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PartyNextDoor Is Finding His Voice, and a Bigger Spotlight - The New York Times | After hours at the Brooklyn Museum on Friday night, hundreds of young people bopped along while a D. J. cycled through the summer’s hottest rap and RB songs. As the event reached its climax, the ubiquitous opening notes of a guaranteed crowd pleaser — “Work,” by Rihanna, featuring Drake — vibrated through the room. But when the vocals on the demo recording started, it was obvious that this wasn’t the version that spent nine weeks as the No. 1 song in the country. In place of Rihanna, the nimble, addictive patois was delivered by PartyNextDoor, 23, the Canadian producer and RB singer who wrote the song’s melody and helped to usher in a pop moment deeply indebted to the Caribbean. PartyNextDoor, gliding through the crowd to the D. J. booth, was not there to celebrate his role in the song of the summer, however, nor was he touting his contributions to Drake’s latest album, “Views,” which spent 12 weeks atop the Billboard chart. “PartyNextDoor 3,” his own new album, had just been released, capping one of the more quietly influential runs of 2016. Now he was, somewhat reluctantly, the main attraction. As the first artist signed to Drake’s OVO Sound label, a partnership with Warner Bros. in 2013, PartyNextDoor has had his fingerprints on every Drake release since, in addition to the steady flow of slurry, nocturnal RB under his own name. But Drake casts a wide shadow, and PartyNextDoor (born Jahron Anthony Brathwaite) has thus far been comfortable in the shade. “You don’t really know anything about me, and that’s how I like it,” he said in a rare interview before the album release party. But with credits on a No. 1 song — as well as friends and collaborators like Drake, Rihanna and Kylie Jenner — come more expectations. PartyNextDoor acknowledged that while his new album might not be his solo breakthrough to the pop mainstream, he hopes it is a step further. “More people’s eyes are on me now,” he said. “The people are literally watching me find my voice. ” So far, that voice has been malleable: and full of bravado, slipping easily into cadences (“Recognize”) or pure and sweet, leaning more toward soul (“Joy,” a highlight from the new album). Most often, it is carnal and as on “High Hopes,” the decidedly noncommercial intro to “PartyNextDoor 3,” which just sounds (to say nothing of the lyrics). In daylight, PartyNextDoor was more sitting at the kitchen table of a Airbnb rental in Midtown Manhattan as he rolled a blunt on a takeout sushi container. He wore a styled with safety pins, a nose ring and a folded bandanna around his skinny blond dreads. Prone to long pauses, as if avoiding verbal traps, he left more sentences dangling than he finished. Yet, after a string of niche projects that built his name and a dedicated online following, PartyNextDoor has become resigned to the fact that more visibility is a must for his career to progress. “From here on, I will try to do better at interacting with my fans,” he wrote in a note revealing the new album. Previous attempts at putting himself out there have been bumpy at best. This year, PartyNextDoor found himself drowning in internet drama after posting an Instagram with a rumored ex, the singer Kehlani. (“No one knows the details, and I don’t care to defend myself,” he said.) Not long after, he was caught up with the Kardashians after a series of paparazzi photos and a subsequent music video surfaced, featuring him in the company of Ms. Jenner, the youngest sister. Asked if he had actively courted TMZ attention by casting a reality star as his love interest, PartyNextDoor would only say, “I’m grateful that really pretty girls like my music, and social media just happens to like really pretty girls. ” While flaunting a Kylie endorsement is one thing, he is less willing to chase what’s hot musically. Raised in what he called a “super Jamaican household” in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, PartyNextDoor has long peppered his songs with dance hall sirens and slang. But recently, he has leaned into his Caribbean roots on “Work” and “Sex With Me,” another Rihanna track, along with Drake’s “With You,” a shimmering summer gem from “Views. ” “Not Nice,” a thumping single from “PartyNextDoor 3,” has a similar vibe, and given the album’s summer release and the trendiness of the sound, an entire record in that mold might have made sense. But a few songs aside, “PartyNextDoor 3” favors a grim, palette. “I could make a PartyNextDoor album that’s clean, all hits,” he explained. “That’s not what I care about doing. ” The same goes for being a pop songwriter, he said. After dropping out of high school at 17, he signed a publishing deal to write for others, well aware that that wasn’t his ultimate goal. He met Rihanna last year, during a writing camp at her Malibu home. “The first feeling I got was, ‘Why am I here? ’” he recalled. “All these guys have made hits already. ” But he was determined to create streamlined songs for her, requiring a different process than his looser, more experimental productions. Even “Work” was not an immediate fit. Despite Rihanna’s Bajan heritage, “her label didn’t care for Caribbean music at the time,” PartyNextDoor said. He and Drake considered keeping the track, or giving it to Alicia Keys, but Rihanna’s team came around “when it was all that she could sing around the house,” he said. “She fought for it,” he continued. “She said, ‘This is my family’s favorite song. ’” Collaborating with Drake may seem more fraught from the outside. During his chart dominance, Drake has been dogged by ghostwriting accusations, and observers have wondered whether OVO Sound, also home to Majid Jordan and Roy Woods, is just his “personal hit factory,” having not yet minted a star near the boss’s level. (Drake’s previous RB collaborator the Weeknd, by contrast, set out for — and achieved — pop stardom on his own.) PartyNextDoor insisted that their partnership was mutually beneficial. “I openly share music with Drake, especially when it’s time for him to have a project,” he said. At the same time, “I have an older brother I can text anytime, someone who’s super invested because my name is tied into his. “It’s just creatives cooking,” he continued of their work together. “If he sees something in a song of mine that he feels he can spin around and make better, who am I to say I’m going to selfishly keep it? As a fan of music, that’s wrong. ” He added, “Of course I want to be a superstar, but it doesn’t happen overnight, and I see that from having a mentor. ” The two work in harmony, not in lock step, each playing his role. “We have similar stories, but not the same story,” PartyNextDoor said. “Being a fan got me to him, but he needs me to be me. I need to be me. ” | 0fake |
LEFTY MEDIA PULLS WOMAN CARD: Why Hillary Chose To Wear White To Debate Trump | Without saying any words, Hillary Clinton sent a message to voters the moment she walked onto the stage at Wednesday night s presidential debate in Las Vegas.Or rather the Democratic presidential candidate s white Ralph Lauren pantsuit sent the message.Clinton has worn Ralph Lauren s designs often since kicking off her campaign. For example, she wore a cobalt blue Ralph Lauren suit for the campaign s opening rally last year in New York City.But it s her choice of color not designer that s significant. The choice of a white suit for Wednesday s debate harkened back to the not-so-distant past, when suffragettes wore white to promote their struggle to gain the right to vote, Booth Moore, senior fashion editor for The Hollywood Reporter and Pret-a-Reporter, told ABC News moments after Clinton took to the debate stage at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Adds Moore, It also serves as a reminder to voters, during a time when Trump has been under fire for lewd comments and accused by 10 women of inappropriate sexual behavior, that she is the women s candidate. There s even a connection between Clinton wearing white and being a presidential candidate.Israel Waismel-Manor, a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa s School of Political Science, tells ABC News, Candidate comes from the Latin word candidatus, which means white-robed. It signifies you are clean, have nothing to hide, pure. Trump is the opposite. Read more: ABC | 1real |
DRAMATIC TESTIMONY During Trump Town Hall: “Mr Trump, You Saved My Life” [Video] | Illegal aliens are killing Americans and Trump has taken up their cause. Here s part of a town hall with Hannity and Donald Trump joined by families of those murdered by illegal aliens heartbreaking!#MakeAmericaSafeAgain#TrumpPence16https://t.co/JNcfsLJF9i Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) August 24, 2016 | 1real |
Donald Trump’s Threat to Close Door Reopens Old Wounds in Cuba - The New York Times | HAVANA — It seemed like a new chapter in a long and troubled history. Thousands of Cubans bid farewell to Fidel Castro on Monday, filing into a plaza where he often railed against American imperialism. The same morning, the first regularly scheduled flight from the United States in more than 50 years landed in Havana, a potent example of the newly opened doors between the former rivals. But Donald J. Trump warned on Monday that the push to build ties with Cuba after decades of animosity could quickly be wiped away. “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the people and the U. S. as a whole, I will terminate deal,” he said on Twitter. Mr. Trump’s message threatened to end one of President Obama’s signature foreign policy initiatives. Mr. Obama’s moves to relax restrictions on commerce, trade and financial transactions with Cuba were never part of a single “deal,” but rather a decision that engagement with the island nation would bring more change than decades of isolation. “Change is going to come to Cuba,” Mr. Obama said shortly after announcing the thaw in December 2014. “It has to. ” Since then, the number of American visitors to Cuba has risen quickly, with hotels in Havana sometimes being booked nearly a year in advance, often with large American tour groups. Billions of dollars in goods from American stores like Walmart and Best Buy, financed on American credit cards, make their way to Cuba every year, experts estimate. Restaurants, cellphones and the internet have changed the rhythms and expectations of Cuban life. But critics have long attacked Mr. Obama, saying he gave too much to the Cubans too soon, without first demanding that they open up their society and usher in an era of political freedom. Now, after two years of presidential directives by Mr. Obama to strengthen ties with Cuba, and millions of dollars in American investments, a question remains: Can the détente be rolled back? Even some Obama administration officials concede that the thaw is highly vulnerable to reversal because much of it has been accomplished through executive action. Mr. Trump could, for example, order the State Department to review its decision last year to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, or suspend diplomatic relations that were resumed last summer with the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington. But Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, argued on Monday that Mr. Trump would have a hard time reversing a policy that had already yielded business deals and benefited the people of both countries. There will soon be 110 daily flights from the United States to Cuba, he noted, not to mention the investments by cruise, tour and hotel operators to prepare for those visits. “Unrolling all of that is much more complicated than just the stroke of a pen,” Mr. Earnest said, adding, “It’s just not as simple as one tweet might make it seem. ” The Cuban government remained uncharacteristically silent on similar threats Mr. Trump made during the campaign, choosing instead to issue a congratulatory note after his election. But when Mr. Trump takes office, and his words become policy, “the Cuban government will have to respond, but hopefully with moderation,” said Ricardo Torres, a professor of economics at the University of Havana. Professor Torres said that there was much to be lost if the concessions were reversed, and that Havana would exercise restraint in its dealings with the Trump administration. But Mr. Trump’s antagonistic posture could embolden those in the Cuban government who have always been suspicious of the Americans and were against the warming relations brokered by President Raúl Castro, Fidel’s brother. “There’s no question this is a bad start to things,” Professor Torres said as thousands of students streamed by to bid goodbye to Fidel Castro, adding that Mr. Trump’s “belligerent attitude and animosity gives more reasons for suspicion and confirms the belief that this warming of relations wasn’t real. ” Mr. Trump has placed Mauricio a lobbyist who has been a harsh critic of Mr. Obama’s opening to Cuba, on his transition team for the Treasury Department. Under Mr. Obama, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which handles sanctions, has issued several rounds of regulations to remove impediments for American companies and individuals seeking to do business with Cuba and to travel there. In an opinion piece in The Miami Herald this month, Mr. argued that Mr. Obama’s “new course for Cuba has made a bad situation worse. ” Human rights activists have long complained that the Cuban government simply shifted its strategy regarding political prisoners after Mr. Obama’s détente. No longer are Cuban dissidents jailed for prolonged sentences, activists say. Instead, they are now rounded up for a few hours or a few days, according to the Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission, which logs every detention. There were 9, 125 detentions from January through October this year, the commission said — more than four times as many as in all of 2010. The highest number of arrests, 1, 416, occurred in March, when Mr. Obama made his historic visit to Cuba, becoming the first sitting American president to do so in 88 years. “To be clear, the wants to see freedom in Cuba for Cubans,” said Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump. Still, Elizardo Sánchez, who runs the commission, said Mr. Obama’s more open policy had helped more than it had hurt. “The personal contact that comes from all the travel has a huge impact in terms of fighting propaganda,” he said. “In a closed society, the door can only be opened a bit at a time. It’s going very slowly, but it’s happening. ” Others took Mr. Trump’s words as an assault that threatened to restart the kind of hostilities that the thaw was meant to end. “For a lot of people, it is an open threat to our sovereignty and history,” said Juan Alejandro Triana, also a professor at the University of Havana. “If the government of the threatens these things, we will respond. ” And yet, with the loss of Mr. Castro, Cuba’s response would most likely be muted, and easier for the world to ignore. Without their leader, for many, Mr. Trump’s comments seemed reminiscent of the longstanding policy of confrontation between the two nations. “We don’t have anyone else like him right now,” Randy Calderon, a biology student at Havana University, said of Mr. Castro as he stood in a crowd of thousands paying tribute on university grounds. Inside the law school, where Mr. Castro studied, a small shrine had been set up showing him as a student leader, with posters filled with comments from students, many expressing a desire for Mr. Castro to live forever as the country’s “eternal comandante. ” Even Cubans who challenge the ideology of “Fidelismo” express support for some of the revolution’s achievements, especially universal health care, and they often call for exactly the kind of hybrid of socialism and capitalism that the recent détente with the United States has expanded. Carlos Alzugaray Treto, a former Cuban diplomat, said the urgency to lock those changes into place had only intensified with Mr. Trump’s victory. “That type of bullying won’t work with Cuba,” he said. “Mr. Trump should remember the main reason President Obama changed the policy and made the agreement with Raúl Castro: The previous policy had failed. ” Financially speaking, the biggest and most immediate impact of reversing détente would be in the travel and hospitality sector in Cuba. The surge in American visitors to Cuba since the easing of travel restrictions has been a boon to hotels, transportation and the restaurant scene in Havana. Reversing some of Mr. Obama’s decisions could be legally difficult. Companies like JetBlue, Starwood and Airbnb have invested millions of dollars in time and resources to enter the Cuban market, and did so with the American government’s blessing. “In theory, Donald Trump has the ability to reverse almost everything Obama has done,” said Matthew D. Aho, an adviser on Cuba at the New York office of the Akerman law firm. “In practice, that reversal would be far more complicated from a legal process than most observers realize. ” Niuris Ysabel Higueras Martínez runs Atelier, a popular restaurant in Havana where Michelle Obama dined with her daughters during the president’s trip this year. Ms. Martínez is one of the nearly 500, 000 businesspeople who have entered the work force since the government began loosening employment restrictions in 2008. In 2015, she saw her business increase by 50 percent, she said, the largest rise since she opened in 2010. For the most part, the increase was a result of American visitors, who now make up some 85 percent of her clientele. “It would be a major blow to us,” Ms. Martínez said of Mr. Trump’s threats to reverse the détente. “Still, while we really need the American market, it won’t be the end of the world. We aren’t going to die. ” The debate is unfolding amid a fight among influential who are vying for the ’s ear. On one side are who advocate clamping down on the relationship and insisting on concessions in exchange for any United States engagement. On the other is a growing group that is pressing for further opening. “He’s surrounded by people who are only giving him one point of view — a very straight, approach that says we need to go back to the old approach — and it would be wise for him to be hearing the other side and the benefits of continuing to engage Cuba,” said Carlos Gutierrez, a Republican former commerce secretary who heads the U. S. Chamber of Commerce’s business council on Cuba. “To just get rid of that strikes me as going well overboard. ” After Mr. Castro’s death, he added, Cubans “would feel like when they needed us most, we turned our backs on them. ” | 0fake |
White House Press Secretary Responds To Question About Rising Obamacare Premiums With Torrent Of Toxic Spray From Parotid Glands - The Onion - America's Finest News Source | Report: Friend Has Been Going By Middle Name This Whole Fucking Time CALABASAS, CA—Astounded that it had never come up at any point in the six years they had known each other, local woman Lucy Reed, 25, reported Tuesday that her friend Nicole Silberthau had apparently been going by her middle name this whole fucking time. Teary-Eyed Tim Kaine Asks Clinton If His Hair Will Grow Back In Time For Election Day NEW YORK—His lower lip quivering while showing his running mate the uneven patches on his head where he attempted to give himself a trim, a teary-eyed Tim Kaine reportedly asked Hillary Clinton this morning if his hair would grow back in time for Election Day. | 1real |
Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Few companies have been as intimately tied to the Democratic Party in recent years as Google. So now that Donald J. Trump is president, the giant company, in Silicon Valley parlance, is having to pivot. The shift was evident a day after Congress began its new session this month. That evening, about 70 lawmakers, a majority of them Republicans, were feted at the stately Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, where they clinked champagne and bourbon glasses and posed for selfies with the 600 guests assembled in their honor. The event’s main host was not from the Republican establishment. Instead, the party was primarily financed and anchored by Google. “We’ve partnered with Google on events before, but nothing like this party,” said Alex Skatell, founder of The Independent Journal Review, a news with a millennial audience, which also helped host the event. The event was emblematic of an by Google. Over the last eight years, the company was closely associated with former President Barack Obama. Google employees overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama’s presidential campaigns, and some later took roles in his administration. Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, advised the Obama White House. And last year, Google employees gave $1. 3 million to Hillary Clinton’s campaign to succeed Mr. Obama, compared with $26, 000 to the Trump campaign, according to federal filings. Now, the tech giant is scrambling to forge ties with Mr. Trump’s new administration and to strengthen its relationship with a Congress. Most important, Google is trying to change the perception that it is a Democratic stronghold. That has led to events like the party at the Smithsonian, which the institution said had cost at least $50, 000. Mr. Schmidt has embarked on an East Coast charm offensive of Republican political leaders, including twice visiting Mr. Trump and his advisers at Trump Tower. Last month, Google also posted an opening to fill a position for a “conservative outreach” employee in its Washington office. “Google has a target on its back because it is fundamentally viewed as a Democratic company,” said Gigi Sohn, a former senior adviser to Tom Wheeler, who was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. “Even though it has reached out to Republicans, it can’t shake the image. ” Google said it had long had Republican lobbyists and had not changed its strategy. “We’ve worked with both Republicans and Democrats for over a decade, advocating policies to encourage economic growth, innovation and entrepreneurialism,” the company said in a statement. “We’ll continue to do exactly that. ” A spokesman for Mr. Schmidt added, “Eric has a long record of working constructively and energetically on important technology issues with American and world leaders across the political spectrum. ” Other Silicon Valley tech companies, like Facebook, are in a similar predicament. The perception is that they lean left and their executives backed Mrs. Clinton. Many are now also pledging to work with Mr. Trump and paid court to the new president at a December tech summit meeting. One week into the administration, Google and other tech companies began to push back, criticizing Mr. Trump’s executive order on immigration bans. The company said an estimated 187 employees were affected by the order and it urged any of those employees who were abroad to work with the company to return safely to the United States. ”It’s painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, said in a memo to employees over the weekend. “We’ve always made our views on immigration issues known publicly and will continue to do so. ” Google has much at stake as it repositions itself. During the Obama years, Google avoided American antitrust charges, even as European regulators accused the firm of antitrust violations in search and in its mobile business. Google also successfully pushed a policy agenda that included the creation of net neutrality rules in 2015 and the defeat of online piracy laws in 2012. Now warning shots against Google have been fired by those in Mr. Trump’s circle. Some of the president’s advisers have debated whether the tech behemoth deserves more antitrust scrutiny, according to two people briefed by the new administration’s transition team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist and Trump transition adviser, also compared the power that Google had under Mr. Obama to that which the oil giant Exxon Mobil had under President George W. Bush. Under President Bush, the administration largely agreed with Exxon’s skeptical stance on climate change policy. Mr. Trump’s team is particularly wary of one Google executive — Mr. Schmidt — who has been allied with Democrats. During last year’s presidential campaign, Mr. Schmidt counseled Mrs. Clinton on strategy. A photo of him wearing a staff badge at her party circulated widely in the conservative media. Mr. Trump’s advisers, including his chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, have complained about Mr. Schmidt’s funding of a called the Groundwork, which provided data and other technology for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. They also suspected Google was skewing search results in favor of Mrs. Clinton, said Barry Bennett, a former senior adviser for Mr. Trump’s campaign. “Mr. Schmidt spent millions and millions of his personal money to defeat Donald Trump,” Mr. Bennett said. “It takes a particular amount of gumption to pretend that never happened. ” Google has denied it tweaked its search results, which are determined by algorithms, and the company declined to comment on Mr. Schmidt. White House officials did not respond to a request for comment. For many years, Google’s support of Democrats was plain. Google’s political action committee and employees ranked third in all donations to Mr. Obama’s 2012 campaign at $804, 240, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2008, Google’s PAC and employees were sixth with $817, 855. The company did not rank in the top 20 for donations to Mr. Obama’s Republican opponents in either of those elections. About five years ago, Google began diversifying its bets. The company forged ties with the House of Representatives and started addressing the beginning of an antitrust investigation into whether the company was using its search dominance to suppress competing travel, map and restaurant sites. In 2011, Google hired Stewart Jeffries, a former member of the House Judiciary Committee, to lobby Republicans on Capitol Hill. That same year, it quadrupled its number of outside lobbying firms — including many with Republican lobbyists — to 24, from six in 2010. In 2012, Google named a former Republican congresswoman, Susan Molinari of New York, to lead its Washington office. Google also sponsored conservative think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation. The company has hosted Republican lawmakers including the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, and Darrell Issa of California at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google’s Washington office is now roughly split between Republican and Democrats. The company spent $15. 43 million in lobbying in 2016, according to federal lobbying documents, making it among the top dozen firms in lobbying spending last year. For the first time last year, Google’s PAC gave more to Republican congressional candidates than to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Even so, Google’s Republican ties got little notice because of the company’s strong relationship with Democrats. Several Google employees joined the Obama administration while dozens of government bureaucrats were employed by the tech company. Google’s head of global public policy, Caroline Atkinson, was Mr. Obama’s former national security adviser. A former Google executive, Megan Smith, became the nation’s chief technology officer. During his presidency, Mr. Obama also repeatedly supported proposals backed by Google, including net neutrality in 2015 and cable box reforms last year. “Google was very much treated as the golden child by the Obama administration,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, which has been critical of Google for privacy policies. Since the election, Google has accelerated efforts to win over the Republican White House and Congress. Before his visits to Trump Tower, Mr. Schmidt met with Mr. McCarthy and Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, who is chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Days after Mr. Trump’s victory, Google also contacted The Independent Journal Review, which it had worked with on events during the Republican campaign debates. Google told the news that it would provide the main funding for the party at the Smithsonian. Google said the event was open to both parties. But pairing with the conservative site sent a clear message to attendees. “We definitely helped draw Republicans and people from across the spectrum,” said the site’s founder, Mr. Skatell. At the party, several Republican lawmakers were positive about their tech host, brushing off questions about the company’s heft and power. “When I think of technology and Google, I don’t think of dominance,” said Representative Bradley Byrne, a Republican from Alabama. “I think of innovation. ” | 0fake |
Dipsh*t Adjusts Gun He Was Hiding In His SOCK Shoots Himself, Stranger At Graduation Ceremony | Millions of Americans across the country have concealed carry permits that allow them to carry their guns with them almost everywhere they go. The vast majority of these people, including my brother, have the common sense to purchase holsters to place their deadly weapons in; but then we have dumbasses like the one in Augusta, Kansas who thought, I don t need no stinkin holster! I ve got a perfectly good sock! As you can imagine, this isn t going to end well.Two people were hurt in an accidental shooting at Augusta High School s graduation ceremony over the weekend. According to Augusta Police Chief Tyler Brewer, a man was adjusting his gun when it went off, hit him, ricocheted and hit another woman. The shooting took place in a crowded stadium and was completely preventable, but the man was apparently an imbecile:Police told KWCH [News] the gun owner has a permit, and was carrying a small, semi-automatic gun in his sock. The gun in his sock was uncomfortable and he was apparently adjusting it when it went off.He. Was. Carrying. His. Gun. In. His. Sock. HIS SOCK!HIS SOCK!The brilliant, brilliant man ended up with a bullet wound in his foot and the woman with one in her calf. They are both expected to be okay. Chief Brewer said he plans on pursuing charges against the idiot because the shooting happened on school grounds. Imagine that, a gun owner who used his sock as a holster broke the law? Didn t see that coming.The NRA and the silly Republican politicians who are in their pocket claim that Democrats want to steal their firearms because we want stricter gun control laws. This is completely false, of course, and to my knowledge President Obama has still not carried out his nefarious gun grabbing plot, but right-wingers still believe it is going to happen. They argue about even basic laws like mandatory safety classes. Seriously. This shouldn t be a problem but it is and hundreds of people every year are hurt in shootings, like this one, that could have been prevented if the gun owner knew how to handle the weapon they so enthusiastically carry.But what do I know? I m just the sister of someone who owns an arsenal of guns and I ve never been shot once. I wonder why that is? Oh yeah, cause my brother knows that a sock isn t a fucking holster.Featured image via The Chive | 1real |
Samantha Bee: America Does Not Have a ’Smug Liberal Problem’ - Breitbart | Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” TBS’s “Full Frontal” host Samantha Bee said America does not have a”smug liberal” problem while discussing her “Not The White House Correspondents Dinner” special. When asked if there is a smug liberal problem in the United States Bee said, “I just can’t take responsibility for the way the election turned out. I just absolutely just — I don’t, I can’t. Is there a smug liberal problem? I guess you know I don’t think there is. I do the show for me and for people like me, and I don’t really care how the rest of the world sees it, quite frankly. That’s great. We make a show for ourselves. We put it out in the world. We birth it, and then the world receives it however they want to receive it. What can I do? Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
CNN IS OVER! Look What Trump Did Moments Ago To END Wolf Blitzer's Career... * LIBERTY WRITERS NEWS |
This story by Paris Swade .
CNN is over. CNN is over! We need to black them off the television screen. They should not even be aired in the United States because they are nothing but a propaganda arm for the Clinton campaign. WIKILEAKS JUST LEAKED PROOF THAT CNN WORKS WITH THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN.
They were just caught colluding with the DNC on what questions Wolf Blitzer should ask Trump ahead of his foreign policy address.
Here is a newly leaked email by Wikileaks with someone from the DNC asking for questions from the DNC to send to Wolf Blitzer. You can find the Wikileaks here .
Here is a new Wikileaks email where someone named [email protected] asking for questions to ask Cruz on CNN. You can find the Wikileaks by clicking here .
*** Here is the interview in question.
The DNC literally gave the questions for Wolf Blitzer to ask Trump. We need to expose this to the people of America. They are being lied to. It hurts my heart to see so many people so blind.
*** Share this if you are tired of the mainstream media lies!
Comment ‘BLACK OUT CNN’ below. We need to expose CNN for the criminals that they are!
Stand up patriots and share this with all of your friends. We have to get this information out. God bless Trump for standing up to this. | 1real |
NRI Muslim returns to India from US, says intolerance is over now | NRI Muslim returns to India from US, says intolerance is over now Posted on Tweet (Image via knowyourmeme.com)
An Indian Muslim, who has been residing in the United States for the past one year, has finally decided to return home after the results of the US presidential election were announced.
Javed Ayub, a 30-year-old software developer, who had left for the US last year after getting a job offer during the dark days of intolerance in India ahead of Bihar election, had come to the realization yesterday that normalcy had finally been restored in India and hence there was no reason for him to live in a foreign land anymore. He immediately mailed his resignation letter to his boss and uploaded his resume on Naukri.com.
Speaking to our correspondent, Mr. Ayub said, “I realized yesterday that my country needed me, but I was unsure as to whether the election results triggered the thought or I was really missing my homeland. Later when I was watching a movie…”
“Swades?” we inquired.
“Hmm, so while watching the movie, I could hear my heart pleading to me, “Ye jo des hai tera, swades hai tera, tujhe hai pukaaraaaa…”
“Is it actually possible?”
“Don’t know about yours but my heart definitely can sing.”
“But why did you leave India in the first place?”
“Well, let’s be honest, things were not that great last year.”
“But nothing has changed since then. People still fight over issues they are not remotely concerned about in reality.”
“That happens only on the internet. Do the same people fight in real world? No.”
“But can you really live peacefully amid sanghis and bhakts?”
“Arrey, no no, we never classified anyone. When there are 1.25 billion people living together, there will be difference of opinions, but we need to resolve our differences amicably, because at the end of the day, we are one big family.”
“Anyway, that was a good decision. So, whom did you support in the US election?”
“Hillary Clinton.”
“Was it because of Trump’s anti-Muslim statements or was there any other reason behind it?”
“No, no other reason. He is a racist and that’s why I did not support him. If I had a voter Id card, I would’ve voted against him,” his eyes darted towards a poster of Madonna on the wall in his living room as we concluded the interview. | 1real |
What to Watch for in Fashion in 2017 - The New York Times | So, the sparkly dresses and heat tech have been worn the ball, and the other shoe, has dropped. The year 2016 is over, and 2017 has begun. It’s no longer time to look back, but to look forward. And what do we see? When it comes to fashion — or more important, fashion as it affects life — there will be interesting times ahead. Here are some opening thoughts on what to watch for in the coming months. A new look in Washington and Paris. Pantsuits — at least on women — are out. So are the look and the look of men in shirt sleeves. In Washington, we are entering the era of the boxy, oversize suit, the big knot, the tie, and, maybe, European brands. As the Trump administration prepares to move into the executive wing, fashion — and the American capital — are preparing for a whole new style statement. The inauguration this month will throw down the gauntlet. What the will wear (Brioni is my best guess) may ultimately be less significant than what his wife and eldest daughter will wear. Judging by the designs that Melania and Ivanka Trump wore on the campaign trail and on New Year’s Eve, the age of American designers in the White House may be over. On Dec. 31, after all, Melania celebrated in a black Dolce Gabbana sheath (Stefano Gabbana, Instagramming the news, proudly joined the “I will dress Melania” camp). And previously, when stumping for her father, if not in her own brand, Ivanka opted for Roland Mouret and Alexander McQueen. If that pattern continues, that’s as big an upending of the soft status quo as anything Mr. Trump has pledged. Come Jan. 20, we’ll get the first real sense of what to expect. In France, where voters go to the polls in April and May, a candidate, François Fillon, is known for combining Savile Row tailoring and Italian style, as well as for his fondness of red socks from Gammarelli (official tailor to the pope). By contrast, his opponent, Marine Le Pen, has been characterized as promoting an image that is “mumsy” and “frumpy” — and not remotely in contrast with Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May — perhaps to try to make her party, the formerly fringe National Front, more accessible. Either way, the Pen oppositional should have a effect on fashion. Also on the runways. More upheaval on the runways. This year, the name to watch is indubitably Raf Simons, who makes his debut at Calvin Klein at New York Fashion Week in February, with a promise of shaking up the whole system. He’ll introduce his vision for the brand with a dual men’s and women’s wear show, thus giving his seal of approval to the new trend, which extends from New York to London and Milan, and which includes Gucci, Burberry and Bottega Veneta. Think of it as the bandwagon of the sexes. And more cultural action off the runways. It’s going to be a banner year for fashion exhibitions. In February, in the middle of fashion month, Kensington Palace in London will host “Diana: Her Fashion Story,” a collection of garments worn by the princess in the 1980s and ’90s. In July, just before the couture shows kick off, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris will present “Christian Dior. ” And in between those two openings, three major retrospectives will be unveiled in May: “Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion,” at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London “The World of Anna Sui,” at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London (the first retrospective of an American designer to be held in Britain) and, of course, “Rei des Garçons” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The Met show should provide the best moments of the year, as gala attendees attempt to honor Ms. Kawakubo’s work, which focuses less on beauty than on the question of what clothing is. It should give new meaning to the concept of wearable art. Then there are the movies. On the subject of the Met and the Costume Institute gala: The Party of the Year is set to play a pivotal role in the coming remake of the film “Ocean’s 11,” called “Ocean’s 8. ” Then there’s a new crop of fashion biopics in the works, and they are doozies. Jack O’Connell has been signed to play Alexander McQueen in Andrew Haigh’s movie on the British designer, which is set to start filming in the spring Daniel will channel Charles James for Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie about the couturier, who was the subject of a Met show in 2014 and on the small screen, Lady Gaga will be Donatella Versace in “ : American Crime Story,” the third season of the FX television drama. Will this help or hurt the increasingly intertwined relationship between Hollywood and high fashion? Reviews, and box offices, will tell. The wedding of the year. O. K. they haven’t set a date, but there’s little doubt that the marriage of the tennis great Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian, of Reddit, is going to be a style grand slam. Between Ms. Williams’s avowed interest in fashion — see the outfits she designs for Nike, as well as her own line — and her willingness to take risks with tradition, her B. F. F. status with the American Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and her status as a crown princess of the BeyHive (see her appearance in Lemonade, this could put a whole new spin on nuptial trends. Pun intended. | 0fake |
The man behind the Trump rally disturbance in Reno | The man behind the Trump rally disturbance in Reno 11/06/2016
USA TODAY
The man who caused a commotion at a Donald Trump rally Saturday said he’s a registered Republican who wanted only to show his displeasure with his party’s nominee.
Members of the audience at the event for the GOP presidential nominee tackled Austyn Crites, 33, of Reno after someone yelled “gun” while others were trying to rip away his anti-Trump sign.
“I just went with sign that said ‘Republicans Against Trump,’ ” Crites said. “It’s a sign that you can find online. I held up the sign and initially people around me were just booing me telling me to get out of there. Then a couple of these guys tried grabbing the sign out of my hands.”
Crites had no weapon. Secret Service agents later released a statement to that effect and let him go without charges.
Agents whisked Trump offstage because Crites was near the front of the auditorium at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
Crites said he holds no ill will toward the Secret Service or Reno police, who were just doing their job.
“I was trying to get the Secret Service’s attention for them to respond,” said Michael Newton, 45, of Santa Rosa, Calif., who helped restrain Crites. “They didn’t respond. I thought I had to do something. I put my knee on what I think was his head, so I’m not really sure. There were five guys on him and he was moving. I tried to help them immobilize him.” In final Colorado push, Trump urges supporters to hand-deliver ballots
Newton said he felt as if Crites were the aggressor.
“I saw his hand contact someone’s face,” he said. “Maybe two people.”
Crites said he didn’t strike anyone, but after he was taken to the ground, he felt as if he were being mobbed.
