in the West with an eye toward creating increased globalization and an internationalized society. This presidential election and its mainstream coverage has done just that.
Going forward, it is probable that cultural destruction will be increasingly significant throughout the West, employing numerous strategies – political, ethnic, economic and military.
These elections – whether Hillary wins or Trump – are evidently the starting gun, along with the European immigrant crisis, for a new series of elite programs. These will likely yield up serial catastrophes that will change lives and belief structures going forward for millions and even billions
Conclusion: Building an international world, whether the effort is to be successful or not, is a massive and horribly disruptive and bloody prospect. Americans would be wise to perceive this latest presidential elections as a kind of warning of what it is to come. | 1real |
U.S. Senate Republican tax proposal diverges from House bill on cuts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans are unveiling a tax proposal that differs markedly on corporate, business and individual tax cuts from legislation unveiled by their counterparts in the House of Representatives, Republican aides said on Thursday. The Senate proposal delays a corporate tax rate cut to 20 percent by a year, provides small-business owners with a deduction rather than a special business rate and maintains seven tax brackets for individuals while lowering the rate for top earners to 38.5 percent from 39.6 percent, said the aides from the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee. | 0fake |
Trump Just Went Back On Another Election Vow, Decides To Keep DACA | In a shocking turn of events, the Trump administration has done something good. I know that s hard to imagine while Trump has been working to crackdown on immigration.According to the Washington Post, the Trump administration is leaving in place the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, a program protecting hundreds of thousands young immigrants from deportation. It s also the very same program Trump had pledged to eliminate as a presidential candidate.Crazy, right?Referred to as dreamers, these young immigrants arrived in the U.S. as small children and raised in the U.S. For them there is no recollection of their former home country. To protect these young immigrants from deportation to a land they do not know, the DACA program was launched in 2012 and has since protected about 787,000 young immigrants from deportation.Despite Trump s vow, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly quietly announced the decision to keep the program at the bottom of a fact sheet released late Thursday.Of course, there s a caveat to this program remaining in place. In the fact sheet, Kelly declared the end to Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, or DAPA, a similar, but never implemented program intended to shield immigrant parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents from deportation.No idea what made Trump and his administration change their mind on DACA but thankfully Obama s program will remain in place for young immigrants.Unfortunately, that s not the case for parents.DAPA was blocked by a federal judge in Texas after 26 states sued. The Washington Post goes on to say that Republicans saw it as a backdoor amnesty and argued that Obama overstepped his authority by protecting a specific class of immigrants living in the United States illegally. Trump did mention in an Associated Press interview in April that his administration is not after the dreamers, we are after the criminals and The Dreamers should rest easy. If that s the case, the question then becomes: why block it for parents? If they re not criminals, why shouldn t they get protection, too?Though we have a win, there s still much work to be done.Featured image via Diego G Diaz/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images | 1real |
OUTRAGE OVER BARE CHESTED GAYS COMPARING GAY MARRIAGE VICTORY TO MARINES IWO JIMA FLAG RAISING | Because according to the left, the brave men who gave their lives for our nation are apparently the equivalent of a battle to make the perversion of marriage legal A gay rights inspired adaptation of the famous image of Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima in 1945 is sparking outrage following the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage nation-wide.The image of four muscular, skin-baring men raising the rainbow flag posed like the Marines at Iwo Jima was taken some ten years ago and appeared on a gay magazine, but was recirculated last week following the Supreme Court decision.And dont compare gay marriage to the Marines who fought and died in Iwo Jima. The two events are not comparable pic.twitter.com/rqwtR2eoHh Paulie Walnuts (@PAULme_maybe69) July 1, 2015Replacing the soldiers on Iwo Jima standing up the American flag with the gay pride flag is disrespectful Mitchell Moyers (@m_moyers8) July 1, 2015They really recreated the Iwo Jima flag with the gay flag. Just stop Evan Moriyama (@AsMoriyama) July 1, 20156821 people died in Iwo Jima,over 19,000 wounded.Apparently that ain t nothi compared to gay people s struggle huh AmericanMuscle (@MrFakeDope) July 1, 2015#gay #TCOT this is offensive how dare you besmirch Marines at Iwo Jima who gave their lives so there is a supreme ct pic.twitter.com/ARRqXwJC0u Rosebud (@Murba1515) June 30, 2015The Washington Post highlighted the outcry Wednesday, recalling the bloody operation that spurred to the first iconic photo taken on February 23, 1945 by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. Three of the Marines pictured were killed in combat, among the nearly 7,000 other Americans who died on Iwo Jima. Another 20,000 American troops were wounded.The photographer of the gay rights image, Ed Freeman, The Post reports, has received hate mail, backlash on social media, and at least one death threat since the image went viral. He said if he ever saw me, he d kill me, Freeman told The Post. I got swamped with vitriolic hate mail. Freeman received disapproving responses to his when he posted on Facebook that Friday, When I took this picture almost ten years ago, it never, never occurred to me that it would someday come to symbolize the victory we are celebrating today. Congratulations to all of us! Love to you all. Freeman told The Post that he did not intend for the image to be disrespectful and chalked the outrage up to people s frustration with the Supreme Court decision. The principle complaint that people have is that I am equating the gay struggle with the contribution and sacrifice of American servicemen, Freeman said. But there is no equal sign here. This is not meant as a sign of disrespect. For God sake, no. I totally support people in uniform. There is no comparison going on here. The comparison is going on in people s heads, and they re spoiling for a fight. They re already on edge because of the gay marriage decision. Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
LOL! UN Refugee Spokes-Celebrity ANGELINA JOLIE Admonishes U.S. For “Undermining International Law” By Resisting Flow Of Muslim Refugees | Great advice from a woman who has 24-7 security and lives in an imaginary world. Her life and the life of her children will likely never be affected by a rapefugee or terrorist who is greeted with open arms by naive leftists Angelina Jolie Pitt, the UN refugee agency s special envoy, has warned that the international humanitarian system for refugees is breaking down.Ms Jolie Pitt has been speaking as part of the BBC s World on the Move day of coverage of global migration issues.She warned against a fear of migration and a race to the bottom as countries competed to be the toughest to protect themselves.Earlier, the UNHCR s head said the refugee crisis was now a global issue.UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the BBC that simply turning migrants away won t work .She warned that amid a fear of uncontrolled migration there was a risk of a race to the bottom, with countries competing to be the toughest, in the hope of protecting themselves whatever the cost or challenge to their neighbours, and despite their international responsibilities .Isolationism was not the answer, she said, adding: If your neighbor s house is on fire you are not safe if you lock your doors. Strength lies in being unafraid. Such policies would lead to an even greater set of problems, she said. It would amount to the worst of both worlds: failing to tackle the issue and undermining international law and our values in the process. Urging the world to rally together, she said: Whether we succeed will help define this century the alternative is chaos. Click here for entire story and video : BBC | 1real |
Spain, Catalonia clash over policing as illegal independence vote nears | MADRID (Reuters) - The mounting political crisis in Spain over Catalonia s campaign for independence intensified on Saturday with a new row over the control of the local police force as the regional government pressed ahead with plans to hold an illegal vote next weekend. The State prosecutor in Catalonia told all local and national police forces on Saturday that they had been temporarily placed under a single chain of command reporting directly to the interior ministry in Madrid. But Catalonia s interior chief, Joaquim Forn, said his department and the local police, or Mossos d Esquadra, did not accept this decision. We denounce the intervention of the state to control the police forces of Catalonia ... We will not accept this control, Forn said in a televised speech. It was not immediately clear whether the regional administration and the Mossos could actually oppose the decision, as Spanish laws allow for the possibility of state police taking the lead over the police of an autonomous community during a joint operation. The central government representative in Catalonia, Enric Millo, had earlier said the Mossos remained in charge of security in Catalonia though they would be coordinated directly by the interior ministry and not by the local authorities, together with two national police forces also on the ground in Catalonia. We are not taking over the police competencies of the regional government, Millo told reporters after an event held by his People s Party (PP) in Palma de Mallorca, in Eastern Spain. Millo also called on Catalan leaders, including Forn, to stop encouraging street protests and demonstrations. Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia said the prosecutor s order would remain in place until at least Oct. 1, when the vote is due to take place. The Mossos are one of the symbols of Catalonia s autonomy and for many Catalans the prosecutor s decision may be reminiscent of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco, when the Mossos were abolished. Several pro-independence groups have called for widespread protests on Sunday in central Barcelona. Let s respond to the state with an unstoppable wave of democracy, a Whatsapp message which was used to organize the demonstration read. The Catalonian government opened a new website on Saturday with details of how and where to vote on Oct. 1, challenging several court rulings that had blocked previous sites and declared the referendum unconstitutional. You can t stem the tide, Catalonia s president Carles Puigdemont said on Twitter in giving the link to the new website. But Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted again that the vote should not go ahead. It will not happen because this would mean liquidating the law, he said at the PP event in Palma de Mallorca. Acting on court orders, the Spanish state police has already raided the regional government offices, arrested temporarily several senior Catalan officials accused of organizing the referendum and seized ballot papers, ballot boxes, voting lists and electoral material and literature. The finance ministry in Madrid has also taken control of regional finances to make sure public money is not being spent to pay for the logistics the vote or to campaign. Between 3,000 and 4,000 police officers coming from other Spanish regions have already arrived in Catalonia or are on their way. They will join 5,000 state police already based in the region and 17,000 local Mossos. | 0fake |
Muslims Protest with Street Prayer in Paris Suburb | PARIS (AP) — Hemmed in and closely watched by police, hundreds of Muslims have unrolled rugs and mats and prayed outdoors in the busy streets of a Paris suburb to protest the closure of their prayer hall. [advertisement | 0fake |
YIKES! 30 Years Of HILLARY’S LIES Have Driven This Well-Known DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST To TRUMP [VIDEO] | This is not a fluke. After years of towing the union line, life-long Democrat union members are switching their allegiance to Trump. A recent AFL-CIO poll found that Trump has more support than Hillary and Bernie Sanders combined. | 1real |
As a House Burns, Tenants’ Lives Flash Before Them - The New York Times | NIGHT OF FIREBy Colin Thubron361 pp. Publishers. $26. 99. The first oddity lies in the precise accuracy of the title. Those three words convey no coy metaphor for passion or anger, no euphemistic allusion to military bombardment. Colin Thubron’s “Night of Fire” is literally about a house that burns down at night, killing all its inhabitants. Lest you think I am a killjoy for giving away the plot, let me assure you that plot is the least of what this book has to offer. Structurally, it’s unlike any other novel I’ve read. It starts over at every chapter with a new character, and yet the fates of the seven central characters are so intimately linked that the story feels cumulative. The resemblance of each chapter to the next — intense memories, followed by death — should feel repetitious, but it doesn’t. Instead, the sensation is rather like reading a long, dirgelike poem in which the refrain comes back again and again. We do not exactly welcome these expected deaths, but we somehow become used to them. Time and place remain vague. An opening assertion that the rickety old house was built “years ago, at the end of the Victorian century,” along with a reference to Bakelite sockets and dustbins and common English shrubs, combines with other details in the lives of the individual characters to put the location somewhere in Britain and the period somewhere near ours. There are no mentions of cellphones or internet searches or other markers, and some of the tenants’ memories hark back to midcentury childhoods. On the other hand, the science of neurosurgery is being practiced in its modern form here, so we can’t be too much farther back than the last few years of the 20th century. The story itself is not exactly a timeless fable (as in, say, Hanya Yanagihara’s “A Little Life,” where 30 or 40 years pass without external, historical changes) but it nonetheless refuses to be pinned down to a particular night of fire in a particular place. This hankering after a generalized condition comes to make more and more sense as the chapters progress. At first, we think we are simply being introduced to each victim in turn: the landlord who lives at the top of the house, the priest who lives on the ground floor, the neurosurgeon who lives just above him, the photographer who occupies the basement. But by the time we get to the photographer, things have begun to seem less distinct. All of these people have a dead mother, usually one who died when the character was still young. What are the chances of that in the general population? Other elements, too, begin to recur: fondly recalled girlfriends with eyes that slant upward at the sides brain tumors whose excision leaves memory gaps a boy who hangs himself a beloved black woman a lesbian professor of biology. The memory pool, initially sharp and distinct for each character, starts to blur together. Still, we never stop believing in each as a separate individual. The strength of Thubron’s method is that it allows for strongly established characters, with their own histories and quirks, even as it enacts a discernible process of authorial repetition. Always beginning in the voice, each chapter at some point moves into the first person, almost without our noticing the shift — until, just before the character’s death, the perspective moves back to the third person again. In no case, though, is anyone truly seen from the outside. We do not experience the moments after each victim’s death, nor do we learn anything about these people that they could not have told us themselves. As we come to see, these seven people have more in common than their separate professions or chapter titles would suggest. Aside from the landlord’s sick wife, who makes a brief appearance at the end, only one of the central characters, labeled “Naturalist,” is a woman. Yet she’s just as convincing in her reality, just as persuasive in her perspective, as the male characters who borrow their author’s gender (and presumably some of his memories). Moreover, because she shares so many other things with her fellow fire victims — the early loss of a mother, the ability to focus on visual detail, the obsession with youthful memories, a certain withdrawal from the general adult routine of getting and spending — the difference in sex comes to seem unimportant. These victims of the fire are all “isolatos,” to use Herman Melville’s term: They are at odds with the larger society and its patterns. That is how they’ve ended up as single renters in this decrepit, unsafe house. And while their life stories are not all equally compelling — I was gripped by the neurosurgeon’s taut moral dilemmas, somewhat bored by the priest’s more meandering ones — each is essential to the group portrait. We start to notice the strange overlaps about halfway through the novel, but it is only when we get to the “Traveller” chapter, just before the final one, that we are offered a rationale for them. In the course of journeying through India, this character, a retired, divorced schoolteacher, undergoes a transformative spiritual experience rather like the revelation that descends on the central English figure in E. M. Forster’s “A Passage to India,” or for that matter, in Geoff Dyer’s “Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. ” Thubron’s traveler, when exposed firsthand to the religious practices of the subcontinent, begins to grasp, if only tentatively, the possibility of his unity with everyone and everything else. “If there is no God, what survives death?” he asks a Buddhist monk with whom he is conversing in Sarnath. “’u200a‘Something inherited,’ the monk answered. ‘Something waiting to be perfected.’ His hands unfurled from his chest. ‘But the previous life cannot be found again.’ “’u200a‘It has no memory . ’u2008. ’u2008.’ “’u200a‘’u2009If it has memory, it does not know it. Sometimes a person is reminded after many years, maybe prompted by chance. There are stories . ’u2008. ’u2008. ’’u200a” In his closing remarks to the Englishman, the monk, patting his arm “in encouragement,” observes that from the path of meditation one can never return to a singleness of self: “You’d lose too much! Ha, ha! You’d die back into suffering. We say that life is a burning house. ” This is not so much a clue to the book’s meaning or even its method as it is a life vest thrown to floundering readers. We are not being offered answers here. Instead, we are being soothed with recurring themes and motifs, in the manner of a musical composition. And what are those themes? Among others, the idea that death is the end of the individual but perhaps not the end of everything. The dissolved, burned bodies in the fiery house will become part of the elements that make up the universe, just as the ceremonially burned bodies in the Ganges, as witnessed by the traveling Englishman, become part of the river itself. And the memories that fleetingly pass through each mind in its final moments are both individual and shared, forming a common thread that may not even exist (“It has no memory”) or may exist only on an inaccessible level (“If it has memory, it does not know it”). This is not consolation as we normally know or seek it — “Night of Fire” is a coldly contemplative book rather than a comforting one — but it is an interesting idea for fiction, which normally depends so heavily on the notion of individual consciousness. Perhaps only Christopher Isherwood, in “A Single Man,” has attempted anything quite like this, and he did it with just a single character, not a multitude of them. I can’t be sure, after a first reading, that I wholeheartedly like Colin Thubron’s novel. But I am absolutely certain that I admire it. | 0fake |
DARTMOUTH #BlackLivesMatter Terrorists TEAR DOWN Memorial To Slain Police Officers Because…”White Supremacy” | Who can forget the sweet young Dartmouth College student who was part of a larger disruptive, bullying group of students who terrorized other students in the Dartmouth Library where they were trying to study? Because cramming your racist views of America trumps everyone else s right to not feel threatened in their college library right? It kinda makes one wonder when the administrators at colleges and universities are going to step up and put an end to this nation-wide, White House sanctioned domestic terror effort Fast forward to yesterday A controversy has erupted at Dartmouth College after a pro-police display was torn down by Black Lives Matter activists, who denounced it for memorializing the perpetrators of state violence. Dartmouth BLM Protesters Tear Down Memorial To Slain PoliceIn honor of National Police Week (which falls May 15-21), Dartmouth s College Republicans reserved a bulletin board at the Collis Center and used it to create a display honoring police officers and firemen who have fallen in the line of duty. One part of the display noted that 60 police and 343 firemen were killed in the 9/11 attacks, while another declared over 20,000 police officers have been killed while on-duty in the history of the United States.At the bottom, the display said in big letters, BLUE LIVES MATTER. This last part of the display appears to have outraged Black Lives Matter supporters at Dartmouth, several of whom vocally complained on Twitter and Facebook that the display was offensive and even white supremacist. #fight4facultyofcolor and students of color because we all woke up to this white supremacist bullshit in Collis. pic.twitter.com/l1gtxNCzqq MikaChu (@talladultchild) May 13, 2016But Black Lives Matter did more than just complain, they also took action. The original display was torn down Friday morning, at about 11 a.m, and in its place almost three dozen sheets of paper were used to cover the bulletin board, all of them carrying an identical message: YOU CANNOT CO-OPT THE MOVEMENT AGAINST STATE VIOLENCE TO MEMORIALIZE THE PERPETRATORS. At the bottom, each sheet also had the hashtag #blacklivesmatter printed on it.Via: Daily Caller | 1real |
May meets senior ministers to discuss Brexit divorce bill offer | LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May met with senior members of her ministerial team on Monday to discuss their response to European Union demands for more detail on how much Britain is willing to pay as part of its Brexit divorce package. The EU told May on Friday that there was more work to be done to unlock the Brexit talks, repeating its early December deadline for her to flesh out Britain s opening offer on the financial settlement thought to be worth around 20 billion euros ( 17.72 billion). May met with ministers amid expectations that she will offer the EU more than she committed to during a speech in Florence in September which failed to provide a meaningful breakthrough in the stalled negotiations. Despite growing pressure from businesses to show she can drive talks onto the subject of future trading relations with the EU, May s office gave little away as to the conclusions of Monday s meeting. It remains our position that nothing s agreed until everything s agreed in negotiations with the EU, a source from May s office said. As the Prime Minister said this morning, the UK and the EU should step forward together. Media reports said the ministers had agreed to make an offer which would increase the value of May s existing commitment but gave no specific details. The BBC reported that no specific amounts had been discussed during the meeting. May has repeatedly signalled that she will increase an initial offer that is thought to be worth about a third of what Brussels wants. But, wary of the need to keep the peace in her Conservative Party, which has a powerful faction insisting Britain should be paying the minimum possible to the EU and using the cash offer to leverage better exit terms, May has avoided publicly discussing any figure. Instead, she has said Britain will meet its financial obligations to the bloc a commitment which remains wide open to interpretation. Finance minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday that the government would submit its proposal to the EU before a Dec. 14-15 summit. He warned Britain would be prepared to negotiate hard over the bill, acknowledging differences of opinion with the EU on the value of liabilities, and whether Britain was even liable at all for some elements of the total amount mooted by Brussels. | 0fake |
Turkeys face deep divisions over Thanksgiving vote | November 2, 2016
A group of about 200,000 White Holland turkeys in a gigantic shed at a farm in Ohio is now debating whether or not to vote in favour of Thanksgiving. The vote to be made next week by pecking once at a pile of grain for ‘Thanksgiving’ or twice for ‘Something Else’ comes after bitter arguments in which claims and counter-claims were made about the availability of dust for bathing in over the turkeys’ long-term (i.e. three-week) future.