“Multiple people just tackled me down, kicking me choking me and just beating me up,” he said. “That’s when things even got crazier. I was on the ground and people were holding my arms, legs and I kept saying I can barely breathe. I was turning my neck just to get a little bit of air to keep from passing out.”
That’s when police intervened, taking Crites away in handcuffs.
Newton’s partner, Donald Newton, 47, of Santa Rosa took video of the immediate aftermath.
The Secret Service said its investigation is ongoing. The agency uses magnetometers at presidential campaign sites, making it difficult for weapons to be smuggled into events.
What’s baffling to Crites is how anyone could have thought he had a gun. His sign was in the air for some time and he wasn’t making any sudden movements, he said.
“It wasn’t like they noticed something suspicious and tackled me,” Crites said. “That’s not the case.”
He said he backs some GOP candidates and just wanted to voice frustration with Trump, not cause panic.
“I love all the people in that rally,” he said. “We’re all fellow Americans. They’re doing their patriotic duty. They support their candidate. I’m just there showing that I’m a Republican. I’m all of your people’s brother. I just have a slight difference of opinion.”
Later on Facebook, Crites wrote that he has no connection with the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton but has canvassed for her for about three hours, contributed to her campaign and voted for her.
“Take what happened to me tonight as a classic example of dictator incitement of violence — against your own Republican brother with a stupid sign,” he wrote. The post and his entire account were taken down soon afterward as some Trump supporters on social media called him a “Clinton thug,”“Hillary shill” and “Trump assassin.”
Shortly after the incident at the rally, Trump returned to the stage to raucous applause, thanking the Secret Service and launching back into his prepared remarks. His campaign later issued a statement also thanking the Secret Service and his supporters.
Follow Seth A. Richardson on Twitter: @SethARichardson | 1real |
WATCH: Trump’s Insult To The Troops He Didn’t Want You To See | Donald Trump has once again used images of non-American military in a campaign appeal. This time the former reality TV star used images of Communist soldiers in a web ad advertising his support of veteran s issues.The men were clearly Communists, as the detail on their medals read CCCP, the Russian initials for USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.Interesting choice for a photo of veterans in this @realDonaldTrump video: https://t.co/NdxdwpvMDD pic.twitter.com/PiagKGTP8H Josh Perry (@MrJoshPerry) January 22, 2016After he was called out for posting the Communist soldiers as Americans, the Trump campaign pulled the video. But here it is.The incident is not the first time Team Trump has tried to pass off foreign soldiers as Americans. In July, Trump tweeted out a photo of himself embedded on the American flag with a photo of soldiers. The problem is, that photo was a picture of German Nazi soldiers. As in the photo of the Communist soldiers, a cursory glance at the picture would have revealed the SS eagle logo on the side of their uniforms.As he often has done during the campaign, Trump blamed the photo on a young intern and pulled the picture.It was the same excuse he used on Friday when he re-posted a complimentary Twitter image from an account called White Genocide, who turned out to be a Trump supporter who also is a backer of the white supremacist movement.Trump s campaign is a cult of personality, built of toadies who appear to have risen in the ranks based on how much they suck up to the former reality TV star. Actual competence doesn t seem to matter at all. Even more damning, it doesn t seem to matter to Republican voters, who appear quite fine with giving their support to Trump, even as he can t show the basic respect that is due to members of the U.S. armed services.But then again, that seems to be the mindset of most of the Republican establishment, so perhaps it shouldn t be so surprising or jarring.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Robert Parry: US Intel Report on ‘Russian Hack’ Still Lacks Proof | Consortium News Exclusive: Despite mainstream media acceptance, the U.S. intelligence community s assessment on alleged Russian hacking still lacks hard public evidence, a case of trust-us by politicized spy agencies, writes Robert Parry.By Robert ParryRepeating an accusation over and over again is not evidence that the accused is guilty, no matter how much confidence the accuser asserts about the conclusion. Nor is it evidence just to suggest that someone has a motive for doing something. Many conspiracy theories are built on the notion of cui bono who benefits without following up the supposed motive with facts.But that is essentially what the U.S. intelligence community has done regarding the dangerous accusation that Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated a covert information campaign to influence the outcome of the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election in favor of Republican Donald Trump.Just a day after Director of National Intelligence James Clapper [image, left] vowed to go to the greatest possible lengths to supply the public with the evidence behind the accusations, his office released a 25-page report that contained no direct evidence that Russia delivered hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton s campaign chairman John Podesta to WikiLeaks.The DNI report amounted to a compendium of reasons to suspect that Russia was the source of the information built largely on the argument that Russia had a motive for doing so because of its disdain for Democratic nominee Clinton and the potential for friendlier relations with Republican nominee Trump.But the case, as presented, is one-sided and lacks any actual proof. Further, the continued use of the word assesses as in the U.S. intelligence community assesses that Russia is guilty suggests that the underlying classified information also may be less than conclusive because, in intelligence-world-speak, assesses often means guesses. The DNI report admits as much, saying, Judgments are not intended to imply that we have proof that shows something to be a fact. Assessments are based on collected information, which is often incomplete or fragmentary, as well as logic, argumentation, and precedents. But the report s assessment is more than just a reasonable judgment based on a body of incomplete information. It is tendentious in that it only lays out the case for believing in Russia s guilt, not reasons for doubting that guilt.A Risky BetFor instance, while it is true that many Russian officials, including President Putin, considered Clinton to be a threat to worsen the already frayed relationship between the two nuclear superpowers, the report ignores the downside for Russia trying to interfere with the U.S. election campaign and then failing to stop Clinton, which looked like the most likely outcome until Election Night.If Russia had accessed the DNC and Podesta emails and slipped them to WikiLeaks for publication, Putin would have to think that the National Security Agency, with its exceptional ability to track electronic communications around the world, might well have detected the maneuver and would have informed Clinton.So, on top of Clinton s well-known hawkishness, Putin would have risked handing the expected incoming president a personal reason to take revenge on him and his country. Historically, Russia has been very circumspect in such situations, usually holding its intelligence collections for internal purposes only, not sharing them with the public.While it is conceivable that Putin decided to take this extraordinary risk in this case despite the widely held view that Clinton was a shoo-in to defeat Trump an objective report would have examined this counter argument for him not doing so.But the DNI report was not driven by a desire to be evenhanded; it is, in effect, a prosecutor s brief, albeit one that lacks any real evidence that the accused is guilty. Further undercutting the credibility of the DNI report is that it includes a seven-page appendix, dating from 2012, that is an argumentative attack on RT, the Russian government-backed television network, which is accused of portraying the US electoral process as undemocratic. The proof for that accusation includes RT s articles on voting machine vulnerabilities although virtually every major U.S. news organizations has run similar stories, including some during the last campaign on the feasibility of Russia hacking into the actual voting process, something that even U.S. intelligence says didn t happen.The reports adds that further undermining Americans faith in the U.S. democratic process, RT broadcast, hosted and advertised third-party candidate debates. Apparently, the DNI s point is that showing Americans that there are choices beyond the two big parties is somehow seditious. The RT hosts asserted that the US two-party system does not represent the views of at least one-third of the population and is a sham, the report said. Yet, polls have shown that large numbers of Americans would prefer more choices than the usual two candidates and, indeed, most Western democracies have multiple parties, So, the implicit RT criticism of the U.S. political process is certainly not out of the ordinary.The report also takes RT to task for covering the Occupy Wall Street movement and for reporting on the environmental dangers from fracking, topics cited as further proof that the Russian government was using RT to weaken U.S. public support for Washington s policies (although, again, these are topics of genuine public interest).Behind the CurtainThough it s impossible for an average U.S. citizen to know precisely what the U.S. intelligence community may have in its secret files, some former NSA officials who are familiar with the agency s eavesdropping capabilities say Washington s lack of certainty suggests that the NSA does not possess such evidence.Binney, in an article co-written with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, said, With respect to the alleged interference by Russia and WikiLeaks in the U.S. election, it is a major mystery why U.S. intelligence feels it must rely on circumstantial evidence, when it has NSA s vacuum cleaner sucking up hard evidence galore. What we know of NSA s capabilities shows that the email disclosures were from leaking, not hacking. For instance, that s the view of William Binney, who retired as NSA s technical director of world military and geopolitical analysis and who created many of the collection systems still used by NSA.There is also the fact that both WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and one of his associates, former British Ambassador Craig Murray, have denied that the purloined emails came from the Russian government. Going further, Murray has suggested that there were two separate sources, the DNC material coming from a disgruntled Democrat and the Podesta emails coming from possibly a U.S. intelligence source, since the Podesta Group represents Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments Continue this article at Consortium NewsREAD MORE RUSSIAN HACK NEWS AT: 21WIRE Russia Files | 1real |
State Secrets Privilege Invoked to Block Testimony in C.I.A. Torture Case - The New York Times | The Trump administration has invoked executive powers in a bid to block the testimony of several top C. I. A. officials in a federal lawsuit against two psychologists who helped run the agency’s harsh interrogation program, along with portions of 172 internal agency documents. Hoping to prevent the officials, including Gina Haspel, the agency’s new deputy director, from being forced to testify, the administration is using the state secrets privilege, which means the executive branch is asking the judge in the case to keep information out of court by asserting that its disclosure would damage national security. The government rarely tries to use the extraordinary power, and this is among the first assertions of it by the Trump administration. At an earlier phase of the case in Federal District Court in Spokane, Wash. the Obama administration did not invoke the privilege — although in court filings last year, it did leave the door open to doing so at a later stage. The lawsuit was filed in 2015 by two former detainees at C. I. A. secret prisons overseas and the representative of a third man who died in custody. If they prevail in the suit against the former military psychologists, James E. Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, who helped devise and run the interrogation program, it would be the first time an American civilian court has held anyone accountable for a role in developing counterterrorism policies after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The two former prisoners say they suffered lasting harm from their treatment at C. I. A. “black sites,” secret interrogation and detention centers that it operated overseas. Suleiman Abdullah Salim, a Tanzanian who may have been a victim of mistaken identity, was held in a darkened C. I. A. prison in Afghanistan and subjected to beatings, hanging in chains, sleep deprivation, and water dousing, which involves pouring ice water over detainees to create a sensation of drowning, according to a Senate report and interviews with him. Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, a Libyan also held in Afghanistan, who was likewise mentioned in the Senate report, described being slammed against a wall, shackled to the ceiling, locked in wooden boxes and also subjected to the ice water treatment. The third man, an Afghan named Gul Rahman, died in 2002 in a secret C. I. A. prison in Afghanistan after being left nearly naked and shackled to a wall in the cold. Lawyers for Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Jessen have clashed with the Justice Department over what classified evidence is needed to defend against the lawsuit’s allegations that the two men designed and put in place “an experimental torture program. ” Their lawyers argue that the psychologists were contractors acting under C. I. A. direction, so they should be considered government agents entitled to protection from civil lawsuits. Lawyers for the former prisoners have said that they do not need any classified information to make their case, and they are instead relying on declassified documents, including the executive summary of the 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report that condemned the agency’s use of torture, including the use of waterboarding and other agonizing techniques. Complicating matters, in the military commissions system at Guantánamo Bay, defense lawyers for a detainee who was tortured in C. I. A. custody are seeking courtroom testimony by Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Jessen. The detainee, Abd is accused of helping orchestrate the 2000 bombing of the American destroyer Cole off the coast of Yemen and could face the death penalty if convicted. In December, Mr. Nashiri’s lawyers, who are trying to get the case thrown out, asked the military judge to order pretrial testimony from the two psychologists, as well as the C. I. A. ’s former top lawyer, John Rizzo, and the former chief of the Counterterrorism Center of the C. I. A. José Rodriguez Jr. in connection with the destruction of videotapes showing Mr. Nashiri being waterboarded. On Tuesday, The Miami Herald reported that the military judge had authorized the defense lawyers to call four former C. I. A. officials as witnesses. But it was not clear whether that testimony would be public. The ruling, which was not yet available, was said to have identified them only as witnesses A, B, C and D. In the civil lawsuit in federal court in Spokane, the judge had already approved requests for oral depositions of Mr. Rizzo and Mr. Rodriguez. But the lawyers for the defendants have sought testimony from more C. I. A. officials. In June 2016, the defendants asked to depose James Cotsana, a former C. I. A. official who they said oversaw their activities, but the agency refused to allow him to testify. In December, the defendants issued subpoenas to depose two other agency employees: Ms. Haspel, who was initially described in court papers as “Gina Doe,” and a still unidentified official described as “ Doe,” Mr. Cotsana’s successor as chief of special missions for the C. I. A. ’s counterterrorism center and chief of the C. I. A. ’s renditions group. After the C. I. A. announced on Feb. 2 that Ms. Haspel was President Trump’s choice as the agency’s deputy director, a lawyer for Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Jessen reminded the government of the subpoenas. The defendants said in their filings that Ms. Haspel, who ran one of the C. I. A. ’s secret detention sites, was “centrally involved in the events alleged” by the plaintiffs. The defense has also asked for dozens of documents from the C. I. A. and the Justice Department. In a declaration and formal claim of privileges, the C. I. A. director, Mike Pompeo, said it was necessary to keep certain information secret, including the identities of agency personnel who participated in the program, whom he said have been the subject of “death threats and security incidents. ” He acknowledged that there had been “public speculation” that Ms. Haspel and Mr. Cotsana been involved in the program, but said the agency had never officially confirmed whether that was true, and “the absence of official confirmation from the C. I. A. leaves an important element of doubt about the veracity of the information and, thus, carries with it an additional layer of protection and confidentiality. ” He added: “That protection would be lost, however, if the government were forced to confirm or deny the accuracy of speculation or unauthorized disclosures,” so “the agency could not permit these individuals to answer any questions pertaining to the program. ” The court gave the government until Wednesday to assert any claims of privilege or the state secrets doctrine. Now it will be up to the Federal District Court judge, Justin L. Quackenbush, to determine whether the state secrets privilege and other privileges claimed by the government were properly invoked to block that testimony and, if so, whether the case can go forward despite those restrictions. The government did not seek dismissal of the case. It is set for trial on June 26. “This case has shown that the claims of C. I. A. torture survivors are not too secret for our courts to handle,” said Dror Ladin, a staff lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which, with the Gibbons law firm in Newark, represents the former detainees. “Whether or not the government’s new state secrets claims are upheld, there’s already more than enough evidence in the record for our clients to prove their case. ” This month, the Trump administration invoked the state secrets privilege in a federal lawsuit involving a classified contract. But the Obama administration had already invoked the privilege in an earlier stage of that dispute when the lawsuit was before a state court. The state secrets privilege became controversial under the Bush administration, which frequently invoked it to block lawsuits related to the C. I. A. interrogation program and the N. S. A. ’s warrantless surveillance program. The government’s growing use of the power prompted civil liberties advocates to accuse the administration of abusing the privilege to prevent judiciary scrutiny of executive branch wrongdoing. In 2009, after the Obama administration took office, the Justice Department created a task force to review all pending cases it had inherited in which the Bush administration had invoked the privilege. Led by Donald B. Verrilli Jr. who later became the solicitor general, the task force found that each of the invocations was legitimate. However, Mr. Verrilli put together a more restrictive process for deciding whether to invoke the privilege in the future. It required the attorney general personally to sign off before the department could do so. While the Obama administration did not invoke the privilege as frequently as the Bush administration had done, it did make some use of it. The first instance came in September 2010 in response to a lawsuit filed by the father of Anwar an American citizen and radical cleric for Al Qaeda’s Yemen branch, seeking an injunction against attempts to kill his son. A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit on technical grounds, so there was no ruling on whether the invocation of the privilege was legitimate. The United States killed Mr. Awlaki a year later in a drone strike. | 0fake |
Schumer Breaks It Down: Explains Why Trump Hasn’t Accomplished Sh*t (VIDEO) | Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer broke things down on Sunday and explained why it is that Donald Trump hasn t been able to accomplish squat so far.Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Schumer gave a scathing review of Trump s first 100 days, which he said had hardly been a success. He laid into Trump for his litany of broken promises, including his failed health care bill and decision to add more monsters to the swamp rather than draining it. There s been promise after promise that s been either unfulfilled or broken, he said. The bottom line is very simple: the president, if he works with us, particularly on issues like trade and infrastructure, we can work. But on the issues so far, taxes and healthcare, he doesn t consult us at all. According to Schumer, Trump comes up with a plan that s very hard right and then tells Democrats that supporting the plan is the only way to be bipartisan. That s not how America works, Schumer said.The Senate minority leader then scorched Trump on his failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He pointed out that Trump didn t need a single Democrat to vote for his bill in order to pass it. And it still failed miserably. He s not governing from the middle, he s governing from the hard right. That s why his regime has had hardly any major successes, with the exception of Gorsuch. If he changes, we can work together. But he can t just dictate what he wants, Schumer said. The country doesn t work my way or the highway. Trump, for his part, spent the weekend attacking Democrats, Schumer in specific. On Saturday, Trump slammed Schumer as a bad leader. On Sunday, he said that without a leader, Democrats have become the party of obstruction. He then continued that theme during an interview with Face The Nation on Sunday morning.You can watch Schumer s interview here:Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
BREAKING REPORT: CLINTON AND TWO AIDES BROKE NATIONAL SECURITY LAWS | Hillary Clinton is trying to blame the State Department for her lawlessness but new information is coming out showing the destruction of evidence by two Clinton aides. Thank goodness for Judicial Watch and their effort to get to the bottom of this e-mail scandal. Hillary Clinton and two aides appear to have violated two national security laws by sending classified information on a private email server, according to a former Army counterintelligence agent and investigator for a public interest law group.Additionally, the two Clinton aides, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, disregarded a federal judge s order this month requiring both to make sworn statements to the court that all government documents in their possession will be returned to federal officials, said Chris Farrell, director of investigations for Judicial Watch, the law group. What we have is a secretary of state, the only cabinet official in our history, who established her own private email server in an effort to avoid the normal protocols for unclassified and classified communications. It s an end run, he said.Farrell, in a briefing on the Clinton email affair at the Judicial Watch offices, said supporters of Clinton have sought to portray the use of the private email system to send classified information as a minor administrative matter. It is not, he said. It is a national security crime, and should be a national security crime investigation, he said, noting that Clinton created the private email server a week before she took up her duties at Foggy Bottom, indicating that she planned to avoid using official email that must be stored under federal rules.Two laws apply to the mishandling of classified data on unsecure networks, Farrell said.The first is 18 USC Sec. 1924, which outlaws the unauthorized removal and storage of classified information. Penalties can include fines and imprisonment for up to one year.That statute was used to prosecute retired Army General David Petraeus, a former CIA director who provided classified documents to his mistress and biographer, Paula Broadwell. Petraeus was sentenced to two years probation and a $40,000 fine as part of a plea deal in March.A second federal statute that prosecutors could use to charge Clinton and her aides is 18 USC Sec. 793, a more serious felony statute Farrell described as a hammer. That law covers national defense information and people who misuse it to injure the United States or benefit a foreign power.Those convicted of violating that law face fines and up to 10 years in prison.Farrell said he that as an Army counterintelligence officer, he has conducted investigations in the past that are similar to the Clinton email probe. He also worked at a special security officer who was in charge of SCIFs special facilities used for handling sensitive intelligence. When it comes the law on these, intent doesn t matter, Farrell said. Mishandling top-secret information should bring down the full weight of the law on violators, he said.The Clinton email matter is a serious national security crime issue, Farrell said. It s not two agencies fighting over classification after the fact. Judicial Watch currently has 18 lawsuits pending against the State Department seeking access to records under the Freedom of Information Act. THE CLINTON E-MAIL SCANDAL EXPLAINED IN 2 1/2 MINUTES: A hearing on one of the lawsuits is set for Thursday before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who recently ordered Clinton, Abedin, and Mills to make the sworn statements regarding federal documents in their possession.According to Farrell, only Clinton supplied the sworn statement that promised to return all government data and not destroy any records involved in the case. Abedin and Mills, however, did not and instead supplied the court with statements from their lawyers.Thursday s court hearing will be the latest turn in an unfolding security scandal involving the former secretary of state that has the potential to undermine her bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination.Via: WFB | 1real |
President Obama’s Interview With Samantha Bee Will Have You Rolling On The Floor Laughing (VIDEO) |
President Obama is known for his humor, but his interview with Samantha Bee is downright hilarious.
During his final days in office, Obama has been making rounds on talk shows. When he sat down with the host of Full Frontal this week, the result was simply priceless.
Bee took a few shots at him for his age, asking if he would consider an appearance on Antique Roadshow and pointing out the white in his hair. Obama reminded her that he was still president, after all, but Bee was hell bent on making this an interview to remember.
She finally asked Obama if he would “mess” with Donald Trump once he was done serving as Commander in Chief.
“After you leave office, have you thought of just whispering in Donald Trump’s ear, ‘You were right, I wasn’t born here,’ just to, like, mess with him?” Bee asked.
“I think it’s fair to say that I will be organizing my post-presidency where I’m not close enough to him to whisper into his ear,” Obama shot back.
They did discuss some important issues, such as young voters and the struggles that Hillary Clinton may face as the first woman to serve as President of the United States. But the playful back and forth between President Obama and Bee is too funny to miss. It also reminds us just why it is that we are going to miss this man so much when he is gone.
Watch the interview, here :
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Anchor Accidentally Announces Hillary Clinton’s Death On Air – Conspiracy Nuts Go WILD | Sunday night, an ABC News affiliate in New York began their show with a startling breaking news announcement from weekend anchor Joe Torres: Hillary Clinton was dead. We begin with the breaking news about Hillary Clinton s death They were talking about her health, and dove right on into her leaving a 9/11 memorial on Sunday after feeling light-headed. Then her campaign released the news that she was battling pneumonia, and then this happened. That has since been edited out, but remains up on YouTube for now. Watch the original report below:WABC 7 clarified the mistake later on. They told TVSpy that Torres had misspoken and meant to say health, which anyone with more than two brain cells, who watched the whole report, would have figured out: During a live introduction to a story about the health of Hillary Clinton, Joe Torres inadvertently said death when he meant to say health.' a station spokesperson said. It was clear from the context of the story, the reporters information and graphics on the screen that Secretary Clinton was alive and recovering.' Both the original story and the edit have tripped the conspiracy loons sensors anyway, though, because why let reason get in the way of a good Hillary conspiracy? So now they re going nuts. Some are convinced that ABC edited that out to cover up the fact that she did actually die, and that the campaign is using a body double to cover it up: A video clip of WABC-TV Channel 7 Eyewitness News in New York City opened last night with Anchorman Joe Torre saying more on Hillary Clinton s Death. The opening line, however, seems edited-OUT of the video archive!Did Hillary die after leaving the 9-11 Ceremony in New York . . . and the information is being concealed? A whole slew of irregularities have cropped-up indicating that may actually be the case!BODY DOUBLE?A short time later, a person ALLEGED to be Hillary, is seen leaving the East 26th Street home of Chelsea Clinton, but there are problems with this person. The conspiracy baloney never ends with this crowd, does it? Here s another that s just certain she really died: Now it looks like the story has gotten even worse. Based on rogue reports, it is now our understanding that Hillary Rodham Clinton may in fact be dead.Yes, you read that correct. After airing on ABC news in New York for merely seconds, it was pulled from the air.This isn t a random report. Don t believe it? We didn t believe it at first either, until we saw an additional report of the same exact occurrence: At this point, we don t have all the news.All we know for sure is that Hillary Clinton may have actually died at a local hospital in New York City. It doesn t help that David Shuster tweeted that DNC operatives were informing him that the committee would hold an emergency meeting to discuss Hillary s replacement. That tweet was later deleted and replaced with one saying that they were considering a meeting to discuss replacing her.Furthermore, all the heretofore-unknown doctors across the Internet who are coming out of the woodwork to loudly proclaim that her pneumonia means she s at death s door don t seem to know some basic facts: 1) Pneumonia is fluid in the lungs, and 2), there are eleventy billion things that can cause it. Some are serious, some are very serious, some are not-so serious.Donna Brazile, the interim DNC chair, said that they re looking forward to Hillary s speedy recovery and return to the campaign trail, essentially destroying Shuster s tweets and the stories of those who piled on to that. It also destroys the absurd notion that she actually died, but hey, conspiracy nuts will think what they want. Despite what the Hillary-haters are hoping, she is alive and well and recovering. She s not at death s door, and she s certainly not dead.Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 1real |
Serb Officials Warn Of Another War In The Balkans | BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian officials warned on Friday of another war in the Balkans if Albanians try to form a joint state with Kosovo in the European region and the West does not reject such a plan. | 0fake |
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FBI Investigates Saudi Wife-Abusing Clinton Foundation Donor in Straw Donor Scheme | FBI Investigates Saudi Wife-Abusing Clinton Foundation Donor in Straw Donor Scheme November 2, 2016 Daniel Greenfield
It's midnight in America. And the Clintons and the Democratic Party keep finding ways to cover themselves in glory. I'm sure the line on this will be that the FBI is acting "inappropriately" by investigating this. Investigating political corrupt ion interferes with corrupt politicians being elected.
The FBI is investigating an alleged illegal donation scheme involving a wealthy Saudi family that supports Democratic Florida Senate candidate Patrick Murphy.
Murphy, who has covered himself in glory so often already, is denying everything. And I mean absolutely everything.
The Murphy campaign declined to say whether the candidate is aware of the FBI probe
What's your name? I decline to answer that question.
Murphy, 33, is running against Rubio, the incumbent Republican, in a race that could help decide which party controls the Senate in 2017. Rubio currently leads Murphy by an average of 5.6 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.
The FBI investigation, however, relates to Murphy’s first run for the House in the 2012 campaign cycle.
The allegation — originally submitted by a Republican super PAC run by a former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — is that Murphy’s high school friend and major political donor, Ibrahim Al-Rashid, coordinated a “straw donor” scheme to boost Murphy.
Murphy knows nothing!
Murphy’s campaign declined to say whether Murphy’s attorneys had discussed the FBI investigation with Al-Rashid’s attorney.
Uh-huh
Al-Rashid is the son of a powerful and politically connected Saudi billionaire. He’s been a major financial benefactor of Murphy’s, giving almost $400,000 to his campaigns and to outside groups supporting the Florida congressman.
Here's how some of these donations worked.
One example within the alleged scheme: A woman who describes herself in federal donation reports as the “owner” and “property manager” of a Texas-based company, Limestone Property Management, gave Murphy’s campaign $300.
But she is neither the property manager nor the owner of the Texas-based company. In fact, she doesn’t work there.
She lived in Miami at the time and was Ibrahim Al-Rashid’s “cleaning lady,” according to a Miami-Dade Police Department report filed in 2012 over a home burglary at Al-Rashid’s property.
Texas property manager vs Saudi's cleaning lady. That's quite a difference.
Murphy has been forced to return Al-Rashid's donations before for purely Islamophobic reasons.
Al-Rashid’s three sons have followed in their father’s political footsteps, contributing large sums to top Democrats, including Rep. Patrick Murphy (D., Fla.), whose Senate race could help decide which party controls the Senate in 2017.
Murphy has already returned a portion of al-Rashid’s donations due to his involvement in a domestic assault incident.
Ibrahim al-Rashid allegedly forced his way into his estranged wife’s Pennsylvania home, where al-Rashid allegedly “grabbed her by the wrist, struck her about the head and face with a closed fist then threw her to the ground,” according to a copy of the police report viewed by the Free Beacon.
Following the 2014 incident, al-Rashid allegedly sent his wife a text message stating, “I am not sorry this time I hope you die in hell,” according to the police report.
Murphy, a longtime friend of al-Rashid, was recently forced to donate around $16,000 in campaign funds to domestic violence groups after the assault charge became a public liability for the campaign. Murphy also returned all of the donations made by al-Rashid during the last three political cycles.
Is the Clinton Foundation involved in this? Do the Clintons do their business in golden and marble toilets?
Nasser al-Rashid, one of Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest figures and an adviser to the country’s royal family, has donated somewhere between $1 million to $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, putting him in an elite category of prominent donors.
The Clintons. If there's dirt anywhere, you'll find it on them. | 1real |
House Democrat Introduces ISIS War Authorization Bill | WASHINGTON -- Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced legislation Wednesday to authorize military force against Islamic State militants -- a step aimed at forcing Congress to take responsibility for a war it's been funding for nearly six months with almost no debate on its duration, costs or potential toll.
Lawmakers have put no parameters on the U.S. military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, since it began in August. Since then, the U.S. has spent more than $1 billion, participated in more than 1,700 airstrikes, and authorized sending roughly 3,000 U.S. troops to Iraq. All of this has happened without new war authorization.
Schiff's proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force would do three things: limit military action against ISIS to three years; prohibit the use of U.S. ground troops; and immediately terminate a still-active 2002 AUMF tied to the Iraq War. It also would end, in three years, a sweeping 2001 AUMF that President Barack Obama says gives him the authority to go after ISIS without new war authorization. Some in Congress disagree that Obama has that authority and insist he needs new authorization, which the president says he would welcome.
"There is no doubt that our current offensive amounts to war," said Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "Congress should take action both to authorize its prosecution and to set limits on that authorization so it may not be used by any future administration in a manner contrary to our intent."
Schiff is a lonely voice in the House. Even progressives, like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have treated the need for new war authorization as an afterthought. It's not much better in the Senate, where Democrats hastily passed an AUMF out of a committee in late December, knowing it was going nowhere. They did so to show their frustration over the lack of attention to the issue.
If the new Congress has revealed anything, it's that nobody in Washington wants to go first when it comes to authorizing a war. The White House typically submits draft AUMF language to Congress as a first step to moving a bill, but administration officials say they want feedback from Capitol Hill before moving. Lawmakers, meanwhile, are grumbling about waiting for draft language from Obama when they could be moving forward with legislation on their own.
"There is plenty of responsibility to go around," Schiff told The Huffington Post. "I place more responsibility here than at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. They don't have to make the first step. There is nothing holding us back except political timidity."
For now, Schiff is on the lookout for co-sponsors for his bill. He doesn't have any yet, but he said he plans to reach out to lawmakers in both parties. Nobody in the Senate has introduced AUMF legislation, though Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a vocal proponent for passing new war authorization, has called for using last year's committee-passed bill as the base for new legislation in this Congress.
Schiff acknowledged that his proposal is probably more narrow than the White House wants, and that Obama will likely look to Republicans to give him broad authority. Secretary of State John Kerry told senators in December that the administration would oppose an AUMF that explicitly prohibits U.S. ground troops, which some Democrats have insisted on. Republicans appeared more amenable to Kerry's request.
"Many of us are skeptical of another broad AUMF considering what's happened with the last one," Schiff said. "There will be some interesting bedfellows on this." | 0fake |
California Today: Why the State’s Biggest Lake Is Dying - The New York Times | Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the .) California’s biggest lake, about 350 square miles, is dying. It’s not the first time. The Salton Sea, straddling the Imperial and Coachella Valleys, is the latest incarnation of a body of water that has been drying and refilling over eons with water from the Colorado River. Native Americans once fished and camped on Lake Cahuilla, a prehistoric and larger version. The Salton Sea was born in the early 1900s after a canal burst sent water from the Colorado flooding into the valley over a period of two years. Beginning in the 1950s, entrepreneurs transformed it into a tourist mecca, building marinas and resorts. There were beauty pageants and boat races. Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra visited. But in time, runoff pollution, drought and blistering heat conspired to end the fun. As the saline lake evaporated, its salt concentration soared, killing fish en masse. The blooming and decomposition of algae had a powerful stench. Today, the Salton Sea is surrounded by abandoned buildings. For people fighting to revitalize it, there are two big concerns, said Michael Cohen, a researcher with the Pacific Institute, a think tank. One is dust. The receding water is exposing vast areas of the lake floor that, if unabated, could kick up more than 100 tons of dust every day by 2045, scientists say. (This winter’s bountiful rain largely avoided the Salton Sea). The particles are so fine that they cannot be coughed up, threatening the health of local children whose asthma rates lead the state. The other is the threat to wildlife. The Salton Sea is a precious way station for more than 400 species of migrating birds. Part of the solution, said Mr. Cohen, lies in restoring habitat — essentially moving earth around in ways that keeps the dust from flying while providing the birds with places to stop and refuel. A $9. 6 billion revitalization plan endorsed by state officials has been on the back burner for years. Mr. Cohen said he was often asked why we don’t just let nature take its course. “Are we fighting nature? Yes,” he said. But, he said, pristine wilderness really no longer exists — all of California is manipulated in some way by humans. “So from that perspective,” he said, “we need to make sure those places that are valuable for wildlife are preserved. ” Frank Foster, a photography instructor at Victor Valley College in Victorville, has been capturing images of the Salton Sea for years. He shared some with us. (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) • New actions by San Francisco and Hawaii showed how emboldened President Trump’s opponents are to attack his policies through litigation. [The New York Times] • The “A Day Without a Woman” demonstration was a test of whether fervor can be turned into a sustained movement. [The New York Times] • What’s next after the defeat of Measure S? Advocates say Los Angeles must tackle high housing costs and the need for better planning. [Los Angeles Times] • Voter turnout on Tuesday in Los Angeles was likely to be lowest ever. [Los Angeles Times] • The Los Angeles County sheriff said he expected federal drug agents would try to step up marijuana enforcement in California. [The Associated Press] • California fishermen are bracing for the worst salmon season in eight years. [The Press Democrat] • The state’s rate of sexually transmitted diseases is at a high. In Fresno, drug use is driving a syphilis epidemic. [Fresno Bee] • How a Facebook executive revived a fading surf brand in Santa Ana. [The New York Times] • Snap is betting on a trend: the eventual global dominance of visual culture, Farhad Manjoo writes. [The New York Times] • Uber is backing away from a program that thwarted local regulators in the wake of a New York Times article. [The New York Times] • With “Beauty and the Beast,” Disney is taking a $300 million risk on a remake. [The New York Times] • Two new movie theaters in San Diego and Los Angeles will have seats for the and jungle gyms for their children. [Quartz] On Monday, we wrote about a state proposal that would let bicyclists treat stop signs like yield signs. We asked if you liked the idea. Hundreds of emails poured in, with opinions sharply divided. Here is a sample: “Terrible idea. While there are many conscientious bicyclists, I regularly see bicyclists who are simply reckless. Many times I have seen bicyclists go right through red lights, at great risk to themselves and others. This measure would embolden them to engage in such dangerous behaviors, and raise the risk of crashes and serious injuries. ” — Paul D. Lerner, Beverly Hills “Yes, this would be a welcome change. Safety hardly ever requires a full stop by bikes at a stop sign. Because of that, most bicyclists currently don’t surrender their momentum by making full stops at stop signs where the traffic does not warrant them. The result is that the existing law requiring full stops at stop signs is rarely observed or enforced, which encourages disrespect of the law and stokes the resentment of motorists already annoyed by the presence of bikes on their streets and roads. ” — Len Colamarino, Atascadero “I’m a year San Francisco bike commuter. I am dubious about the rolling stop rule. I often see cyclists roll through stops when pedestrians are in crosswalks. A law change, I fear, will make this worse. ” — Alyson Jacks, San Francisco “Cyclists are well aware of the risks they assume when ‘sharing the road’ with vehicles. It’s hard to imagine how forcing cyclists to stop at empty intersections makes either group any safer. ” — Ryan Martin, Roseville California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U. C. Berkeley. | 0fake |
French police swarm forest 'larger than Paris' in hunt for Charlie Hebdo jihadist assassins | DEVELOPING: French police are swarming a 51-square-mile dense forest in their hunt for the Islamist terrorist brothers suspected of carrying out Wednesday's deadly shooting massacre at the Paris office of a satirical magazine.