Many turkeys have deplored the resulting divisions, which have seen elevated levels of pecking in the once harmonious community five miles from Wapakoneta. ‘I’ve lived here all my life, y’all,’ said turkey hen Wanda-Mae Cabrera. ‘What was it we were deciding on again? Me an’ my folks before me, we all lived here, yes we did.’
Voting for Thanksgiving means that the turkeys will be able to build a wall from their own faeces to deter any incoming poultry from Kentucky from trying to get into the shed, once they have mastered the intricacies of building a wall from their own faeces. Many also believe that this will make the shed great again, as it hasn’t been great for a long time but definitely used to be. They also said they liked the sound of a new farmer called Donald, who recently grabbed a pussy-cat that raided the shed before it could do any damage.
Some turkeys prefer to carry on not celebrating Thanksgiving because the past 244 generations had not and had all gone away to live happily on a farm somewhere else, apparently. ‘One labourer said we will get a right stuffing either way,’ said anti-Thanksgiving turkey DeMarius Jackson, aged 28 weeks. ‘Well, that’s democracy. I imagine.’
‘I ain’t having no goddam American Bronzes sharing my shed, no sirree,’ raged White Holland cock Burl Griffin CCXXVI. ‘Before you know it, they’ll be gobblin’ around your hens, stealin’ your water and sayin’ you can’t worship the Great Spotlight in the Roof no more. I ain’t breedist but have you seen the size of their wattles? I like my shed the way I like it, so I’m for Thanksgiving, sure thing. What is Thanksgiving, anyway?’ Share this story...
Posted: Nov 2nd, 2016 by Oxbridge Click for more article by Oxbridge .. More Stories about: World News 0 | 1real |
German election chief urges action to ensure vote software can't be hacked | BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s election chief has urged state officials to address vulnerabilities in vote collation software, just weeks before a Sept. 24 election that officials fear could be subject to foreign interference. Germans will vote on paper at polling stations or by mail in advance and the ballots will be counted and entered into a computer system, but two news reports published on Thursday cited concerns about the software, particularly the lack of an authentication step when results are transmitted. Die Zeit said Martin Tschirsich, a 29-year-old computer expert, had been able to find passwords on the internet to gain access to the maintenance program for the PC-Wahl (PC-Election) software, which would allow it to be manipulated. The election is not secure. It can be hacked, he told the weekly newspaper. Similar concerns were raised by another IT expert in the online version of Der Spiegel magazine. The reports come after repeated warnings from government officials that Russia could try to interfere in the election. French and U.S. intelligence officials say Moscow sought to influence recent votes there. Russia denies the accusations. Responding to the media reports, Federal Election Director Dieter Sarreither said he was familiar with the problems identified and had asked state officials and the software company, vote-iT, to take steps to shore up security. vote-iT had no immediate comment. The measures Sarreither demanded include the mandatory installation of software patches and the development of new steps aimed at ensuring the authenticity of the election results sent digitally, perhaps through telephone calls. That would ensure that any errors in data transmission are recognized and corrected before preliminary election results are released, Sarreither said, adding that actual results could not be manipulated as they were based on paper ballots. The security of the data was more important than the speed with which results were released, his office said. Germany s federal cyber protection agency, BSI, said it had worked closely with election officials and the software manufacturer to improve the security of election results. In the future, only information technology based on BSI-certified software should be used for election processes, BSI chief Arne Schoenbohm said. | 0fake |
LOL! DEMOCRATS’ “Poster Child For Stupidity” Can’t Tell MSNBC Host What Her Party Stands For Besides Hating Trump [VIDEO] | Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) struggled Friday on MSNBC to explain what the Democratic Party stands for besides opposing President Trump.Waters has been one of the most outspoken critics of Trump in Congress, repeatedly calling for his impeachment and insisting that if investigators connect the dots, then his campaign s alleged collusion with Russia will become apparent.Given Waters public profile as a staunch Trump opponent, MSNBC host Katy Tur asked the lawmaker what Democrats actually stand for beyond opposing Trump s agenda. Congresswoman, what do the Democrats stand for other than being against Donald Trump? Tur asked. What do you stand for other than trying to get Donald Trump impeached? Everyone knows that I am the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee and that I have spent many, many hours and days implementing the Dodd-Frank reforms, Waters responded.The California Democrat proceeded to frame her work on Dodd-Frank in the context of opposing Republicans, which Tur noted. We pushed back on the Republicans, we fight against them, Waters said. [They] attempt[ed] to go get rid of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before we came up with the reforms under Dodd-Frank. Tur pushed back. Are Democrats focusing enough on their ideas? she asked.Waters then went on to explain how effective the Democrat Party has been in their organizing efforts to disrupt town halls where Republican political leaders are speaking to their constituents. Listen, if you have not been keeping up with the town halls that have been going on, Waters said, referring to the protesters at many Republican town halls, where we have basically organized America around the [Affordable Care Act] and protected Obamacare and the thousands of people who have come out who now are very much informed about the difference between Obamacare and Trumpcare. WFBWhat Maxine doesn t understand is that when Tea Party members attended town hall meetings across American and challenged their elected leaders on reckless tax legislation they didn t need to be organized by the Republican Party. Tea Party members weren t just targeting Democrat politicians, they were targeting anyone who they felt wasn t representing the people who elected them into office. | 1real |
UK's Labour pledges infrastructure nationalization, credit card cap | BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) - Britain s opposition Labour Party set out plans on Monday to nationalize billions of pounds of privately-funded infrastructure contracts, cap credit card interest charges, and get extra cash from large corporations. It said it would offer shareholder compensation for the contract nationalization. In June s election, Labour found more support than expected among voters seeking change after seven-years of Conservative-led government, coming in second. Although no election is due until 2022, it is preparing for Theresa May s Conservative minority government to fall much sooner. Under socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn, a parliamentary veteran, and his would-be finance minister John McDonnell, Labour has shifted from the centrist pro-business platform of former prime minister Tony Blair to a more interventionist left-wing pitch. McDonnell used a speech at the party s annual conference in the English seaside resort of Brighton to call for a more state-controlled economy, promising to bring so-called Private Finance Initiative contracts into public control. The contracts have been used for decades to fund public infrastructure project using private capital. They have long attracted criticism for inflating costs and channeling public money to shareholders. Successive governments have attempted to reform the process. We ll put an end to this scandal and we ll reduce the cost to the taxpayers ... we ll bring existing PFI contracts back in-house, McDonnell said. A 2015 parliamentary report said the government owed over 222 billion pounds of charges on PFI contracts spread across several decades. Labour said shareholders would be compensated in the form of government bonds at a level determined by when the contracts are brought back into public control. They did not give an estimated cost for the policy. McDonnell also repeated pledges from Labour s popular 2017 election manifesto to nationalize industries like rail and water. Business was critical of the approach. The Shadow Chancellor s vision of massive state intervention is the wrong plan at the wrong time. It raises a warning flag over the British economy at a critical time for our country s future, said Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI business lobby group. Labour has struggled in recent years to overcome the perception that it is to blame for the effects of 2007/8 financial crisis, which led to a recession, costly bank bailouts and a sharp rise in the national debt. But McDonnell criticized the Conservatives economic track record since they took power from Labour in 2010 and said they were responsible for slow wage growth which was forcing consumers into debt and risking another economic crisis. He said Labour wanted the financial regulator to impose a cap on the amount of interest payable on credit card debt to help those caught in persistent debt . It means that no-one will ever pay more in interest than their original loan, McDonnell said. If the Tories refuse to act, I can announce today that the next Labour Government will amend the law. The Financial Conduct Authority in April proposed a set of less-radical measures to encourage companies to reduce the number of customers in persistent debt. The finance industry trade body said the FCA had rejected the idea of an outright cap on interest charges. And the government said Labour proposals went too far and would hurt the economy. McDonnell, who once listed generally fomenting the overthrow of capitalism among his interests in the Who s Who directory of influential people, also took aim at the wealthy, bankers and large corporations. He said Labour would fund its plans for higher public spending on things like health and education and a large-scale infrastructure investment program by clamping down on tax evasion and making big firms pay more tax. To pay for those public services we ll close the tax loopholes and the tax avoidance scams (used) by the mega rich, he said. He criticized the banking system for pumping up property prices and fuelling a rentier economy , pledging instead to make sure banks invest in high value, high productivity businesses. To reconnect the financial sector to the economy of research and development and production, we will transform our financial system, he said. | 0fake |
Battle against Islamic State expands as Egypt bombs Libyan affiliate | Egypt's airstrikes came in response to the mass beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians by IS militants in Libya. The Libyan government has called for the US-led coalition in Syria and Iraq to turn its attentions to Libya.
Did Pluto's icy heart sink into that depression all by itself?
A man is comforted by others as he mourns over Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by militants affiliated with the Islamic State group, in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Feb. 16, 2015. Egyptian warplanes struck Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday in swift retribution for the extremists' beheading of a group of Egyptian Christian hostages on a beach, shown in a grisly online video released hours earlier.
Egypt claims to have launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Libya, in retaliation for the gruesome execution of 21 Egyptian Christians shown in a video released Sunday. The mass murder threatens to open a new front in the greater battle against the self-declared Islamic State, potentially drawing Western powers once more into military intervention in Libya.
Egyptian state television declared that government warplanes struck targets in the eastern Libyan city of Darna, a militant stronghold on the coast about 150 miles from the Egyptian border. The BBC reports that the strikes, made in coordination with the military of the recognized Libyan government based in Tobruk, targeted "camps, training sites and weapons storage areas" of the IS affiliate in Libya. According to a Libyan air-force commander, 40 to 50 militants were killed in the strike, Reuters reports.
The Associated Press reports that a second airstrike is underway.
The strikes were made in response to an IS video released Sunday showing the execution of 21 Egyptians, all Coptic Christians, at the hands of masked IS supporters. The Christian Science Monitor's Dan Murphy writes that the video, shot in IS signature style, shows that the group's Libyan branch has "the numbers, the wherewithal, and the operational security to hold 21 captives for weeks and then carry out a highly-produced murder show in a beach without fear of intervention from Egypt or anyone else."
But Mr. Murphy also notes that Egypt's ability to respond is limited.
[Egypt's] military is mostly trained for domestic control and running the expansive business empires of its senior officers. What Egypt will actually be able to do about the group in Libya - rather than its hundreds of followers in the Egyptian Sinai peninsula - remains to be seen. However, the days of ignoring IS in Libya will be over. Unlike in Iraq, where there's a central government to work with, or in Syria, where there's both a strong national army and outside support for Bashar al-Assad's side of the fight against Syria, Libya barely has any functioning institutions anymore. The country could prove richer pickings for the group long term - than its two current struggles to the east.
Already the recognized Libyan government in Tobruk has called for the US-led coalition attacking IS forces in Syria and Iraq to turn its attentions to Libya. Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, speaking to Reuters, asked for Western military intervention against IS and Al Qaeda members he says are present in his country.
Reuters notes that the Islamist rival government in Tripoli, a group called Libyan Dawn, says it has no affiliation with either IS or Al Qaeda. The New York Times adds that at least three groups among the multitude fighting in Libya's civil war have declared loyalty to IS, "one in each of the country’s component regions: Barqa in the east, Fezzan in the desert south, and Tripolitania in the west, around the capital."
In a commentary published in the Daily Telegraph, Shashank Joshi warns that "it’s important to separate [the IS] role in Libya from the broader civil war there. Not every Libyan opposition faction is jihadist, and acting as if it were, by taking firm sides, is a recipe for disaster." | 0fake |
Nicola Sturgeon refuses to accept result of England vs Scotland match | Saturday 12 November 2016 by Davywavy Nicola Sturgeon refuses to accept result of England vs Scotland match
Nicola Sturgeon believes the result of the England vs Scotland game yesterday was ‘wrong’ and will fight for it to be overturned.
The 3-0 defeat was the wrong result for Scotland, she said, and pledged to do everything in her power to reverse the scoreline no matter how long it takes.
Reports indicate she has already made a succession of calls to Senior UEFA and FIFA officials to seek their support in changing the outcome.
If she cannot get the result changed by conventional methods, Sturgeon confirmed she has not taken demanding a replay off the table.
“I don’t believe this result is in the best interest of Scotland, or of football, and it is clear that changing it would be entirely fair,” she told reporters at Holyrood.
“UEFA’s position that the result is binding just because we lost is short-termist and doesn’t serve the Scottish people in the way they deserve.”
Sturgeon went on to say she believed England had stolen literally dozens of goals that were rightfully Scottish, and she would organise a wide-ranging consultation and enquiry to examine all aspects of the result and report on how it can best be changed in Scotland’s favour.