Authorities say the two brothers, identified as Said and Cherif Kouachi, may be hiding out in the Forêt de Retz, a vast woodland described as "larger than Paris," Sky News reported.
Terror in Paris: Full coverage of the Charlie Hebdo shooting
The pair robbed a gas station at gunpoint Thursday near the small town of Villers-Cotterêts, about 40 miles northeast of Paris, a day after they opened fire inside the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and wounding 11 others, four seriously, police said.
Two men fitting the description of the terror suspects stole gas and food from a gas station Thursday morning near the sleepy village, in the northern Aisne region, according to multiple reports. The assailants fled in a Renault Clio, which had weapons on its backseat and its license plates covered, according to witnesses. The robbery suspects were described as masked, with Kalashnikovs and what appeared to be a rocket launcher, according to the AFP.
French authorities said the brothers, both in their early 30s, are the prime suspects in a deadly Islamist terror attack Wednesday morning at Charlie Hebdo's Paris headquarters. The assailants forced their way into the magazine's main offices, killing 12, including the magazine's editor, before fleeing in a getaway car in broad daylight.
Earlier Thursday, Mourad Hamyd, 18, surrendered at a police station in a small town in the eastern region after learning his name was linked to the attacks in the news and social media, said Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre. She did not specify his relationship to the Kouachi brothers.
A heavy police presence, including helicopters, could be seen Thursday in Crepy-en-Valois, 10 miles from the gas station that was robbed. SWAT teams were reportedly searching homes and woods in the area, questioning every resident. After nightfall, the search focus shifted to the Forêt de Retz, one of France's largest forests.
Cherif Kouachi was already known to French intelligence services, due to his history of funneling jihadi fighters to Iraq and a terrorism conviction from 2008. A police bulletin said the brothers should be considered armed and dangerous.
France's prime minister said Thursday that authorities had made "several arrests" while hunting for the men. An overnight search in the city of Reims proved fruitless.
Manuel Valls made the remarks in an interview with RTL radio as France prepared to observe a national day of mourning in memory of those killed at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a publication that had been threatened before for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed. Valls told the station that preventing another attack is "our main concern."
France raised its terror alert system to the maximum level after the daylight attack and bolstered security with more than 800 extra soldiers to guard media offices, places of worship, transport and other sensitive areas. A nationwide minute of silence was planned for noon.
Intelligence officials told Fox News there has been no credible claim of responsibility for the attack, but investigators strongly suspect there is a connection to a foreign terrorist organization. Less than an hour after the shooting, a series of tweets were sent out in which three Al Qaeda figures -- past and present -- were featured prominently, according to an intelligence source. The tweets included images of Ayman al Zawahiri, the leader of Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Anwar al-Awlaki, former Al Qaeda commander in Yemen and the first American targeted for death by the CIA, and American Samir Khan, who was behind AQAP’s propaganda journal Inspire magazine and who was also killed alongside al-Awlaki in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.
One witness to Wednesday's attack said the gunmen were so methodical he at first mistook them for an elite anti-terrorism squad. Then they fired on a police officer.
The masked, black-clad men with assault rifles stormed the offices near Paris' Bastille monument in the Wednesday attack at noon on the publication, which had long drawn condemnation and threats -- it was firebombed in 2011 -- for its depictions of Islam, although it also satirized other religions and political figures.
The staff was in an editorial meeting and the gunmen headed straight for the paper's editor, Stephane Charbonnier, widely known by his pen name Charb, killing him and his police bodyguard first, said Christophe Crepin, a police union spokesman.
Shouting "Allahu akbar!" as they fired, the men spoke in fluent, unaccented French as they called out the names of specific employees.
Eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor were killed, said prosecutor Francois Molins. He said 11 people were wounded, four of them seriously.
Two gunmen strolled out to a black car waiting below, one of them calmly shooting a wounded police officer in the head as he writhed on the ground, according to video and a man who watched in fear from his home across the street.
"They knew exactly what they had to do and exactly where to shoot. While one kept watch and checked that the traffic was good for them, the other one delivered the final coup de grace," said the witness, who refused to allow his name to be used because he feared for his safety.
"Hey! We avenged the Prophet Muhammad! We killed Charlie Hebdo," one of the men shouted in French, according to video shot from a nearby building.
One police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said the suspects were linked to a Yemeni terrorist network. Cedric Le Bechec, a witness who encountered the escaping gunmen, quoted the attackers as saying: "You can tell the media that it's Al Qaeda in Yemen."
RELATED: Giuliani on how to combat Islamic extremism
After fleeing, the attackers collided with a vehicle, then hijacked another car before slipping away into the streets of Paris, Molins said.
The other dead were identified as cartoonists Georges Wolinski and Berbard Verlhac, better known as Tignous, and Jean Cabut, known as "Cabu." Also killed was Bernard Maris, an economist who was a contributor to the newspaper and was heard regularly on French radio.
One cartoon, released in this week's issue and titled "Still No Attacks in France," had a caricature of a jihadi fighter saying "Just wait -- we have until the end of January to present our New Year's wishes." Charb was the artist.
Le Bechec, the witness who encountered the gunmen in another part of Paris, described on his Facebook page seeing two men "get out of a bullet-ridden car with a rocket-launcher in hand, eject an old guy from his car and calmly say hi to the public, saying `you can tell the media that it's Al Qaeda in Yemen."'
Police reportedly found Molotov cocktails and a jihadist flag in the car abandoned by the gunmen.
In a somber address to the nation Wednesday night, French President Francois Hollande pledged to hunt down the killers, and pleaded with his compatriots to come together in a time of insecurity and suspicion.
"Let us unite, and we will win," he said. "Vive la France!"
RELATED: Muslim places of worship in France targeted with blank grenades, bullets
Thousands of people later jammed Republique Square near the site of the shooting to honor the victims, waving pens and papers reading "Je suis Charlie" -- "I am Charlie." Similar rallies were held in London's Trafalgar Square as well as Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin and Brussels.
Both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group have repeatedly threatened to attack France, which is conducting airstrikes against extremists in Iraq and fighting Islamic militants in Africa. Charb was specifically threatened in a 2013 edition of the Al Qaeda magazine Inspire, which also included an article titled "France the Imbecile Invader."
Cherif Kouachi, now 32, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 for helping funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency. He said he was outraged at the torture of Iraqi inmates at the U.S. prison at Abu Ghraib near Baghdad and "really believed in the idea" of fighting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
A tweet from an Al Qaeda representative who communicated Wednesday with The Associated Press said the group was not claiming responsibility for the attack, but called it "inspiring."
Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Greg Palkot and The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 0fake |
Cheerleading Assassination: Are Hollywood and Politicians Going Too Far? | 21st Century Wire says Everyone has the right to air their perceived grievances about anything, including President Trump, that is one of the benefits of living in America. But there is a point where expressing grievances or protesting against policies or politicians can shift from legal protest, assembly and expression of free speech to inciting or promoting violence. We ve seen some interesting cases of public figures coming close to and maybe crossing that line during the last week.Some Hollywood celebrities, entertainers and politicians may have taken the concept of free speech a little too far when trying to express their disdain for President Trump. Celebrities Madonna and Ashley Judd lashed out with bizarre tirades during the Women s March in the wake of the Trump inaugural festivities.The antics of the celebs at the DC Women s March was a hot topic of discussion on Sunday Wire Ep #170 with Patrick Henningsen and Hesher in the final segment of the show.Madonna went as far as to say she d thought about blowing up the White House which she now claims was said in metaphor only, but still got her a lot of negative attention from the media, from Trump supporters and even caught the attention of the Secret Service.What Madonna and those cheering her on actually want and what they are planning to do to achieve it is as clear as mud after this protest. If the Revolution she speaks of is metaphorical only, then what are the goals of her and the rest of the protesters when she speaks of revolution? Chants of, We Chose Love! after statements, hypothetical or metaphorical, about revolution and blowing up the White House send a very confused message.Madonna claims that her comments about the White House were taken out of context, listen to the full recording and you be the judge.Warning Madonna s speech may not be appropriate for the work place or around young children due to profanity.The singer later claimed, on her Instagram page, that she is a nonviolent person and that she was not promoting violence when she said a revolution was starting after good did not win this election. Yesterday s Rally. was an amazing and beautiful experience. I came and performed Express Yourself and thats exactly what i did. However I want to clarify some very important things. I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it s important people hear and understand my speech in it s entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context. My speech began with I want to start a revolution of love. I then go on to take this opportunity to encourage women and all marginalized people to not fall into despair but rather to come together and use it as a starting point for unity and to create positive change in the world. I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking at things one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt. However, I know that acting out of anger doesn t solve anything. And the only way to change things for the better is to do it with love. It was truly an honor to be part of an audience chanting we choose love . #revoltutionoflove #revolutionoflove *******************************************************A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on Jan 22, 2017 at 10:49am PSTKatie Rich of Saturday Night Live was suspended for what even she herself now concedes was an insensitive tweet about Barron Trump, 10 year old son of Donald Trump. Jumping on the bandwagon of ridiculing all things Trump, Rich tweeted out that, Barron will be this contry s first homeschool shooter. Rich was suspended indefinitely by SNL after the tweet and her Twitter account was later deactivated after she tweeted an apology. Her name did not appear in the credits for the next broadcast of SNL on Saturday.Could it be that people are actually being held responsible for their over-reach on social media and on their self perceived Hollywood soap boxes? Certainly not in all cases, but the Katie Rich case is a great example of how one can ruin a career with a single mean spirited, politically fueled Tweet aimed at a ten year old.As we turn to a political example, we find a Swedish politician who s stepped down from his position after a Facebook post where he asked if someone could shoot him when talking about Donald Trump.Municipal council member, Roland Peterson, went too far on his criticism of Donald Trump and provoked an angry response from his fellow party and council members.More on this phenomenon from RT RTA municipal council member of a Swedish town called Kalmar has resigned due to a Facebook post he made asking if someone could shoot America s new president, Donald Trump. I believed that Donald Trump would calm down after he became the president [of the US]. But how wrong I was! He exceeded my worst fears! Could anyone shoot him? Swedish Social Democratic Party member Roland Peterson, a municipal official in Kalmar s Soedermoere district, wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday, though he removed it an hour later.Nonetheless, Peterson decided to step down as member of both his party and the Soedermoere Municipal Council and Planning Board after making the post, announcing his resignation on Monday morning. After my blunder on Facebook, there is a risk that I will become a burden for the Social Democrats in Kalmar. I do not want it, so I chose to leave all my posts, Peterson wrote in a letter to his party members, as cited by the local Oestra Smaland newspaper.Person s post provoked an angry reaction from his party members and fellow councilors. It is good that he [Peterson] removed it [the post], councilor Johan Persson told Oestra Smalan, adding that people should never call for violence regardless of their opinion of Donald Trump or other issues.The Social Democrats leader in Kalmar, Roger Holmberg, denounced the post as inappropriate and idiotic, while stressing that even thinking about the idea of violence is completely wrong. He told Swedish broadcaster STV that he had had a conversation with Peterson and said that new party members would receive training in working with social media.Holmber said that Peterson is deeply remorseful, explaining that he did not understand the impact of the post in the social media. Peterson told STV that he would have never written the post if he had considered the consequences, while promising he will never do it again. He also explained to Oestra Smalan that it was Trump s environmental policy that had deeply upset him. He [Trump] risks the future of the entire Earth, he said, adding that now, when the world has started going in the right direction, Trump plans to increase oil and coal production.Trump s ideas about the environmental are a source of controversy in the US. Social media went into meltdown after Trump s inauguration when certain hot topic issues disappeared from the White House website, including climate change.Many mainstream media outlets initially reported on the conspicuous disappearances, but are adopting a more cautious wait-and-see approach for the time being.Anti-Trump angst was running high both in the US and abroad after his inauguration. On Saturday, Donald Trump s first full day in the White House, thousands of women marched through US cities to protest Trump and call for the protection of civil liberties and diverse cultures Continue this report at RTRead More Election News at: 21st Century Wire Election CoverageSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
STORE OWNER BASHES LIBERAL OBAMAITES AS HE SHUTS HIS DOORS AND MOVES | 1real | |
BLOODY 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND UPDATE: Obama’s Hometown Of Chicago…64 Shot, 6 Killed, Including 39 Yr Old Father, 3 And 10 Yr Old Daughters…Black Reverend Cautions Those Who Blame Guns or Cops | Just another big city destroyed by Democrats As the nation took to backyard BBQs and paused to celebrate the birth of our nation, the incessant gang warfare in and around the Chicago area continued without a hitch with 37 shootings and six deaths over the three-day weekend. The tragic toll included the death of a 39-year-father and his two young girls in a nearby Chicago suburb.At least 64 people were shot in the nation s third largest city over the Independence Day weekend, including four people who were fatally wounded. The grim violence in Chicago, which has recorded 329 homicides already this year, continued despite stepped up street patrols by the Chicago Police Department and the arrest of 88 gang members in two of the city s most violent neighborhoods ahead of the holiday weekend.Friday was atypical in that the shootings were relatively few and no one died, but the rest of the weekend more than made up for it. Friday featured only five citizens wounded, all in separate incidents.Saturday rang in with a vengeance with 11 shootings and two deaths, while Sunday saw 14 shootings and one death. Sunday also saw an additional three people murdered in a nearby suburb. By Independence Day itself, another four citizens were wounded.One of the most tragic shootings of the holiday weekend was the death of 39-year-old Dionus M. Neely, who was shot and killed along with his ten-year-old and three-year-old daughters, Elle and India.The murders took place in the nearby Chicago suburb of Hazel Crest on Sunday morning just after 2 AM, police report. Anyone who could kill a three-year-old and a ten-year-old, no matter what the circumstances, is nothing but pure evil as far as I m concerned, Hazel Crest Police Chief Mitchell Davis III said on Sunday afternoon.The long weekend brings the list of violence to 2,008 total Chicagoans shot, and 302 shot and killed, among the total 336 homicides in the Windy City thus far this year. BreitbartReverend Jesse Lee Peterson has some thoughts on why crime is so high in majority black cities and why Americans need to STOP blaming cops for the fatherless crisis that is plaguing inner city communities.Fatherless homes combined with the left s policies and attacks on free speech are creating thugs and cop killers. It s important to shine a light on this anti-cop mentality that has so contaminated America s inner cities. The underlying cause of all this of course? Young black men growing up without fathers.Progressives of all colors have intimidated most white Americans with the R word (racist), and now whites rarely comment on black criminality. These same progressives are perpetuating the fatherlessness and anti-police attitude that is wreaking havoc on America s inner cities.Many blacks today have a serious issue with authority figures. This problem starts in the home and manifests itself as early as preschool.A Department of Education study found that blacks make up 18 percent of all preschool children, but they account for 42 percent of suspensions.Education Secretary Arne Duncan blamed the problem on racial disparities, and was stunned that we were suspending and expelling 4 years olds. Duncan is more stunned by the disciplinary action of the schools than he is by the rotten behavior of the kids. No surprise. Rotten kids are anti-authority so are progressives.Attorney General Eric Holder said a zero-tolerance approach eventually leads many students into the criminal justice system and promised to end the school-to-prison pipeline. In other words, according to Holder, disciplining bad kids is creating a path to prison! This is progressive wisdom. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus and other leftist black leaders have been excusing black criminals and stoking hatred toward police for decades.The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sparked by the police beating of Rodney King, resulted in the deaths of 60 people. But Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., didn t call it a riot; she called it a rebellion. The rap music industry has long promoted violence toward cops. The most notorious perpetrators include: N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitudes) with their F tha Police lyrics, rapper ICE-T s Cop Killer album, and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg s 187 (about murdering cops). Video games like Grand Theft Auto also reinforce anti-police attitudes.Progressive mayors are allowing thugs and cop haters to flourish in our cities.Leftist NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio ended previous Mayor Rudy Giuliani s successful stop, question, and frisk program after complaints that it unfairly targeted minorities, and now violent crime has skyrocketed.According to CompStat figures, 129 people were shot last month a 43 percent increase over the same period last year.In Chicagoland, progressive policies and fatherlessness have created killing fields. The recent Independence Day massacre, where 82 shootings resulted in 15 people killed, doesn t help the city s image.Instead of aggressively going after Chicago s gangs, Obama former Chief of Staff and now Mayor Rahm Emanuel is focused on the guns, even though Chicago has some of the nation s toughest gun-control laws.Progressives have created an environment that rewards irresponsibility and dependency. Sending welfare payments to single women with children has resulted in the decline of black marriages. Today, 73 percent of black kids are born out of wedlock.Since most black fathers are not around, these children never develop respect for authority. In fact, they grow to hate the impatience and pressure their mothers put on them.Recently I interviewed Paul Raeburn, author of Do Fathers Matter? Here are just a few of his findings: When fathers are absent during mother s pregnancy, the baby is more likely to be born prematurely. The baby is four times as likely to die in the first year. If the man is depressed, the child is eight times as likely to have behavior problems and 36 times as likely to have difficulty getting along with peers. Kids with dads around are less likely to become bullies : Oxford researchers said when fathers were absent, children had higher rates of aggressive behavior.Obviously the missing link to end the cycle of violence and the anti-police attitude in the black community is to rebuild black families. Progressive policies of providing financial incentives for single mothers who have kids out of wedlock must end.Progressives also bully people into not speaking truth about moral cause and effect. They re not just immoral they are anti-moral. Yet, Americans especially white Americans have to start speaking out about the anti-authority mindset destroying our inner cities. If whites and blacks allow the lawlessness to continue, the chaos and anti-cop violence will spread everywhere. And when police are not safe no one is safe. Via: WND | 1real |
No, Mexico Doesn’t Have A Wall On Its Southern Border—But If Trump Wins It Might Have To Build One | X Dear Reader! VDARE.com isn’t just a website. We are the voice of the Historic American Nation . Our goal is nothing less than to develop a full spectrum media network to speak up for our people during this difficult time for our country. Part of that means building institutions which are offline and in the real world. There’s something about a paper journal that suggests permanence, which inclines people to take it more seriously. And because the news cycle is so fast, some of the most important, substantial, and potentially influential writings fall through the cracks and don’t get the attention they deserve. For that reason, we’re proud to announce the creation of VDARE QUARTERLY, a print journal featuring the best material from our webzine. This will replace our yearly anthologies and ensure that the information and analysis you really don't want to miss will get in front of you as quickly as possible. However, we need your help. For us to unveil this exciting new product we need 600 magazines ordered to cover the print expenses. Fill out the form below to instantly receive a digital copy of VDARE QUARTERLY, and when we have the number of necessary subscribers it will go to print and your exclusive paper copy will ship directly to you! Depending on the package you choose, you will receive multiple paper copies (provided enough readers support the community effort). We encourage you to pass these around – they serve as an excellent gift for friends and family, while at the same time helping to build our community. VDARE QUARTERLY is aesthetically pleasing as well as ideologically powerful. But this isn’t just a service we are providing. VDARE QUARTERLY is a tangible manifestation of your investment in us, and in our country. A subscription is one of the most effective ways you can help us build our media network, expand our influence, and build the kind of movement we will need to take back our country and ensure our children have a recognizable America.
We count on your support! Yours sincerely, Peter Brimelow, Editor of VDARE.com VDARE QUARTERLY countdown: 275 already ordered, 325 still to go | 1real |
Cop accidentally discharges his weapon, sending a bullet into the wall of a daycare center | Thu, 27 Oct 2016 15:25 UTC Authorities are only 'contemplating' criminal charges against an East Cleveland police officer today after he discharged his weapon sending a bullet hurling into a day care center. The staff and children at the KinderCare Learning center were likely terrified when a bullet came blasting through the fence and lodged into the wall of the school around 3:35 pm on Tuesday. Police have refused to release the name of the officer who negligently discharged his firearm. Authorities did, however, note that the officer was unloading his 9mm Glock inside his home, directly behind the daycare, when it 'accidentally' discharged. Up until that point, the staff and parents of the children at KinderCare probably thought that their children were safer being neighbors with a police officer. Despite the officer clearly admitting to committing the misdemeanor offense of discharging a firearm within city limits, police have yet to charge him. "Right now our law department has it and they are reviewing it to see if there should be any charges," Police Chief Jack Davis said Wednesday morning. "It was a very unfortunate incident for the school, as well as him," he added. Outside of skating out of the misdemeanor charge so far, this officer also seems to be avoiding the felony offense of discharging a weapon in a gun-free school zone. Imagine for a moment that you were cleaning your pistol and all of the sudden, you accidentally squeeze off a round sending the deadly projectile through the wall of a daycare center, in a gun-free zone. There are two possible scenarios that would take place; the first one being that a SWAT team responds and you are killed. The second, less lethal result would be your inevitable arrest and charges of public endangerment, unlawful discharge, illegal use of a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, terrorism, or a myriad of other charges associated with sending a deadly projectile hurling through walls and near the heads of innocent people. You would immediately be facing fines, jail time, probation, and firearms restrictions. However, if you are a government agent who's trusted with carrying a deadly weapon into places others cannot, you needn't worry about any of those repercussions as this case will likely prove. When the Akron Beacon Journal contacted the East Cleveland police department to inquire as to what would happen to this officer, they said their department was unaware of the incident. "We're just grateful that nobody was hurt," KinderCare spokeswoman Colleen Moran told Ohio.com. So are we. As the gun controllers call for guns to be taken out of the hands of US citizens, what they really mean is they only want cops to have guns. This cop proves how silly, and dangerous, that demand actually is. | 1real |
What Scientists Found Inside This 800-Year-Old Pot... Is Changing History! | Share on Facebook In 2008, on a dig in the First Nation’s Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin, archaeologists made a small but stunning discovery: a tiny clay pot. Though it might not have seemed very impressive at first glimpse, this little piece of pottery was determined to be about 800 years old. And inside that pot? Something that changes how we're looking at extinction, preservation, and food storage, as well as how humans have influenced the planet in their time on it. It's amazing to think that a little clay pot buried in the ground 800 years ago would still be relevant today, but it's true! It's actually brought an extinct species of squash that was presumed to be lost forever. Thank our Indigenous Ancestors! Even they knew what preservation meant. They knew the importance of the future, Is it not amazing that they are affecting our walks of life even to this day? Here it is! The pot was unearthed on the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin, where it had laid buried for the past 800 years. Inside, archaeologists found a stash of seeds. The seeds were probably buried in the pot as a method of storing food supplies. They were determined to be an old, now-extinct species of squash. Now, seven years after making this stunning discovery, students in Winnipeg decided to plant the 800-year-old seeds… to everyone's amazement, something grew! The squash was named Gete-Okosomin. It means “cool old squash” in the Menominee language. (Respect to the science people for respecting the indigenous people who's land this was found on, we see your good nature!) Now, they're working to cultivate the squash so that it doesn't go extinct… again. It may be just a humble squash, but it's also a symbol of first nations' community and history, as well as a fascinating look into how amazing plants can be. It just goes to show you that plants can be pretty incredible… and that sometimes, history has a funny way of coming back around. The Wheel of Life really stands out in this instance of history. Our Indigenous roots are strong and very much tied to the land. I was taught once that the people of Turtle Island were keepers of the land, not owners. I feel like this Squash is proof of that teaching. Check out the original story & the role of White Earth Land Recovery Project (where seed keepers tend to these seeds) or Winona LaDuke (who named the squash)! Related: | 1real |
IT TAKES A VILLAGE OF THUGS: Nashville Cop Sees Black Man Assaulting Woman In Projects…Cop Tries To Arrest Him…Crowd Attacks Cop…Crowd Cheers, “He’s going down!” [VIDEO] | ***WARNING***This video will make your blood boil. Do NOT watch it if you have high blood pressure. There is also some hood approved language that many sane may find offensive. Can someone please explain to me why any man or woman would want to risk their lives to help these people? This is only going to get worse before it gets better. As long as we have a President of the United States who is condoning this behavior by remaining silent, this situation is going to get much worse. East Precinct Officer Matthew Cammarn, who has been named Officer of the Year, should be out of the hospital soon. He was trying to arrest Brian Shannon, 22, when Shannon and a crowd attacked him in one of Nashville s projects as he tried to make the arrest.Shannon is jailed on charges of felony aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, evading arrest, criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct and drug possession. A 17-year old was also arrested.The officer, a hero cop, saw Shannon assaulting a woman when Shannon aggressively approached the officer who then tried to arrest him.While Officer Cammarn was on the ground fighting with Shannon, people in a crowd pulled and pushed Cammarn to try and free Shannon. Others stood by recording the assault on their cell phones. Via: Independent Sentinel | 1real |
Boiler Room EP #122 – Charlottesville & The History of Violent Cultural Revolution | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Jay Dyer of Jay s Analysis, Daniel Spaulding from Soul of the East, Infidel Pharaoh and Randy J (21WIRE & ACR contributor), for the hundred and twenty second episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone and the gang is discussing the aftermath of the Charlottesville protests and subsequent vehicle incident that left a woman dead. We examine the media psyops which aim to hoodwink the public into believing that there is a large force of racist neo-Nazis that consist of anyone right-of-center in the political spectrum and to tie them to President Trump. Known strategies of agitation propaganda and violent cultural revolution are analyzed and parallels are made to other events such as the Arab Spring in Egypt and the land rights movement of the Bundy Ranch.Direct Download Episode #122Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research: | 1real |
Zimbabwe Follows Robert Mugabe’s Health by Following His Plane - The New York Times | HARARE, Zimbabwe — It is an indirect clue at best, but it is often all they can get: Many Zimbabweans have taken to divining the state of their increasingly frail leader’s health from the movements of his presidential plane. On Saturday morning, anyone with a smartphone could see that Air Zimbabwe Flight 1, as the plane is known, was hugging Africa’s eastern coast on its way home to Harare, the capital, after four days in Dubai. The flight designation, UM1, meant that President Robert Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state, was on board. Mr. Mugabe’s trip to the Middle East had been made suddenly, with no explanation from the secretive Zimbabwean government, fueling rumors that the president was deathly ill and desperately seeking medical treatment overseas. The main political opposition helped feed those rumors, with one of its leaders posting online, in a tone of great authority, that Mr. Mugabe had suffered a stroke and that it was unlikely “he can come back from this. ” But ordinary Zimbabweans and journalists were left with hardly any verifiable facts, other than what flight tracking apps could tell them. And it was not the first time. In March, when Mr. Mugabe was traveling in Asia, he canceled a visit to India at the last minute, and the government refused to reveal his whereabouts. The apps showed that his plane was in Singapore, one of the places where he has received medical treatment in recent years. (The government said he had cataract surgery there and was otherwise healthy, but a 2008 American diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks said he had been treated in Singapore for prostate cancer.) The president’s health has been an topic this year for Zimbabweans of all classes, as the effects of age and possible illness have become harder for Mr. Mugabe to hide. Many Zimbabweans, who have known only one leader since gaining independence 36 years ago, are bracing for the future with the same trepidation that many Chinese felt near the end of Mao Zedong’s long rule, or that the Congolese did with Mobutu Sese Seko. They speak about “when the old man goes” or “when nature takes its course. ” The uncertainty of a political order compounds the anxieties. The political class is engulfed in a ferocious fight over succession, and it is far from clear where the security forces, the traditional guarantors of Mr. Mugabe’s power, will stand. In the capital, politicians and diplomats report that Mr. Mugabe has slowed down considerably in the past year. He works only a few hours a day and says little in meetings. Several times, he has been caught on video stumbling or falling asleep at public events. Like most wealthy Zimbabweans, Mr. Mugabe goes abroad for better medical care than he can get at home. That narrows the circle of Zimbabweans who are truly informed about his health — and it means that every time he flies, especially on extended or unannounced trips outside Africa, the rumors fly as well, often claiming that he has died or is at death’s door. “There will never be a thing called a vacuum, so if the officials are not giving information, rumors will fill the vacuum,” said Tendai Biti, the president of an opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party. “The feelings of uncertainty are a byproduct of a very unstable environment created by the president himself. ” “But this is not unique to Zimbabwe,” added Mr. Biti, who served as finance minister in a coalition government from 2009 to 2013. “Mobutu used to die so many times. In Uganda, Idi Amin used to die so many times. In China, Chairman Mao used to die so many times. In Russia, how many times did Brezhnev used to die?” This time, the speculation about Mr. Mugabe seemed to have more foundation than usual. He had been scheduled to go to Ghana in to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Millennium Excellence Foundation for helping to liberate Zimbabwe, but canceled the trip at the last minute. When he resurfaced several days later at an agricultural show, his appearance merely fanned the flames. He seemed to stumble at one point and was apparently wearing slippers rather than shoes with his suit. Mr. Mugabe appeared to bounce back, flying to Kenya on Aug. 26 for a conference, followed by a meeting in Swaziland. After that, however, UM1’s movements began raising alarms in some circles. The plane left Swaziland a day before the conference ended, spent three hours in Harare and then took off again for Dubai, arriving on the morning of Aug. 31. Days of silence ensued. The government said only that Mr. Mugabe was in the Middle East on official business. The Sept. 1 headline on the independent newspaper NewsDay read, “Mystery Over Mugabe Trip. ” “Each time you people don’t know the purpose of the president’s visit, there is always a default explanation that he is ill,” George Charamba, Mr. Mugabe’s spokesman, was quoted in the article as saying. Eddie Cross, a lawmaker with the main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, wrote on his blog the next day, “We hear that the Old Man had a stroke. ” He added, “It would have been so much more dignified if he had recognized that his ‘sell by’ date had arrived and he had retired and handed over to a chosen successor. ” UM1 took off again after midnight on Saturday, and by 6 a. m. the tracking apps had it over the waters between Mozambique and Madagascar, headed southwest. Journalists and officials began to gather at Harare’s airport, where the sun shone in a clear sky on a fine spring morning. When the plane landed at 7:58, reporters for the state news media were ushered onto the tarmac. “Yes, it’s true,” Mr. Mugabe told them cheerfully. “I was dead, and I resurrected, as I always do. ” He said he had gone to Dubai to check up on his elder son, Robert Jr. an architecture student. Speculation immediately turned to whether Mr. Mugabe’s allies had churned up false rumors of his death to discredit the independent news media and the political opposition. Zimbabwe’s central intelligence organization has a history of spreading disinformation. Mr. Cross, the opposition lawmaker, said by phone that he had based his blog post on information from intelligence officials, members of the governing party, South African intelligence officials and a minister. Conjuring a scene from the macabre comedy “Weekend at Bernie’s,” Mr. Cross argued that Mr. Mugabe’s allies were propping up a dying president to maintain their hold on power. At the airport, a reporter asked Mr. Mugabe whether he was a ghost. “Once I get back to my country,” he replied, “I am real. ” | 0fake |
Priebus: The Republican Party ‘Will Be Rewarded’ for Fixing Health Care - Breitbart | On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said the Republican Party would “be rewarded” for tackling health care. Host Chris Wallace said, “House Republicans are right now facing angry voters at town halls this weekend. On Friday, ‘The Cook Political Report,’ which you know well, the kind of unofficial bible assessing House races, shifted its assessment of 20 seats now held by Republicans in the direction of Democrats. I’m not saying they’re going to win them, but that they are more likely for Democrats to win. You could lose your House majority over this. ” Priebus said, “Yeah, these are the same people that said Donald Trump wasn’t going to run and he ran, he couldn’t win the general, he won the general, he couldn’t get health care repeal and replace through the House, he got it through the House. Look, the fact of the matter is there are sometimes in life you have to do what’s right, not what’s politically expedient. We believe this is going to be a better product, and by the time people see the premiums are lower, it’s a better service, more options, more choices, they’re going to reward the Republicans that stood up and said we are not going to see the Obamacare system, which is failing and collapsing continue any longer. We’re going to do something better, and We’re going to do our job as legislators to get this thing done. I think that the Republican Party will be rewarded. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN, | 0fake |
Profit sharing was supposed to be a silver bullet for middle-class success. What happened? | The core commitment of the American economy to give workers a fair share of the productivity and profits they have created is seriously in question. It has become abundantly clear over the last few years that the middle class is not sharing in the gains of the economy. Wages are mostly flat, and labor’s share of national income is declining as the productivity and profits of many businesses continue to expand. After decades of hoping to expand middle-class ownership of capital – stocks, bonds, access to profit-sharing and capital gains – during the late 20th century, it has been declining precipitously. Even worse, that is happening as the direct result of actual misguided government policies, even as other policies subsidize the concentration of that capital among the wealthy.
Ownership of capital, particularly through vehicles like grants of stock and stock options, and profit sharing was supposed to be a silver bullet for middle class success. And for a while it was developing. According to the General Social Survey, in 2002, 21 percent of workers owned some stock in the company where they worked, over 13 percent had employee stock options, and about a third received cash profit sharing, and a quarter some gain sharing, which involves a share paid to workers of increased sales or better customer service.
Today, the reality is that after decades of productivity gains and stock market gains, for most workers, the amounts received from shares are relatively modest and really don’t add up to very much. The most common form of shares, profit sharing, is now the least meaningful. The median adult worker with profit sharing receives only $2,000 per year. The other 65 percent of workers without profit sharing receive zero. The median worker with gain sharing also receives $2,000 and the other 80 percent of workers without gain sharing receives zero. While almost half of all workers in the communications and computer services industries had stock options in 2002 and over a tenth of workers nationwide were receiving stock options the availability of stock options to middle class workers has sunk by more than a third nationwide and in America’s innovative industries. Moreover, the median worker owning company stock — only a fifth of workers — has employee stock ownership worth only $10,000. The other 80 percent own nothing in their companies.
The principal explanation is not simply corporate greed or structural changes in the economy, but rather a long series of unfortunate government policies that have either eliminated or weakened share plans for the middle class, all while incentivizing policies that benefit the top. This privileged use of the tax system has to change.
Employee share ownership expanded in the 1980s and 1990s after the Reagan administration set up tax incentives to jumpstart broad-based employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) in public stock market companies. This encouraged large corporations to make lower risk grants of their stock to workers with workers not purchasing the stock with their savings. The incentives allowed lenders to deduct a portion of their interest income when they made loans to corporations to finance purchases of stock that were later granted to middle class employees who often also received dividends. The major Wall Street investment banks even set up divisions to market such plans, and aggressively proposed broad-based employee ownership to corporations. In the budget cutting that swept the President George H.W. Bush Administrations, these incentives were almost completely eliminated.
Other policies began with good intentions, but ultimately undermined middle class shares. In 1993, Congress sought to limit corporate tax deductions for the salaries of the top five executives in stock market companies to $1 million per executive. As this idea wound its way through Congress, the proposal was changed so that the deduction limit for the fixed salaries of executives was capped at $1 million, but stock market firms received virtually unlimited tax deductions for profit and equity sharing plans given to those top executives – now known as Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code.
As a result, executive shares have been subsidized by taxpayers with an estimated cost of at least $5-$10 billion a year since 1993 by six presidential administrations with largely unwavering bipartisan support. As top executives reap billions with Federal tax deductions, the tax deductions for share plans for middle class workers have much lower limits. On top of that, the tax mechanisms and encouragements for generous cash and deferred profit sharing plans have also been weakened over the past several decades for a number of reasons. While the Federal government has kept some tax benefits for Employee Stock Ownership Plans in closely-held companies intact, these benefits have yet to be updated to apply to millions of other closely-held companies called S corporations. And ESOPs and share plans of all kinds are simply not sufficiently encouraged by the Federal government in stock market companies.
Then, in response to the Enron and Worldcom scandals, the recent administration of President George W. Bush advanced accounting reforms of stock options designed to reduce the role of options in executive pay. As recently as 2002, broad-based stock options were common, covering 57 percent of all workers in computer services, 43 percent of all workers in communications, 27 percent of all workers in financial services, and even 23 percent of all workers in the durable manufacturing industry. By 2010, after the Bush administration’s “reform,” the General Social Survey showed a 70 percent drop in workers in computer services receiving stock options, a 57 percent drop in durable manufacturing, a 45 percent drop in financial services, and an almost 20 percent drop in the communications industry. The decline in stock options was concentrated among middle class workers, while the top echelon was largely spared. This happened because companies pushed middle class workers and managers out of their stock option plans to reduce the accounting cost of their stock options plans so that the options for the executives could be kept largely intact. President Bush’s “reform” of stock options for executives ended up punishing the middle class, just as the earlier executive pay “reform” of the 1990s ended up subsidizing executive pay. The Bush Administration reforms also led to a huge drop in the very generous Employee Stock Purchase Plans whereby large corporations used to generously allow workers to buy stock at a 15 percent discount to market with other provisions that made them low risk. Maybe, as some critics point out, options are not the best way to pay workers, but similar equity plans should not be only for the top. In short, Washington has quietly created a subsidized system of grants of free shares financially engineered mainly for the top echelon of the economy. Generous tax incentives encourage shares for the top, while zero or the least generous or out-of-date tax incentives are for middle class shares. The country now needs a robust political discussion of shares for the middle class, and the ill-advised policies on middle class shares must be reversed. The first part of that discussion should be about risk to workers. Cash profit sharing, deferred profit sharing and gain sharing plans are the lowest-risk form of shares, so it was a reasonable place for the Clinton campaign to start. In addition to profit and gain sharing, corporate executives typically receive lower-risk grants of restricted stock or stock options. While many companies encourage executives to purchase some shares, these grants of equity make up most of their pay package, and the country needs policies that encourage these lower-risk forms of ownership for middle class workers as well. Let me be clear. I am against any policy encouraging workers to buy more than very modest amounts of company stock with their wages or retirement savings. As happened with Enron, workers can easily get over-invested in company stock they buy with their own wages. It should not be encouraged by Federal policy. A responsible policy on equity shares would also give scaled progressive tax credits to corporations that grant equity to more than a majority of their workers without any worker purchases. If companies want large tax deductions for their executive share plans, they should be required to have share plans that cover all of their employees. Workers could share in the upside gain if the equity value of the firm increases over the long-term. Forms of employee share ownership such as grants of stock to workers through Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and other approaches, where workers do not buy the stock but the stock is financed by the company, are sensible to encourage. The elimination of ESOP incentives from the first Bush administration needs to be reversed so stock market companies and Wall Street start talking about equity grants to the middle class again. We need to revise federal policy to encourage firms that offer Employee Stock Purchase Plans a greater tax deduction for giving generous discounts to their employees with the level of the sales being reasonable capped to avoid undue risk. Beyond this, corporations that wish to receive many special corporate tax incentives should be required to have a fair broad-based profit-sharing plan or an employee share equity plan not based on worker purchases but only on grants, just as executive plans are structured. This Labor Day, it is time for the national discussion on wage stagnation to include a plan to revamp shares for the middle class. | 0fake |
Exclusive—Gov. Tom Ridge on Opioids: ’It’s a Supply and Demand Problem You Have to Attack Both’ - Breitbart | Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge says Congress must pass a pending bill to close the shipping loophole allowing Chinese companies to sell lethal opioids to distributors in U. S. neighborhoods. [“We worry about weapons of mass destruction,” he told Breitbart News. “But I think 30 pounds of fentanyl in the wrong hands is a weapon of mass destruction. ” In 2014, roughly 47, 000 in the U. S. died from drug overdoses, especially from heroin and other opiates. Heroin overdose deaths more than tripled between 2010 and 2015. The bill, titled the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention, or the “STOP Act,” is being championed by Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman. Ridge, a senior advisor with the group “Americans for Securing All Packages” (ASAP) is working to halt the spread of the deadly opioid epidemic ravaging American families. Fentanyl is usually 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin — dousing the body’s opioid receptors in the brain stem, spine, and gut all at once, obliterating pain and potentially triggering an overdose. One quarter of a milligram of fentanyl can kill a person. As Breitbart News reported, deaths rose a staggering 72 percent from 2014 to 2015, with 9, 580 dying from overdoses in 2015 compared to 5, 544 in 2014. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grimly noted in a January report that half a million people died from drug overdoses between 2000 and 2014. “It’s been an issue that’s growing in severity for the past two or three years,” said Ridge. “Sometimes these problems have to rise to an extreme level before people start paying attention to it, although I think you started paying attention to it some time ago,” Ridge, who also served as the first Secretary of Homeland Security, told Breitbart News. “Clearly, President Trump started paying attention to it during the primary. ” “I think he’s one of a couple candidates in New Hampshire who spoke specifically about the postal loophole, which has turned out to be a front door to illicit drug trafficking, primarily from China,” Ridge continued. During a New Hampshire campaign stop in early October 2016, Trump promised he would protect Americans from a massive influx of deadly, illicit narcotics “poisoning our youth. ” The Granite State “was really the first glimpse I got at how serious a problem we have,” Trump said. “They’re poisoning our youth. They’re poisoning more than our youth — they’re poisoning everybody. But they’re poisoning our youth. It’s tough enough out there. Our youth doesn’t have a chance with what’s happening, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore,” Trump had said. “We’re going to help the people that are so badly addicted. We’re going to help them … I’m going to stop the drugs from coming in. ” Ridge wants to continue the battle against the opioid influx. “I am hopeful that, one, we continue to raise awareness — that’s what we do at ASAP — and that, two, in a town looking for some bipartisan work to do together, that they follow the president’s lead, close the loophole, and support the STOP Act which has bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate,” Ridge said. Asked what the U. S. could do to halt Chinese businesses from openly advertising that they are “happy to sell” opioids so powerful that they are considered chemical weapons to U. S. buyers, Ridge said the STOP Act would at least allow officials to inspect such packages. “The STOP Act does not pretend — does not suggest that it will eliminate, completely, the flow of illicit fentanyl from China or elsewhere,” Ridge said. “But China, according to the DEA and multiple sources, is the primary source. So we’ve got pretty much the crosshairs on that as the source. And the fact is that, if we can just get them to provide the electronic data as to who the sender is, who’s to receive it, what’s contained, what’s the way — you know, we’ve built some pretty sophisticated algorithms over the years that would at least give Customs and Border Protection enough information to question the contents to pull it aside and open it up for inspection. ” From the Associated Press: “In this Aug. 9, 2016, file photo, a bag of isobutyryl fentanyl which was seized in a drug raid is displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Testing and Research Laboratory in Sterling, Va. Acting United States DEA administrator Chuck Rosenberg will visit China next week amid efforts to cut off the Chinese supply of deadly synthetic drugs, like fentanyl. China disputes U. S. claims that it’s the top source of opioids. Still, Beijing has already banned fentanyl, an opioid some 50 times stronger than heroin, and 18 related compounds. ” (AP Owen, File) “That’s what the STOP Act does,” Ridge explained. “It’s not designed to end the flow. I think one of the issues that the State Department’s got to deal with, the ambassador’s got to deal with, is much stronger diplomatic position in time. And frankly, I’d think it would be helpful to the diplomatic work that we have to do with China and other countries if [we] had bipartisan legislation that was passed and signed into law by the president. ” The epidemic has caught attention from Democratic politicians as well. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill recently opened an investigation into pharmaceutical companies’ records inquiring about the drugs’ addictive qualities and the relation to marketing campaigns. It should be noted that it may only take seven days to become addicted to opioids, according to the Utah Department of Health. One week of taking narcotic painkillers can suddenly deliver someone into a lifetime of addiction, or what’s left of it — before too many of morphine molecules bind with opioid receptors in the brain stem and shut down the user’s ability to draw their next breath. Of course, heroin addiction can slowly consume one before one realizes it has, as one user explained: I have literally never met anyone who was introduced to heroin with a needle. That’s roughly the equivalent of taking your first drink of alcohol by moonshine out of a gas can. The reality is a lot less abrupt, and a lot scarier: Most people start by popping and smoking pills. In that stage, it never seems like a problem, because you can use daily for weeks with no withdrawal effects whatsoever. “Once you’re at the stage where you’re even considering the needle, you long ago forgot about ‘squeamishness’ right along with ‘work’ and ‘everything else you ever wanted to accomplish in your life,’” the former user added. Breitbart News also asked Ridge what he would say to American families ravaged by opioid addiction. “Well, I’m glad you said — you phrased it the right way,” Ridge sighed. “Because you may have someone in your family that’s addicted. You may have an individual that’s addicted, but it affects the family, friends of the family, and the broader community. ” From the Associated Press: “In this Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, photo, Dorothy McIntosh Shuemake, mother of Alison Shuemake, cries as she clutches her daughter’s toy stuffed rabbit during an interview at her home, in Middletown, Ohio. Alison Shuemake, 18, died Aug. 26, after a suspected heroin overdose when she and her partner were found unresponsive at their home and needles were present nearby. ” (AP Minchillo) “And so, I think what we need to say to the families of those who are addicted to this — and remember, we’ve got — alcohol addiction is a huge problem,” he continued. “And more often than not, unless there’s family intervention, it’s a trip to oblivion. And I think it’s also like mental health problems. The stigma of addiction, and the stigma associated with mental health problems — we should be more tolerant in a society to accept the reality that as humans, we’re flawed, but these things do happen from time to time. ” Federal data shows that “deaths of despair,” particularly among white Americans, have risen starkly in less than two decades, as researchers Angus Deaton and Anne Case told NPR earlier in March. Whites are steadily poisoning themselves with opioids and lethal amounts of alcohol, and are committing suicide in disturbing numbers. whites account for of all U. S. suicides. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention found that seven out of every 10 suicides were committed by white men in 2015. Ridge said that communities must come together and help families hurt by addiction. “And so, as a broader community, we need to appreciate the horror that the family deals with, if they have a family member who’s addicted right now,” he said. “And, frankly, to look for ways to provide as much support and treatment as possible. ” “But I know it might be somewhat simplistic, but I know families … where there’s been addiction to drugs and alcohol,” Ridge said. “Sometimes, that intersession — and [getting] them to remediation — and get them to care, works. And sometimes it doesn’t. ” From Getty: “WASHINGTON, DC — SEPTEMBER 18: Activists and family members of loved ones who died in the epidemic take part in a ‘Fed Up!’ rally at Capitol Hill on September 18, 2016 in Washington, DC. Protesters called on legislators to provide funding for the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which Congress passed in July without funding. Some 30, 000 Americans die each year due to heroin and painkiller pill addiction in the United States. ” (Getty Images) “And what do you say to the families?” Ridge asked again. “It’s difficult to live with that in your family. And I think I understand that as an observer. I’m sure it breaks your heart, and for many people, it may break the bank as they’re trying to deal with it. But I would just encourage them to do everything they can to get the loved one that’s addicted, get them as much help as soon as possible. There has to be intervention. ” Breitbart News also asked Ridge whether the Trump administration’s strategy of cracking down on drug traffickers while expanding treatment options for those addicted to deadly drugs is effective. Ridge said it was: “I think it’s the right strategy. ” “It’s supply and demand,” he explained. “Supply: you go after those who push out the subscription — the docs that . You go after the labs. You go after the foreign sources. You go after the supply. ” “On the demand side? You have to intervene,” he continued. “You have to try to help. You have to try to rehabilitate. And some of these efforts are going to be successful — some are not. But simply talking about supply isn’t enough. And so, any effort that the government, both the state and the federal government, can do to support families and to support the kind of medical, necessary intervention — I think it’s critically important. You have to have to have it. ” “It’s a supply and demand problem. You have to attack both,” he added. Ridge also added that a suspect in New Jersey had been arrested with 30 pounds of fentanyl. “We worry about weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “But I think 30 pounds of fentanyl in the wrong hands is a weapon of mass destruction. ” Ridge pointed to a Breitbart News story explaining that more Americans had died from opioid overdoses in 2015 than they did of gun violence: “It’s about time we got serious. So, yes, the question of supply, yeah, let’s cut it off and demand — let’s try to get some intervention and reduce the demand. ” According to the CDC, “prescription opioids in the U. S. nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2014,” although a former federal prosecutor claimed painkiller and heroin addictions should be classified as “distinct” from one another. An Associated Press report revealed that drug wholesalers shipped roughly 780 million prescription painkiller pills to West Virginia alone in only six years, or 433 pills for every man, woman, and child in that state. The report also stated 1, 728 West Virginians fatally overdosed on painkilling pills in those six years. “Distributors have fed their greed on human frailties and to criminal effect. There is no excuse and should be no forgiveness,” a former pharmacist said about the painkillers’ death toll. President Trump’s budget blueprint pledged to commit some $675 million to combat drug trafficking, help lift opioid abusers out of addiction, and prevent more Americans from succumbing to the the narcotics epidemic. | 0fake |
Russia’s Sports Minister Strives to Contain Damage - The New York Times | MOSCOW — On the top floor of Russia’s antidoping laboratory, the largest office is empty but for two unopened glass bottles of Montblanc writing ink, in Irish Green and Midnight Blue. The longtime director of the lab, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, treasured expensive pens. But last November, he packed up hurriedly and fled to the United States after Russia was accused of a doping program and Vitaly Mutko, the country’s minister of sport, tourism and youth policy, asked him to resign. The lab’s operations, headquartered in a nondescript building a few miles from the Kremlin, have mostly ground to a halt since global antidoping authorities decertified the facility. Dozens of staff members report to work from 9 a. m. to 6 p. m. but do little except surf the internet in lab coats, stare out the casement windows onto an adjacent open field and wipe down clean countertops while waiting for occasional blood samples to arrive. The sense of suspended animation in the lab reflects Russia’s standing in international sports as it awaits the result of an investigation into claims of a coordinated, cheating operation at the last Olympics that could affect its participation in the upcoming Summer Games. “We’re just waiting,” Tatiana Radushina, a technician specializing in urine analysis, said on Wednesday, shrugging when asked how she spent her days. A short walk away, in the sports ministry — a former duke’s residence that dates to 1799 — Mr. Mutko is waiting, too, but with a greater sense of urgency. He is logging days, he said, seeking to counter the damage that Dr. Rodchenkov, who fled to Los Angeles, did when he spoke out in May about his work in Russia. Dr. Rodchenkov told The New York Times that at the 2014 Sochi Games, he swapped out the urine of dozens of Russian Olympians, including at least 15 medalists, under orders from Mr. Mutko’s ministry. The World Agency commissioned an investigation into Dr. Rodchenkov’s account. With the results expected on Monday, Mr. Mutko, 57, is preparing for what could prove a damning indictment of his administration, and he is in an unusually powerless position. Russia’s track and field athletes were already banned last month from competing at next month’s Rio Olympics by the International Association of Athletics Federations, the sport’s governing body. On Saturday, at least 10 national antidoping organizations — including those in the United States, Germany, Spain, Japan, Switzerland and Canada — and more than 20 athlete groups representing Olympians from around the world made clear that they were preparing to request that the International Olympic Committee ban Russia’s entire delegation from the Rio Olympics, if the report on Monday validates Dr. Rodchenkov’s allegations. In a interview in the ministry last week, sitting alongside a large Russian flag and a grand window with Corinthian columns, Mr. Mutko expressed a range of emotions: defiance, contrition, indignation and shades of hesitant acceptance. Speaking through an interpreter, he said that most Russian athletes and coaches saw drugs as necessary to win, and he admitted that he used to share that view, not explaining when and how his attitude changed. Shortly after he was appointed minister eight years ago, he said, he told Vladimir V. Putin — at that time the prime minister — that doping was a “black spot” on the country. Still, he scoffed repeatedly at the names of Dr. Rodchenkov and the other who have alleged systematic doping in Russia, waving his hands dismissively and averting his otherwise intense stare. “Rodchenkov created traps,” Mr. Mutko said, scribbling on blank paper as he spoke. “He involved people in them. ” Dr. Rodchenkov said he had received direct orders from Mr. Mutko’s deputy, Yuri Nagornykh, and to back up the claim, he supplied spreadsheets that he said the ministry sent him as instruction manuals, listing athletes whose doping samples needed to be substituted at Sochi. Invoking his training as a lawyer at Leningrad State University, Mr. Mutko demanded proof. “Nagornykh was in close contact with Rodchenkov preparing for the Games,” he said. “What kind of communications they had, it’s complicated to judge. ” But if proof were produced, he said, global regulators should bear responsibility. He emphasized that WADA had accredited the Moscow lab, clearing it to conduct testing at the Olympics, in spite of its suspicious test results, and applauding its performance at Sochi. Until last fall, Mr. Mutko said of antidoping authorities, “they praised Russia constantly they had no questions for Russia. ” Grabbing a fistful of five pencils from the table, he pointed their sharpened tips toward the glittering chandelier above him and pounded their erasers on the table like a gavel. “Nobody blamed us when we were 11th or 12th in the world,” he said, raising his eyebrows and pausing uncharacteristically. “Our problem is not the problem of Russia but of the whole system of doping control. ” Indeed, the allegations about Russia have raised questions about the broader antidoping system, which last month the president of the International Olympic Committee called deficient. Even the supposedly bottles, the standard at international athletic competitions, have been called into question by Dr. Rodchenkov, who said Russia’s internal intelligence service devised ways to break into them. Russia is preparing to host the World Cup in 2018, and Mr. Mutko, who is an executive with FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, expressed confidence that if the Moscow facility was not recertified in time, adequate drug testing would be conducted abroad. “We could send samples to Almaty, Kazakhstan,” he said. The Kazakhstan lab, however, was suspended by WADA last month for unspecified problems. With three weeks remaining until the Games, Russia is challenging the I. A. A. F.’s decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. “I have read all the documents,” Mr. Mutko said. “It’s all outside the legal framework. ” The World Agency has reported that athletes in Russia have continued to systematically evade drug testing, as recently as last month. Mr. Mutko said he knew nothing about such violations. “Didn’t you know Russia is a huge country?” he said, adding that as minister he had many responsibilities. Mr. Mutko is well connected in international sports and not used to being kept in the dark, as he has been in the Sochi investigation. Seeking to contain the damage, he has written repeatedly to the president of WADA, Craig Reedie, who sent the ministry a reassuring note during an investigation into allegations of doping in Russia last year. Early this month, Mr. Mutko wrote that he wanted to participate in the Sochi investigation, and he asked for an advance copy of the report due to be published on Monday. In reply, Mr. Reedie, who has been accused of being slow to act on allegations of doping within Russia, deferred to the Canadian lawyer leading the inquiry. To Mr. Mutko’s surprise, that lawyer, Richard McLaren, denied his requests. “I do not think it necessary to have any dialogue,” Mr. McLaren wrote on July 6. “I will report my factual findings, and then others will have to determine what it is they should do as a result. ” The International Olympic Committee and sports federations would have the authority to impose disciplinary measures based on Mr. McLaren’s findings. Mr. Mutko thus dismissed the power of the independent commission and WADA. “It’s about the decisions,” he said. “With respect to the commission, they do not determine the fate of world sport. ” In the United States, lawmakers and government investigators will probably also be watching for the results of the Sochi inquiry. The Department of Justice also opened an investigation into Dr. Rodchenkov’s claims. Mr. Mutko expressed little concern about American authorities, noting that no Russian was among the dozens of soccer officials charged in the United States’ FIFA case. Nearing 5 p. m. aides stood up, trying to bring the conversation to an end. Mr. Mutko continued talking, about his Sunday walks in Moscow’s botanical gardens, about his commute from St. Petersburg and about the Department of Justice. “When I visit New York, I will pay you a visit,” he said with a laugh. “But for the time being, I’m not visiting New York. ” | 0fake |
German Greens want anti-austerity Eurogroup head | BERLIN (Reuters) - A co-leader of Germany s Greens, a possible partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel s next government, said on Wednesday the next head of the Eurogroup should support a shift away from austerity and toward investment and more fiscal solidarity. The Greens are set to start exploratory talks next week with Merkel s conservatives on forming a coalition government that also includes the pro-business, fiscally hawkish Free Democrats (FDP) after an election in September. Unlike the FDP, who have cautioned against proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron for deeper fiscal integration in the single currency bloc, the Greens support common tax collection and an investment pact within the 19-country euro zone. In January, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem will step down as president of the Eurogroup, an informal body that plays a key role in shaping the economic policy of the bloc. The group will vote for a new chairman at a meeting in December. The upcoming leadership switch at the Eurogroup should be used as an opportunity for a new start in European fiscal and economic policy, Greens co-chief Simone Peter said in a statement. Europe will gain from more solidarity. Europe s fiscal policy needs a shift away from austerity toward a common pact for tax collection and investments, which would trigger social and ecological innovations. Like his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble, Dijsselbloem opposes so-called transfers from richer euro zone states to poorer ones like Greece. It would be good for Europe if the chairman of the Eurogroup holds the position of European Finance Minister who reports to the European Parliament, Peter said. French President Macron has put good proposals on the table, which should be taken on by the next government and should not be torpedoed as former Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble did to previous proposals. Schaeuble has agreed to step down after the Sept. 24 election that weakened Merkel s conservatives. He will become president of the German parliament. FDP leader Christian Lindner last week called for a tougher stance on fiscal and euro zone policy, without yet making a bid for control of the finance ministry. | 0fake |
Virginia Officials Request U.S. Inquiry After Inmate Deaths in Jail - The New York Times | A old inmate was in a southeast Virginia jail for about three months when he became ill in August, suffering from uncontrolled fainting spells, coughing and vomiting. “I don’t know what cause the blackouts,” the man, Henry C. Stewart, wrote on a form used by inmates to ask for medical help at Hampton Roads Regional Jail. “I can’t hold water down or food. ” That was Aug. 4. Two days later, Mr. Stewart was found dead in the jail in Portsmouth, Va. the second man to die in custody there within a year, the authorities said. The deaths of Mr. Stewart and the other inmate, Jamycheal Mitchell, 24, have renewed calls this month by legislators and state officials for better scrutiny and oversight of the state’s regional jails. Mark R. Herring, Virginia’s attorney general, has asked for a federal civil rights investigation, saying the “lack of clarity” over what happened to the men was troubling. “I write to you with urgency,” Mr. Herring said in letter to United States Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. The Sept. 6 letter, provided Wednesday by his office, contained details about Mr. Stewart’s death. The state “is once again confronted with significant questions about the provision of medical care at this regional jail,” Mr. Herring wrote. The Justice Department replied in an email that it had received Mr. Herring’s letter and was “in the process of reviewing the request. ” Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Democrat of Virginia, was asked about the men’s deaths in a video published on Sept. 1 by The . “You bet I have concerns,” Mr. McAuliffe replied. “I have a lot of questions,” the governor added. “This is why we’re going to propose legislation in the upcoming General Assembly” which starts in January. “No one is taking responsibility,” he said. Virginia’s regional jails are operated by local, rather than state, authorities. The Hampton Roads jail is run by sheriffs, city managers and city council members from the five cities — Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake — in its jurisdiction. Brian Coy, a spokesman for the governor, said on Thursday that any proposed legislation would aim to give state agencies the authority to investigate regional jails when events like the deaths of the two men occur. Currently, the state and the Portsmouth city police are investigating the jail deaths, Mr. Coy said. “The law can be more clear in terms of the process going forward,” Mr. Coy said. “Who, if anyone, has the authority to oversee and investigate local jails. “There is no clear authority about who investigates when there is a death in the local or regional jails,” he said. Last week, an investigation by The Richmond showed that inmates died nearly nine times more often in custody at Hampton Roads Regional Jail than at other local or regional jails in Virginia during the past three years. The newspaper analyzed statistics from two state agencies showing that 12 of the 6, 716 inmates who have been locked up at the jail have died since June 2013. Statewide, 129 inmates died across Virginia in the same time period. Lt. Col. Eugene Taylor III, the jail’s assistant superintendent, responded to the newspaper’s report, saying five cities that send inmates to the jail send their sickest, and the jail cannot refuse them. “If you have cancer, if you have H. I. V. you’re coming to Hampton Roads Regional Jail,” he was quoted as saying. The jail’s superintendent, David Simons, and the jail’s lawyer, Jeff Rosen, were not available for comment or did not return calls on Wednesday and early Thursday. The attorney general’s letter requesting the federal investigation after Mr. Stewart’s death was first reported by local media, including The and WAVY. com, which have also published documents online detailing the jail’s response to Mr. Mitchell’s death. One of the jail’s documents shows a timeline of occasions when Mr. Mitchell sometimes refused food, treatment and medicine. The jail superintendent, Mr. Simons, has said the facility was cooperating with investigators in the Mitchell case, according to a letter he sent to Mr. Herring in June, a copy of which was provided in an email from Mr. Herring’s office. Mark Krudys, a lawyer for Mr. Stewart’s family, said Mr. Herring’s request for a federal investigation shows the jail “has a very significant problem on its hands in both dealing with the mentally ill and dealing with people who need medical help. ” He said in a telephone interview on Thursday that Mr. Stewart was being held and accused of violating probation. He said that he anticipated filing a lawsuit after receiving information, including the medical examiner’s determination of the cause of death There was no immediate information on Mr. Stewart’s original complaint. After Mr. Stewart died, the grievance form that he used to ask for medical help was included in the package of his belongings and returned to the family, and then it was published in media reports, Mr. Krudys said. It confirmed details about what former inmates had told the family after Mr. Stewart died, he said. The form shows that Mr. Stewart was told to wait for an appointment for medical help, a service that was the responsibility of an independent contractor for the jail, Mr. Krudys said. Mr. Mitchell was put in the Hamptons Road jail in May 2015 after being arrested and accused of stealing snacks from a . While awaiting mental health treatment before a trial on the misdemeanor charges, he was not given enough medicine and food and was poorly treated by corrections officers, the lawsuit filed on behalf of Mr. Mitchell’s family said. It quoted interviews with former inmates for some of the details. Mr. Mitchell was found dead in his cell on August 19, 2015. The cause of his death was “probable cardiac arrhythmia accompanying wasting syndrome of unknown etiology,” said Donna Price, from the medical examiner’s office, in a report by The . | 0fake |
Turkish lawyers say decree grants impunity for political violence | ANKARA (Reuters) - A new emergency decree in Turkey could allow vigilantes to carry out political violence with impunity against opponents of the government suspected of involvement in last year s coup attempt, Turkey s main lawyers groups said on Monday. The government defended the emergency decree, issued on Sunday, which it said was intended to ensure that Turks who took to the streets to protect the elected government during the failed 2016 coup would not face punishment. Turkey already granted officials immunity last year from prosecution for their official actions taken to suppress the coup. Sunday s decree extended that immunity to civilians whether they have an official title or not, and whether they have carried out official duties or not . The lawyers groups said the measure was vaguely-worded and could lead to violence. People will start shooting each other in the head on the streets. How will you prevent this? Metin Feyzioglu, the head of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, said in a video response. So you have brought out an article that leaves civilians killing and lynching each other unpunished and without compensation. Are you aware of what you have done Mr. President? Turkey s main opposition Republican People s Party (CHP) said it would appeal the decree at the constitutional court. In a rare show of opposition, Abdullah Gul, a former president and longtime ally of President Tayyip Erdogan, said the wording of the article was worrisome, adding that he hoped it would be revised to prevent problems in the future. A separate decree on Sunday dismissed 2,756 more people from their jobs, accusing them of links to terrorist organizations. Turkey has already sacked or suspended more than 150,000 police, teachers, lawyers and other professionals from their jobs in the aftermath of the coup. More than 50,000 people have been arrested. In a joint statement, the Ankara and Istanbul bar associations called Sunday s two decrees the last two nails in the coffin of the law . Erdogan says tough measures in the wake of the coup are necessary to root out the perpetrators. His government blames the failed takeover on followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish-born cleric based in the United States, who denies responsibility. The lawyers said the decree granting immunity did not make clear what sort of actions could be seen as furthering the aims of the coup, for which civilians carrying out revenge attacks could now be protected from punishment. The government said the decree covered only the night of the failed military takeover itself, despite the date not being specified in the text. This regulation concerns solely the night of the coup attempt, July 15 2016, and its aftermath, which is the morning of July 16. This does not encompass terror acts that were carried out later, Mahir Unal, the spokesman for the ruling AK Party, told reporters at a televised news conference. What we have done for this country s stability and development is evident. What is also evident is what these people who tell these lies and black propaganda do, he said. | 0fake |
Keystone XL builders can use non-U.S. steel, White House says now | (Reuters) - The Keystone XL oil pipeline does not need to be made from U.S. steel, despite an executive order by President Donald Trump days after he took office requiring domestic steel in new pipelines, the White House said on Friday. “It’s specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One, when asked about a report by Politico that Keystone would not need to use U.S. steel, despite Trump’s order issued on Jan. 24. “Since this one is already currently under construction, the steel is already literally sitting there, it’s hard to go back. Everything moving forward would fall under that executive order,” Sanders said. The southern leg of Keystone is completed and started pumping oil in 2013. Some pipe segments that could be used for Keystone XL, which would bring oil from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska, have already been built. Former Democratic president Barack Obama rejected TranCanada Corp’s (TRP.TO) multibillion-dollar pipeline, saying it would not benefit U.S. drivers and would contribute emissions linked to global warming. Trump’s order expedited the path forward for TransCanada to reapply to build Keystone XL. In weeks after issuing the order, Trump said in speeches and in meetings, including one with manufacturing CEOs, that Keystone would be required to use U.S. steel. In a speech this week to a joint session of Congress, Trump softened that stance saying new pipelines would have to be made with it. Economists told Reuters days after Trump issued the order that the steel requirement had many loopholes, would not be easily enforceable, and could violate international trade law. Even if there were no loopholes, U.S. steelmakers would receive negligible benefit from Keystone XL, because they have limited ability to meet the stringent requirements for the project. The office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it welcomes the allowance of non-U.S. steel, calling it a “recognition that the integrated Canadian and U.S. steel industries are mutually beneficial.” TransCanada said it was encouraged by the White House statement on non-U.S. steel and that its presidential permit application on Keystone was making its way through the approval process. Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said on Twitter that allowing non-U.S. steel was “important for companies like Evraz Steel,” a local subsidiary of Russia’s Evraz PLC, which had signed on to provide 24 percent of the steel before Keystone XL’s rejection by Obama. | 0fake |
Ted Cruz Drops Out Of The 2016 Presidential Race | WASHINGTON -- Facing an increasingly narrow path to the nomination and failing to thwart Donald Trump's dominance, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) withdrew from the 2016 presidential race on Tuesday. "Tonight, I'm sorry to say that path has been foreclosed," Cruz said in a speech Tuesday night in Indianapolis, "but the voters chose another path." "We are suspending our campaign," he added. As Trump barreled toward the 1,237 delegates required to win, Cruz's campaign in recent weeks resorted to increasingly desperate measures, mounting a last-ditch effort to win the Indiana primary, one of the only remaining primary states that gave Cruz a chance of winning. But Indiana turned out to be the final nail in the coffin -- Trump won handily in the Hoosier State, including among social conservatives, a demographic that in theory favored Cruz. To reinvigorate his campaign, Cruz last week named former presidential candidate and Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as his running mate, even though candidates typically do not name their running mate until they have amassed enough delegates for the nomination.