Meanwhile, today’s copy of The National newspaper is reporting that Scotland won 18-0 before burning Wembley to the ground. Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently | 1real |
Two houses and gas pipeline damaged in Republic by 280 AFU shells - Russia News Now | This post was originally published on this site Two residential private houses and a gas pipeline in the south of the DPR and the west of Donetsk got damaged in shellings carried out by the Ukrainian military, reported today the head of the Petrovsky district administration Maxim Zhukovsky and also the DPR security agencies. “On Lugovsky Street, 40 in Trudovskiye locality a direct shell-hit set of fire a private house,” said Maxim Zhukovsky. Besides, according to a source in the Republic’s security agencies, one more house and a gas pipeline were damaged in Kominternovo village of the Novoazovsky district. Earlier today it was reported that last night the Ukrainian punishers launched 280 artillery projectiles, tank and mortar shells onto the near-front areas of the country. In particular, under the enemy fire there also got Trudovskiye locality in the west of the capital. DONi News Agency | 1real |
Sergeant Bergdahl says 'fantastic' plan crumbled hours after leaving post | (Reuters) - U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl had devised what he told a military investigator was a “fantastic plan” to leave his post so he could inform higher-ups about problems in the ranks, but that fell apart when he realized he took on more than he could manage. Bergdahl, 29, who walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and became a Taliban prisoner for five years, is facing a court-martial with a potential life sentence on charges of desertion and endangerment of U.S. troops. In a 371-page interview made public on Wednesday, Bergdahl said he was frustrated and concerned about the command at his post in Afghanistan, seeing it as incompetent, immoral and putting soldiers’ lives in danger. He devised a scheme to leave and travel by foot to a military command about 20 miles away, with his disappearance causing a full-scale search. When he arrived, he thought this would get him an audience with a general to air his grievances. “I came up with a fantastic plan,” he told the military investigator in 2014 about three months after his release. “I was seeing things heading in a very dangerous direction. So, I had to do something.” He left at night and was captured the next day by the Taliban. “By daylight, I will admit I was in over my head,” he said in the transcript released by Bergdahl’s lawyer Eugene Fidell, of an interview with Army investigator, Major General Kenneth Dahl, in 2014. At the end of the interview, Dahl mentioned desertion, AWOL and fraudulent enlistment offenses to Bergdahl but made no mention of the more serious charge of endangering U.S. troops, which carries up to a life sentence, according to the transcript. At an evidentiary hearing in Texas in September 2015, Dahl said he did not believe Bergdahl should be jailed for what he did. He said Bergdahl was not a Taliban sympathizer and characterized him as an unrealistically idealistic soldier. Dahl also said no soldiers directly involved in the search for him were killed. U.S. military prosecutors have said Bergdahl sneaked off his post, resulting in a 45-day search that put soldiers’ lives at risk and diverted attention from the fight against the Taliban. Bergdahl was freed in a prisoner swap in May 2014 involving the release of five Taliban leaders held by the United States. The deal drew heavy criticism from Republicans. | 0fake |
REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER Arrested After “Harassing” Little Girls In Girl’s Bathroom | Wow! They re really coming out of the woodwork now! Peeping at little girls is sick and so twisted but it s obvious this guy has a past he s a REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER! Is this what OBAMA and the nutty liberals want? Keep you children close and go into the bathroom with them you don t know who you ll find in there these days. After questioning a man seen peeping at little girls in the women s bathroom of a community park, California police discovered he was already a registered sex offender.Police in Placerville, Calif., arrested Kenneth Tincher, 62, for harassing little girls in a bathroom of the city s Rotary Park. The girls were at the park on a field trip for school, police reported. Witnesses told police that for much of the time Tincher was hovering outside the bathroom and leering at the little girls, but at one point even went inside the bathroom with some of the girls.The suspect fled the park before police arrived, but he was was later arrested at another city park. He was wearing only a pair of pants, found living out of his truck, and told police he is a transient from Sacramento.Once they identified the suspect, police learned he was already a registered sex offender. Placerville authorities reported that Tincher was registered as a sex offender in Sacramento only two weeks prior to this latest incident.Read more: Breitbart | 1real |
Pope Francis to bless Colombia's war victims | VILLAVICENCIO/BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Thousands of victims of Colombia s five-decade war will seek blessings, guidance and a path to forgiveness from Pope Francis on Friday, during his visit to a region that for years has been known as an epicenter of violence. The Argentine pope has received a rapturous welcome in Colombia, a majority Roman Catholic nation, bringing with him a message of peace and unity as he seeks to strengthen faith and heal the scars of civil war. In the city of Villavicencio, Francis will hold a prayer meeting with 6,000 survivors of a brutal conflict that has left millions scarred by kidnappings, massacres, rape, land mines and displacement. He will also bless the Cross of Reconciliation, a plain white memorial to the victims, and hear personal testimonies of those who have suffered. There has been too much hatred and vengeance. The solitude of always being at loggerheads has been familiar for decades, and its smell has lingered for a hundred years, the leader of the world s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics said on Thursday. We do not want any type of violence whatsoever to restrict or destroy one more life, added the pontiff, who delayed visiting Colombia until a peace deal between the government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels was in effect. Colombians have suffered from war between right-wing paramilitaries, Marxist rebels, and government forces since 1964. More than 220,000 have been killed and millions more displaced as the war spilled into towns and rural communities. The 80-year-old Francis will also beatify two victims as martyrs. He will take the first step to make saints of Pedro Maria Ramirez, a priest who was killed in 1948 during the period of political violence known as La Violencia, and Bishop Jesus Emilio Jaramillo, killed in 1989 by the National Liberation Army (ELN) for suspected collaboration with the military. The pontiff wants his message of reconciliation to resonate with the war victims and he urged his Church to help spread the message. You are not bureaucrats, nor politicians, you are pastors, he said, addressing bishops in Bogota. In Villavicencio - the capital of central Meta province, a vast cattle ranching area which has been a hotbed of paramilitary and rebel violence - Francis will see a destroyed statue of Christ brought from western Choco province for his visit. The effigy was recovered from a church attacked by the FARC in 2002 in the rain forest village of Bojaya. About 80 people were killed as they sought refuge from rebel bombings inside the humble church. The plaster figure, without arms or legs, has become an enduring symbol of the bloody war. Forgiveness is pivotal if Colombia is to forge lasting peace, break cycles of revenge and rebuild once-hostile communities. But Colombians are deeply polarized as they prepare to receive 7,000 former fighters of the FARC into society and aim to repair divisions from the war. Many are furious that under last year s peace deal, FARC leaders accused of kidnapping, displacements and murder will avoid jail sentences and instead may receive seats in congress as members of a civilian political party. But at least during the pope s visit, people seem willing to forgive. I ll be up at 3 a.m. to queue. It s so emotional, just to see him on television makes me tearful, said Francis Alvarez, a 59-year-old housewife, who hopes to attend the Mass in Villavicencio. It will consolidate peace in this region that s been so forgotten. | 0fake |
Conservative plotters told to get behind UK's May amid Brexit fears | LONDON (Reuters) - Lawmakers in British Prime Minister Theresa May s Conservative Party who are trying to oust her as leader have been told to shut up by senior party members, including potential rival Boris Johnson, Britain s foreign minister. Others in the party warned that the uncertainty over May was damaging Brexit negotiations with the European Union. May on Friday said she would remain as leader after a former Conservative chairman said he had garnered the support of 30 lawmakers who wanted her to quit. It followed a disastrous speech at the party s conference earlier this week, when a persistent cough left May barely able to deliver her message, and a snap election in June in which May lost her party s majority in parliament. Senior figures have rallied round May, but the open rebellion coincides with crucial talks with the European Union just 18 months before Britain is due to leave. Johnson, who is widely considered to be the most serious challenger for leadership of the Conservatives if May were to resign, called for unity, according to media reports. We have just had an election and people are fed up with this malarkey, newspapers quoted him as saying in a message to Conservative lawmakers. Get behind the PM. Ordinary punters I have spoken to thought her speech was good and anyone can have a cold, he said. Circle the wagons, turn the fire on (opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy) Corbyn and talk about nothing except our great policies and what we can do for the country . EU partners are stepping up preparations for a collapse in Brexit negotiations due to fundamental divisions across Britain on what to ask for - even if few believe Britain would risk crashing out into legal limbo in March 2019. In Brussels, officials are questioning whether May will survive even until a summit on Oct. 19, but diplomats said governments insisted they would not ease their demands to help her move on with talks on a post-Brexit transition. Few of her 27 EU counterparts see either hardline Brexiter rivals such as Johnson or the Labour opposition of Corbyn as any better able to rally the country behind their own visions for Brexit. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, a possible successor should May be forced out and who campaigned hard against Brexit last year, told the BBC the prime minister s critics should put up, shut up and get off the stage . I would tell my party to get its house in order, get together, knuckle down, and make sure that our first commitment, last commitment and only commitment is to the country, she said. Her message came after former party chairman Grant Shapps toured media studios calling for a leadership election. Shapps said 30 Conservative lawmakers backed his view, well short of the 48 needed to trigger a contest. Commentators said deep divisions in the party over the direction of Brexit meant the rebellion had lost momentum despite disquiet over May s performance as leader. One Conservative lawmaker, Nigel Evans, said the botched plot appeared to have fizzled out within 24 hours but that it would play into the hands of EU s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. May s weakness is generating more concern than satisfaction in Brussels, however, since failing to reach a deal with London would disrupt economies on both sides of the English Channel. Barnier s team starts a new week of talks with British negotiators on Monday, though expectations are very low of a breakthrough that could prompt leaders to open the way in the following week for talks on a post-Brexit free trade deal something London insists should be a priority for both sides. Underscoring a hard line among governments, including heavyweights such as Germany and France, that Britain must do more to settle immediate divorce issues, such as paying Brussels tens of billions of euros, before opening a new phase of talks, envoys told Barnier on Friday they opposed starting even a tentative exploration of transitional arrangements. Negotiators have suggested that, with time tight, it could be useful to explore some of the immediate problems that will come up on March 30, 2019, when Britain is out. However, leaders could still agree to let Barnier look at some transition issues, depending on next week s negotiating round, diplomats said. Adding to low expectations, however, the schedule for talks is thinner than previous rounds, with no public meeting planned at the start between Barnier and Brexit Secretary David Davis and no negotiations taking place at all on Wednesday. For now, European leaders can do little more than watch and speculate about May s ability to govern. Who knows if we will still have an interlocutor at the summit, one official said. | 0fake |
Oh Good Grief, Now The RNC Is Accusing Hillary Clinton Of Plagiarism | Melania Trump plagiarized part of her Republican National Convention speech. So, Republicans, whose unofficial theme this year seems to be I know you are, but what am I? swung and missed a shot at Hillary Clinton for supposedly plagiarizing her acceptance speech on Thursday night.Unlike with Trump, who plagiarized a full two paragraphs of Michelle Obama s speech while Clinton is accused of stealing a literary reference or really, a literary allusion.At one point in her speech, Clinton appeared to reference the historian and political scientist, Alexis de Tocqueville, who published, Democracy in America, back in the mid 19th Century. Here was the line in question: But here s the sad truth: There is no other Donald Trump this is it, Clinton said in Philadelphia. And in the end, it comes down to what Donald Trump doesn t get: that America is great because America is good. So enough with the bigotry and the bombast. Donald Trump s not offering real change. He s offering empty promises. The line is similar to one that s often attributed to de Tocqueville: America is great because she is good. The chief strategist, Sean Spicer, of the Republican National Convention was quick to jump on that misspelling and all:#plagarism alert @hillaryclinton at @DemConvention America is great bc America is good, de Tocqueville America is great bc she is good Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) July 29, 2016What s next, accusing the DNC of plagarism (sic) for playing the National Anthem?Twitter s response was kind of brutal: @seanspicer @hillaryclinton @DemConvention Haha are you that fucking stupid? Adam Peck (@AdamReports) July 29, 2016@seanspicer @HillaryClinton @DemConvention She also plagiarized God Bless America. Go home, dude. Rand Duren (@RandDuren) July 29, 2016 LOL @seanspicer tries so hard to be an attack dog, but is just a little puppy.There was no plagiarism tonight buddy. That was last week ;-) vancitydan (@vancitydan) July 29, 2016@seanspicer haha still trying to get over Melania s plagiarism? Paulina Mar a (@paulinamcolon) July 29, 2016 @seanspicer I m embarrassed for you Slimmy Drama (@SlimmyDrama) July 29, 2016The real irony here is that de Tocqueville never actually wrote those words. Spicer might know that if he had actually read the book. Similar lines, though, have been used in political speeches for decades.Featured image via Alex Wong at Getty Images | 1real |
DETROIT: BIKERS SHOW UP In Big Numbers To Defend Kid Rock Against Leftist Protesters [VIDEO] | Leftist agitators showed up tonight at the opening of the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit where Detroit legend Kid Rock was scheduled to open the new home of the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons. The protesters who are likely being organized by the Democrat Party and George Soros are hilariously protesting Kid Rock for speaking out against the unemployed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during our national anthem. Some of them are using the excuse that he used a confederate flag as a backdrop to his concerts years ago to protest Rock, who is likely going to challenge the 2-term liberal Democrat US Senator Debbie Stabenow in 2018. Kid Rock is the recipient of the Detroit NAACP Great Expectations award for his exceptional contribution to the black community of Detroit and is the single father of a black son.Here s a look at the small group of protesters whose numbers were estimated from between 50-200. Aside from small group of protestors at NE entrance, pretty calm at LCA for .@kidrock. At least 50 cops and guards on Woodward side of arena pic.twitter.com/AuQgPKt2v6 Jim Schaefer (@DetroitReporter) September 13, 2017Protesters were met with die-hard Kid Rock supporters who would have nothing to do with listening to them spew their hateful ignorance:Here's the heckle zone, where protesters are yelling "Shame" and "You support a white supremacist" at .@kidrock concert-goers in Detroit. pic.twitter.com/AOrFrc7IVH Jim Schaefer (@DetroitReporter) September 13, 2017A large group of bikers, who many on Twitter identified as Bikers 4 Trump , showed up tonight to defend Kid Rock and his supporters from leftist agitators who may have been looking for trouble. Our Bikers For Trump are at Kid Rock @CaesarsPalace Kid/Rock Concert The Trump Unity Bridge @BikersForTrump Thank All Of You #TrumpsArmy pic.twitter.com/b24SZJHvW7 Deborah (@deborahjuanita4) September 12, 2017Watch the bikers ride up to the new Little Caesars Arena:Kid Rock supporters arriving on bikes. Only 200 protesters. #LittleCaesarsArena #MAGA pic.twitter.com/aRhr0wnHit Steve West (@SteveWest_68) September 13, 2017Here s another view of the bikers riding up to the new Little Caesars Arena:SERIOUS show of bikers outside .@kidrock at Little Caesars Arena. No one would argue there weren't 200. pic.twitter.com/hTb1Q8Mq0u Jim Schaefer (@DetroitReporter) September 12, 2017Kid Rock apparently offered his support for the hard working Detroit Police officers outside protecting the venue and his fans: .@kidrock's ad-libbed DEEZ NUTS lyric followed by big thanks to Detroit Police outside Little Caesars Arena. Jim Schaefer (@DetroitReporter) September 13, 2017It wouldn t be a Kid Rock concert without some classic Kid Rock sarcasm: .@kidrock softly sings: "If anyone wants to protest tonight, tell 'em they can protest these nuts." Chuckled, then: "That wasn't very nice." Jim Schaefer (@DetroitReporter) September 13, 2017Here s a great shot of Kid Rock serving beer at the new arena, that he posted on Twitter earlier today:Pouring the first beer at the new place. Kid Rock's Made in Detroit at @LCA_Detroit. pic.twitter.com/GWYtgO1CEz Kid Rock (@KidRock) September 11, 2017 | 1real |
More Evidence Emerges Proving What a Shameless, Crony Fraud Evan Bayh Is | at 4:39 pm Leave a comment
The more you look into Evan Bayh’s post-Senate “career,” the dirtier it becomes (he’s running for Senate again this year).
Earlier this week, I published a lengthy article examining Bayh’s shameless cash grab since he left Congress in the article, Democratic Senate Candidate Evan Bayh Represents Everything Broken, Corrupt and Wrong With America . I wrote: Many of you will know the name Evan Bayh. He’s the son of three-term Indiana Senator Birch Bayh, and went on to become Governor of Indiana from 1983-1997, and then Senator himself from 1999-2011. Upon leaving “public service,” he did what most of these government prostitutes do — made millions and millions of dollars doing pretty much nothing. As a recent article from Politico reveals, the Bayh family had assets worth $2.1-$7.7 million when he left the Senate in 2010, but it has since surged to a range of $13.8 million-$48 million. Making that kind of money isn’t easy for anyone, and it’s particularly suspicious in the hands of a man supposedly dedicated to public service. So how did the couple make all this money? Evan, for one, joined law and lobbying firm McGuireWoods and became an advisor to private equity giant Apollo Global as upon leaving the Senate. Meanwhile, I can’t figure out for the life of me what his wife Susan does. She seems to be a “professional board member” for a variety of large companies. Just one day after I published the above, The Huffington Post came out with a piece that adds additional pieces to the very slimy post-Senate history of Evan Bayh. Here’s some of what we learn:
Evan Bayh, the former Democratic senator from Indiana and current Senate candidate, has at least $1 million in holdings with a Bermuda-based insurance company, Athene, that has a business model that a class action lawsuit is challenging as a bait-and-switch scam.
Athene’s business plan, the suit claims, is to buy up the annuities of retirees that had previously been invested in bonds and blue chip stocks, and instead pump their money into the risky bets of a private equity firm. That firm turns out to be Apollo Global Management ― where Bayh is a highly paid senior adviser ― which actually owns Athene, so if the gamble pays off, Athene’s parent company gets rich. If it flops, the retirees take the hit.
Private equity’s push into the once-boring annuity industry was the subject of a 2013 Bloomberg story, which found Apollo leading the way. “It’s a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose game,” said Lawrence Rybka, CEO of wealth-advisory firm ValMark Securities.
Bayh has been working for Apollo as a senior adviser for public policy since early 2011, shortly after he retired from the Senate. On the personal financial disclosure he filed with the Federal Election Commission earlier this month in order to run for Senate in 2016, he states that he has received between $5.7 million and $20.9 million worth of assets in the firm. He lists his holdings in Athene as valued at between $1 million and $5 million.
In 2010, when Bayh was still a senator, he went to battle on behalf of Apollo and other money managers who were working desperately to thwart attempts to close or narrow what’s known as the “carried interest loophole,” which allows private equity and hedge fund managers to pay bargain-basement tax rates.