His campaign also announced a plan to coordinate with the campaign of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the other remaining candidate. Kasich's team agreed to pull resources out of Indiana and cede the race there to Cruz. However, this effort quickly backfired, when each candidate caused confusion by diminishing its importance. Kasich said voters in Indiana should still vote for him. Like many of the GOP candidates and party leaders, Cruz underestimated the strength of Trump's appeal. Initially, he often defended Trump instead of attacking him, strategizing that he could pick up Trump’s supporters if the businessman exited the race. But when it became apparent that Trump's populist and nationalist rhetoric was resonating with Republican voters, with the reality television star dominating the majority of the primaries, Cruz began to target Trump on the debate stage and on the campaign trail -- to little avail. Once positioned as a strong threat to become the Republican presidential nominee, the Texas senator was the first candidate in either party to officially declare his intent to run for the presidency in 2016. Bypassing the typical first step in a presidential campaign -- the exploratory committee -- he kicked off his campaign in March of 2015 with a rousing speech at Liberty University, the Christian university founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. "What is the promise of America? The idea that -- the revolutionary idea that this country was founded upon, which is that our rights don’t come from man. They come from God Almighty,” he said in his announcement speech.
A star of the tea party movement, Cruz made social conservatism and religious liberty a fundamental part of his pitch to voters. He highlighted his staunch opposition to gay marriage on the basis of religious freedom, particularly after the Supreme Court decision in June 2015 that legalized gay marriage nationwide. In response, Cruz said he would introduce a constitutional amendment to hold elections for Supreme Court justices. Over the summer, he held a religious freedom rally in the key state of Iowa, during which he proclaimed that “there is a war on faith in America today, in our lifetime” and bemoaned the “persecution” of Christians. But despite touting his conservative credentials and fashioning himself as an anti-establishment candidate, Cruz never quite managed to rally conservatives around him. The Texas senator was hugely unpopular among his colleagues, with most GOP lawmakers reluctant to endorse him until it became clear he was the only viable option to potentially halt Trump's momentum. Only then did Republicans begin backing him, though many gave tepid reasons for doing so and perceived him merely as the lesser of two evils when compared to Trump. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced his support of Cruz just weeks after joking that he wanted to murder him. Former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told students at Stanford University that Cruz was "Lucifer in the flesh" and "a miserable son of a bitch." Cruz's campaign never had the enthusiasm and fervor of Trump's insurgency. For example, when Cruz introduced himself at the second GOP debate in September, the audience responded with silence.
And while Cruz portrayed himself as an outsider, most voters viewed him as an establishment candidate, compared to the brash, take-no-prisoners Trump. As the reality of Cruz's downfall and Trump's presumptive nomination begins to sink in, the Republican party faces a serious dilemma: whether to support Trump as the party's nominee and potentially hand Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton the presidency, or risk further damage to the party with Trump at the helm. Soon after Cruz's announcement Tuesday, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus urged his party to unite around Trump. | 0fake |
Democratic donor contacts Biden allies about possible run | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A prominent Democratic donor worried about the party’s chances of winning the presidency emailed dozens of fans of Vice President Joe Biden on Friday, urging them to remain prepared to donate if Biden jumps into the race. The donor, Bill Bartmann, cited new polling showing Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont nearly tied with the Hillary Clinton, eroding the 30-point lead the former secretary of state held at the end of last year. Bartmann and other party insiders are concerned that Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, is too far to the left to win against a Republican in the Nov. 8 presidential election. “We cannot afford to lose the White House,” Bartmann wrote in the email, seen by Reuters. The email drew a string of affirmative responses, also seen by Reuters. Biden announced in October that he would not seek the presidency, despite support from a group of backers under the name “Draft Biden 2016.” But whispers have continued among some donors who hope that Biden could be convinced to run after all should Clinton’s campaign prove fruitless. “My sitting on the sidelines has a lot to do with my disappointment that the vice president decided not to get in the race,” Patrick Baskette, one of the recipients of Bartmann’s email, told Reuters. Baskette, a public affairs consultant in Tampa, Florida, was a special assistant to Biden during his time as a senator. Baskette said he was not opposed to either Clinton or Sanders. “I don’t think that they offer the solutions to our nation’s future that Joe Biden does,” he added. Clinton only barely squeaked out a win against Sanders in the Iowa caucus this week, adding to fears that she could lose a nomination that once was thought all but inevitable for her. Clinton is widely expected to lose the New Hampshire primary to Sanders on Tuesday. “Count me in,” Gary Hindes, chief executive of the Delaware Bay Company LLC and a former chairman of the Delaware Democratic Party, wrote on the email chain. “I am hoping that the stars line up right and that Joe becomes the nominee,” Hindes said to Reuters. “Sanders is too far to the left,” he added, saying Clinton could be vulnerable as well. “My heart is with Joe,” Hindes said. (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Leslie Adler) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage. | 0fake |
Fred Fleitz: ‘We May Have Generations of Radical Islamists in the U.K. Unless the British Government Wakes Up’ | Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs Fred Fleitz of the Center for Security Policy joined SiriusXM host Joel Pollak on Monday’s Breitbart News Daily to talk about the London Bridge terror attack. [Pollak began by asking if the London Bridge attack would finally provide the call needed for those who underestimate or downplay the dangers of radical Islamic terrorism. “A lot of people who were in denial almost say the right thing after these events. They sort of can’t help themselves,” Fleitz replied. “But what really concerns me is that yes, it’s right we have to improve security — we need better outreach, we need better intelligence — but there’s something they’re not talking about in the U. K. that really needs to be focused on: the role that the failure to assimilate British Muslims has created the situation,” he said. “There are communities where British Muslims are deliberately not assimilating, are being taught to hate British society, and this is incubating radicalism. There’s actually a parallel system of sharia law courts in the U. K. that operate. ” “We may have generations of radical Islamists in the U. K. until the British government wakes up and stops the situation,” he warned. Pollak pointed out that the United States has unassimilated religious communities with their own internal systems of government that live peaceably alongside their neighbors, such as the Amish and Jewish communities in upstate New York. “It’s certainly true there are some communities in the United States that have not assimilated,” Fleitz agreed. “I’m not concerned about Amish or Jewish communities, but I will tell you that there are enclaves of Muslim communities in Michigan and Minnesota that concern me. We know that in Minnesota there’s a rising rate of measles because the community has not assimilated into the rest of the community, and is not vaccinating their children. This is wrong. This is a big problem. ” “The problem with these Muslim communities is that it is making them susceptible to this radical worldview that wants to destroy modern society, create a global caliphate, and impose sharia law on everyone on Earth,” Fleitz contended. “These other communities aren’t trying to do that. They’re peaceful religious communities. ” “Also, when we have immigrants coming to a country from another country, I think they need to learn the practices and laws of the country where they’re coming to, the country that is accepting them and serving as a refuge for them. I think when people come to their new home country, they should understand and learn about the laws of this new country. That’s not happening in the U. K.,” he said. Pollak offered the converse observation that some of the worst terrorist murderers, such as the San Bernardino jihadis, appear to be fairly . “We can have homegrown radical Islamist terrorists — and I don’t really think they’re homegrown, I think they’re inspired or directed by foreign Islamist terrorist organizations — but it’s this ideology of hate that either is being communicated to them over the Internet, or is being passed on to members of separated communities in the U. K. It’s the ideology we have to confront, and I think this problem is worse in these separate communities,” Fleitz said. Fleitz argued that measures to hinder the ability of extremists to recruit and coordinate with the Internet should be explored, with due regard for civil liberties, but he is more concerned about “radical clerics and radical mosques who are promoting this type of hate and ideology firsthand. ” “I also want to stop these ISIS videos that we know homegrown radical Islamist terrorists are taking in, and it’s playing a role in radicalizing them,” he added. “I think was a call. You could just see how Republicans and Democrats in Washington were working together against the threat. Now we’re challenged by political correctness, and people who are in denial, and don’t want to the let the government take the steps it has to take to go after radical Islam,” Fleitz reflected. “Whenever there’s a radical Islamic terrorist attack, we get these lectures about Islamophobia from our leaders, leaders in the U. K. I think that is really hobbling the ability of our government to go after this threat, and that’s unfortunate. I hope what happened in London will be a call, but I’m worried in a few weeks we’ll be lectured about Islamophobia again,” he said. “Anyone who raises concerns about radical Islam seems to be tarred and feathered as an Islamophobe in this country. I’ll let the people who peddle this term give a better explanation, but that’s my experience,” he replied when Pollak asked for a precise definition of “Islamophobia. ” Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. | 0fake |
Gbagbo allies behind attacks in Ivory Coast: interior minister | ABIDJAN (Reuters) - A group of allies of Ivory Coast s former president Laurent Gbagbo, including at least one living in exile in neighboring Ghana, are behind a wave of attacks on security installations this year, the interior minister said on Thursday. Thirty-five people, a number of them soldiers, have been arrested for involvement in the violence, according to a statement released by Sidiki Diakite following a meeting of the National Security Council. Francophone West Africa s biggest economy has been shaken by army mutinies, violent protests by former rebels and a spate of attacks on prisons and police stations this year. The attacks have raised fears over its long-term stability, more than six years after a prolonged crisis ended in a civil war that killed more than 3,000, when Gbagbo refused to cede a 2010 election to current President Alassane Ouattara. Most of the people were already implicated in similar attacks around 2012 to 2014, Diakite said. Arrested and imprisoned, they were freed in the spirit of political dialogue and reconciliation. Previously, much of this year s violence has been blamed on disgruntled former members of the rebel group that helped Ouattara dislodge Gbagbo, but former fighters loyal to Gbagbo have been blamed for attacks in the past, including several that killed 10 soldiers in the commercial capital Abidjan in 2012 and other deadly attacks near the Liberian border in 2014. Gbagbo was captured in April 2011 and is on trial at the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, but many of his allies have been pardoned. It is clear that the clemency offered them with a view to peace and reconciliation was not understood by them, and so they continue to pose a threat, the minister said. Ghanaian government officials were not immediately available to comment on the allegations. Ivory Coast has accused Accra in the past of not doing enough to track down Gbagbo supporters. Ouattara has won praise for helping Ivory Coast recover from a decade of crisis to become Africa s fastest growing economy, but thousands of weapons left over from the war are still in circulation and the army is crippled by internal divisions. If Gbagbo s allies are behind recent attacks, Ivory Coast faces the prospect of instability from both them and the rebels they fought as it approaches what is likely to be a hotly contested election to choose Ouattara s successor in 2020. | 0fake |
Corrupt Republican Blames ‘Deep State’ For His Arrest After Stealing Charity Money | Something strange happens when the President sees conspiracies everywhere: they tend to bleed into the rest of the government, at least the Republican government. Now, a crooked former GOP Congressman, who s best known for inviting Ted Nugent to President Obama s State of the Union speech, is blaming a Trump-touted conspiracy for the fact the he allegedly stole money for his campaign and personal use and got caught.Former Texas Rep. Steve Stockman blamed the deep state on his alleged campaign finance crimes, for which he was arrested. This is part of a deep state that s continuing to progress, he said after a hearing. Stockman cited a right-wing conspiracy theory that the IRS targeted conservative groups.Stockman is being charged with diverting money from a charitable organization called Life Without Limits to his political campaign and for personal use. Beginning shortly after the $350,000 charitable donation was deposited into his Life Without Limits account, rather than spending the money on the Freedom House, Stockman secretly diverted the funds to pay for a variety of personal expenses and to fund illegal contributions to Stockman s campaigns for public office, court documents filed with the criminal complaint stated.Source: RollcallSince Trump has taken office, we ve seen a lot about the supposed deep state. The deep state is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, A body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy. Before Trump s election, the term was generally only used by fringe conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who accuse Jewish people of running a shadow government. Now, though, the head of the deep state could be Jewish, but he could also be Barack Obama. Conspiracy theories are fluid like that.Of course, Stockman has a history with the IRS. During the non-scandal scandal that involved the IRS daring to verify the veracity of non-profit statuses (from both sides of the aisle), he called for the arrest of IRS head at the time, Lois Lerner. It s looking more and more like his only reason for wanting Lerner s arrest was to prevent his arrest.Stockman has been released on bond and his main defense is that he stole only $15,000, not $350,000.Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr | 1real |
Troops Enter Gambia as New President Is Sworn In - The New York Times | DAKAR, Senegal — The political standoff in Gambia intensified on Thursday as foreign troops crossed the border with orders to dislodge a repressive leader who has refused to step down after losing a presidential election last month. Gambia’s erratic leader, Yahya Jammeh, seized power in a coup 22 years ago and once said he could rule for a billion years. But on Thursday the Senegalese military headed toward the capital of Gambia, Banjul, where Mr. Jammeh has been holed up in the state house, insisting that his rule is still valid. Mr. Jammeh has warned that he will fight back against any foreign military intervention. At least 26, 000 Gambians, worried about violence, have fled the country, the United Nations says, and several senior officials in Mr. Jammeh’s government have resigned in protest or have left the nation as well. As the invasion began, the winner of the election, Adama Barrow, was being sworn into office in a brief ceremony about 150 miles outside of Gambia. The inauguration took place in a nondescript room at the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, because Mr. Barrow has so little control over his country that he did not go home for the funeral of his son, who had been killed by a dog over the weekend. Mr. Barrow’s team ultimately decided that the embassy in Dakar was the closest they could safely get to Gambian soil to start the new administration. Plans for an elaborate ceremony in a soccer stadium in Gambia’s capital had to be scrapped amid the standoff. “It’s not necessarily the kind of ceremony to be jubilant about, but the situation is dangerous,” said Halifa Sallah, a spokesman for Mr. Barrow. But late on Thursday it appeared the situation could still be resolved without a fight. State television broadcast news that the presidents of Liberia, Mauritania and Guinea would arrive Friday to negotiate a resolution. A Senegalese military official said troops would stand by for talks. During the inauguration in Senegal, Mr. Barrow arrived to enthusiastic whoops from hundreds of supporters and emerged from a motorcade beaming. He was sworn in just before 5 p. m. his hand on a Quran, pledging to serve his country “without fear or favor. ” Several people who had gathered outside to watch on a large television screen shouted, “No more dictatorship!” In a brief speech, the Mr. Barrow called on the Gambian security forces to pledge their loyalty to him, asking that the military stay in their barracks. “We are one Gambia, one people,” he said. Gambia has suffered high unemployment and political repression for years under Mr. Jammeh, with many citizens abandoning the country to risk perilous and often deadly journeys to Europe by sea. Minutes after Mr. Barrow was sworn in, celebrations erupted across Gambia, with thousands gathering in some areas. Lamin Demba, a welder, said he felt like a free man. Joining others in celebration in front of his welding shop with piles of metal, he took out his phone and called a relative in Italy. “Come back home boy, we are free now,” he shouted into the phone. “Now Gambia is free. ” But while Mr. Barrow has popular support in Gambia, it has not been enough to dislodge the erratic Mr. Jammeh. After initially accepting defeat in the election, he suddenly cited voting irregularities and called for a new vote. “He is still the president,” said Seedy Njie, Gambia’s minister of information, communication and technology. “So, yes, he is here. ” This week, Gambia’s Parliament voted to extend Mr. Jammeh’s term for three months, though international officials denounced the move and many analysts consider it unconstitutional. The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday supporting the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to Mr. Barrow. The resolution, presented by Senegal, which has a rotating seat on the council, offers “its full support to the Ecowas in its commitment to ensure by political means first the respect of the will of the people” of Gambia in the election that ousted Mr. Jammeh from office. The speed with which the council has taken action shows how little support Mr. Jammeh has among world powers. He has overseen a legacy of human rights abuses, including imprisoning opponents and declaring that gay people should be beheaded. He has claimed to have the ability to cure AIDS with little more than an herbal concoction. Mr. Barrow, by contrast, is an unassuming real estate agent who fell into the candidate’s position after Mr. Jammeh jailed other opposition party members. He left the country last week to meet with West African leaders to discuss how to resolve the matter of taking over the presidency. Fearing for his safety at home, he wound up in Senegal, which surrounds Gambia on three sides and has a huge stake in Gambia’s stability. Mr. Jammeh’s circle of friends has been shrinking considerably in recent days. The African Union said it would fail to recognize him as president as of Thursday. The presidents of Liberia and Mauritania met with him to urge him to step down, to no avail. His chief spokesman and longtime mouthpiece fled the country. Many of his ministers resigned. Mr. Jammeh has tried numerous channels to cling to power. He appealed to the Supreme Court, but because he had fired most of the judges and failed to replace them, a full panel could not be assembled in time to hear his case. This week, Mr. Jammeh declared a state of emergency in the country. He shut three independent radio stations and his officers arrested people selling #GambiaHasDecided . For now, it appears members of the security forces are staying loyal to him. But with Mr. Jammeh lacking a broad support base, his ability to provide for supporters who have lived off his good graces for years will be challenged. “He has nothing left, really,” said Mr. Sallah, Mr. Barrow’s spokesman. “In the end I don’t see how he can stay. ” Mariam Sakho, a Gambian waitress in Banjul, said she was confident that Mr. Jammeh would step down, especially now that many of his ministers were deserting him. “Yesterday, my boss say I should not come to work because it is not safe,” she said. “But for me, I believe nothing will happen, so I told him I will come. Everybody is tired with Yahya Jammeh I believe he will go. ” People stayed glued to radios for news, while many Barrow supporters celebrated openly. “Nobody can stop me,” said Fatou Njie, a Barrow supporter. “It is my right. ” | 0fake |
Judge warns of dangers of appointed judiciary | Judge warns of dangers of appointed judiciary 'Unelected and unaccountable' ... rule on 'their empathetic feelings' Published: 5 mins ago Bob Unruh About | | Archive Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Print
A member of the increasingly divided and disputatious Alabama Supreme Court is warning that judges need to be elected and thus accountable to the voters or their decisions end up being based on “their empathetic feelings” instead of the law.
“Alabama’s judges are elected and accountable,” wrote Justice Tom Parker this week. “Federal judges, as recently noted by Chief Justice Roberts in his dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges … a case in which ‘five lawyers’ on the United States Supreme Court announced a fundamental right to same-sex marriage, are ‘unaccountable and unelected.’
He pointed out that three of the four dissenting U.S. Supreme Court justices in Obergefell “noted on eight different occasions that the ‘five lawyers’ who decided Obergefell were unelected. Chief Justice Roberts said on two occasions that those unelected ‘five lawyers’ were, consequently, unaccountable.”
Parker previously commented that the “five lawyers” failed to “base their decision ‘on legal reasoning, history, tradition, the court’s own rules, or the rule of law, but upon the[ir] empathetic feelings.'”
“Obergefell is the product of unelected and unaccountable judges,” he said.
He was arguing over a decision by the state court on its next move in a case brought by Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended for his actions regarding a marriage-based case that the court was reviewing when the Obergefell case, which created same-sex “marriage” nationwide, was announced.
Moore, who is challenging the punishment, insisted that the state court justices who previously were involved in his case recuse themselves. They did, with the exception of the acting chief justice who was allowed to work with the governor to pick a panel of retired judges to hear Moore’s arguments.
Parker said active judges should have been included in the panel, because retired judges, too, are “unelected and unaccountable.”
“Unelected and unaccountable judges are empowered to impose their agenda, instead of faithfully applying the rule of law,” Parker warned. “Obergefell is not the first case concerning same-sex marriage to prove this principle true. Before the United States Supreme Court decided Obergefell, the constitutionality of state laws defining marriage as between one man and one woman had been litigated before numerous courts throughout the United States.
Don’t miss Phyllis Schlafly’s book, now available autographed at the WND Superstore: “Who Killed The American Family?”
“Before Obergefell, 40 states passed laws affirming traditional marriage. In 37 of those states, the traditional marriage laws were challenged in the courts as unconstitutional. Of the 37 state laws affirming traditional marriage that were challenged in the courts, 24 of those laws were struck down by the judiciary as unconstitutional. Each of the 24 courts that struck down the traditional marriage laws as unconstitutional was composed of judges who were unelected and thus unacountable.”
He explained what happens when activist judges are held to account, citing the situation that developed in Iowa.
“The Supreme Court of Iowa was one of the unelected courts that struck down Iowa’s traditional marriage law as unconstitutional. The judges of the Supreme Court of Iowa are appointed by the governor of Iowa. However, although the judges are initially appointed, they must stand for retention elections once their initial term expires.”
He explained that after the Iowa Legislature adopted one-man-one-woman marriage as law, in April 2009, in “a decision largely viewed as judicial activism, the Supreme Court of Iowa unanimously overruled the democratic will of the people of Iowa and held [the law] unconstitutional.”
“The very next year, three of the judges … who had concurred in Varnum had to stand for a retention election; all three were removed from office by vote of the people of Iowa. This was the first time since Iowa adopted its retention-election system that any judge had ever failed to be retained. The people of Iowa held accountable those judges who failed to uphold the rule of law.”
Mathew Staver, chairman of of Liberty Counsel, which is representing Moore, said huge questions remain of impropriety regarding the judicial system’s handling of Moore’s case.
“Chief Justice Moore is merely asking for the same thing any citizen is entitled to receive – equal justice under the law. He wants his case to be heard by an objective and fair panel of judges who will adhere to the rule of law,” he said.
“The people of Alabama have increasingly called upon their judges to be accountable. At every turn, this case presents new twists and turns that have never occurred in the history of Alabama. Never has there been a requirement that replacement judges all be retired. We hope this case moves quickly to a final and just resolution. The Court of the Judiciary violated the law when it suspended Chief Justice Moore for life even though it lacked the 9-0 vote. Never before under the unanimity requirement of COJ Rule 16 has any judge ever been suspended for the rest of the term. A sexting judge gets six months and a judge who writes a four-page order that is not unethical or unlawful gets suspended for life. This is not right.”
Supporters of Moore also have filed an ethics complaint against Lyn Stuart, who has been acting as Alabama’s chief justice.
She is accused of “violating multiple cannons of ethics in her mishandling of the cases surrounding Chief Justice Roy Moore.”
The complaint comes from the Sanctity of Marriage Alabama organization.
“If the Judicial Inquiry commission really cares about ethics, fairness and upholding the integrity and impartiality of the Alabama judiciary, they will no doubt take our complaint seriously, as will organizations which filed ethics complaints on Chief Justice Moore,” said Tom Ford, a spokesman for the group.
The complaints, the group said, outline “how acting Chief Justice Lyn Stuart has repeatedly failed to avoid impropriety or the appearance of impropriety, failed to perform the duties of her office impartially, failed to avoid conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute, and failed to conduct herself at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”
Parker was not the first to cite the dangers of the judiciary.
Daniel Horowitz , senior editor at Conservative Review, told WND that the nation is going through a “social transformation without representation.”
“It is the unelected branches of government that are deciding our most important issues, whether it’s the bureaucrats, whether it’s the courts, and as it relates to even religious liberty, even property rights, immigration, our voting rights, who gets to vote,” he said.
Horowitz tackles the topic of “social transformation without representation” in his book “Stolen Sovereignty: How to Stop Unelected Judges From Transforming America.”
“How did we get here?” Horowitz asked rhetorically. “And the sad reality is nobody ever voted for this. This was all foisted upon the people by unelected judges, the legal profession, and unelected bureaucrats. That is social transformation without representation, which, as Scalia warned, is something much worse than even taxation without representation that served as the impetus for our first American Revolution.”
Same-sex marriage was mandated for the nation in 2015 by the bare 5-4 majority made up of Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and the late Antonin Scalia opposed it.
The majority found in the Constitution a right to same-sex marriage, overturning millennia of established legal precedent regarding marriage as well as the will of tens of millions of voters in dozens of states.
It elicited remarkably harsh criticism of the five justices in the U.S. Supreme Court majority.
For one, two of the justices in the majority, Kagan and Ginsburg, were asked to recuse themselves from the case because they had openly advocated for same-sex marriage, apparently violating standards to preserve judicial impartiality. Without their votes, the case would have gone the other way.
They refused.
Then there was the U.S. Supreme Court’s own opinion just two years earlier, in the Defense of Marriage Act case, in which the court said states have exclusive power over marriage.
And there also are those who point out that the Constitution doesn’t mention marriage but does dictate that everything not mentioned in the document is left to the states and the people.
As WND reported , Ginsburg, who voted in favor of same-sex marriage, has performed same-sex wedding ceremonies and made supportive public statements. Justice Elena Kagan also has performed same-sex weddings and promoted “gay” rights at Harvard’s law school while she was at its helm.
Critics contend the two justice appear to be violating judicial ethics rules that require recusal from a case in which there is even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The Foundation for Moral Law asked the justices to excuse themselves from the case, but they refused to acknowledge the request. The Foundation explained that Canon 3A(6) of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges provides: “A judge should not make public comment on the merits of a matter pending or impending in any court.” 28 U.S.C. sec 455(a) mandates that a justice “shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, author of the New York Times bestseller “The Harbinger” and the inspiration behind the “Isaiah 9:10 Judgment” movie, has criticized the Supreme Court’s assumption that it has the authority to redefine marriage.
At a prayer event in Washington, he said: “The justices of the Supreme Court took up their seats [in a hearing] on whether they should strike down the biblical and historic definition of marriage. That the event should even take place is a sign this is America of [George] Washington’s warning … a nation at war against its own foundation.”
Washington warned the smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation “that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself hath ordained.”
“Justices, can you judge the ways of God? There is another court and there is another judge, where all men and all judges will give account,” he warned.
“If a nation’s high court should pass judgment on the Almighty, should you then be surprised God will pass judgment on the court and that nation? We are doing that which Israel did on the altars of Baal,” he said.
See Jonathan’s Cahn’s message at Washington: Man of Prayer event at the Capitol.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling “same-sex marriage” an “intrinsic evil.”
And officials from several counties in Tennessee have adopted statements opposing the Supreme Court.
WND also reported when dozens of top legal scholars from the likes of Washington & Lee, Boston College, Kansas State, Notre Dame, University of Texas, Villanova, Vanderbilt, Hillsdale, University of Nebraska, Catholic University and Regent University issued a statement encouraging all state and federal officials to treat the Supreme Court’s recent creation of “same-sex marriage” as “anti-constitutional and illegitimate.”
“It cannot … be taken to have settled the law of the United States,” said the statement from the American Principles Project .
“We call on all federal and state officeholders: To refuse to accept Obergefell as binding precedent for all but the specific plaintiffs in that case. To recognize the authority of states to define marriage, and the right of federal and state officeholders to act in accordance with those definitions. To pledge full and mutual legal and political assistance to anyone who refuses to follow Obergefell for constitutionally protected reasons. To open forthwith a broad and honest conversation on the means by which Americans may constitutionally resist and overturn the judicial usurpations evidence in Obergefell.” | 1real |
DEAR RNC: An Everyday American Writes A Letter To Explain The Trump Phenomenon | This letter was sent to 100% FED Up! by an anonymous author:It doesn t matter who you support for President in 2016. This letter will make you want to stand up and cheer for the 80 year old American who expresses what most of us are feeling right now. Enjoy RNC P.O. Box 96994 Washington DC 20090-6994Dear Representative,From the time I was able to vote I voted Republican. I am 80 years old, and have a great deal of respect and influence with hundreds of senior ball players who also network with thousands of others around the country.I received your questionnaire and request for money and strongly agree with every question, as I have since Obama was elected. Unfortunately the one question that was missing is What have the Republicans done for the American people? We gave you a majority in the House and Senate, yet you never listened to us. Now you want our money.You should be more concerned about our votes, not our money. You are the establishment, which means all you want is to save your jobs and line your pockets Well guess what? It s not going to happen You shake in your boots when I tell you we re giving our support to TRUMP and he hasn t asked for a dime.You might think we are fools because you feel Trump is on a self destruction course, but you need to look beyond Washington and listen to the masses. Nobody has achieved what he has, especially in the liberal state of New York.You clearly don t understand why the Trump movement is so strong, so I d like to share with you an analogy to help explain the Trump phenomenon. By the way, it s not just the Republicans who feel ignored and disrespected, there are plenty of Democrats and Independents who also feel let down by the Washington elite. You seem to have forgotten about We The People and who hired you to represent us.So here it is, the best analogy I could come up with. Here is the reason so many Americans have boarded the Trump Train, and why you re pleas to come back to the party who deserted us, is falling on deaf ears:You ve been on vacation for two weeks, you come home, and your basement is infested with raccoons. Hundreds of rabid, messy, mean raccoons have overtaken your basement. You want them gone immediately You call the city and four different exterminators, but nobody could handle the job. There is this one guy however, who guarantees you he will get rid of them, so you hire him. You don t care if the guy smells, you don t care if the guy swears, you don t care how many times he s been married, you don t care if he was friends with liberals, you don t care if he has plumber s crack you simply want those raccoons gone! You want your problem fixed! He s the guy. He s the best. Period. Here s why we want Trump: Yes he s a bit of an ass, yes he s an egomaniac, but we don t care. The country is a mess because politicians have become too self-serving. The Republican Party is two-faced & gutless. Illegal aliens have been allowed to invade our nation. We want it all fixed! We don t care that Trump is crude, we don t care that he insults people, we don t care that he had been friendly with Hillary, we don t care that he has changed positions, we don t care that he s been married three times, we don t care that he fights with Megan Kelly and Rosie O Donnell, we don t care that he doesn t know the name of some Muslim terrorist. This country is weak, bankrupt, our enemies are making fun of us, we are being invaded by illegal aliens and bringing tens of thousands of Muslim refugees to America, while leaving Christians behind to be persecuted. We are becoming a nation of victims where every Tom, Ricardo and Hasid is part of a special group with special rights, to the point where we don t even recognize the country we were born and raised in; AND WE JUST WANT IT FIXED and Trump is the only guy who seems to understand what the people want. We re sick of politicians. We re sick of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. We just want this thing fixed. Trump may not be a saint, but he isn t beholden to lobbyist money and he doesn t have political correctness restraining him. All we know is that he has been very successful, he s an excellent negotiator, he has built a lot of things, and he s also not a politician. He s definitely not a cowardly politician. When he says he ll fix it, we believe him because he is too much of an egotist to be proven wrong or looked at and called a liar.Oh yeah I forgot we don t care if the guy has bad hair either. We just want those raccoons gone. Out of your house. NOW! | 1real |
US Insiders – Not Russia – Leaked Clinton Emails | Posted on November 2, 2016 by WashingtonsBlog
We’ve repeatedly shown that it’s much more likely that American insiders – not Russian hackers – leaked the Clinton emails.
Today, the NSA executive who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information, who served as the senior technical director within the agency, who managed six thousand NSA employees, the 36-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a “legend” within the agency and the NSA’s best-ever analyst and code-breaker, who mapped out the Soviet command-and-control structure before anyone else knew how, and so predicted Soviet invasions before they happened (“in the 1970s, he decrypted the Soviet Union’s command system, which provided the US and its allies with real-time surveillance of all Soviet troop movements and Russian atomic weapons”) – told Washington’s Blog:
My vote all along has been on an insider passing all these emails to Wikileaks.
If it were the Russians, NSA would have a trace route to them and not equivocate on who did it. It’s like using “Trace Route” to map the path of all the packets on the network. In the program Treasuremap NSA has hundreds of trace route programs embedded in switches in Europe and hundreds more around the world. So, this set-up should have detected where the packets went and when they went there.
Binney has previously explained to us that a Russian hack would have looked very different, and that he thought the hack may have been conducted by an NSA employee who was upset at Clinton’s careless handling of America’s most sensitive intelligence.
The former intelligence analyst, British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, and chancellor of the University of Dundee (Craig Murray) – who is close friends with Wikileaks’ Julian Assange – said he knows with 100% certainty that the Russians aren’t behind the leaks.
Murray said today:
“The source of these emails and leaks has nothing to do with Russia at all. I discovered what the source was when I attended [a] whistleblower award in Washington. The source of these emails comes from within official circles in Washington DC. You should look to Washington not to Moscow .”
Prominent investment advisor and economic forecaster Martin Armstrong writes today:
All our indications from behind the curtain are suggesting that there are many within the “intelligence” sector and “law enforcement” sector who are deeply troubled with the Clintons. They are trying to release documents and info to stop the Clinton Inc. Machine. That’s all we can say on this topic right now. Suffice it to say, there is a real internal battle going on in Washington.
And the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under numerous administrations – both Democratic and Republican – (Steve Pieczenik ) said recently that a group of officers from various U.S. intelligence and military agencies have staged a “counter-coup” to save America from corruption, and are the source of the leaked emails:
Interesting times, indeed … | 1real |
How Donald Trump Wins Even When He Loses | After the past disastrous week, he can’t win. But he’s already made all of us losers, and we’ve been accessories to his crimes.
The self-imposed carnage will mean almost nothing to Trump loyalists. But with 36 days left, the clock has run out for real estate magnate and—without a meaningful field organization, and with an undisciplined, national communications apparatus—there is simply no way for him to build and grow the kind of broad-based coalition necessary to topple Hillary Clinton’s current polling lead. Between now and Election Day, the gap is too large, there are too many yards left to run the football, and the real estate developer just dipped his hands in cement.
Without question, Trump would have been the most disastrous American president of the modern era. Some very real damage, however, has already been done—to what is deemed acceptable in our discourse, to the way in which we determine the long-term viability of candidates, and to the fundamental spirit of fair play—and there is no turning back.
There is more than enough culpability to go around—including a broad swath of GOP primary voters, journalists who partook in false equivalences in the name of clicks and ratings, and even the RNC honchos who refused to deploy legal mechanisms stop him. Of course, there is also the broader society which bought into the fable of his business acumen, tuning in for his weekly reality show on NBC, and handed him a trough laden with celebrity. Together, one and all, we made him.
There will almost certainly be social and political consequences of Trump’s months-long verbal carpet bombing campaign. Notwithstanding heroic acts of journalism, the so-called balanced egalitarian approach to election coverage has been dominated and fraught with dishonest political brokers. Beyond an emboldened, more virulently bigoted strain of ethno-nationalists, win or lose, Trump and his band of surrogates have fundamentally changed the rules of fair play.
Beating out more than a dozen primary opponents while lobbing bigoted remarks at Muslims, Hispanics, and women, a promised “pivot” never came to fruition. The fact that he was not forced to suspend his campaign after making racist remarks about a federal judge says as much about us as it does about Trump. With our tacit approval, he moved on to vicious stereotypes about African Americans and refused to apologize for his attempt to delegitimize the nation’s first black president. In fact, he said we should thank him for telling the truth and forcing President Obama to produce his long-form birth certificate. Instead of issuing a mea culpa, Trump falsely blamed Clinton’s 2008 campaign team for initiating the controversy and promptly patted himself on the back for putting the issue to bed.
Except Trump never walked away from birtherism. He continued to claim the document was fraudulent and even posited that the health official who signed it might have been murdered. On two occasions, he has risen to the podium and suggested circumstances under which his opponent might be shot.
For any other candidate in any other year, just one of those things would have been enough. But Trump knows it isn’t. “She’s nasty, but I can be nastier than she ever can be,” he boasted in an interview with the Times.
He knows that he and some of his most prominent surrogates—Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, and Newt Gingrich—can keep blowing the whistle, changing the rules mid-play. They all but blamed Americans for paying their fair share of taxes and honoring their contractual obligations. Trump, in the words of former New York mayor Giuliani was a “genius” for using the net operating loss carry-forward deduction—an obscure loophole unavailable to most working Americans—to cure future tax debt for nearly two decades.
So what if he filed multiple bankruptcies, refused to pay small businesses after they rendered services to his companies, and cost tens of thousands of people their jobs? It was all fair and legal, according to Trump. So what if he is an admitted serial adulterer who won’t spare a breath before spitting out misogynist, hypersexualized comments about women. Everybody cheats, at least according to Giuliani, and the women deserved it, right? So what if it turns out to be true that Trump didn’t pay a dime in federal or state taxes over the span of 18 years—leaving police officers, school teachers, veterans, and others out in the wash. That makes him “smart,” right?
Once upon a time, allegations of fraud, draft dodging, flagrant philandering, and self-dealing, not to mention public verbal assaults against a litany of people, would have been immediate disqualifiers. A self-professed billionaire who paid no taxes for even one year would have been laughed off the stage. Candidates have surely dropped out over less. The torrent of bad press would’ve been enough to send any other self-respecting candidate for the hills. Within hours, the candidate and his spouse would’ve been standing tearfully before a flag draped podium proclaiming their allegiance to their country and vowing to continue the fight as private citizens for the public good.
Never in the history of American politics has a major party nominee made such a mockery of the process. But the game changed the moment GOP voters cast their lot with a one-time reality show personality with no public policy experience, little in the way of intellectual curiously, and no guiding values. It changed the moment sitting GOP members of Congress refused to call foul on some of his most egregious remarks. If you believe in nothing, nothing is truly out of bounds and, for Trump, apologies are an admission of defeat.
To the extent that Trump (and an almost laissez-faire media class) has begun to normalize various brand of racism, bigotry, and misogyny, it is truly a reflection on all of us. He needed willing participants and, unfortunately, he found them. Not only among the alt-right and white supremacists; he also found them in the halls of cable news networks with people incapable or unwilling to challenge his nonsensical rants and stop booking surrogates who flat out lie. | 0fake |
HELL FREEZES OVER…Or Does It? [Video] Hundreds Of Muslims In Dearborn, MI Take To Streets To Protest ISIS | It only took what 14 years for this to happen? 9-11-01 is a memory that is etched in the minds of every American. One of the most distinctive memories many of us have following the attack by Muslim extremists on our country, was the deafening silence from the huge Muslim community in Dearborn, MI.The protest against ISIS in the majority Muslim community of Dearborn, MI is a good start. Americans can t help but wonder though, why it took so long for Muslims to protest these acts of terror by Islamic extremists? Is it because they ve come to the realization that ISIS is not particularly discriminating about who they target? You can t help but notice the Muslims in this video are carrying a huge sign telling Muslims that 99.9% of ISIS victims are actually Muslims. And you certainly can t help but question where were all the protests when Al-Qaeda and other terror networks announced they were specifically targeting the West.There is no doubt there are Muslim Americans who love this country. Why wouldn t they? We offer freedom of religion, free education, housing, healthcare and food benefits. What we really need to see is that love for country extended to the love for their neighbors, for their Christian and Jewish neighbors specifically. This protest is a good start, but when Muslims make an honest attempt to assimilate in our country, instead of coming here with the intent of maintaining Sharia law and replacing our cultures and religious values with theirs. When they make an attempt to assimilate, that s when we ll know and believe they are truly interested in becoming Americans, not transplanted Muslims from overseas working to turn America into a Sharia compliant nation. | 1real |
Obama: U.S. cannot solve the world's problems alone | President Obama told the United Nations on Monday that they must all work together on an array of challenges — from Syria to Ukraine, from poverty to climate change — because "the United States cannot solve the world's problems alone."
While making a largely thematic address to the U.N. General Assembly about the need for global cooperation, Obama also had harsh words for Russia just hours ahead of a tense meeting with President Vladimir Putin later on Monday.
The president criticized Russia's aggression in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea, saying "we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated."
While not citing the Russian president by name, Obama also challenged Putin's assertion that the only solution to the conflict and refugee crisis Syria is to back Bashar al-Assad, describing him as a tyrant "who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children."
Throughout his 42-minute speech, Obama also defended the Iran nuclear agreement and questioned a Chinese military build-up in the South China Sea that has drawn protests from U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea. He extolled the new U.S. approach to Cuba, and called on Congress to lift the decades-long economic embargo against the communist island.
Obama also pledged to continue the fight against the threats of the Islamic State — "we will not be outlasted by extremists" — but said other nations need to participate, a common theme of his U.S. address.
"Together, we must strengthen our collective capacity to establish security where order has broken down, and to support those who seek a just and lasting peace," Obama said.
U.N. members also need to work together to face challenges ranging from extreme poverty to violence against women to trade and global economic development to the ravages of climate change, Obama said.
Referring to a conference in December seeking a global climate change agreement, Obama said "the United States will work with every nation that is willing to do its part so that we can come together in Paris to decisively confront this challenge."
In stressing the need for multi-lateral action, Obama cited the U.S. problems with the war in Iraq, citing "the hard lesson that even hundreds of thousands of brave, effective troops, trillions of dollars from our Treasury, cannot by itself impose stability on a foreign land."
Obama also criticized dictatorships and authoritarian governments across the globe, including Iran where hard-liners continue to criticize the United States in spite of the lifting of sanctions in the wake of the nuclear deal. "Chanting Death to America does not create jobs, or make Iran more secure," Obama said.
Recent history proves that "dictatorships are unstable," Obama said: "You can jail your opponents but you can't imprison ideas."
Speaking 70 years after the founding of the United Nations, Obama praised the work of the organization founded in the ashes of World War II and designed an to prevent a third global conflict.
Through its work, Obama said, lives have been saved, agreements forged, diseases conquered, and mouths fed, although "we come together today knowing that the march of human progress never travels in a straight line, that our work is far from complete, that dangerous currents risk pulling us back into a darker, more disordered world."
Later on Monday, Obama meets separately with two powerful world leaders: Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Putin of Russia.
Speaking to the General Assembly shortly after Obama, Putin said countries should back Assad because his government in Syria is fighting Islamic State militants. The Russian leader chided the U.S. for backing Syrian rebels, saying some of them have defected to the IS.
As for Ukraine, Putin said a "coup" that evicted a pro-Russian leader has led to a civil war in that country.
Obama will also attend a U.N. luncheon, chair a meeting on peacekeeping efforts, and host a reception for General Assembly delegates.
As Obama spoke to delegates at the United Nations, the White House issued a memorandum pledging support for peacekeeping missions, and ordering executive agencies to help. The United States is looking for similar pledges from other nations, and Obama told U.N. delegates that "we have to do it together."
During his speech to the General Assembly, Obama also made references of some of politics surrounding the U.S. presidential election. In an apparent reference to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Obama denounced voices who call for "walls" designed to "keep out immigrants."
In his repeated call for greater global cooperation, Obama noted what he called "increasing skepticism of our international order," and of government in general. He blamed some of it on "greater polarization, more frequent gridlock," and various movements "on the far right, and, sometimes, the left."
Critics of the system are also exploiting "the fears of ordinary people," Obama said, creating "a politics of us versus them."
Globalization is fact, however, and "we cannot look backwards," Obama said.
"We live in an integrated world," he said, "one in which we all have a stake in each other's success." | 0fake |
MUSLIMS CRITICIZE New State Law That Permanently BANS Sharia Law | Maybe it s time for Muslim citizens and immigrants to start assimilating. What a concept Texas has just made a move that is sure to have many people cheering, and a select few angry. As the march to Sharia Law presses on, it appears Texas is fighting back.Over the past few years, Texas has been quick to take a stand against President Obama and implement the laws necessary to protect its citizens. Now, the Texas legislature has just passed a law designed to permanent bar Muslims from instituting Sharia Law in the Lone Star State.While State Sen. Donna Campbell doesn t specific measure Islamic law in the bill, her measure guarantees that no laws from foreign courts will be admissible by Texas civil court judges. It s just to provide some belt and suspenders to make sure that, with judicial discretion, we don t trump Texas law, American law, with a foreign law regarding family law, Campbell told reporters.Muslim groups have already criticized the bill, calling it a solution looking for a problem. They also argue that the bill will only perpetuate Islamophobia. What do you think? Do you support the measure? Via: Three Percenter Nation | 1real |
POTUS FLOTUS Pocus | The president and Hillary Clinton share a “stubborn desire” to avoid scrutiny. November 4, 2016 Lloyd Billingsley
The President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, is working three shifts for his designated successor, former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As the FBI continues its investigations and Clinton emails continue to emerge, it is worth recalling the mysteries in the president’s narrative.
Last year, “Obama’s narrator,” as the New York Times called David Axelrod, released his massive Believer : My Forty Years in Politics . The author recalls a “perfectly timed” and unexpected call that would change his life.
“David, it’s Barack,” said the voice on the phone. “I’m thinking about what I want to do next, and was wondering if we could talk.” This call took place in 1992, which explains the perfect timing.
On February 8, 1992, the president’s maternal grandfather Stanley Dunham passed away at 73. So “Gramps,” as the narrator called him, was no longer around to offer insights on family history, correct any accounts that might appear, or write one of his own.
In the 1995 Dreams from My Father, Gramps “might” say that a Kenyan foreign student looks a lot like Nat King Cole. Actually, Gramps might not. The Kenyan student Barack H. Obama bears little resemblance to Cole, who passed away in 1965 but enjoyed a revival in the 1990s through daughter Natalie’s “Unforgettable” album.
The narrator of Dreams from My Father invokes “a stubborn desire to protect myself from scrutiny” and he “doesn’t fault people their suspicions” if they fail to take him at “face value.” His elusive father is a “prop in someone else’s narrative” and “an image I could alter on a whim or ignore when convenient.” The narrative itself is a “myth,” a “tale,” and a “useful fiction.”
Dreams from My Father has no photo section, no index, and key characters get only a first name. These include “Frank,” who gets 2,500 words. Back in 1995, the president himself identified this person as Frank Marshall Davis, the Stalinist Paul Kengor regards as the president’s mentor, as he explained in The Communist: The Untold Story of Frank Marshall Davis .
In Dreams from My Real Father , documentarian Joel Gilbert made a case that Davis is the president’s biological father. Malik Obama, son of the Kenyan Barack H. Obama, sees a strong physical resemblance . That also holds true on the policy side. Professor Kengor found “remarkable similarities” between the writings of Davis and the policies of president Barack Obama.
The Kenyan Barack Obama, though a man of the left, was not a pro-Soviet Communist. Had he been pro-Soviet, he would have attended Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow. Indeed, Obama warned his fellow Kenyans about Soviet meddling in Africa.
The Kenyan Obama would have found strange the president’s 2009 cancelation of missile defense for European allies. An outspoken man, he would not have supported the kind of high-tech harassment Sharyl Attkisson described in Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation and Harassment in Obama’s Washington .
The Kenyan Barack H. Obama had issues with strongman types such as Jomo Kenyatta, who ruled Kenya from 1963 until his death in 1978. In keeping with his country, and most of Africa, the Kenyan Barack Obama is not on record as a supporter of homosexual causes. Frank Marshall Davis, on the other hand, was certainly on board. As Davis wrote in his 1992 memoir Livin’ the Blues :
“During the dramatic civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s, I often thought we ought to form a united front with joint sit-ins at cafes. In my mind I envisioned the result. An indignant white restaurant manager frantically phoning the police, ‘Get here in a hurry! We got niggers at our counters and our washrooms are loaded with fairies and lesbians!’ Or perhaps there might have been a joint March on Washington waving banners: Blacks and Homos, Arise!”
That, and Davis’ pornographic novel, Sex Rebel: Black , might explain the president’s stubborn desire to protect himself from scrutiny. It could also have something do with what the narrator calls the “less flattering aspects of my father’s character.”
In Dreams from My Father , the Kenyan is raised a Muslim but in The Audacity of Hope he is “a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition, like the mumbo-jumbo of witch doctors that he had witnessed in the Kenyan villages of his youth.”
In Audacity , the narrator explains that he went to a “predominantly Muslim school” in Indonesia. He does not indicate whether atheists, Lutherans, Jews, or Buddhists also attended the school. Registration records were supposedly destroyed by flooding.
The predominantly Muslim school also emerges in Believer , but Axelrod does not indicate if students of other faiths attended. Frank, Ann Dunham, Stanley Dunham, and even the Kenyan Barack Obama are missing from this account, but it proves enlightening in other ways.
In a 2008, Brian Williams of MSNBC asked presidential candidates what steps they would take in the event of a simultaneous terror attack on major American cities. As Axelrod explains, “Obama neglected to include that he would pursue the perpetrators.”
Hillary Clinton did likewise in 2012, passing off what she privately regarded as a terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi as a spontaneous protest over a video. Like the president, Clinton has always shown a stubborn desire to protect herself from scrutiny. With BleachBit , hammers and lies, Hillary and her handlers did their best to make more than 30,000 emails disappear.
The contents remain something of a mystery, just as mysteries linger about the president and his background. On the other hand, by now some things are perfectly clear.
The POTUS and former FLOTUS both decline to identify Islamic terrorism. Both are shrink-wrapped in statist superstition. And both lie with the greatest of ease. On these counts, like the critters in Orwell’s Animal Farm, one can find it “impossible to say which was which.”
Back in July, the party faithful were chanting “Four more years!” during the president’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. | 1real |
Muslims Blast Call To Prayer, So Infidel Mayor Returns With Nasty Surprise | Share This Residents were fed up with hearing the Islamic call to prayer blasting at 5 a.m. each morning, so Mayor Yair Revivo decided to give the Muslim community a taste of their own medicine.
Although citizens were fed up, they were too afraid to call out a Muslim community for disturbing the peace by blasting their call to prayer in the early morning hours. However, as soon as the mayor heard what was happening, he decided to give the Muslims a taste of their own medicine.
Regardless of which country Muslims infiltrate, they eventually overtake the politically correct majority with their incessant demands, compulsive behavior, and intimidating tactics. Unfortunately, even the last Jewish state on earth is slowly being driven out of their own land after millennia of thriving under religious persecution.
As the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel is the only country in which Muslims and Jews can live free — that is, as long as the Muslim community is kept under strict control. Exacting the same racism, religious persecution, and terrorism they commit in every country to which they migrate, even the ever-progressing Jewish nation is finding it impossible to coexist with such barbarity. In an attempt to establish their religion as supreme, the Muslim community in Lod (Lydda) has been blasting the adhan, unconcerned with the non-Muslim population it disturbs and intimidates.
Fortunately, there are still those who are willing to buck political correctness to stand against this bigotry. Hamodia reports that, in an attempt to combat the blatantly disruptive calls to prayer, Mayor Yair Revivo announced a new program to the city on Tuesday night.
The Jewish leader has vowed that since the Muslims are blaring their adhan and refusing to turn it down to an acceptable volume, the city will blast the Jewish song “Shem Yisrael” at the same time.
Aryeh Levi, a member of the city council, has begun singing the beautiful rendition of the Jewish prayer over loudspeakers, completely drowning out the unbearable adhan. Because the local Muslims were given chances to quiet their call to prayer but repeatedly refused, the Jewish community is invoking their country’s religious heritage to “fight fire with fire.”
Revivo explained that the new program has nothing to do with Judaism or Islam but peace and quiet. Muslims pray 5 times a day, but the first call to prayer is around an hour and a half before sunrise, which is often as early as 5 a.m. Undeniably, this is incredibly disturbing for non-Muslim residents, especially those living closer to the mosques.
In a statement, Revivo’s office said that “the use of loudspeakers for the call to prayer has over time turned into a national phenomenon, and causes much suffering and annoyance for residents, who are awakened from their slumber in the early morning hours and are subject to the call several times a day. Both Jews and Muslims who live near mosques have complained about the noise. The city has tried to limit this phenomenon using legal means, as the call to prayer is a serious violation of laws against noise, but so far we have been unsuccessful.”
Lod is home to 45,000 Jews and 21,000 Arabs, however, it is the religious minority that repeatedly terrorizes their hosts. Whether by noise pollution or old-fashioned Islamic terrorism, Muslims in Israel are attempting to overthrow democracy and freedom for Sharia. If this happens, history shows us that the Jews will again be oppressed, executed, and exiled, just as the Islamic prophet Muhammad modeled when he invaded and butchered the peaceful Jewish tribes of Medina .
According to the Times of Israel , Revivo, who is Jewish, said Lod “would be an Arab city today if not for the garin torani — a group of religious Zionists who began working in Lod 20 years ago to strengthen Jewish identity there.
Of course, Muslims immediately resorted to whining, angrily disputing being subjected to the same annoyance they create for others.
Abed el Karim Azbargeh, an Arab member of the city council, said Revivo had chosen a Jewish religious celebration for “cheap politics” and had acted in a “disgusting and irresponsible” way.
Muslims look us in the eyes and swear that “there is no compulsion in religion” while blasting the mandatory call for their mandatory prayers. Then, they demand special food, breaks, clothing, holidays, and other amenities at the expense of others. Unfortunately, appeasing these inherently violent worshipers does nothing but speed up their goal of establishing an Islamic state. Once they become powerful or numerous enough, the rest of the populace is too afraid to speak out. | 1real |
Mexico to receive $150 million from catastrophe bond after quake | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico s will receive a pay out of $150 million from a catastrophe bond after a Sept. 7 quake met parameters for magnitude, location and depth, the finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. Reuters reported on Oct. 4 that the government expected to receive the funds and that it is looking at placing a new issue. Mexico was hit by two devastating quakes last month, the Sept. 19 tremor that hit Mexico City hard and an even more powerful earthquake that struck the country s south on Sept. 7. | 0fake |
Israel hails Trump's 'historic' declaration, Palestinians condemn | JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Israel hailed U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as its capital on Wednesday, but the Palestinians condemned the move and said it diminished Washington s role as a peace mediator. In a landmark speech in Washington, Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy in defiance of warnings from around the world that the gesture risked creating further unrest in the Middle East. Past U.S. presidents have insisted that the status of Jerusalem - home to sites holy to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions - must be decided in negotiations between the two sides. Palestinian factions called a general strike on Thursday throughout the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Palestinian areas of Jerusalem and for rallies to be held at midday (1000 GMT) in protest at Trump s move, raising the chances of violent clashes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video message that Trump s decision had made for a historic day and was an important step toward peace . He added that any peace deal with the Palestinians would have to include Jerusalem as Israel s capital and he urged other countries to follow the U.S. lead by also moving their embassies to the city. He said there would be no change to access to Jerusalem s holy sites. Israel will always ensure freedom of worship for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Trump s move was tantamount to the United States abdicating its role as a peace mediator and declared Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Palestine . Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed it, declaring the whole of the city as its capital, a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state which they want to establish in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. With this announcement, the American administration has chosen to violate all international and bilateral agreements and resolutions and it has chosen to violate international consensus, Abbas said. The move, he said, would serve the extremist groups which try to turn the conflict in our region into a religious war that will drag the region ... into international conflicts and endless wars. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been frozen since 2014. Trump s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is leading Trump s efforts to restart them but those efforts have shown little progress. Israel s West Bank settlement building has been one of the main obstacles. Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, said Trump s move was flagrant aggression against the Palestinian people and urged Arabs and Muslims to undermine the U.S. s interests in the region and to shun Israel. | 0fake |
US admits not targeting Al Nusra, then blames Moscow for separating ‘moderates’ from terrorists | 21st Century Wire says While Russian and Syrian forces are doing the real work of actually fighting terrorists in Syria the United States is arming, funding and training jihadists. In reality, the US failed to fulfill any of its ceasefire commitments in Syria. In fact, the US destroyed any hope of an agreement when it carried out a vicious airstrike killing upwards of 100 Syrian soldiers on Sept 17th.It s just a little bit rich for the ethically and morally challenged political detritus in Washington DC to be blaming Russia for not doing more to separate the moderates from the terrorists. Maybe that s because there is no moderate opposition in Syria. This is just a piece of fiction that Washington is trying to preserve in order to prop up its diplomatic facade regarding Syria. In the eyes of the Syrian state, if the opposition is armed, then they cannot rightly be called moderates . This would be the same in the United States, or Great Britain.This hypocrisy, and Washington s adolescent insistence on playing semantic name games when referring to moderate opposition and moderate rebels are mere euphemisms for moderate terrorists.Despite all of this, CIA director John Brennan wants to keep talking tough, by threatening Russia: I think that pushing back against a bully is appropriate, Brennan told Reuters. I think that is very different than rushing in and bombing the hell out of a place. CAUGHT ON TAPE: John Kerry s UN audio leak proved that the Secretary of State has been lying all along, to the Russians, the Syrians, the world, and to the US electorate that pays his salary. Kerry also admitted on tape that the US was arming and training terrorists in Syria.We know now that from the beginning of Washington s illegal entry into Syria airspace, their plan was to spare Al-Nusra and to keep it just in case for Plan B. Watch this recent clip where an Al-Nusra commander testifies on how the US supports jihadists in Syria in the form of arms, tanks and artillery: RTThe US is not targeting al-Nusra terrorists in Syria because they have become too intermingled with moderates and civilians, the US State Department claimed, accusing Moscow of causing the mess which prevents Washington from separating the groups.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov once again stressed in an interview with the BBC on Friday that Washington never delivered on its obligation to separate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (known before the rebranding as al-Nusra Front) and other extremist groups from the so-called moderate rebels, to whom the US provides support.However, this time Lavrov went a step further and implied that Washington has been sparing terrorists in Syria on purpose, should they ever come in handy in terms of potentially overthrowing the government of Bashar Assad. They still, in spite of many repeated promises and commitments are not able or not willing to do this and we have more and more reasons to believe that from the very beginning the plan was to spare al-Nusra and to keep it just in case for Plan B when it would be time to change the regime, the Russian minister said.The US State Department has dismissed Lavrov s statements as absurd , instead accusing Russia of driving the moderate opposition to intermingle with terrorist fighters on the battlefield against the Syrian government forces.Claiming that the US exerted every possible effort to influence and separate moderates from terrorists, State Departments spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at a daily briefing on Friday, that the moderate opposition have been driven more or less into the arms and have no other choice but to turn to Nusra, fight side by side. Toner admitted that the US had not targeted al-Nusra for months because its members had become intermingled with other groups and civilians. We did carry out strikes initially, back in 2014-2015, against Nusra. But absolutely, you re correct in that, as they became intermingled and as they became intermingled in civilian areas, we ve always sought to limit the possibility of civilian casualties in any of our airstrikes, Toner said Continue this story at RTREAD MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria Files | 1real |
Islamist militants kill six soldiers in southern Philippines | MANILA (Reuters) - Pro-Islamic State militants killed six soldiers and wounded four others on a southern Philippine island, the military spokesman said on Friday, as the army focused on the remaining rebel groups after regaining control of Marawi City. The army shifted its operations on Basilan island after ending the five-month combat operations in Marawi last month after killing the militants top leaders, including Isnilon Hapilon, the emir of pro-Islamic State groups in Southeast Asia. We were going after the Abu Sayyaf elements who continue to exist in Basilan and up to this time, there have been skirmishes reported to us, specifically this morning, military spokesman Major-General Restituto Padilla told news channel ANC. Ten soldiers were wounded, but six died on the way to a medical facility on Wednesday evening after troops, searching for Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Furiji Indama, clashed with militant groups in Sumisip town, he added. Militants from the Abu Sayyaf, notorious for bombings, beheadings, extortion and kidnap-for-ransom in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, took part in the attack on Marawi in May which led to the bloody five-month battle. Two army battalions were sent to reinforce soldiers who were taking heavy gunfire from well-entrenched militants, spokeswoman Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay told reporters, adding two attack helicopters also provided close air support. An undetermined number of militants were killed or wounded in the four-hour battle, Petinglay said. We will continue to chase the Abu Sayyaf and finish them off, she added. The presence of pro-Islamic State militants is among the top internal security threats for the Philippines. The Marawi siege raised alarms that southern Philippines is fast becoming an Asian hub for the ultra-radical group. | 0fake |
The CREEPY Way Pence’s Religion Demands He Treat Women Will Make You SICK (DETAILS) | Mike Pence is a devout Evangelical Christian. There s nothing wrong with that; after all, that s what the First Amendment is for. However, it seems that Trump s vice president takes his piety to a whole new, incredibly creepy level. First, there is the way he treats his wife.Reports of a dinner Pence had with state senators while he was still Governor of Indiana are most alarming. Apparently, during the dinner, it was revealed that Pence actually calls his wife mother. It seems that at first, people thought it was a cute joke or something, but then came to realize that he was completely serious. Pence reportedly yelled down the table at his wife repeatedly during the meal. From Rolling Stone:Gov. Pence shouted to his wife, Karen, his closest adviser, at the other end of the table. Mother, Mother, who prepared our meal this evening? The legislators looked at one another, speaking with their eyes: He just called his wife Mother. Maybe it was a joke, the legislator reasoned. But a few minutes later, Pence shouted again. Mother, Mother, whose china are we eating on? Mother Pence went on a long discourse about where the china was from. A little later, the legislators stumbled out, wondering what was weirder: Pence s inability to make conversation, or calling his wife Mother in the second decade of the 21st century.As if that weren t bad enough, it seems that there are even creepier rules with regards to how Pence treats women other than his wife. In fact, according to New York Magazine, Pence is not allowed to dine alone with any woman who is not his wife, Karen Pence. Supposedly, Karen Pence is her husband s gut check and prayer warrior, and is therefore rarely away from her husband. Unsurprisingly, though, we never hear her speak. Perhaps she is not allowed to. Hell, Pence won t even go to any sort of gathering where there is booze on the menu unless Karen is right there.So, if Pence is not allowed to be in a room with any woman who is not his wife, then how on earth does he do government business if the adviser happens to be a woman? Does his wife get to be in the Situation Room? Does she get top level clearances? Are they allowed to use religious liberty as the reason for such accommodations? Time will only tell. What we do know is that Mike Pence and his wife get creepier by the day, and that is very bad for America.The only consolation is that it sure as hell explains a lot but the more we learn about these creepy people, the scarier America s situation becomes.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1real |
Cruz tax plan would slash U.S. revenue, favor wealthy: analysis | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A tax plan proposed by Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz would cut federal revenues by $8.6 trillion over 10 years, adding substantially to the debt, according to an analysis published on Tuesday by a nonpartisan research center. Cruz's plan, unveiled in November, would create a flat 10 percent individual income tax that with other changes would mainly benefit high-income households, the study by the Washington-based Tax Policy Center found. (tpc.io/1ToCN7M) Other changes include repealing the corporate income tax, as well as payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and estate and gift taxes; increasing the standard deduction and eliminating most other deductions except for mortgage interest and charity; and adding a broad-based 16 percent value-added consumption tax. “The plan would cut taxes at most income levels, although the highest-income households would benefit the most and the poor the least,” the Tax Policy Center said. The value-added tax proposed by Cruz, a Senator from Texas who won the Iowa caucuses among Republicans last month, would replace only 70 percent of the costs of the tax cuts, according to the center. Cruz is a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement who helped provoke a 16-day government shutdown in September 2013 with his opposition to a spending bill. The goal was to gut the healthcare law known as Obamacare. The TPC analysis noted that high-income taxpayers would see an average tax cut in 2017 of about $6,100 or some 8.5 percent of after-tax income, while those with annual incomes over $3.7 million would see an average cut of nearly 29 percent, or more than $2 million. “Households in the middle of the income distribution would receive an average tax cut of $1,800, or 3.2 percent of after-tax income, while taxpayers in the lowest quintile would receive an average tax cut of $46, or 0.4 percent of after-tax income,” the TPC said. The changes would “boost incentives to work, save and invest,” but the lower revenue would require unprecedented cuts in government spending to avoid borrowing that would raise interest rates and discourage private investment, it said. The Tax Policy Center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, two Washington-based think tanks. It has issued studies of other candidates’ proposals. (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage. | 0fake |
According To Donald Trump,The KKK Might Not Be All Bad (VIDEO) | Republican front runner Donald Trump refused to distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan and former KKK Grand Dragon David Duke, who has endorsed him. Trump s reasoning: he has to do research on them before rejecting their endorsement.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfBAKW54FVs]Trump s statement comes as the Anti-Defamation League called on him to reject endorsements from white supremacist groups. CNN s Jake Tapper asked Trump if he was willing to disavow white supremacist endorsements. Here is part of the interview below. Trump said: I don t know anything about David Duke. I don t know anything about what you are even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don t know. I mean, did he endorse me or what s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists. And so, you are asking me a question that I m supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about. But Tapper wouldn t let him off the hook so quickly, and pressed on: Would you just say, unequivocally, you condemn them and you don t want their support? Trump said: Well, I have to look at the group. I mean, I don t know what group you re talking about. You wouldn t want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I d have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them, and certainly I would disavow if I thought that there was something wrong. The Ku Klux Klan, Tapper interrupted. Trump replied: You may have some groups in there that are totally fine, and it would be very unfair. So, give me a list of groups and I ll let you know. Okay, I m just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here, said Tapper. Honestly, I don t know David Duke, Trump remarked. I don t believe I ve ever met him. I m pretty sure I didn t meet him, and I just don t know anything about him. To claim ignorance is Trump s way of dodging the question. Trump knows that the majority of his supporters are racists and as is typical of a politician, you don t want to upset your supporters. Thus, he s remained hush hush on the overwhelming support he s received from racists around the country.Trump has succeeded in normalizing bigotry and hatred for minorities. It s going to be up to each of us, should he become the Republican nominee, to go out and vote against him in the general election. Featured image via screen capture. | 1real |
CNBC’s Santelli Takes on ’Meet the Press’ Panel on Russian Hacking - ’On Election Night, I Never Saw You So Unhappy’ - Breitbart | Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” during a panel discussion about the alleged Russian hacking efforts intended to influence November’s presidential election, CNBC contributor Rick Santelli took on a panel led by show moderator Chuck Todd and consisting of New York Times columnist David Brooks, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell and former Rep. Donna Edwards ( ). During the discussion, Santelli accused Todd of “picking sides” and dismissed Mitchell’s defense of the attention given to the Russian hacking controversy by the media. Partial transcript as follows: DAVID BROOKS: Putin is a guy who murders journalists, who has destroyed the democratic process in his own country and now suddenly he feels the freedom to try to do that in our country. It’s not normal statecraft. (CROSSTALK) RICK SANTELLI: To see Russians happy because Trump won — on election night, I never saw you so unhappy. You pick sides. Everybody picks sides. ANDREA MITCHELL: That’s not true, Rick. CHUCK TODD: Who picks sides? MITCHSLL: That’s just not true. Let’s get back to the facts here. SANTELLI: What are the facts? We were hacking [Angela] Merkel’s phone. Everybody does it. MITCHELL: Rick, here’s the difference. We do it, they do it. What made this different is that the Russians weaponized it by transferring it through intermediaries to WikiLeaks. They dumped it out. We do it and hold it. They do it and hold it. (CROSSTALK) MITCHELL: Let me finish my sentence — WikiLeaks was out from the end of the summer and it was being investigated. SANTELLI: So where were these headlines then? (CROSSTALK) MITCHELL: There was plenty of headlines. There was no proof of who did it. SANTELLI: People in charge of intelligence are political as well. DONNA EDWARDS: What happened here is the intelligence gathering that normally takes place was operationalized by the Russians to interfere with our elections. If you look at the report — MITCHELL: They did it in Ukraine. They’re doing it in Germany. EDWARDS: They’re doing it in Germany right now and this is really serious. We’re not going to get over by just saying everybody does it. SANTELLI: Right, we should be solving the problem instead of making it a political hot potato. Let me see the Cuban missiles on the island picture. Trump needs to see it before networks need to see it. MITCHELL: I went to the hearing — SANTELLI: Oh the hearing. There’s hearings on everything. They’re kabuki theater. MITCHELL: Well Rick, if you had been there you would have seen something very different. Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor | 0fake |
ACLU DEFENDS ILLEGALS? SUES DOJ, ICE Over Arrests of Illegal Alien Teen Gangs: “That was play-fighting” | WHO IS THE ACLU PROTECTING? Certainly not the legal citizens of America!After Obama allowed and even encouraged thousands upon thousands of unaccompanied illegal alien minors to flood America, we re now responsible for the mess he created. MS13 gang members have been going on killing sprees that have been terrorizing Americans. President Trump has a policy in place that simply enforces the law! Read below and let us know if you agree that the ACLU is protecting people who should have no rights in America.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a class action lawsuit against President Trump s administration over the detention of immigrant teenagers for unsubstantiated claims of gang affiliation. The lawsuit, announced on Friday, targets Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement.In a press release, the ACLU accuses ICE and the Office of Refugee Resettlement of detaining children and transporting them to detention facilities without notifying their parents or lawyers.The organization also alleges that ICE is detaining and deporting the immigrant teens under the guise of a crackdown on transnational street gangs and accuses the federal agency of making arrests based on unreliable claims of gang affiliation and flawed reports of criminal history. We re talking about teens who were picked up for play-fighting with a friend, or for showing pride in their home country of El Salvador, Stephen Kang, an attorney with the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project, said in the release. The Office of Refugee Resettlement is accepting wholesale that young immigrants should be kept behind bars because of what they look like or where they come from. The lead plaintiffs in the case are from Suffolk County in Long Island, N.Y.In May, ICE announced it has arrested more than 1,300 people in a crackdown on gangs. Three of those arrested had Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals paperwork protecting them from deportation, according to a report at the time by The Washington Post.The crackdown on gangs coupled with the Trump administration s tough stance on legal and illegal immigration has raised alarms among activists that people with tenuous connections to gangs could come under unfair scrutiny.Fox News reported a surge in people seeking to remove tattoos that people believed could be used by ICE to link them to gangs.The ACLU class action lawsuit seeks the release of the teens who are the plaintiffs in the case as well as an injunction to prevent the government from further detaining immigrant children without cause.The ACLU has launched numerous lawsuits against Trump s administration since he took office, suing over Trump s travel ban and challenging the legality of his voter fraud commission.WHO IS THE ACLU PROTECTING? Certainly not legal U.S. citizens!Read more: The Hill | 1real |
WATCH YOUNG TEENAGE THUGS AS THEY ROB FEMALE REPORTER Filming #BaltimoreRiots | Because nothing says justice for Freddie Gray like a large group of teenage thugs descending on a defenseless woman and stealing her purse A producer for Ruptly, a video news service run by RT (formerly Russia Today), was robbed on camera while filming the violent protests in Baltimore overnight.The dramatic video shows the female victim first surrounded and harassed by a group of youths, who rapidly grow bolder reaching out at her, all the while hurling a stream of vulgarity and ranting about the police. She is then clearly physically attacked by the group. As the video stabilizes you see that the producer is chasing the thieves down the street trying to retrieve her stolen bag before the intervention of the Baltimore police.The protests in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray while in custody turned into violent riots overnight Saturday into Sunday morning. So much so that 30,000 people were locked down in Camden Yards.As Twitchy notes, at the time of the lockdown President Obama was delivering jokes to the mainstream media and assorted celebrities about a half hour away.Toward the end of the video, the woman who was robbed can be heard sobbing as she continues to film.Via: RT Ruptly | 1real |
Where Does Bernie Sanders Go From Here? | NEW YORK - Bernie Sanders is at a crossroads.