With Bayh’s help, the effort to close the loophole was derailed. An analysis of Apollo’s security filings suggests that the maintenance of the loophole has saved executives tens of millions of dollars on their tax bills since then.
Bayh’s rapacious grab for cash since his retirement has been extraordinary even by Clintonian standards, but it is made all the more poignant by the poetic bromides he offered on his way out.
“I want to be engaged in an honorable line of work,” Bayh told Ezra Klein in October 2010. He said he wanted to find work where he could come home and tell his wife, “Dear, do you know what we got done today? I’ve got this really bright kid in my class, and do you know what he asked me, and here’s what I told him, and I think I saw a little epiphany moment go off in his mind.”
We have since learned ― thanks to the Associated Press, which obtained his Senate schedule ― that by the time he was having this heady conversation, he had already been meeting with executives at Apollo, as well as the brass at the oil company Marathon and the law firm and lobby shop McGuire Woods. He went on to take jobs with all three, joining Apollo, sitting on Marathon’s board of directors, and working as a strategic adviser at McGuire Woods.
Earlier this month, Bayh warned his supporters in a fundraising appeal that the Koch brothers, Charles and David, were hell-bent on making sure Young won the Indiana race.
While the claim is true, Bayh makes an awkward messenger: The Koch brothers are clients of McGuireWoods, where Bayh is still a partner.
“Evan Bayh was paid by Koch Industries at his lobbying firm as recently as 2016 ― and he will work for them after Election Day whether he wins or loses,” said a source who lobbies for Koch Industries, asking for anonymity in order to speak openly about somebody else on their payroll. “He calls Koch names, but he’s grateful for the retainer they paid him, and Koch knows it.”
Bayh, announcing his retirement, delivered a sermon in The New York Times that was filled with regret for the decay of the Senate, complete with hopeful recommendations for reform. But what Bayh actually did while in office has only further degraded the chamber. He used his final year to cast industry-friendly votes while interviewing for jobs with those same industries. Then he left office and became, in a very short amount of time, a wildly rich man worth somewhere between $13.9 million and $48 million. Citizens United has nothing to say about that.
A few months after helping kill the bill, Bayh was literally sleeping at the Manhattan home of an Apollo executive, according to a Senate schedule the AP obtained. It was one of several meetings with the firm he’d joined shortly after leaving the Senate. (His spokesman told the AP he was staying with a friend.)
If Bayh were truly looking for an “honorable line of work,” working for a company that bought up the retirement accounts of the elderly, shifted them to risky investments and hit them with big fees is a strange way to go about it.
Here’s my related post from earlier this week in case you missed it: Democratic Senate Candidate Evan Bayh Represents Everything Broken, Corrupt and Wrong With America .
In Liberty, | 1real |
Words from the Ancient Past: The Sogdian Ancient Letters | Ancient Origins Words from the Ancient Past: The Sogdian Ancient Letters
The Sogdians were a people of Iranian origin who lived in the fertile valleys of Central Asia between the sixth century BC and tenth century AD. The secret to the Sogdians’ success was their knack for commerce. Building cities in what is today Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the Sogdian merchants became vital go-betweens for trade on the Silk Road. The legacy of these people is also preserved in the fragments of writings that remain with us today. Many of the documents are translations of Buddhist scriptures. More intriguingly, there are also five nearly-complete personal letters that paint a vivid picture of what life was like for the ordinary people living in a vast trade society. Sogdians on an Achaemenid Persian relief from the Apadana of Persepolis, offering tributary gifts to the Persian king Darius I, 5th century BC ( public domain )
The five letters were discovered in 1907 by Aurel Stein, a famous British archaeologist, in the ruins of a Chinese watchtower that guarded the city of Dunhuang (an administrative and cultural center modern-day Gansu Province). The tower stood at the western approaches of the city, which would have been an important stop on Silk Road trading routes. These letters “are the earliest substantial examples of Sogdian writing and thus provide extremely important information about the early history of the Sogdian diaspora along the eastern end of the silk route” (Sims-Williams, 2004). Some experts theorize that the letters had been confiscated by the Chinese officials at a time when Chinese control over this region was under threat; others suggest that they were abandoned in the hasty flight of a deliveryman fleeing from the city. The letters were found outside Dunhuang, pictured ( sand and tsunamis / flickr )
Each letter had evidence of being folded and refolded several times; they also bore the names of the senders and intended recipients on the outside. At least two were written by people in Dunhuang. The letters are believed to have been part of a ‘mailbag’ traveling among the major cities of the region. Letters nos. 2 and 5 concern the commercial activity of the writers, who were most likely merchants or their representatives abroad. The author of Letter 2 lived in Jincheng (modern-day Lanzhou, also in Gansu province), a town built at the entrance to a pass between the southern mountains and the northern deserts that ultimately leads to Dunhuang, a gateway known as the Hexi Corridor. The author was a member of the Sogdian diaspora living in China; he was a representative of a wealthy Sogdian merchant in Samarkand. He wrote to the home office to relate the recent attacks by the Huns on the Chinese cities of Yeh and Luoyang. “The last emperor, so they say, fled from Luoyang because of the famine and fire was set to his palace and to the city, and the palace was burnt and the city [destroyed]. Luoyang is no more, Yeh is no more! […] And, sirs, if I were to write to you about how China has fared, it would be beyond grief: there is no profit for you to gain from it […] [in] Luoyang… the Indians and the Sogdians there had all died of starvation” (Sims-William quoted in Vaissière, 2003). The letter also expresses concerns involving the distribution of some money that the author had deposited back at home.
Sogdian script on the Bugut Inscription (585), central Mongolia. Sogdian is the distant ancestor of the Mongolian script. ( public domain )
Letter 5 originated in Guzang, located within the Hexi Corridor northwest of Luoyang. The intended recipient “may have been resident in Khotan, an important town along the southern silk route just before it crosses the Pamir Mountains to reach the oases of Transoxania, the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers” (Sims-Williams, 2004). This letter also discusses the difficult conditions wrought on China by the Huns. This author seems to be in a more perilous position than the author of Letter 2: he complains that his commercial partner has just abandoned him. Huns in battle with the Alans, an Iranian nomadic pastoral people of antiquity. An 1870s engraving after a drawing by Johann Nepomuk Geiger ( public domain )
Letters 1 and 3 are of a different nature. They were written by a woman named Mewnai (“tiger cub”) whose husband Nanaidat (“created by the goddess Nanai”) had abandoned her in Dunhuang. The first letter is addressed to Mewnai’s mother, Catis; the third letter is addressed to Nanaidat and written on behalf of Mewnai and Nanidat’s daughter, Sen. Both letters describe how Mewnai and Sen have been living in Dunhuang for over 3 years without any word from Nanaidat. As they have run out of clothes and money, Mewnai begs to be allowed to return to her parents’ home. However, the closest relative of her husband, a man named Farnxund, is refusing to let them leave. Mewnai writes that a priest has offered to provide the mother and daughter with a camel and escort; he implores Mewnai to go home. In the first letter, Mewnai asks her mother if it is okay to agree to the priest’s offer. In the other letter, Mewnai and Sen say that if Nanaidat does not speak up soon, they will be sold by Fernxund into the servitude of the Chinese. There is a good chance Nanaidat died while out on the dangerous trade roads. In any case, there is no evidence of what ever happened to this small Sogdian family. An 8th-century figurine of a Sogdian man wearing a distinctive cap and face veil, possibly a camel rider or even a Zoroastrian priest engaging in a ritual at a fire temple, since face veils were used to avoid contaminating the holy fire with breath or saliva ( public domain )
Much of what is known about the Sogdians comes from Chinese chronicles in which the phrases ‘inland Silk Road’ and ‘Sogdian trading network’ are all but synonymous. Other references to the people come from Greek, Indian, Arabic, Byzantine, and Armenian sources. The renowned traders sold musk, silver goods, silk, and slaves. Sogdian city-states, such as Samarkand and Bukhara, were cosmopolitan urban centers of culture but were never very powerful.
Top image: Sogdian text. Manichaean Letter ( public domain ) | 1real |
UNREAL! PRO-CUBA TRAVEL AT PBS AND NBC: “Cuba has so much going for it: It’s proudly Communist…” [Video] | BELOW ARE TWO EXAMPLES OF THE PRO-CUBA SENTIMENT BY THE LEFTY MEDIA:Travel to Cuba is the NEWEST thing among the pseudo-cool useful idiots:Sanders noted how many of those on board were eager to get to the island before it was spoiled by capitalism: The Cuba they will see has many Americans anxious to get here before it all changes. Passenger Sedrick Tydus quipped: I want to get there before Burger King shows up. Sanders laughed and repeated line: Before Burger King shows up. After the Obama administration granted a full roster of concessions (in exchange for nothing) to the communist regime, we are bombarded with hype on Cuba travel. The Kardashians are even getting into the mix-ugh!Romanticizing the poverty and crumbing architecture of Cuba is pretty sickening to most people. We see past the slick promotions and see the suffering of the people of Cuba first .Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railway Journeys. Episode 4 Slow Train to Guantanamo Bay: The problem with Tarrant s love for commie Cuba is that the railway is broken down and only goes 15 mph.NBC Reporter Giddy With Excitement Aboard Cruise to Cuba: A Pinch-Me Moment : Not so sure anything will change in Cuba even though the lefty media would like you to think so Sanders noted how many of those on board were eager to get to the island before it was spoiled by capitalism: The Cuba they will see has many Americans anxious to get here before it all changes. Passenger Sedrick Tydus quipped: I want to get there before Burger King shows up. Sanders laughed and repeated line: Before Burger King shows up. Via: Faustasblog | 1real |
LEFTIST MEDIA DESTROYED Mike Flynn, Cracked Jokes After Horrible LIE Obama’s National Security Advisor Told Media, Families Of Benghazi Victims [VIDEO] | Fun fact: While Trump press secretary Sean Spicer fielded 55 questions on February 14 related to the Flynn debacle, Obama s press secretary Jay Carney received only 13 questions from reporters on September 12, 2012, three of which were set-ups to blast Mitt Romney s criticism of the administration after the attack. 55 to 13.So as we now suffer through yet another patch of media mania, conspiracy theories, and unsubstantiated claims about how Trump hearts Russia, as well as the daily beatings endured by Spicer, let s reminisce to when the media and Obama s press flaks spun, deflected even joked about golf and Saturday Night Live! less than a week after Benghazi.Buried deep beneath the Michael Flynn hysteria this week was Judicial Watch s release of newly obtained State Department documents related to the Benghazi terrorist attack on September 11, 2012. One email confirms again that the Obama administration knew the day after the attack it was not a random act of violence stemming from an anti-Muslim video. That was the excuse shamefully propagated by top Obama administration officials (including the president himself) and swallowed whole by a media establishment desperate to help Obama win re-election six weeks later.According to the summary of a call on September 12, 2012 between State Department Under-Secretary Patrick Kennedy and several congressional staffers, Kennedy was asked if the attack came under cover of protest: No this was a direct breaching attack, he answered. Kennedy also denied the attack was coordinated with the protests in Cairo over the video: Attack in Cairo was a demonstration. There were no weapons shown or used. A few cans of spray paint. But of course nothing matches the audacity of trope by Obama s National Security Advisor Susan Rice on September 16, 2012. Rice went on several Sunday shows to peddle a story she knew was completely phony, one that was already quickly unraveling even as most in the media and administration tried to keep it intact.Rice repeats the line that Benghazi attack was not premediated and was connected to the demonstrations in Cairo over the video (a document obtained by Judicial Watch last year shows Hillary Clinton met with Rice a few days before her television appearances). Which presidential administration is fact-challenged, again?In a press gaggle on Air Force One the next day, guess how many times Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked about Rice s comments? Ten? Five? One? Not once. Let me repeat that. The day after Obama s national security advisor was on five news programs to blame a terrorist attack on a YouTube video, not one reporter asked the White House about it. I actually had to re-read the transcripts several times, even checking the date over and over, to make sure this was accurate. Her name did not even come up.No discussion about the investigation. No discussion about emerging evidence from around the world that Benghazi was indeed a terrorist attack. (The only time it was mentioned was when Jen Psaki criticized Mitt Romney s comments about how the administration handled Benghazi and questioned whether he was ready for primetime. )Here s what they did discuss: Debate prep, Occupy Wall Street, and the Chicago s teachers strike. An actual human reporter asked this: It was a beautiful weekend for golf and he wasn t out on the course. Is it safe to assume maybe he was doing some preparation at the White House? WHAT? Then they joked about football and Saturday Night Live. The FederalistWatch here as Susan Rice intentionally lies her way around the different TV networks and Trey Gowdy blasts the double standard of our media:Here is US Ambassador to the UN, who was elevated to Obama s National Security Advisor after she lied to the media and to the American people about Benghazi protests being sparked by a video. Watch Susan Rice explain how she has no regrets about lying about the reason for the deaths of 4 Americans in Benghazi:Watch here as Susan Rice s promotion to National Security Advisor is explained: | 1real |
U.S. spy agencies probe another flank in Russian hacking | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Russian hacking of the 2016 U.S. election included sophisticated targeting of state officials responsible for voter rolls and voting procedures, according to a top secret U.S. intelligence document that was leaked and published this week, revealing another potential method of attempted interference in the vote. The month-old National Security Agency document outlined activities including impersonating an election software vendor to send trick emails to more than 100 state election officials. Analysts at the NSA believed the hackers were working for the Russian military’s General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, according to the document. The document’s publication on Monday by The Intercept, a news outlet that focuses on security issues, received particular attention because an intelligence contractor, Reality Leigh Winner, was charged the same day with leaking it. U.S. intelligence agencies have previously said the Kremlin tried to influence the election outcome in favor of Republican candidate Donald Trump through leaks during the campaign of hacked emails from Democratic Party officials, aimed at discrediting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The new revelations suggest that U.S. investigators are also still probing a more direct attempt to attack the election itself, and a federal official confirmed that is the case. However, there is no evidence that hackers were able to manipulate votes, or the vote tally. The document says at least one employee of the software vendor had an account compromised but does not cover whether any of the elections officials were also successfully compromised. If they did compromise the officials, hackers could have planted malicious software, then captured proof of the infection to suggest that there had been fraud on Clinton’s behalf, had she won the Nov. 8 election, experts said. “If your goal is to disrupt an election, you don’t need to pick the winner or actually tamper with tally result,” said Matt Blaze, a University of Pennsylvania computer science professor who has written on the security of voting machines. Simply casting doubt on the legitimacy of the results could achieve the goals of a government-sponsored hacking campaign, he said. U.S. intelligence officials had previously stated that Russian intelligence had won access to “multiple” election officials but had said that compromised machines were not involved with vote tallies. But they had not said how sophisticated and extensive the effort was or how it worked. Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly denied Russian government involvement in election hacking, though he said last week that “patriotic” Russians could have been involved. Trump has denied any collusion. SPEAR-PHISHING ON ELECTIONS OFFICIALS The newly leaked NSA report said the hackers used so-called “spear-phishing” techniques on election officials, trying to convince targets to click on links in emails that seemed to come from legitimate correspondents. The report describes just one phishing campaign, which hit state officials a week before the election, but does not give any locations or say if it was successful. Although there may have been many others, security experts said one coming so late in the game would be more likely to be about sowing chaos than trying to alter vote counts. The report did not say what the hackers were trying to accomplish, and any investigation of the computers of people who were targeted would be the jurisdiction of the FBI. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday, as did the office of the special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government. The “bait” used in the spear-phishing campaign involved software for managing voter registration rolls. The hackers might have been considering deleting some records and forcing officials to turn legitimate voters away, said elections technology security expert Alex Halderman, of the University of Michigan. There were no wide reports of mass rejections of voters, so perhaps that plan was abandoned or proved too hard to execute, he said. It is also possible that the idea was to get onto the machines of officials who oversaw both registration and voting software. Elections are run by counties in the United States. “Depending on the county’s configuration and security practices and what is separated from what, they could have access to potentially every aspect, from lists of registered voters, to voting machines, to firmware on those machines, to the ballots that are presented, to the software that controls the final tally,” Blaze said. “This is the holy grail of what an attacker would want to compromise.” Members of Congress said they hoped to learn more about the hacking attempts. “It’s important that the American people understand that the Russian attempts to break into a number of our state voting processes - we talked about this in the fall - was broad-based,” Democrat Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee, told reporters. “It’s my hope in the coming days that we can get more information out about that.” | 0fake |
WATCH CLUELESS CLINTON SUPPORTERS Agree With Donald Trump Quotes [Video] | Secretary Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have very different views on just about everything. Jimmy always wonders about whether people are really paying attention to those issues or not. For the most part, he thinks it doesn t matter what a candidate says, it just matters which candidate says it. To put this theory to the test, we asked diehard members of Team Hillary if they agreed with some stuff Hillary has said. But the quotes we asked about were not from Hillary, they were actually quotes from Donald Trump. So will these Democrats agree with Donald Trump? | 1real |
High court emissions ruling won't deter clean energy drive | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. power sector’s shift toward burning less coal and using more natural gas and renewable energy will not be derailed by the Supreme Court ruling against the Obama administration’s limits on carbon emissions, state regulators and utilities said on Wednesday. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 on Tuesday to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions crackdown on coal plants until a legal challenge is resolved. Some states may now slow work on compliance with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. But some experts said they were confident the rule will survive the legal challenge when the D.C. circuit court makes a decision this summer. “In a way we are really just postponing the inevitable,” said Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center. Even in some of the 27 states that sued to block the rule, officials had been working on compliance plans. Most states said they will continue to decarbonize their energy supply. Utilities across the country have already begun a major shift away from coal-fired electricity toward cleaner burning and cheaper natural gas and renewables like wind and solar. “We fully expect that many of these states will continue their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under their own legal authorities,” said Bill Becker, director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. States like California, Colorado and New York criticized the high court’s decision and vowed to pursue their plans to shift to cleaner energy regardless of the delay in the EPA rule. Meanwhile, states like Montana and North Dakota that joined in the lawsuit against the EPA welcomed the “breathing room” the stay provides. But even these opponents of the rule said they will keep diversifying their power supply. Colorado’s Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper said the state will keep working on compliance so it “is not left at a disadvantage if the courts uphold all or part of the Clean Power Plan.” Colorado challenged the EPA plan even though the governor supports it. The state’s Republican attorney general disagrees about the legality of the rule and its economic impact. Montana Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, opposed the EPA rule. He said the state would put on hold the work of a group to devise compliance options, but added that it still needs “to address climate change and embrace Montana’s energy future.” He said: “I am committed to ensuring we do so on our own terms.” For coal-producing North Dakota, which had one of the highest emission reduction targets to meet under the rule, regulators and utilities will keep working on ways to lower power plant emissions, said state health department chief Dave Glatt. He said the EPA plan did not give the state “a sufficient amount of time to have reasonable solutions.” He pledged to “look at reasonable steps forward.” For most states, coal-fired electricity has been in decline. In 2015, generators shut over 15,000 megawatts of coal-fired power plants, the most in any year, as low gas prices drove down power costs. It became uneconomical to overhaul older coal plants even to meet existing federal clean air rules. Ohio regulators said Wednesday they were not sure how the state will respond to the court decision, but the state’s major utilities are already shifting away from coal. American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP.N) will continue generating more power with natural gas and renewable energy since prices for those have dropped significantly, said spokeswoman Melissa McHenry. She added that the five-year extension of federal renewable energy tax credits has given AEP an incentive to bring more renewable energy into the mix. “It makes sense that we are sticking to our current plans, and will be positioned to respond to the courts’ ultimate decision on the future of the Clean Power Plan,” she said. Another Ohio utility, FirstEnergy Corp (FE.N), said it already retired a number of older coal plants in 2012. The court decision will have little impact. “The Supreme Court decision does not change the path we are on,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Young. “We think it is the right thing to do – this is a complicated issue and this decision will give the states the appropriate amount of time to develop their compliance plans.” | 0fake |
Pro-Trump Group Is Now Using Pictures Of An Obama Rally To Make Trump Look Popular | In their pathetic attempt to pass the deeply unpopular and unfair tax bill that Republicans in Congress have been working on, the GOP has pulled out all the stops and so have outside spending groups.Every campaign season, America is inundated with ad after ad claiming that one candidate or the other will be either the nation s savior or its downfall. But when ads start popping up for legislation, you know the party that s pushing it is desperate for support.America First Policies, a pro-Trump organization that calls itself a non-profit just because they legally can, has come up with a new ad intended to convince Americans to call their members of Congress and demand that they vote yes on the upcoming tax nightmare. We know it s a nightmare because the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office just scored the bill on Sunday night, and said that the legislation, which has had ZERO hearings, raises taxes on the poor, cuts taxes on the rich, and cripples Obamacare by repealing the individual mandate that makes the system function.The ad is a clever bit of doublespeak itself, as is everything that Republicans say when it comes to taxes. They have promoted the utterly debunked theory of trickle-down economics for more than three decades, and for all of their posturing, not a single dime of tax cuts for corporations and the super-wealthy has ever trickled down in the form of economic stimulus or higher pay for workers as they perennially promise that it will.But it s an image that AFP uses in the ad that s catching people s attention.Watch the ad and see if you catch something that looks familiar:Check out our NEW TV ADThis is our once in a generation opportunity to CUT TAXES for the Middle Class. DEMAND IT let the politicians know you re watching https://t.co/ifVCJLvo5Y pic.twitter.com/cQ95bsWYxv AmericaFirstPolicies (@AmericaFirstPol) November 27, 2017That scene in front of the Capitol? You know, where the ad tries to make it seem like Americans are turning out in droves to demand this action?It s from Barack Obama s inauguration.That s right it s January all over again.Inauguration crowds redux: Stock image in this pro-Trump group's ad appear to be from Obama's inauguration. https://t.co/116VHXGgHO https://t.co/HL6DKxxfqN pic.twitter.com/0zPk3AmfxA Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) November 27, 2017These guys couldn t be more pathetic.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 1real |
Kellyanne Conway Threatens Media: It’s ‘Inappropriate’ To Question Comey’s Firing (VIDEO) | On Tuesday, the United States received a major blow against system of checks and balances when Donald Trump clumsily and unceremoniously fired FBI Director James Comey right after Comey testified in front of a Senate panel about the administration s Russian connections. Now, it seems, the administration wants to stifle another critical part of our democracy the media, who according to Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway, has no right to ask about the firing.Conway, who dialed her smug mean girl persona up to 11 for CNN s Chris Cuomo, was adamant in the idea that the media would be acting inappropriately if they did their job in questioning the very suspicious timing of the firing. In fact, asserted Conway, Trump will do what he wants when he wants (isn t that the calling card of a dictator?). You want to question when he hires, when he fires. That s inappropriate, she said. He ll do it when he wants to. Despite the fact that the timing of and the reason for the firing doesn t pass the sniff test, Conway continued to assert the administration line that Comey was fired over the Clinton emails. In the past, Trump had praised Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton emails, but yesterday he fired him for the same thing? The idea that you think this was about Russia and not about an FBI director who just forced his bureau to correct sworn testimony that Huma Abedin forwarded hundreds of thousands of emails, Conway said, trailing off. President Trump wants an FBI director who is impartial, who is not politicized, who has the trust of the FBI and Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, she added. There are any number of issues and evens that brought the president to this decision. Source: Washington ExaminerHere s the video:Conway: You want to question the timing of when [Trump] fires, when he hires He ll do it when he wants to. https://t.co/5SliOOTse8 CNN (@CNN) May 10, 2017That, my friends, is the sound of democracy dying, It s a quicker death than I would have imagined.Featured image via video screen capture. | 1real |
Pakistan's ex-PM appears in court for trial over finances | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif attended an anti-corruption trial on Friday ordered by the country s Supreme Court when it removed him from office earlier this year. Sharif, 67, arrived at the court with his daughter, Maryam, who is also on trial over the family s wealth and financial dealings. The family has called the case a political conspiracy but opposition leaders who pushed it before the courts have hailed it as accountability for the rich and powerful. The charges in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court are linked to London properties the family owns that were revealed in the 2016 Panama Papers leaks involving offshore companies owned by prominent international figures. Allies of Sharif, who has served as prime minister twice and was toppled in a military coup in 1999, have called the proceedings a political vendetta and hinted at intervention by elements of the powerful army. The Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from office in July over unreported sources of annual income of about $10,000, a salary the former premier denies ever receiving. The high court also ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial into the Sharif family s wider finances, including the London properties. Sharif maintains control of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, which elected close ally Shahid Khaqi Abbasi as prime minister after Sharif was disqualified. | 0fake |
Saudi Crown Prince calls Iran leader 'new Hitler': NYT | DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s powerful Crown Prince called the Supreme Leader of Iran the new Hitler of the Middle East in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday, sharply escalating the war of words between the arch-rivals. The Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran back rival sides in wars and political crises throughout the region. Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defense minister in the U.S.-allied kingdom, suggested the Islamic Republic s alleged expansion under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei needed to be confronted. But we learned from Europe that appeasement doesn t work. We don t want the new Hitler in Iran to repeat what happened in Europe in the Middle East, the paper quoted him as saying. Iran reacted harshly by saying that Salman was discredited internationally by his immature behavior, state television reported. No one in the world and in the international arena gives credit to him because of his immature and weak-minded behavior and remarks, Iran s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying. Now that he has decided to follow the path of famous regional dictators ... he should think about their fate as well. Tensions soared this month when Lebanon s Saudi-allied Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned in a television broadcast from Riyadh, citing the influence of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and risks to his life. Hezbollah called the move an act of war engineered by Saudi authorities, an accusation they denied. Hariri has since suspended his resignation. Saudi Arabia has launched thousands of air strikes in a 2-1/2-year-old war in neighboring Yemen to defeat the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement that seized broad swaths of the country. Salman told the Times that the war was going in its favor and that its allies controlled 85 percent of Yemen s territory. The Houthis, however, still retain the main population centers despite the war effort by a Saudi-led military coalition which receives intelligence and refueling for its warplanes by the United States. Some 10,000 people have died in the conflict. The group launched a ballistic missile toward Riyadh s main airport on Nov. 4, which Saudi Arabis decried as an act of war by Tehran. Bin Salman said in May that the kingdom would make sure any future struggle between the two countries is waged in Iran . For his part, Khamenei has referred to the House of Saud as an accursed tree , and Iranian officials have accused the kingdom of spreading terrorism, an accusation it denies. | 0fake |
French union rank and file urge their bosses to put pressure on Macron | PARIS (Reuters) - Rank and file members of France s biggest union, the CFDT, urged their leaders on Tuesday to take a tougher stand against President Emmanuel Macron s reform agenda. At a convention bringing some 10,000 CFDT members together in Paris, executives came under fire for snubbing protest calls from the Communist-rooted CGT against a labor law overhaul last month, the first major reform of Macron s five-year term. Your words are too soft ... we really need a much harder position, CFDT union official Pascale Meunier from telecoms group Orange told members of the union s executive committee during a debate. The revolt is a new sign that some grassroot union members are worried Macron s government is running roughshod over unions. On Friday, delegates from the Force Ouvriere (FO) union voted in favor of pushing for a harder line. The CGT, which fell behind the CFDT earlier this year as France s biggest union, was the only major union to hold protests against the labor reform though some FO and CFDT union members joined the demonstrations. The absence of FO, France s third-biggest union, disappointed many of its members as it had marched with CGT in 2016 against a labor reform by the previous government. Norbert Raffolt, a CFDT official with the union s metal-working branch, accused the union s leadership of turning a deaf ear to calls for a tougher line. Today you can hear it in the room. The rank and file is saying we ve got to move it, we ve to give a different answer , Raffolt said. CFDT head Laurent Berger responded by saying street protests risked being seen as old-fashioned by the broader public and he urged members to push back against the implementation of the reform at their workplaces. I understand and even sometimes share the legitimate desire of some of you to put shoes on and express your frustration, Berger said a speech closing the convention. But let s not give the government arguments to cast us into the annals of history, he added. Even if unions step up pressure on Macron s government, at this point there is little that they can do against the labor reform as he signed the decrees underpinning it last month. However, a tougher tone from the unions could make life difficult for the government as it seeks to launch talks on revamping unemployment insurance and professional training in the coming months, followed by the retirement system next year. Union leaders are due to meet individually with Macron starting Oct. 12 about the upcoming reforms. | 0fake |
SPA : Enfermé depuis trois jours dans une cage, Rémi Gaillard sera euthanasié demain s’il n’est pas adopté >> Le Gorafi | null | 1real |
Smart Meter Case Testimony Before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission: What No One Wants to Acknowledge About EMF Damage (Part 2 of 4) | By Catherine J. Frompovich
This is the continuation of the testimony I will present before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s Administrative Law Court November 2 and 3, 2016.
Currently, Chairman Representative Godshall is allowing three more opt out bills to become sine die this session, which should amount to an impeachable offense for denying consumers their inherent and indefeasible rights, especially of redress to government, and also according to the Pennsylvania Constitution, I contend.
Probably nothing encapsulates and explains the EMF/RFR controversy or conundrum, if you may, from a scientific viewpoint than the 35-page report “ EUROPAEM EMF Guideline 2016 for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of EMF-related health problems and illnesses ,” which is a Spanish language document and found online at https://listas.um.es/sympa/arc/anuncios/2016-07/msg00069.html This report cites 308 published scientific references, which leaves Frompovich to question why the PA PUC—and PECO in particular—are so daft in proffering that there is no updated science other than the 1940s era ‘safety’ THERMAL science regarding microwave electromagnetic energies based in ‘ancient’ radar studies the microwave industry always trots out as proof of ‘safety’.
Those ‘safety’ studies originated in Germany during World War II; are totally outmoded; but remain the present Federal Communications Commission’s rules regarding safety of cell phones and AMI Smart Meters. It is now 2016! How come 1940s microwave technology science is being applied as the ‘gold standard’ or ‘scientific criterion’ to meters that will become the key intelligence gathering technology for the Internet of Things? Frompovich has to question the credibility factor of both PECO and the PA PUC for depending upon 1940 science in today’s technology world of 2016. Where’s the science later than the 1940s? Please, may I have those studies PECO supplied to the PA PUC?
Frompovich, therefore, respectfully suggests that the PA PUC study the above-aforementioned European reports with medical and EHS health professionals, who are qualified to explain the diagnostics and varied modalities discussed, in order to issue updated regulations affecting AMI Smart Meters and their continuous RFR/EMF health-damaging electromagnetics, plus their fire-and-explosion-prone proclivities and occurrences, which definitely was not the case for all the decades utilities used safe and efficient analog meters.
Children are the most vulnerable to EMF radiation and, therefore, I introduce Exhibit U-1 “Why children absorb more microwave radiation than adults: The Consequences,” and Exhibit U-2 “American Academy of Pediatrics August 29, 2013 letter urging the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, the Federal Communications Commission and others to advise the public about Specific Absorption Rates (SARs) regarding EMF/RF exposures.”
Also, I want to apprise every one of the fact that electromagnetic sensitivity (EHS) is a growing problem and according to recently reported statistics in the peer reviewed journal ECOPSYCHOLOGY, Professor Pamela Reed Gibson states the following: 26% of the USA population; 19% of the Swedish population; 27% of the Danish population; and 32 % of the German population are EHS compromised. See Exhibit V . However, other sources claim that as much as 5% of the entire world’s population is affected.
Just as chemical sensitivities were discredited and denied by medical doctors for years—now referred to as “sick building syndrome” or “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)—so, too, is EHS now being recognized by many, including the World Health Organization. I introduce Exhibit W “Electrohypersensitivity: a functional impairment due to an inaccessible environment.” Printout available here https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=forums&srcid=MDgxODkwOTk5NjU5OTU4ODQwNTYBMTU3NTIzMDA1MTQxNTY1NzI0NTcBTVRzdGFEOUNBUUFKATAuMQEBdjI
As Exhibit X I introduce a study no one can refute, “A review on Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and the reproductive system,” which outlines science the microwave industry, PECO and all utilities utilizing AMI Smart Meters, plus public utility commissions across the USA need to factor into the inevitable legal liability that they are assuming by committing crimes against humanity by exposing the population to unsafe microwave electromagnetics 24/7/365 from dirty electricity pulsed by AMI SMs onto home wiring and into private residences and all buildings retrofitted with AMI Smart Meters.
Before I include my previously submitted testimony, I find it necessary to impress upon the court that it should not be Frompovich’s obligation to prove the medical consequences beyond a reasonable doubt, especially in light of the ADA Amendments Act as it applies to those receiving federal funding or even that the consequences of medical problems are more probable than not, since the ADAAA provides Frompovich with disability rights and protections, which PECO and the PA PUC must abide by.
Furthermore, it should be the indisputable duty of PECO and all Pennsylvania utility companies – but more specifically that of the PA Public Utility Commission’s stated mission for being – to provide safe and non-radiating innovations in utility technology and appliances with 100% certainty, which AMI Smart Meters fail on numerous levels, especially with their proclivity for “hot sockets,” fires and explosions, EMF/RF constant emissions and dirty electricity pulses as frequent as 9600 times a day!
No medical-scientific testing has proved AMI Smart Meters EMFs safety regarding non-thermal adverse health effects that I know of. Where’s the science?
Therefore, Frompovich should not be forced to allow a proven-fire-prone AMI Smart Meter electric service on her property that would radiate dirty electricity into her residence with high RFR pulses every fifteen seconds.
Just to add more “salt to the wound,” as they would say, there are no assurances that monitoring is not part and parcel of the AMI Smart Meter agenda and an integral surveillance device of the Internet of Things, or that information will be shared with unknown third parties—for whatever reasons—and for which Frompovich does not approve nor give her permission to PECO, the PA PUC or any government agencies or agents.
Therefore, Frompovich feels her privacy, as well as her home and personal physiology, will be subjected to unlawful, unconstitutional and unnecessary interventions at various levels and, specifically, without proper legal processes, e.g., court-issued warrants, in order to surveil her home that automatically will occur from the two-way ZigBee radio transmitter system of AMI SMs and all “smart” appliances which are built to interact with the coming surveillance technology of the Internet of Things. The times Frompovich makes tea in the morning and shuts off her lights for the night are no one’s business but her own.