The Vermont senator took Wednesday off the campaign trail at home alone with his wife, leaving his top aides behind in Washington to cool their heels.
"He wanted an opportunity to think," said Sanders senior strategist Tad Devine. "It's affording him an opportunity to think about where we are in the campaign, what he wants to say in the weeks ahead. He hasn't had a real chance to do that" in weeks.
The Sanders campaign poured itself into New York, throwing a hail mary pass to try to change the delegate math while they could. They spent $5.6 million (twice what Hillary Clinton did), made 3 million phone calls in the final weekend alone, and organized the biggest rallies of a campaign defined by big rallies.
But in the end Sanders came up short - not just of winning, but of the delegate target allies had aimed to hit, which might set them up for a path through California, the campaign's final hope.
Now, with the nomination even further out of reach, Sanders faces the difficult question about what comes next. Does he set a do-whatever-it-takes course to actually win the Democratic nomination? Or does he return to the message campaign his long-shot White House bid was originally seen as?
There's no question that Sanders will stay in the race either way. "Bernie made a decision after Nevada that he was going to go through this process and finish it up by letting everybody who wanted to vote, vote," Devine said.
Democratic primary voters have shown no sign they're in a rush for the race to settle down, and seem hungry for Sanders' message, if not his presidency.
He'll continue to draw massive crowds from zealous fans, who have almost literally given his campaign a blank check to do as they wish. On Wednesday night, the campaign announced raising $15 million more than Clinton in March, though they also spent much more.
But even some Sanders allies cringed at parts of the candidate's message in New York, where his agenda was sometimes obscured by a focus on Clinton and issues with the election process.
"Going forward, what we're encouraging Senator Sanders to do is to continue to keep the campaign focused on the issues," said Neil Sroka, the communications director of Democracy for America, which backs Sanders.
The campaign says they want to return to more substantive issues - but only as long as the Clinton campaign joins them. So far, at least, they believe Clinton forces are keeping up the heat and see it as sign Clinton still views Sanders as a threat.
Privately, some Sanders allies say it's time for the candidate to start to thinking more about how he maximizes his leverage at the Democratic National Convention, and afterwards, and less about beating Clinton at all costs.
One indicator of which kind of campaign Sanders wants to run is how much he and his aides continue to talk about relying on super delegates to hand them the nomination.
The strategy, which calls for wooing the unelected delegates even if Sanders loses more primaries and caucuses, was floated by campaign manager Jeff Weaver with MSNBC's Steve Kornacki late Tuesday night.
MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, both of which have endorsed Sanders, have since 2008 been pressuring super delegates to support whichever candidate gets the most votes.
More than 380,000 people signed petitions from the group agreeing that "the race for the Democratic Party nomination should be decided by who gets the most votes, and not who has the most support from party insiders."
Both groups confirmed to MSNBC Wednesday that they still hold that position.
"MoveOn members overwhelmingly endorsed Sanders for president, and we want him to win the most pledged delegates, become the nominee, and become president. But superdelegates shouldn't overrule the will of the Democratic grassroots," said MoveOn Washington Director Ben Wikler. "If the primary and caucus winner is Hillary Clinton, then Clinton should be the nominee."
Devine said the campaign's main focus is still to win pledged delegates. But if Sanders falls just short of a majority, it's negligible - "de minims," Devine said - and the campaign will pitch super delegates that Sanders is the stronger general election candidate.
Another indication of Sanders' intentions will be where he devotes his precious time in the days leading up to Tuesday's contests.
Five states are voting and Maryland is expected to be Sanders' worst showing.
If he invests heavily there it's a sign his campaign is still focused on winning and scraping together delegates. If he spends time in states like Connecticut and Delaware to try to eek out wins despite limited delegate opportunities, it's a sign he's more focused on moral victories than ones that lead to the nomination.
What Sanders decides to do, and how aggressively he decides to continuing pursuing Clinton, will help determine the shape of the rest of the primary and how quickly Clinton, the odds-on nominee, can unite the party.
Clinton's favorability rating has tumbled during the primary, especially among Sanders voters, presumably at least in part due to his attacks.
But as Democratic leaders worry about the damage, the party seem to be enjoying the contest.
National polling between Clinton and Sanders has tightened to a virtual dead heat, suggesting voters are not ready to settle on Clinton. Exit polls showed two-thirds of New York primary voters found the heated contest in the state to be energizing, not divisive.
"Mr. Sanders's presence has made this an immeasurably more substantive race," The New York Times wrote in an editorial Wednesday calling on Sanders to ignore calls to leave the race, which was shared by the Sanders campaign. The enthusiasm of his supporters "should be a wake-up call to leaders of both parties. They are missing something big about their own members' priorities, and their mood."
Still, Sanders' entire campaign has been about bringing new people into politics and the Democratic party. At some point, he might risk pushing them back out again. | 0fake |
ARTIST OF OBAMA HOPE POSTER Weighs In On Obama’s Presidency | Remember the HOPE poster that became a huge hit? Well, the artist responsible for it is speaking out on the past two Obama presidencies. Some might say that Shepard Fairey is partly responsible for the election of Obama. Who DIDN T want some hope and change in 2008? Now we know the rest of the story we got no hope and the change is a disaster! So you would think that Shepard Fairey has seen the light and is voting like many Democrats are for Trump. No, he hasn t learned anything after all. As much as he says Obama s agenda was a disaster, he s going to vote for Bernie. Liberal lunacy for sure!Shepard Fairey, who s now a Bernie Sanders supporter, says that after Obama won the presidency, he went quiet on a lot of things he promised while running for office. I think history will be fairly kind of his presidency but I want things to move further in the direction that he promised as a campaigner, he said. He s been more outspoken in the last 18 months. I think he s going out having done some good things and said some good things, but there were about six years there where I think he could have done more. Fairey said he had high hopes for Obama and that the president couldn t blame his failures entirely on congressional gridlock. If he had been as outspoken as he was as a campaigner, I would give him a pass on not being able to push through some of the progressive things I hoped he would, but he was quiet on a lot of things, he added. That to me was unfortunate. Similarly, German journalist Klaus Faissner pointed out that Obama transformed from an electrifying candidate into a Bush on steroids who promoted drone strikes, mass surveillance, and a totalitarian relationship with the media. Obama signed more orders for drone assaults than Bush Jr. had done in the entire eight years of his presidency, he said. These were drone strikes which caused catastrophic levels of non-combatant casualties, which America simply wrote-off under the euphemism of collateral damage. Via: Progressives Today | 1real |
WATCH: Ex-Trump Campaign Manager’s First Appearance At CNN Job Is A DISASTER (VIDEO) | The announcement that Donald Trump s problematic, misogynistic campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was fired from the Republican presidential candidate s campaign was a somewhat satisfying one, however it was soon replaced with bewilderment when it was announced that CNN had picked Lewandowski up.Mere days of being thrown out of the Trump campaign, CNN offered Lewandowski a job where he is rumored to be paid as much as $500,000 as a political commentator for the network. The network s move raised eyebrows especially considering the fact that Lewandowski as actually forbidden to criticize Trump thanks to a handy contract Trump makes all of his minions sign.On Thursday evening, Lewandowski had his very first paid appearance and it went exactly how you might expect it would awful. On Erin Burnett s OutFront show, Lewandowski flat-out told viewers that he would not be criticizing Trump, yet in the same breath promising to tell it like it is. Using the same vague response tactics he likely learned from Trump himself, Lewandowski dodged questions about his loyalty to Trump and said: I am a guy who calls balls and strikes, I am going to tell it like it is. I ll tell you exactly like it is, whether you like it or not. I m a straightforward person. That s not going to change. If something is wrong, I ll tell people it s wrong. If something is right, I m going to tell people it s right. Lewandowski s appearance was basically ten minutes of sucking up to The Donald, painting the picture that Trump is the only person who is going to save this country, for my children and hopefully their children someday even amongst claims that the Trump campaign was broke.You can see this train wreck unfold for yourself:Basically, Lewandowski is treating his new role as another opportunity to be a spokesperson for Trump, even after the campaign cut ties with him. This interview left viewers in shock most notably New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen, who had the perfect reaction:TwitterCNN s decision to employ Lewandowski is baffling, considering that the network has recently spent a considerable amount of time pointing out Trump s lies. Giving paid airtime to someone who is obligated to say nice things about a horrible presidential candidate seems to really contradict the dent CNN was trying to make in the Trump campaign.Featured image is a screenshot | 1real |
WATCH: President Obama HAMMERS Trump For Claiming Black People Are Worse Off Today | Donald Trump thinks African-Americans are worse off now than they have ever been, and President Obama just took him to the woodshed for it.During a rally, Trump declared that African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape than they ve ever been in before. The assertion suggests that slavery was a picnic for black people and that Jim Crow was heaven on earth.But President Obama set Trump straight during an interview with Good Morning America at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. You know, I think even most 8-year-olds ll tell you that whole slavery thing wasn t very good for black people, Obama told Robin Roberts. Jim Crow wasn t very good for black people. What we have to do is use our history to propel us to make more progress in the future. Here s the video via ABC.President Obama also slammed those who think racism no longer exists in this country simply because he was elected to the presidency or because some black people make a lot of money. It s unrealistic to think that somehow that all just completely went away, because the Civil Rights Act was passed or because Oprah s making a lot of money or because I was elected president. You know, that s not how society works. And if you have hundreds of years of racial discrimination it s likely that the vestiges of that discrimination linger on. And we should acknowledge that and own that. As President Obama said, Donald Trump could learn a lot from a visit to this museum. To think that black people had it easy as slaves is offensive and it s almost as if Trump thinks they would be better off going back to being slaves. So he s definitely on a slippery slope, and while that may get his white supremacist supporters frothing at the mouth, it does nothing to help him get black people to vote for him.Featured Image: Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Trump on Twitter (Feb 8) - Immigration, Sheriffs, tornadoes | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : -If the U.S. does not win this case as it so obviously should, we can never have the security and safety to which we are entitled. Politics! [0703 EST] -I will be speaking at 9:00 A.M. today to Police Chiefs and Sheriffs and will be discussing the horrible, dangerous and wrong decision....... [0804 EST] -Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in southeastern Louisiana affected by today’s severe tornadoes. [0020 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 0fake |
Are Republicans Abandoning Their War On The Poor To Fight Back Against Trump? | Well this is a peculiar thing indeed! Paul Ryan, leading member of the Ayn Rand cult of hating the poor, has had a change of heart!Via Raw Story: There was a time when I would talk about a difference between makers and takers in our country, referring to people who accepted government benefits. But as I spent more time listening, and really learning the root causes of poverty, I realized I was wrong. A Republican admitting they were wrong about ANYTHING is like finding a four leaf clover in the Sahara. Finding a Republican that admits they were wrong to demonize the poor in America is like finding one on the Moon. But Ryan wasn t done, he made it absolutely clear what he meant: Takers wasn t how to refer to a single mom stuck in a poverty trap, just trying to take care of her family. Most people don t want to be dependent. And to label a whole group of Americans that way was wrong. I shouldn t castigate a large group of Americans to make a point. So I stopped thinking about it that way and talking about it that way. But I didn t come out and say all this to be politically correct. I was just wrong. While I WANT to believe that Ryan had a true Come To Jesus moment, I don t believe for a second that he didn t understand the root causes of poverty. He just didn t care until Trump threatened to utterly annihilate the Republican Party by telling the base that the rich don t give a damn about them.A few days ago, I wrote about the National Review, the right s premiere collection of thought leaders, dropping the pretense that the right-wing elites consider the rural poor to be the real America. Years of pent up hostility and derision come flooding out like a tidal wave of scorn. I wondered if this meant that the Republican coalition of the poor and the rich was finally ending. But then how would the rich hold on to power without their useful idiots to vote for them?Ryan s sudden reversal on poverty suggests that while the National Review is giving up on the poor, the Republican Party itself is not. By finally talking about poverty instead of spewing hate at the poor, Republicans may finally be ready to address the actual problem instead of simply trying to sweep it under the rug. They ll have to if they want to reclaim their base from Trump.It would be the absolute height of irony if Donald Trump forced the Republican Party to move away from the fringe in order to start governing responsibly again.Featured image via AI archives | 1real |
Senate panel to hold hearing on Yahoo, Equifax breaches | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee said on Tuesday he plans to hold a hearing later this month over massive data breaches at Equifax Inc (EFX.N) and Yahoo, which is now owned by Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N). Senator John Thune said he will ask witnesses from the two firms whether “new information has revealed steps they should have taken earlier, and whether there is potentially more bad news to come.” Yahoo disclosed late Tuesday that a 2013 data breach impacted all 3 billion of its accounts, compared with an estimate of more than 1 billion disclosed in December. Equifax said on Monday that a data breach impacted as many as 145.5 million U.S. consumers, 2.5 million more than announced earlier this month. | 0fake |
Trump Wants More White House Staffers, What He Wants Them To Do Is SHAMEFUL (TWEETS) | Donald Trump has just come up with a new way to make his failing administration even worse, and it s going to make most Americans sick to their stomachs.Trump is not only seeking to hire more horrible people to work for him, but what he wants these sought-after employees to do is even worse he wants them to solely focus on his social media promotion. CNN s Jim Acosta reported this horrifying new addition to the Trump administration on Twitter:Seriously, the last thing this country needs is more people tweeting and posting from Trump s accounts; most of us have already had more than we can stand. While Dan Scavino has been almost singlehandedly managing Trump s tweets as the narcissistic POTUS comes up with them, having staffers to help him out will certainly allow him to cover more ground. Acosta reported even more staffing decisions up ahead: The White House is expected to make more high-profile hiring decisions soon as a search is under way for a new communications director. White House press secretary Sean Spicer is currently handling both jobs, roles that are typically carried out by two staffers. While more visibility and transparency isn t a bad thing under normal circumstances, most of us know that this is a horrible idea for Trump s administration. Trump has already been extremely reckless in his social media use just take a look below at some of Trump s security gaffes from this weekend alone:Clearly, giving Trump more exposure is far from a good thing as he s sure to turn the highest office in the country into a circus. If anything, having more hands in his social media operations is only going to allow him to destroy America s future faster than ever, making us all look incredibly stupid at the same time.Featured image via Matthew Cavanaugh / Getty Images | 1real |
BEN CARSON DESTROYS Interrupting Anti-Trump MSNBC Host: “Can You Turn Her Microphone Off Please?” [VIDEO] | Notify the CDC. It's spreading. #BenCarson #MorningJoe #TrumpFlu https://t.co/OUseiA7GVs BCP (@b_c_p_source) October 14, 2016 | 1real |
Manhattan U.S. attorney adds to probes of ex-Trump aide Manafort: reports | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is investigating Paul Manafort for potential money laundering, according to media reports, adding to other federal and state probes targeting President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York launched the probe in conjunction with federal special counsel Robert Mueller, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Tuesday. Bloomberg separately reported that subpoenas had been issued in the case. Representatives for Manafort did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports. The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, led by acting U.S. attorney Joon Kim, had no comment. The probe marks the latest investigation of Manafort that comes amid the ongoing larger examination of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race and possible collusion by the Trump campaign and associates. Separate investigations into Manafort’s financial transactions have been launched by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, including scrutiny of Manafort’s real estate deals. U.S. investigators examining Manafort’s financial transactions are seeking to push him into cooperating with their probe into the possible collusion, two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation have said. Manafort, who headed the Trump campaign for several months before resigning, has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Mueller’s team and congressional investigators are also probing Manafort, whose Virginia apartment was raided by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in July. Russia has denied any meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign and has condemned the investigation as a political witch hunt. Reports of the latest probe come as Trump is poised to appoint dozens of new U.S. attorneys across the United States, including in New York after seeking mass resignations earlier this year. Kim took over as the Manhattan U.S. attorney when Trump fired Preet Bharara as part of the wave of resignations in March. Earlier this month, Politico reported that Trump personally interviewed at least two candidates for the positions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, an unusual move that raised some questions given Trump’s business roots in New York. The Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office is examining Kushner Cos, the company owned by the family of Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner, according to the Journal. The White House and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions have defended Trump’s right to talk with potential nominees, Politico said. The U.S. Senate must approve whomever Trump nominates, a move that could be complicated by the Manafort and other probes. | 0fake |
Cruz dares Trump to sue him over abortion ad, vows to run it 'more frequently' | Ted Cruz is daring Donald Trump to sue him over an ad running in South Carolina that questions his record on abortion, rejecting the billionaire businessman’s complaints and vowing instead to run the ad “more frequently” because voters “deserve to know the truth."
"You have been threatening frivolous lawsuits for your entire adult life," Cruz said Wednesday. "Even in the annals of frivolous lawsuits, this takes the cake."
The Cruz campaign adamantly defended the ad after the Trump campaign sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding the campaign stop running it. Trump earlier this week also threatened to sue the Canada-born Cruz over his eligibility to run if he does not “take down his false ads and retract his lies.”
Their feud has only escalated since then, with Trump regularly calling Cruz a liar – and the Texas senator now ridiculing Trump over his lawsuit threat.
At a press conference in South Carolina on Wednesday, Cruz read from the cease-and-desist letter, calling it “one of the most remarkable letters I have ever read,” and challenged Trump to go through with his threatened suit.
Cruz, who graduated from Harvard Law School and previously worked as Texas's top lawyer, said he would like to take Trump's deposition himself and that a lawsuit against the ad has no chance.
The ad in question features footage of Trump in a 1999 interview saying he’s “very pro-choice.” The ad makes reference to the current debate over the vacancy at the Supreme Court and says, “We cannot trust Donald Trump with these serious decisions.”
Trump's attorney sent Cruz a letter on Tuesday saying the ad was "replete with outright lies, false, defamatory and destructive statements" and Cruz could be held liable for damages if it's not taken down.
In its own letter, the Cruz campaign called the threats “laughable” and said: “Are you seriously suggesting that the voter should not be allowed to hear what Mr. Trump has said or know what Mr. Trump has done?”
Trump, though, stood his ground and reiterated that he is now pro-life.
“I have been clear about my position on this issue for years. … If I want to bring a lawsuit it would be legitimate. Likewise, if I want to bring the lawsuit regarding Senator Cruz being a natural born Canadian I will do so. Time will tell, Teddy,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Cruz is also feuding with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio over alleged dirty tricks leading up to Saturday’s South Carolina GOP primary.
Cruz on Wednesday denied being involved with anything untoward and called for anyone with evidence to come forward.
Rubio was asked Wednesday to come up with evidence that Cruz's team was behind a fake Facebook page wrongly claiming that U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy had switched his endorsement from the Florida senator to Cruz.
"It's just a pattern of people around his campaign that have continuously done things like that," Rubio said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 0fake |
CONFUSED PROTESTERS Swarm Outside Trump NYC Fundraiser: ‘Tax the Rich, Not Working People’ | The protesters in NYC must be confused They yelled tax the rich, not working people . Aren t the rich working people too? Many of the rich worked like crazy to be where they are today. Also, the rich pay plenty in taxes already. Don t you love how these people don t want anyone to be successful but want them to give away their hard-earned money?Dozens of protesters yelling shame gathered across the street from Cipriani on East 42nd Street early Saturday where President Trump was to attend a breakfast fundraiser. Members of SEIU aka Obama s Purple Army were out in force doing what they ve been trained to do PROTESTPresidential motorcade departs Cipriani earlier today. We will have the story later on @NY1. pic.twitter.com/uw6kWHdmH0 Shannan Ferry (@ShannanFerry) December 2, 2017 New York hates Trump, several protesters shouted. I believe it s time to stop lining the pockets of the rich and stealing from the poor, said John Eng, a 54-year-old real estate agent from Manhattan who was holding a sign declaring, The poor will have to eat the rich. The protesters were particularly enraged by the Senate s early-morning passage of a $1.2 trillion tax reform bill supported by Trump. A few shouted Kill the bill, don t kill us. That tax plan is an abomination, said Melissa Carpenter, a 51-year-old lawyer from Bayside who wore a Guy Fawkes mask for the occasion. He has some balls to come here. Read more NYP | 1real |
Republican Trump backed Iraq war in 2002 interview, says views changed | (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who frequently touts his opposition to the Iraq war, appeared to support the idea in a newly unearthed 2002 interview, but said on Thursday he became an opponent by the time the invasion occurred. In the interview before the war began, which was republished by Buzzfeed on Thursday, radio personality Howard Stern asked Trump if he supported invading Iraq. “Yeah I guess so,” Trump said, according to the audio clip. During a town hall event in South Carolina on Thursday, Trump said the interview was not relevant because his views changed before the invasion. “By the time the war started, I was against it, and shortly after, I was really against it,” he said. The billionaire businessman and former reality TV star, who leads the field seeking the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama, has cited his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as evidence of his foreign policy credentials. But his criticism of former Republican President George W. Bush’s actions has aggravated some in his party, including in South Carolina, which holds its Republican primary on Saturday. Trump’s comments on Thursday came after a participant at the CNN event said he was “stung” when the real estate mogul in a recent Republican debate accused Bush of lying about the reasons to go to war. He was referring to allegations, later proven false, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Trump walked back that criticism, saying the reasons for going to war were unclear. But he said the invasion was not justified and contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East. “Going into Iraq, it may have been the worst decision anybody has made, any president has made, in the history of this country. That’s how bad it is,” Trump said. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson in Washington and Emily Flitter in South Carolina; Editing by Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 0fake |
“NEVER-TRUMPER” and Weekly Standard Editor Sends Vile Tweet Mocking VP Pence…Suggests Pence Has Replaced God With President Trump | The former Fox News contributor and editor of the Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol, took to Twitter to appease his newfound liberal friends with a disgusting tweet, mocking devout Christian and genuine conservative, Vice President Mike Pence. Ever since President Trump won the election, Kristol and his never-Trump friends have become unhinged with hate for the President and for anyone he surrounds himself with. Yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to the troops in war-torn Afghanistan to roll out President Trump s new fight to win policy.Pence addressed the troops at a Bagram Airfield hangar, telling them that before he made his trip, he asked president Trump what message he wanted to be delivered to the troops. Here is Pence s touching message to the troops from President Trump:Pence told the troops, Before I left the White House yesterday, I asked Trump if he had a message for our troops here in Afghanistan. And he looked at me and said, Tell them I love them. And he did.WATCH:Before I left the @WhiteHouse yesterday, I asked @POTUS Trump if he had a message for our troops here in Afghanistan. And he looked at me and said, Tell them I love them. pic.twitter.com/PO4F7Z5vOx Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) December 21, 2017 Never-Trumper and former frequent FOX News guest Bill Kristol mocked Vice President Mike Pence over his speech to our troops. Kristol wrote:And I, a mere humble and unworthy VP, gazed back into the kindly and understanding eyes of the great and glorious POTUS, and said, Thank you O POTUS! And thank you for letting us say once again, Merry Christmas! And I, a mere humble and unworthy VP, gazed back into the kindly and understanding eyes of the great and glorious POTUS, and said, Thank you O POTUS! And thank you for letting us say once again, Merry Christmas! https://t.co/RAQwmQk2Sq Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 22, 2017Little sad man, Bill Kristol, who was once respected by conservative Americans, has been reduced to retweeting glowing articles about himself published by liberal rag publications like The Slate to discuss where Republicans went awry, whether Palin abetted Trump s rise, and the costs of rationalization. NEW @IHaveToAskPod: @BillKristol talks about where Republicans went awry, whether Palin abetted Trump's rise, and the costs of rationalization. https://t.co/rEwacCUfZx Isaac Chotiner (@IChotiner) December 21, 2017 | 1real |
HUNDREDS VOTING FROM THE GRAVE In This California County Stirs Investigation [Video] | A comparison of records by David Goldstein, investigative reporter for CBS2/KCAL9, has revealed hundreds of so-called dead voters in Southern California, a vast majority of them in Los Angeles County. He took a lot of time choosing his candidates, said Annette Givans of her father, John Cenkner.Cenkner died in Palmdale in 2003. Despite this, records show that he somehow voted from the grave in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.But he s not the only one.CBS2 compared millions of voting records from the California Secretary of State s office with death records from the Social Security Administration and found hundreds of so-called dead voters.Specifically, 265 in Southern California and a vast majority of them, 215, in Los Angeles County alone.The numbers come from state records that show votes were cast in that person s name after they died. In some cases, Goldstein discovered that they voted year after year.Across all counties, Goldstein uncovered 32 dead voters who cast ballots in eight elections apiece, including a woman who died in 1988. Records show she somehow voted in 2014, 26 years after she passed away.It remains unclear how the dead voters voted but 86 were registered Republicans, 146 were Democrats, including Cenkner. He s a diehard Democrat, and I was thinking that if somebody was voting under his name, he s probably rolling in his grave if they were voting Republican, Givans said.She said her dad always voted at the polls, only now records show someone else may be casting his vote. It just astounds me. I don t understand how anybody can get away with that, she said.And then there s Julita Abutin.Records show she voted in Norwalk in 2014, 2012, 2010 and 2008 though she died in 2006.Abutin s daughter, Marivic, says it s impossible that her mother voted.But the Los Angeles County Registrar confirms they have signed vote-by-mail envelopes with her mother s name for the 2014 and 2012 election, though she died 10 years ago.Edward Carbajal Jr. s father died in La Puente in 2001 but state records show a vote was cast in his father s name in eight elections after he passed away.It s possible as a junior, election officials mistakenly attributed the vote to his father. There is no way to tell from CBS2 s data but he wonders why his dad is still registered. I mean, that should be something that everybody that s involved with these types of things should know who s alive and who isn t, he said.The Los Angeles County Registrar told CBS2: We remove 1200 to 2000 deceased records from the database per month. But the news station checked all of the dead voters from LA County on the Registrar s website and found 212 of the 215 were still registered and eligible to vote in next month s presidential primary election. It s very troubling because it basically dilutes the voice of the lawful voter, said Ellen Swensen with the True the Vote, a nationwide voter-rights group. What it does is every single vote that s cast by a dead voter actually cancels out a vote of a lawful voter cause if they voted for one candidate and you voted let s say for another, your vote got canceled out, she said.As Goldstein reports, it was all supposed to change after the hanging chads incident in Florida in the 2000 presidential election. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002, which mandated sweeping reforms, including a statewide voter registration system that would eliminate ineligible voters.But California is the only state that s still not compliant with the act. Secretary of State Alex Padilla hopes to have it compliant later this year. The problem is California has been the most derelict state in the country in implementing statewide databases that are required under federal law. They just blew it off for over a decade, said Adams.Read more: CBSLA | 1real |
With One Simple Chart, The Wall Street Journal Just WRECKED Trumpcare (IMAGE) | Republicans seem to be steadfast in their quest to destroy the Affordable Care Act despite all the facts showing that doing so will be devastating not only to the millions of Americans who rely on the law to have access to affordable coverage but also to the economy.The Congressional Budget Office has just come out and said that not only would 14 million lose coverage by next year under Trumpcare, but by 2021, 21 million will lose insurance, and then by 2026, 24 million.And yet, there are still Republicans and those who support them who insist on repealing Obamacare and replacing it with the subpar version known as Trumpcare. So, for the visual learners out there who can t quite seem to grasp how horrific this all is, the Wall Street Journal made a graph to show how drastic this loss of coverage will be.Here s the image:The projected percentage of uninsured Americans under the House GOP plan vs. Obamacare: https://t.co/zOSvG99BmU pic.twitter.com/cbv37xVQs4 Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 13, 2017While the new bill would seemingly reduce the deficit over time, it leaves behind tens of millions of Americans who will no longer have access to care. And when people can t afford care, they go to the emergency room, and when they can t pay their bills, taxpayers end up picking up the tab. The spending will always be there. It s just whether or not you want to spend money for people to stay healthy or wait until they are in such dire straits that they need emergency care and are willing to go bankrupt because of it.All in all it s heartless. We need Medicare for all now!Featured Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images | 1real |
CSX resumes normal train operations into parts of Georgia: statement | (Reuters) - Csx Corp said on Wednesday it has resumed normal train operations into Waycross and Savannah, in Georgia, and limited service into Jacksonville, Florida, where it has also reopened intermodal facilities. The No. 3 U.S. railroad also said engineering crews worked through the night to restore service in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama but that customers should expect delays as backlogs are worked down. The railroad said intermodal terminals in Jacksonville, central Florida, and Tampa have reopened, though train service delays are still expected. | 0fake |
Congress sends Obama bill on Zika drug development | (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday approved a bill to provide financial incentives to companies developing treatments for the Zika virus, and the White House said President Barack Obama was expected to sign the legislation although it is insufficient to meet the challenge. The measure allows the Food and Drug Administration to include Zika drug developers in the agency’s priority review voucher program. The program encourages manufacturers to study treatments for diseases that might not be profitable by expediting the regulatory review of a more lucrative drug in their research pipeline. The House of Representatives passed the bill on a voice vote, without a roll call, weeks after the same measure was approved by the Senate. White House spokeswoman Katie Hill said Obama was expected to sign the bill, which she called a “small step” that could encourage the private sector to tackle Zika. “But it contains no funding and is ultimately insufficient on its own, since it doesn’t provide the $1.9 billion in funding that our public health experts have said is needed right now to prepare Americans for the imminent local transmission of Zika in this country,” she said in a statement. Democrats and administration officials are urging the Republican-controlled Congress to grant nearly $1.9 billion in emergency funds to combat the spread of Zika. In a temporary fix, the White House said last week that it would redirect $589 million in allocated funds to prepare for the mosquito that carries the disease to emerge in the continental United States. According to the World Health Organization, there is a strong scientific consensus that the Zika virus can cause the rare birth defect microcephaly in newborns. But the link between the virus and the birth defects has not been scientifically established. On Tuesday, Brazil confirmed 1,113 cases of microcephaly and considers most to be related to Zika infections in the mother. Drugmakers who are working on Zika-related drugs, or considering such research, include Sanofi SA, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. Zika was first detected in Brazil last year and is spreading through the Americas. The World Health Organization had declared a global health emergency due to the virus’s possible link to microcephaly in babies and Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, in adults. On Monday, top health officials said the mosquito that spreads the virus is now present in about 30 U.S. states, making local outbreaks a possibility. They have also predicted hundreds of thousands of people would be infected in Puerto Rico when the mosquito season kicks in this summer. A pharmaceutical company may be given a priority review voucher to develop a drug for an infectious disease, in this case Zika, which may not generate much profit for the manufacturer. The voucher gives the company the right to an accelerated review by the FDA of any other, more lucrative, drug in its pipeline. Developing a new drug can take years and cost millions of dollars. A standard FDA review takes at least 10 months to complete - longer if the agency requires additional information. Being able to shave time off that process and get a profitable drug onto the market faster can be worth millions of dollars to a manufacturer. Under the agency’s priority review program, companies who submit a drug for review that is intended to treat serious conditions or whose drug shows a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness over existing treatments is eligible to be reviewed in six months, at least four months faster than usual. A priority review voucher gives a company the right to a six-month review on any product, regardless of whether it meets the conditions normally required to receive an accelerated review. It also gives the company the right to sell the voucher to another company. The law currently makes any company eligible for a priority review voucher that is developing a drug for one of more than 20 tropical diseases listed under the voucher program. These include malaria, cholera, leprosy, dengue, tuberculosis, and Ebola. The FDA has the authority to add other infectious diseases to the list which primarily affects poor countries. | 0fake |
Rudy Giuliani Gives The Most INSANE Reason Why Trump Isn’t A Racist (VIDEO) | The All Lives Matter movement may have just found its new spokesperson. On Wednesday morning, Rudy Giuliani gave everyone who denies racism more reason to be loud in their cause to ignore social justice issues. And unfortunately, Giuliani s words were meant to defend the most racist American of all.The former mayor of New York City went on MSNBC earlier today to argue that Trump couldn t be racist, even though Trump has been supported by white supremacists all over the country and has an ever-growing history of racist behavior. But not only did Giuliani say that Trump is not a racist, he said that NO ONE is a racist pretty much solidifying that he should never be in any position of power considering he does not understand the current state of America or the basic human rights issues that many Americans are facing today. Giuliani said: Racist? The last thing in the world Donald Trump is is a racist. I ve known him for 28 years. The man likes white people. He likes black people. He likes Hispanic people. He plays golf with them. Giuliani has obviously forgotten the time that Trump called Mexican immigrants drug dealers, immigrants and rapists, or the fact that Trump wouldn t rent apartments to black people in the past among several other racist things Trump has done over his lifetime. But it gets worse. In an astounding, baffling display of white privilege, Giuliani argued that racism wasn t actually a thing. To say that Donald Trump is a racist is outrageous, and to call anyone a racist is outrageous Then, Giuliani railed against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for talking about racism in America and actually treating it as the serious issue that it is. He said: If she thinks we all have implicit bias, Hillary, I got news for you: I don t. Maybe you do. I have no racial guilt. Not a single bit of it. Which is why I m willing to tell the truth about black crime and what has to be done about it. Truly, it s enough to make your brain hurt. Here s a clip of this moron talking:[ad3media campaign= 1240 ]Featured image via Alex Wong / Getty Images | 1real |