I’ve been researching consumer health issues and whatsoever affects human health negatively , including technologies, since the late 1970s. During my career, I was considered an expert witness providing testimony before several states’ legislature/legislative hearings on health issues. For numerous years I was ahead of both the popular curve and the allopathic paradigm of medicine regarding the role of diet, nutrition, epigenetics, and lifestyle issues in maintaining optimum health, avoiding disease and regaining health utilizing holistic health principles.
I am in my 78 th year, thank God. Since the early 1970s, when I almost lost my life due to unfortunate medical mistakes and had to remove myself from mainstream allopathic care in order to save my life, I’ve been immersed in what’s called the “holistic lifestyle.” I’ve beaten the odds, including being a breast cancer survivor, using holistic healthcare modalities. For the record, 38.3% of U.S. adults and 11.8% of U.S. children used what’s referred to as CAM in 2007 per NIH statistics[1]. Complementary and Alternative Medicine—CAM as it’s called, is popular throughout the world, while in the U.S. there is the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the National Institutes of Health.
However, the allopathic paradigm considers it, quite frankly, a pain in its professional butt since CAM has become the “go to” healthcare system when allopathy fails one.
Therefore, I expect that I probably will educate misinformed individuals on the negative health consequences of electromagnetic frequencies from microwave energy producing technologies like cell phones and towers, Wi-Fi, ‘smart’ gadgets, and, in particular, AMI Smart Meters, which are being bully-forced onto electric, natural gas, and municipal water utility customers. Most state legislators, the media and the public are undeniably ignorant of the damage being done to their health. Fortunately, I am not one of those people, thus my refusing an AMI Smart Meter on my house. But, first I think you ought to know some of my background: I’m a well-informed, plus over 40 years published consumer health researcher, advocate-activist, journalist, and author.
That I should be taken seriously, I offer some of my professional background: retired practicing natural nutritionist; former registered lobbyist with the U.S. Congress for five years representing holistic healthcare issues; executive director for the national Coalition for Alternatives in Nutrition And Healthcare (CANAH) for five years and, as such, presented FDA-solicited expertise input regarding holistic health practices for its 1990 OTA report OTA-H-405 NTIS #PB91-104893[2] “Unconventional Cancer Treatments” [3]; expert nutrition witness before a congressional subcommittee opposing food irradiation; government relations specialist for a consortium of natural nutrition supplement makers before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the first Government Relations specialist for the Life Extension Foundation, who set up LEF’s government relations department; a published journalist; author of numerous books regarding health and lifestyle issues with several books available on Amazon.com and my 2016 book, Eat to Beat Disease, Foods Medicinal Qualities.
Additionally, I wrote and produced two TV shows. One called, “ Turn Off the Violence ” was nominated for a Telly Award. That hour-long show was instrumental in securing the Giraffe Award given to persons, who stick out their necks for the common good. The recipient was George Mason University staff member Connie Kirkland[4], who founded a 24-hour crisis center for rape victims and promoted on-campus non-violence educational campaigns specifically relating to rape and domestic violence. What I’ve shared is much less than half of my background. More would take too much of your time. However, I feel compelled to ask, “How many people can match my qualifications to discuss consumer health issues?”
Furthermore, I want to underscore upfront that IF I were a habitual drug addict, rather than an informed, concerned health-conscious researcher and consumer being harassed for trying to protect and preserve my health, I probably would be welcomed with open arms, plus there would be all types of programs and subsidies available for help. Because I am opposing faulty and health-damaging RF/EMF ‘science’, plus vested-interest snooping, surveillance, and customer data marketing agendas using AMI smart meters, I am harassed and even threatened with termination of electric service even though all my bills are paid in full. That leaves me with no options but to dutifully invoke and defend my state and federal constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Isn’t there something radically wrong with such a construct, especially in the USA, if I have to do that?
Attorney Ward Smith’s interrogatory requesting Frompovich’s cancer health records, quite frankly, leaves everyone with whom I’ve shared that fact, totally aghast and amazed! Why? Because Frompovich’s medical records are her personal information protected under HIPPA and I must protect them. Furthermore, since the PUC Administrative Law Court hearing is of public record, Frompovich does not want her personal medical records made public information during any level in these proceedings, as that is her fundamental right.
I respectfully bring to this court’s attention that my breast cancer and medical records are NOT the issue. What’s the issue, problem, and at stake not only for me, but for all Pennsylvanians, is the total callous disregard by utility companies—PECO included, the PA PUC, and the Commonwealth for health hazards, safety, and the wellbeing of all Pennsylvanians, especially those with health issues, compromised immune systems, disabilities, and especially young, growing children—fetuses in particular—whom RF/EMF and dirty electricity produced by AMI Smart Meters affect and impact negatively.
Before presenting into the record additional reams of recent research with documentation and annotations—not 1940s vintage radar safety research—for RFs/EMFs and microwave electromagnetic energies impacts upon cancer and health, I feel it necessary to introduce something no one probably has thought about nor factored into the AMI Smart Meter hidden costs continuum , and that is, healthcare services and ancillary costs stemming from non-ionizing radiation RFs/EMFs Smart Meters impact upon human tissue.
There are mounting underlying, long-term adverse health effects accruing as we speak from PA PUC-PECO forced AMI Smart Meter 24/7/365 RF/EMF electromagnetics, pulses, harmonics and dirty electricity, specifically adverse Non-thermal health effects, impacting children and an ageing PA population, which will generate dire fiscal consequences, plus responsibilities, upon Penna. Medicaid health cost line items in each year’s operating budget for the Commonwealth.
To cement that forewarning, I offer the World Health Organization’s statistic, “Approximately 10% of reported cases of EHS [electromagnetic hypersensitivity] were considered severe,” which means specialized caregiving. That, however, does not include cancer-induced health issues from RFs/EMFs! What kind of budget shortfall will AMI Smart Meters adverse health effects eventually generate for PA’s legislature and governor to haggle about, when we’ve seen what’s been going on recently to get a state budget passed? Has anyone thought about that very real problem?
Continued in Part 3 | 1real |
WACKO LIBERAL PUNDIT: ‘GOOD NEWS’ BECAUSE ISIS ATTACKS IN U.S. WILL JUST BE SMALL SCALE | 1real | |
France's Le Pen: far-right will rebuild, continue fight against EU | PARIS (Reuters) - Marine Le Pen, the leader of France s far-right National Front, said the party would rebuild after her number two quit on Thursday and said she would continue to campaign against the EU and for national sovereignty . The National Front will rebuild itself without difficulty, she told LCP television. There are lots of talented people, lots of people with profile ... that I am going to lead. Her deputy Florian Philippot, who advocated a strong line against the euro and drafted the manifesto for this year s presidential election, when Le Pen resounding lost the run-off to Emmanuel Macron, quit over policy differences. Rather than softening her stance on the EU in the wake of his departure, Le Pen said she would pursue that line. National sovereignty is a mainstay of our struggle, she said. We will continue to fight the European Union with all our soul because it is an instrument for the elimination and impoverishment of our people. | 0fake |
TRUMP GIVES BRUTAL WARNING To Lawless Sanctuary Cities…There’s A New Sheriff In Town [Video] | .@KrisKobach1787: Trump has made clear that sanctuary cities could lose federal grants if the mayors continue to defy federal law pic.twitter.com/mGrYjDCdFi FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) November 15, 2016 | 1real |
Thousands donate to Planned Parenthood in name of anti-abortion U.S. vice president-elect | NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Thousands of people have made donations to Planned Parenthood in the name of Vice President-elect Mike Pence, an abortion opponent, so that he will receive official acknowledgements from the women’s health care provider, the group said on Tuesday. The idea of making donations in Pence’s name arose and spread on social media as a protest after Republican Donald Trump won his bid for the U.S. presidency in a surprise victory last week. Both Trump and Pence, his running mate, have pledged to curtail women’s rights to abortion. Trump said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Roe v Wade legalizing abortion should be overturned and that he would appoint an anti-abortion justice to the nation’s highest court. Trump also said women who had abortions should be punished but later said it was doctors who perform abortions who should be punished. Pence, whose home state of Indiana has restrictive laws regulating access to abortion, has pushed for Congress to defund the nonprofit Planned Parenthood, which performs some abortions. A number of celebrities have publicized the donation campaign in Pence’s name with posts on social media, including Emmy Award-winning comedian Amy Schumer and actresses Ashley Hinshaw, Jaime Perry and Amber Tamblyn. They said their donations to Planned Parenthood included the address of Pence’s office in Indiana so it would get the acknowledgement that Planned Parenthood mails to donors. At least 20,000 people who have donated money since the U.S. election on Nov. 8 named Pence as donor, out of 160,000 people overall, a Planned Parenthood spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Planned Parenthood has reported a surge in donations and demand for long-acting contraceptives since Trump’s election. Pence signed a law this year that would have banned abortions due to genetic abnormality, criminalized collection of fetal tissue for research, required fetal tissue be buried or cremated and made women look at their fetal ultrasounds before getting an abortion. A federal judge blocked the law in June. Pence’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Planned Parenthood, which has more than 650 health centers nationwide, relies on public funding for about 40 percent of its funding. Private donations comprise about one quarter of its revenue, it said in its 2016 annual report. | 0fake |
China says made representations to North Korea over nuclear test | BEIJING (Reuters) - China s foreign ministry said on Monday it had lodged solemn representations with the North Korean embassy in Beijing over the North s sixth and most powerful nuclear test. North Korea is clear about China s opposition to its nuclear tests, ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular briefing, adding that China upholds talks as the means to resolve the Korean peninsula issue. The North said it tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, prompting a vow of massive military response from the United States if either it or its allies were threatened. | 0fake |
Is Hillary’s Meltdown Real, or a Staged Exit? | 21st Century Wire says As shocking and controversial as Hillary Clinton s recent public health incident may seem, there s something oddly convenient about the near perfect proximity and position of the viral video footage, as well as other scenes like her nurse assistant squeezing her fingers in full public view. One would expect the campaign would want to conceal these extremely embarrassing moments from the media.Clearly, there is more going on here than meets the eye, or not?https://twitter.com/DBloom451/status/775810589125775360Some further medical commentary from FOX News regular Dr. Zuhdi Jasser: | 1real |
President Obama really really really really hates Maureen Dowd | President Obama's affection for the New York Times op-ed section is pretty well-documented at this point. David Brooks and Tom Friedman are regulars at Obama's occasional off-the-record conversations with columnists, and attended one right before the start of airstrikes against ISIS, along with fellow columnist Frank Bruni; Brooks in particular has been a longtime White House favorite.
But according to David Axelrod's new memoir, Obama reserves an intense loathing for their colleague Maureen Dowd. Here's how Axelrod remembers an encounter during Obama's campaign trip to Europe in the summer of 2008:
Maureen Dowd, the talented but tart columnist for the Times, was traveling with us and was granted a brief interview with Obama. When we brought her to the front of the plane for the interview, however, Obama proceeded to blister her for a previous column she had written. No one got under Barack's skin more than Maureen, whose penchant for delving into the psyches of her subjects was particularly irritating to the self-possessed Obama. Normally polite under any circumstances, he was patronizing and disrespectful to Maureen in a way that I had rarely seen. This was not well received by Dowd who, like most journalists, was accustomed to firing off salvos, yet decidedly uncomfortable when fired upon herself. After that awkward encounter, she seemed to take particular delight in psychoanalyzing Barack and belittling him in print, which only deepened his contempt. Maureen, who is as gracious and loyal to her friends as she is rough on the high and mighty, would become a friend of mine in Washington, which became a minor source of tension with Obama. "Why are you friends with her?" he would demand after Maureen sent one of her acid darts his way.
In an email to the Huffington Post's Michael Calderone, Dowd denied that her writing was motivated by a desire to avenge Obama's slight, writing "The idea that I punished him for giving me his opinion is not true and plays into an unfortunate stereotype of women, the Furies swooping down."
In any case, Obama's certainly not the first person to lodge this particular complaint against Dowd, that she is excessively interested in psychoanalyzing political figures while neglecting what it is they're actually advocating, that, in her own words, she "focuses too much on the person but not enough on policy." In a 2005 profile by Ariel Levy in New York Magazine, Dowd dismissed this criticism as sexist: "All the great traumatizing events of American history— Watergate, Vietnam, the Iran/contra stuff — have always been about the president’s personal demons and gremlins. So I always thought that criticism was just silly … as if it was a girlish thing to be focused on the person."
WATCH: Obama on why he's such a polarizing president | 0fake |
Woman 'eaten alive' by daughter's dogs | Woman 'eaten alive' by daughter's dogs 2 German shepherds reportedly responsible for mauling death Published: 1 min ago
(FOX5NY) — NEW YORK (INSIDE EDITION) – A 68-year-old woman was found dead in the basement of her New York home by her devastated daughter, who told authorities her dogs may have eaten her mother, a police source told Inside Edition.
Officers responding to a 911 call for an unconscious and unresponsive woman found the body of Daisie Bradshaw in her Staten Island home at about 9:40 a.m. Tuesday, the NYPD said.
The victim, who was found beaten and bruised, was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. | 1real |
A HUGE Percentage Of Americans Think Trump Fired James Comey Only To Protect Himself | While team Trump is making light of the damage done by former FBI Director James Comey s highly anticipated testimony on Thursday, the public knows that the amateur president s decision to fire the very man leading an investigation into possible collusion and ties between his administration and Russian officials was only to protect himself. Comey isn t the first official the former reality show star has fired who was leading an investigation into his administration s growing scandal.In fact, a bigly amount of people aren t buying what Trump is selling. The firing of James Comey shocked the nation because of the timing of it all.According to a new poll, more than 60 percent of Americans think that Trump fired Comey in order to protect himself rather than to help the country.Time Magazine reports:Seven in 10 (72%) Americans don t trust Trump s word on Russia, but 55% also don t buy Comey s likely a reflection of his own past controversies such as Hillary Clinton s email scandal and an overall distrust of the federal government, according to results from an ABC News and Washington Post survey.Only 27% felt that Trump dismissed Comey for the good of country. A majority of respondents (56%) believe the President is trying to interfere with the Russia probe Comey was supervising prior to his firing.It s not just Democrats, but conservatives, too, who doubt that Trump fired Comey for selfless reasons in order to Make America Great Again. Even conservatives know that it s about Russia. In fact, a whopping 60 percent had low trust in regards to what Trump claims about Russia just 33 percent said that they had substantial trust. That means that Trump is losing his own base.The polls are certainly going to get worse for Trump after voters are polled following the testimony today in which Comey suggested that his termination from the FBI was for nefarious reasons. Comey has a go-in-alone strategy and he took notes of their meetings after feeling uncomfortable because of Trump s actions. Comey said he was not made to feel that way by former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. But he did feel that way with Trump.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1real |
WALMART WILL MELT CLASS RINGS WITH CONFEDERATE FLAG: [Video] Refuses To Fulfill Order For Arkansas Woman…Will Refund Payment | An Arkansas woman who went to pick up the class ring she ordered from Walmart left disappointed, after store officials told her the retailer s new policy barred them from turning the item over because it bore an image of the Confederate flag.Elaine Glidewell told KFSM someone from the store in Fort Smith called her to pick up the ring she d ordered for her nephew, but when she arrived on Tuesday, a clerk told her she couldn t have it. The ring had been ordered before Walmart stopped selling items bearing images of the flag, in the wake of controversy that stemmed from a racially-charged shooting in South Carolina. I wanted to cry, Glidewell told KFSM, adding that the store clerk said the ring would be melted. Glidewell said she paid $320 for the ring and was going to present it to her nephew, who recently graduated. He had expressed interest in a design that bore a Rebel mascot that incorporates the Confederate battle flag. She got her money back, but no ring. They wouldn t let me have the ring. It had a note on it, was in a plastic bag, it said do not sell. It was signed by the store manager, Glidewell said.Brian Nick, spokesman for Walmart, told FoxNews.com Glidewell was denied the ring because her transaction came after the retailer made a business decision to stop selling items with the Confederate flag on it.Via: FOX News | 1real |
Compromises being reached in Iran talks | Washington (CNN) Compromises on some of the crucial issues that have long divided the West and Iran over the latter's nuclear program -- including the number of centrifuges Tehran can keep in any deal -- are being reached in ongoing talks, according to Western officials.
Two Western diplomats told CNN Thursday that the parties are narrowing in on 6,000 centrifuges, down from the 6,500 that had been under discussion.
But both American and Iranian officials strongly denied that there was a draft agreement under review, as the Associated Press reported earlier in the day.
"There's no draft document being circulated," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday, as negotiations ahead of a March 31 deadline for a framework deal continue in Lausanne, Switzerland. "The fundamental framework issues are still under comprehensive discussion."
Testifying at a congressional hearing Thursday morning, Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken also denied the report.
"My understanding is that there is no draft," Blinken said.
A senior Iranian negotiator similarly stated that "we haven't started drafting yet" and that no specific details on issues such as the number of centrifuges have been agreed to.
"The numbers and figures mentioned here and there are just imaginations," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi told Iran's state-run Press TV.