CNN Host SLAMS Cruz Campaign For Making Up Absolute Bullsh*t And Bashing Network (VIDEO) | If there s one thing Senator Ted Cruz will go down in history for, it s being a smarmy liar. He says whatever he can to make himself look good, and gives all politicians a bad name. What he seems to hate more than anything is being call out on his bullshit, and Wednesday when asked a question about how he mislead Carson voters in to thinking the candidate was suspending his campaign, thus trying to make voters believe they should vote for Cruz, he went directly after CNN, saying: Is it a dirty trick to pass on your news stories? You re in the business! Would you think it was a dirty trick if I was forwarding an ABC story? Or is it just a dirty trick to pass on a CNN story? Basically, he was pissed CNN was reporting facts. So CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin, while speaking with Cruz surrogate Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), said: Just so we re all crystal clear here, when Sen. Cruz, with all due respect, tries to throw my network under the bus, let me stand up for my colleagues and my journalists here in terms of this CNN report Cruz keeps quoting. We reported it accurately and here are the facts. She then went on to say: Dr. Carson s staff told us that he would return home to Florida to, quote, unquote, take a breath from the campaign before resuming his activities on the campaign trail. That accurate report was disseminated on television and CNN digital and that was that. That was that. Then finished off with: Forgive me. When someone tries to take down the media and misreport something it gets me fired up. Then when Meadows tried to twist the conversation away from the subject, Baldwin brings him back to reality by saying: Congressman, forgive me, but I m going to call out B.S. if I hear B.S. And that was B.S. Cruz was purposefully trying to blame the media for his actions taken against the Carson campaign. It s lame, it s wrong, and Baldwin was perfectly spot-on calling him out on it. Well done. Video/Featured image: YouTube | 1real |
BREAKING NEWS: Controversial ALABAMA GOP Senate Primary Race Winner Announced | Luther Strange will likely be the first and last establishment candidate Trump will make the admitted mistake of supporting Roy Moore defeated Alabama Sen. Luther Strange in Tuesday s Alabama Republican Senate primary runoff.The primary took on national importance as President Trump endorsed Strange, while traditional Trump allies, such as former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, backed Moore. They re going to say, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, was unable to pull his candidate across the line. It is a terrible, terrible moment for Trump, the president said while imitating news anchors at a Friday rally in Alabama in support of Strange.Strange become a senator when Jeff Sessions left his seat to become attorney general. The senator is a former lobbyist and was backed by a super PAC linked to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Chamber of Commerce, a typical establishment GOP partner. Mitch McConnell and this permanent political class is the most corrupt and incompetent group of individuals in this country. They think you re a pack of morons. They think you re nothing but rubes, Bannon said at a rally Monday in support of Moore. They have no interest at all in what you have to say, what you have to think or what you want to do. However, Trump contended at his Friday rally in support of Strange that the senator barely knew McConnell, and that the Alabama senator is determined to drain that swamp. The president would go on to say, I ll be honest, I might have made a mistake, and said he would campaign like hell for Moore if he were to win the primary. The former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice led the race throughout in the polls, and was up by 11 points in the final public poll.Moore is a major figure in Alabama and became nationally known in 2003 when he was removed from office after defying a federal court s ruling to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama state Supreme Court building.Like Trump, the former judge has a brash and sometimes offensive manner of speaking. Now we have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting. What s going to unite us? What s going to bring us back together? A president? A Congress? No. It s going to be God, Moore said in a campaign speech. Daily Caller | 1real |
DIRECTOR OF SOME OF MOST VIOLENT FILMS IN HOLLYWOOD JOINS CAMPAIGN FOR DESTRUCTION OF GUNS | No hypocrisy here Director Martin Scorsese well known for violent films like Goodfellas, The Departed, and Casino has joined a campaign for the destruction of guns.Scorsese will take part in Carl McCrow s Gun Neutral Campaign, which asks that a real gun be destroyed for every fake gun that is used in a Hollywood production.In December 2014 Breitbart News reported that McCrow was a part of a London-based gun control group called One Less Gun. At that time they were asking for donations to cover the destruction of a firearm and the donor was told he or she would receive a thank you note in the form of a bullet casing with the serial number of the weapon destroyed etched upon it.One Less Gun said:Like it or not, guns are a part of popular culture. They are integral to many of our favorite games and films [and] are in all likelihood to remain so for many generations to comes. One Less Gun is simply dedicated to reducing their number and promoting a social responsibility to this fact. One Less Gun offers everybody the opportunity to contribute to the solution of this largely ignored problem. By texting onelessgun to 70007 on your mobile phone you can destroy a gun for 5. Our target is to destroy one million weapons. That will save lives, stabilize communities and make a safer world.That campaign has now been complimented by the Gun Neutral Campaign and Scorsese is on board. For every fake gun used in one of his violent films a real gun that a law-abiding citizen could use for self-defense will be destroyed. According to The Guardian, McCrow responded to Scorsese s pledge by saying, I m really pleased. If we can set this as a standard, then who knows how many lives could be saved. The simple fact is that there are too many guns and they ruin people s lives every day. By joining the gun control push after making untold millions of dollars creating films riddled with violence, murder, depictions of criminal gun use, and mayhem, Scorsese comes across much like gun-toting action star Liam Neeson. It was Neeson who emerged after the January 7 terror attacks on Charlie Hebdo headquarters in France to say, There are too many [bleeping] guns out there, especially in America. Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
WHY IT’S GOOD NEWS For Conservatives That Bitter Hillary Can’t Shut Up About Losing [VIDEO] | As a Wellesley graduate, I was shocked and dismayed by Hillary Clinton s commencement address. Actually, that is #FakeNews. I was neither shocked nor dismayed by Mrs. Clinton s speech (but I did graduate from Wellesley with honors!) It was exactly the kind of self-pitying, leaden and all-about-me performance that I would have expected from the entitled former Democrat candidate and now sore loser.Watch a few of Hillary s greatest hits during her commencement speech at Wellesley College:Also, it revealed this: Hillary hasn t learned a thing. As her friend Mike Bloomberg recently told an audience of Harvard Business School grads Hillary lost the election because she had absolutely no message. She still doesn t.In addition, she is utterly lacking in self-awareness. She spoke at length about what she sees as a full-fledged assault on truth and reason, telling the graduating seniors that the future of America, indeed the future of the world, depends on brave, thoughtful people like you insisting on truth and integrity right now every day. This, from a woman who ran for our nation s highest office while distrusted by nearly two-thirds of the country, with good reason.As long as Mrs. Clinton and her loyalists blame James Comey, Vladimir Putin, sexism and the alt-right for her loss, Democrats will never rebuild their bridges to the working class Americans who elected Donald Trump.In her remarks, Hillary criticized people aka Trump followers, presumably on social media for sowing division at a time when we desperately need unity, and then proceeded to give a highly partisan and divisive speech.Did she ever consider that there might be families in the audience who voted for her opponent? That they might not enjoy her taking veiled potshots at President Trump, and that this was their daughters day too?Echoing the liberal media, Hillary went after President Trump through innuendo and clich s, talking about the dangers of fomenting fear and of alternative facts. Good thing there was no Q&A; someone might have wanted further clarification of how she came under sniper fire in Bosnia, or how a video caused the Benghazi attack or how the Monica Lewinsky scandal stemmed from a vast right-wing conspiracy and not Bill Clinton s unruly libido.Hillary trod dangerous pathways as she remarked, when people in power invent their own facts and attack those who question them, it can mark the beginning of the end of a free society. She is correct, of course, but a cursory review of her multiple dodges and lies about her mishandling of classified information and efforts to destroy evidence reveals a woman who fully earned her low trustworthiness ratings from Americans.The election is over, but Hillary cannot let it go. This is good news for Republicans. As long as Mrs. Clinton and her loyalists blame James Comey, Vladimir Putin, sexism and the alt-right for her loss, Democrats will never rebuild their bridges to the working class Americans who elected Donald Trump.Hillary Clinton missed an opportunity at Wellesley. She could have delivered a message of unity, and helped our anxious country begin to heal. Her followers need to see her putting country above politics; they need to see her as she briefly appeared at the inauguration, supporting the peaceful and legitimate transfer of power. Apparently, that is just too heavy a lift for Mrs. Clinton. She is happier nursing her wounds, and continuing to inflict them on the country.The former First Lady could also have talked about the dramatic changes taking place in our economy, and how women are thriving as entrepreneurs. She could have talked about the founders of Rent the Runway, or Sarah Blakely, who created Spanx, or Essie Weingarten, who bet her life s savings on a new idea and created a nail polish empire sold to L Oreal in 2010. These women are inspirational; they didn t shatter glass ceilings, they ignored them. It is true we need women in politics, and running NGOs, but we also need women making money and boosting the economy. That s where the funding for free college tuition and refugee services comes from a lesson Hillary may never have learned.The New York Times tells us that the students cheered Mrs. Clinton thunderously. Of course they did. They have been weaned on courses like Love and Intimacy in the Women s and Gender Studies department or Changing Gender Constructions in the Modern Middle East in the History Department. There s nothing wrong with those studies, unless they crowd out learning how the progressive policies of Bernie Sanders and Mrs. Clinton have failed in France, for instance, leading to a stagnant economy with few opportunities for progress. Or how capitalism has delivered billions from poverty, including in Communist China, where the growth miracle of recent decades was facilitated by policies that encouraged entrepreneurship and private enterprise.Hillary Clinton missed some history lessons too, apparently. She alluded to Nixon s presidency which would eventually end in disgrace with his impeachment for obstruction of justice. That isn t true, of course; Nixon resigned from office. It was her husband Bill who was impeached. Amazing she would get that wrong, in delivering what was sure to be a much-reviewed address. Maybe a little too much of that Chardonnay, Mrs. Clinton? FOX NewsFor more visit LizPeek.com. Follow her on Twitter@LizPeek. | 1real |
Argentina Congress passes pension reform after protests, clashes | BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina s Congress passed a reform to the pension system on Tuesday, after days of demonstrations by the bill s opponents and violent clashes between protesters and police. The measure is central to President Mauricio Macri s plan to slash the fiscal deficit and attract investment. It paves the way for further market-friendly legislation that his Cambiemos, or Let s Change coalition hopes to pass in extraordinary congressional sessions before the end of the year. The law changes the formula used to calculate benefits by linking them to consumer prices instead of tax income and wage hikes. The government says that will make benefits more predictable and sustainable, and they will still increase by more than inflation next year. This formula guarantees that over the next few years, retirees will never lose against a jump in inflation, said Macri, who took office in December 2015 after more than a decade of populist rule. Macri tweaked his proposal, pledging a one-time bonus payment to the neediest retirees, after clashes last Thursday derailed congressional debate. Still, the measure generated fierce criticism from opposition lawmakers and labor unions, who say it will hurt retirees. The debate prompted demonstrations on Monday. Thousands took to the streets of the capital Buenos Aires and around the country, banging pots and pans and blaring car horns. Stone-throwing protesters confronted police, who responded with water canon, rubber bullets and tear gas. Dozens were injured. All these changes generate discomfort, but they are necessary, Macri said after the measure passed the lower chamber of deputies 127-117, with two abstentions, following an all-night debate session. The Senate approved the proposal last month. The government will now press congressional votes on a tax code overhaul and a deal with provinces to limit spending, Macri told reporters. Economists, noting that inflation expectations are lower, said linking benefits to consumer prices would lower spending by around 0.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year. But savings from the pension reform will finance transfers from the national treasury to provinces as part of the fiscal pact, said economist Ariel Barraud of the Argentina Fiscal Analysis Institute in Cordoba, Argentina. Almost all of the savings obtained from the pension formula change will go to compensate the fiscal deal, Barraud told Reuters by phone. Argentina s government is aiming to cut the deficit to 3.2 percent of GDP from 4.2 percent currently. Cambiemos lacks a majority in Congress despite a strong performance in October s legislative midterm. Dozens of votes from opposition lawmakers were needed to pass the pension measure. Other leaders in South America have had a harder time implementing similar business-friendly agendas. In Peru, measures meant to boost growth have stalled as President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has fought efforts to remove him over his ties to scandal-plagued Brazilian builder Odebrecht. Brazil s efforts at its own pension reform were recently pushed back until next year. Despite passage of the pension measure, Macri s agenda still faces substantial popular skepticism. They are encroaching upon the rights of society s most vulnerable, opposition lawmaker Facundo Moyano said during the congressional debate. | 0fake |
Trump's $250 billion China 'miracle' adds gloss to 'off-kilter' trade | BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - President Donald Trump can return to the United States claiming to have snagged over $250 billion in deals from his maiden trip to Beijing. Whether those deals live up to the lofty price tag is another question altogether. Watched by Trump and China s President Xi Jinping at a signing ceremony in Beijing, U.S. planemaker Boeing Co, General Electric Co and chip giant Qualcomm Inc sealed lucrative multi-billion dollar deals. This is truly a miracle, China s Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said at a briefing in Beijing. The quarter of a trillion dollar haul underscores how Trump is keen to be seen to address a trade deficit with the world s second-largest economy that he has long railed against and called shockingly high on Thursday. But U.S. businesses still have many long-standing concerns to complain about, including unfettered access to the China market, cybersecurity and the growing presence of China s ruling Communist Party inside foreign firms. William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said the deals pointed to a strong, vibrant bilateral economic relationship between the two countries. Yet we still need to focus on leveling the playing field, because U.S. companies continue to be disadvantaged doing business in China. U.S. tech companies like Facebook Inc and Google are mostly blocked in China. Automakers Ford Motor Co and General Motors must operate through joint ventures, while Hollywood movies face a strict quota system. (These deals) allow Trump to portray himself as a master dealmaker, while distracting from a lack of progress on structural reforms to the bilateral trade relationship, Hugo Brennan, Asia analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said in a note. Some huge deals were announced. Among them is a 20-year $83.7 billion investment by China Energy Investment Corp in shale gas developments and chemical manufacturing projects in West Virginia, a major energy producing state that voted heavily for Trump in the 2016 election. [ The massive size of this energy undertaking and level of collaboration between our two countries is unprecedented, West Virginia Secretary of Commerce H. Wood Thrasher said in a statement. It marks the first major overseas investment for the newly founded China Energy, which formed from the merger of China Shenhua Group, the country s largest coal producer and China Guodian Corp, one of China s top five utilities. However, as is often the case during state visits, many of the deals were packaged as non-binding agreements, gave scant details or rolled over existing tie-ups, helping pump up the headline figure. I am somewhat skeptical of such a large number, Alex Wolf, senior emerging markets economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum, adding that the overall tone of the visit so far had been positive . I suspect they might be primarily MOUs (memorandum of understandings) instead of actual contracts and the actual contract amount may be substantially less. Qualcomm signed non-binding agreements worth $12 billion with Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo, three Chinese handset makers that the firm said it had longstanding relationships with. Qualcomm already earns more than half of its revenues in China. Boeing announced a deal with state-run China Aviation Suppliers Holding Co to sell 300 Boeing jets with a valuation of $37 billion at list prices, though analysts said it was unclear how many of these were new orders. Interesting to see how many of those are past agreements/purchase orders repackaged. Beijing is a master of selling the same agreement 10 times, former Mexican ambassador to China Jorge Guajardo posted on Twitter. Speaking alongside Trump in Beijing as they announced the deals, Xi said the Chinese economy would become increasingly open and transparent to foreign firms, including those from the United States, and welcomed U.S. companies to participate in his ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure-led initiative. Trump made clear he blamed his predecessors, not China, for allowing the U.s. trade deficit to get out of kilter , and repeatedly praised Xi, calling him a very special man . But we will make it fair and it will be tremendous for both of us, Trump said. Xi smiled widely when Trump said he does not blame China for the deficit. Asked whether the big package of deals would go some way towards helping fix American trade concerns in China, executives were cautiously optimistic. Generally the sense was that this is all a good thing, and that s great, said Gentry Sayad, a Shanghai-based lawyer who attended the trade delegation event in Beijing. Now let s see what really happens and whether or not the agreements signed during this trip can become a basis for a better bilateral trade relationship going forward. | 0fake |
Obama promises to veto bill that would block aircraft exports to Iran | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s administration said on Monday he would veto legislation seeking to block financial transactions related to the export of passenger aircraft to Iran, saying it would undermine the nuclear deal implemented early this year. The legislation in the House of Representatives is the latest Republican-led effort to stop the sale of aircraft to Iran by Airbus and Boeing Co, allowed under the nuclear deal. The White House said U.S. partners would view the bill, if implemented, as a violation of the nuclear agreement. The United States plus Britain, Russia, France, China and Germany agreed to lift sanctions if Iran would curtail its nuclear program. The deals by Airbus and Boeing to sell or lease over 200 jets to IranAir would help modernize and expand the country’s elderly fleet, held together by smuggled or improvised parts after years of sanctions. Some members of Congress have raised concerns that killing the sale could cost jobs. But opponents argue that the passenger aircraft could be used for military purposes such as transporting fighters to battle U.S. troops or allies in Syria. The measure would bar the Secretary of the Treasury from authorizing a transaction by a U.S. financial institution related to the export, or re-export, of commercial aircraft to Iran. And it would revoke any authorities enacted before the bill passed, such as those that allowed the Boeing and Airbus sales. The measure also limits the role of Export-Import Bank financing of sales to Iran. Some banks have been reluctant to finance the aircraft deals, fearing they could fall foul of remaining sanctions prohibiting the use of the U.S. financial system for Iranian business. The House is expected to take up, and pass, the measure as soon as this week. It is not expected to get through the Senate, where it would need Democratic support to advance. Lawmakers expect more efforts to stop the aircraft sale, and the broader Iran deal, after Donald Trump becomes U.S. president in January. Trump has been critical of the nuclear agreement, which is seen by Obama supporters as one of the Democratic president’s signature foreign policy achievements. | 0fake |
Women drivers seen reviving Saudi car market | DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s decision to lift its ban on women driving cars may help to restore autos sales growth in a market dented by the economic fallout from weak oil prices, handing an opportunity to importers of luxury cars and sport utility vehicles. Carmakers joined governments in welcoming the order by Saudi Arabia s King Salman that new rules allowing women to drive be drawn up within 30 days and implemented by June 2018, removing a stain on the country s international image. Congratulations to all Saudi women who will now be able to drive, Nissan said in a Twitter post depicting a license plate bearing the registration 2018 GRL . BMW, whose X5 SUV is the group s Middle East top-seller, also saluted the move. Mid-range brands currently dominate the Saudi market, with Toyota, Hyundai-Kia and Nissan together commanding a 71 percent share of sales. That market has shrunk by about a quarter from a peak of 858,000 light vehicles in 2015 to an expected 644,000 this year, reflecting the broader economic slowdown. But the rule change adds almost 9 million potential drivers, including 2.7 million resident non-Saudi women, Merrill Lynch has calculated. We expect demand to rise again on news that women will be allowed to drive, said a senior executive at Jeddah-based auto distributor Naghi Motors - whose brand portfolio includes BMW, Mini, Hyundai, Rolls Royce and Jaguar Land Rover models. The arrival of women drivers could lift Saudi car sales by 15-20 percent annually, leading forecaster LMC Automotive predicts, as the kingdom s car density of 220 vehicles per 1,000 adults rises to about 300 in 2025, closing the gap with the neighboring United Arab Emirates. A middle- to upper-class Saudi family typically has two vehicles, one driven by the man of the house and a second car in which a full-time chauffeur transports his wife and children. The rule change could spell bad news for some of the 1.3 million men employed as chauffeurs in the kingdom, including a large share of its migrant workforce, while boosting upscale car sales as households upgrade for their new drivers. The move to allow women to drive is set to benefit the entire market, LMC analyst David Oakley said. But we might expect to see a disproportionately positive impact on super-premium brands. Luxury brands including Lamborghini (VOWG_p.DE) and Bentley are about to launch SUVs - a vehicle category that has proved popular among women and already accounts for more than one in five cars sold in Saudi Arabia. Welcoming the announcement, British-based Aston Martin said it was well timed for the arrival of the James Bond-associated sports car maker s DBX model, due in 2019. The SUV crossover boom across all segments has been powered by women, spokesman Simon Sproule said. | 0fake |
Watch: Steve Bannon Sworn in as President Trump Chief Strategist - Breitbart | Sunday in East Room of the White House at the senior staff ceremony, President Donald Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor Steve Bannon was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence. Follow Breitbart. tv on Twitter @BreitbartVideo | 0fake |
Healthcare system bleeds us dry by design | License DMCA The U.S. healthcare system is produced and fueled by crony capitalism. Activist investor Dave Chase bottom-lined the result ( Forbes ): "the Middle Class is in a 20-year long economic depression that is at least 95% due to healthcare." Studies show our healthcare industry is providing worse care than those of many other wealthy nations, at an astounding 50% per capita higher cost than the next most expensive nation. Ask the price of any service and you always receive the same answer: "What insurance do you have?" Billing is determined by how much can be extracted from each patient on a case-by-case basis, often when the patient is at his or her most vulnerable. By any definition, this is a predatory, non-competitive system. So-called price-transparency initiatives serve to perpetuate this system in which prices can vary by a factor of 100 for the exact same service performed by the same provider. Healthcare is the only consumer industry legally permitted to shield itself from the usual requirement of legitimate pricing and competition. Patients have been rendered powerless. Ethically, this is institutionalized fraud. To stop the bleeding, Congress need only require that healthcare providers publish "legitimate pricing", which means they can continue to set their own rates, but - a different rate for each patient - must be prohibited. Without legitimate pricing, price competition cannot exist and healthcare costs will continue to skyrocket. Consumer-protection laws are applied to virtually every other industry and require both that (i) prices be disclosed; and (ii) prices be stated in a common format. Gas is uniformly priced in gallons (not pints, quarts, ounces or liters). Food is generally priced in ounces and pounds and state agencies protect consumers by inspecting scales. Scores of regulation specify precisely how annual percentage rate must be calculated and disclosed in all credit transactions (i.e., the price of borrowed money). Healthcare's exemption from consumer-protection laws is a national disgrace. Healthcare providers, like other sellers of consumer and financial products, must be required to publish their rates in a uniform format such as industry-standard CPT codes or a percentage of Medicare rates. Every citizen would be empowered to search any medical procedure online and see pricing for all providers within X miles. It would be as easy and familiar as checking the price of any other goods or services. Legitimate prices mean networks will be obsolete, along with the administrative burdens, tremendous costs, and limitations on patient choice that they impose. Health insurance will function like homeowner's, fire or auto insurance. When a house burns down, the price of drywall and paint does not depend on whether the home was insured by State Farm or Allstate. Patients would buy health insurance providing a reimbursement level that they select; for example, 100% of Medicare rates. Consumers could shop every provider in the nation and easily determine their out-of-pocket costs. - Advertisement - High amounts of corporate debt have been incurred acquiring medical facilities on the assumption they could continue to impose predatory pricing. Disruption of current business models will lead to bankruptcies. Just as in all other industries, currently non-competitive providers will be acquired at low cost and be operated by more efficient providers. Ultimately, the industry will adjust to a competitive environment and offer health services at far lower prices. University of California researchers reported that a consumer-oriented incentive to generate competition, known as reference pricing , lowered hospital costs by more than 20% for the 1.3 million members (and their families) of the California Public Employees' Retirement System. The insurance plan stated the maximum amount it would pay for a group of common medical procedures, thereby incentivizing participants to shop prices. Lower-priced hospitals saw market share growth of 28 percent, prompting many higher-priced hospitals to lower their prices. Legitimate pricing would be a far more powerful stimulus to competition than mere reference pricing. Legitimate pricing would compel wide-open free-market competition and would, in this author's opinion, virtually overnight reduce U.S. health expenditures by a minimum 33%. Disposable incomes and prosperity would boom. The U.S. deficit would shrink. Lower underlying healthcare prices is the sole and exclusive way to materially lower health-insurance premiums. Anyone who says otherwise is, to be kind, incorrect. Reform is difficult because the healthcare industry spends more on lobbying than the defense, aerospace, and the oil-and-gas industries combined . The American public understands our predatory pricing system is morally and economically unjustifiable and is demanding change. A Petition to End Predatory Healthcare Pricing and to require legitimate pricing rapidly gained more than 100,000 signatures this year. - Advertisement - To the many polarized groups in our nation, we have added free-market versus single-payer devotees. While this author takes no position on this issue, legitimate pricing is an essential prerequisite to either system. Nobody knows what prices would look like in an open market. For example, a study by The Department of Health and Human Services compared Medicare-allowable prices for lab charges to the negotiated prices paid for 20 high-volume and high-expense lab tests by health insurers. While providers generally complain that Medicare rates are too stingy, the study found that prices paid by Medicare exceeded fair market value: "Medicare could have saved $910 million, or 38 percent, on these lab tests if it had paid providers at the lowest established rate in each geographic area." In the absence of legitimate pricing, bureaucrats administering single-payer would have no basis on which to negotiate or set rates. That will likely leave lobbyists in control of pricing. For many Americans this concept evokes memories like the Pentagons purchase of $1,000 hammers and toilet seats. If we didn't know how much those items cost in hardware stores (i.e., legitimate prices), there would be no reference point and nobody would have even batted an eye. To reverse our nation's financial bleeding and end restrictions on patient choice resulting from restricted provider networks, Congress must empower citizens by mandating legitimate healthcare pricing. | 1real |
Iranian, Iraqi government forces to hold joint border drills - Iran TV | DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian and Iraqi central government forces are to hold joint military exercises near their borders, Iran s state television reported on Saturday, as part of Tehran s effort to support Baghdad after the Kurdish independence referendum. State television quoted a military spokesman as saying the decision to hold the war games was taken at a meeting of Iranian military commanders which also agreed on measures to establish border security and receive Iraqi forces that are to be stationed at border posts . | 0fake |
Germany drops mass U.S., UK spying probe on lack of evidence | BERLIN (Reuters) - German prosecutors have closed an investigation into suspected mass phone tapping of German citizens by British and U.S. spies after finding no concrete indication of any criminal activity, they said on Thursday. The decision to drop the case brings to an end the latest chapter in a long-running spy scandal, triggered by revelations by former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden which have strained ties between Berlin and Washington. The allegation in 2013 that the NSA bugged Chancellor Angela Merkel s mobile phone shocked Germans and prompted her to say that spying among friends was totally unacceptable. In 2015, further allegations suggested that Germany s BND foreign intelligence agency had helped the NSA spy on European companies and politicians for years. Prosecutors in Karlsruhe said although the techniques used in U.S. surveillance were known to German intelligence agencies, there was no evidence of them being used to target Germany so they would no longer pursue the case. The prosecutors investigations and the investigation by the NSA parliamentary committee have found no tangible evidence that U.S. or British intelligence agencies undertook systematic and mass surveillance of German telecommunications and internet (usage) that is against the law, said the prosecutors in a statement. Surveillance is a particularly sensitive subject in Germany due to the activities of the loathed East German Stasi secret police, who snooped extensively on ordinary citizens, and the Nazi-era Gestapo. German prosecutors had dropped an investigation into the suspected tapping of Merkel s mobile phone in 2015. | 0fake |
Saudi Prince Reminds Donald Trump: I Bailed You Out – Twice | While Donald Trump continues to paint himself as the anti-Saudi, anti-terrorist candidate, the truth is coming to light that he may in fact be financially beholden to the Saudi Royal Family.After Trump retweeted a photo-shopped image of Megyn Kelly, a Saudi woman (supposedly a member of the royal family) Prince Alwaleed bin Talal together, in which the image describes bin Talal as a co-owner of Fox News, the Prince had a few words to share:Trump:You base your statements on photoshopped pics?I bailed you out twice;a 3rd time,maybe?https://t.co/Raco0mvusp https://t.co/jStBl7Ghia (@Alwaleed_Talal) January 28, 2016Indeed, Prince Alwaleed (who only has a one percent stake in Fox News hardly a co-owner) included news snippets in his tweets. One news story was the fact he had to buy Trump s yacht, which had recently been turned over to creditors when it fell a staggering $900 million in debt.Alwaleed also included the story of how he bought Trump Plaza Hotel in New York after promising to erase the mogul s debt. Calling it a defeat for the real estate developer, The New York Times reports that the outstanding debt accumulated form the hotel around $300 million, yet the Prince was able to buy it down to roughly $25 million.There are two questions everyone should be asking. One, how did Trump run up $900 million in debt over a yacht, and how did he acquire $300 million of debt from a world famous hotel? Second, how can anymore expect Trump to be tough on the Saudis and the Royal Family when he owes them millions of dollars?Can you imagine the outrage from Republicans if President Obama had over a billion dollars worth of debt paybacks to the Saudi Royal Family? Republicans though, always the hypocrites, are choosing to turn a blind eye to the issue, instead the continue to believe everything the blowhard says.Another conflict of interest, out of dozens now pending against the presidential nominee, arises again. Once more, the Republican candidate shows how inept he is at his own financials. And he again shows that he gets his information completely from the media.Alwaleed, a Trump-Kasich supporter, has had a few Twitter spats with the Saudi Prince, after the billionaire (and heavily indebted) called for a ban on Muslims in the United States, and Trump responded by calling him dopey and told him that his daddy s money couldn t persuade him how ironic.Featured image via Olli Scarff/Getty Images | 1real |
MI BOARD OF EDUCATION Will Allow Students To Choose Gender, Bathroom, Locker Room And Even A New Name With No Parental Consent | Every parent in the United States of America should be alarmed by this covert attempt by Board of Education members to essentially tell our kids that their power supersedes that of the parents. Furthermore, this reckless policy of placing same sex kids in bathrooms and locker rooms puts children in danger of being in private spaces with sexual predators and or sexual offenders Make sure to add your comments to the MI Board of Educations HEREMichigan s State Board of Education has drafted a guidance that would push the state s schools to allow all students, regardless of parental or doctoral input, to choose their gender, name, pronouns, and bathrooms.Spearheaded by board president John C. Austin and signed by state superintendent Brian Whiston, the guidance informs Michigan public schools that only the students themselves i.e. not their parents or doctors can determine what their individual gender identities are. The responsibility for determining a student s gender identity rests with the student. Outside confirmation from medical or mental health professionals, or documentation of legal changes, is not needed, the guidance states.Gender identity is defined in the guidance as a person s deeply held internal sense or psychological knowledge of their own gender, regardless of the biological sex they were assigned at birth. Notably, the guidance makes no mention of a student s age affecting whether or not they can pick a gender without their parent or doctor.In fact, the guidance seems to intentionally cut parents out of the process.The guidance states: School staff should address students by their chosen name and pronouns that correspond to their gender identity, regardless of whether there has been a legal name change. Students can even ask to have their chosen name and gender included in the district s information management systems, in addition to the student s legal name. But what about when school staff members are speaking with parents about their son or daughter?The guidance states that Transgender and GNC [gender nonconforming] students have the right to decide when, with whom, and to what extent to share private information. Accordingly, the board makes clear, When contacting the parent/guardian of a transgender or GNC student, school staff should use the student s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the student s assigned sex at birth, unless the student or parent/guardian has specified otherwise. In other words, a boy named Jake could become a girl named Jane at school, seemingly without his parents ever knowing.Names, pronouns, and genders aren t the only things the board wants students to choose.The guidance informs schools that Students should be allowed to use the restroom in accordance with their gender identity. And the board makes clear that single-stall bathrooms are not inclusive enough: Alternative and non-stigmatizing options, such as an all-gender or singleuser restroom (e.g., staff bathroom or nurse s office), should be made available to students who request them, but not presented as the only option. Locker rooms also should become inclusive of students many gender identities. A student should not be required to use a locker room that is incongruent with their gender identity, the guidance states. Locker room usage should be determined on a case-by-case basis, using the guiding principles of safety and honoring the student s gender identity and expression. Students who are bothered by having members of the opposite sex in their locker rooms can request an adjusted changing schedule or use of a private area in the facility. The board quietly issued the statement and guidance on February 23rd, without a press release. The public has only until April 11th to comment on the proposed guidance, according to the Department of Education website. The board will finalize the guidance at a meeting on May 10th. Via: Daily Caller | 1real |
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