"If [Iranian leaders] cannot agree to a reasonable deal, they will keep Iran on the path it's on today," he said, according to prepared remarks, "a path that has isolated Iran, and the Iranian people, from so much of the world, caused so much hardship for Iranian families, and deprived so many young Iranians of the jobs and opportunities they deserve."
He went on to frame the current opportunity to secure a deal as fleeting and historic, one, he said, "we should not miss."
The President also said in his Nowruz message that "the days and weeks ahead will be critical" for negotiations, and acknowledged that while "negotiations have made progress...gaps remain."
One of those gaps in the negotiations concerns the number of centrifuges Iran can use to enrich uranium.
While Iran claims its nuclear program is peaceful in nature, the U.S. is determined to restrict the amount of time in which Iran would be able to produce the fissile material for one nuclear weapon -- referred to as "breakout time" -- to more than a year. Limiting the number of centrifuges would be key to such a goal.
The delegations, which also include the U.K., France, Germany, Russia and China, are also seeking to bridge disagreements over how long restrictions would remain on Iran's nuclear program before they are phased out.
The U.S. is seeking to keep the bulk of restrictions in place for 10 years, according to the AP report. But Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the timeframe of the agreement is still being discussed by negotiators.
He also pushed back on the idea that all of the checks on Iran would automatically expire at the end of this period.
"What we are proposing and what we are seeking to achieve is a series of constraints and obligations," he explained. "Some will end after a long period of time, others will continue longer than that, and still others will be indefinite, in perpetuity."
Previously, U.S. officials have said the U.S. is working towards a "double-digit" time frame.
In a briefing in Lausanne Thursday on how and when sanctions against Iran would be phased out, U.S. officials said they didn't expect that Iran would accept a 15-year deal.
But they added that a considerable amount of time, in which Iran would have established a long history of compliance, would have elapsed before the full termination of sanctions would be warranted.
Sanctions have become a key part of the debate in Washington over the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran, as Republican and some Democratic members of Congress have objected to the deal and shown little inclination to lift sanctions legislators have imposed -- a key form of leverage on Iran.
U.S. officials on Thursday sought to allay some of the concerns.
The officials said that sanctions relief would be phrased -- suspended first and repealed later -- in case Iran violates its commitments, and be dependent on benchmarks such as verification by the U.N. nuclear agency.
However, the officials said the U.S. would be prepared to move quickly with relief if Iran moved quickly with compliance, and that they wanted to makes sure there was significant relief without too much delay because if only a little were given done up front, Iran might feel there is no political benefit in a deal.
The officials also described a snap-back mechanism that the U.S. wants to accompany the suspension or termination of U.N. sanctions, which are in addition to those Congress has mandated. One kind of snap-back sanctions would require a U.N. Security Council vote, but officials suggested it might be possible to put a trigger in place, in which a full vote wouldn't be necessary.
The U.S. and its five partners, known collectively as the P5+1, are also emphasizing the need for nuclear inspectors to be given full access to Iranian facilities so they can ensure Iran remains in compliance with the terms of the deal.
"We are pushing tough issues," Kerry told a group of reporters Thursday, but "we are making progress."
Kerry has met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif repeatedly over the past couple weeks in an effort to resolve these obstacles, and other points of contention that stand between them and a deal. | 0fake |
Guns, terror, and LGBT rights: Orlando shooting raises stakes for next president | Gun control, homegrown extremism, homophobic violence and the war against Islamic State have all been highlighted by the Orlando nightclub massacre, but deadlock in Washington means major legislation will probably have to wait until after the November election.
Whoever wins the US presidency will find an in-tray where the threat of terrorism at home, and the commitment to wars abroad, grinds on 15 years after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Senate Democrats went on the front foot on Monday, calling for laws that would make it harder for terrorists to get their hands on firearms, in particular assault rifles.
In a vivid illustration of ideological division, however, Republican flag-bearer Donald Trump opposed gun control measures, lambasted the immigration system as “dysfunctional” and claimed vindication in his call for a ban on foreign-born Muslims entering the US.
A landslide victory for Clinton or Trump, with reflected gains in Congress, could give one or the other a mandate for change lacking during the Obama years. In the meantime there is realpolitik. With Obama facing a Republican-led House and Senate, the prospects for action are remote even after the killing of 49 people in the worst mass shooting in American history.
Even so, Senate Democrats lost little time on Monday in urging quick passage of legislation defeated last year to impose additional gun controls. The bill would prevent people on “terror watch lists” and other “suspected terrorists” from buying firearms or explosives.
The killer in Orlando has been identified as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American-born Muslim, whose weapons included an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. FBI officials said they had investigated him in 2013 and 2014 on suspicion of terrorist sympathies but could not make a case against him.
Obama himself weighed in on Monday. “The fact that we make it this challenging for law enforcement, for example, even to get alerted that somebody who they are watching has purchased a gun – and if they do get alerted, sometimes it’s hard for them to stop them from getting a gun – is crazy. It’s a problem. And we have to, I think, do some soul-searching.
“But again, the danger here is, is that then it ends up being the usual political debate. And the NRA and the gun control folks say that, oh, Obama doesn’t want to talk about terrorism. And if you talk about terrorism, then people say: why aren’t you looking at issues of gun control?”
At the start of his second term, Obama pushed legislation to expand background checks, ban certain assault-style weapons and cap the size of ammunition clips. That measure collapsed in the Senate and there has been little movement since.
But if Trump provokes an electoral backlash, handing sweeping victories to Democrats, there could be new opportunities for Clinton, who has been more outspoken on the issue than candidates in previous years.
On Monday, she told a rally in Cleveland, Ohio: “If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you should not be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked. And you shouldn’t be able to exploit loopholes and evade criminal background checks by buying online or at a gun show. And yes, if you’re too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America.”
Yet the watchlist argument is less simple than meets the eye. The no-fly list, for example, has come under fire from left and right. Drawn up by the FBI in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, it contains 700,000 names, according to one estimate, and has mistakenly included infants, US military veterans and politicians, including Edward Kennedy and John Lewis. Analysts describe it as an unfocused and unwieldy blunt instrument.
This is one reason why a Congress that blocked gun control measures after the shooting of 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Connecticut, seems unlikely to shift gear now. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, admitted: “I don’t know whether this profound tragedy will have more of an impact on the minds of members of Congress. Hopefully it will.”
But Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, disagreed that stricter gun laws were the solution. “I think there’s other root causes in play,” he told the Associated Press. “I think mental health is a huge issue.”
These are the tangibles, more readily quantified. What the White House and Congress should do to promote harmony with both the Muslim and LGBT communities is a more textured long-term challenge, where tone is crucial.
With characteristic bombast, Trump charged straight in on Monday. “When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats,” he said.
“We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer.”
He added: “The Muslim community’s so important. They have to work with us … and turn in the people who are bad.”
At Clinton’s rally, the tone was very different. “We should avoid eroding trust in that community … inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and threatening to ban the family and friends of Muslim Americans, and millions of Muslim business people, hurts the vast majority of Muslims, who love freedom and hate terror.”
It is no coincidence, she added, that hate crimes against American Muslims and mosques have tripled since the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.
She called on local leaders, teachers and communities to develop education to recognize signs of radicalisation. And in contrast to Trump’s proposed ban on individuals, she instead took aim at foreign governments, implying she would take a tougher stand than Obama. “It is long past time for Saudis, Qataris, Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organisations.”
The Orlando attack has also focused attention on hate crimes against gay men and lesbians in America. The Obama administration has overseen great strides, including the legalisation of gay marriage, but, activists note, this can conceal ongoing hostility and prejudice in many communities. The recent political debate over transgender bathroom use is seen as one example that contributes to a hostile climate.
It was reported on Monday that members of Congress plan to ask the White House to end a decades-old policy that prohibits many gay men from donating blood. Senators including Elizabeth Warren have long criticised the rule as discriminatory.
Using the alternative term Isil, Obama acknowledged the targeting of LGBT people by Islamic State but gave little hint of new concrete measures. “Regardless of the particular motivations of this killer, there are connections between this vicious, bankrupt ideology and general attitudes towards gays and lesbians. And unfortunately, that’s something that the LGBT community is subject to not just by Isil but by a lot of groups that purport to speak on behalf of God around the world.”
Trump, meanwhile, set himself up as an unlikely champion of the LGBT community. “Ask yourself: who is really the friend of women and the LBGT [sic] community – Donald Trump, with his actions, or Hillary Clinton, with her words? Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country – they enslave women, and murder gays. I don’t want them in our country.”
But Trump’s remarks met with scepticism from gay rights activists, who argue that he has vowed to appoint supreme court justices who would roll back nationwide marriage equality.
Jay Brown, communications director of the Human Rights Campaign, said: “Let’s be clear: LGBTQ people are Muslims.
“And make no mistake, Donald Trump is no friend of the LGBTQ community. Donald Trump has vowed to roll back marriage equality, pass Kim Davis-style discrimination and allow governors from coast to coast to pass laws like North Carolina’s HB2. Trump’s rhetoric today isn’t fooling anyone and what he is peddling isn’t protection. It’s poison.” | 0fake |
Facebook Founder Tells Trump to go F*ck Himself In A HUGE Way (SCREENSHOTS) | Donald Trump is horrible, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is not at all shy in letting the world know that. My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla s parents were refugees from China and Vietnam. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that, Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook Friday. Like many of you, I m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump. Zuckerberg, of course, is referecing Donald Trump s recent executive orders authorizing the gigantic waste of taxpayer dollars that is his border wall, a partial ban on Muslims entering the United States, and even concentration camps for his planned massive immigrant roundup. We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat, the Facebook CEO continued. Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don t pose a threat will live in fear of deportation. We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That s who we are, Zuckerberg says. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla s family wouldn t be here today. Though he is critical of Trump s horrible stance and actions, Zuckerberg says he is glad to hear that Trump plans to work something out for DREAMers, adding that he hopes the protections available to them survive the Trump administration and that he is glad Trump says he feels the United States should benefit from people of great talent coming into the country. These issues are personal for me even beyond my family. A few years ago, I taught a class at a local middle school where some of my best students were undocumented. They are our future too. We are a nation of immigrants, and we all benefit when the best and brightest from around the world can live, work and contribute here, Zuckerberg adds. I hope we find the courage and compassion to bring people together and make this world a better place for everyone. You can read the full post here:(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 = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla's parents were refugees from China and Vietnam .Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, January 27, 2017featured image via Getty Images(Win McNamee)/screengrab | 1real |
Senator Rubio: Hackers targeted former presidential campaign staffers | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said during a Senate intelligence hearing on Thursday that unsuccessful cyber attacks from Russia targeted former members of his presidential campaign staff in July 2016 and within the past 24 hours. Rubio said he would not comment on a remark earlier in the hearing by Clinton Watts, a cybersecurity expert, that Rubio may have been victimized by Russian activity during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination against President Donald Trump. The cyber attacks Rubio mentioned took place after the end of his campaign for the nomination. | 0fake |
British PM May pledges to protect Europe from Russian threats | LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday the government would maintain its commitment to protecting Europe after Brexit as she accused Russia of military aggression and meddling in elections. The prime minister said Britain would continue to provide assistance to states that were victims of aggression. The UK will remain unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe s security, May said in a speech at the Guildhall in London s financial district. The comprehensive new economic partnership we seek will underpin our shared commitment to open economies and free societies in the face of those who seek to undermine them. The British government is playing one its strongest cards in the Brexit negotiations by offering to put its defense and security assets at the disposal of the EU in the hope of winning concessions on future trading and economic relations. The country has bigger defense budgets than any other EU member state and its diplomatic and intelligence services are among the most extensive in Europe. Its government also argues it is one of the leading EU contributors to a range of security measures, such as data and evidence sharing, extradition measures and to the EU s police agency Europol. May on Monday accused Russia of fomenting violence in eastern Ukraine, of repeatedly violating the national airspace of several European countries, and mounting a campaign of cyber attacks. She also accused Russia of meddling in elections and hacking the Danish defense ministry, the German parliament and its state-media of planting fake stories and photo-shopped images in an attempt to undermine western institutions. May said the government is working to reform NATO so it is better placed to counter Russian hostility and has stepped up military and economic support to Ukraine. We will take the necessary actions to counter Russian activity, she said. May also said she wanted better relations with Russia if it worked to promote peace. Russia can, and I hope one day will, choose this different path, she said. But for as long as Russia does not, we will act together to protect our interests and the international order on which they depend. | 0fake |
BREAKING: IT TURNS OUT BOWE AND B.O. HAVE SOMETHING ELSE IN COMMON [Video] | Besides being a muslim terrorist sympathizer, it appears Bowe and B.O. have something else in common Why is this guy (who is still considered active duty ) free to roam around while he awaits his trial? Has everyone forgotten the lives of 6 brave Army members were lost searching for this idiot? Additionally, gave 5 terrorists back in a deal to get this traitor back on U.S. soil, and we release him into the general public? Who s got time for remorse? It s party time for Bowe!Here are the 6 soldiers that were killed looking for Bergdahl: Here are the 5 Taliban terrorists we released in order to obtain Bergdahl:Bowe Bergdahl was detained as part of the raid but was not arrested. He was subsequently delivered to the Army in Oakland by Sheriff s personnel.Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl was caught this week at a northern California pot farm during a raid last weekend. The Politico reported:https://youtu.be/1duRQb1khkEArmy Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was seen at a Northern California marijuana farm during a raid last weekend, where the former captive of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in Afghanistan was reportedly visiting friends.According to the initial report from The Anderson Valley Advertiser, Bergdahl was an unexpected visitor at the Mendocino County farm, which is approximately 120 miles up the coast from San Francisco. He had no connection to the dope grow, according to that report.Authorities from the county sheriff s department confirmed to NBC Bay Area that Bergdahl did not face any charges and was not arrested during the raid.The initial report from the Advertiser said that military officials were notified, quoting county sheriff Tom Allman who said that Bergdahl was not involved in the growing of marijuana and was above politeness, showing his military ID as others in the house were being arrested. Via: Gateway Pundit | 1real |
WATCH: Anderson Cooper BEATS DOWN Trump Campaign Manager For Being A Hypocrite | Kellyanne Conway finally got buried by a barrage of questions calling her and Trump out for being hypocrites, and it was totally epic.When FBI Director James Comey first cleared Hillary Clinton of any wrongdoing, Donald Trump attacked Comey and called the system rigged. And then Trump did the opposite when Comey announced the discovery of some more emails. Now Donald Trump is once again attacking Comey.During an interview on CNN, Anderson Cooper asked Conway to explain why Trump is still saying that Hillary is going to be indicted when the facts don t support him. Wasn t it irresponsible of him at that point to be saying such things without having any facts, particularly now that Comey has come forward and said there was nothing there? Cooper asked.Conway then launched into complaints that Hillary s campaign attacked Comey, only to be reminded by Cooper that Trump s campaign has done the same thing every time they didn t get the result they wanted.Cooper asked his original question again, and Conway still refused to answer by attacking Clinton. Conway also reasoned that it s okay for Trump to speculate without facts because some people on CNN have done so. But Cooper told Conway that just because people jump off a bridge doesn t mean you should. Conway finally was forced to say that she doesn t think Trump is being irresponsible.Conway then whined about Hillary going negative against Trump, which forced Cooper to remind her that Trump has been going negative throughout his campaign.Then Conway swerved again and focused on the Clinton Foundation. But once again, Cooper foiled her talking points by noting that we know more about the Clinton Foundation than we know about Trump s tax returns, because unlike Trump, Hillary released documents. Isn t it a little hypocritical to be using information that you know about the foundation because they actually have released all of their financial records when your candidate hasn t done any of that? Cooper asked.Of course, Conway denied the blatant hypocrisy and quizzed Cooper to answer how Trump made his money. Cooper zinged back by saying people build buildings and Trump slaps his name on them for licensing fees, which made Conway cry foul.Conway then returned to whining about Hillary s campaign attacking Comey after praising him in July. But again, Cooper hit Conway with the fact that Trump has also gone back and forth attacking and praising Comey.And then Conway claimed that Hillary had her maid print out information. Cooper flattened that claim by pointing out that it was a story by the New York Post that hasn t been confirmed.Finally, Conway claimed that Hillary is desperate by hanging out with performers like Beyonce and Jay-Z, but claimed that people are only going to those rallies to see the celebrity singers. But when Cooper pointed out that Ted Nugent is appearing with Trump at rallies Conway insisted that people are going to those rallies to see Donald Trump.Here s the video via YouTube.Over and over again, Kellyanne Conway flat out committed hypocrisy and got called out for it by Cooper. How she can actually look herself in the mirror every morning knowing that she is lying and being a hypocrite every day is a mystery. But when this election is over, Conway should never be allowed to work again in politics or in the media. And Donald Trump certainly should not be allowed to become president.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
Merkel: I will announce decision on fourth term at right time | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she would announce at the appropriate moment whether she will run for a fourth term next year, adding “that is not today.” She was speaking during a news conference in Berlin with U.S. President Barack Obama who said he might vote for Merkel if he was German. “Merkel has been an outstanding partner,” Obama said. Many in Germany expect Merkel to run in a general election next year in which her conservatives are expected to remain the largest bloc in parliament. | 0fake |
Pro-business Sessions will not go easy on corporate crime: lawyers | (Reuters) - Jeff Sessions may be known as a pro-business conservative but as U.S. attorney general he is unlikely to shy away from indicting big companies and individuals for serious white-collar crimes, legal experts said, citing his record as a lawmaker. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named Sessions, a four-term senator from Alabama and former federal prosecutor, to lead the Justice Department. Sessions, 69, an early supporter of Trump, is expected to accept the cabinet post if confirmed. A spokesman for Sessions did not respond to a request for comment. Because of the dearth of big banks and companies in his home state, there is little in Sessions’ track record as a federal prosecutor and state attorney general from the 1970s to the 1990s to suggest how he might approach complex cases of corporate malfeasance. But a review of his record in the Senate indicates he will likely push for corporate indictments, instead of settling for fines, and may focus on putting more executives in prison, lawyers who specialize in white-collar crime said. For example, during a 2010 confirmation hearing for James Cole, Sessions questioned the former U.S. deputy attorney general about the “dangerous” philosophy of not charging companies criminally because of concerns that doing so could lead to bankruptcy and hurt employees and shareholders. “Normally, I was taught if they violated a law, you charge them. If they didn’t violate the law, you don’t charge them,” Sessions said during the hearing. Matthew Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor and lawyer at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, said Sessions’ remarks suggested that he may be more willing than the current administration to require a guilty plea from corporations with less concern for collateral consequences. He said Sessions would also likely support the Justice Department’s renewed efforts to prosecute executives, outlined in a policy memo last year by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. While an unabashed businessman, Trump was highly critical of Hillary Clinton’s ties to Wall Street, accusing his Democratic rival of being beholden to the interests of big investment banks. That message resonated with many working class voters who suffered in the financial crisis of 2008 and are still angry that no top-level Wall Street figures have been prosecuted for acts that almost brought down the global financial system. “Until we see evidence to the contrary, it appears that the new Justice Department will be one that will seek to hold every individual accountable to the fullest extent. So the stakes may be higher,” Schwartz said. Jackson Sharman, a white-collar defense lawyer in Alabama, said that he believed Sessions would want to be as tough on white-collar as on street criminals. He pointed to Sessions’ recent opposition to a crime bill that would have shown sentencing leniency for non-violent offenders. Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor and Columbia Law School professor, who has testified before Sessions’ Senate Judiciary Committee, agreed that the Alabama senator will be “a strong supporter” of corporate enforcement. In the past, Sessions has come out in favor of tough Justice Department tactics against companies accused of fraud. In 2007, corporate counsels pushed for a law that would have stopped the Justice Department from pressuring companies to waive attorney-client privilege during fraud investigations. But during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sessions argued against any such rule, noting that prosecutors regularly pressure street criminals to waive constitutional rights using the threat of tougher penalties if they do not co-operate. Sessions said the Justice Department should be able to use similar leverage against corporations. Corporate crime “is not easy to prosecute or investigate. They have the best lawyers that you can find, and they utilize all the legitimate tools that they have,” Sessions said. “And you have to be strong... a prosecutor cannot be a weak-kneed person going up against a major corporation in a fraud case.” | 0fake |
Trump's budget depends on strong growth, 'feedback' for balance | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s promise to balance the federal budget in a decade rests on a sustained rise to 3 percent annual economic growth that he promised in his election campaign and a vague “feedback” effect that lowers the annual government deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. The projections are a leap of faith that many economists and the Federal Reserve regard as unlikely in a country where the population is aging and productivity has lagged. They also hinge on continued low interest rates, low inflation and full employment - a decade free not just of major economic shocks but of the sort of mild recession considered part of a capitalist economy’s normal ups and downs. According to the summary tables released by the administration on Monday night, the administration is assuming economic growth reaches 3 percent annually by the end of Trump’s first term and stays there at least through 2027. Actual first quarter economic growth was a weak 0.7 percent on an annualized basis, though current Fed forecasts expect about 2.1 percent growth for the year. Economic growth is one reason the plan forecasts tax receipts growing by around 5 percent a year even as the president promises tax cuts that “will spur investment and create jobs.” Inflation is assumed to hit the Fed’s 2 percent goal and stay there, compared to the Fed’s current forecast of just below 2 percent for 2016. The budget assumes the unemployment rate will rise slightly from its current 4.4 percent rate and stay at a long-term average of 4.8 percent. Without that jump in growth and the steady environment surrounding it, deficits would increase by as much as half a trillion dollars a year - around where they are now - according to administration estimates that include an “effect of economic feedback” that reduces the government’s annual shortfall by an amount that grows to $496 billion by 2027. The exact nature of the “effect of economic feedback” was not detailed in the initial documents. President Barack Obama’s last budget assumed 2.6 percent annual growth, and even that is considered optimistic by professional economists and the Federal Reserve. Central bankers have penciled in trend U.S. growth of around 1.8 percent over the long run. Some Wall Street analysts, giving credit to some of Trump’s possible tax cut ideas, forecast economic growth could hit 2.3 percent in 2020, according to the latest quarterly poll of forecasters by the Philadelphia Fed. “With all due respect, the full fiscal Trump magic was never a realistic outlook,” Erik Nielsen, chief economist at UniCredit, wrote in a note to clients on Sunday. Growth since 2000 has averaged 1.9 percent in the United States; over the course of a decade the difference between that and Trump’s 3 percent figure compounds to an additional $2 trillion annually that would not get spent, invested or taxed. The administration is also assuming that interest rates remain low, with a 10-year Treasury bond rate that rises to 3.8 percent and remains there, a figure critical to projected government borrowing costs. While the 10-year bond has averaged near that level throughout this century and is currently well below it, periods of faster economic growth generally involve higher rates because of both the likelihood of tighter monetary policy and the likely demand for U.S. securities if the economy does accelerate. | 0fake |
John McCain Brushes Off Hispanic Voters, Says The GOP Doesn’t Need Them To Win | When you re running for re-election in your toughest campaign yet, in a state with a heavy Hispanic voting population, what s the one thing you shouldn t do? Well, for starters, you shouldn t underestimate the voting bloc that could make or break you.But John McCain doesn t care. Even though he runs neck-in-neck with Democratic Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick in a general election matchup, he is adamant he and the GOP don t need the Hispanic vote to win:An interesting phenomenon right now is the huge turnouts for the Republican primaries, low turnout for the Democrat primaries. Now if all those people would get behind the Republican candidate, I think we could win this election despite the alienation, frankly, of a lot of the Hispanic voters.Two things: one, there s no correlation between primary turnout and wins in the fall in the last 11 elections (a statement that was rated true by Politifact), and two: do not underestimate Hispanic voters. As the Huffington Post notes, the Hispanic and Latino voting bloc could tip the scales for Democrats in Arizona. And, as of right now, the majority of them support Ann Kirkpatrick.The angry white vote can only carry McCain so far. And with a mounting challenge by Tea Partier Kelli Ward, McCain can t afford a split Arizona Republican Party.Like Donald Trump, Republicans are cashing in on their last ditch effort to convince enough angry, latently racist white voters to save them, and screw the rest.Kirkpatrick jumped all over McCain s idiotic comments, saying:I wonder what thousands of Latino families across Arizona will think when they hear that John McCain is willing to alienate them as long as he and Republicans win in November. McCain, who already revealed that his Latino outreach efforts are a pure, political move, has changed his positions on important issues such as immigration reform and the DREAM Act, depending on who he talks to or whether it s an election year. And McCain has repeatedly promised to support Donald Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee, in spite of Trump s racist, anti-Latino rhetoric.Donald Trump? Alienation? Flip-flopping? It s as if McCain is dying to retire. Let s make sure in November he gets what he deserves a swift kick in the behind.Featured image via Wikipedia | 1real |
Wisconsin agrees to statewide recount in presidential race | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wisconsin’s election board agreed on Friday to conduct a statewide recount of votes cast in the presidential race, as requested by a Green Party candidate seeking similar reviews in two other states where Donald Trump scored narrow wins. The recount process, including an examination by hand of the nearly 3 million ballots tabulated in Wisconsin, is expected to begin late next week after Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s campaign has paid the required fee, the Elections Commission said. The state faces a Dec. 13 federal deadline to complete the recount, which may require canvassers in Wisconsin’s 72 counties to work evenings and weekends to finish the job in time, according to the commission. The recount fee has yet to be determined, the agency said in a statement on its website. Stein said in a Facebook message on Friday that the sum was expected to run to about $1.1 million. She said she has raised at least $5 million from donors since launching her drive on Wednesday for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania - three battleground states where Republican Trump edged out Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by relatively thin margins. Stein has said her goal is to raise $7 million to cover all fees and legal costs. Her effort may have given a ray of hope to dispirited Clinton supporters, but the chance of overturning the overall result of the Nov. 8 election is considered very slim, even if all three states go along with the recount. The Green Party candidate, who garnered little more than 1 percent of the nationwide popular vote herself, said on Friday that she was seeking to verify the integrity of the U.S. voting system, not to undo Trump’s victory. While there was no evidence of tampering or voting errors in the election, only a thorough review of results from the three states at issue will reassure Americans, Stein said. “This was a hack-riddled election,” she told CNN, pointing to various cyber-attacks on political organizations and individual email accounts before Election Day and media reports citing concerns raised by computer security specialists. Experts urged extra scrutiny of the three states, Stein said, because their voting systems were seen as vulnerable. They also cited “unexplained high numbers of undervotes,” the close finish between the two nominees and “discrepancies between pre-election polling and the official result,” she said. According to Stein, the Wisconsin commission confirmed receipt of her recount petition at 3:45 p.m. local time, just over an hour before the deadline for filing. The filing deadline is Monday in Pennsylvania and Wednesday in Michigan. The Wisconsin board said Stein was joined in her petition by another third-party candidate, Rocky Roque De La Fuente. Although Trump won narrowly in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the margins make it highly unlikely any recounts would end up giving Clinton a win in all three states, which would be needed for the overall election result to change. Trump beat Clinton in Pennsylvania by 70,010 votes, in Michigan by 10,704 votes and in Wisconsin by 27,257 votes. The presidential race is decided by the Electoral College, based on a tally of wins from the state-by-state contests, rather than by the popular national vote. The Electoral College results are expected to be finalized on Dec. 19. Trump surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win, although Clinton will have won the national popular vote by more than 2 million ballots once final tallies are in. A representative for Trump’s transition team on Thursday had no comment on Stein’s effort, and Clinton has not commented on Stein’s effort. | 0fake |
Trump Moves Ahead with ‘The Wall’ Between US and Mexico | This week President Donald Trump followed through with his most audacious building a wall along the US southern border with Mexico.After his visit to the Department of Homeland Security this afternoon, Trump is set to sign government directives today that will set in motion the construction of a new system of border reinforcement which will include a number of new provisions -including the wall.The move is expected to correspond with announcements on stricter immigration procedures in the short term sending out a power message to illegal immigrants hoping to cross the US southern border from 2017.Bloomberg adds: The Trump administration is also considering a 120-day suspension of refugee admissions and cutting the total number allowed into the U.S. in the current fiscal year from 110,000 to 50,000, actions that could be announced as soon as Thursday, according to a person familiar with the plan. The border directives come immediately on the heals of Trump s recent statements and executive move to renegotiate, or cancel Washington s position in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the TransPacific Partnership (TPP).Once again, Trump is wasting no time putting his signature campaign issues into play something many of his critics have doubted he would be doing.READ MORE MEXICO NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Mexico FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Trump says Mexico would repay U.S. funds spent on border wall | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Friday Mexico would repay the United States for his planned border wall, a day after news emerged that his transition team was exploring getting the Republican-led Congress to vote to approve the funding. Trump told the New York Times he would most likely seek repayment through renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which groups the United States, Mexico and Canada. Sean Spicer, a spokesman for Trump, said on Friday the incoming administration would need government funding to build the wall and that Trump said in October Mexico’s payment would be a reimbursement. “The idea that we’re going through the appropriations process and figuring out how to pay for it shouldn’t be news,” he told a briefing, confirming earlier reports on the funding. Trump’s promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and make Mexico pay for it, was a major campaign theme and helped energize his supporters. The suggestion has infuriated Mexican officials who have said they would never agree to pay for a wall. Trump may face resistance in Congress to the idea of the United States paying for the wall. Some Republican lawmakers worry about the high cost and question whether it is the best way to solve the complex issue of illegal migration. Some conservative groups have called for a crackdown on benefits and jobs available to illegal migrants, which they say are a magnet for migration. Republican Representative Luke Messer told reporters on Friday he had proposed legislation to get Mexico to pay for the border wall by ending a child tax credit given to illegal immigrant parents, which he said cost $4.2 billion annually. “If you close that loophole for two years, you could pay for the higher ticket cost,” Messer said, referring to one estimate that a wall could cost $10 billion. CNN and other media organizations reported on Friday Trump’s transition team had signaled to congressional Republicans that he preferred to fund the wall through Congress as soon as April. In response, Trump tweeted that the media was not reporting that Mexico would repay money spent to build the wall. A ‘Pay for the Wall’ memo Trump’s team issued in early 2016 proposed pressuring Mexico by cutting off remittances from undocumented Mexicans in the United States. It proposed amending the Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, to include wire transfers as accounts that could be frozen. “It’s an easy decision for Mexico: make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion to ensure that $24 billion (in remittances) continues to flow into their country year after year,” the memo said. “We have the leverage, so Mexico will back down,” it said. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s office declined to comment on Trump’s comments on Friday. In August, Pena Nieto told Trump Mexico would not pay for a border wall. Representative Martha McSally, the Republican chair of the border and maritime security subcommittee, told Reuters a 2006 law known as the “Secure Fence Act” would give Trump the authority he needs to extend fencing or build a wall. An internal report prepared by U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimates initial costs for expanding border fencing would cost over $11.3 billion. Building a wall would be more costly. Trump has signaled since being elected that he would be open to fencing rather than a wall in some areas. If funding was tied to a government funding bill, lawmakers could be forced to approve it to avoid a government shutdown. House appropriators have no interest in threatening a shutdown, spokeswoman Jennifer Hing said. “The (appropriations) committee has not received any request from the Trump team or GOP leadership on this issue. If and when a proposal is received, we will take a careful look at it,” she said. The Mexican peso MXN=, which briefly weakened about 0.2 percent against the dollar following Trump's tweet, fell to record lows this week as Trump intensified criticism of businesses making goods in Mexico rather than in the United States. | 0fake |
Political polarization is what paralyzes us - The Boston Globe | Neil Gabler has discounted political polarization as the cause of congressional inaction (“Is America too old to be bold?”). In fact, both parties have discovered that driving their bases to the poles is key to winning elections. Party strategists have discovered that it is much easier and cheaper to motivate the base than it is to convince centrists and the undecided.
This electoral strategy leads to extreme rhetoric and constant attacks on the other party in a concerted effort to produce outrage among committed believers.
It is no surprise that it has also produced political gridlock. | 0fake |
Iran sticks to key limits of nuclear deal: U.N. watchdog report | VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has remained within the main limits on its nuclear activity set by its 2015 deal with six world powers, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in its first report since U.S. President Donald Trump decertified Iranian compliance with the terms. Iran undertook to curb its uranium enrichment program in return for relief from international sanctions that crippled its economy, and U.N. nuclear inspectors have repeatedly verified Tehran s adherence to the key aspects of the accord. Trump has called the agreement between Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union the worst deal ever and he disavowed Iran s compliance last month. His decision did not constitute a U.S. exit from the accord but raised concern about its staying power. Trump s move, at odds with the commitment of the other parties to the deal, meant the U.S. Congress must decide by mid-December whether to reimpose economic sanctions lifted under the accord, reached under his predecessor Barack Obama. If Congress reimposes the sanctions, the United States would in effect be in violation of the deal and it would likely fall apart. If lawmakers do nothing, the deal remains in place. In response, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Tehran will stick to the nuclear accord as long as the other signatories respected it, but would shred the deal if Washington pulled out. If the deal unravels, it would strengthen hardline opponents of Hassan Rouhani, Iran s pragmatist president who opened up diplomatic channels to Western powers to enable nuclear diplomacy after years of worsening confrontation. Iran s stock of low-enriched uranium as of Nov. 5 was 96.7 kg (213.2 pounds), well below a 202.8-kg limit set by the deal, and the level of enrichment did not exceed a maximum 3.67 percent cap, said the confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report sent to IAEA member states and seen by Reuters. Iran s stock of so-called heavy water, a moderator used in a type of reactor that can produce plutonium, a potential nuclear bomb fuel, stood at 114.4 metric tonnes, below a 130-tonne limit agreed by the parties to the deal. The 3.67 percent enrichment and 202-kg stockpile limit on uranium, and the 130-tonne cap on heavy water, aim to ensure that Iran does not amass enough material of sufficient fissile purity to produce a nuclear bomb. Such a device requires uranium to be refined to around 90 percent purity. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told Reuters in September he would welcome clarification from the powers on how the agency should monitor Iran s implementation of the so-called Section T of the nuclear pact that deals with certain technologies that could be used to develop an atom bomb. Russia had been critical of the agency s monitoring of Section T provisions, but Monday s report said the IAEA had verified Iran s commitment to the section. | 0fake |
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